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SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT:ALTERNATIVES TO RECRUITMENT, Quantity of the Applicants, Quality of the Applicants

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Human Resource Management (MGT501)
VU
Lesson 17
SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT
After studying this chapter, students should be able to understand the following:
A.
Explain Recruitment
B.
Describe Sources of Recruitment
C.
Identify alternatives to recruitment
D.
Understand Recruitment ­ an applicant's perspective
E.
Evaluate the Recruitment Process
LESSON OVERVIEW
Today we will discuss about the first step of staffing function which is Recruitment. We begin this lecture
by presenting the recruitment process. This section is followed by internal recruitment methods, external
recruitment sources, and external recruitment methods. Finally, recruitment evaluation will be discussed.
A. Recruitment:
Recruiting refers to the process of attracting potential job applicants from the available labor force. Every
organization must be able to attract a sufficient number of the job candidates who have the abilities and
aptitudes needed to help the organization to achieve its objectives. An effective employee selection
procedure is limited by the effectiveness of recruiting process. Outstanding job candidates cannot be
selected if they are not included in the applicant pool.
The recruitment process also interacts with other personnel functions, especially performance evaluation
compensation training and development and employee relations. Recruiting is typically a human resource
function.
In planning recruiting activities, an organization needs to know how many applicants must be recruited.
Since some applicants may not be satisfactory an others may not accept the job offers, an organization must
recruit more applicants than it expects to hire. Yield Ratios help organizations decide how many employees
to recruit for each job opening. These ratios express the relationship between the number of people at one
step of the recruitment process relative to the number of people who will move to the next step.
Now we will discuss the different sources of recruitment that are available to organization:
B. Source of Recruitment:
Basically organizations are available by the two man sources of recruitment which are:
I. External Recruitment.
II. Internal Recruitment.
Vacancies in upper level management can be filled either by hiring people from outside the organization or
by promoting lower level mangers. Both strategies have advantages and disadvantages.
We will consider both internal and external recruitment sources in detail:
I. Internal Recruiting Sources:
When job vacancies exist, the first place that an organization should look for placement is within itself. An
organization's present employees generally feel that they deserve opportunities to be promoted to higher-
level positions because of their service and commitment to organization. More over organizations have
opportunities to examine the track records of its present employees and to estimate which of them would
be successful. Also recruiting among present employees is less expensive than recruiting from outside the
organization. The major forms of the internal recruiting include:
1. Promotion from with in.
2. Job posting.
3. Contacts and referrals
a. Promotion from within:
Promoting entry level employees to more responsible positions is one of the best ways to fill job vacancies
and important reason why company should have a human resource planning system. An organization that
has human resource planning system uses succession plans and replacement charts to identify and prepare
individuals for upper level positions. Skills inventories are useful in identifying individuals who have the
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Human Resource Management (MGT501)
VU
potential for advancement, and individual's desire to be promoted can be assessed in the performance
appraisal review. A promotion from within policy is intrinsic to career development and human resource
planning. A promotion from within policy can stimulate great motivation among employee, and this
motivation is often accompanied by a general improvement in the employee morale.
b. Job posting
An organization can also use the policy of job posting as a internal recruitment source. In the job posting
system the organization notifies its present employees about job openings through the use of bulletin
boards, company publications, or personal letters. The purpose of the job posting is to communicate that
the job opening exists. An effective job posting system involves the following guidelines:
Job posting should be prominent.
Clear job specification should be communicated so that applicants assess themselves either they are eligible
to apply or not.
Once the decision is made, all applicants should be informed about the decision.
Job posting systems generally work quite well.
c. Contacts and Referrals:
Many firms have found that their employees can assist in the recruitment process. Employees may actively
solicit applications from their friends and associates.
Before going outside to recruit employees, many organizations ask present employees to encourage friends
or relatives to apply for the job openings. Contacts and referrals from the present employees are valuable
sources of recruits. Employee referrals are relatively inexpensive and usually produce quick responses.
However some organizations are concerned about problems that result from hiring friends of employees
for example, the practice of hiring friends and relatives favoritisms, cliques etc.
