Hrm Session 8

8/8/2019 Hrm Session 8

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Recruitment

Session 8


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Staffing the organization We noted earlier, choosing the right person for a

job can make a tremendous positive difference inproductivity and customer satisfaction. Aim ofrecruitment is to attract qualified job candidates.We stress the word qualified because attracting

applicants who are unqualified for the job is acostly waste of time.

The recruitment process is really a sales activity.A job candidate is your customer when you are

trying to sell the job to him or her. Some keys tosuccessfully approaching recruitment as a activityare presented in the Manager's Notebook:Customer-Driven HR, "Making the Sale aCustomer-Driven Approach to Recruitment."


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Making the Sale with a Customer-Driven

Approach to Recruitment Why do people buy? Fundamentally, people buy something

because they are sold on how that something will be a benefit tothem. A buy decision is typically a choice among alternatives that isbased on a comparison of desirable and undesirable characteristics.Some characteristics may be explicit, such as price; othercharacteristics are more subjective, such as brand and reputation.

As with the purchase of a product or service, recruitment involvescandidates making a buy decision about your job opening.Recruitment is a sales activity in which you are trying to get new andpromising talent to buy into your organization. Recruitment is youropportunity to sell the organization and the job, maybe even thecommunity, to the job candidates. Treating the appli-cants ascustomers will help to maximize the chances that they will buy intoand choose your job and organization.

Following are key questions that can help you to take a morecustomer-oriented approach to recruitment. "the questions aredivided into the categories ofpreparation for the recruitment activity,the process of the recruitment activity, and the actual recruitmentencounter. These questions need to be answered by everyoneinvolved in the recruiting process.


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Advantages ofMaking the Sale with a

Customer-Driven Approach to Recruitment

Once you understand the "applicant's needs and preferences basedon answers to encounter questions such as those just listed, thinkabout how those needs and preferences can be met. To effectivelyrespond to each applicant's needs and preferences requires in-depth understanding of what the job, organization, and communityhave to offer. Adequately addressing the preparation stage iscritical.

If the selection process determines that the applicant's qualificationsfit the needs of the job and an offer is made, hopefully the applicantwill "buy" your offer. However, even for applicants who are notoffered a position or who say "no" to your offer, there may bebenefits to treating as customers.

In perceiving themselves as customers throughout the recruitment

process, applicants who are not hired will nevertheless have apositive impression of the organization. They may becomecustomers of the organization's products or services as well asrecommend organization to others as a potential employer. Positiveimpressions can be the direct result customer approach torecruitment.


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Recruitment an ongoing process

Before coming to details of recruitment, it is useful to note that hiring,contrary to popular perception, is an ongoing process and not confinedto the formative stages of an organization. Employees leave theorganization in search of greener pastures-some retire and some die inthe saddle. More importantly, an enterprise grows, diversifies, and takesover other units-all necessitating hiring of new men and women. In fact,the hiring function stops only when the organization ceases to exist.

It is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants foremployment. The process begins when new recruits are sought andends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool ofapplicants from which new employees are selected.

Though, theoretically, recruitment process is said to end with the receiptof applications, in practice the activity extends to the screening ofapplications so as to eliminate those who are not qualified for the job.

Recruitment is a 'linking function -' joining together those with jobs to filland those seeking jobs. It is a 'joining process' in that it tries to bringtogether job seekers and employer with a view to encourage the formerto apply for a job with the latter.


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PURPOSES AND IMPORTANCE

The general purpose of recruitment is to provide a pool of potentially

qualified job candidates. Specifically, the purposes are to:1. Determine the present and future requirements of the organization in

conjunction with its personnel-planning and job-analysis activities.

2. Increase the pool of job candidates at minimum cost.

3. Help increase the success rate of the selection process by reducing thenumber of visibly under qualified or overqualified job applicants.

4. Help reduce the probability that job applicants, once recruited andselected, will leave the organization only after a short period oftime.

5. Meet the organizations legal and social obligations regarding thecomposition of its workforce.

6. Begin identifying and preparing potential job applicants who will beappropriate candidates.

7. Increase organizational and individual effectiveness in the short termand long term.

8. Evaluate the effectiveness of various recruiting techniques and sourcesfor all types of job applicants.


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Advantages to the firm

Recruitment lends itself as a potential source ofcompetitive advantage to a firm. An effective approach torecruitment can help a company successfully competefor limited human resources. The 'inn must choose a

recruiting approach that produces the best pool ofcandidates quickly and cost effectively. A recruitingprogramme helps the firm in at least four ways: Attract highly qualified and competent people.

