Methods of Recruitment

 In an era of competitive advantage, growth, and competition in areas such as attracting talent the function of recruitment has been viewed as a pivotal or critical function (Breaugh, 2013). (Chang & Chin, 2018) states that recruitment acts as a channel of discovering and attracting potential candidates to apply for existing job opportunities. Recruitment procedures are solely dependent on the nature of the organization as well as the position that candidates are seeking. The most crucial part of the structure of the recruitment process lies in the decision to start the recruitment procedure.

Several studies in the past have debated the recruitment process from several viewpoints. (Wanous, 1978) states that the most important goal of the recruitment process will be to attract the largest number of employment seekers. Furthermore, (Singh & Finn, 2003) states that organizations have relied on traditional methods of recruiting employees through employee referrals, newspaper advertisements which were considered low-tech approaches. In research conducted by (Thompson & Aspinwall, 2009) it highlighted the employees in recent years needs and requirements are changing, “Today's employees are becoming increasingly concerned with balancing their work and family lives, and they are said to highly value organizations that help them achieve this balance.”

There are several methods of recruitment such as direct method, indirect method, and third-party method. Direct method consists of representatives of the organization are sent to potential educational and training institutes. Direct recruitment can be done in three different ways:

1.     Campus recruitment: where the employer goes to different campus, schools, and colleges
2.   Internships: “Internship offered by man industrial enterprise constitute an effective recruiting technique.” (Singh, et al., 2015)
3. Walk in Interview

Indirect recruitment methods include advertisements in newspapers, radio, and television. This method is considered useful in the event:

a)   -   The organization does not find a suitable candidate internally to fill the vacancy

b)   -   When the organization wants to reach a broader audience

c)    -  When an organization wants to fill scientific and technical job vacancies.

The final method of recruitment is third party method where an organization would obtain the help of job placements, employment agencies or management consultants.

In recent years, organizations have moved to use various other recruitment methods such as job advertisements, online portals, social media, and word of mouth to attract suitable candidates (Muduli & Trivedi, 2020). According to (Fisher, et al., 2014), recruiter’s intentions to use these methods are dependent on the pre and post hire outcomes, for example, number of applications, quality of applications, speed of filling up the vacancy, absenteeism, commitment, and satisfaction of the applicants.

Furthermore, (Fisher, et al., 2014) identified that recruiters prefer social media recruitment as it fills up the vacancies fast and is cost-effective. Furthermore, (Wei, et al., 2016) identified that online portals have been preferred more as they are less expensive. Therefore, the decision on which recruitment method lies solely on the needs of the organization and on the audience, they are seeking to attract.

References

Breaugh, J. A., 2013. Employee recruitment. Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 64, pp. 389-416.

Chang, E. & Chin, H., 2018. Signalling or experiencing: commitment HRM effects on recruitment and employees’ online ratings. Journal of Business Research, Volume 84, pp. 175-185.

Fisher, R., McPhail, R., You, E. & Ash, M., 2014. Using social media to recruit global supply chain managers. International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, 44(8), pp. 635-645.

Muduli, A. & Trivedi, J. J., 2020. Recruitment methods, recruitment outcomes and information credibility and sufficiency. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 27(4), pp. 1615-1631.

Singh, A. K., Duggal, B. R. & Mohan, P., 2015. Human Resource Management. Delhi: Sun India Publication.

Singh, P. & Finn, D., 2003. The effects of information technology on recruitment. Journal of Labor Research , Volume 24, pp. 395-408.

Thompson, L. F. & Aspinwall, K. R., 2009. The recruitment value of work/life benefits.. Personnel Review, 38(2), pp. 195-210.

Wanous, J. P., 1978. Realistic job previews: can a procedure to reduce turnover also influence the relationship between abilities and performance?. Personnel Psychology, 31(2), pp. 249-258.

Wei, Y. C., Chang, C. C., Lin, L. Y. & Liang, S. C., 2016. A fit perspective approach in linking corporate image and intention-to-apply. Journal of Business Research, 69(6), pp. 2220-2225.