Human Resource Management Unit 5

Unit 5 Recruitment
Structure:
5.1 Introduction
Objectives
5.2 Concept of Recruitment
Importance of recruitment
Process of recruitment
5.3 Factors Affecting Recruitment
5.4 Types of Recruitment
Internal recruitment
External recruitment
5.5 Summary
5.6 Glossary
5.7 Terminal Questions
5.8 Answers

5.1 Introduction
In the previous unit we learnt about job analysis and job description. We
have come to know that job analysis is an important aspect of human
resource planning. Once human resource plan is made and the job analysis
is carried out, then the organisation looks for skilled and qualified candidates
who can fill up vacant positions in the organisation. This process is known
as recruitment.
The success and the failure of the organisation depend upon the capability
of the people working in that organisation. The most crucial task is to get the
right person for the right job at the right time. Without recruiting and hiring
the right person, even the best plans and strategies can fail. An organisation
achieves its objectives only because it has right people in the right positions.
It is not by chance that some organisations get people of their choice while
others do not.
It is through recruitment that the organisation attracts the best candidates
and influences them to apply for vacancies there. Sometimes, an
organisation may find suitable candidates within the organisation and
sometimes it may decide to look for better candidates outside. There is no
standard process of recruitment which is applicable to all organization. In

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fact, every organisation uses its own customised system for recruitment. We
shall now look into the concept of recruitment in detail.
The ‘PacifiCare’ case depicts the best recruitment practices followed in the
organisation by focusing on the brand image.

Best Employer Brand: PacifiCare

PacifiCare realised the tremendous impact that a great brand can have
on recruiting in a healthcare industry that has all but ignored employment
branding. As a result, it has developed a formally managed employer
brand that is fully integrated with the core business strategy and brand.
The core business tagline is “Caring is good, doing something is better.”
This is supported by an employment brand tagline of “Envision, Innovate,
and Accomplish.”
Best recruitment practices of PacifiCare are:
 Full-time HR representatives work in the branding department and
they drive internal branding and employment brand integration.
 Full-time HR representatives in the talent acquisition department
help to oversee all programs and messaging that affects the
employment brand.
 They negotiated a partnership between the brand team, the
advertising team and the talent acquisition team.
 They use external market research to gauge target candidates’
perceptions in the marketplace in order to drive adjustments in
program design and messaging.
 Executives do not rely on the hard sell; they communicate honestly,
disclosing that PacifiCare is sometimes ’not an easy place to work’.
 The branding team participates in programs that demonstrate the
brand by demonstrating results. A prime example of this approach is
PacifiCare’s development of the first-ever Quality Index of Hospitals.
[Source: http://www.ere.net/2006/03/20/six-best-practices-in-recruiting/
(Retrieved on 22nd November, 2011)]

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Objectives:
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
 discuss the concept of recruitment
 list the factors affecting recruitment
 explain the types of recruitment

5.2 Concept of Recruitment

Recruitment is a linking function. It is a joining process in which it tries to
bring together job seekers and employers. The basic purpose of recruitment
is to finding the best talent in the job market and absorbing them in the
company.
To have good recruitment, it is important to have three elements:
i) Attractive compensation
ii) Better career opportunities
iii) Good organisational image or reputation (Brand image)
According to Yoder, “Recruitment is a process to discover the sources of
manpower to meet the requirements of the staffing schedule and to employ
effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to
facilitate effective selection of an efficient working force.” In this definition
more emphasis is given on sources of recruitment so that we can get
effective and efficient work force to meet job requirements.
In the words of Byars and Rue, “Recruitment involves seeking and attracting
a pool of people from which qualified candidates for job vacancies can be
chosen.”
Flippo says that, “Recruitment is a process of searching for prospective
employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for jobs in an
organisation.” According to this definition recruitment is a process of
gathering a pool of applicants. So it is a positive process.
Generally, the term ‘recruitment’ is used as a synonym for employment or
selection but it is not same. Recruitment precedes the process of selection.
Recruitment is often termed positive as it aims at stimulating large number
of people to apply for jobs in order to increase the hiring ratio i.e., the
number of applicants for a job. Selection, on other hand tends to be
negative because it aims at hiring the best among the lot and thus in the
process rejects a good number of those who apply for the job.