Ensure that the selected candidates stay longer with the

company. Make sure that there is match between cost and benefit.

Help the firm create more culturally diverse work-force.


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FACTORS GOVERNING RECRUITMENT

Given its key role and external visibility, recruitment is naturally

subject to influence of several actors. These include external as

well as internal forces

External

Supply and demand

Unemployment rate

Labor market

Political and social

Sons of soil

image

Internal

Recruitment policy

HRP

Size of the firm

Cost

Growth and expansion


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RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Recruitment refers to the process ofidentifyingand attracting job seekers so as to build a poolof qualified job applicants. The processcomprises five interrelated stages, viz.:

(i) planning,

(ii) strategy development,

(iii) searching,

(iv) screening, and

(v) evaluation and control.


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Internal Sources Internal Sources: These sources include the employees already on the payroll i.e.,

present workforce. Whenever any new vacancy arises, people from within theorganization will be upgraded, prompted, transferred or demoted. The process offilling job openings by selecting from among the pool of present workforce can beimplemented by the following methods: Reviewing the personnel records.

Job posting and job bidding.

Inside moonlighting and employee's friends.

Review of the personnel records and skills inventory provides adequateinformation for the personnel director to find suitable candidates for a particularposition.

Under job posting and bidding system, the organization notifies its presentemployees of openings, using bulletin boards, and company publications, etc.This is a more open approach where everyone gets the same right to apply for ajob and bid for the same.

the labor shortage is of short-term nature and great amount of additional labor is

not necessary, then organization employs 'inside moonlighting.' It is a techniquewhere organization pays bonuses of various types to people not on a time payroll.

Overtime procedures are, in many organizations, developed for those on timepayroll.

Furthermore, before going outside to recruit many organizations ask the presentemployees to encourage friends and relatives to apply.


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External SourcesExternal Sources: External sources lie outside an

organization. Here the organization can have theservices of:

(a) employees working in other organizations;

(b) job aspirants registered with employment

exchanges; (c) students from reputed educational institutions;

(d) candidates referred by unions, friends,relatives and existing employees;

(e) candidates forwarded by search firms andcontractors;

(f) candidates responding to the advertisements,issued by the organization; and

(g) unsolicited applications/walk-ins.


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Internal Recruitment -advantages

Recruitment may be internal to the organization (considering current employees forpromotions and transfers) or external each approach has advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages1. It is less costly.

2. Candidates are already oriented towards organization.

3. Organizations have better knowledge about the internal candidates.

4 Enhancement of employee morale and motivation

5 Good performance is rewarded.

Disadvantages1. It perpetuates the old concept of doing things.

2. It abets raiding.

3. Candidates' current work may be affected.

4. Politics play greater role.

5. Morale problem for those not promoted.

The advantages of internal recruiting are that employers know their employees, andemployees know their organization. External candidates who are unfamiliar with theorganization may find they don't like working there. Also, the opportunity to move up withinthe organization may encourage employees to remain with the company, work hard, andsucceed. Recruiting from outside the company can be demoralizing to employees. Manycompanies, such as Sears Roebuck arid Eli Lilly, pre-fer internal over external recruitingfor these reasons.


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Internal Recruitment -disadvantages.

Internal staffing has some drawbacks. If existing

employees lack skills or talent, internal recruitment yieldsa limited applicant pool, leading to poor selectiondecisions. Also, an internal recruitment policy can inhibita company that wants to change the nature or goals ofthe business by bringing in outside candidates. Inchanging from a rapidly growing, entrepreneurial

organization to a mature business with more stablegrowth, Dell Computer went outside the organization tohire managers who better fit those needs. .

Many companies that rely heavily on internal recruitinguse a job-posting system. A job-posting system is a

mechanism for advertising open positions, typically on abulletin board. Texas Instruments uses job-posting.Employees complete a request form indicating interest ina posted job. The posted job description includes a list ofduties and the mini-mum skills and experience required.


