Challenges in Recruitment and Selection Process

The recruitment and selection process has to be cost-effective in selecting qualified employees required to satisfy the human resources needs of the organization. Recruiters are now facing difficulties in attracting skillful and talented candidates. The job market and firms have to work harder to capture the attention of prized potential employees (Armstrong, and Baron, 2004).

Lack of qualified candidates

These days the candidates have educational qualifications, but most of the candidates don’t have skills especially, critical thinking and problem-solving, teamwork, and collaboration. Professionalism and strong work ethic, oral and written communications skills and leadership, positive attitudes, and good concepts for the organization’s achievements. One of the major recruiting challenges present is the lack of talented candidates. A study by the National Federation of Independent Business has identified that 87% of human resources professionals reported: “few or no qualified applicants" for the positions employers wanted to be appointed (Kanagavalli, Seethalakshmi, and Sowdamini, 2019). 

Targeting passive candidates

Through LinkedIn, has been found that 70% of the global workforce is a passive talent who aren’t actively job searching and the rest of the 30% are active job seekers. The positive side is that up to 90% of the passive candidates are interested in hearing about new job offers and opportunities (Zojceska, 2022).

Losing applicants to competitors 

Impressing candidates with a good job offer and being able to quickly assist candidates with the position has become another major challenge in the current environment. Businesses know about the need to have competitive offers for jobs that include paid time off, fringe benefits, and flexibility. Workers entering the job market know their manpower value and labor competitiveness (Bika, 2022).

Providing an insignificant interview experience

When candidates come in for an interview, they observe the office environment, people, and tone, set during the interview. Interviewers must remember the need for an excellent first impression for the candidates. And the candidates need to feel that they will be in a supportive and collaborative environment if they are hired for the positions (Zojceska, 2022).

A delayed hiring process

Efficiency and effectiveness are a must for the proper decisions, especially for the HR department. Many recruiters and businesses are unnecessarily delaying the hiring because searching for the perfect candidate by examining many applicants and waiting for confirmation from the top management. Another reason is if the recruiters have a strong candidate in mind for a position but are hesitant to proceed because of a lack of experience. Then the candidate will lose to the company. Through the hiring process, make sure to move effectively, otherwise, some great employees might be loosed (D'Silva, 2022).

Lack of branding  

An organization’s reputation is very important for a better requirement.  If the candidates have never heard of the company name and the company does not have a strong online review/presence, the organization is less likely to find quality and skillful candidates. There is worth using the available resources that the company has already and increasing the company’s presence online with solid reviews. A prospective candidate will do searching and research before taking a job and before attending the interviews with the company. If the company contribution is minimal or, even worse, candidates are less likely to be interested in working for such an organization (D'Silva, 2022).

Recruitment and selection problems in the retail industry: Experience

The main challenge supermarket chains face is a lack of qualified candidates with regard to skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving. This reputed supermarket chain decentralized the recruitment and selection process to the outlets. Interviews are being conducted by human resource partners at the outlet level. These human resource partners are young and have not much experience in recruitment and selection and are unable to provide a better impression about the working place to the candidates who are applying for the non-executive vacancies. However, the hiring process is not delayed and there is not any danger of losing candidates. As a well-reputed supermarket chain, the company has been able to reach people’s hearts as a brand, and brand is not a challenge in the recruitment and selection process for this supermarket chain.

The retail industry, especially supermarket chains consist of stressful working condition. Most of the candidates from the new generation refuse to tolerate this stress and finding new employees for the retail industry has become a significant challenge at present.

Conclusion

Organizations have to face more challenges in recruitment and selection with regards to both candidates and human resource personnel. If any organization wants to select the best candidates, must need to prepare strategies to overcome this problem during the planning of the recruitment and selection process. Then these organizations will be able to find out the best-qualified candidates pool from recruitment and select the best-fitted candidates for jobs. Finally, able to achieve the goals and objectives of the organizations and survive in the competitive markets.  