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Today, everyone wants to attract and retain the best talent for their
company. Organisations like Infosys, Citi Bank, Johnson & Johnson and
Procter & Gamble etc. use employee stock option plan as a strategy to
attract and retain people in their organisation. Recently, Reliance Industries
have also announced their Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP).
A firm must adopt a recruitment process so that they can get pool of
applicants in a cost effective manner. Through recruitment the firm makes
the first contact with the potential candidates. The recruitment policy of any
organisation is derived from its personnel policy. In other words we can say
that personnel policy provides guidelines for making recruitment plans.
There are three types of recruitment needs:
 Planned: It arises due to the changes in the organisation and its policy.
 Anticipated: It is a need which can be predicted by looking at the
changes in the internal and external environment.
 Unexpected: It is a need which arises due to sudden deaths,
resignations, accidents or illness.
5.2.1 Importance of recruitment
The importance of recruitment is:
 To attract and encourage candidates to apply for a job.
 To help organisations in selecting the best suited candidates by creating
a pool of applicants.
 To determine the present and future requirement with the help of human
resource planning and job analysis.
 It acts as a bridge between employer and job seeker.
 It helps in meeting the legal and social obligations related to work force
composition.
 It helps in identifying the potential employees of the organisation.
 It makes effective use of various sources and techniques for all types of
jobs.

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5.2.2 The recruitment process

The process of recruitment involves a series of steps. Each step is carefully
planned and executed because incorrect recruitment will lead to hiring the
wrong person for the job. The steps of recruitment process are:
i. Recruitment planning: Recruitment plan is derived from the human
resource plan, as discussed in unit 3. It involves preparing the job
analysis, job description and job specification. Recruitment strategies
are also planned to attract maximum number of qualified applicants.
ii. Recruitment sourcing: It is essential to know if the organisation would
want to identify applicants within the organisation or search for
applicants through external sources such as advertisements, websites
etc.
iii. Attracting applicants: This is the most difficult and exciting part of the
recruitment process. The most difficult task is to attract high performing
candidates as most employers would try to retain them using various
strategies. Also, it would be difficult to source their resumes from
external sources. The organisation would have to devise methods by
which the potential candidates would get the information of the
vacancies and induce them to apply for the jobs.
iv. Feedback: Feedback is important to know the quality and the success
of the recruitment process. It helps in planning recruitment policies in a
better manner for the future.
Self Assessment Questions
State whether the following statements are true or false
1. Recruitment is a process of stimulating and encouraging prospective
employees to apply for jobs in the organization.
2. Process of recruitment and selection are the same.
3. Recruitment needs are planned, anticipated and unexpected.

Activity 1:
Design a recruitment process for attracting applicants for the position of
Marketing Executive in a premier advertising agency.
Refer: Section 5.2

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5.3 Factors Affecting Recruitment

Let us see the factors that affect the recruitment process. Since recruitment
is the first step in identifying potential employees and there is a huge chance
of these identified candidates to be a part of the organisation, employers are
very careful with the recruitment policies. The management has to look into
all the factors that influence the recruitment process.
The factors that influence recruitment can be broadly divided into internal
and external factors.
a) External factors influencing recruitment are:
i. Demand and supply: The organisation must look into the pool of
candidates that is available for a job position, both within and outside
the organisation. If the company has a demand for more
professionals and there is limited supply in the market for the
professionals demanded by the company, then the company will
have to depend upon internal sources by providing them special
training and development programs.
ii. Economic environment: The economic condition has great impact
on the recruitment of a company. As we have seen in previous units,
liberalisation, globalisation and privatisation have created demand
for different types of expertise from the potential employees, such as
ability to understand functions in international context, knowledge in
foreign languages, currencies etc.
iii. Social environment: Now a days organisations are becoming more
innovative in recruitment. One of the major causes is changes which
is taking place in our society. Social norms and values are
changing. From the traditional career attitude of job security and
safety, people now want faster pace of career growth and a job that
is challenging. More women have started working, so giving equal
employment opportunities have become more challenging for
recruiters.
iv. Technological environment: The growth and innovation of
technology has become the norm now in our advanced world. With
the changes in technology the competencies required from the
potential employees have also changed. You may recollect after the
1990s there was a huge drive for computeriation in the various

