Recruitment

Recruitment synonymous with "hiring" in American English, refers to the overall process of attracting, selecting and appointing suitable candidates for jobs within an organization, either permanent or temporary, unpaid positions, such as voluntary roles or training programmes. Managers, human resource generalists and recruitment specialists may recruit in-house, while public-sector employment agencies, commercial recruitment agencies, or specialist search consultancies may undertake parts of the process. Internet-based technologies to support all aspects of recruitment has become widespread.

Process

Job analysis

In situations where multiple new jobs are created and recruited for the first time, a job analysis might be undertaken to document the knowledge, skill, ability, and other personal characteristics required for the job. From these the relevant information is captured in such documents as job descriptions and job specifications. Often a company will already have job descriptions that represent a historical collection of tasks performed. Where already drawn up, these documents need to be reviewed or updated to reflect present day requirements. Prior to initiating the recruitment stages a person specification should be finalized to provide the recruiters commissioned with the requirements and objectives of the project.^[1]

Sourcing

Sourcing is the use of one or more strategies to attract or identify candidates to fill job vacancies. It may involve internal and/or external recruitment advertising, using appropriate media, such as local or national newspapers, specialist recruitment media, professional publications, window advertisements, job centers, or in a variety of ways via the internet. Alternatively, employers may use recruitment consultancies or agencies to find otherwise scarce candidates who may be content in their current positions and are not actively looking to move companies. This initial research for so-called passive candidates, also called name generation, results in a contact information of potential candidates who can then be contacted discreetly to be screened and approached.^[1]

Screening and selection

Suitability for a job is typically assessed by looking for that are required for a job. These can be determined via: screening résumés (also known as curriculum vitae or CV); job application; Biographical Information Blanks which is an assessment that asks for a more extensive background than an application; or a job interview. Various psychological tests can be used to assess a variety of Knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics(KSAOs), including literacy. Assessments are available to measure physical ability. Recruiters and agencies may use applicant tracking systems to filter, along with software tools for psychometric testing and performance based assessment.^[2] In many countries, employers are legally mandated to ensure their screening and selection processes meet equal opportunity and ethical standards.^[1] Employers are likely to recognize the value of candidates who encompass soft skills such as interpersonal or team leadership. Multinational organizations and those that recruit from a range of nationalities are also concerned candidates will fit into the prevailing company culture.^[3]

The word disability carries few positive connotations for most employers. Research has shown that employer biases tend to improve through firsthand experience and exposure with proper supports for employee ^[4] and the employer making the hiring decisions, less influenced by the disabled applicant perceived contribution. As for most companies, money and job stability are two of the contributing factors to productivity, which in return equates to the growth and success of a business. Hiring disabled workers produce more advantages than disadvantages.^[5] Disabled workers are more likely to stay with the company and make their a work a career than most due to the fact that they appreciate having a job and are more stable because they can work at high levels. There is no difference in the daily production of a disadvantaged worker. Given their situation, they are more likely to adapt to their environment surroundings and acquaint themselves with equipment, enabling them to solve problems and overcome adversity as other employees. The U.S. IRS grants companies Disable Access Credit when meeting eligibility.^[6] These funds can assist with costs of accommodations and other expenses like supervision and assistance of those who encounter problems, or hiring of more qualified personnel (in case supervisor unavailable) which equates to higher wages, double shifts and incentives. Ensuring adequate space and property changes such as ramps, restricting parking spaces, and posting handicap signs can be fairly inexpensive. Sometimes companies lose skilled workers due to depth of responsibility entailed in overseeing employees that are disadvantaged.

Approaches

There are a variety of recruitment approaches and most organizations will utilize a combination of two or more of these as part of a recruitment exercise or to deliver their overall recruitment strategy. There are six common models:

In-house

Many employers undertake their own in-house recruitment, using their human resources department, front-line hiring managers and recruitment personnel who handle targeted functions and populations. In addition to coordinating with the agencies mentioned above, in-house recruiters may advertise job vacancies on their own website and other job boards, coordinate internal employee referrals, target and headhunt external candidates (much like an external agency or search firm), work with external associations, trade groups and/or focus on campus graduate recruitment. Some large employers choose to outsource all or some of their recruitment process (recruitment process outsourcing), however a more common approach is for employers to introduce referral schemes where employees are encouraged to source new staff from within their own network.