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External Recruitment -advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

1. Benefits of new skills, new talents and new experiences toorganizations.

2. Compliance with reservation policy becomes easy.

3. Scope for resentment, Jealousies and heartburn are avoided,

Disadvantages

1. Better morale and motivation associated with internal recruiting is

denied to the organization.2. It is costly.

3. Chances of creeping in false positive and false negative errors.

4. Adjustment of new employees to the organizational culture takes longertime.External recruiting brings in "new blood" to a company and can inspire innovation. Among the mostfrequently used sources of outside applicants are newspaper advertisements, employee referrals, and

college campus recruiting.Newspaper advertisements are the most popular recruiting source for many occupa-tions, becausethey are inexpensive and can generate a large number of responses. Employee referral is anotherfrequently used source of applicants;6 some companies actively encourage employees to refer theirfriends by offering cash rewards. The advan-tages of campus recruiting include a large pool of peoplefrom which to draw, applicants with up-to-date training, and a source of innovative ideas.7

It is becoming increasingly common for organizations such as Cisco Systems to use the Internet toadvertise job openings and to gather applicant information. E-Span, for example, is an online servicethat lists professional and managerial positions. Federal Job Opportunity Board is a similar service thatlists openings in the federal government.


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Compulsory notification of vacancies Act, 1959

The National Commission on Labour(1969) observed in its report that inthe pre-Independence era, the main source of labour was rural areassurrounding the industries. The recruitment was done through jobbers(particularly in the textile industry), and contractors (particularly in theconstruction, ports and docks, railways, etc.). Immediately afterIndependence, National Employment Service was established to bringemployers and work seekers together. During the second plan period

the Compulsory Notification of Vacancies Act of 1959 (commonly calledEmployment Exchanges Act) was instituted.

The Act applies to all establishments in the public and private sectorwhere more than 25 persons are employed to work for remuneration.According to this Act, all vacancies up to the level of supervisory/non-gazetted positions should be notified first to the nearest employment

exchange for filling. The employment exchange will send a list ofregistered candidates who qualify on the minimum requirements givenby the organization. The organization may select some of them from thislist.


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The Act does not apply to the following vacancies.

1. Any employment relating to agriculture except farm machine operatives.

2. Any employment in domestic services.

3. Any employment where the total duration is less than three months.4. Any employment which deals with unskilled office work.

5. Any employment connected with the staff of parliament.

6. Vacancies which have to be filled.

(a) Through promotion;

(b)Absorption of surplus staff in a department or a branch of the same organization;

(c) On the result of any examination conducted or interview held;(d) on the recommendations of any independent agency such as union or state

public service commission, etc.

7. Vacancies in any employment which carries a remuneration of less than Rs. 60 permonth.

In case of employment exchange sending names to the employing organization, ithas to inform the outcome of the selection within 15 days to the employmentexchange. Additionally, employers are required to furnish quarterly returns a wellas once in two years, failing which they could be served show cause notice.

A study conducted by GopaIji (1983) on 31 organizations throughout the countryrevealed that recruitment through employment exchanges was most preferred forclerical personnel.


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Methods of Recruitment

The following are the most commonly used methods of recruitingpeople:

(I) Promotions and transfers:

(II) Deputation

(III) Job posting

(IV) Employee referrals

(V) Campus recruitment(VI) Advertisements Newspapers ads ,Television and radio ads

(VII) Private Employment Search Firms

(VIII) Employment Exchanges

(IX) Gate Hiring and Contractors

(X) Unsolicited applicants/walk-ins

(XI) e-hiring(XII) Professional associations

(XIII) Word of mouth

(XIV) Casual applications

(XV) Raiding


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Methods of Recruitment- Promotions and transfers

The following are the most commonly used methods of recruiting

people:

(I) Promotions and transfers: This is a method of filling vacancies fromwithin through transfers and promotions. A transfer is a lateralmovement within the same grade, from one job to another. It maylead to changes in duties and responsibilities, working Conditions,etc., but not necessarily salary. Promotion: Movement of an

employee from a lower level position to a higher level position withincrease in salary. Promotion, on the other hand, involvesmovement 0f employee from a lower level position to a higher levelposition accompanied by (usually) changes in duties,responsibilities, status and value. Organizations generally preparebadli lists or a central pool of persons from which vacancies can befilled for manual jobs. Such persons are usually passed on to

various departments, depending on internal requirements.


