COMMERCIAL STUDIES

CHAPTER 11: RECRUITMENT, SELECTION AND TRAINING

Class :10
2024-2025

Recruitment: Recruitment is a process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply
for jobs in the organization.

The purpose of recruitment is to attract a sufficiently large number of candidates so that the most suitable
persons can be selected.

Steps in the process of Recruitment

1. Identifying the sources from which candidates can be obtained.

2. Assessing the suitability of each source and choosing the best source.
3. Contacting the chosen source and encouraging them to apply for jobs.

Sources of Recruitment: The various sources employed for recruiting people may be classified into two
broad categories – Internal and External.

Internal Sources of Recruitment: When job vacancies are filled up from people already working in the
organization, it is called internal recruitment. There are two main sources of internal recruitment.

I. Promotion: Vacancies at higher levels may be filled up by promoting persons working at lower levels.
Promotion involves shifting an employee to a higher post carrying a higher status and more salary.
II. Transfers: Transfers means shifting an employee from one factory, branch or office to fill vacancy in
another factory, branch or office of the company. Transfer involves shifting an employee to a similar job
without change in the status and salary.

Internal recruitment offers the following advantages:

1) Filling vacancies for higher jobs by promoting employees from within the organization helps to
motivate and improve the morale of the employees. This includes loyalty among them.
2) Internal recruitment helps to minimize labour turnover and absenteeism.
3) It is a cheaper source of recruitment. Full information about the candidates is already available.
4) Candidates working in the organization do not require induction training. They are already familiar with
the organization and with the people working in it.

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Internal recruitment offers the following disadvantages:

1) There may be inbreeding as fresh talent from outside is not obtained. Internal candidates may not give
a new outlook and fresh ideas to business.
2) Unsuitable candidates may be promoted to positions of higher responsibility because the choice is
limited.
3) The employees may become lethargic if they are sure of time-bound promotions.
4) Internal recruitment cannot be a complete method in itself. The enterprise has to depend on external
recruitment at some stage because all vacancies cannot be filled from within the organization.

External Sources of Recruitment: When job vacancies are filled up from people outside the organization, it
is called external recruitment.

Various external sources of recruitment are given below:

1) Advertising: Advertising in newspapers and journals is the most widely used method of recruiting staff.
Advertising is a convenient and economical source of recruitment. It provides a large pool of candidates
from all parts of the country. The main disadvantage of advertising job vacancies is that it’s bring in a
flood of applications, many of which may be form unqualified candidates.

2) Employment Exchange: The Government of India has set up employment exchanges throughout the
country to tackle the unemployment problem. Employment exchanges carryout some screening so that the
employment get a list of qualified candidates. Employment exchanges are a good source of recruitment
for recruiting semi-skilled staff.

3) Placement Agencies: Several recruitment agencies like ABC Consultants, A.F. Ferguson Associates, S.B.
Billimora Co., etc., provide recruitment and selection services. The employer can hire such an agency to
do the complete job of recruitment. This source of recruitment is employed for recruitment of senior
managers and technicians.

4) Campus Interviews: Campus recruitment is very convenient and inexpensive. Well educated persons
become available very quickly without any advertisements. That is why campus recruitment has become
very popular, particularly in cases where prior job experience is not required.

5) Recommendations: Many family-owned concerns give preferences to the candidates recommended by

the employees as the later stand as sureties for the new recruits. Some organizations have agreements with
the trade unions to give preferences to relatives and friends of present or retired employees provided they
possess the necessary qualifications and experiences.

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 6) Causal Callers: Many well-reputed business organizations draw a steady stream of unsolicited applicants
in their offices. Such job seekers can be a valuable source of manpower. The advantage of this source of
recruitment is that it avoids the cost of recruitment from another sources.

7) Direct Recruitment or Recruitment at Factory Gate: Under this source of recruitment, a notice is
placed on the notice board of the enterprise specifying the details of the jobs available. The practice of
direct recruitment is followed usually for causal vacancies of unskilled or semi-skilled jobs.