Internal recruitment

Internal recruitment refers to the process of a candidate being selected from the existing workforce of a company to take up a new job in the same organization, perhaps as a promotion, or to provide career development opportunity, or to meet a specific or urgent organizational need. Advantages include the organization's familiarity with the employee and their competencies insofar as they are revealed in their current job, and their willingness to trust said employee. It can be quicker and have a lower cost to hire someone internally.^[7]

A temporary internal appointment for a period of a few months sometimes occurs, after which the employee would normally be expected to return to their previous job. This is known as a secondment; someone on a secondment is said to be seconded to the new team. Secondments may also take place between related organizations.

Lateral hire may refer to the hiring of someone into a position that is at the same organizational level or salary from another, similar organization or to an employee moving from one position to another within the same organization, possibly luring them with a better salary and the promise of better career opportunities.

An internal recruiter (alternatively in-house recruiter or corporate recruiter) is member of a company or organization and typically works in the human resources department. Internal recruiters may be multifunctional, serving in an HR generalist role or in a specific role focusing all their time on recruiting. Activities vary from firm to firm but may include, screening CVs or résumés, conducting aptitude or psychological testing, interviewing, undertaking reference and background checks, hiring; administering contracts, advising candidates on benefits, onboarding new recruits and conducting exit interviews with employees leaving the organization. They can be permanent employees or hired as contractors for this purpose. Contract recruiters tend to move around between multiple companies, working at each one for a short stint as needed for specific hiring purposes. The responsibility is to filter candidates as per the requirements of each client.

Employee referral

An employee referral program is a system where existing employees recommend prospective candidates for the job offered, and in some organizations if the suggested candidate is hired, the employee receives a cash bonus.^[8] Job seekers may also be referred or recommended by a third-party affiliate within a particular field based on certain criteria resulting in a lead or interview with a potential future employer.In some cases the organization provides the employee referral bonus only if the referred employee stays with the organization for stipulated time duration (most cases 3–6 months). Referral bonus depends on the grade of the referred employee, higher the grade then higher the bonus however, this method is not used for senior level hiring.

Outsourcing

An external recruiter may suit small organizations without the facilities to recruit. Typically, a formal contract for services is negotiated, known in the industry as Recruitment Process Outsourcing. It may involve strategic consulting for talent acquisition, sourcing for select departments or skills, or total outsourcing of the recruiting function.

Employment agencies

Employment agencies operate in both the public and private sectors. Publicly funded services have a long history, often having been introduced to mitigate the impact of unemployment in economic downturns, such as those which form part of the New Deal program in the United States, and the Jobcentre Plus service in the UK.

The commercial recruitment industry is based on the goal of providing a candidate to a client for a price. At one end of the spectrum, there are agencies that are paid only if they deliver a candidate that successfully stays with the client beyond the agreed probationary period. On the other end, there are agencies that are paid a retainer to focus on a client's needs and achieve milestones in the search for the right candidate, and then again are paid a percentage of the candidate's salary when a candidate is placed and stays with the organization beyond the probationary period.

The agency recruitment industry is highly competitive, therefore agencies have sought out ways to differentiate themselves and add value by focusing on a particular part of the recruitment life cycle. Most agencies provide a broad range of services, and with the extremes being the traditional providers and the niche operators.

Traditional agency

A traditional agency, also known as employment agencies, historically has had a physical location, where a candidate visits a local branch for a short interview and an assessment before being taken onto the agency’s books. Recruitment consultants work to match their pool of candidates to their clients' open positions. Suitable candidates are short-listed and put forward for an interview with potential employers on a contract or direct basis.

Recruitment Broker

An agency / consultancy representing multiple 'Traditional agencies' with a physical location is called a broker. A client employs the broker who supplies candidates from potentially multiple recruitment agencies. The consultants work to match their pool of candidates to the Brokers' open positions. Suitable candidates are short-listed and put forward for an interview with potential employers on a contract or direct basis. Typically the broker fee is paid by the recruitment agency as a percentage of the placement rather than direct from the client.

