Recruitment: Finding the Right Candidates

Human resource management Chapter 6- Recruitment notes Recruitment Process of identifying potential employees, communicating job and organizational attributes to them, and convincing them to apply for available jobs Focuses on finding a sufficient number of qualified applicants to choose from All the activities involved in sourcing potential candidates, short of selection (the next step in hiring). Everything employer does to create pull- short of selection Common problems Not enough applicants Not right people Too many- not qualified applicants Don’t know how to screen them Best practices in recruitment Understand WHY the firm is recruiting and type of employees needed Identify best sources for finding qualified applicants Craft a clear and compelling recruitment message Clarify role and importance of recruiters in attracting qualified applicants Internal Recruiting Process of seeking applicants from within the firm using: Job postings Employee inventories Advantages and disadvantages of using the internal labor market to fill positions Guidelines of Successful Internal Recruiting 1. Develop and communicate job pathways for promotions and lateral moves within the company 2. Develop a process for job posting that is accessible to all employees 3. Ensure job advertisements clearly communicate job requirements and expectations 4. Use employee records to identify potential candidates for open positions and invite them to apply 5. Folly up with an internal applicants to acknowledge their applicants and keep them informed of the progress of the search 6. Treat internal candidates with the same level of care that you treat external candidates External Recruitment Process of recruiting employees from outside the organization Requires identifying the relevant labor market (RLM) The regional area from which a company can find a sufficient number of qualified applicants Companies use various methods to source candidates External Recruitment Methods Advertising Educational Institutions Career fairs Professional associations Corporate website Online job boards Employee referrals Sourcing passive candidates Employment agencies and employee search firms (i.e. headhunters- not the lice cleaning service I use for my kids… occasionally) Types of Employment Agencies and Search Firms Public Employment Agency- affiliated with U.S. Department of Labor; assists job seekers with career services and placement and employers with finding applicants; services are free Private employment agency- provides job search assistance for a fee paid either by company or individual Contingency Recruiting Agency- agency gets paid a flat fee or percentage of new hire’s first year salary by employer when search is successful Retained agency (also executive search firm or headhunter)- employer pays a retainer for agency to conduct a search with fee paid out at conclusion of predetermined steps; searches are usually for high level executives On-demand recruiting service- service gets paid based on time spent rather than amount per hire Recruitment process outsourcing (RPOs)- employer contracts with RPO for on to four years to deliver specified recruitment functions for a base monthly fee determined by the number of searches and related services provided Advantages and Disadvantages of Internal and External Recruiting Internal Recruiting Advantages More cost-effective Existing employees know company operations and culture Advancement opportunities motivate employees Performance data available for applicants Disadvantages Creates new vacancy Employees too entrenched in current operations and culture to make needed changes Employees not selected may become problematic and/or leave Existing employees may not have needed skills External Recruiting Advantages Brings new ideas into company Employees who will help change the culture can be recruited Can be in needed skills Opportunity to change diversity profile of the firm Disadvantages More expensive than internal recruiting New hires have to learn company operations and culture Lack of performance data Existing employees not selected may be resentful