What is the Recruitment Process?

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Understanding and Learn, What is the Recruitment Process?

It is very important for an employer to design a recruitment process for hiring the best professionals within a given time frame. The Recruitment Process is explained in the few steps involved as follows: Recruitment Planning, Strategy Development, Searching, Screening, and Evaluation & Control. Though the process of recruitment may differ from organization to organization, it has more or less similar steps. Also learn, What is the Recruitment Process?

What is recruitment? In Human Resource Management, “recruitment” is the process of finding and renting the best and most qualified candidate for opening a job at a time and cost-effectively. It can also be defined as “the process of looking for potential employees and encouraging and encouraging them to apply for jobs in an organization”. This is a complete process, with a full life cycle, that starts with the identification of the company’s needs in relation to the job, and the organization ends with the introduction of the employee.

Recruitment refers to the process of identifying and attracting job seekers so as to build a pool of qualified job applicants.

The recruitment process comprises a few interrelated stages, viz,

Planning.
Strategy development.
Searching.
Screening.
Evaluation and control.

The ideal recruitment programme is the one that attracts a relatively larger number of qualified applicants who will survive the screening process and accept positions with the organization when offered. Also, Recruitment programmes can miss the ideal in many ways i.e. by failing to attract an adequate applicant pool, by under/overselling the organization or by inadequate screening applicants before they enter the selection process.

Thus, to approach the ideal, individuals responsible for the recruitment process must know how many and what types of employees are needed, where and how to look for the individuals with the appropriate qualifications and interests, what inducement to use for various types of applicants groups, how to distinguish applicants who are qualifying from those who have a reasonable chance of success and how to evaluate their work.

1. Recruitment Planning:

The first step involved in the recruitment process is planning. Here, planning involves to draft a comprehensive job specification for the vacant position, outlining its major and minor responsibilities; the skills, experience, and qualifications needed; grade and level of pay; starting date; whether temporary or permanent; and mention of special conditions, if any, attached to the job to be filled ”

The first stage in the recruitment process is planning. Planning involves the translation of likely job vacancies and information about the nature of these jobs into set the of objectives or targets that specify the (1) Numbers, and (2) Types of applicants to be contacted.

Numbers of contact: Organization, nearly always, plan to attract more applicants than they will hire. Some of those contacted will uninterest, unqualified or both. Each time a recruitment Programme is contemplated, one task is to estimate the number of applicants necessary to fill all vacancies with the qualified people.

Types of contacts: It is basically concerned with the types of people to information about job openings. As well as, The type of people depends on the tasks and responsibilities involving and the qualifications and experience expected. These details are available through job the description and job specification.

2. Strategy Development:

When it is estimated that what types of recruitment and how many are required then one has concentrated on (1) Make or Buy employees, (2) Technological sophistication of recruitment and selection devices, (3) Geographical distribution of labour markets comprising job seekers, (4) Sources of recruitment, (5) Sequencing the activities in the recruitment process.

Once it is known how many with what qualifications of candidates are required, the next step involved in this regard is to devise a suitable strategy for recruiting the candidates in the organization. The strategic considerations to be considered may include issues like whether to prepare the required candidates themselves or hire it from outside, what type of recruitment method to be used, what geographical area be considered for searching the candidates, which source of recruitment to be practiced, and what sequence of activities to be followed in recruiting candidates in the organisation.

‘Make’ or ‘Buy’: Organisation must decide whether to hire less skilled employees and invest in training and education programmes, or they can hire skilled labor and professional. Essentially, this is the ‘make’ or ‘buy’ decision. Organizations, which hire skilled and professionals shall have to pay more for these employees.

Technological Sophistication: The second decision in strategy development relates to the methods used in recruitment and selection. This decision is mainly influenced by the available technology. The advent of computers has made it possible for employers to scan national and international applicant qualification. Although impersonal, computers have given employers and job seekers a wider scope of options in the initial screening stage.

Where to look: In order to reduce the costs, organizations look into labor markets most likely to offer the required job seekers. Generally, companies look into the national market for managerial and professional employees, regional or local markets for technical employees and local markets for the clerical and blue-collar employees.

When to look: An effective recruiting strategy must determine when to look-decide on the timings of events besides knowing where and how to look for job applicants.