References 

01.  Armstrong, M. and Baron, A. (2004), Managing Performance: Performance Management in Action, CIPD, London.

02. Bika, N., (2022). The most common recruiting challenges and how to overcome them. [online] Recruiting Resources: How to Recruit and Hire Better. Available at: <https://resources.workable.com/stories-and-insights/common-recruiting-challenges> [Accessed 3 May 2022].

03. D'Silva, C., (2022). A Study On Increase in E-Recruitment and Selection Process. [online] Journals.resaim.com. Available at: <http://journals.resaim.com/ijresm/article/view/162> [Accessed 5 May 2022].

04. Kanagavalli, G., Seethalakshmi, R., and Sowdamini, T., (2019). ‘A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF LITERATURE ON RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS’. Humanities &amp; Social Sciences Reviews, 7(2), pp.01-09.

05.Zojceska, A., 2022. Top 20 Recruitment Challenges to Tackle in 2020. [online] Blog. Available at:<https://www.talentlyft.com/en/blog/article/331/top-20-recruitment-challenges-to-tackle-in-2020> [Accessed 3 May 2022].

A Better Recruitment and Selection Process and Organizational Performances

 

Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting suitably qualified people to apply for employment. Recruitment involves a systematic and serious attempt to find suitably qualified individuals from the job market and to attract them toward job vacancies of the organization as job applicants (Harzing, and Pinnington, 2014). “The process of making the choice of the most appropriate person/persons from the pool of the job applicants recruited to fill the relevant job vacancy/vacancies”, selection involves the use of one or more methods to assess candidates in order to make a decision as to their suitability to perform duties and responsibilities of the job successfully (Dessler, 2018). When it comes to the selection techniques, application evaluation, employment tests, interviews (structured interviews, unstructured interviews, group interviews), background investigation, medical examination, and assessment centers. Also, the modes that can use for selection; are application evaluation, face-to-face interviews, video calls, telephone conversations, and reviewing of the candidates’ profiles followed by human resource members of the organization for a proper selection (Harzing and Pinnington, 2014). 

Effectiveness of a better recruitment and selection process on organizational performances

Recruitment and selection are vital processes for any successful organization since having the proper employees, increases and sustains organizational performance. The impact of a company's selection system on bottom-line business outcomes; productivity and financial performance is a goal for any company. Following a better selection for a relevant role, the employee's job performance is extremely beneficial to the overall efficiency of the task (Leopold, 2002). The right selection is obviously can have to achieve the competitive goals and objectives of the organizations. Because employees work with reliable information and data in a highly efficient manner. Then employees' job performances are truly appreciated. The recruitment process is a time-consuming and resource-intensive process that begins with sourcing candidates and ends with scheduling and performing interviews. As a result, the organization finally selects the ideal candidate for the proper jobs based on their credentials and experiences for the company's objectives. With the most qualified candidates who have specialized abilities, the organization may simply achieve objectives (Shih, Huang and Shyur, 2005).

Similarly, the basic purpose of recruitment is to create a talent pool of candidates to enable the selection of the best candidates for the organization, by attracting more and more employees to apply to the organization, with the basic purpose of the selection process is to choose the right candidate for the various positions in the organization. The recruitment process is immediately followed by the selection process, which includes final interviews and decision making, communicating the decision, and completing the appointment formalities (Leopold, 2002). Recruitment of candidates is the function preceding the selection, which helps build a pool of prospective employees for the firm so that management can select the right candidate for the right job from this pool. The primary goal of the recruitment process is to speed up the selection process. As a result, companies employ these methods to raise the possibility of recruiting individuals with the necessary skills and competencies to succeed in the target job, and better recruitment and selection strategies result in better organizational outcomes (Buchner, 2007). The more effectively organizations recruit and select candidates, the more likely they are to hire and retain satisfied employees. Furthermore, the effectiveness of a company's selection procedure can have an impact on bottom-line business results such as productivity and financial success. As a result, investing in the creation of a comprehensive and valid selection system is a wise investment. Recruitment and selection are critical processes for a successful organization; having the proper workforce helps "increase and sustain organizational performance." The company can then choose suitable applicants who have high-performance levels (Gardi et al., 2020).

