AboutLeo Lingham Expertise management consulting process, management consulting career,
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Experience 18 years working managerial experience covering business planning, strategic planning, corporate planning, management service, organization development, marketing, sales management etc
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24 years in management consulting which includes business planning, strategic planning, marketing , product management,
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Expert: Leo Lingham Date: 6/1/2008 Subject: Human Resource System
Question Explain the strategies for recruitment & placement in Human Resource System
Answer SUNITHA,
HERE IS SOME USEFUL MATERIAL.
REGARDS
LEO LINGHAM
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Recruitment refers to the process of finding right people
for the right job or function, usually undertaken by
recruiters. It also may be undertaken by an employment
agency or a member of staff at the business or organization
looking for recruits. Advertising is commonly part of the
recruiting process, and can occur through several means:
through online, newspapers, using newspaper dedicated to
job advertisement, through professional publication, using
advertisements placed in windows, through a job center,
through campus graduate recruitment programs, etc
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FACTORS THAT AFFECT RECRUITMENT/ SELECTION
1.LABOR MARKET SUPPLY / DEMAND
2.TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS
3.APPLICANTS PERCEPTIONS OF SELECTION PROCESS
4.CONTRUCT DRIVEN APPROACH
5.GLOBALIZATION
6.SOCIAL TRENDS
7.ORGANIZATION WORK CHANGES
ETC ETC.
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Recruitment strategies and processes
INTERNAL POSTINGS
Recruitment may be conducted internally through the promotion and transfer of existing
personnel or through referrals, by current staff members, of friends and family members.
Where internal recruitment is the chosen method of filling vacancies, job openings can be
advertised by job posting, that is, a strategy of placing notices on manual and electronic
bulletin boards, in company newsletters and through office memoranda. Referrals are
usually word-of-mouth advertisements that are a low-cost-per-hire way of recruiting.
Internal recruitment does not always produce the number or quality of personnel needed;
in such an instance, the organisation needs to recruit from external sources, either by
encouraging walk-in applicants; advertising vacancies in newspapers, magazines and
journals, and the visual and/or audio media; using employment agencies to “head hunt”;
advertising on-line via the Internet; or through job fairs and the use of college
recruitment.
POSTING VACANCIES
As indicated earlier, job posting refers to the practice of publicising an open job to
employees (often by literally posting it on bulletin boards) and listing its attributes, such
as criteria of knowledge, qualification, skill and experience.2 The purpose of posting
vacancies is to bring to the attention of all interested persons (inside or out of the
organisation) the jobs that are to be filled.
Before posting a vacancy, management needs to decide whether:
?? it intends to retain the job in its present form and with its present title,
remuneration and status;
?? selected attributes of the job, for example, skill or experience, will change;
?? there are sufficient qualified, potential applicants serving in other positions within
the organisation who may be potential candidates for that job;
?? the existing organisational policy on recruitment is still applicable (for example,
whether referrals, by staff members, of friends and family are still an acceptable
way of filling vacancies);
?? the organisations stands to benefit more, in the long-term, from recruiting
applicants from external sources.
Also necessary is the availability of a functional human resource information system that
supports recruitment. An effective, [ideally] computerised system3 would:
?? flag imminent vacancies throughout the organisation to ensure that the
recruitment process is timely;
?? ensure that no candidates are lost but, instead, move through the process and are
kept informed of their status;
?? ensure that good candidates whose applications are pending are kept in touch to
maintain their interest in the organisation;
?? assist in analysing hiring, transfer and exit trends and provide other data that are
helpful in planning, evaluating and auditing the recruitment process;
?? identify any adverse impacts of the recruitment process on vulnerable groups (for
example minorities, especially where Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action
legislation exists);
?? for internal recruiting, control the internal job posting process, generate the
notices, and then match internal applicant qualifications with job specifications;
?? where jobs are not being posted, generate a list of qualified internal candidates.