8) Labour Contractors: Labour contractors maintain close contacts with labourers and they can provide the
required number of workers at short notice. Labour contractors constitute an important source of
recruitment in many industries in India. They are known as sardar, Thekedar, etc. The disadvantages of
this system is if the contractor decides to leave the enterprise, all the worker recruited through him also
leave the organization.
The popularity of this system of recruitment is declining in India.

Advantages and Disadvantages of External Sources of Recruitment

Advantages of External Sources

The advantages of using external sources of recruitment are as follows:

▪ Increased chances: It opens the organization up to a bigger pool of applicants, which increases its
possibility of finding the correct individual for the job. This increased chance provides better accessibility
of skilled and qualified employees for the company.

▪ Being fair: Since the competition is open and broad there is more chance for candidates where they can
apply for vacant positions in organizations. When vacancies are advertised widely, a large number of
applicants from outside the organization apply.

▪ Fresh Talent: External recruitment provides a wider choice and brings new blood into the organization.
Bringing in fresh talent from the outside can help inspire the present employees to generate and attain more
in hopes of obtaining the subsequently promotional opportunity.

▪ Competitive Spirit: If a company taps external sources, the existing staff will have to compete with the
outsiders. External recruitment provides an opportunity for a fresh attitude on the business that a company
may require to stay competitive.

▪ Lesser internal politics: In the external recruitment procedure, there is a very fewer risk that the candidate
might face internal politics of existing candidates.

▪ Ideas from other industries: Another smart issue that can be observed from candidates recruited from
external recruitment is that they offer exclusive and new ways which are followed in the opponent or other
companies they worked for.

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 Disadvantages of External Sources

▪ A limited understanding of the company: When an applicant is selected from an external recruitment
procedure, there is a chance that the candidate might have less chance of understanding the environment of
the company.

▪ Dissatisfaction among existing staff: External recruitment may lead to dissatisfaction and frustration
among existing employees. They may feel that their chances of promotion are reduced.

▪ Costly and lengthy process: It is very costly to recruit staff from external sources. A lot of money has to
be spent on advertisement and processing of applications. As most part of the external recruitment procedure
mostly deals with absolute new candidates then the companies need to come up with a pay scale for that
candidate who should value his/her ability and skill.

▪ Higher risk: There is an opportunity that the applicant selected for the post is not worthy of the position
offered and he/she can take advantage of their situation in the company.

▪ Invites unsuitable applicants: External advertising methods are something that happens in large scale
through print media and hence a huge number of applicants who are not fit for the job post are drawn in.

Methods of Recruitment: There are three broad methods of recruitment as follows:

1) Direct Recruitment: Direct recruitment is very convenient, time saving and economical. In this method
of recruitment, the employer directly approaches the principal/directors of the
educational/professional/technical institutions. This method is suitable for jobs which require higher
professional/technical qualifications.
2) Indirect Recruitment: Indirect recruitment is more time consuming and more expensive than direct
recruitment. This method of recruitment involves advertisements in newspapers, journals, radio and
television. However, indirect recruitment has a wider reach and can be used for all types of jobs.
3) Third Party Recruitment: In this method recruiters takes the help of Government-run employment
exchanges and private placement agencies. Whenever a firm asks for suitable candidates for a particular
job, the employment exchange prepares and send a list of the right candidates from its register. Labour
contractors and trade unions may also be approached in third party recruitment.

SELECTION : Selection is the process of carefully screening the candidates to choose the most suitable
persons for the job vacancies to be filled in.

It is an important function of personnel management. Once an adequate number of candidates becomes

available through recruitment, the process of selection begins. It is different from recruitment. It involves
eliminating unsuitable candidates. It helps to improve the efficiency of operations and the morale of
employees.

Selection is also called negative process because unsuitable candidates are eliminated or rejected in order to
identify the suitable candidates. The number of candidates rejected are more than those actually selected.

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Steps in Selection Process: Selection procedure is used for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not
candidates possess the qualifications required for the job. Each step in the selection procedure appropriate
should help in getting more and more information about the candidate. The following steps are used in the
selection of employees:

1) Preliminary Interview: This is essential to check whether the candidate fulfils the minimum
qualifications. The preliminary interview is generally quite brief. It aims to eliminate the totally unsuitable
candidates. It is beneficial to both the employer and the candidate.

