RECRUITMENT

Introduction
Successful human resource planning should identify our human resource needs. Once we know
these needs, we will want to do something about meeting them. The next step in the acquisition
function, therefore, is recruitment. This activity makes it possible for us to acquire the number and
types of people necessary to ensure the continued operation of the organization.

Hallett says, “It is with people that quality performance really begins and ends.” Robert Heller
also says, “If people of poor calibre are hired, nothing much else can be accomplished and
Gresham’s law will work: the bad people will drive out the good or cause them to deteriorate.”

Recruiting is the discovering of potential candidates for actual or anticipated organizational

vacancies. Or, from another perspective, it is a linking activity-bringing together those with jobs
to fill and those seeking jobs.

Recruitment: Meaning and Definition

Recruitment forms a step in the process which continues with selection and ceases with the
placement of the candidate. It is the next step in the procurement function, the first being the
manpower planning. Recruiting makes it possible to acquire the number and types of people
necessary to ensure the continued operation of the organisation. Recruiting is the discovering of
potential applicants for actual or anticipated organisational vacancies.

According to Edwin B. Flippo, “Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective

employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organisation.”

According to Lord, “Recruitment is a form of competition. Just as corporations compete to

develop, manufacture, and market the best product or service, so they must also compete to
identify, attract and hire the most qualified people. Recruitment is a business, and it is a big
business.”

In the words of Dale Yoder, “ Recruiting is a process to discover the sources of manpower to
meet the requirements of the staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting
that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection of an efficient working
force.”

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 Human Resource
Planning

Job Analysis

Recruitment

Selection

Placement

Figure 4.1: Recruitment to Human Resource Acquisition Process

According to Werther and Davis, “Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting
capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruits are sought and ends
when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants form which new
employees are selected.”

Dales S. Beach writes, “Recruitment is the development and maintenance of adequate

manpower resources. It involves the creation of a pool of available labour upon whom the
organisation can depend when it needs additional employees.”

Thus, recruitment process is concerned with the identification of possible sources of human
resource supply and tapping those sources. In the total process of acquiring and placing human
resources in the organisation, recruitment falls in between different sub-processes as shown in
Figure 4.2.

According to Scott, Clothier and Spriegel the need for recruitment arises out of the following
situations: Vacancies created due to expansion, diversification, and growth of business.
• An increase in the competitive advantage of certain concerns, enabling them to get more
of the available business than formerly.
• An increase in business arising from an upswing during the recovery period of a business
cycle.

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 • Vacancies created due to transfer, promotion, retirement, termination, permanent
disability or death.
• The normal population growth, which requires increased goods and services to meet the
needs of the people.

• A rising standard of living, which requires more of the same goods and services as well
as the creation of new wants to be satisfied.

Process of Recruitment
Recruitment process passes through the following stages:
• Recruitment process begins when the personnel department receives requisitions for
recruitment from any department of the company, The personnel requisitions contain
details about the position to be filled, number of persons to be recruited, the duties to be
performed, qualifications expected from the candidates, terms and conditions of
employment and the time by which the persons should be available for appointment etc.
• Locating and developing the sources of required number and type of employees.
• Identifying the prospective employees with required characteristics.
• Developing the techniques to attract the desired candidates. The goodwill of an
organisation in the market may be one technique. The publicity about the company being
a good employer may also help in stimulating candidates to apply. There may be others
of attractive salaries, proper facilities for development etc.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of recruitment process.

According to Famularo, personnel recruitment process involves five elements, viz., a

recruitment policy, a recruitment organisation, a forecast of manpower, the development of
sources of recruitment, and different techniques used for utilising these sources, and a method of
assessing the recruitment programme. The explanation of these is described below:

1. Recruitment Policy: It specifies the objectives of recruitment and provides a framework for
the implementation of the recruitment programme. It also involves the employer’s commitment
to some principles as to find and employ the best qualified persons for each job, to retain the
most promising of those hired, etc. It should be based on the goals, needs and environment of the
organisation.

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 Figure 4.2 : Place of Recruitment in Selection System

2. Recruitment Organisation: The recruitment may be centralised like public sector banks
or decentralised. Both practices have their own merits. The choice between the two will depend
on the managerial philosophy and the particular needs of the organisation.

3. Sources of Recruitment: Various sources of recruitment may be classified as internal and

external. These have their own merits and demerits.

4. Methods of Recruitment: Recruitment techniques are the means to make contact with
potential candidates, to provide them necessary information and to encourage them to apply for
jobs.

5. Evaluation of Recruitment Programme: The recruitment process must be evaluated

periodically. The criteria for evaluation may consist of cost per applicant, the hiring ratio,
performance appraisal, tenure of stay, etc. After evaluation, necessary improvements should be
made in the recruitment programme.

