Human Resource Management in a Business Context
3rd edition

by Alan Price

Human Resource Management in a Business Context provides an international focus on the theory and practice of people management. A thorough and comprehensive overview of all the key aspects of HRM, including case studies, articles from HRM Guide and other sources, key concepts, review questions and problems for discussion and analysis.
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Recruitment and Selection

Introduction

This section examines current practices and decision-making in recruitment and selection. (...) they are critical elements of effective human resource management. (...) We cannot discuss how recruitment and selection take place without asking why certain techniques are used in preference to others. Within the HRM paradigm, they are not simply mechanisms for filling vacancies. Recruitment and redundancy can be viewed as key 'push' and 'pull' levers for organizational change.

Recruitment and selection allow management to determine and gradually modify the behavioural characteristics and competences of the workforce. The fashion for teamworking, for example, has focused on people with a preference for working with others as opposed to the individualist 'stars' preferred by recruiters in the 1980's. Attention has switched from rigid lists of skills and abilities to broader-based competences. In general - as we noted in the previous section - there is greater regard for personal flexibility and adaptability - a reorientation from present to future stability.

Recruitment: marketing jobs

Potential candidates may come from an internal trawl of the organization, or from the external job market. The latter are reached through channels such as recruitment advertising, employment agencies, professional asociations or word of mouth. The approach differs according to the organization's resourcing philosophy:

- Organizations with a strong culture are likely to seek malleable new employees at school-leaving or graduate levels. More senior jobs are filled from the internal job market.
- Companies looking for the 'right' (best fit for the job) person however may rule out internal applicants because they do not match the personnel specification prepared for the job.

Informal recruiting

Word-of-mouth applicants are likely to stay longer and may be more suitable than recruits obtained by advertising. But word-of-mouth is discriminatory, since it restricts applications to established communities and excludes recently arrived minority groups who have not had time to become part of informal networks. (...)
At senior levels the informal method known as 'headhunting' or executive search has become common. Specialist consultancies aim to find 'outstanding' people to fill higher-paying jobs. Whether they really are 'outstanding' is questionable.

Formal recruiting

Equal opportunity demands equal access. This can only be achieved through public and open recruitment. (...) The likelihood of attracting 'suitable' applicants depends on the detail and specificity of the recruitment advertisement or literature. Key factors such as salary, job title, career and travel opportunities obviously influence response rates. But remember that employers do not want to be swamped with large numbers of applications from unsuitable people. This section of Human Resource Management in a Business Context goes into further detail such as: quality of agency recruiters, comparison of different media channels, cultural variation in recruitment practice.

The Internet has become a major channel for recruitment. The best known Internet job site is at Monster.com
The For the range of jobs available see also WorkTree.com - The LARGEST Job Search Portal In The World! for examples of job postings.

But sometimes people search for some unusual jobs: Any jobs going for astronauts? at HRMGuide.co.uk.

Targeting

Competition for the 'best' graduates requires employers to have a clear idea of what they mean by 'best'. Recruitment needs to send a strong, distinctive message to these people. Check out one of the internet providers on this page to see how jobs are described and marketed.

The recruitment practices and tactics for retaining employees that have the best organizational "fit" in a number of top companies:
Recruitment and Succession Planning: Finding and Keeping Those Who 'Fit' on the HRM Guide USA site.
Use of corporate websites varies from country to country:
Online recruiting best practice on the HRM Guide Canada site.

More and more of Australia’s largest employers are moving to online graduate recruitment and away from slow and costly 'traditional' methods:
Switch to online graduate recruitment on the HRM Guide Australia site.

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