2) Application Blank: Application form contains columns for name, age, address, education, work
experience etc. The application form should provide all the relevant information about the candidate and
yet be brief. It provides a detailed and permanent record about the candidate. Application blank also serves
as the basis for framing the questions to be asked during the interview.

3) Selection Tests: After scrutinizing the applications, a list of those candidates is prepared who will be
tested and interviewed. Individual differs in their physical and mental qualities. Various types of tests are
used to judge these qualities. Test are helpful in measuring a candidate’s suitability for the job and in
establishing standard of job performance.

4) Selection or Final Interview: It involves a face-to-face conversation between the employer and the
candidate. Interview is the most widely used step in employee section. Interview should be conducted in
a proper physical environment. The environment should be quiet and confidential. Therefore, candidates
should be put at ease.

5) Group Discussion: Group discussion is a useful mean of judging the leadership ability and social traits
of candidates. Group discussion is widely used to screen candidates for admission into management
schools. It is a useful device for selecting people when the job requires cooperation of several persons. It
can be used for selecting supervisors and executives who require social or human skills. It is more difficult
to administrate a group discussion than a structured interview.

6) Medical or Physical Examination: Candidates who are found suitable after interview are called for a
physical examination. A proper medical examination will also ensure that the candidates selected do not
suffer from any serious disease which may create problem in future.

7) Checking References: Every candidate is required to state in the application form the names and address
of a least two responsible persons who know him. The references may not give their frank opinion unless
a promise is made confidential. Information given by them may be biased in favour of the candidate.

8) Final Approach: The candidates who are found suitable for medical checkup are appointed by giving
appointment letters to them and are asked to join duty by the specified date. Candidates who give
satisfactory performance during the probationary period are made permanent.

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9) Placement: Selected candidates are put up or posted on appropriate jobs this is called placement. It is the
process of assigning specific jobs and work places to the selected candidates. It involves matching the
candidate and the job. While placing the employees, the requirements of both the organizations and the
candidates should be taken into consideration. Once the employees are selected and placed on jobs, they
need to be trained to make them efficient in performing the job.

Training: It is the process of increasing the job knowledge and skills of employees for the present job.

Methods of Training

I. On the job training: The trainee is placed on a regular job and taught the skills required to
perform the job. This method is convenient and inexpensive. A superior guides and supervises
the trainees under actual working conditions.

a. Job instruction method: also known as Step-by-step training

i) Prepare an instruction plan
ii) Present: tell, show, demonstrate and explain
iii) Try out: let the learners do the job and provide feedback
iv) Follow up: check progress and provide help

b. Apprenticeship training: the trainees learn by working with those who are already skilled in
their job. Its given for skilled trades like electrician, plumber etc. classroom training is given
first and then the trainees try out the job under the guidance of master worker.

c. Job rotation: this method involves the movement or transfer of the trainee from one job to
another. The work is of similar nature either in same department or different department. The
trainee gets job knowledge and gains experience.

II. Off the job training: The trainee is separated from the regular job and learns the skills related to
the job.

a. Classroom training: lectures, case studies and audio visual aids are used in the class room to
provide theoretical knowledge free form workplace disturbances.

b. Simulation exercises: trainee is placed in an artificial environment which closely resembles

the actual working conditions. Business games, role playing and sensitivity training are main
types of simulation exercises. These are usually short-structured learning experiences.

c. Vestibule training: In this method, a training centre called vestibule is set up. The equipment
and working conditions of the actual job place are reproduced or duplicated in the vestibule.
Expert trainers are employed to provide training. The trainees learn the job on the equipment
and machines which they will be using on the job. It is a very costly method. E.g: driving air
crafts for pilots.

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ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS

1. Distinguish between Recruitment and Selection.

2. Explain the different types of Selection tests.
3. State the objectives of training.
4. What are the objectives of the selection interview?
5. Give two benefits and drawbacks of selection interview.
6. Give two benefits and drawbacks of selection tests.
7. What is the ideal environment to conduct a selection interview?

INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDY THIS CHAPTER

• Please refer to the scope of syllabus and read your book for detailed information of the above topics.
• The length of the answer depends on the marks in the question paper and may not only be substituted
with what is mentioned in the notes.

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