HRM 4: RECRUITMENT

A) INTERNAL SOURCES

⮚ This refers to the recruitment from within the company. The various internal sources are promotion, transfer, past employees and internal advertisements.

1. Transfers:

∙ Transfer involves shifting of persons from present jobs to other similar jobs. These do not involve any change in rank, responsibility or prestige. The numbers of persons do not increase with transfers.

2. Promotions:

∙ Promotions refer to shifting of persons to positions carrying better prestige, higher responsibilities and more pay. The higher positions falling vacant may be filled up from within the organization. A promotion does not increase the number of persons in the organization.

3. Present Employees:

∙ The present employees of a concern are informed about likely vacant positions. The employees recommend their relations or persons intimately known to them. Management is relieved of looking out prospective candidates.

TRADITIONAL BOOMERANGS

∙ These are people who classically worked at a company for a few years then decided to find an opportunity elsewhere to acquire and develop new skills and then come back to the previous company. They would normally make a comeback often at a higher level and higher rate of pay.

LIFE-EVENT BOOMERANGS

∙ These are employees who generally leave because of external events, such as a spouse relocation or to raise a family. These individuals seek to return to their former employers

one their personal circumstances allow.

PLANNED BOOMERANGS

∙ These are often seasonal hires and may include working students who opts to work during

school breaks and those hired during an employer’s busy season

B) EXTERNAL SOURCES

⮚ External sources refers to the practice of getting suitable persons from outside. The various external sources are advertisement, employment exchange, past employees, private placement agencies and consultants, walks-ins, campus recruitment, trade unions, etc.

1. Direct Recruitment

∙ An important source of recruitment is direct recruitment by placing a notice on the

notice board of the enterprise specifying the details of the jobs available. It is also

known as recruitment at factory gate. The practice of· direct recruitment is generally

followed for filling casual vacancies requiring unskilled workers. Such workers are

known as casual or badli workers and they are paid remuneration on daily-wage

basis. This method of recruitment is very cheap as it does not involve any cost of

advertising vacancies.

2. Casual Callers or Unsolicited Applications

∙ The organizations which are regarded as good employers draw a steady stream of

unsolicited applications in their offices. This serves as a valuable source of

manpower. If adequate attention is paid to maintain pending application folders for

various jobs, the personnel department may find the unsolicited applications useful

in filling the vacancies whenever they arise. The merit of this source of recruitment

is that it avoids the costs of recruiting workforce from other sources.

3. Media Advertisement

∙ Advertisement in newspapers or trade and professional journals is generally used whenqualified and experienced personnel are not available from other sources. Most of yhe senior positions in industry as well as commerce are filled by this method. The advantage of advertising is that more information about the organization job descriptions and job specifications can be given in advertisement to allow self screening by the prospective candidates. Advertisement gives the management a wider range of candidates from which to choose. Its disadvantage is that it may bring in a flood of response, and many times, from quite unsuitable candidates.

4. Employment Agencies

∙ Employment exchanges run by the Government are regarded as a good source of

recruitment for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled operative jobs. In some cases,

compulsory notification of vacancies to the employment exchange is required by law. Thus, the employment exchanges bring the jobs givers in contact with the job

seekers. However, in the technical and professional area, private agencies and

professional bodies appear to be doing most of the work. Employment exchanges and selected private agencies provide a nation-wide service in attempting to match

personnel demand and supply.

5. Management Consultants

∙ Management consultancy firms help the organizations to recruit technical, professional

and managerial personnel. They specialized middle level and top level executive

placements. They maintain data bank of persons with different qualifications and

skills and even advertise the jobs on behalf their clients to recruit right type of

personnel.

6. Educational Institutions or Campus Recruitment

∙ Jobs in commerce and industry have become increasing technical and complex to the point where school and college degrees are widely required. Consequently big

organizations maintain a close liaison with the universities, vocational institutes and

management institutes for recruitment to various jobs. Recruitment from educational

institutional is a well - established practice of thousands of business and other

organizations. 1t is also known as campus recruitment. Reputed industrial houses

which require management trainees send their officials to campuses of various

management institutes for picking up talented candidates doing MBA.

7. Recommendation

∙ Applicants introduced by friends and relatives may prove to be a good source of recruitment. In fact, many employers prefer to take such persons because something about their background is known. When a present-employee or a business friend recommends someone for a job, a type of preliminary screening is done and the person is placed on a job.

8. Labor Contractors

∙ Labor contractors are an important source of recruitment in some industries in India. Workers are recruited through labor contractors who are themselves employees of the organization. The disadvantage of this system is that if the contractor leaves the organization, all the workers employed through him will also leave. That is why this source of labor is not preferred by many businesses, organizations. Recruitment through labor contractors has been banned for the public sector units.

9. Telecasting

∙ The practice of telecasting of vacant posts over T.V. is gaining importance these days. Special programs like ̳Job Watch‘, ̳Youth Pulse‘, Employment News‘, etc., over

the T.V have become quite popular in recruitment for various types of jobs. The

detailed requirements of the job and the qualities required to do it are publicized

along with the profile of the organization where vacancy exists. The use of T.V. as a

source of recruitment is less as compared to other sources.

10. Raiding

∙ Raiding is a technical term used when employees working elsewhere are attracted to join organizations. The organizations are always on the lookout for qualified

professionals, and are willing to offer them a better deal if they make the switch.

There are always some employees who are professionally very competent, but

dissatisfied with something or the other in the organization. They form the “easy

group” to attract. The other group is formed of those who are equally competent but

are quite satisfied with their present position. To attract them, the organization has to offer a very lucrative package of perquisites. Whatever may be the means used to

attract, often it is seen as an unethical practice and not openly talked about.