Professional Documents
Culture Documents
[Writer’s name]
[Professor’s name]
[Course title]
[Date]
Hiring people is one of the most important and cumbersome jobs of a manager, especially in
is defined as the set of activities and processes used to legally obtain a sufficient number of
the right people at the right place and time so that the people and the organization can select
each other in their own best short and long term interests. (Schuler; Dowling; Smart; Huber.
Review.)
Its aim is to provide the organization with a pool of applicants or aspirants from which people
can be selected to fill specific positions. In the earliest stages of an intervention, recruitment
decisions often get made on the basis of who is standing in the right place at the right time
with the right look on his/her face. As the situation matures, one has to think more carefully
about picking the right people for longer-term roles including middle and senior
management. The integrity of the recruitment and selection process helps to ensure
neutrality, promoting its good name and serving as an example for partners.
[Writer's surname] 2
Hiring is not a gut feeling in any sense; in fact it has become an art form these days.
That makes the job of a manager even trickier. Mangers need not to go on the resumes alone,
but they have to use their judgmental skills as well, to make sure that the person posses the
characteristics needed to perform the job. It is this assessment of candidate’s fit with the
desired requirements, which should be used while making a decision about it.
Certain aspects of this fit can easily be assessed like a person’s knowledge and work
experience etc. but when it comes to the judgment of fundamental personal characteristics
and work ethics the task becomes complicated as these aren’t discernable from the resumes.
But there are two sets of factors that can be used to analyze the requirements of a particular
position and then evaluating the difference of fit between a candidate and the position for
Background factors are those factors which can be easily assessed from resumes. The
most complex part is the assessment of personal factors. Analytical ability, creativity and
decision-making style are some of the main intellectual abilities one has to look for during
hiring process. Similarly, dominance, extroversion, patience and formality are the basic traits
of personality. Whereas, goals, interests and energy are the factors that may chalk up one’s
• A self-starter.
• An entrepreneur.
A survey reveals that recruitment companies are resisting the trend towards specialization –
the old maxim “get big, get niche or get out” seems not to be noticed by the respondents. Respondents
showed that they were risk averse; the lack of staff turnover indicates that a sense of smugness exists.
This in turn exposes organizations to the risk of data shrinkage when staff do leave. The inability to
identify opportunities associated with major events re-enforces the impression that many respondents
lack vision and/or the ability to see beyond the tactical elements of their job. Strategic thinking,
planning and informed decision making were not demonstrated by the majority of the respondents.
(Survey Report. The future of Recruitment in UK – Glory or Death. Collier Pickard Ltd).
Finding and successfully recruiting the correct staff is a big challenge for any organization
and is the most commonly reported barrier to growth amongst SMEs. CIPD reports that
almost 85% of organizations report recruitment problems, mainly due to a lack of specialist
skills or relevant work experience. (Survey Report. The future of Recruitment in UK – Glory
or Death. Collier Pickard Ltd). As recruitment is a noteworthy business cost and requires
considerable investment of time and effort throughout the whole process, getting it wrong can
be a costly affair. Hence the employers are being pushed to consider how their approach to
recruitment is a reflection of their wider business strategy. Having the right recruitment tools
security; shortage of skills; securing best recruitment practices… These are just some of the
Even in a tough and tight economy where companies normally feel the normally and
some even consider downsizing, there are certain companies who create and offer job
vacancies. In order to fill these vacancies, companies will usually look for the easiest
solution. They reach to connect with traditional contingency staffing agencies - commonly
Retaining People.)
Contract recruiting is usually more cost efficient solution than establishing in-house
recruitment teams for small businesses, as it delivers improved and more consistent service,
and results in long-term placements. The approach is simple and straightforward – the
contract recruiter is contacted by the hiring company to fill a position or number of positions.
contract recruiter who physically works on-site as the human resource department or as an
extension to it. Contract recruiters are generally compensated on an hourly or monthly basis
with no other fees paid. The overall cost of using a contract recruiter generally works out to
approximately 10-15% of the total salaries of the person or people hired on this basis. In
addition, since the contract recruiter works on behalf of the employer he or she can be
charged with negotiating the employee’s compensation package that is in the best interest of
the prospective employer while still securing the services of the candidate.
Contract recruiting allows the employer to exercise the same control over the
recruitment process as if they were conducting it themselves. Contract recruiters fill the
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vacancy using the company procedures, while being mindful of the corporate culture and
being aware of the organizational goals. Typically, the recruitment process, in general,
remains the same. Resumes are generated and reviewed. Then candidates are screened,
interviews are arranged, references are checked, applicants are tested (if this is required) and
Contract recruiting comes with enormous flexibility. Organizations can start with
contract recruiting, particularly for one off vacancies, but can expand the service once they
Using a headhunter employment agency to find a suitable employee for your company
is an effective way, one without much fuss. It gives a company access to a wider range of
candidates, expert screening and interviewing skills and because they generally have a no-
charge, guaranteed replacement policy, the process of using a recruiter is low risk. These
agencies have huge network of contacts that you may not otherwise be able to find on your
own. Headhunters work for both the company seeking the new employee and the individual
that they are attempting to find a suitable position for, but it is the company that places a
candidate and pays the headhunters fees. The fee is usually a percentage of the candidates
first year's salary. (Alex, Dakotta. The Recruiters Guide Book: A comprehensive and
Employer of Choice.)
The Internet has completely revolutionized the role of the traditional recruiter. Gone are the
days where cold calling and candidate networking were the only options available to identify
new potential candidates. Now recruitment is all about searching through thousands of CV's
placed on personal web pages and browsing online corporate staff directories or using other
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innovative marketing methods to source the right candidate for a particular role. The primary
Studies have shown failure to train and develop recruiters and recruiting systems will
often prove much more costly than training itself. The right answer is investing in training,
When money is tight, there is always the public library. One may also want to
establish a departmental library where books and other resource material may be shared. Too
often the real problem is lack of motivation. Where there is a will, there is always a way.