·  Advantages of Internal Recruitment:
1. Provides greater motivation for good performance.
2. Provides greater opportunities for present employees
3. Provides better opportunity to assess abilities
4. Improves morale and organizational loyalty
5. Enables employees to perform the new job with little lost time
·  Disadvantages of Internal Recruitment:
1. Creates a narrowing thinking and stale ideas
2. Creates pressures to compete
3. Creates homogeneous workforce
4. Chances to miss good outside talent Requires strong management development programs
specially to train for technology.
II. External Recruiting Sources:
A broad variety of methods are available for external recruiting. An organization should carefully assess the
kinds of positions it wants to fill and select the recruiting methods that are likely to produce the best results.
EXTERNAL SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT
There are some employee needs that a firm must fill through external recruitment. Among them are: filling
entry-level jobs, acquiring skills not possessed by current employees, and obtaining employees with different
backgrounds to provide new ideas.
a.  High Schools and Vocational Schools
Organizations concerned with recruiting clerical and entry-level operative employees often depend on high
schools and vocational schools.
b. Community Colleges
A number of community colleges are sensitive to the specific employment needs in their local labor market
and graduate highly sought-after students with marketable skills.
c. Colleges and Universities
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Colleges and universities represent a major source of recruitment for many organizations. Potential
professional, technical, and management employees are typically found in these institutions. Different
institutes use to publish booklets having information about the graduates that can be communicated to
organization who are in search of applicants.
d. Competitors and other Firms
Competitors and other firms in the industry or geographic area may be the most important source of
recruits for positions in which recent experience is highly desired.
e. Unemployed
Individuals who are unemployed, regardless of the reason, often provide a valuable source of recruitment.
f.  Older Individuals
Older workers, including those retired, may also comprise a valuable source of employees.
g. Military Personnel
Using this source may make sense to many employers because these individuals typically have a proven
work history, and are flexible, motivated, and drug free.
h. Self-Employed Workers
These individuals may provide a source of applicants to fill any number of jobs requiring technical,
professional, administrative, or entrepreneurial expertise.
III. EXTERNAL RECRUITMENT METHODS
Recruitment methods are the specific means through which potential employees are attracted to the firm.
a.  Advertising
A way of communicating the employment needs within the firm to the public through media such as radio,
newspaper, television, industry publications, and the Internet.
Some times organizations can perform the recruitment function through blind advertisements in blind
advertisements no identification about the company is provided to applicants. Companies can use blind
advertisements for many reasons e.g.
·  Company wants to keep the recruitment in low profile so that lesser number of applicants should
apply in order to discourage the irrelevant people.
·  Due to bad reputation or image of the organization
·  Advertisement is made just for the purpose of test marketing fro example just to have knowledge
about the supply of applicants in labor market etc.
b. Employment Agencies
An organization that helps firms recruits employees and, at the same time, aids individuals in their attempt
to locate jobs. There are two types of the employment agencies i.e.
·  Public Employment Agencies.
·  Private Employment Agencies
Both of these sources provide coordination between the organizations and applicants who
are searching for jobs, for this service they use to charge a fee .Employment agencies are able to tailor their
services to the specific needs of the clients For example some agencies Specialize in a particular
employment areas, such as engineering, human resource or Computer programming, etc.
c. Recruiters
The most common use of recruiters is with technical and vocational schools, community colleges, colleges,
and universities.
d. Special Events
It is a recruiting method that involves an effort on the part of a single employer or group of employers to
attract a large number of applicants for interviews.
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e. Internships
A special form of recruiting that involves placing a student in a temporary job. There is no obligation on the
part of the company to permanently hire the student and no obligation on the part of the student to accept
a permanent position with the firm. Hiring college students to work as student interns is typically viewed as
training activity rather than as a recruiting activity. However, organizations that sponsor internship
programs have found that such programs represent an excellent means of recruiting outstanding employees.
f.  Executive Search Firms
Executive search firms sometimes called HEAD HUNTERS are specialized form of private employment
agencies that place top level executives and experienced professionals. These are the organizations that seek
the most-qualified executive available for a specific position and are generally retained by the company
needing a specific type of individual.
g. Professional Associations
Associations in many business professions such as finance, marketing, information technology, and human
resources provide recruitment and placement services for their members. Professional associations and
trade organizations provide a valuable service in bringing together professional and professional job
openings. Most professional organizations have newsletters, annual meetings and trade publications that
advertise job openings. The annual meetings of these organizations are good occasion for professionals to
learn about available job openings and for employers to interview potential applicants.