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Methods of Recruitment- Job posting & Employee referrals

(ii) Job posting: Job posting is another way of hiring people from within. In this

method, the organization publicizes job openings on bulletin boards,electronic media and similar outlets. One of the important advantages of thismethod is that it offers a chance to highly qualified applicants working withinthe company to look for growth opportunities within the company withoutlooking for greener pastures outside.

(iii) Employee referrals: Employee referral means using personal contacts tolocate job opportunities. It is a recommendation from a current employeeregarding a job applicant. The logic behind employee referral is that "it takes

one to know one". Employees working in the organization, in this case, areencouraged to recommend the names of their friends working in otherorganizations for a possible vacancy in the near future. In fact, this hasbecome a popular way of recruiting people in the highly competitiveinformation technology industry nowadays. Companies (Citibank doles out acool Rs 50,000; Hewlett-Packud pays a flat amount ofRs 4,000; HughesSoftware Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000, etc. See B.T. Sep. 2000) offer rich rewards

also to employees whose recommendations are accepted - after the routinescreening and examining process is over - and job offers extended to thesuggested candidates. As a goodwill gesture, companies also consider thenames recommended by unions from time to time.

- Employee referral: A recommendation from a current employee regarding ajob applicant.


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Methods of Recruitment- Campus recruitment

While campus recruitment is a common phenomenon in the West, inIndia it has made its mark rather recently. Campus recruitment: It is a

method of recruiting by visiting and participating in college campusesand their placement centres. Here, the recruiters visit reputededucational institutions such as IITs, IIMs, colleges and universities witha view to pick up job aspirants having requisite technical or professionalskills. Job seekers - are provided information about the jobs and therecruiters, in turn, get a snapshot of job seekers through constantinterchange of information with respective institutions. A preliminary

screening is done within the campus and the short listed students arethen subjected to the remainder of the selection process. In fact manyinstitutes have regular placement offices which not only send out theprofiles of graduating students, but also help the visiting companyrepresentatives in administrative details. In view of the growing demandfor young mangers, most reputed organizations (such as Hindustan

Lever Ltd, Procter & Gamble, Citibank, State Bank of India, Tata andBirla group companies) visit IIMs and IITs regularly and even sponsorcertain popular campus activities with a view to earn goodwill in the jobmarket.


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Methods of Recruitment-Advertisements

(v) Advertisements: These include advertisements in newspapers trade,professional and technical journals radio and television, etc. In recent

times, this medium has become just as colorful, lively and imaginative asconsumer advertising. The ads generally give a brief outline of the jobresponsibilities, compensation package, prospects in the organization,etc. This method is appropriate when (a) the organization intends toreach a large target group and (b) the organization wants a fairly goodnumber of talented people - who are geographically spread out - toapply for the advertised vacancies. Different mass media could be used

to make people aware of the opportunities . There are special Journalsand magazines that cater to different market segments and putting anadvertisement in them may generate a large number of relevantapplications. However, in preparing an advertisement, lot of care has tobe taken to ensure that some self-selection among applicants takesplace. In other words only qualified people should think of responding toadvertisements.


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Methods of Recruitment- Private Employment Search

Firms (vi) Private Employment Search Firms: A search firm is a private employment agency

that maintains computerized lists of qualified applicants and supplies these to

employers willing to hire people from the list for a fee. Firms like Arthur Anderson,Noble and Hewitt, ABC consultants, SB Billimoria, KPMG, Ferguson Associates offerspecialized employment-related services to corporate houses for a fee, especially fortop and middle level executive vacancies. At the lower end, a number of search firmsoperate - providing multifarious services to both recruiters and the recruitees.

Very often these agencies also recruit on behalf of the organization withoutnecessarily disclosing the identity of the organization. They go as far as short listing

the candidates for organization but the final decision is taken by the representativesof the organization. In some cases the representatives of the employment agenciesalso sit on the panel for final selection. The organizations derive many advantagesthrough this source. 1. In terms of cost this might turn out to be cheaper than the Organization doing it

themselves. The time and man hours saved by the company executives in processing andshort-listing the candidate could perhaps be utilized elsewhere by the organization.

2. Up to a certain point the organizations identity remains unknown. Hence it not only

avoids receiving letters seeking clarifications, but also possible attempts to influence.