Better recruitment and selection process: Experience

A well-reputed supermarket chain in Sri Lanka also has a properly designed recruitment and selection process with regard to choosing candidates for executives for outlets and other employees for the mother company. Mainly the candidates have to face a series of interviews and they find the best candidates as management trainees. After one year with a final review, they are promoted to retail managers. This will affect to get maximum from the selected employees with regard to making sales for the company which directly affects the success of the company. But in terms of the non-executives who are directly interacted with customers, there is a problem at present. The centralized recruitment and selection process was decentralized to the outlets and handled by the human resource partners who have not many experiences. There is a problem with the newly selected candidates regards to their knowledge, skills, and abilities. Retail managers are facing more difficulties while dealing with these employees which highly affects the covering of sales targets and directly affects the financial performance of the company. A well-conducted recruitment and selection process for retail non-executives is highly recommended for this supermarket chain to perform best and compete with other supermarket chains in the island.

Conclusion

The recruitment and selection process is directly affecting organizational performance. A better recruitment and selection process leads an organization to success while a disorganized process leads to depth. A strategically designed and maintained recruitment and selection process must be conducted by organizations that are hoping to survive in this competitive market.

References     

01. Buchner, T. W. (2007), ‘Performance management theory: a look from the performer’s perspective with implications for HRD’, Human Resource Development International, 10 (1), pp 59-73.

02. Dessler, G. (2018), Human Resource Management, 5th edn, Prentice-Hall Incorporated, New Jersey.

03. Gardi, B., Hamawandy, N.M., Vian Sulaiman Hama Saeed, R.M.A., Sulaiman, A.A., Mahmood, S.A. and Al-Kake, F.A., (2020). ‘The Effect of Capital Competence on the Profitability of Development and Investment Banks in Turkey’. Solid State Technology, 63(6), pp.12571-12583.

04. Harzing, A. and Pinnington, A. (2014), International human resource management, 4th edn, SAGE, Los Angeles.

05. Shih, H.S., Huang, L.C. and Shyur, H.J., (2005). ‘Recruitment and selection processes through an effective GDSS’. Computers & Mathematics with Applications, 50, pp. 1543-1558.

Psychometric Assessments in Selection Process

 

Recruiting an employee is a very costly process than retaining an employee in an organization. Selecting employees for organizations should be done with good knowledge and experience and with the assistance of experts and scientific tools. Psychometric assessment is one of the scientific tools which can be used for an effective employee selection process. Psychometric assessments measure the abilities, attributes, personality traits, and various skills of the candidates under consideration for particular vacancies (Jenkins, 2001). Psychometric tests are used for formalizing this selection process and help the company in selecting the most suitable candidate for the relevant job role. Psychometric assessment originated in work related to education in the latter part of the 19^th century (Edenborough, 2005). 

Psychometric tests

Intelligence tests

Intelligence tests assess a person's ability to do a variety of mental tasks requiring logical thinking and reasoning (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). This test is meant to evaluate a candidate's capacity to think and/or general IQ and assesses a person's ability to absorb, learn, and analyze a situation (Malik, 2018). Intelligence is a complex notion, and identifying what defines intelligence is challenging in general (Randhawa, 2007). 

Personality tests

Personality tests are used to examine candidates' personalities in order to predict how they will act in a certain job role (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). According to Malik (2018), the Thematic apperception test, Sentence completion test, Minnesota personality inventory, Guilford-Zimmerman temperament survey, and California psychological inventory are personality tests that can use by organizations (p.232).

Aptitude tests

Aptitude tests determine a person's capacity or ability to execute a job by assessing their aptitude and knowledge of a given field of study (Malik, 2018). Aptitude tests are vocational or work assessments that determine how well people can perform certain tasks and normally in the context of work sample tests, which simulate a key part of the actual work that the candidate will be doing (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).

Ability tests

According to Armstrong and Taylor (2018), tests of ability determine what individuals are capable of understanding and doing. There are some measurements based on verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, spatial reasoning, and mechanical reasoning (p. 238). 

