Introduction
Recruitment is one of the most important activities of the human resource department in every organization. It involves the process of searching and enlisting potential employees with the necessary skills, knowledge, experience, and other essential competencies. Recruitment can be done internally or externally. The importance of this activity to the success and competitiveness of an organization cannot be overstated considering the dynamic nature of the business environment in the contemporary world (Kumari, 2012).
One of the main objectives of the recruitment process is to attract as many applicants as possible. The reason for this is the fact that a large pool of applicants provides the recruitment team with an opportunity to hire the most competent individuals. Research conducted to establish the dynamics of the recruitment process identified the ability of the human resource department to give clear descriptions and specifications about the advertised positions as the main determinants of the number of applicants (Posey, Wong & Perrin, 2012). The effectiveness of the recruitment process is highly dependent on the ability of interested individuals to understand the nature of the job they are seeking.
One of the most important things to note about recruitment within organizations is the fact that their success rate is directly proportional to the overall success of an entity. This means that the whole process to be designed in a manner that makes it as competitive as possible (Yaseen, 2015). This ensures that an organization hires the most qualified individuals from the list of applicants. Even though recruiting employees for or within an organization is very expensive, doing it the right way is of paramount importance because it has serious implications on the overall success of an entity.
Discussion
Edwin B Flippo defines recruitment as the process through which an organization searches for qualified individuals to work for them in different positions (Kumari, 2012). Others define it as the process that an entity uses to identify sources of labor capable of meeting their human resource needs. Some of the key organizational elements considered during the recruitment process are the ability of the potential employees to adapt to an entity’s corporate culture, increase the competitiveness levels within the workplace, as well as add value through reduced cost of production and increased output. Organizations are all about growth, thus the need to ensure that the success of every recruitment process reflects on the competitiveness of an organization in its respective markets. A study conducted to determine the recruitment strategies used by successful organizations in the United States established that the process is founded on the ability of an organization to identify its human resource needs (Posey et al., 2012). This creates the leeway for successive steps in recruitment such as job description, establishing the minimum qualifications for potential employees, advertising the position, accepting applications, shortlisting of qualified applicants, interviewing, and hiring among others (Kumari, 2012).
Category of Human Resource Needs
Recruitment seeks to satisfy three types of human resource needs within an organization. The first one is called planned needs, which entails the kind of job vacancies that arise within an entity because of changes that have been made to the organizational structure, as well as elements of the corporate culture such as a retirement policy (Kumari, 2012). This means that when an organization rearranges its structure, certain positions may be created and will eventually need to be filled. Also, organizations have retirement policies that put a cap on the maximum age at which an employee can be allowed to work. This automatically creates a situation where job positions are vacated now and then, thus making it necessary to recruit qualified replacements.
The second category of human resource needs is called anticipated needs that entail job positions that emerge from existing or developing trends within the workplace or in the respective industry for an organization (Kumari, 2012). For example, an organization can be facing serious competition within its market to the extent that some of its employees become targeted by competitors who want to strengthen. In such a situation, the human resource starts anticipating resignations from its employees and the urgent need to engage in recruiting potential replacements as soon as possible. In other cases, organizations that are faced with a workforce that is not highly motivated and satisfied with their jobs for various reasons also operates on an anticipatory mood just in case an employee quits or is involved in any acts of insubordination. The third category is called unexpected needs that entail job vacancies that arise within the workplace because of unanticipated causes such as death, relocations, and early retirement among others (Kumari, 2012).
Questions Addressed during Recruitment
Once the human resource needs of an organization have been identified, the recruitment process often begins with a thorough analysis and discussion of the position to be filled. To conduct a successful and effective recruitment process, it is important to answer several crucial questions regarding the vacant position. One of the most important questions that the recruiting team needs to address is whether the function of the job has undergone any changes (Posey et al., 2012). This question plays a crucial role in ensuring that the right person for the job is hired at the end of the process because any mistakes will lead to the process being repeated. The second important question that should be addressed during recruitment is whether elements such as work schedules, new technology, or recently introduced changes may have caused any disruptions to the roles played by the job (Posey et al., 2012). This plays a crucial role in understanding the possible factors that might have contributed to the position being vacant and the most effective way of incorporating the issues when hiring a replacement.