An organisation needs to analyse the benefits and disadvantages of recruiting its
personnel through internal or external sources and, where the latter is selected, whether
formal or informal systems should be used.
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Recruiting from internal sources
There are sound reasons for recruiting from sources within the organisation:
?? The ability of the recruit is known so it is easy to assess potential for the next
level. By contrast, assessments of external recruits are based on less reliable
sources, such as references, and relatively brief encounters, such as interviews.
?? “Insiders” know the organisation, its strengths and weaknesses, its culture and,
most of all, its people.
?? Promotions from within build motivation and a sense of commitment to the
organisation. Skilled and ambitious employees are more likely to become
involved in developmental activities if they believe that these activities will lead
to promotion.
?? Internal recruitment is cheaper and quicker than advertising in various media and
interviewing “outsiders”. Time spent in training and socialisation is also reduced.
At the same time, several disadvantages exist:
?? Sometimes it is difficult to find the “right” candidate within and the organisation
may settle for an employee who possesses a less than ideal mix of competencies.
?? If the vacancies are being caused by rapid expansion of the organisation there
may be an insufficient supply of qualified individuals above the entry level. This
may result in people being promoted before they are ready, or not being allowed
to stay in a position long enough to learn how to do the job well.
?? Infighting, inbreeding, and a shortage of varied perspectives and interests may
reduce organisational flexibility and growth, and resistance to change by those
who have an interest in maintaining the status quo may present long term
problems.
?? In times of rapid growth and during transitions, the organisation may promote
from within into managerial positions, regardless of the qualifications of
incumbents. Transition activities and rapid organisational growth often mask
managerial deficiencies; it is not until the growth rate slows that the deficiencies
become apparent and, then, the organisation finds it difficult, if not impossible, to
undo the damage. The resulting cost of remedial training can prove prohibitive.
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Recruiting from external sources
External recruiting methods can be grouped into two classes: informal and formal.
Informal recruiting methods tap a smaller market than formal methods. These methods
may include rehiring former employees and choosing from among those “walk-in”
applicants whose unsolicited résumés had been retained on file. The use of referrals also
constitutes an informal hiring method. Because they are relatively inexpensive to use and
can be implemented quickly, informal recruiting methods are commonly used for hiring
clerical and other base-level recruits who are more likely than other groups to have
submitted unsolicited applications. Former students who participated in internship
programmes may also be easily and cheaply accessed.
Formal methods of external recruiting entail searching the labour market more widely for
candidates with no previous connection to the organisation. These methods have
traditionally included newspaper/magazine/journal advertising, the use of employment
agencies and executive search firms, and college recruitment. More often, now,
job/career fairs and e-Recruiting are reaching the job seeker market.
Posting vacancies externally through the various arms of the media5 or via employment
agencies reaches a wider audience and may turn up a greater number of potential
candidates from which the organisation can choose. At the same time, this method is
relatively expensive and time-consuming as the organisation works through initial
advertisements, short-listing, interviewing and the other processes that precede selection.
Even then, there is no guarantee that the results will be satisfactory to the organisation,
since the cost of advertising often limits the frequency and duration of the job posting, as
well as the amount of information made available, thus making it difficult for a job seeker
to accurately judge the worth of the position being offered. In addition, the organisation
may hire a candidate who fails to live up to the high potential displayed during the
selection process.
Recruiting firms/employment agencies are gaining in popularity, especially in the search
for management level/executive talent. Recruiting via this medium is expensive, whether
the organisation uses a contingency firm or has one on retainer. Executive search firms
tend to match candidates to jobs faster that most organisations can, on their own,
primarily because the recruiting firms/employment agencies possess larger databases of,
and wider access to, persons (whom they may themselves have placed) and have a greater
awareness of the location of competencies needed by the client agencies.