Advantages of psychometric assessment 

Psychometric assessments are maximizing an organization’s performance by improving the accuracy of selection and improving employee retention (Edenborough, 2005). Psychometric tests assist to collect more information about shortlisted candidates and help to identify the candidates who think out of books and are suitable for working in the current work environment. Psychometric tests lead the organization for identifying the most skilled, talented, and motivated candidates for job positions. Information collected through these assessments can be also used for everyday functions of the organizations. This assessment helps to identify people and their attitudes on work and the company deeply and leads the management toward wise decisions (Saha, 2020). Psychometric Tests can be used for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of selected employees which need for doing their job roles successfully. It measures whether employees have specific abilities or appropriate personal qualities in relation to the job specification and whether employees need future training and development for doing their job role perfectly (Al-Jajjoka, 2010). From an employer’s point of view, even from the point of view of a small business owner even management, a job psychological examination may help to decide whether an employee provides a successful commitment to the organization. Organizations use these psychometric assessments for their future employees and also current employees working within the organizations which helps to understand the current employees of the organization well and helps to plan future training and development programs effectively (Saha, 2020).

Psychometric assessment: Experience

Sri Lanka’s one largest supermarket chain did not incorporate psychometric assessment for the selection processes at ground level when selecting candidates for supermarket outlets. Outlet managers have to face more difficulties based on personality, intelligence, ability, and aptitude issues arising among subordinates due to the unavailability of psychometric tests for staff. As the outlet staff is the heart of this organization, the introduction of psychometric assessment methods for the ground level of operation will be a great advantage for this supermarket chain in the future.

Conclusion

Psychometric assessment is a valuable tool that can use in the selection process to obtain employees who are best fitted for a particular job. Although there are more advantages of psychometric assessments, these tests are not famous in Sri Lankan organizations. Incorporation of psychometric tests into the selection process is highly recommended for most Sri Lankan organizations in terms of selecting better candidates for the jobs.

References 

01. Al-Jajjoka, S., 2010. How to Pass Profetional Level Pshychometric Tests. 3 ed. London: Kogan Page Limited.

02. Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice,13th edn. London: Kogan Page.

03. Edenborough, R., (2005). Assessment Methods in Recruitment, Selection & Performance. London: Kogan Page Limited.

04. Jenkins, A., (2001). Companies use of psychometric testing and the changing demand for skills: A review of the literature (No. 12). Centre for the Economics of Education, London School of Economics and Political Science.

05. Malik, P. K, (2018). Sales Management. 7th edn. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Randhawa, G., (2007). Human resource management. New Delhi, Atlantic Publishers & Dist.

06. Saha, B., (2020). ‘The Significance of Psychometric Tests in the Recruitment Process for an Organization to induce its Effectivity. International Journal of Research in Engineering, Science and Management, 3(8), pp.268-273.

Selection Process

 

Managers in today's competitive business environment are keen to improve employee performance which will be a competitive advantage for a firm, and managers will develop a variety of techniques and methods to attain that competitive advantage. Capable employees are critical for an organization and obviously, the selection is the foundation for employee performance (Gatewood, Field and Barrick, 2015). Selection is the process of selecting the best candidate from a pool of candidates for the current or prospective job post. In general, any selection decision can lead to one of four outcomes (Randhawa, 2007) as in figure 01.

Figure 01: Selection decision outcomes

Source: (Randhawa, 2007, p.81)

According to figure 01, there are two types of errors in selection decisions. The consequences of poor decisions are significant. Earlier, reject errors just indicate that the selection cost has grown. However, today's selection processes that result in reject errors may expose the company to discrimination allegations (Randhawa, 2007). In each organization, selection is a critical step. As a result, each step in the selection process is critical and should be carefully designed to obtain complete information on the candidates, ensuring that no unsuitable candidates advance to the next stage (Malik, 2018). Randhawa (2007) had identified a selection process consisting of 13 steps, which start with the initial contact with the applicants and end with the employment contract (Figure 02).

Figure 02: Selection process

Source: (Randhawa, 2007, p.82)

Initial contact/Reception of applicants

The information provided in standard application forms and CVs are often used in the initial stage of selection (Newell, 2005). Every organization maintains proper records of these received applications (Randhawa, 2007).

