Recruitment and Selection - Introduction

Recruitment and Selection is an important operation in HRM, designed to maximize employee strength in order to meet the employer's strategic goals and objectives. In short, Recruitment and Selection is the process of sourcing, screening, shortlisting and selecting the right candidates for the filling the required vacant positions.

In this tutorial, we will discuss the various aspects of Recruitment and Selection such as the recruitment process, the factors affecting recruitment, recruitment planning, methods of recruitment, recruitment interviews, selection process and making an offer.

The Scope of Recruitment and Selection

The scope of Recruitment and Selection is very wide and it consists of a variety of operations. Resources are considered as most important asset to any organization. Hence, hiring right resources is the most important aspect of Recruitment. Every company has its own pattern of recruitment as per their recruitment policies and procedures.

The scope of Recruitment and Selection includes the following operations −

• Dealing with the excess or shortage of resources
• Preparing the Recruitment policy for different categories of employees
• Analyzing the recruitment policies, processes, and procedures of the organization
• Identifying the areas, where there could be a scope of improvement
• Streamlining the hiring process with suitable recommendations
• Choosing the best suitable process of recruitment for effective hiring of resources

Any organization wants it future to be in good and safe hands. Hence, hiring the right resource is a very important task for any organization.

Case Study: How to Improvise Recruitment Process

Let’s assume there is a company called ABC Systems, which sells FMCG products. The company is lately suffering due to its high attrition rates. In this case study, we will see how ABC Systems can improve its recruiting process and focus on maintaining the efforts required for filling a job vacancy. We will also learn how the HR team of ABC Systems can reduce the time and effort involved in sourcing good resources for the vacant positions.

We suggest here seven different steps that ABC Systems can utilize to resolve its problems.

Step 1 − Define the Problem

First, define the problem in exact terms and then, design a step-wise recruitment process that can be easily followed.

Step 2 − Research the Causes

Analyze the root cause of the problem at hand. Why the attrition rate is so high? There are several ways to arrive at the root cause behind a problem.

In case of ABC Systems, it was observed that there is only a less percent of candidates who are rejected in the process of review. Hence, there is a need to improve this process by increasing the number of rejections with an efficient review process.

Screening of resumes must be very effective, because the selection of the candidates through resume screening has maximum percentage of a positive outcome, which is explained below −

Reviewers can use a set of defined criteria to screen the resumes, which can then be compiled as shown below.

Step 3 − Countermeasure Ideas Generation

It is mandatory to have a basis of standardization in selecting the candidates. The shortlisting of the relevant criteria is done as shown in the following table −

The shortlisted list of candidates is reviewed by the department heads and they can suggest modification which can then be incorporated as new criteria.

Step 4 − Testing and Modifying the Ideas

The next step is to test the defined set of criteria with three batches. After the selections are done, the set of criteria is analyzed to see it was effective or not.

Step 5 − Implementing the Ideas

If found effective, then implement the new set of criteria for future recruitments.

Step 6 − Standardize Procedures

The next step is to standardize the procedure. First, make a note of the improvements achieved recruitment efficiency. It can done as shown in the following tables −

With the help of the above processes, there will be a reduction of about 30%-40% in the hiring process in shortlisting, reviewing and selecting the candidates for the right job positions. This process was standardized and adopted in the regular practice.

Step 7 − Compiling the Quality Improvement Story

At last, the improvised and the quality story is compiled and presented to the senior management for a better recruitment process.