Of course, it is possible to for an organisation to reduce the risks and high costs of
recruitment by maintaining a small cadre of full-time, permanent employees and meeting
an unexpected and temporary need for staff through the use of ad hoc and short-term
contract workers who come to the position already trained.
It is frequently said that the best jobs are not advertised; their availability is
communicated by word of mouth. Networking, therefore, continues to be a viable
mechanism for recruiting, especially at the senior management level in certain industries.
In many instances, networking is a strategy used by the recruitment firms/employment
agencies.
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ON-LINE APPLICATIONS/RECRUITING ON THE INTERNET
Using the Internet is faster and cheaper than many traditional methods of recruiting. Jobs
can be posted on Internet sites for a modest amount (less than in the print media), remain
there for periods of thirty or sixty days or more - at no additional cost - and are available
twenty-four hours a day. Candidates can view detailed information about the job and the
organisation and then respond electronically.
Most homes and workplaces are now using computerised equipment for communication;
the Internet is rapidly becoming the method of choice for accessing and sharing
information. First-time job seekers are now more likely to search websites for job
postings than to peruse newspapers, magazines and journals. The prevalence of eadvertising
has made it easier. The Internet speeds up the hiring process in three basis
stages:
?? Faster posting of jobs
o The wait for a suitable date and a prominent place in the print media is
eliminated. The time lag that exists between the submission of
information to the media house and its appearance in print disappears. On
the internet, the advertisement appears immediately and can be kept alive
for as long as the recruiter requires it.
?? Faster applicant response
o Jobs posted on the Internet and requiring responses via the same medium
receive responses on the same day.
?? Faster processing of résumés
o An applicant sending a résumé electronically can immediately have the
application processed, receive an acknowledgement, be screened
electronically, and have details of the application and résumé despatched
to several managers at the same time.6
On-line recruiting also provides access to passive job seekers, that is, individuals who
already have a job but would apply for what appears a better one that is advertised on the
Internet. These job seekers may be of a better quality since they are not desperate for a
job change as are the active job seekers who may be frustrated, disgruntled workers
looking for a new position.
Companies that are likely to advertise on-line usually have a website that allows potential
candidates to learn about the company before deciding whether to apply, thus lowering
the incidence time-wasting through the submission of unsuitable applications. The
website can be used as a tool to encourage potential job seekers to build an interest in
joining the organisation.
Job websites offer unlimited space which can be used, by management, to sell the
organisation. The site can then be used, not only to post vacancies, but also to publicise
the organisation. That will allow candidates to become more familiar with the company,
know what skills the company is looking for and get to know about its culture. Most
importantly, the system will provide a proper path to securing quick responses to job
openings. On-line recruiting facilitates the decentralisation of the hiring function by
making it possible for other groups in the organisation to take responsibility for part of
the function.
Internet recruiting is not all positive, though; there are drawbacks for unwary users:
?? Some applicants still place great value on face-to-face interactions in the hiring
process. Such applicants are likely to ignore jobs posted, impersonally, on-line.
?? Companies are overwhelmed by the volume of résumés posted on the Internet.
This can, in fact, lengthen the short-listing process. If the screening process is not
well done, the quantity of applications/résumés logged-on may be more of a
hindrance to the process that an aid to selection.
?? Job seekers who demand confidentiality in the recruitment process may be
reluctant to use the Internet as a job search mechanism.7
For effectiveness in the use of the strategy of e-Recruiting, companies are advised to:
?? use specialised Job Sites that cater to specific industries;
?? thoroughly assess the service level provided by Job Sites to ensure that they
maintain the level they claim to provide;
?? enhance the Corporate Web Site as a tool to encourage potential job seekers to
become interested in joining the company;
?? take advantage of the fact that Internet job advertisements have no space
limitations so recruiters can use longer job descriptions to fully describe the
company, job requirements and working conditions offered;
?? use valid Search Engines that will sort candidates effectively, but will not
discriminate against any persons or groups;
?? create attention-grabbing newspaper advertisements that prompt people to visit
the company’s website. They will then see all vacancies that are advertised;
?? encourage employees to e-mail job advertisements to friends;
?? design and implement a successful e-Recruitment strategy.