The third question that ought to be answered is whether the organization plans to make any changes shortly that might require the new holder of the position to have a special set of skills or additional competencies to those of the predecessor. This question is important in the sense that it ensures the competitiveness of the organization is not compromised by hiring an individual with inadequate skills and low adaptability to any anticipated changes (Posey et al., 2012). The fourth question that should be addressed during the recruitment process is the necessary competencies for the new employees in line with the corporate culture and the organization’s long-term goals. This question is very important to the overall stability of an organization, especially if the new employee that will be joining an organization will be part of the management team. Adequate experience, emotional intelligence, and cultural competency are some of the most important qualities that every new individual joining an organization’s workforce in the contemporary world should possess (Yaseen, 2015). The recruiting teams have the objective of ensuring that all the new individuals introduced into the workforce either as replacements or holders of newly created positions fit in well with the organizational values.
Value Addition through Recruitment
Recruitment is a crucial pillar to the ability of an organization to experience progress about its stability and overall competitiveness. One of how recruitment adds value to an organization is ensuring that the recruiting team creates the right impression of the organization during the entire process. Research has established that an organization’s ability to prove to its potential employees that their welfare will be highly prioritized plays a crucial role in attracting highly skilled and competent individuals (Yaseen, 2015). Job satisfaction, the potential for growth, and good remuneration are some of the main driving factors for some of the best performing employees. Therefore, recruitment should act as the link between an organization and its potential employees. How the recruiting team handles individuals that show their interest in taking up the jobs they advertise plays a crucial role in determining the perception they develop regarding their potential employer (Posey et al., 2012). This means that a recruitment process can successfully identify the right person for a job, but eventually fail to get his or her services if they feel the value they will be bringing to the organization will not be adequately appreciated. Therefore, the recruitment team should ensure that the candidate they settle for as having the right set of skills and competencies to fill the vacant position accepts the job offer presented to them (Yaseen, 2015).
Recommendations
Recruitment is a process that can be improved to enhance the ability of an organization to hire individuals that can add value to its corporate culture. One of the effective ways of achieving this feat is increasing the degree of engaging the candidates. It is important to ensure that potential candidates are fully engaged in the recruitment process by having a clearly outlined timeline that indicates times when crucial steps such as a listing of successful applicants and the interviews will be conducted (Posey et al., 2012). Making a follow up on the candidates that do not get listed is important because they can be future candidates for other positions. The second way through which organizations can improve the effectiveness of the recruitment process is streamlining its operations with the latest technology. An organization should have high adaptability to innovations and changes in the dynamics of its operations to be on par with its competitors. This will play a crucial role in attracting the most qualified individuals for jobs.
Conclusion
Recruitment is of paramount importance in every organization about its ability to achieve prolonged success, maintain a competitive edge in the market, and maintain good stability. The recruitment process should always strive to get the most skilled, competent, and experienced individual for every position within the workplace. To achieve good outcomes, the recruitment team needs to establish all the human resource needs within an organization and develop a detailed job description in line with the needs. Also, it should ensure that the individuals hired have the essential qualities such as emotional intelligence and cultural competency that are integral in adapting to the contemporary workplace environment. The overall success and stability of an organization are highly dependent on the effectiveness of the recruitment process.
References
Kumari, N. (2012). A study of the recruitment and selection process: SMC global. Industrial Engineering Letters, 2(1), 34-43.
Posey, L., Wong, D., & Perrin, K. (2012). Current trends in recruitment and selection. The Journal of Business Education, 49(7), 285-286.
Yaseen, A. (2015). Recruitment and selection process of higher education sector and its impacts on organizational outcomes. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 5(4), 79-93.