On the other hand, there is always the risk of losing out in screening some personwhom the representatives of the organizations would have liked to meet. Nopublished data on the effectiveness of this method of recruitment is available.


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Methods of Recruitment- Employment Exchanges

(vii) Employment Exchanges: As a statutory requirement, companiesare also expected to notify (wherever the Employment Exchanges

Act, 1959, applies) their vacancies through the respectiveemployment exchanges, created allover India for helpingunemployed youth, displaced persons, ex-military personnel,physically handicapped, etc. As per the Act, all employers aresupposed to notify the vacancies arising in their establishment fromtime to time - with certain exemptions - to the prescribedemployment exchanges before they are filled. The Act covers allestablishments in public sector and nonagricultural establishmentsemploying 25 or more workers in the private sector. However, inview of the practical difficulties involved in implementing theprovisions of the Act (such as filling a quarterly return in respect oftheir staff strength, vacancies and shortages, returns showingoccupational distribution of their employees, etc.) manyorganizations have successfully fought court battles when they wereasked to pick up candidates from among those sponsored by theemployment exchanges.


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Methods of Recruitment- e-hiring

(x) e-hiring: The first step in e-hiring is to get a URL

(Universal Resource Location) that people canconveniently guess and thus, not have to use a searchengine. There is no point in being a famous company ifpeople cannot find you without trouble on the net. Steptwo is to put out detailed job postings-spelling out yourexact requirements. A separate web page would help

potential applicants to find whether they fit into theannounced job openings or not. You are likely to get a lotof surf-ins if the details of openings are listed category-wise. Allow people to apply on-line. Create an e-formwhich can be filled up on line, and then you do thecalling-up. Finally, ask HR to maintain a data base on allapplications. You may not have an opening today. But,remember tomorrow may be another desperate day foryou to look for people with requisite skills, qualificationsand experience.


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Methods of Recruitment- Professional associations

Very often, for certain professional and technicalpositions it may be useful to go to professionalassociations (e.g., Institute of Engineers, IndianMedical Asso-ciation, All India Management

Association, etc.). An application routed throughthese associations would, perhaps, be better interms of qualification as some of theseassociations themselves do a preliminaryscreening. In India, this is not a very common

practice and those few that do provide this kindof service have not been able to generate alarge number of applications.


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The popularity of various recruiting methods

Figure shows how 201 HR executives rated theeffectiveness of nine different recruiting sources. Theaverage rating for nine recruitment sources on a 5-pointscale (1 = not good, 3 = average, 5 = extremely good):

EMPLOYEE REFERRALS

COLLEGE R

EXE. SEARCH FIRMS

PROF. ASSO

ADS

DIRECTA

PRIVATE EA

PUBLIC EA

UNIONS


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RATING


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SEARCHING

Once a recruiting plan and strategy are

worked out, the search process can begin

, search involves two steps-

(i) source activation, and

(ii) selling.


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Source Activation

Typically, sources and search methods are activated bythe issuance of an employee requisition. This means thatno actual recruiting takes place until line managers haveverified that a vacancy does exist or will exist.

If the organization has planned well and done agood job of developing its sources and search methods,activation soon results in a flood of applications and/orresumes.

The applications received must be screened. Those

who pass have to be contacted and invited for interview.Unsuccessful applicants must be sent letters of regret.


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'Selling'

A second issue to be addressed in the searching process concernscommunications. Here, organizations walk a tightrope. On one hand,they want to do whatever they can to attract desirable applicants. Onthe other, they must resist the temptation of overselling their virtues.

In selling the organization, both the message and the media deserve

attention. Message refers to the employment advertisement. Withregard to media, it may be stated that effectiveness of any recruitingmessage depends on the media. Media are several-some have lowcredibility, (employment exchanges, for example) while others enjoyhigh credibility (advertisements in business magazines, forexample). Selection of medium or media needs to be done with a lotof care.


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EVALUATION AND CONTROLEvaluation and control is necessary as considerable costs areincurred in the recruitment process. The costs generally incurred

are:1. Salaries for recruiters.

2. Management and professional time spent on preparing job description,job specifications, advertisements, agency liaison, and so forth.

3. Cost of advertisements or other recruitment methods, that is, agencyfees.

4. Cost of producing supporting literature.

5. Recruitment overheads and administrative expenses.

6. Costs of overtime and outsourcing while the vacancies remain unfilled.

7. Cost of recruiting suitable candidates for the selection process.

Questions should always be asked as to whether the recruitmentmethods used are valid and whether the recruitment process itself iseffective.