h. Unsolicited Walk-In Applicants
If an organization has the reputation of being a good place to work, it may be able to attract good
prospective employees without extensive recruitment efforts.
i.  Open Houses
Firms pair potential hires and managers in a warm, causal environment that encourages on-the-spot job
offers.
j.  Event Recruiting
Attend the events that the people you are seeking go to.
k. Virtual Job Fairs
Individuals meet recruiters face-to-face in interviews conducted over special computers that have lenses that
transmit head-and-shoulder images of both parties.
l.  Cyber Recruiting
Organizations can also use web sites and internet sources to recruit people application submission test and
interview and other recruitment and selection activities can be performed online.
·
Advantages of External Recruitment:
1. Provides new ideas and new insights
2. Provides greater diversity and helps achieve EEO goals by making affirmative action easy
3. Provides opportunities to handle rapid growth if the organization
4. Opportunities to get people with up-to-date knowledge education and training
·
Disadvantages of External Recruitment:
1. It is more expensive and time consuming
2. Destroys incentives of present employees to strive for promotion
3. More chances to commit hiring mistakes due to difficult applicant assessment that will lead
to wastage of resources.
C. ALTERNATIVES TO RECRUITMENT
When an organization decides to add personnel to its staff, it makes a significant financial investment.
Recruitment and selection costs are high, especially for professionals, technical and managerial employees.
Therefore before an organization decides to recruit new employees, it ought to consider the feasibility of
other alternatives.
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I. Outsourcing
Out sourcing is the process of transferring responsibility for an area of service and its objectives to an
external service provider instead of internal employee.
II. Contingent Workers
It is also known as part-timers, temporaries, and independent contractors, comprise the fastest-growing
segment of our economy.
III. Professional Employer Organization (Employee Leasing)
Using this approach, a firm terminates some or most of its employees. A leasing company then hires them,
usually at the same salary, and leases them back to the former employer, who becomes the client.
IV. Overtime
Perhaps the most commonly used method of meeting short-term fluctuations in work volume is through
the use of overtime.
D. Recruitment - An applicant perspective:
·  Applicant should be provided with necessary information regarding organization job, remuneration
package etc.
·  If rejection is to be communicated it should be done with tactics.
E. Evaluating the Recruitment Process:
Recruitment process can be evaluated by the following factors:
1. Quantity of the Applicants
2. Quality of the Applicants
Quantity of the Applicants
Recruitment process can be evaluated by the number of applicants who have applied for the job greater the
number of applications greater will be the chance to select best people from available pool.
Quality of the Applicants
Effectiveness of recruitment can be estimated by the quality of the applicants. Quality can be assessed by
the education, skills, capabilities and competencies of the applicants.
Yield Ratios:
The effectiveness of the recruitment process also depends upon the acceptability of the yield ratio.
Key Terms
Advertising: A way of communicating the employment needs within the firm to the public through media
such as radio, newspaper, television, industry publications, and the Internet.
Yield Ratios: Yield Ratios help organizations decide how many employees to recruit for each job opening.
Internal Recruiting Sources: When job vacancies exist, the first place that an organization should look for
placement is within itself
Outsourcing: Outsourcing is the process of transferring responsibility for an area of service and its
objectives to an external service provider instead of internal employee.
Contingent Workers: It is also known as part-timers, temporaries, and independent contractors, comprise
the fastest-growing segment of our economy.
Internships: A special form of recruiting that involves placing a student in a temporary job.
Recruitment: Recruiting refers to the process of attracting potential job applicants from the available labor
force.