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COLLEGE RECRUITMENT
College recruiting – sending an employer’s representatives to college campuses to prescreen
applicants and create an applicant pool from that college’s graduating class – is an
important source of management trainees, promotable [entry-level] candidates, and
professional and technical employees.9 To get the best out of this hiring strategy, the
organisation and its career opportunities must be made to stand out. Human resource
professionals are aware that few college students and potential graduates know where
their careers will take them over the next fifteen to twenty years. Therefore many of the
criteria used by students to select the first job may be quite arbitrary. The organisation
that will succeed, then, is one can show how the work it offers meets students’ needs for
skill enhancement, rewarding opportunities, personal satisfaction, flexibility and
compensation.
College recruitment offers an opportunity for recruiters to select the potential employees
with the personal, technical and professional competencies they require in their
organisation. The personal competencies identified may include, inter alia, a positive
work ethic, strong interpersonal skills, leadership capacity and an ability to function well
in a work team. The opportunity to discuss a student’s current strengths and potential
future value to an organisation cannot be replicated in any other setting.
Two major advantages of this strategy are the cost (which is higher than word-of-mouth
recruiting but lower than advertising in the media or using an employment agency), and
the convenience (since many candidates can be interviewed in a short time in the same
location with space and administrative support provided by the college itself).
Unfortunately, suitable candidates become available only at certain times of the year,
which may not always suit the needs of the hiring organisation. Another major
disadvantage of college recruiting is the lack of experience and the inflated expectations
of new graduates and the cost of hiring graduates for entry-level positions that may not
require a college degree.
To make college recruiting effective, the recruiting organisation must first determine how
many and which schools should be targeted. It may prove cost-effective to do intensive
recruiting in a few, carefully-selected institutions, establishing a presence and building
the organisation’s reputation among students and faculty. Timely and frequent
dissemination of literature, the offer of internships and the award of prizes for academic
and/or social prowess help to advertise the organisation as a preferred place of
employment. Subsequent invitations to the organisation’s offices, made to students
identified as potential employees, may serve to solidify the firm’s image.
College recruitment is relatively expensive and time consuming for the recruiting
company. The process involves screening the candidate, that is, determining whether
he/she is worthy of further consideration and marketing the company as a preferred place
of employment.
An alternate strategy for college recruitment is the career planning workshop. These
activities are usually (but not exclusively) associated with adolescent school leavers.
They do not immediately produce ready candidates for the job market but provide the
opportunity for an organisation to present itself as an employer worthy of consideration.
Co-ordinators of career planning workshops co-opt professionals and organisations to
present career options to potential school leavers in a controlled setting so as to lay out
the range of possibilities to young job seekers. Career planning workshops are used
mainly as information-giving tools which the school leaver can use to make informed
career choices. Some organisations use the workshops as a base for internships.
The concept of a job fair is to bring those interested in finding a job into those companies
who are searching for applicants. Job fairs are open fora at which employers can
exhibit the best their companies have to offer so that job seekers can make informed
choices. They are considered one of the most effective ways for job seekers to land jobs.
At the job fair, employers have a large pool of candidates on which to draw, while job
seekers have the opportunity to shop around for dozens – sometimes hundreds – of
employers, all in one place.17
Notwithstanding the fact that the atmosphere at the fair is more relaxed than at an
interview, employers are still on the look out for qualified, potential employees who have
interest, dedication and initiative.
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WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS METHODS OF RECRUITMENT
A manager can recruit in two different ways:
1.Internal recruitment is when the business looks to fill the vacancy from within its existing workforce.