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banks across India. The old ledgers and account books were
replaced by computers. This change led to a huge cut in the intake
of employees in banks. Currently, you may find only three or four
employees in a local bank, who are proficient in using computers,
managing all banking activities. So, you can see that a small change
in technology made a big difference in the number of people required
and also there came a huge difference in terms of the skills and
knowledge required from them.
v. Political – legal environment: The philosophy of the political
parties in power influences business practices. A pro-business
attitude on the part of government enables firms to enter into
arrangements that would otherwise not be allowed under a anti-
business philosophy. The legal environment serves to define what
organisations can and cannot do at a particular point in time.
Legislations such as the Factories Act 1948, the Apprentices Act
1961 defines the guidelines of recruitment, such as children below
14 years cannot be hired etc. The introduction of age discrimination
and disability discrimination legislation, an increase in the minimum
wage and greater requirements for firms to recycle are examples of
relatively recent laws that affect an organisation’s actions.
vi. Corporate image: Corporate image or reputation describes the
manner in which a company, its activities and its products or
services are perceived by outsiders. The social image of the
organisation also affects the recruitment practices. Organisations
that have positive corporate image have no difficulty in attracting
employees as they are perceived to be good places to work for. The
Economic Times and Great Place to Work Institute conducted a
survey in 2011 to find out the best workplaces in India that is,
companies that cared for its employees and vice-versa. More than
500 companies signed up for this year's survey, of which 471 met
the strict eligibility criteria. ‘Google’ was ranked first due to its
innovative compensation packages, freedom given to employees to
enjoy at workplace, encouragement towards risks and failures etc.
On the other side, the scam at Satyam destroyed the reputation of
the whole organisation and this has adversely affected its whole
hiring process.

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vii. Unemployment rate: The rate of unemployment influences the

recruitment policies. If the unemployment rate is high then even
simple recruitment plan can work, as there is a large pool of
candidates who would be willing to work. On the other hand if
unemployment rate is low then specific plans are required to attract
the best people.
viii. Competitors: The recruitment policies of the firm always have to be
competent in terms of the recruitment policies of its competitors.
Prospective employees give weightage to opportunities from
organisations that have maximum employee benefits. So, during
recruitment, management must highlight on the best practices of the
organisation. For example, Google attracts potential candidates by
emphasising on its flexible, project-based approach, equal
opportunities policy, innovative perks and benefits including 15 days
of paid vacation every year.
b) Internal factors influencing recruitment are:
i. Organisational and recruitment policies: Organisations with a
philosophy of developing their human resources and of providing
opportunities for growth favor internal recruiting policies.
Organisations looking for fresh talent and new ideas would favor
external recruitment.
ii. HR plan: Recruitment happens only after human resource
planning is framed. The human resource plan gives the detailed
framework on the recruitment policy that has to be adhered to. It
gives details of what percentage of vacancies have to be reserved
for SC, ST, physically handicapped etc.
iii. Size of the organisation: If the organisation plans to increase its
operations or diversify or expand, it will require more manpower. At
the same time, if the organisation plans to downsize, it will restrict
the number of people required or make use of the existing
manpower to carry out functions.
iv. Cost of recruitment: No organisation would want its recruitment
process to be very expensive. Choosing the sources of recruitment
depends on the cost involved. The cost of recruitment also

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influences if the recruitment has to be done internally or from

outside the organisation.
v. Age composition of the workforce: If the majority of the
workforce is aged, then the organisation would prefer to hire
younger workforce from outside the organisation. If the workforce
in the organization is young, then the organisation would prefer to
train and develop its own employees to fit into vacancies.
vi. Wage and salary policies: One of the most important attracting
forces of any organisation is its wage and salary policies. People
are always attracted to the firms that pay well and at the same time
provide additional benefits such as medical insurance, travel
allowance etc. Intel India is known for its comprehensive
compensation package including base pay, bonus, commission,
shift premium, overtime premium, medical benefits including dental
benefits, access to recreation facilities, paid vacations, maternity
and paternity leaves, free counseling services etc. This
compensation policy, itself is a great motivator for people to apply
for jobs.
vii. Nature of operations: The kind of job and its nature also affect
recruitment. For example, it is difficult to find a pool of interested
applicants for selling products door to door and meeting sales
targets. At the same time it is easy to find a large pool of
applicants for vacancies as Probationary Officers in banks. This
variation is seen due to the difference in the kind of work and
efforts required for the jobs. Selling products door to door involves
more physical strain and the employees have to face rejections
from customers.
Self Assessment Questions
Fill in the blanks
4. If the unemployment rate is ________ then a simple recruitment plan
can also work.
5. If the majority of the workforce is aged, then the organisation would
prefer to hire younger workforce from ________ the organisation.
6. If the organisation is planning to downsize, the number of people
required will be __________.