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Recruitment Policy
As Yoder et al observe recruitment policy spells out the objectives of the recruitment and provides
a framework for implementations of the recruitment programme in the form of procedures. It
may involve a commitment to broad principles such as filling vacancies with the best qualified
individuals. The recruitment policy may embrace several issues such as the extent of promotion
from within, attitudes of enterprise in recruiting old, handicapped, and minor individuals,
minority group members, part-time employees and relatives of present employees.

Recruitment policy covers the following areas:

• To prescribe the degree of emphasis. Inside the organisation or outside the organisation.

• To provide the weightage that would be given to certain categories of people such as local
population, physically-handicapped personnel, personnel from scheduled castes/tribes and
other backward classes.

• To prescribe whether the recruitment would be centralised or decentralised at unit levels.

• To specify the degree of flexibility with regard to age, qualifications, compensation

structure and other service conditions.

• To prescribe the personnel who would be involved in recruitment process and the role of
human resource department in this regard.

• To specify the budget for meeting the expenditures incurred in completing the recruitment
process.

Prerequisites of a Good Recruitment Policy: The recruitment policy of an organisation must

satisfy the following conditions:

• It should be in conformity with its general personnel policies;

• It should be flexible enough to meet the changing needs of an organisation;

• It should be so designed as to ensure employment opportunities for its employees on a

long-term basis so that the goals of the organisation should be achievable; and it should
develop the potentialities of employees;

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 • It should match the qualities of employees with the requirements of the work for which
they are employed; and

• It should highlight the necessity of establishing job analysis.

Factor Affecting Recruitment

The factors affecting recruitment can be classified as internal and external factors.

The internal factors are:

• Wage and salary policies;

• The age composition of existing working force;

• Promotion and retirement policies;

• Turnover rates;

• The nature of operations involved the kind of personnel required;

• The level and seasonality of operations in question;

• Future expansion and reduction programmes;

• Recruiting policy of the organisation;

• Human resource planning strategy of the company;

• Size of the organisation and the number of employees employed;

Cost involved in recruiting employees, and finally;

• Growth and expansion plans of the organisation.

The external factors are:

• Supply and demand of specific skills in the labour market;

• Company’s image perception of the job seekers about the company.

• External cultural factors: Obviously, the culture may exert considerable check on
recruitment. For example, women may not be recruited in certain jobs in industry.

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• Economic factors: such as a tight or loose labour market, the reputation of the enterprise
in the community as a good pay master or otherwise and such allied issues which determine
the quality and quantity of manpower submitting itself for recruitment.

• Political and legal factors also exert restraints in respect of nature and hours of work for
women and children, and allied employment practices in the enterprise, reservation of Job
for SC, ST and so on.

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Sources of Recruitment
After the finalization of recruitment plan indicating the number and type of prospective candidates,
they must be attracted to offer themselves for consideration to their employment. This necessitates
the identification of sources from which these candidates can be attracted. Some companies try to
develop new sources, while most only try to tackle the existing sources they have. These sources,
accordingly, may be termed as internal and external.

Internal Sources

It would be desirable to utilise the internal sources before going outside to attract the candidates.
Yoder and others suggest two categories of internal sources including a review of the present
employees and nomination of candidates by employees. Effective utilisation of internal sources
necessitates an understanding of their skills and information regarding relationships of jobs. This
will provide possibilities for horizontal and vertical transfers within the enterprise eliminating
simultaneous attempts to lay off employees in one department and recruitment of employees with
similar qualification for another department in the company. Promotion and transfers within the
plant where an employee is best suitable improves the morale along with solving recruitment
problems. These measures can be taken effectively if the company has established job families
through job analysis programmes combining together similar jobs demanding similar employee
characteristics. Again, employees can be requested to suggest promising candidates. Sometimes,
employees are given prizes for recommending a candidate who has been recruited. Despite the
usefulness of this system in the form of loyalty and its wide practice, it has been pointed out that
it gives rise to cliques posing difficulty to management. Therefore, before utilising this system
attempts should be made to determine through research whether or not employees thus recruited
are effective on particular jobs. Usually, internal sources can be used effectively if the numbers of
vacancies are not very large, adequate, employee records are maintained, jobs do not demand
originality lacking in the internal sources, and employees have prepared themselves for
promotions.

Merits of Internal Sources: The following are the merits of internal sources of recruitment:

• It creates a sense of security among employees when they are assured that they would be
preferred in filling up vacancies.

