Basics

Recruitment is the process of attracting the interest of a pool of capable people who will apply for jobs within an organization. It is one of the most critical area within HRM. Recruiting employees who are able to fit with the organization and perform once they have been employed is risky, and there are no guarantees of future performance.

Recruitment is also strongly connected to workforce planning and development and accurate job descriptions.

Effective recruitment depends on the extent to which the overall management philosophy supports and reinforces an approach to HRM that focuses on the utilization and development of new employees once they have joined the organization. 

Recruitment is also reflected in the psychological and behavioural characteristics expected of employees, which are expressed through competency frameworks, and allow organizations to identify and admit the people that possess organizationally defined critical qualities.  

Compatibility between norms and values of the organization and the values of an employee influences outcomes such as organizational commitment, job satisfaction and turnover. There is an indication that person-environment fit includes a person-organization, person-job, person-group and person-supervisor fit. Many organizations seek to express their values by statements or visions and missions, which form part of the image, or brand that is projected by the company. Projected images will determine how attracted potential recruits feel to an organization. The image projected by an organization and the response from potential employees provide the basis for a compatible P-O fit.  

If there’s a match between the values within each of these areas expressed by the organization at the recruitment stage, the organization and the new recruits have a clear understanding of what is expected of new employees and can therefore manage these expectations. 

A further manifestation of the image projected by an organization to which recruits will be attracted is a description of the actual work that potential employees will be required to do. The traditional way of providing such information is in the form of a job description. 

In addition to a job description, there is, in the form of a personnel or person specification, some attempt to profile the 'ideal person to fill the job. It indicates the importance of different essential or desirable requirements such as: competencies, abilities, qualification, experience, motivation, adjustment, interests, etc.  

Job descriptions and personnel specifications have been key elements in the traditional repertoire of HR managers. Over the years, various attempts have been made to develop and fine-tune techniques and practices. One such development has been the shift of emphasis in job descriptions away from specifying tasks and responsibilities towards the results or outcomes to be achieved. Some organizations have replaced or complemented job descriptions with performance contracts. 

The test of success of a recruitment process is whether it attracts a sufficient number of applicants of the desired quality within the budget set. Traditionally, applications are made by a combination of a covering letter, a completed application form and/or a CV. Increasingly, such forms can be submitted by email or completed online.