Statistical information on the cost of advertisements, time taken forthe process, and the suitability of the candidates for consideration inthe selection process should be gathered and evaluated. However,exercises seem to be seldom carried out in practise.


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Evaluation of Recruitment Process

The recruitment process has the objective of searchingfor and obtaining applications from job seekers insufficient numbers and quality .-Keeping this objective inmind, the evaluation might include:

1. Return rate of applications sent out. 2. Number of suitable candidates for selection.

3. Retention and performance of the candidatesselected.

4. Cost of the recruitment process. 5. Time lapsed data.

6. Comments on image projected.


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Evaluation of Recruitment

Methods

The evaluation of recruitment methods mightinclude:

1. Number of initial enquiries received which

resulted in completed application forms.2. Number of candidates at various stages of

the recruitment and selection process,especially those short listed.

3. Number of candidates recruited.4. Number of candidates retained in the

organization after six months.


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Evaluation of the Sources of Recruitment

Companies have to evaluate the sources of recruiting carefully -looking at cost, time, flexibility, quality and other criteria - beforeearmarking funds for the recruitment process. They cannot afford tofill all their vacancies through a particular source. To facilitate thedecision making process in this regard, companies rely on thefollowing:

Time lapse data (TLD): They show the time lag between the date ofrequisition for manpower supply from a department to the actual

date of filling the vacancies in that department. For example, acompany's past experience may indicate that the average number ofdays from application to interview is 10, from interview to offer is 7,from offer to acceptance is 10 and from acceptance to report forwork is 15. Therefore, if the company starts the recruitment andselection process now, it would require 42 days before tJ4e newemployee joins its ranks. Armed with this information, the length of

the time needed for alternative sources of recruitment can beascertained - before pinning hopes on a particular source that meetsthe recruitment objectives of the company.


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Evaluation of the Sources of Recruitment Yield ratios: These ratios indicate the number of

leads/contacts needed to generate a given number ofhires at a point at time. For example, if a company needs10 management trainees in the next six months, it has tomonitor past yield ratios in order to find out the numberof candidates to be contacted for this purpose. On the

basis of past experience, to continue the same example,the company finds that to hire 10 trainees, it has toextend 20 offers. If the interview-to-offer ratio is 3:2, then30 interviews must be conducted. If the invitees tointerview ratio is 4:3 then, as many as 40 candidates

must be invited: Lastly, if contacts or leads needed toidentify suitable trainees to invite are in 5: 1 ratio, then200 contacts be made. Based on this information, thecompany can construct the recruiting yield ratio, asshown below:


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Evaluation of the Sources of Recruitment

Recruiting Yield Pyramid

Candidates Invited Offer ratio 1:2

Offers Made

Interview offer 3:2 Trainees Needed

Invitees to interview ratio 4:3

Leads to invitees ratio 5:1 Candidates Interviewed

Candidates Contacted


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PHILOSOPHIESOF RECRUITING

The traditional philosophy of recruiting has been to get

as many people to apply for a job as possible. A largenumber of jobseekers waiting in queues would make thefinal selection difficult, often result in wrong selections.Job dissatisfaction and employee turnover are theconsequences of this.

A persuasive agreement can be made that matching theneeds of the organization to the needs of the applicantswill enhance the effectiveness of the recruitmentprocess. The result will be a workforce which is likely tostay with the organization longer and performs at a

higher level of effectiveness. Two approaches areavailable to bring about this match. They are-(i) realistic

job preview (RJP), and (ii) job compatibility questionnaire(JCQ).


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Realistic Job Previews

Realistic job preview (RJP) provides complete job-relatedinformation (both positive and negative) to the applicants so thatthey can make right decisions before taking up jobs.

Realistic job preview (RJP) provides complete job-relatedinformation, both positive and negative, to the applicants. Theinformation provided will help jobseekers to evaluate thecompatibility among the jobs and their personal ends before hiringdecisions are made. RJPs can result in self-selection process-job

applicants can decide whether to attend the interviews and tests forfinal selection or withdraw themselves in the initial stage.