3. Searching:

Source Activation: Typically, sources and search methods are activating by the issuance of an employee requisition. This means that no actual recruiting takes place until lone managers have verified that vacancy does exist or will exist. Also, If the organization has planned well and done a good job of developing its sources and search methods, activation soon results in a flood of applications and/or resumes. The application received must screen. Those who pass have to contact and invited for the interview. Unsuccessful applicants must be sent the letter of regret.

Selling: A second issue to address in the searching process concerns communications. Here, the organization walks the tightrope. On one hand, they want to do whatever they can to attract desirable applicants. On the other hand, they must resist the temptation of overselling their virtues. In selling the organization, both the message and the media deserve attention. As well as, Message refers to the employment advertisement. With regards to media, it may state that the effectiveness of any recruiting message depends on the media. Media are several-some have low credibility, while others enjoy high credibility. Selection of medium or media needs to do with a lot of care.

4. Screening:

Screening of applicants can regard as an integral part of the recruiting process, though many view it as the first step in the selection process. Even the definition of recruitment, we quoted at the beginning of this chapter, excludes screening from its scope. However, we have included screening in recruitment for valid reasons. The selection process will begin after the applications have been scrutinizing and short-listing.

The hiring of professors in a university is a typical situation. Application receiving in response to advertisements is screened and only eligible applicants are called for an interview. Also, A selection committee comprising the Vice-chancellor, Registrar, and subject experts conducts the interview. Here, the recruitment process extends up to screening the applications. The selection process commences only later.

Though some view screening as the starting point of selection, we have considered it as an integral part of recruitment. The reason being the selection process starts only after the applications have been screened and shortlisted. Let it be exemplified with an example.

In the Universities, applications are invited for filling the post of Professors. Applications received in response to the invitation, i.e., advertisement are screened and shortlisted on the basis of eligibility and suitability. Then, only the screened applicants are invited for a seminar presentation and personal interview. The selection process starts from here, i.e., seminar presentation or interview.

Job specification is invaluable in screening. Applications are screened against the qualification, knowledge, skills, abilities, interest, and experience mentioned in the job specification. Those who do not qualify are straightway eliminated from the selection process.

The techniques used for screening candidates vary depending on the source of supply and method used for recruiting. Preliminary applications, de-selection tests, and screening interviews are common techniques used for screening the candidates.

Purpose of screening:

The purpose of screening is to remove from the recruitment process, at an early stage, those applicants who are visibly unqualified for the job. Effective screening can save a great deal of time and money. Care must exercise, however, to assure that potentially good employees are not rejecting without justification.

Also, in screening, clear job specifications are invaluable. It is both good practice and a legal necessity that applicant’s qualification is judged on the basis of their knowledge, skills, abilities, and interest required to do the job.

The techniques used to screen applicants vary depending on the candidate sources and recruiting methods used. Interview and application blanks may use to screen walk-ins. Campus recruiters and agency representatives use interviews and resumes. Reference checks are also useful in screening.

5. Evaluation and Control:

Evaluation and control are necessary as considerable costs are incurred in the recruitment process. The costs generally incurred are: –

Salaries for recruiters.
Management and professional time spent on preparing job description, job specifications, advertisements, agency liaison and so forth.
The cost of advertisements or other recruitment methods, that is agency fees.
Recruitment overheads and administrative expenses.
Costs of overtime and outsourcing while the vacancies remain unfilled.
Cost of recruiting unsuitable candidates for the selection process.

Evaluation of recruitment process:

The recruitment has the objective of searching for and obtaining applications for job seekers in sufficient number and quality. Keeping this objective in the mind, the evaluation might include:

The return rate of application sent out.
A number of suitable candidates for selection.
Retention and performance of the candidates selected.
Cost of the recruitment process.
Time lapsed data.
Comments on the image projected.

In view of above, it is necessary for a prudent employer to try to answer certain questions like whether the recruitment methods are appropriate and valid? And whether the recruitment process followed in the organization is effective at all or not? In case the answers to these questions are in negative, the appropriate control measures need to be evolved and exercised to tide over the situation.

However, such an exercise seems to be only rarely carried out in practice by the organization’s employers. Having discussed the recruitment process, it will be now relevant to have an idea about recruitment practices in India. The following section delineates the same.

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