FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
A Recruitment Process is an organization-specific model of how the sourcing of new employees is undertaken. Typically the ownership of the recruitment process resides within the Human Resources function, although again this may differ depending on the specific organizational structure. A recruitment process can be broken down into respective parts. Whilst the naming and exact process steps are unique to an organization, a typical recruiting process may commence with the identification of a vacancy, then the preparation of a job description, database sourcing, role marketing, response management, short-listing, interviews, reference checking, and selection.
In situations where multiple new jobs are created and recruited for the first time, a job analysis and/or in some cases a task analysis might be undertaken to document the actual and intended requirements of the job. From these the relevant information is captured in such documents as job descriptions and job specifications. Often a company will already have job descriptions that represent a historical collection of tasks performed. Where already drawn up, these documents need to be reviewed or updated to reflect present day requirements. Prior to initiating the recruitment stages a person specification should be finalized to provide the recruiters commissioned with the requirements and objectives of the project.
The next step after job analysis is Sourcing. This is the use of one or more strategies to attract or identify candidates to fill job vacancies. It may involve internal and/or external advertising, using appropriate media, such as local or national newspapers, specialist recruitment media, professional publications, window advertisements, job centers, or in a variety of ways via the internet. Alternatively, employers may use recruitment consultancies or agencies to find otherwise scarce candidates who may be content in their current positions and are not actively looking to move companies. This initial research for so-called passive candidates, also called name generation, results in getting contact information of potential candidates who can then be contacted discreetly to be screened and approached.
Suitability for a job is typically assessed in a process called screening by looking for relevant skills, knowledge, aptitude, qualifications and educational or job related experience. These can be determined via: screening résumés (also known as CVs); applications. In many countries, employers are legally mandated to ensure their screening and selection processes meet equal opportunity and ethical standards.
Emerging issues and Trends in recruitment
The recruiting industry is growing and evolving. Much of the structure of recruiting firms now mirrors the “look and feel” of a firm in 1975. They have added PC’s, job boards, LinkedIn, etc., yet most still use the same tired structure and processes as the industry used decades ago.
On the other hand, some recruiters have gone one-hundred-eighty degrees the other way by attempting to do all their business via email, job boards, and LinkedIn without really trying to build deep personal relationships with their clients and candidates.
One the main trends in recruitment is the use of technology. Recruiters are using modern technologies such as e-mails, websites, Skype etc. to recruit candidates. Outsourcing recruitment services has also significantly gone up because most organizations are trying to be strategically dealing with their co-functions/ objectives. Another emerging issue is that the generation Yare just entering the work force in largest quantities and these are mostly in their twenties and have different perspectives about the jobs. With majority being this generation, there are fewer generation X (30 years and above) in the job market resulting to shortages in of candidates in mid-management.
Technology for managing the recruitment process which is referred to as a tracking system is widely in use nowadays. The tracking systems are sites are linked to the careers section of a company website. When perusing the Internet, many job seekers prefer to learn more about the company first, before performing a job search through the careers section. An applicant tracking system is configured according to the employer needs. The simplest kinds merely collect basic information about the applicant and permit the applicant to cut and paste or upload a resume. More sophisticated systems match the resume qualifications to specific jobs in the database and suggest matches for which the applicant may want to consider. The recruiter can then access the applicant information, based on keyword searches and qualifications to determine which applicants would possibly qualify as candidates.
