Effective Recruitment and Selection
Before you read this article, try your hand at the first activity. Though all of us have our own sets of experiences and opinions, we must not place our organizations in a situation of liability due to our individual biases, as they may not be strategically aligned with the organization's best interests. You must learn to work through personal perceptions and make strategic business decisions when recruiting and selecting human capital.
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.