Recruitment
is the process of generating a pool of qualified applicants for organizational
jobs.
ü Special
attention must be paid to the issues of skills, knowledge, and abilities
necessary to perform the identified tasks.
·
It may be necessary to reconsider job requirements
and cast a wide net to find qualified workers.
·
If job requirements are lowered, it will take more
time and cost more money to train the new hire.
ü Recruiting
efforts may be viewed as either continuous or intensive.
ü Small employers may have difficulties in recruiting against larger organizations because they can’t offer the same training and benefits.
ü Organizations need to establish goodwill within the labor market and maintain positive recruitment visibility.
ü Retention may be considered to be a key strategy to reduce staffing costs.
· Cross-train workers to be more valuable and ready to serve in jobs when needed.
· Create a positive work environment, where incumbents feel respected to reduce turnover.
o Remember that people will do what is measured and rewarded!
ü When the organization has an under-representation of a protected class, word-of-mouth referrals have been considered to be a violation of Title VII.
· This type of discrimination is called disparate impact.
· Employment advertising, campus recruiting, and using outside sources to fill vacancies at all organizational levels are safer alternatives.)
ü Include an EEO statement in all printed recruitment advertising.
ü Using recruitment sources that target the appropriate types of applicants best facilitates work force diversification.
· Older workers and protected group members should be the focus for recruiting diverse workforce members.
· When recruiting applicants with disabilities, for example, HR professionals should contact associations that specialize in representing disabled individuals.
Labor markets are the external sources from which organizations attract employees.
ü Labor markets may be identified by geographic area, type of skills required, type of work, etc..
ü A tight labor market exists when demand for employees exceeds the supply of people with appropriate qualifications.
ü The labor force population includes all individuals available for selection, if all possible recruitment strategies are used.
ü The group available for selection using a particular recruiting approach is called the applicant population. (Recruiting methods used affect the nature of the applicant population.)
ü The applicant pool consists of all individuals who are actually evaluated for selection.
ü The first step in the recruitment process is the development of the HR plan, when the HR unit forecasts recruiting needs.
ü When a position is opening, a requisition is completed by the operational manager and submitted to the HR unit.
· This usually triggers a review of the job description and job specifications by an HR representative and the operational manager.
· Operational managers are responsible for KSA determination and needs determination for employees based on planned vacancies.
ü Recruiting contingent workers requires understanding of the complexities of that applicant population.
· Flexible staffing makes use of recruiting sources and workers who are not employees.
· The use of temporary workers may make sense when the work is subject to seasonal or other fluctuations. (Temps may not reduce costs.)
· Independent contractors perform specific services on a contract basis.
· Employee leasing firms take over the staff of a small business and write the paychecks, provide benefits, and keep all required records for a service fee.
o Leased workers may sue the client firm for work-related injuries if there has been negligence by the client.
· Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs)
Internal recruiting generally provides better assessment of actual abilities than does external recruiting.
ü Job posting and bidding gives employees opportunities to move into better jobs within the organization.
· In unionized organizations, job posting and bidding can become very formal.
ü The
biggest problem with promoting from within is that performance on one job may
not be a good predictor of performance on another.
·
The logic of prediction holds only as long as conditions remain the
same, or at best very similar to past working environments.
·
The
organization may lose its best technicians by promoting them to management
positions, and then they may not make very good managers!
ü
The principle advantage of hiring former employees is
that their performance is generally known.
·
Former applicants and
previous “walk-ins” may also be recruited.
ü Internal recruiting databases, which are used as applicant tracking systems, serve as internal talent banks.
External recruitment may bring applicants who have industry insights not currently available within the organization.
ü When using external recruiting practices, managers must realize there will be a longer adjustment/orientation time after hire.
ü The biggest problem with external recruiting is that of morale problems for internal candidates who are not selected.
o College recruiters choose specific colleges because of their reputation, current position requirements and organizational budget constraints.
s The candidate’s impression of a college recruiter affects hire rates.
s Recruiters generally give most value to high GPA, oral and written communication skills, poise and appearance.
o Cooperative education programs employ students who work part-time and receive school credit.
External recruitment (continued)
o In some industries, such as construction, unions have traditionally supplied workers to employers.
o Unions can work to an employer’s advantage through cooperative staffing programs.
o Trade and competitive sources are good sources of applicants, since recruits from these sources will spend less time in training, since they already know the industry.
· Executive search firms are ethically bound not to approach employees of client companies in their search efforts for another client.
o Executive search firms are oftentimes paid on retainer.
o Contingency executive search firms usually charge their client company a fee only after the candidate has been hired.
Recruitment process evaluation assesses the success of recruiting efforts.
ü Evaluating recruiting quantity and quality is
important because it is the only way to determine whether the efforts are cost
effective in terms of time and money spent.
·
Selection rate equals the number hired divided by the number of
applicants.
·
Base
rate is the
proportion of applicants who are judged as “successful” using the current
selection procedures.