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 It improves the morale of employees, for they are assured of the fact that they would be
preferred over outsiders when vacancies occur.
• It promotes loyalty and commitment among employees due to sense of job security and
opportunities for advancement.
• The employer is in a better position to evaluate those presently employed than outside
candidates. This is because the company maintains a record of the progress, experience
and service of its employees.
• Time and costs of training will be low because employees remain familiar with the
organisation and its policies.
• Relations with trade unions remain good. Labour turnover is reduced. As the persons in
the employment of the company are fully aware of, and well acquainted wit, its policies
and know its operating procedures, they require little training, and the chances are that they
would stay longer in the employment of the organisation than a new outsider would.
• It encourages self-development among the employees. It encourages good individuals who
are ambitious.
• It encourages stability from continuity of employment.
• It can also act as a training device for developing middle and top-level managers.

Demerits of Internal Sources: However, this system suffers from certain defects as:

• There are possibilities that internal sources may “dry up”, and it may be difficult to find
the requisite personnel from within an organisation.
• It often leads to inbreeding, and discourages new blood from entering and organisation.
• As promotion is based on seniority, the danger is that really capable hands may not be
chosen. The likes and dislikes of the management may also play an important role in the
selection of personnel.
• Since the learner does not know more than the lecturer, no innovations worth the name can
be made. Therefore, on jobs which require original thinking (such as advertising, style,
designing and basic research), this practice is not followed.

This source is used by many organisations; but a surprisingly large number ignore this source,
especially for middle management jobs.

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External Sources

DeCenzo and Robbins remark, “Occasionally, it may be necessary to bring in some ‘new blood’
to broaden the present ideas, knowledge, and enthusiasm.” Thus, all organisations have to depend
on external sources of recruitment. Among these sources are included:

• Employment agencies.
• Educational and technical institutes. and
• Casual labour or “applicants at the gate” and nail applicants.

Public and private employment agencies play a vital role in making available suitable employees
for different positions in the organisations. Besides public agencies, private agencies have
developed markedly in large cities in the form of consultancy services. Usually, these agencies
facilitate recruitment of technical and professional personnel. Because of their specialisation, they
effectively assess the needs of their clients and aptitudes and skills of the specialised personnel.
They do not merely bring an employer and an employee together but computerise lists of available
talents, utilising testing to classify and assess applicants and use advanced techniques of vocational
guidance for effective placement purposes.

Educational and technical institutes also form an effective source of manpower supply. There
is an increasing emphasis on recruiting student from different management institutes and
universities commerce and management departments by recruiters for positions in sales,
accounting, finance, personnel and production. These students are recruited as management
trainees and then placed in special company training programmes. They are not recruited for
particular positions but for development as future supervisors and executives. Indeed, this
source provides a constant flow of new personnel with leadership potentialities. Frequently,
this source is tapped through on-campus interview with promising students. In addition,
vocational schools and industrial training institutes provide specialised employees,
apprentices, and trainees for semiskilled and skilled jobs. Persons trained in these schools and
institutes can be placed on operative and similar jobs with a minimum of in-plant training.
However, recruitment of these candidates must be based on realistic and differential standards
established through research reducing turnover and enhancing productivity.

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Frequently, numerous enterprises depend to some extent upon casual labour or “applicants at
the gate” and nail applicants. The candidates may appear personally at the company’s
employment office or send their applications for possible vacancies. Explicitly, as Yoder and
others observe, the quality and quantity of such candidates depend on the image of the
company in community. Prompt response to these applicants proves very useful for the
company. However, it may be noted that this source is uncertain, and the applicants reveal a
wide range of abilities necessitating a careful screening. Despite these limitations, it forms a
highly inexpensive source as the candidates themselves come to the gate of the company.
Again, it provides measures for good public relations and accordingly, all the candidates
visiting the company must be received cordially.

Table 4.1 : Recruiting Sources Used by Skill and Level

Skill/Level Recruiting Source Percentage of Use

Unskilled and Semiskilled Informal contacts 85
Walk-ins 74
Public Employment Agencies 66

Skilled Informal Contacts 88

Walk-ins 66
Public Employment Agencies 55
Professional Employees Internal Search 94
Informal Contacts 92
Walk-ins 71
Public Employment Agencies 52
Private Employment Agencies 22

Managerial Level Internal Search 100

Informal Contacts 71
Walk-ins 31
Private Employment Agencies 20
Public Employment Agencies 12
Source: Adapted from Stephen L. Mangum, “Recruitment and job Search: The Recruitment Tactics
of Employers. “Personnel Administrator, June 1982, p. 102.

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As Jucius observes, trade unions are playing an increasingly important role in labour supply.
In several trades, they supply skilled labour in sufficient numbers. They also determine the
order in which employees are to be recruited in the organisation. In industries where they do
not take active part in recruitment, they make it a point that employees laid off are given
preference in recruitment.