Preliminary interview/Screening

A preliminary interview or screening allows human resource personnel to acquire the first impression of candidates and exclude those who are unqualified (Malik, 2018). This is a brief, introductory interview with the main purpose of weeding out the unqualified select qualified applications for further stages of selection (Randhawa, 2007).

Application Blank

The application blank is a formal application that is used to record candidates' information (Malik, 2018). This is a widely used method of acquiring information from applicants for a proper selection process which includes biographical data, education, experience, extra-curricular activities, salary and other benefits, and references (Randhawa, 2007).

Psychological/ Psychometric tests

Psychological tests or psychometric tests are used to measure IQ and personality, to obtain systematic and standardized methods for finding characteristics of applicants, and enabling interviewers to a proper knowledge of candidates and anticipate their performance in a job role (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).  The aptitude, mental ability, intellectual capability, and personality of the candidates are assessed by these examinations. Tests are important selection tools that are used to eliminate unqualified individuals and choose the best candidates. The selection of proper psychological exams is a challenge for an organization's human resource department. (Malik, 2018).

Interviewing

Although interviewing is the oldest method of selection, most organizations are still incorporating various types of interviews into the selection process (Randhawa, 2007). Interviewing is a method of conducting an overall interactive session with a candidate that includes questions and responses to gather information. Structured, semi-structured, unstructured, and stress interviews are the most common interview methods (Malik, 2018).

Checking references

A reference's main function is to collect factual information about a potential employee in a confidential manner. This information is simple and important. The former job's nature, length of work, the reason for leaving, salary or rate of pay, and optionally, attendance record must all be verified (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Checking references is less expensive, takes less time, and involves minimum work. Telephone references or letters of recommendation can be used to conduct reference checks (Randhawa, 2007).

Approval by the supervisors

Selected candidates from the interviews are invited to a third interview with the supervisors, who will decide whether the candidates will be accepted or rejected. This approval is necessary for maintaining authority and responsibility and receiving an evaluation from both human resource personnel and supervisors (Randhawa, 2007).

Selection decision

The pool of candidates who pass the test, interviews, and reference checks must be used to make the ultimate decision (Randhawa, 2007). Human resource personnel uses a checklist of selection criteria, and the final decision is based on the candidates' ranking on those evaluation indices (Malik, 2018).

Physical /Medical examination

Some unique jobs prefer strength, stamina, or hardworking and need to go for a physical examination (Randhawa, 2007). A medical examination is required for pension and life insurance purposes, or because the job requires a specific level of physical condition (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Selling is a job that includes extensive traveling, visiting customers, and being highly stressed and require a physical examination before the offering of the job (Malik, 2018).

Offering job and contract of employment

After sufficient references have been received and the applicant has completed the medical examination, the final stage of the selection procedure is to confirm the offer of employment. This is also the time to prepare the employment contract (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).

Evaluation of the selection process

Finally, an evaluation of an organization's selection procedure is required. The availability of competent, qualified, and committed individuals in the organization are the indicators of the success of a strong selection process (Randhawa, 2007). It is critical to follow up with freshly hired staff to ensure that they've settled in and to assess their performance. If there are any issues, it is far preferable to detect them early rather than allowing them to grow (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).

Conclusion

In human resource management, the selection is a crucial process that has a direct impact on job performance and, ultimately, the accomplishment of an organization's goals and objectives. To be successful, companies must think critically and logically about each phase of the selection process and design the process.

Reference

01. Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice,13th edn. London: Kogan Page

02. Gatewood, R., Feild, H.S. and Barrick, M., (2015). Human resource selection. Cengage Learning.

03. Malik, P. K, (2018). Sales Management. 7th edn. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

04. Newell, S., 2005. Recruitment and selection. Managing human resources: Personnel management in transition, pp.115-147.