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Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION TO HRM:Growing Importance of HRM, Road Map of the Course
  2. ESSENTIALS OF MANAGEMENT:Concepts and Essential of Management, Manager’s Roles
  3. ORGANIZATION AND COMPONENTS OF ORGANIZATION:Open versus Closed Systems, The Hawthorne Studies
  4. PEOPLE AND THEIR BEHAVIOR:Why to work in organizations?, The Goals of Organizational Behavior
  5. INDIVIDUAL VS. GROUP BEHAVIOR:What Are Roles?, Problem solving Team
  6. PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT TO HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:Records and Administration, Competitive Advantage
  7. HRM IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT:Productivity, New Trends at Work Place
  8. How organization Cultivate a Diverse Workforce, STEPS TOWARD MANAGEMENT OF DIVERSITY
  9. FUNCTIONS AND ENVIRONMENT OF HRM:Compensation and Benefits, Safety And Health, Interrelationships of HRM Functions
  10. LINE AND STAFF ASPECTS OF HRM:Authority, Line versus Staff Authority, Staff Manager
  11. LEGAL CONTEXT OF HR DECISIONS:Doing the Right Thing, Affirmative Action, Unintended Consequences
  12. HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING (HRP):Benefits of HR Planning, Forecasting Human Resource Availability
  13. STRATEGIC PLANNING AND HRIS:HR’s Strategic Role, Human Resource Information System, Common HRIS Functions
  14. JOB ANALYSIS:Purposes of the job Analysis, Questions Job Analysis Should Answer
  15. JOB ANALYSIS:Methods of Collecting Job Analysis Information, Observation, Source of Data
  16. JOB ANALYSIS (CONTD.):SURPLUS OF EMPLOYEES FORECASTED, Diversity through Recruiting Efforts
  17. SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT:ALTERNATIVES TO RECRUITMENT, Quantity of the Applicants, Quality of the Applicants
  18. SELECTION:Initial Screening, Advantages of Successful Screening
  19. SELECTION TESTS:Characteristics of Properly Designed Selection Tests, Guidelines for Conducting an Interview
  20. SELECTION PROCESS… CONTD:Background Investigations, Physical Exam, Selecting Managers
  21. SOCIALIZATION:Compensation and Benefits, Team Membership, Stages in socialization Process, Training and Development Trends
  22. TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT:Learning, Phases of Training, Why Transfer of Training Fails
  23. MAXIMIZING LEARNING:Following up on Training, Repetition, Feedback, Purposes of T & D
  24. CAREER MANAGEMENT:Individual career planning, Career Planning and Development Methods
  25. PERFORMANCE:Determinants of Job Performance, Why is performance measured?, Performance Management
  26. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL:What to Evaluate, The Appraisal Interview, PROBLEMS IN PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
  27. JOB EVALUATION AND PRICING:THE APPRAISAL PERIOD, Ranking method,
  28. COMPENSATION SYSTEM:Pay, Job Pricing, Compensation: An Overview, Compensation Surveys
  29. BENEFITS:Total Compensation, Discretionary Benefits (Voluntary), Workplace Flexibility
  30. ROLE OF MONEY IN PERFORMANCE OF EMPLOYEES:Types of Pay-for-Performance Plans, Empower Employees
  31. MOTIVATION:The Motivation Process, Motivational Theories, Challenges of motivating employees
  32. OCCUPATION, HEALTH & SAFETY:Physical Conditions, Accident Investigation, Smoking in The work place
  33. STRESS MANAGEMENT:Symptoms of Stress, Managing Stress,
  34. COMMUNICATION IN ORGANIZATION:Burnout, Social Support at Work & Home, Communication in organization, Meetings
  35. TRADE UNIONS:Collective Bargaining, The HRM Department in a Nonunion Setting, Phases of Labor Relations
  36. CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATION:Transitions in Conflict Thought, Individual Conflict Management Styles
  37. POWER AND POLITICS:Sources of Power, Advantages and Disadvantages of PowerPower and Politics in Context
  38. EMPLOYEE RIGHTS AND DISCIPLINE:Contractual Rights, Management Rights, Disciplining Employees,
  39. DISCIPLINE (CONT...):Factors to Consider when Disciplining, Disciplinary Guidelines, Employee Separations
  40. LEADERSHIP:The Leader’s Behavior, Situational Theories of Leadership, Becoming a Leader
  41. REVISION (LESSON 12-21):Plans, Job Specification, Human resource planning, Selection Process, Corporate Culture
  42. REVISION (LESSON 22-26):Training, Case Study Method, Training, Performance
  43. REVISION (LESSON 27-35):Classification Method, Compensation, Empowerment, Mediation
  44. INTERNATIONAL DIMENSIONS OF HRM:Global Corporation, Type of staff members, Approaches to Global Staffing
  45. CONCLUSION & REVIEW:Strategies for Gaining Competitive Advantage, High-performance Work System