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CHAPTER THREE
3. RECRUITMENT , SELECTION & ORIENTATION

After completing this chapter you should be able to understand;

 Definition of Recruitment
 Factors Affecting Recruitment
 Sources of Recruitment
 Merits of external sources
 Merits of external sources
 Demerits of External Sources
 Definition of Selection
 Selection Procedure and criteria
 Definition of Orientation
 Benefits of Orientation

3.1. Definition of Recruitment

Recruitment means search of the prospective employee to suit the job requirements as
represented by job specification a technique of job analysis. It is the first stage in
selection which makes the vacancies known to a large number of people and the
opportunities that the organization offers. In response to this knowledge, potential applicants
would write to the organization. The process of attracting people to apply in called recruitment.

Dale S. Beach has defined Recruitment as the development and maintenance of adequate a
power resources. It involves the creation of a pool of available labor upon whom the
organization can depend when it needs additional employees.

According to Edwin B. Flippo : Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective

employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization.

3.1.1. Factors Affecting Recruitment

The recruitment function of the organizations is affected and governed by a mix of

various internal and external forces. The internal forces or factors are the factors that can be
controlled by the organization. And the external factors are those factors which cannot be
controlled by the organization. The internal and external forces affecting recruitment function of
an organization are:

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3.1.2. Internal Factors Affecting Recruitment

The internal forces i.e. the factors which can be controlled by the organization are:

I. Recruitment Policy: The recruitment policy of an organization provides a

framework for implementation of recruitment program by taking into consideration the
following factors

a) Factors Affecting Recruitment Policy

 Organizational objectives
 Personnel policies of the organization and its competitors
 Government policies on reservations
 Preferred sources of recruitment
 Need of the organization
 Recruitment costs and financial implications
b) Human Resource Planning: Effective human resource planning helps in determining
the gaps in the existing manpower of the organization. It also helps in determining
the number of employees to be recruited and the qualifications they should possess.
c) Size of the Firm: The size of the firm is an important factor in recruitment
process. If the organization is planning to increase its operations and expand its
business, it will think of hiring more personnel, which will handle its operations.
d) Growth and Expansion: Organization will employ or think of employing more personnel if
it is expanding its operations.

3.1.3. External Factors Affecting Recruitment

The external factors are the forces which cannot be controlled by the organization. The
major external forces are:

a) Supply and Demand: The availability of manpower both within and outside the
organization is an important determinant in the recruitment process. 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.
b) Labor Market: Employment conditions in the community where the organization is
located will influence the recruiting efforts of the organization. If there is surplus
manpower at the time of recruitment, even informal attempts at the time of
recruiting like notice boards display of the requisition or announcement in the
meeting etc will attract more than enough applicants.

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c) Image/Goodwill: Image of the employer can work as a potential constraint for

recruitment. An organization with positive image and goodwill finds it easier to attract
and retain employees than an organization with negative image. Image of a company is
based on what organization does and affected by industry.
d) Political, Social and Legal Environment: Various government regulations
prohibiting discrimination in hiring and employment have direct impact on
recruitment practices. For example, Government of India has introduced legislation
for reservation in employment for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, physically
handicapped etc. Also, trade unions play an important role in recruitment. This restricts
management’s freedom to select those individuals who it believes would be the best
performers. If the candidate can’t meet criteria stipulated by the union but union
regulations can restrict recruitment sources.
e) Unemployment Rate: One of the factors that influences the availability of applicants is
the growth of the economy (whether economy is growing or not and its rate).
When the company is not creating new jobs, there is often over supply of qualified labor
which in turn leads to unemployment.
f) Competitors: The recruitment policies of the competitors also affect the recruitment
function of the organizations. To face the competition, many a times the organizations
have to change their recruitment policies according to the policies being followed by the
competitors.

3.1.4. Sources of Recruitment:

The various sources of recruitment are generally classified as internal source and external source.