Niche recruiters

'Specialized recruiters' exist to seek staff with a very narrow specialty. These firms can produce superior results due to their ability to channel all of their resources into networking for a very specific skill set. This specialization in staffing allows them to offer more jobs for their specific demographic, which in turn attracts more specialized candidates from that specific demographic over time building large proprietary databases. Niche firms tend to be more focused on building ongoing relationships with their candidates, as the same candidates may be placed many times throughout their careers. Online resources have developed to help find niche recruiters.^[9] Niche firms also develop knowledge on specific employment trends within their industry of focus (e.g., the energy industry) and are able to identify demographic shifts such as aging and its impact on the industry.^[10]

Agencies financial arrangements may take several forms:

• A contingency fee paid by the company when an agency introduced candidate accepts a job with the client company. Typical fees range from 15% to 35% based on the candidates first-year base salary (fees as low as 12.5% can be found online). This type of recruitment usually has a rebate or replacement guarantee should the candidate fail to perform or leave within a set period of time (often up to a three-month period and as much as a 100% rebate).
• An advance payment that serves as a retainer, also paid by the company, is non-refundable and paid in full depending on outcome and success (e.g., 40% up front, 30% in 90 days and the remainder once a search is completed). This form of compensation is generally reserved for high level executive search/headhunters
• Hourly charge for temporary workers and projects. A negotiated hourly fee in which the agency is paid and then pays the applicant as a consultant for services as a third party. Many contracts allow a consultant to transition to a full-time status upon completion of a certain number of hours with or without a conversion fee.

Headhunters

An executive search firm or "headhunter" are industry terms for a third-party recruiter who works on behalf of an employer and seeks out candidates for executive and professional positions on their behalf. Headhunters are generally considered more aggressive than in-house recruiters or may have existing industry experience and contacts. They may use advanced sales techniques. They may also purchase expensive lists of names and job titles but more often will generate their own lists. They may arrange a meeting or a formal interview between their client and the candidate and will usually prepare the candidate for the interview, help negotiate the salary and conduct closure of the search. They are frequently members in good standing of industry trade groups and associations. Headhunters may attend trade shows, college job fairs and other meetings nationally or even internationally that may be attended by potential candidates and hiring managers.

Headhunters are typically small operations that make high margins on candidate placements (sometimes more than 30% of the candidate’s annual compensation). Due to their higher costs, headhunters are usually employed to fill senior management and executive level roles. Headhunters are also used to recruit very specialized individuals; for example, in some fields, such as emerging scientific research areas, there may only be a handful of top-level professionals who are active in the field. In this case, since there are so few qualified candidates, it makes more sense to directly recruit them one-by-one, rather than advertise internationally for candidates. While in-house recruiters tend to attract candidates for specific jobs, headhunters will attract both candidates and actively seek them out as well. To do so, they may network, cultivate relationships with various companies, maintain large databases, purchase company directories or candidate lists and cold call prospective recruits. Headhunters are increasingly using social media to find and research candidates, also called social recruiting.

Executive research and resourcing firms

These firms are the new hybrid operators in recruitment, discovering passive candidates and making them hires for their clients. They may generate varying degrees of candidate information from people currently engaged in the position a company is looking to fill and provide "passive candidate intelligence" to the recruiting company. These firms may charge a daily rate or fixed fee.

Internet recruitment services

Recruitment websites

Recruitment websites have two main features: job boards, usually with a job search engine, a meta-search engine, which searches across multiple websites, and a résumé or curriculum vitae (CV) database. Job boards allow member companies to post job vacancies. Alternatively, candidates can upload a résumé to be included in searches by member companies. Fees are charged for job postings and access to search resumes. Since the late 1990s, e-recruitment has evolved to encompass end-to-end recruitment. Websites capture candidate details and then pool them in client accessed candidate management interfaces (also online). Key players in this sector provide e-recruitment software and services to organizations of all sizes and within numerous industry sectors, who want to e-enable entirely or partly their recruitment process in order to improve business performance.

The online software provided by those who specialize in online recruitment helps organizations attract, test, recruit, employ and retain quality staff with a minimal amount of administration. Online recruitment websites can be very helpful to find candidates that are very actively looking for work and post their resumes online. Online sites may not attract the "passive" candidates who might respond favorably to an opportunity presented to them through other means. Some candidates who are actively looking to change jobs may be hesitant to put their resumes on the job boards, for fear that their companies, co-workers, customers or others might see their resumes.