ADVANTAGES
-Cheaper and quicker to recruit
-People already familiar with the business and how it operates
-Provides opportunities for promotion with in the business – can be motivating
-Business already knows the strengths and weaknesses of candidates
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DISADVANTAGES
-Limits the number of potential applicants
-No new ideas can be introduced from outside the business
-May cause resentment amongst candidates not appointed
-Creates another vacancy which needs to be filled
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The four most popular ways of recruiting internally are:
1.WORD OF MOUTH.
2.INTERNAL REFERRALS.
3.INTERNAL CIRCULARS/ NEWLETTERS.
4.INTRANET.
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2.External recruitment is when the business looks to fill the vacancy from any suitable applicant outside the business.
ADVANTAGES
-Outside people bring in new ideas
-Larger pool of workers from which to find the best candidate
-People have a wider range of experience
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DISADVANTAGES
-Longer process
-More expensive process due to
advertisements and interviews required
-Selection process may not be effective enough to reveal the best candidate
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The four most popular ways of recruiting externally are:
Job centres - These are paid for by the government and are responsible for helping the unemployed find jobs or get training. They also provide a service for businesses needing to advertise a vacancy and are generally free to use.
Job advertisements - Advertisements are the most common form of external recruitment. They can be found in many places (local and national newspapers, notice boards, recruitment fairs) and should include some important information relating to the job (job title, pay package, location, job description, how to apply-either by CV or application form). Where a business chooses to advertise will depend on the cost of advertising and the coverage needed (i.e. how far away people will consider applying for the job
Recruitment agency - Provides employers with details of suitable candidates for a vacancy and can sometimes be referred to as ‘head-hunters’. They work for a fee and often specialise in particular employment areas e.g. nursing, financial services, teacher recruitment
Personal recommendation - Often referred to as ‘word of mouth’ and can be a recommendation from a colleague at work. A full assessment of the candidate is still needed however but potentially it saves on advertising cost.
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OTHER RECRUITMENT METHODS
1. E-recruitment
2. E-assessment
3.online recruitment and testing
4. Internet selection
5. The Internet, web-based testing,
6. integration of selection into human resource information systems
7. video-based tests
8. Competency-based selection
9. competency–based interviewing
10. competencies
11. competency management
12. competency-based assessment and development
. 13. job marketing
14. human resource marketing
15. employer brand marketing
16. USE of Emotional intelligence in the selection process
17. International selection PROCESS
18.expatriate selection PROCESS,
19. global SELCTION PROCESS
20. Specialisation of recruitment consultancy firms
21. OUTSOURCING OF RECRUITMENT
22.Use of multimedia. Increasingly, psychological tests and inventories are administered via computers
23.Multimedia tests, short videotaped work-related situations, which usually involve interactions with other people (e.g., customers, colleagues, and supervisor), are presented to candidates. The situation usually ‘freezes’ at an important moment, and candidates are asked to indicate how they would act if this were a real situation. Besides the insertion of audio and video, another important advantage of multimedia tests is that branching is possible. This means that the scene presented is contingent upon a candidate’s
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FIRST,
-review your corporate objectives [ short term/ long term {5 year} ]
-review your corporate strategies [ short term/ long term {5 year} ]
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-review your HR objectives [ short term/ long term {5 year} ]
-review your HR strategies [ short term/ long term {5 year} ]
THIS SHOULD BE ALIGNED WITH YOUR CORPORATE THINKING ]
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NOW PLAN TO DEVELOP YOUR RECRUITMENT OBJECTIVES.
THEN PLAN YOUR RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES.
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Both long and short term strategies will be needed to ensure effective talent recruitment. Short term strategies to explore include:
talent auditions
job fairs
tele-commuting, job sharing and part-time work to tap into the female labour force
incentives and contests for employee referrals
the use of web based resources such as job boards and job distribution services .
attracting media coverage and publicity by creating a unique corporate culture and environment where up and coming young professionals will want to work
increasing public exposure by making it possible for employees to participate in high profile activities even if means giving them some time off work
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