Recruitment

This chapter will be important for Unit 2 and Unit 3, as it discusses job analysis, job description, relevant recruitment laws, and strategies for effective recruitment in depth. Make the connection between what you learned about critical HRM planning in the previous unit and its effect on HRM recruitment, which is the focus of this unit. Pay attention to Figure 4.1., which describes the job analysis process. Note how a company's culture can be used as a recruiting tool to attract candidates.

Recruitment Strategies

Key Takeaways

  • HR professionals must have a recruiting plan before posting any job description. The plan should outline where the job announcements will be posted and how the management of candidate materials, such as résumés, will occur. Part of the plan should also include the expected cost of recruitment.
  • Many organizations use recruiters. Recruiters can be executive recruiters, which means an outside firm performs the search. For temporary positions, a temporary or staffing firm such as Kelly Services might be used. Corporate recruiters work for the organization and function as a part of the HR team.
  • Campus recruiting can be an effective way of recruiting for entry-level positions. This type of recruiting may require considerable effort in developing relationships with college campuses.
  • Almost every profession has at least one professional association. Posting announcements on their websites can be an effective way of targeting for a specific job.
  • Most companies will also use their own website for job postings, as well as other websites such as Monster and CareerBuilder.
  • Social media is also a popular way to recruit. Usage of websites such as Twitter and Facebook can get the word out about a specific job opening, or give information about the company, which can result in more traffic being directed to the company's website.
  • Recruiting at special events such as job fairs is another option. Some organizations have specific job fairs for their company, depending on the size. Others may attend industry or job-specific fairs to recruit specific individuals.
  • SIGs, or special/specific interest groups, are usually very specialized. For example, female project managers may have an interest group that includes a discussion board for posting of job announcements.
  • Employee referrals can be a great way to get interest for a posted position. Usually, incentives are offered to the employee for referring people they know. However, diversity can be an issue, as can nepotism.
  • Our last consideration in the recruitment process is recruitment costs. We can determine this by looking at the total amount we have spent on all recruiting efforts compared to the number of hires. A yield ratio is used to determine how effective recruiting efforts are in one area. For example, we can look at the number of total applicants received from a particular form of media, and divide that by the number of those applicants who make it to the next step in the process (e.g., they receive an interview).