I. Internal Sources: This refers to the recruitment from within the company. The various
internal sources are:
- Transfers: The employees are transferred from one department to another according to their
efficiency and experience.
- Promotions: The employees are promoted from one department to another with more benefits
and greater responsibility based on efficiency and experience
- Others: Others are Upgrading and Demotion of present employees according to their
performance. Retired and Retrenched employees can be a source of recruitment. Recruiting
such people saves time and costs of the organizations as the people are already aware of the
organizational culture, policies and procedures. Dependents and relatives of deceased
employees and disabled employees are also considered by many companies so that members
of the deceased member’s family are not at the mercy of others.
II. External Sources: External sources refers to the practice of getting suitable persons from
outside. The various external sources are advertisement, employment exchange, past

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employees, private placement agencies and consultants, walks-ins, campus recruitment,

trade unions, etc.

The following external sources of recruitment are commonly used by the big enterprises:

- Direct Recruitment: An important source of recruitment is direct recruitment by

placing a notice on the notice board of the enterprise specifying the details of the
jobs available. It is also known as recruitment at factory gate. The practice of· direct
recruitment is generally followed for filling casual vacancies requiring unskilled
workers. Such workers are known as casual or bad workers and they are paid
remuneration on daily-wage basis. This method of recruitment is very cheap as it does not
involve any cost of advertising vacancies.
- Casual Callers or Unsolicited Applications: The organizations which are regarded as
good employers draw a steady stream of unsolicited applications in their offices. This
serves as a valuable source of manpower. If adequate attention is paid to maintain pending
application folders for various jobs, the personnel department may find the unsolicited
applications useful in filling the vacancies whenever they arise. The merit of this source of
recruitment is that it avoids the costs of recruiting workforce from other sources.
- Media Advertisement: Advertisement in newspapers or trade and professional journals
is generally used when qualified and experienced personnel are not available from
other sources. Most of the senior positions in industry as well as commerce are filled
by this method. The advantage of advertising is that more information about the
organization job descriptions and job specifications can be given in advertisement to allow
self-screening by the prospective candidates. Advertisement gives the management a wider
range of candidates from which to choose. Its disadvantage is that it may bring in a flood of
response, and many times, from quite unsuitable candidates.
- Employment Agencies: Employment exchanges run by the Government are regarded as a
good source of recruitment for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled operative jobs.
In some cases, compulsory notification of vacancies to the employment exchange is required
by law. Thus, the employment exchanges bring the jobs givers in contact with the job
seekers.
However, in the technical and professional area, private agencies and professional
bodies appear to be doing most of the work. Employment exchanges and selected
private agencies provide a nation-wide service in attempting to match personnel
demand and supply.
- Management Consultants: Management consultancy firms help the organizations to recruit
technical, professional and managerial personnel They specialize middle level and top
level executive placements. They maintain data bank of persons with different

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qualifications and skills and even advertise the jobs on behalf their clients to recruit
right type of personnel.
- Educational Institutions or Campus Recruitment: Jobs in commerce and industry have
become increasing technical and complex to the point where school and college degrees are
widely required. Consequently big organizations maintain a close liaison with the
universities, vocational institutes and management institutes for recruitment to various
jobs.
Recruitment from educational institutional is a well-established practice of thousands
of business and other organisations.1t is also known as campus recruitment. Reputed
industrial houses which require management trainees send their officials to campuses
of various management institutes for picking up talented candidates doing MBA.
- Recommendation: Applicants introduced by friends and relatives may prove to be a
good source of recruitment. In fact, many employers prefer to take such persons
because something about their background is known. When a present-employee or a
business friend recommends someone for a job, a type of preliminary screening is done
and the person is placed on a job.
- Labour Contractors: Labour contractors are an important source of recruitment in some
industries in India. Workers are recruited through labour contractors who are themselves
employees of the organization. The disadvantage of this system is that if the contractor
leaves the organization , all the workers ,employed through him will also
- leave That is why this source of labour is not preferred by many businesses,
organizations. Recruitment through labour contractors has been banned for the public
sector units.
- Telecasting: The practice of telecasting of vacant posts over T.V. Is gaining importance
these days. Special programs like ‗Job Watch‘, ‗Youth Pulse‘, Employment News‘, etc,
over the T.V have become quite popular in recruitment for various types of jobs. The
detailed requirements of the job and the qualities required to do it are publicized along
with the profile of the organization where vacancy exists. The use of T.V. as a source of
recruitment is less as compared to other sources.
- Raiding : Raiding is a technical term used when employees working elsewhere are
attracted to join organizations. The organizations are always on the lookout for
qualified professionals, and are willing to offer them a better deal if they make the
switch. There are always some employees who are professionally very competent, but
dissatisfied with something or the other in the organization. They form the ‗easy ‘group to
attract. The other group is formed of those who are equally competent but are quite satisfied
with their present position. To attract them, the organization has to offer a very
lucrative package of perquisites. Whatever may be the means used to attract, often it is seen
as an unethical practice and not openly talked about.

