Human Resource

Management
(Lecture 7)

BSc. (Hons.) Applied Management

(2008-10)

RECRUITMENT
Lecture outline:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

What is recruitment
Recruitment Goals
Recruitment Sources
Develop a help wanted ad.
Explain how to recruit a more
diverse workforce.
Results of Inadequate
Recruitment
Legal Compliance

The Integrated HR
System
Organisational vision, mission, objectives
and strategy
HR strategy and policies
Human resource planning
Job analysis
Recruitment
Employee selection
Performance management

Training and
development

Remuneration and
other rewards

Discipline and
termination

Definitions
RECRUITMENT
THE PROCESS OF DISCOVERING
POTENTIAL JOB CANDIDATES.
The term recruitment refers to a
process of finding and attracting
applicants for employment. It is the
process of generating a pool of
capable people to apply for
employment to an organization.

RECRUITMENT GOAL
To communicate the position in such a
way that competent job seekers
respond
Process outcome: a pool of suitably
qualified candidates from which the
best person can be selected
The more applicants you have, the
more selective you can be in your
hiring

SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT
SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT

Internal Sources
Present Emloyee
Succession Planning
Transfers
Promotions
Demotion
Retired Employee
Re-hiring

External Sources
Advertisements
Educational Institutes
Placement Agencies /
Outsourcing
Employment Exchanges
Labor Contractors
Walk-ins
Employee Referrals
Job Fairs

Internal Sources of
Candidates

Advantages
Foreknowledge of candidates strengths and
weaknesses
More accurate view of candidates skills
Candidates have a stronger commitment to
the company
Increases employee morale
Less training and orientation required
Disadvantages
Failed applicants become discontented
Time wasted interviewing inside candidates
who will not be considered
7

External Sources of Candidates

1. Advertising
Selection of the best medium depends on the
positions for which the firm is recruiting.
(Examples of medium includes newspapers, trade
and professional journals, internet job sites)

Constructing an effective ad
Recruitment message must provide enough
information about the job that unqualified applicants
can identify themselves out of the job candidacy
Recruitment message must contain sufficient
information about the KSAs/competencies being
sought
8

External Sources of Candidates

(contd)
The Recruitment Message
Heading
Information on:
-

the job (realistic job preview?)

the company
the KSAs/competencies being sought
the inducements to be offered
the method of application
when applications are to be received

How all the above is presented

- colour, size, layout, graphics
9

10

Selected Recruitment Web Sites

Source: HR Magazine, November 2003.

11

External Sources of
Candidates (contd)
2. Employment Agencies
Types of employment agencies:
Public agencies operated by federal,
state, or local governments
Agencies associated with nonprofit
organizations
Privately owned agencies (Executive
recruiters or head hunters)
12

External Sources of Candidates

Reasons for using a (contd)
private employment agency:
When a firm doesnt have an HR department and is not
geared to doing recruiting and screening.
The firm has found it difficult in the past to generate a pool of
qualified applicants.
The firm must fill a particular opening quickly.
There is a perceived need to attract a greater number of
minority or female applicants.
The firm wants to reach currently employed individuals, who
might feel more comfortable dealing with agencies than with
competing companies.
The firm wants to cut down on the time its devoting to
recruiting.

13

External Sources of Candidates

(contd)

3.

College/University recruiting

On-site visits

Invitation letters
Assigned hosts
Information package
Planned interviews
Timely employment offer
Follow-up

Internships

14

4.

External Sources of
Candidates (contd)

Employee referrals

Applicants who are referred to the organization

by current employees
Referring employees become stakeholders.
Referral is a cost-effective recruitment program.
Referral can speed up diversifying the workforce

5.

Walk-ins
Direct applicants who seek employment with or
without encouragement from other sources.
Courteous treatment of any applicant is a good
business practice.

15

Recruiting a More Diverse

Workforce

Single parents

Providing work schedule flexibility.

Older workers
Revising polices that make it difficult or
unattractive for older workers to remain
employed.

Recruiting minorities and women

Understanding recruitment barriers.
Formulating recruitment plans.
Instituting specific day-to-day programs.
16

Recruiting a More Diverse

Workforce (contd)
Welfare-to-work
Developing pre-training programs to
overcome difficulties in hiring and
assimilating persons previously on
welfare.

The disabled
Developing resources and policies to
recruit and integrate disable persons
into the workforce.
517

Recruitment Monitoring &

Evaluation
Selection ratio - number of people
hired/number of suitable applicants attracted
Ratio of unsuitable applicants to suitable
ones
Cost-per-suitable applicant
Dropout rates
Time-to-selection interview

18

Ensuring Legal
Compliance
It is unlawful to make any enquiry of, or
about, an applicant, either by way of an
application form, or interview question, or
any other form of enquiry, that could be
reasonably understood to indicate an
intention to discriminate unlawfully
Recruitment advertisements therefore need
to avoid indicating an intention to commit
such an act
Unlawful dimensions of discrimination are as
per the Human Rights Act
19

Other legal issues

Privacy Act applications cannot request
information that will not be used for the
purposes of employee selection
Fair Trading Act - your company cannot
misrepresent itself through its job
advertising. There is potential for litigation
if candidates feel they have been lured
away from their previous jobs, or other
potential employment, by false promises.
Information conveyed regarding the
availability, nature, terms or conditions of
the job must not be misleading or deceptive
7-20

Costs of Poor Recruitment

1. Wasted time in processing poor
applications
2. Increased HR transaction costs
3. Poorer quality candidates for selection
4. Difficulties in removing poor hires
5. Higher training costs
6. Potential lost opportunity costs arising
from not having attracted the best
possible employees to work for you

21