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5.4 Types of Recruitment

When Pepsi recruits somebody they expect the person to have a winner’s
mindset, an ability to lead dramatic change, ability to stretch, ability to deal
with ambiguity, an orientation towards the business, a certain impact and
presence, flair and style, open and informal, aggression, innovative and high
achievement.
In the same way, Rebook has its own criteria. They look for young
employees because their customers are young. A person with a sporty
attitude, a passion for the fitness business and reflect the company’s
aspirations, have the ability to get one’s hands dirty are some of the
desirable characteristics. The person should have the ability to cope up with
informality, a flat organisation and absence of hierarchy. One must be able
to take decisions independently and perform consistently with their clearly
defined roles.
When we think of filling up a vacant position in the organization, we
definitely have to think of sources from where we can get suitable
candidates for the required number.
Some companies prefer recruiting internally that is, to find suitable
candidates within the organisation itself. At the same time, some prefer
external sources to recruit. They can be people working in other
organisation, students from different educational institutes, people
registered in employment.
Let us look into each of these types in detail.
5.4.1 Internal recruitment
Internal recruitment requires identifying people already working in the
organisation to fill up vacancies. When organisations prefer internal
recruitment, it puts a positive impact on loyalty, morale and motivation of the
employee. When an organization prefers internal recruitment, each time
there is a vacancy in the organization existing employees may be promoted,
transferred, upgraded to fulfill that vacancy. Any retired employee,
dependent of any deceased employee or retrenched employee also comes
under internal sources.
The merits of internal recruitment are:
 It can be motivational for employees.

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 It can improve the morale of the employees.

 Internal candidates are known to the company so their suitability can be
judged better.
 It can generate and enhance loyalty, commitment, a sense of
belongingness and a feeling of security.
 The employee can get a chance for advancement so the chance for job
satisfaction is more.
 Promotion can lead to increase in salary.
 Minimum cost of selection.
 The cost which occurs in training, orientation, induction and adaptation
of the new employee can be minimised.
 Satisfies demands of trade unions.
 Fulfillment of social responsibility of the organisation.
 More stable organisation.
The demerits of internal recruitment are:
 The organisation is limited in choice. They are forced to compromise
with quality and settle for less qualified employees due to the limited
pool of candidates.
 It prevents the entry of external talented candidates. Recruiting
candidates outside the organization helps bringing in new and innovative
ideas. It may happen that existing employees fail to be innovative.
 When employees are taken internally then it may be based on length of
the service and not on merit.
 Prejudice and personal preference or bias of higher officers can impact
recruitment.
 Internal recruitment can give rise to conflict within the organisation.
There can be a race for better position and it may lead to bitter
relationship.
 When a vacancy is filled by an existing employee, it creates another
vacancy.
Thus, we can say that internal recruitment is cost effective and motivating
for the employees. At the same time, it restricts the organisation in terms of
innovation and new ideas.

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Methods used for internal recruitment are:

i. Promotions: Promotion is one of the methods of recruitment in any
organisation. Here, the employee is moved from a lower or junior level
to the higher level in the organisation. Thus, a change takes place in
responsibilities, status, duties and value of the employees. For
example, for the post of manager in the production department in an
automobile company, all the assistant managers of the production
department will be scrutinised and the most qualified among them
would be shortlisted for the post. This is the reason why in
organisations like Tata group and Birla, star performers are given an
opportunity of growth.
ii. Transfers: Here, the employee is moved from one job to another. It
can be a movement of job in the same level of organisational structure
also, with or without change in salary. In transfer working environment,
duties and responsibilities changes. Transfer is very motivational for
the internal candidates because it gives the employees satisfaction of
taking up more responsibilities. Young executives of the organisation
are motivated to take the risks involved in transfers.
iii. Job posting: Job posting is an internal method under which the job is
advertised on the notice board or bulletin board, electronic media etc.
of the company. It provides opportunities to the highly qualified
employees within the organisation to apply for the upper level jobs.
Also, it sometimes gives opportunity for career shift. Organisations
like HUL, Birla etc. encourage their employees to apply for such jobs.
iv. Employee referrals: Employee referral has become a very popular
way of recruiting people. In this method, current employees of the
companies are encouraged to recommend the name of their friends
working in another organisation for the future vacancy. Some
organisations follow incentive based employee referral programs. After
following all the steps of screening if anybody’s recommendation is
offered a job, then the company offers reward to that particular
employee. Companies like HP, Cisco, Citi Bank and many other
companies in the IT sector prefer employee referral for recruitment and
provide rich rewards.

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5.4.2 External recruitment

To overcome the problems of internal recruitment, organisations go for
external recruitment. In a dynamic environment a fast growing company can
have high demand for technical, skilled and experienced people with new
ideas and excellence. This method of recruitment is economical in a way
that it eliminates the cost of training by recruiting skilled people.
The merits of external recruitment are:
 External source provides large pool of applicants so there is a wide
choice of people with requisite qualifications.
 New talent with latest knowledge and creativity can bring fresh
perspective to the organisation.
 Internal candidates are motivated to work hard because they face tough
competition from external candidates.
 It gives long term benefit to the organisations through balanced human
resource mix with different expertise and experience.
The demerits of external recruitment are:
 It can be very expensive. Approaching different sources is not an easy
task.
 It is very time consuming. There is a proper process of external
recruitment which an organisation has to follow.
 There is no guarantee that new employees will adjust in the
organisation. In that case there will always be uncertainty in the
organisation.
 External recruitment can be demotivational for the existing employees.
Let us now see the commonly used methods of external recruitment.
Methods used for external recruitment are:
i. Campus recruitment: When students are recruited from their colleges
by companies and firms, it is known as campus recruitment. Every
college has its own placement centres. Recruiters visit these colleges
and pick up students having requisite skills. The first round of
screening is done within the campus. Many reputed organisations like
TCS, Infosys, Wipro, P&G, Citi Bank, SBI etc. visit colleges to find their
employees. They also sponsor programs conducted in the campus

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with a motive to earn goodwill in the job market. The placement

centres help in locating applicants and providing resumes to the
organisations.
ii. Advertisements: Advertisements include all types of mass media
such as newspaper, television, professional and technical journals etc.
Programs like employment show on News 24, Rozgar on Doordarshan
etc. are means of advertising for recruitment. In modern era these
mediums have become very useful. They give a brief description of the
jobs. Newspaper is easily available and it is a popular way of
advertising of a job. The Times of India has a supplement, ‘Times
Ascent’, that advertises employment opportunities all over India and
abroad. Organisations can easily target a specific geographic area
with the help of newspaper. Some organisations due to various
reasons use blind-box advertisement where the identity of the
organisation is not disclosed.
iii. Private employment search firms: Have you heard of ABC
consultancy, SB Billimoria, Ma foi Randstad, Nobel and Hewitt? These
are organisations specialised in employment related services and the
render services to the corporate world for a fee. They provide services
to both recruiter and candidates. They have many contacts. They
screen job seekers and send only the most qualified candidates to the
employer for their screening.
iv. Employment exchanges: According to Employment Exchange Act
1959, companies, while filling the vacancies are expected to consider
unemployed youth enrolled in employment exchanges. These
employment exchanges are created all over India to help youths,
disabled people, ex-military men, physically handicapped etc. in
getting employment. It covers all establishments in public sector and
non-agriculture based private establishments who employee 25 and
more employees.
v. Gate hiring: Gate hiring is generally applicable at blue collar
employee, where they offer their services on a daily basis. Job seekers
present themselves near the gate of the factory and get employment
for that particular day.

