Effective Recruitment and Selection
Attracting Applicants
You have now established the criteria for recruiting the kind of
person you are looking for; the next step is to find someone who meets
these criteria. Obviously, you must make it known to people that a
vacancy exists. Before placing an expensive advertisement in a newspaper
or professional journal you should consider alternatives. There are a
variety of methods of publicizing recruitment in addition to the
traditional media advertisement (see Box 2).
Box 2: Sources of Recruits
- Internal advertisements.
- Advertising in a range of newspapers and professional and specialist publications.
- Employment agencies and job centers.
- Selection consultants who advertise on your behalf and may screen applicants.
- Executive search consultants (headhunters) who will try to track down suitable candidates for your post.
- Introductions by existing staff, word of mouth. To prevent discrimination this should be accompanied by more formal mechanisms.
- Previous applicants.
- Unsolicited applications.
- The Internet.
- School or university contacts.
- Planned promotions from formal assessment schemes.