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 Merits of external sources

The merits of external sources of recruitment are as under:

- Qualified Personnel: By using external sources of recruitment the management can make
qualified and trained people to apply for vacant Jobs in the organization.
- Wider choice: When vacancies are advertised widely a large number of applicants
from outside the organization apply. The management has a wider choice while selecting
the people for employment.
- Fresh Talent: The insiders may have limited talents. External sources facilitate
infusion of fresh blood with new ideas into the enterprise. This will improve the
overall working of the enterprise.
- Competitive Spirit: If a company can tap external sources, the existing staff will have to
compete with the outsiders. They will work harder to show better performance.

 Demerits of External Sources

The demerits of filling vacancies from external sources are as follows:

- Dissatisfaction among Existing Staff: External recruitment may lead to dissatisfaction

and frustration among existing employees. They may feel that their chances of
promotion are reduced.
- Lengthy Process: Recruitment from outside takes a long time. The business has to
notify the vacancies and wait for applications to initiate the selection process.
- Costly Process: It is very costly to recruit staff from external sources. A lot of money
has to be spent on advertisement and processing of applications.
- Uncertain Response: The candidates from outside may not be suitable for the
enterprise. There is no guarantee that the enterprise will be able to attract right kinds
of people from external sources.

3.2. Definition of Selection

To select means to choose. Selection is a part of the recruitment function. It is the

process of choosing people by obtaining and assessing information about the applicants
(age, qualification, experience and qualities) with a view of matching these with the job
requirements and picking up the most suitable candidates. The choices are made by
elimination of the unsuitable at successive stages of the selection process.

3.2.1. Criteria of Selection

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Selection decisions are usually based on how an applicant is rated (rather, predicted) in
terms of the likelihood of success on the job. The information used found in the application
blanks, performance in one or more tests and the interview(s). The criteria of selection needs to
be critical to the job. The key job dimensions identified in job analysis and job description
provide the basis for determining relevant criteria.

Frequently educational qualifications, technical skills and achievements are used as the
basis for selection. But is there a statistical relationship between such requirements and
job performance? It appears that certain job requirements can be measured more easily and
accurately than certain others. The core job skills like sensory motor‘ skills and manipulative
skills and achievement can be measured relatively more accurately than one‘s aptitude,
interest and personality traits.

Integrity loyalty, initiative/drive/resourcefulness and intelligence/mental alertness are the

key attributes influencing the selection of managerial employees. have relatively less
pressure to defend the criteria.

3.2.2. Selection Procedure /Process/

When a market research firm is recruiting research investigators on temporary basis for a
specific assignment it may ask the candidates to appear for interview along with written
application form in the next two days following the date of advertisement and make job
offers immediately after the interview without any other tests or references.

The aim of selection is to assess the suitability of candidates by predicting the extent to which
they will be able to carry out a role successfully. It involves deciding on the degree to which the
characteristics of applicants in terms of their competencies, experience, qualifications, education
and training match the person specification. It also involves using this assessment to make a
choice between candidates.

The selection process covers the period from the job specification and initial contact with
the applicant to his final acceptance or rejection. The successive stages in the selection
process are referred to as hurdles that the applicants should cross. Not all selection processes,
however, include all these stages. The complexity of the selection process usually increases
with the increase in the skill level and job level (responsibility and accountability) of the
position for which selection is being made. The sequencing of the hurdles also may vary
from job to job and organization to organization. When a market research firm is recruiting
research investigators on temporary basis for a specific assignment it may ask the
candidates to appear for interview along with written application form in the next two
days following the date of advertisement and make job offers immediately after the
interview without any other tests or references.