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vi. Contractors: They are agents who provide the required skilled
candidates to the firms as per their requirements. This is generally
done for temporary posts.
vii. Unsolicited applicants/walk-ins: Unsolicited applicants are the one
who apply for the job directly. These are walk-in interviews where
anyone with the required qualifications can walk into the organisation,
without prior appointment and attend the screening interview. This is
used for vacancies that are not too technical and skilled.
viii. E-Recruitment: Recruitment through the Internet is called
e-recruitment. www.monster.com, www.timesjobs.com, www
naukri.com, www.headhunters.com etc. are some of the online
recruiting websites. They are the fast and effective means of
submitting your resume using internet. Recruiters view the resumes
online, screen it and shortlist the candidates according to the
requirement of the companies and prepare the database.
ix. Blogs, social networking and professional web-sites: Recently,
organisations check into the profiles of candidates in social networking
web-sites and also view their blogs to decide on the knowledge and
competencies of the candidates and shortlist them. Professional web-
sites such as www.linkedin.com also provide opportunities to know the
professional details of the candidates and also opinions about them
through the references.
Thus, we can see that there are various methods of recruitment. As we
know, since it is an expensive affair for the companies, sometimes they
choose other options, such as overtime, outsourcing, temporary hiring and
employee leasing etc. Companies must evaluate the recruitment process
very carefully on different criteria such as cost, time, quality labor market
condition etc.

Activity 2
Prepare an advertisement for recruiting candidates for the post of a
Professor in Marketing Management for an educational institute at
Mumbai
Refer: 1. http://www.startups.co.uk/writing-a-recruitment-advertisement.html
2. http://www.nacorp.com/nac/howto/REC/index.html

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Self Assessment Questions

Match the following:
7. Promotion a) Job advertisement on the notice board of the
firm.
8. Walk-in b) Movement from lower level to higher level in
the organisation.
9. Transfer c) Job seekers attend interview without prior
appointment.
10. Gate hiring d) Help youth, disabled people get employment.
11. Job posting e) Movement of job on the same level in
organisation.
12. Employment exchange f) Employment only for that particular day.

5.5 Summary
Let us recapitulate the important concepts discussed in this unit:
 The process where an organisation looks for skilled and qualified
candidates who can fill up vacant positions in the organisation and
influence them to apply for the positions is known as recruitment.
 Recruitment is a linking function; it acts as a bridge between employer
and job seeker.
 Good recruitment practice includes attractive compensation, better
career opportunities and good organisational image or reputation.
 Recruitment needs may be planned, anticipated or unexpected.
 Recruitment process is important as it attracts and encourages
candidates to apply for jobs, creates a pool of applicants, identifies
potential candidates and meets legal and social obligations related to
work force composition.
 The steps of recruitment process are recruitment planning, recruitment
sourcing, attracting applicants, feedback.
 The factors that influence recruitment are broadly divided into internal
and external factors.
 External factors influencing recruitment are demand and supply,
economic environment, social environment, technological environment,
political-legal environment, corporate image, unemployment rate and
competitors.

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 Internal factors influencing recruitment are organisational and

recruitment policies, HR plan, size of the organisation, cost of
recruitment, age composition of the workforce, wage and salary policies
and nature of operations.
 According to the requirement of a firm, it can choose internal or external
method of recruitment.
 Internal method includes promotion, transfer, job posting and employee
referral etc.
 External methods include advertisement, campus recruitment,
employment exchange, walk-ins, gate hiring and contractors, internet
recruitment etc.

5.6 Glossary
 Ambiguity: A lack of decisiveness or commitment resulting from a
failure to make a choice between alternatives.
 Employee leasing: A contract by which employers arrange to have their
workers hired by a leasing company and then leased back to them for a
management fee. The leasing company typically assumes the
administrative burden of payroll and provides a benefit package to the
workers.
 Employee referral: Employee referral is an internal recruitment method
employed by organisations to identify potential candidates from their
existing employees' social networks.
 Employee Stock Option Plan: A defined contribution, employee benefit
plan designed to invest primarily in the stock of the sponsoring
employer. ESOPs are often used as a corporate finance strategy and
are also used to align the interests of a company's employees with those
of the company's shareholders.
 Employment branding: A strategy designed to make an organisation
appealing as a good place to work. This targeted marketing effort utilises
both print and Internet tactics and attempts to shape the perceptions of
potential employees, current employees and the public.
 Hierarchy: A system or organisation in which people or groups are
ranked one above the other according to status or authority.