05. Randhawa, G., (2007). Human resource management. New Delhi, Atlantic Publishers & Dist.

06. Randhawa, G., (2007). Human resource management. New Delhi, Atlantic Publishers & Dist, p.81-82, fig. 

E-recruitment

 

Internet influences the traditional recruitment methods in the present and has highly changed the figure of human resource recruitment. The latest method of recruitment via the internet has spread to the entire world of hiring and hunting (Kapse, Patil and Patil, 2012). E-recruitment is the process of using the internet to find individuals to fill vacant positions in organizations. E-recruitment increases the competency of the overall recruitment process (Okolie and Irabor,2017). There are two types of e-recruitment; cooperative websites for recruitment and commercial job boards for job advertisements (Kapse, Patil and Patil, 2012).  Job boards, company websites, and professional websites are the most important methods of e-recruitment (Karim, Miah and Khatun ,2015). E-recruitment is the use of internet technology to increase the efficiency of the recruitment process. Furthermore, a competitive advantage against businesses in the same industry can be gained through better and faster recruiting (Anand and Chitra, 2016). E-recruitment has famous among both large and small scale organizations at present. A CIPD survey states that e-recruitment has become the fourth most popular recruitment method among employers. Web 2.0, Artificial Intelligence (AI), HR software, and Application Tracking System (ATS) are some of the most common software used in e-recruitment. (Okolie and Irabor, 2017). 

Trends of e-recruitment

E-recruitment, often known as internet or online recruitment, is a recent recruitment trend in which the recruitment process is automated (Karim, Miah and Khatun, 2015). According to Okolie and Irabor (2017), e-recruitment is advantageous for both employers and employees. Mobile applications for job search, company websites, and various social and networking sites are recent trends in e-recruitment. Resume scanners have become a trend and assist employers in screening and shortlisting resumes based on the qualifications and experience of candidates, as well as specific talents and salary information. These scanners are provided by major portals in Nigeria. As a new trend, the utilization of e-recruitment suggests a shifting landscape in which the candidate is connected to the central system in the future and the line manager is involved in the process (Okolie and Irabor, 2017) exhibits in figure 01.

Figure 01: The e-recruitment landscape

Source: (Okolie and Irabor, 2017, p. 119)

Advantages and disadvantages of e-recruitment

Advantages

Lower recruitment costs, shortening the time in hiring, widespread of companies to apply for candidates, companies can reach widespread of job seekers, opens the way to secrecy, opens the way to initiatives, and create a reference database are advantages of e-recruitment (Al-Zagheer and Barakat, 2021). The reference database will be used to select candidates for future job vacancies in organizations (Okolie and Irabor, 2017). There is a word limit on advertisements in job news, other newspapers, and magazines, which can lead to misinterpretation. The advertisement did not explain the entire profile well enough. On the internet, there is no word restriction; an idea, an opinion, or a profile can be communicated easily (Karim, Miah and Khatun ,2015).

Disadvantages

Only candidates who are computer literate are eligible to participate in the process. Because the search is dependent on many websites, their screening, and keyword application, it necessitates the use of a computer-educated individual and firm (Karim, Miah and Khatun, 2015). E-recruitment creates additional work for human resource staff in terms of reviewing more CVs and emails. Human resource staff has to install expensive apps to deal with e-recruitment (Okolie and Irabor, 2017). Candidates who are from lower socio-economic regions and specific locations of the world can face problems while accessing the internet. Problems related to privacy, ethical concerns, and violation of discriminatory laws are other disadvantages of e-recruitment (Omolawal, 2015).

E-recruitment in some regions of the world

New Zealand organizations use more than three e-recruitment methods to improve the chances of finding the best candidates for open positions. New Zealand organizations have used technology at every level of the recruitment process. Video conferencing and mobile apps are recent e-recruitment practices used by New Zealand organizations. AI is used with a limited capacity (Dhurandhar and Dai, 2021). In the context of Pakistan’s private sector, job seekers are more confident and at ease when applying. They prefer to apply for jobs online since it is easier for them to upload their applications and receive a rapid response from possible employers. Pakistan has well-established HR departments that rely on modern technologies to help with recruitment (Malik and Mujtaba, 2018). As a developing country, many people of Bangladesh have less technical knowledge with regard to e-recruitment. Despite the fact that e-recruitment is lowering the use of traditional recruitment systems, traditional recruitment is still used to some level in private organizations, banks, and multinationals in Bangladesh (Mindia and Hoque, 2018). 

