Recruitment

Identifying Vacancy

The first and foremost process of recruitment plan is

identifying
the vacancy. This process begins with receiving the
requisition
for recruitments from different department of the
organization to
• the HR Department, which contains − Number of
posts to be filled Number of positions
• Duties and responsibilities to be performed 
Qualification and experience required
 Job Analysis
• Job analysis is a process of identifying,
analyzing, and determining the duties,
responsibilities, skills, abilities, and work
environment of a specific job. These factors
help in identifying what a job demands and
what an employee must possess in performing
a job productively.
• Recording and collecting job information
Accuracy in checking the job information
• Generating job description based on the
information
• Determining the skills, knowledge and skills,
which are required for the job
• The immediate products of job analysis are job
descriptions and job specifications.
 Job Description
• Job description provides information about the
scope of job roles,
• responsibilities and the positioning of the job in
the organization.
• And this data gives the employer and the
organization a clear
• idea of what an employee must do to meet the
requirement of his
• job responsibilities.
 Elements of Job Description
• Job Title
• Job Identification
• Organization Position
• Job Location
• Summary of Job  Job Duties  Machines,
Materials and Equipment  Process of
Supervision  Working Conditions  Health
Hazards
 Elements of Job Specification
•  Qualification
• Experiences
• Training and development
• Skills requirements
• Work responsibilities Emotional
characteristics
• Planning of career
 Job Specification

• Job specification focuses on the specifications

of the candidate, whom the HR team is going
to hire. The first step in job specification is
preparing the list of all jobs in the organization
and its locations. The second step is to
generate the information of each job.
 Recruitment
• According to Flippo, “Recruitment is the process of
searching for prospective employees and stimulating &
encouraging them to apply for jobs in an organisation.”

• According to Yoder, “Recruitment 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 workforce.”
• Recruitment begins with publicising information
about jobs and ends when job applications are
collected. The result of recruitment process is a
number of qualified applicants from which the most
eligible candidate can be selected.

• Recruitment is called as a positive process because in

recruitment, efforts are made to invite more and
more applications. Recruitment brings together
employer and applicants.
 Recruitment process involves following
steps:
• (a) Identifying the need of human resource in
organisation.

• (b) Identifying the sources of supply of human

resource in adequate number and of right kind.

• (c) Advertising information about job vacancies.

• (d) Evaluating various sources of supply of
human resource and selecting best one.

• (e) Receiving the applications.

 Sources or Methods of Recruitment
• Internal Sources of Recruitment
i. Transfer:

It involves transfer of human resource from the

department, branch, office in which their supply is
excess to the department, branch, office in which their
demand is excess. Transfer involves only a change of
place of job, not the status or level. For example,
transfer of excess workers from production
department to sales department.
• ii. Promotion:

• In promotion, the vacancies are filled by

promoting the human resources working at
lower level. For example, when GM retires, one
of departmental heads may be promoted to the
post of GM. Promotion involves increase in
responsibility, increase in status and salary.
Promotion is based on efficiency and experience.
• iii. Demotion:

• Demotion is exactly opposite to promotion. If the

employee does not perform his task efficiently, he
may be demoted to lower level job and a vacancy
at lower level may be filled. Demotion involves
decrease in responsibility, decrease in status and
salary. For example, a departmental manager may
be demoted to the post of deputy departmental
manager.
• iv. Retired and Retrenched Employees:
Employees who have retired or have been
retrenched may be recruited again in case of
requirement on temporary or permanent basis.
 Advantages of Internal Sources
• (a) Increase in motivation and morale of employees.

• (b) Employee commitment.

• (c) Low cost of recruitment, training and orientation.

• (d) Trade unions prefer this method.

• (e) Reduced labour turnover.

• (f) Less time consuming.

• (g) Easy adjustment in new jobs.

Disadvantages of Internal Sources
• (a) The decision may be biased.

• (b) Morale of those not promoted decreases.

• (c) Lack of new- ideas because entry of new employees

is restricted by this method.

• (d) This source cannot be used for all vacancies.

• (e) New enterprises cannot use this method.

 External sources of recruitment
• Advertisement:
It refers to advertising the job in newspapers,
journals, radio, etc. Through this method,
candidates spread over a wide area can be
approached. Information about the job
description and job specification can also be
given in advertisement so that only those
candidates, who are eligible for job, can apply
for it.
• ii. Casual Callers:

• In case of companies or organisation, having a very

good corporate image, people on their own initiative,
apply for jobs in such companies in personal or by mail.

• Such applications are known as unsolicited application.