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 Job posting: Arrangement in which a firm internally posts a list of open

positions (with their descriptions and requirements) so that the existing
employees who wish to move to different functional areas may apply.
 Outsourcing: Outsourcing is the process when one company contracts
with another company or agency to do a particular function. Typically,
the HR department outsources the function of recruiting candidates to
such agencies.
 Promotion: Movement of employee from lower level to higher level
position in the organisation.
 Recruitment sourcing: It is the process of identification and uncovering
of candidates (also known as talent) using different recruitment
methods. It typically ends once the name, job title, job function and
contact information for the potential candidate is determined by the
candidate recruiter.
 Transfer: Movement of an employee from one job to another on the
same level of hierarchy.

5.7 Terminal Questions

1. Explain the concept of recruitment. Discuss the importance of
recruitment.
2. Describe the process of recruitment.
3. List the external factors affecting recruitment.
4. List the merits and demerits of internal sources of recruitment.

5.8 Answers
Self Assessment Questions
1. True
2. False
3. True
4. High
5. Outside
6. Restricted/ less
7. (b) Movement from lower level to higher level in the organisation.
8. (c) Job seekers attend interview without prior appointment.
9. (e) Movement of job on the same level in organisation.

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10. (f) Employment only for that particular day.

11. (a) Job advertisement on the notice board of the firm.
12. (d) Help youth, disabled people get employment.

Terminal Questions
1. The process where organisation looks for skilled and qualified
candidates who can fill up vacant positions in the organisation and
influence them to apply for the positions is known as recruitment.
Recruitment is a linking function; it acts as a bridge between employer
and job seeker. Recruitment process is important as it attracts and
encourages candidates to apply for jobs, creates a pool of applicants,
identifies potential candidates, and meets legal and social obligations
related to work force composition. Refer section 5.2 and 5.2.1 for more
details.
2. The steps of recruitment process are recruitment planning, recruitment
sourcing, attracting applicants and feedback. It begins with recruitment
planning where the organisation has a detailed framework on the
number of people to be hired etc. For more details refer section 5.2.2.
3. External factors influencing recruitment are demand and supply,
economic environment, social environment, technological environment,
political-legal environment, corporate image, unemployment rate and
competitors. For more details refer section 5.3.
4. Internal recruitment requires identifying people already working in the
organisation to fill up vacancies. Some of the merits of internal
recruitment are that it is motivational, improves morale of employees,
enhance loyalty, commitment, more scope for job satisfaction, increase
in salary etc. At the same time, it suffers from many demerits such as
limited choice of potential candidates, lead to internal conflict,
compromise on quality of workers, chances of bias. For more details
refer section 5.4.1.
References:
 C.B., Mamoria and S. V, Gankar., (2010). Human Resource
Management. Mumbai: Himalaya Publishing House.
 D'Cenzo, David A. & Robbins, P. Stephen., (2001). Human Resource
Management. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

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 Deb, T., (2009). Human Resources and Industrial Relations. New Delhi:
Excel Books.
 Dessler, Gary., (2010) Human Resource Management. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.
 K, Aswathappa., (2006). Human Resource and Personnel Management.
New Delhi: Tata Mc Graw Hill.
 Rao, V.S.P., (2009). Human Resource Management. New Delhi: Excel
Books.

E- References:
 http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/best-
companies-to-work-for-2011-top-10-indian-companies/articleshow/
8965102.cms (Retrieved on 20 November, 2011)
 http://recruitment.naukrihub.com/external-factors.html
(Retrieved on 21 November, 2011)
 http://www.b2businesshub.com/public/companies-struggle-recruit-good-
staff-despite-high-unemployment-levels
(Retrieved on 22 November, 2011)
 http://www.intel.com/jobs/india/bencomp/benefits.htm
(Retrieved on 20 November, 2011)
 http://www.managementparadise.com/forums/human-resources-
management-h-r/203686-factors-affecting-recruitment.html
(Retrieved on 19 November, 2011)
 http://www.managementparadise.com/forums/human-resources-
management-h-r/203686-factors-affecting-recruitment.html
(Retrieved on 20 November, 2011)
 http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/small/Co-Di/Corporate-Image.html
(Retrieved on 22 November, 2011)
 http://www.uk-student.net/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=45
(Retrieved on 21 November, 2011)

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