10.
Recruitment
Advances in technology (LinkedIn) and growing intensity of competition in domestic and
international markets, have made recruitment a business.
Recruitment process (figure 11-1, p. 236):
Characteristics of the firm (generating pool of candidates);
Characteristics of the vacancy itself (keep status of candidates);
Characteristics of the labor market (“getting to yes”/post-offer closure).
Recruitment planning begins with a clear specification of HR needs and the time frame.
Whom to recruit?
Where to recruit?
The effective use of “in-house” talent should come first.
Recruitment planning à 3 parameters must be estimated: time, money and necessary staff à
‘number of leads needed to generate a given number of hires in a given time’.
Yield ratio = ratios of leads to invites, invites to interviews (others selection methods),
interviews to offers, offers to hires obtained over some specified time period (6 months/1
year). Figure 11-2, p. 238.
Time-lapse data = the average intervals between events (‘interview to offer’).
Figure 11-3, p. 239.
Time period also depends on labor-market conditions. Supply of suitable workers in a particular
labor market is high relative to available jobs à Price of labor will be cheap.
- Analyze the external labor market by source;
- Evaluate the entire organizational environment;
- Capitalize on any special factors that are likely to attract candidates (‘image’);
à 3 reasons why positive image might influence candidates:
1. People seek to associate themselves with organizations that enhance their self-esteem;
2. May signal to provide other desirable attributes (high pay, strong career opportunities);
3. May make applicants more open to whatever information an organization provides.
Gross Cost per Hire = TCOR (Total cost of recruiting) / NH (number of individuals hired).
Costs:
Staff costs (salaries, benefits)
Operational costs (telephone, material)
Overhead (office furniture, equipment)
Most expansive sources of recruiting: private employment agencies. Followed by flied trips. Less
expansive: advertising responses, Internet responses, write-ins, promotions.
Employee referrals generated more applicants, more hires and higher yield ratio than
geographically focused advertisements. Recruiters must be familiar with the job description.
Characteristics of organizations and jobs have a greater influence on the likelihood of job
acceptance by candidates than do characteristics of the recruiter. Nevertheless, at the first stage
of recruitment, characteristics of recruiters do affect the perceptions of candidates.
Different types of recruiters are important, because:
1). They vary in the amount of job-related information;
2). They differ in terms of their credibility in the eyes of recruits;
3). They signal different things to job candidates.
Step 1 à examine internal sources/talent inventories, especially in large organizations.
Step 2 à external resources: advertising, employment agencies, educational institutions,
professional organizations, military, labor unions, career fairs, outplacement firms, direct
application, intracompany transfers and company retirees, employee referrals.
- Informal contacts are used widely and effectively at all occupational levels;
- Use of the public employment service decrease as required job skills increase;
- Job advertisements à those that include more information; being viewed as more attractive.
- Employee referrals are popular à 43% of companies using them.
- Individuals referred by higher-performing employees should be viewed by HR as being of
higher quality and should have higher scores than referrals from lower performers who should be
viewed more favorable and score higher than Internet recruits.
- Most applicants use more than one recruitment source to learn about jobs.
- 94% of top 500 U.S. companies recruit via the Internet.
Any number of cost and quality analyses might be performed, but it is crucial to choose those
that are strategically most relevant to a given organization. Choose measures of recruiting
success that are most relevant to various stages in the recruitment process.
Job search from applicant’s perspective à Many job applicants:
1). Have an incomplete and/or inaccurate understanding of what a job opening involves;
2). Are not sure what they want from a position;
3). Do not have a self-insight with regard to their knowledge, skills, abilities;
4). Cannot accurately predict how they will react to the demands of a new position.
Job-choice is highly social. Networking is important (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter).
“My Job Search Agent” à send applicant an e-mail within minutes when match is found.
Most applicants preferred decentralized organizations and performance-based pay to centralized
organizations and seniority-based pay.
Realistic Job Preview (RJP) à Job-acceptance rates tend to be lower, and job performance is
unaffected, but job survival tends to be higher for those who receive an RJP prior to hire. RJP’s
are likely to have the greatest impact when the applicant:
- can be selective about accepting a job offer;
- has unrealistic job expectations;
- would have difficulty coping with job demands without the RJP.
Realistic Job Information could initially be provided in a job advertisement and on Internet.
Important to emphasize that all components of the recruitment-selection process are interrelated.
