One of the major duties and activities of the human resource department is recruitment. This activity has to be given special preference as it directly impacts on an organization’s performance. It therefore comes as no surprise to see many public service agencies continue to perform dismally, and fail to meet their objectives and goals due to failure in identifying and implementing new and effective ways of hiring. Thus, recruitment is simply the process of recognizing and hiring candidates that are best qualified for a particular job vacancy in a manner that is cost effective and timely. This paper brings into perspective the strategies that ensure proper conduct of the recruitment process.
Recruitment can be thought to be almost a process that never ends; every company has the option of making a choice on the kind of candidates they deem fit for the recruitment process from different sources. Primarily, there exist two sources of recruitment i.e. the external and internal sources of recruitment. In internal recruitment, an employer might be of the opinion that he/she has the right people with the required skills to do a specific job in the organization. The employer thus recruits people within the organization to fill different positions. More often than not, the internal sources of recruitment of an organization are readily available. There are three internal sources of recruitment – through transfers, through promotions (through internal job postings) and through re-employing ex-employees. Filing a job opening within an organization has its advantages. Some of these advantages include the following: - there is a shorter period of induction; there is retention of valuable employees thereby avoiding the cost of recruiting and ensuring returns on investments in development and training. Internal recruitment serves to motivate existing staff and provides a good opportunity for promotion and development. And it is usually a cheap and quick option. However, internal recruitment has its flipside and some of the limitations include; there may be external candidates who could be better suited for the job and this source greatly limits the number of applicants.
External source of recruitment has to be solicited from outside the organization. It makes it possible for the organization to bring in a new ideas and experiences together with drawing a wider assortment of talent.
Entrepreneurs looking to hire expertise may fall for this source of recruitment so as to find people with experience needed to improve a business. The pros of external recruitment are; it increases ideas and innovations, there are also more applicants involved and it is has lesser threat for hierarchy within the organization. The cons include; it is expensive- the process of recruitment of professionals for their expertise is usually an expensive one, for the reason that it is expected that the new employees are meant to come in be productive right away. The new employees may take a longer time before they fully assimilate in the organization.
With the current major advancements in technology, organizations have also changed in synch with times thus E-recruitment. Also referred to as online/internet recruitment, is the utilization of the internet for appealing to, employing and maintaining job seekers. Online recruiting involves matching applicants and ensuring that their qualifications and skills are valid. It has now become a trend that is on the rise for many people globally to search for jobs online; corporations may take that advantage and opportunity coupled with making use of e-recruiting softwares to administer the whole process of recruitment and consequently reducing the costs related to recruitment. Noticeably, internet recruitment bring into play the power of online resume searching technology to parse resume catalogues help human resource personnel and recruiters and search actively for applicants on an international scale. Even though e-recruitment had initially began as a straightforward way for discovering talents online. It has however advanced to integrate all facets of candidate management. Now companies and organizations are using it to manage candidate applications, job postings, and even conduct online interviews (Taleo Incorporation, 2011).
Yet another counter when it comes to the recruitment process is the candidates’ capability to match and have a work-life balance. Work life balance is very essential because it directly affects the productivity of a candidate and hence his/her overall contribution in the organization. Many employees are faced with many competing demands for their attention, with everyone from family, colleagues, friends and clients all wanting a piece of them, an employee with no sense of work life balance may easily give too much to one side and leave so little for themselves. Work life balance involves candidates who do not feel guilty about putting themselves first- however they should strive to strike a balance between their own needs and expectations placed on them by others (McIntyre, 2010). However one may argue it out, work life balanced candidates definitely have an upper hand in that they exhibit a greater satisfaction at their places of work, and they also have an increased work-life satisfaction in that they are able to meet the demands and needs of both parties. Lastly these candidates show lesser emotional exhaustion, therefore such a candidate ideal for a job vacancy (Bourne & Lester, 2010)
References
Bourne, K., A. & Lester, W., F. (2010). The Organizational Benefits of Work Life Balance. Retrieved from http://www.ioatwork.com/ioatwork/2010/03/the-organizational-benefits-of-work-balance.html
Taleo Incorporation (2011). E-Recruiting. Retrieved from http://taleo.com/glossary/e-recruiting
McIntyre, S. (2010). Work-Life Balance. Retrieved from http://www.constructivelyproductive.com/work-life-balance-from-my-dad/