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When the vacancy or vacancies have been advertised and a fair number of replies received, the
typical sequence of steps required to process applications is as follows:

1. List the applications on a control sheet setting out name, date application received and
actions taken (reject, hold, interview, short-list, and offer).
2. Send a standard acknowledgement letter to each applicant unless an instant decision can
be made to interview or reject.
3. The applicant may be asked to complete and return an application form by post or by e-
mail to supplement a letter or CV. This ensures that all applicants are considered on the
same basis – it can be very difficult to plough through a pile of letters, often ill-written
and badly organized. Even CVs may be difficult to sift although their quality is likely to
be higher if the applicant has been receiving advice from an ‘outplacement’ consultant, ie
one who specializes in finding people jobs. However, to save time, trouble, expense and
irritation, many recruiters prefer to make a decision on the initial letter plus CV where it
is quite clear that an applicant meets or does not meet the specification, rather than ask
for a form. For more senior jobs it is generally advisable to ask for a CV.
4. Compare the applications with the key criteria in the person specification and sort them
initially into three categories: possible, marginal and unsuitable.
5. Scrutinize the possible again to draw up a short-list for interview. This scrutiny could be
carried out by the HR or recruitment specialist, and the manager. The numbers on the
short-list should ideally be between four and eight. Fewer than four leaves relatively little
choice (although such a limitation may be forced on you if an insufficient number of
good applications have been received). More than eight will mean that too much time is
spent on interviewing and there is a danger of diminishing returns setting in.
6. Draw up an interviewing program. The time you should allow for the interview will vary
according to the complexity of the job. For a fairly routine job, 30 minutes or so should
suffice. For a more senior job, 60 minutes or more is required. It is best not to schedule
too many interviews in a day – if you try to carry out more than five or six exacting
interviews you will quickly run out of steam and do neither the interviewee nor your
company any justice. It is advisable to leave about 15 minutes between interviews to
write up notes and prepare for the next one.
7. Invite the candidates to interview, using a standard letter where large numbers are
involved. At this stage, candidates should be asked to complete an application form, if
they have not already done so. There is much to be said at this stage for sending
candidates more details of the organization and the job so that you do not have to spend
too much time going through this information at the interview.
8. Review the remaining possible and marginal and decides if any are to be held in reserve.
Send reserves a standard ‘holding’ letter and send the others a standard rejection letter.

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The latter should thank candidates for the interest shown and inform them briefly, but not
too brusquely, that they have not been successful.

3.3. Definition of Orientation

Induction is a process through which a new employee is introduced to the organization. It refers
to the process of welcoming and socializing the individual into an organization. It is a process
where an individual is made to feel comfortable and feel at home in the organization. Induction
is a process of integration attempted by the organization with the new employee. The new
employee can be handed over a rule book or documents of the policy procedures, which are quite
impersonal in nature, however, the employee feels the sense of belongings when communicated
personally. It is the responsibility of personnel department to execute the induction program.

Induction is the process of receiving and welcoming employees when they first join a company
and giving them the basic information they need to settle down quickly and happily and start
work. Induction is important because it reduces the cost and inconvenience of early leavers.
Employees are far more likely to resign during the initial months after joining the organization.
First impressions are important as is the impact of the first four weeks of employment. Such
early resignations cause disruption and create recurrent costs such as the costs of obtaining
replacements, induction costs – training and the costs of lower productivity from new starters –
and the costs arising from the gaps that occur before a leaver is replaced.

3.3.1. Benefits of Orientation

The purpose of induction and orientation is to help the new employee and the
organization to accommodate each other. Included in this process may be financial assistances
for expenses of travel filling out of pay roll and other forms, introduction to colleagues
and explanation of the policies and practices of the organization, many other factors
which serve to integrate the new employee into the enterprise.

The need for security, belonging, esteem and knowledge is met through proper induction and
orientation. Haphazard procedures, casual greetings, and lack of information can precipitate
anxiety, discouragement, disillusionment or defensive behavior, including quitting. A
successful induction is that which reduces the anxiety of the new employee. Therefore, such
methods which bring this about are explained to company workers. Any neglect in the area of
induction and orientation may lead to labor turnover, confusion and wasted time and
expenditure.

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