Research on realistic recruiting shows a lower rate of employeeturnover in case of employees recruited through RJPs, particularlyfor more complex jobs and higher levels of job satisfaction andperformance, at the initial stages of employment. RJPs are morebeneficial for organizations hiring at the entry level, when there are

innumerable applicants per position, and under conditions ofrelatively low unemployment. Otherwise, the approach may increasethe cost of recruiting by increasing the average time it takes to filleach job.


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Job Compatibility Questionnaire

The Job Compatibility Questionnaire (JCQ) was developed todetermine whether an applicant's preferences for work match thecharacteristics of the job. The JCQ is designed to collect informationon all aspects of a job which have a bearing on employeeperformance, absenteeism, turnover and job satisfaction. Theunderlying assumption of the JCQ is that the greater thecompatibility between an applicant's preferences for a job and thecharacteristics of the job as perceived by the jobseeker, the greaterthe probability of employee effectiveness and longer the tenure.

The JCQ is a 400-item instrument that measures job factors whichare related to performance, satisfaction, turnover and absenteeism.Items cover the following job factors: task requirements, physicalenvironment, customer characteristics, peer characteristics, leadercharacteristics, compensation preferences, task variety, jobautonomy, physical demands, and work schedule.

The JCQ is administered to jobseekers who are very familiar witheither a specific position to be f1lled and/or a target job under study.Respondents are asked to indicate the extent to which each JCQitem is descriptive of the job or position under study.


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Alternatives to Recruitment

Companies search for alternatives to recruitment because of the cost ofrecruiting. Three such alternatives to recruitment are overtime, employeeleasing and temporary employment.

Overtime When demand for product peaks, firm seeks to make presentemployees work overtime, instead of recruiting new hands. Overtime canalso provide employees with additional income. But overtime results infatigue, increased accidents and more absenteeism. These developmentsand the need to pay double the wages add to the cost.

Employee Leasing Often called "staff outsourcing", employee leasinginvolves paying a fee to a leasing company or a consulting firm that handlespayroll, employee benefits and routine HR functions for the client company.Leasing is particularly useful to small and medium sized firms that might notbe able to maintain regular HR staff.

Temporary Employment One of the effects of downsizing is the use ofemployees on tempo-rary basis. Historically, temporary employmentagencies were seen only as sources of semi-skilled clerical help during

peak work periods. Today, "just-in-time" employees can be found staffing alltypes of jobs in organizations, including professional, technical andexecutive positions.

The benefits of using temporary staff include relatively low labour costs,easy access to experienced labour and flexibility in responding to futurechanges in the demand for workers. A disadvantage of hiring& temporaryhelp is that these individuals do not know the culture or work flow of thefirm. This unfamiliarity detracts from their commitment to organizationalgoals.


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Constraints and Challenges of

Recruitment .Poor image: If the image of a firm is perceived to be low (due to factors

such as operating in a declining industry, earning a bad name because ofenvironmental pollution, poor quality products, nepotism, insider tradingallegations against promoters etc.), the likelihood of attracting a largenumber of qualified applicants is reduced.

Unattractive job: If the job to be filled is not very attractive, most prospectivecandidates may turn indifferent and may not even apply. This is especially

true in case of jobs that are dull, boring, anxiety producing, devoid of careergrowth opportunities and generally do not reward performance in a properway. (e.g., jobs in departmental undertakings such as Railways, Post andTelegraphs, public sector banks and Insurance companies failing to attracttalent from premier management institutos.)

Conservative internal policies: A policy of filling vacancies through internalpromotions based

'on seniority, experience, job knowledge etc. may often come in the way ofsearching for qualified hands in the broader job market in an unbiased way.Likewise, in firms where powerful unions exist, managers may be compelledto pick up candidates with questionable merit, based on issues such ascaste, race, religion, region, nepotism, friendship etc.


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Constraints and Challenges of

Recruitment

...Limited budgetary suppopt : Recruiting efforts requiremoney. Sometimes because of limited resources,organisations may not like to carry on the recruitingefforts for long periods of time. This can, ultimately,constrain a recruiter's efforts to attract the best personfor the job.

Restrictive policies of government: Governmentalpolicies often come in the way of recruiting people as perthe rules for company or on the basis of merit/seniority,etc. For example, reservations for special groups (suchas scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, backwardclasses, physically handicapped and disabled persons,ex-servicemen, etc.) have to be observed as perConstitutional provisions while filling up vacancies ingovernment corporations, departmental undertakings,local bodies, quasi-government organisations, etc.