A file of such applications is maintained. Whenever the
need arises, the candidates from these applications
may be selected.
• iii. Employment Exchange:
Employment exchanges in the country are run by
government and government has made it mandatory
for employers to fill some vacancies through these
methods.
• Unemployed persons can enroll themselves in these
employment exchanges, from where they can be
recruited in the organisations. Thus employment
exchanges play an important role in bringing
employer and employee together
• iv. Placement Agencies:
These are private organisations which act as a
mediator between employer and employee.
Employers hire placement agencies for
recruitment. The employer saves his time by
getting this work done from experts. Placement
agencies charge substantial fee for it. This
method is used to fill the higher level vacancies.
• v. Direct Recruitment:
It is also known as recruitment at factory gate. In
this method, a notice is displayed on the notice
board regarding vacancies, eligibility, date of
selection, etc. Prospective employees gather
outside the premises on specified date and
selection is made on the spot. Unskilled or semi-
skilled workers are recruited through this
method
• vi. Campus Placement:
Campus placement is very popular mode of
recruitment these days. Every student wants to
get recruited from campus so that he does not
have to struggle for getting the job. For campus
placement, organisations approach, the
placement cell of institutions or universities and
select the students for recruitment before they
leave the institution
• vii. Recommendations:
In this method of external recruitment, persons
who are recommended by present employers
are recruited. Friends and relatives of present
employees are good source of recruitment as
their background is known to some extent.
Recruitment, through this method also satisfies
the employees and trade unions.
• viii. Labour Contractors:
Labour contractors have close contacts with
labourers and they can supply the labourers at short
notice. An employee may also be a labour contractor.
Through this method unskilled or semi-skilled
workers can be recruited. Limitation of this method
is, if labour contractor leaves the organisation;
employees recruited through him also leave the
organisation. Due to this limitation, usage of this
method is declining.
• ix. Management Consultants:
These are also known as ‘Head Hunters’. They
maintain a database of people who can be
employed in various organisations. Database
consists of information like personal details,
educational details and experience of people.
• x. Web Publishing:

• In this method, recruitment is done through internet. Some websites

perform the task of bringing employer near to employee like
www(dot)monster(dot)com, www(dot)naukri(dot)com,
www(dot)jobstreet(dot)com, www(dot)carriage(dot)com, etc. These
websites are commonly visited by the employers and candidates;
employer can contact the candidate if his profile matches the job
requirement.

• Recruitment at national and international level can be done through this

method. This method covers the largest area. Limitation of this method
is that, it cannot be used for lower level jobs because of computer
illiteracy prevalent among workers.
 Advantages of External
• a. Selection from wider pool can be made.

• b. Introduction of new ideas and innovation in

organisation.

• c. Competition between existing and new employees

act as motivational factor and performance improves.

• d. Persons of required eligibility and experience are

available.
Disadvantages of External Sources
• a. Costly and time consuming method.

• b. It can become a reason of resentment

between existing employees.

• c. There is no guarantee of candidates

selected from outside the organisation.
 Selection in HRM

• In recruitment, applications for job are invited from

prospective employees. Out of these applications,
best candidate is chosen after a complete process
known as selection.

• In words of Koontz et al., “Selection is the process

of choosing from among the candidates from
within the organisations or from outside, the most
suitable person for the current position or for the
future position.”
 Selection Process
• 1. Preliminary Interview:

• This interview provides the basic information about

candidates; its main purpose is to eliminate totally
unsuitable candidates. Elimination may be based on
lack of certain requirements e.g., education, training,
experience, etc. This interview tells whether it is
worthwhile if the candidate fills application blank.
Candidates who clear preliminary interview are
asked to fill the application blank.
• 2. Application Blank:

• After clearing the preliminary interview, candidates are

required to fill the application forms. These application forms
become the permanent record of candidates’ education
details, experience, interest, habits, etc. Application forms
should be as simple as possible and should include questions
so as to judge the suitability of candidate for the job.

• These application forms are then properly screened by a

committee to select the candidates who will be called for
further process
• 3. Selection or Employment Tests:

• Tests are the methods to check ability, skills,

capacity, competency and calibre of
employees which are required for performing
a job. These tests help in matching the
individual skills and demands of job, so that
posts are filled with right type of persons.
 Employment Tests
• a. Intelligence tests
• b. Aptitude tests
• c. Personality tests
• d. Interest tests
• 4. Employment Interview:
Those candidates who pass the selection tests
are called for final interview. The interview is
taken by a panel of personnel manager and head
of other departments. This interview provides
more information about the candidates, about
their qualities, communication skills, personality,
etc. Interviewer and interviewee both should
come prepared for the interview.
• 5. Reference Check:

• In application blank, candidates are asked to give references so that

his details can be cross checked and verified. References also give
information about character of candidate. Known persons, teachers
and previous employers can be contacted for reference checks.

• 6. Medical Examination:

• Selected candidates are to pass a medical examination to ascertain

whether they are medically fit or not. It prevents the transmissible
diseases from entering the organisation.
• 7. Appointment Letter:

After a candidate clears all the steps of selection

process, he is given appointment letter
describing the details of job, terms of
employment e.g., salary, work hours, etc. When
the employee joins the organisation, he is
properly placed at right job and induction
programme is carried out.