Training and development initiatives are an investment in the employee and employee
retention. As such, they signal that the firm believes in them, the firm believes in their
intelligence and capability, the firm is committed to their success (both present and future),
the firm is investing in their acquisition of new skills, they are investing in the enhancement
of today’s skill set in preparation for tomorrow’s challenges and responsibilities and that they
are evolving as no one wants to stay with a stagnant organization. Our world changes rapidly
and organizations must change with it or they perish. Training and development programs
send a message loud and clear that the company is looking ahead and is committed to its
101 Strategies for Recruiting Success: Where, When, and How to Find the Right People
Every Time.)
[Writer's surname] 7
Internal promotion is the cheapest way to recruit, and can also help one to keep
existing staff motivated. Its important points are identifying potential candidates from
existing staff who participate in professional developing training programs, training, and
development programs and offering bonuses and incentives to existing employees who
An employee skills inventory is like an index of the individual skills, abilities, and
knowledge. Most organizations keep personnel files or job histories of each of their
employee skills inventory focuses on the skills and qualities that led to those
accomplishments. This is a tool not only for the large multinational firms. Even a relatively
small firm – with 100 employees or fewer – could also reap its benefits. The biggest benefit is
that, rather than sort through reams of personnel files to identify logical internal candidates
for a position, one simply has to search the database of the employee skills inventory. Within
a few minutes at most, one would have a list of all employees in the company who come
closest to the requirements of a specific vacancy. (Stone, Florence. Recruiting and Retaining
following the same approach, techniques, and attitude that head hunters employ, one too can
Head hunters use specific techniques that will solve an employer’s job vacancy
problem by finding the best possible candidate. Head hunters understand that the long held
traditional process of job hunting is somewhat inefficient and not necessarily reliable. As a
result, they have made a living from ‘filling in the recruitment gaps’. They have developed
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methods that work because they must work in order to survive in the recruitment business.
They know that if they don’t make the right placements they just will not survive in the
industry.
Head hunters usually follow a fairly simple process. They meet with the client,
establish a concise job description, develop a list of target candidates, and talk to the
candidates to gauge interest, screen the candidates and undertake the reference checks and
testing.
Head hunters possess a rare kind of skill - they have the finely tuned ability to know
how to navigate the right person into a good job. They can do this because they have many
years experience of successfully matching jobs and people. This is why it is not really a big
jump for existing human resource professionals to undertake the role in-house. After all, most
approaches to job hunting have been designed by human resource professionals, so in reality
if all human resource professionals were good at matching people with jobs, head hunters
The key differences between the two groups of people – recruiters and human
resource specialists - are the art of communication and relationship management. Where
human resource professionals are focused on traditional process driven tasks, head hunters
After all the sourcing, screening, background checks, and references are complete interview
is often the deciding-factor regarding whether or not a candidate will be offered a position.
In other words, when all is said and done, hiring tends to be a rather subjective decision. But
this subjectivity is a double edged sword. The hiring manager thinks, and rightly so, that he
[Writer's surname] 9
know the company and knows what he’s looking for. A new hire needs to get along with
others and fit in with rest of the group if he/she is to have a happy and successful career with
the company. On the other hand, subjective decisions may not always the correct or best
decision. As long as human beings are involved in the hiring process, subjectivity will play a
significant role. Still, we can build objectivity safeguards into the hiring process by the use of
Behavioral interview questions are open-ended. Candidates are encouraged to give specific
response. (Pritchard, Christopher, W. 101 Strategies for Recruiting Success: Where, When,
A number of books and Internet search engine provides readily available resources regarding
someone, to draw some conclusions about his/her personal factors that may have their impact
on his/her performance. Resumes, by their nature, provide a very concise version of facts
about someone; hence the importance of interview increases manifolds, as it may be the only
opportunity available to the company to probe deeply into the candidate’s character. A testing
checking only the references applicant has provided himself/herself, interviewer during the
course of interview asks a series of questions about the applicant’s superiors, peers and
subordinates, thus getting a list of names, few of which the applicant may not have revealed
yet. This technique provides the manager with a tool to gather further information about the
[Writer's surname] 10
applicant. An initial screening can be done by any person related the company but the final
used by nearly all the proactive firms is hiring students as internees, this provides company a
chance to gauge the capabilities of the individual, at the same time it also provides the student
to assess whether he would like to be a part of this company or not. This mutual grading of
each other normally results in form of a talented employee to the company and a job
guarantee to the student even before he/she has finished his/her studies. This phenomenon
keeps a steady supply of fresh and vibrant blood into a company which is growing, because
normally the employee turn over and continuous growth makes it necessary to inject fresh
frequently at higher and higher rates is equivalent to, as Dr John Sullivan, chief talent officer
Works Cited
Alex, Dakotta. The Recruiters Guide BookBook: A comprehensive and practical guide to
Menkes, Justin. “Hiring for Smarts”. Harvard Business Review. November 2005.
Pritchard, Christopher, W. 101 Strategies for Recruiting Success: Where, When, and How to
Find the Right People Every Time. AMACOM, a division of American Management
Association.
Roberts, Michael, J. “Note on the Hiring and Selection Process”. Harvard Business School
Schuler; Dowling; Smart; Huber. Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations in
Stone, Florence. Recruiting and Retaining People. Capstone Publishing (a Wiley company).
2002.
Survey Report. The future of Recruitment in UK – Glory or Death. Collier Pickard Ltd. June
2008.