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Recruitment of Trainees: Expectations of

Indian Companies

Pepsi: Pepsi is a flat organization. There are a maximumof four reporting levels. Executives here emphasizeachievement, motivation, the ability to deliver come whatmay. As the Personnel Manager of Pepsi Foods

remarked "we hire people who are capable of growingthe business rather than just growing with the business".Recruitees must be capable of thinking outside the box,cutting the cake of conventional barriers whenever andwherever necessary. They must have a winner's mindset

and a passion for creating a dynamic change. They musthave the ability to deal with ambiguity and informality.


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And now, the just-in-time employee

A decade ago, human resource heads never dreamed that the employees they were axingfrom the rolls would one day return as hot commodities, even earning a snappy new nameto go with their new status: free agents. The revenge sce-nario couldn't have been scriptedbetter. In the latter half of the 20th century, power flowed to corporations, where bodies wereas replaceable as light bulbs. Today, with the transition to a knowledge-based economy andglobal connectivity, the power is shifting to those with skills.

Supplies of the talent needed to fuel the new economy are expected to remain scarce forthe next 20 years. At the same time, corporations are finding it benefi-cial to have fluid,nimble workforces that can grow and shrink according to the demands of the globalmarketplace. That's why, in place of the 20th century labor model, something new is

emerging. Think of it as the human capital exchange (HCE). Just as Nasdaq and the NewYork Stock Exchange were the locus of much of the last century's wealth creation, a marketfor skills and talent will fit the bill in the 21st century. Here, in the HCE, the value of freeagents is determined by the open market. The legions who keep their resumes permanentlyposted on Monster.com represent only the first sign of the shift toward skilled, new economyworkers day-trading their careers. More and more companies-from job-posting sites tobounty-paying referral services-are popping up on the Web, creating a kind of labor auctionwhere everyone from screenwriters to scientists can sell their skills to the highest bidder.

Andy Abramson, a 40-year-old sports marketing consultant, figures he makes 75 percentmore as a gun-for-hire than he would as a traditional head of market-ing. The constant influxof new projects keeps work interesting and offers equity stakes in a variety of companies.But there is a dark side to free agency. Many feel crushed by the "law of the jungle and thepressure of hunting for every gig. James Baron, a professor at the Stanford BusinessSchool, thinks the reverse


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And now, the just-in-time employee

trend-stronger attachments to empIQyers--could remerge. "In Silicon Valley, intenselabor market competition has already caused some firms like Sun Microsystems to

begin thinking ctbout offenng not just jobs 2.nd stock options, but careers;' saysBaron. These Jobs will look different, he adds. consisting of a series of projects ratherthan a stat G Job.

Still, the ranks of free agents are growing from 22 percent of the workforce In 1998 to26 percent in 2001 acv)rding to a poll by Lansing (Michigan) market research firmEPIC/MRA. And by 2010, 41 percent of the workforce will be working on a contractbasIs, the +Irm predicts, Career experts believe that, like actors or athletes, talentedbUSiness superstars will have agents. Groups of work. ers will come together totackle projects only to disband when the task is fin-ished, a model already common InSilicon Valley.

Increasingly, companies will keep their most prized employees on site and out.source everything else. When the US. computer display unit of Nokia Corp. enteredthe U.S. market, it did so with only five key employees Sales, marketing, logistics,and technical support wer farmed out.

And just because an employee IS on staff doesn't mean she isn't thinking like a freeagent. A typical 32-year-old for example, has already held nine jobs, accord. ing tothe Labor Department Experts predict that these same workers will have as many as

20 different posit ons Ir their lifetimes. Unlike those with a lifer ethos, these MVPs willconstantly bargain for better deals within their organizations (new projects, Thursdaysoff, an August sabbatical)

Many human resource heads view free agents as the enemy. But they shouldn't."The only way employers can get the staffing crisIs under control is to abandon theold-fashioned idea nf ar employee," says Bruce Tulgan, author ofWinning the TalentWars. Organizations will adopt a revolving-door mentality in which former "turncoats"are viewed as "alumni" or "boomerangers" who are asked-and welcomed-back.

Hrm Session 8

Documents

Transcript of Hrm Session 8