Recruiting

Conceptual Overview

In organizations, recruitment is undertaken within the following contexts: (1) organization policy, in terms of the types of the desired skills, abilities, and behavior developed as part of the job analysis process in order to match with the organization's strategies (e.g., defender, cost leadership, or innovation); (2) the need to meet deficits in employment requirements, such as diversity requirements for minority groups; and (3) legal frameworks that ensure that the recruitment and selection process is fair and equitable (e.g., equal employment opportunity, antidiscrimination, and affirmative action).

Standard practice is that prior to recruiting, organizations conduct a workforce planning process to decide what positions the firm will have to fill and how to fill them. This particular step is aligned to the organization's strategic business objectives, as recruitment is crucial in ensuring that the right candidates are attracted to the organization. This is then followed by another key component of the recruitment process, job analysis. Job analysis is used to identify the skills, abilities, and experience required for the vacant position. The results of the analysis should then be incorporated into the design of the recruiting activities, such as the specific characteristics and selection criteria to be [Page 1360]included in the job advertisement. The job analysis process can also identify the behaviors and beliefs valued by an organization. This speaks to organizational fit, an area receiving growing attention in recruitment research due to the perceived impact it has on performance and retention. This is of particular importance as organizations embark on a process of attracting qualified human talent in a climate of skill shortages in most developed and rapidly developing countries.

There are two different sources of recruitment for an organization: external and internal. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. The choice of a particular source of recruitment depends on the recruitment strategy of the firm, such as whether to bring in new staff in order to build up a new area of expertise or to develop existing staff as a means of motivating, developing, and promoting those within the organization. Examples of external sources of recruitment include advertisements in print media and television, walk-ins, career fairs, employment agencies, trade unions and/or professional associations, management recruitment consultants, executive search firms, and educational institutions. Examples of internal sources for recruiting include internal job transfers, promotions, job postings, and talent inventory databases (part of the organization's human resource information systems). Most organizations recruit from multiple sources to generate a large pool of qualified applicants. This allows them to increase the diversity of the applicant pool.

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