Concept of Recruitment

 Recruitment is a process to discover the sources of manpower. This activity is done to meet the requirements of the staffing schedule. It helps to apply effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection. Recruitment has been regarded are the most important function of HR management. It is true because unless the right type of people are hired, even the best plans, and control systems would not produce good results. Some important definitions of recruitment are given below: 

Edwin B. Flippo: "Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization." 

Bayers and Rue: "Recruitment is the process of seeking and attracting a pool of people from which qualified candidate for job vacancies can be chosen." 

DeCenzo and Robbins: " Recruiting is the discovering of potential candidates for actual or anticipated organizational vacancies. "

Wendell French: " Recruitment is the process of finding qualified people and encouraging them to apply for work with the firm." 

Conclusion: Based on above  definitions and discussion, following important conclusion can be derived: 

• Recruitment is a linking activity bringing together those with jobs and seeking jobs. 
• It involves searching and motivating probable candidates to apply for the vacant post. 
• It is a helping tool to choose the best available candidate. 
• It is probably the most important function of HR management. 
• The basic foundation for it comes from HR planning.

Recruitment Process

The process of searching for a new employee is traditionally initiated by a manager who decides that he needs to have staffed or to replace someone who is leaving the organization. Before sending request to HR manager the line manager must deeply consider the following facts: 

The recruitment process consists of five interrelated stages: 

1. Whether the post is vacant or not? 
2. Where there is alternative solution or not? (Like part time, over time, transfer, outsourcing, etc.) 
3. Whether there is budgetary provision or not?
4. Whether the qualification is according to job specification or not?

The HR department usually assumes major responsibility for recruitment. It recommends policy to top management, develops strategies and procedures. The HR department sometimes share authority for issuing employee requisition. The HR manager request for the involvement of line management where appropriate, sends recruiters into the field where necessary. It also maintains the capability to process and screen applications and applicants. It also monitors the entire process for effectiveness, efficiency, and government compliance and makes improvements, if necessary. 

1. Recruitment planning: HR planning helps the HR manager to plan what kind and number of people s/he needs to hire in the near future (i.e. job vacancies).In this regard, job analysis and design also provides necessary information to plan about recruitment.

2. Strategy development: It is the second step after recruitment plan. To implement recruitment plan HR managers develop recruitment strategy. In other words, the strategy development stage critically considers:

• From where we are going to hire?
• Which department or unit needs to hire new hands?
• Why there is the need to hire?
• How many people we need to hire?
• When will there be vacancy?, etc.

3. Searching candidates: It is the third stage in recruitment process. Here, the HR managers consider both internal and external sources and methods of recruitment . They consider the merits and demerits of both sources and methods and determine the best source and/ or methods.

4. Screening applications: In this fourth step/stage, the manager properly screens the possible  available candidates that are provided by step three (i.e. searching). Here they go through the pool of probable candidates and determine the potential hires (for the purpose of selection). 

5. Evaluation and control : This is the last step in recruitment process. In this stages, managers try to evaluate the effectiveness of recruitment activities. If it is according to the need of organization, there is no need of control. But if the result is not so then there is need of control of recruitment process. 

Conclusion:  The ideal recruitment program is one that attracts an appropriate number of qualified applicants  who will survive the screening process and accept positions with the organization when offered. Recruitment programs can miss the ideal in many ways: (1) by failing to attract an adequate applicant pool, (2) by under-or overselling the organization, or (3) by inadequately screening applicants before they enter the selection process. Thus, the individuals responsible for the recruitment process must know (1) how many and what types of employees are needed, (2) where and how to look for individuals with the appropriate qualifications and interest, (3) what inducements to use (and avoid) for various types of applicant groups, (4) how to distinguish applicants who are unqualified from those who have a reasonable chance of succeeding, and (5) how to evaluate their work.

Strategic Purposes and Importance of Recruitment 

The general purpose of recruitment is to provide a pool of potentiality qualified job candidates to select from. More specifically, the purposes of recruitment are to: 

1. Analysis of recruitment needs: One of the major purposes of it is to determine the present and future recruitment needs of the organization. It is done in conjunction ( relation) with the HR planning and programming activity and the job analysis activity. 

2. Creation of pool: Another purpose is to increase  the pool of job applicants with minimum cost. 

3. Facilitate  selection: Another objective is to help to increase the success rate of the selection process. It is done by reducing the number of under qualified or overqualified  job applicants.

4. Satisfy social/legal obligation: A next purpose is to Meet the organization's responsibility for affirmative action programs and other legal and social obligations regarding the composition of its workforce. 

5. Identify appropriate candidate: Start identifying and preparing potential job applicants who will be appropriate candidates.

6. Bring effectiveness: Evaluate the effectiveness of various techniques and locations of recruiting for all types of job applicants.