Effective staff resourcing and being able to retain key positions is an essential part of any organization’s success. Without the right people in the right roles feeling motivated and supported to do their best, even the most well-funded organization will soon fail. Recruitment refers to the search for a prospective employee best suited to the job requirement as represented by job specifications.
This first stage in selection makes the vacancies and the opportunities that the organization offers known to a large number of people. Recruitment, in layman’s terms, can be defined as the development and maintenance of adequate workforce resources. It involves the creation of a pool of available labor upon which the organization can depend when it needs additional employees. A more technical definition, however, puts it as the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs within an organization.
SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT
Varied scouting sources are available for attracting the right prospective personnel into an organization, but generally, two main sources have been applicable over the years.
INTERNAL: This type of recruitment normally takes place within the organization; it’s often not open to outsiders to apply for these roles. They normally take the form of promotions, reassignments, and transfers. When such positions become vacant, employees are mostly accorded the first right of refusal before looking outside the organization in the unlikely event that nobody qualifies from within. Internal recruitment procedures are also one of the ways that organizations motivate their employees to give their best effort. Successful applicants in an internal recruitment effort also go through the normal routine of shortlisting and participating in an interview and selection process.
EXTERNAL: External recruitment refers to the practice of scouting for suitable candidates outside of the work environment. This method is mostly applicable for positions where no candidate within an organization fits the requirements for that particular job. It is also used to bring totally new employees on board when companies open new business outlets or are hit by resignations on a large scale.
Some sources of external recruitment are:
- Direct Recruitment
- Casual Calling or Unsolicited Applications
- Media Advertisement
- Management Consultants
- Recruitment from an Educational Institution or Campus
- Recommendations
- Labor Contractors
- Raiding
MERITS OF EXTERNAL SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT
1. Because the company has a wide pool of applicants to choose from, it is able to attract the most qualified candidate for the job, unlike using the internal source where the selection is mostly limited to the few shortlisted applicants.
2. External recruitment brings in fresh talent with new ideas and solutions for the organization’s development.
3. The competitive spirit under which external recruitment takes place improves the quality of the whole process.
DEMERITS OF EXTERNAL SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT
1. It has the tendency to cause dissatisfaction among existing staff, especially if it is a promotional vacancy that is being filled.
2. It is usually a lengthy and cumbersome procedure.
3. It is often a capital-intensive venture procedure that may sometimes involve the cost of organizing aptitude tests, interview sessions, background checks, etc. In the internal recruitment process that involves already known faces, employers do not have to go through any rigorous and costly procedures.
4. Uncertainties surrounding the external recruitment process lend themselves to a situation where much effort and resources would have to be deployed in conducting background checks for successful candidates.
SELECTION
Selection is very much an important part of the recruitment process. This refers to the process of choosing people by obtaining and assessing information about the applicant (e.g., age, qualification, experience, and other qualities) with the aim of matching them with the job requirements and choosing the most suitable candidate samong them. The choices are often made by eliminating unsuitable candidates at successive stages of the selection process. The purpose of selection is to pick the best applicant available who would most strongly match the requirements of the job and the organization.
SELECTION CRITERIA: This is mostly based on how an applicant is rated in determining the most suitable candidate. The key dimensions identified in a job analysis and job description provide the basis for determining the relevant criteria. The most time-tested process of conducting effective selection over the years has been through interviews. Interview methods afford the selection panel the opportunity to ascertain the candidate’s suitability through parameters such as educational qualifications, technical skills, and achievements.
The interview is an oral examination of candidates for employment, and interviews usually take place at two crucial stages in the selection process: the beginning and the end. Interviews are mostly based on a checklist of what to look out for in a candidate. Because it is a process meant to select the most qualified candidates for a specific role, the interview panel should be made up of level-headed and objective resource personnel who are able to make an accurate assessment of the successful candidates.
The panel must pay close attention to the following parts of the process:
- Using past behaviors to predict future behaviors and obtain additional information to attempt such linkages more successfully.
- Proper coordination between the initial and subsequent interviews.
- The interview, however stressful, should be related to exactly the role cut out for the candidate.
Author:
Phidelia Johnson is a global Human Resources Practitioner with eighteen years of leadership success. With a focus on streamlining Human Resources administration, she’s well-equipped to find the right solution to a myriad of concerns. Her experience as a commercial business leader gives her a unique ability to advocate for both the employer and the employee.
In her down time, Phidelia is a master of her kitchen, creating wonderful dishes filled with passion and flavor. If she’s not cooking delicious food, she’s stretched out with a good book. She hopes to use her experience to help others, guide company leaders to best practices, and help build better professionals and stronger organizations.