Employee Selection and Hiring

Recruitment

Generally recruitment has two purposes. First, recruitment is performed to attract or increase a qualified applicant pool while maintaining a reasonable cost to the employer. Usually a large applicant pool is desirable, because it allows for more selectivity in the selection process. Nevertheless, recruiting unqualified applicants only increases selection and recruitment costs without resulting in any real gain or potential gain for an employer. Focusing recruitment on sources appropriate for the job is much more effective than indiscriminate recruiting.

A second purpose of recruitment is to meet the social and legal obligations of the organization. Focused recruitment that tends to limit the number of applicants from protected demographic groups such as African Americans or women may cause problems when responding to affirmative action goals and timetables. Equal employment law prohibits using recruitment techniques that may limit equal access to employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex.

Numerous decisions are required of employers during the recruitment process. Principal among these decisions is the issue of source. Recruitment for jobs other than entry level can be strictly internal to the organization or may also involve seeking applicants from outside the organization. Promotion from within is a general policy for many organizations, whereas other organizations prefer seeking “new blood” for many positions. Whenever external recruitment is involved, decisions must be made regarding what external sources to use. Some of the common sources for external applicants include colleges and schools; professional or trade organizations; employee referral programs; walk-in applicants; direct advertising through newspapers, journals, the Internet, and other media; employment agencies; and Internet-based recruiting services. Often the choice of source is associated with the nature or level of the job. Care must be exercised when choosing sources, because different demographic groups use different sources at different rates. Using a very limited source or sources may result in unintended adverse impact on a group of prospective applicants.

Gender, age, and ethnicity can all affect applicants' perceptions of an organization, so care should be exercised regarding who performs recruitment tasks. Similarly, the apparent care and timeliness exercised by a company during the recruitment and selection process can influence applicant reactions and consequently can affect the overall success of the program.

Perhaps the most important recruitment question facing an employer is “What do we tell and show them?” Here the choice is clear. On the one hand, an employer can paint an ideal image of the job and the organization, in an attempt to attract more and better applicants. On the other hand, an employer can provide what is known as a “realistic job preview,” where prospective applicants and applicants are presented with a two-sided view of the job—a preview of both the good and the bad elements associated with the job and the organization. The rationale for providing a realistic preview is that prospective applicants who would be unhappy on the job, and would therefore be more likely to quit in a short time, will self-select themselves out of the applicant pool.

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