Video: 01

Source: HR-ON, (2017)

According to video 01, HR-ON is a new generation of E-recruitment based on cloud technology.

E-recruitment: Experience

A reputed supermarket chain in Sri Lanka also incorporates e-recruitment in the recruitment process. Websites (xpress.jobs) and social media (Facebook and Linkedln) are used for external recruitment. This supermarket chain has developed its own app for employees to give information about transfers as an internal source of recruitment. 

Conclusion

E-recruitment is the most recent trend in recruitment. There are several e-recruitment techniques. E-recruitment has both advantages and disadvantages. An organization can use the most recent e-recruitment methods to get the maximum from the recruitment process. Organizations in developing countries must use e-recruitment as a supplement for the traditional recruitment methods rather than replacing them.  

References

1.  01. Al-Zagheer, H. and Barakat, S., (2021). ‘E-Recruitment as Application Solution during Corona Pandemic’. Annals of the Romanian Society for Cell Biology, pp.5051-5058.

02. Anand, J. and Chitra, D., (2016). ‘The Impact of E-Recruitment and challenges faced by HR Professionals’. International Journal of Applied Research, 2(3), pp.410-413.

03. Dhurandhar, N. and Dai, B., (2021), ‘TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN PRACTICAL EFFICIENCY IN TALENT RECRUITMENT PROCESS IN NEW ZEALAND’. Journal of Applied Research & Practice, (1), pp. 117-125.

04. HR-ON, (2016). HR-ON e-recruitment. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fIJ_V0bAi0> [Accessed 2 May 2022].

05. Kapse, A.S., Patil, V.S. and Patil, N.V., (2012). ‘E-recruitment’. International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology, 1(4), pp.82-86.

06. Karim, M.R., Miah, M. and Khatun, A., (2015). ‘E-Recruitment in Practice: A Study on Jobseekers’ Perception in Bangladesh’. Global Disclosure of Economics and Business, 4(1), pp. 33-42.

07. Malik, M.S. and Mujtaba, M., (2018). ‘Impact of E-recruitment on effectiveness of HR department in private sector of Pakistan, International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 8(2), pp. 80-94.

08. Mindia, P.M. and Hoque, M.K., (2018). ‘Effects of E-recruitment and internet on recruitment process: An Empirical study on Multinational companies of Bangladesh’. International Journal of Scientific Research and Management, 6(01), pp.2321-3418.

09. Okolie, U.C. and Irabor, I.E., (2017). ‘E-recruitment: practices, opportunities and challenges’. European Journal of Business and Management, 9(11), pp.116-122.

10. Omolawal, S.A., (2015). ‘E-recruitment: practices, benefits and challenges’. Journal of the Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria, 7(2), pp.76-86.

Sources of Recruitment

 

Identification of sources of recruitment is very important in the recruitment process (Muscalu, 2015). There is a variety of recruitment sources and these sources reach applicants differently (Karim et al., 2021). Recruitment sources are classified into two categories; internal sources and external sources (Malik, 2018). Organizations use both resources most of the time to increase the chances of attracting candidates, preparing, and being competitive (Muscalu, 2015).  

Internal sources

Internal sources are used to fulfill the vacant jobs by own members of the organization (Muscalu, 2015). Utilizing internal employees is the most popular and common way to fill up vacancies in higher hierarchical positions of an organization (Malik, 2018). Cost efficiency, increment of employee satisfaction, and morale are some advantages of internal resources for recruitment (Hamza et al., 2021).

a. Promotions and transfers

Promotions define as the fulfillment of higher positions of the organizations by the existing qualified employees which increase the prestige, responsibilities, compensation, and other facilities (Karim et al., 2021). Although promoting employees is cost-effective, leads to arise conflicts among peers (Muscalu, 2015). Transfers mean the shifting of employees from their present job to another similar job without any changes in rank, prestige, responsibilities, compensation, and other facilities (Muscalu, 2015).

b.  Job posting and job bidding

The job posting is the process of notifying the employees about a job opening within the organization. Job bidding allows authorized employees to apply for the posted job according to qualifications (Hamza et al., 2021). Job biding is the main source of internal recruitment (Karim et al., 2021).

c.  Employee referrals

Recommendations of existing employees of an organization to find out talented candidates are known as employee referrals (Karim et al., 2021). Talent banks can use to record candidates’ details electronically and maintain employee referrals (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).