Application files also forms a useful source of supply of work force. Attempts may be made
to review the application to determine jobs for which the candidates filed for future use when
there are openings in these jobs. The candidates may be requested to renew their cards as many
times as they desire. All the renewed cards may be placed in “active” files and those not
renewed for considerable time may be placed in “inactive” file or destroyed. Indeed, a well-
indexed application file provides utmost economy from the standpoint of a recruiting budget.

Efficacy of alternative sources of supply of human resources should be determined through

research. Attempts may be made to relate the factor of success on the job with a specific source
of supply. Alternative sources can also be evaluated in terms of turnover, grievances and
disciplinary action. Those sources which are significantly positively related with job
performance and significantly negatively related with turnover, grievances and disciplinary
action, can be effectively used in recruitment programmes. The assessment should be
periodically performed in terms of occupations. It may be that source “A” is most effective
for technical workers, while source “B” for semiskilled workers.

Advantages of External Recruitment: External sources of recruitment are suitable for the
following reasons:

• It will help in bringing new ideas, better techniques and improved methods to the
organisation.
• The cost of employees will be minimised because candidates selected in this
method will be placed in the minimum pay scale.
• The existing employees will also broaden their personality.
• The entry of qualitative persons from outside will be in the interest of the
organisation in the long run.

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 • The suitable candidates with skill, talent, knowledge are available from external
sources.
• The entry of new persons with varied expansion and talent will help in human
resource mix.

Disadvantages of External Sources:

• Orientation and training are required as the employees remain unfamiliar with the
organisation.
• It is more expensive and time-consuming. Detailed screening is necessary as very
little is known about the candidate.
• If new entrant fails to adjust himself to the working in the enterprise, it means yet
more expenditure on looking for his replacement.
• Motivation, morale and loyalty of existing staff are affected, if higher level jobs
are filled from external sources. It becomes a source of heart-burning and
demoralisation among existing employees.
Methods of Recruitment
Methods of recruitment are different from the sources of recruitment. Sources are the locations
where prospective employees are available. On the other hand, methods are way of
establishing links with the prospective employees. Various methods employed for recruiting
employees may be classified into the following categories:

1. Direct Methods:

These include sending recruiters to educational and professional institutions, employees,

contacts with public, and manned exhibits. One of the widely used direct methods is that of
sending of recruiters to colleges and technical schools. Most college recruiting is done in co-
operation with the placement office of a college. The placement office usually provides help
in attracting students, arranging interviews, furnishing space, and providing student resumes.

For managerial, professional and sales personnel campus recruiting is an extensive operation.
Persons reading for MBA or other technical diplomas are picked up in this manner. For this
purpose, carefully prepared brochures, describing the organisation and the jobs it offers, are
distributed among students, before the interviewer arrives. Sometimes, firms directly solicit

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information from the concerned professors about students with an outstanding record. Many
companies have found employees contact with the public a very effective method. Other direct
methods include sending recruiters to conventions and seminars, setting up exhibits at fairs,
and using mobile offices to go to the desired centres.

Table 4.2: Methods of Contacting Prospective Candidates

Based on personnel to be recruited

Managerial/technical personnel Operative personnel

Advertisement Public employment exchanges
Internet Labour unions
Walk-ins Employee referrals
Campus recruitments Gate hiring
Job fairs Labour contractors
Consultancy firms
Personnel contacts
Poaching and raiding
Based on the movement of the organisation

Direct methods Third party method

Advertisement Consultancy firms
Internet recruiting Public employment exchanges
Campus recruitment Labour unions
Job fairs Employee referrals
Personnel contacts Labour contractors
Gate hiring

2. Indirect Methods:

The most frequently used indirect method of recruitment is advertisement in newspapers,

journals, and on the radio and television. Advertisement enables candidates to assess their
suitability. It is appropriate when the organisation wants to reach out to a large target group
scattered nationwide. When a firm wants to conceal its identity, it can give blind advertisement

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in which only box number is given. Considerable details about jobs and qualifications can be
given in the advertisements. Another method of advertising is a notice-board placed at the gate
of the company.

3. Third-Party Methods:

The most frequently used third-party methods are public and private employment agencies.
Public employment exchanges have been largely concerned with factory workers and clerical
jobs. They also provide help in recruiting professional employees. Private agencies provide
consultancy services and charge a fee. They are usually specialised for different categories of
operatives, office workers, salesmen, supervisory and management personnel. Other third-
party methods include the use of trade unions. Labourmanagement committees have usually
demonstrated the effectiveness of trade unions as methods of recruitment.

Several criteria discussed in the preceding section for evaluating sources of applicants can
also be used for assessing recruiting methods. Attempts should be made to identify how the
candidate was attracted to the company. To accomplish this, the application may consist of an
item as to how the applicant came to learn about the vacancy. Then, attempts should be made
to determine the method which consistently attracts good candidates. Thus, the most effective
method should be utilised to improve the recruitment programme.

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