Social recruiting

Social recruiting is the use of social media for recruiting including sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.^[11][12] It is a rapidly growing sourcing technique, especially with middle-aged people. On Google+, the fastest-growing age group is 45–54. On Twitter, the expanding generation is people from ages 55–64.^[13]

Mobile social recruiting is rapidly expanding. CareerBuilder ran a survey of the Fortune 500 companies and discovered that 39% of people in the United States uses tablet computers. Another recent survey done by Glassdoor.com revealed that 43% of candidates research company policy, culture, and history all within the fifteen-minute time period before an interview begins. However, 80% of Fortune 500 companies fail to use mobile-optimized career sites.^[13]

Candidate paid recruiters

Some recruiters work by accepting payments from job seekers, and in return help them to find a job. Such recruiters often refer to themselves as "personal marketers" and "job application services" rather than as recruiters.^[14][15]

See also

Look up Recruitment in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Recruiting companies

• List of employment agencies
• List of executive search firms
• List of employment websites
• List of temporary employment agencies

References

External links

• Media related to Recruitment at Wikimedia Commons

Employment Classifications Casual Contingent Full-time Part-time Self-employed Independent contractor Temporary Tenure Wage labour Hiring Application Background check Business networking Contract Cover letter Curriculum Vitæ (CV) Drug testing e-recruitment Employment counsellor Executive search Induction programme Job fair Job fraud Job hunting Job interview Labour brokering Overqualification Onboarding Personality-Job Fit Theory Person-environment fit Probation Reference Résumé Simultaneous recruiting of new graduates Underemployment Work-at-home scheme Roles Co-op Employee Employer Internship Job Numerary Permanent Permatemp Supernumerary Supervisor Volunteer Worker class Blue-collar Gold-collar Green-collar Grey-collar Pink-collar White-collar Career and training Apprenticeship Avocation Career assessment Career counseling Career development Coaching Creative class Education Continuing education Continuing professional development E-learning Employability Further education Graduate school Induction training Initial Professional Development Knowledge worker Licensure Lifelong learning Practice-based professional learning Professional association Professional certification Professional development Reflective practice Retraining Vocational education Vocational school Vocational university Mentorship Occupational Outlook Handbook Profession Tradesman Vocation Attendance Break Career break Furlough Gap year Leave of absence Long service leave No call, no show Sabbatical Sick leave Time clock Schedules 35-hour workweek Eight-hour day Flextime Four-day week Overtime Retroactive overtime Shift work Telecommuting Working time Workweek and weekend Wages and salaries Income bracket Income tax Living wage Maximum wage National average salary World Europe Minimum wage Canada Hong Kong Europe USA Progressive wage Singapore Overtime rate Paid time off Performance-related pay Salary Salary cap Working poor Benefits Annual leave Casual Friday Day care Disability insurance Health insurance Life insurance Parental leave Pension Sick leave Take-home vehicle Safety and health Epilepsy and employment Human factors and ergonomics Industrial noise Protective clothing Occupational burnout Occupational disease Occupational exposure limit Occupational health psychology Occupational injury Occupational stress Repetitive strain injury Sick building syndrome Work accident Occupational fatality Workers' compensation Workplace phobia Workplace wellness Equality Affirmative action Equal pay for women Infractions Corporate abuse Accounting scandals Corporate behaviour Corporate crime Control fraud Corporate scandals Discrimination Dress code Employee handbook Employee monitoring Evaluation Labour law Sexual harassment Sleeping while on duty Wage theft Whistleblower Workplace bullying Workplace harassment Workplace incivility Willingness Civil conscription Conscription Dead-end job Extreme careerism Job satisfaction Organizational commitment McJob Refusal of work Slavery Bonded labor Human trafficking Labor camp Penal labour Peonage Truck system Unfree labour Wage slavery Workaholic Work aversion Work ethic Work–life balance Downshifting Slow living Termination At-will employment Dismissal Banishment room Constructive dismissal Wrongful dismissal Employee exit management Exit interview Layoff Notice period Pink slip Resignation Letter of resignation Restructuring Retirement Mandatory retirement Retirement age Severance package Golden handshake Golden parachute Turnover Unemployment Barriers to Employment Depression Great Depression Long Depression Discouraged worker Frictional unemployment Full employment Graduate unemployment Jobless recovery Phillips curve Recession Great Recession Great Recession job losses List of recessions Recession-proof job Types of unemployment Unemployment Convention Unemployment benefits Unemployment extension Unemployment insurance Unemployment rates Employment rates Employment-to-population ratio Reserve army of labour Structural unemployment Technological unemployment Wage curve Youth unemployment See also templates Aspects of corporations Aspects of jobs Aspects of occupations Aspects of organizations Aspects of workplaces Corporate titles Organized labor