External sources

External sources allow attracting candidates from outsides for a particular vacant job in an organization (Karim et al., 2021). External recruitment must be well-planned and coordinated. There is a necessity to have well-planned and coordinated external recruitment sources for fast-growing organizations which require highly qualified employees (Muscalu, 2015).

a.  E-recruitment

Using the internet to advertise vacancies, to provide information about jobs and organizations is known as e-recruitment. Communication between employer and candidate is done via e-mails (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Online recruitment provides a large number of candidates at a low cost and helps to enhance the processing speed of applications (Muscalu, 2015).

b.  Advertising

Advertisements are the most famous method in external recruitment sources (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). The human resource department of an organization should pay more commitment in terms of eliminating unqualified candidates’ applications in recruitment via advertising. Elimination of unqualified applications gathered through advertising is highly cost, much time, and huge energy consumption (Malik, 2018).

c.  Educational institution

Organizations recruit candidates from colleges, universities, and other institutes by using various tests (Karim et al., 2021). Organizing visits and events, conducting cooperation programs, and hiring part-time students are methods of recruiting candidates from educational institutions (Muscalu, 2015). Many respected co-operations use educational institutes as a major source of recruitment (Karim et al., 2021).  

d. Recruitment agencies

Recruitment agencies are rich sources consisting of unemployed youths’ information in large quantities. Organizations can gather information about prospective candidates according to the vacant job’s requirements. The availability of a large database and cost-effectiveness are the main advantages of these agencies (Malik, 2018).  Recruitment agencies are the major source of recruiting office and sales staff (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).

Main recruitment sources of some Indian organizations

IT professionals in the Delhi region of India are recruited mainly from campuses. Employee referrals, direct applicants and job portals, internal recruitment, social media, placement consultants, and employee poaching are moderate recruitment sources use in the Delhi region of India (Singh and Kamal, 2019, p. 322). The most preferred recruitment source of IBM India Pvt Ltd is internal references. Job portals, vendors, social networks, campus recruitment, external references, and walk-ins are other recruitment sources of IBM India Pvt Ltd (Jeevan, and Nijaguna, 2018, p.58). Avinash, Laxmikant and Kalyan (2021) found that employee referrals, job consultancy, and campus interviews are the popular recruitment sources in private sector organizations in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, India. But much not preferred e-recruitment as a recruitment source (p.10).

Recruitment sources: Experience

A reputed supermarket chain in Sri Lanka is also using both internal and external sources for recruitment. Promotions are the most preferred internal sources. Experienced and qualified retail managers have been promoted to area managers. Customer care assistants will be promoted to supervisors according to their performance at the outlet level. The transfer is another internal recruitment source and allocates employees to other outlets in the same cluster. Website advertisements and social media are the main external sources of recruitment. Paper advertisements and work-ins are also used to recruit candidates externally. Most recently this supermarket chain faced a huge problem of employee turnover. The human resource department had organized recruitment campaigns to recruit a large number of candidates at once.

Conclusion

Identification of suitable recruitment sources is very important for the success of a recruitment process. An organization must think about cost, time, and other resource allocations before deciding on recruitment sources. Most companies use a combination of internal and external resources for recruitment. An organization must analyze all possible recruitment sources and decide the most appropriate combination of internal and external recruitment resources to build up a well-conducted recruitment process to collect a large candidate pool.

References

1. Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice,13th edn. London: Kogan Page.

2. Dhotre Avinash, C., Shrimangal Laxmikant, S. and Dhawle Kalyan, B., (2021). ‘Recruitment and Selection Methods Used in Private Sector: With Special Reference to Aurangabad District’. International Journal of Advance Study and Research Work, 4(3), pp. 1-13.

3. Hamza, P.A., Othman, B.J., Gardi, B., Sorguli, S., Aziz, H.M., Ahmed, S.A., Sabir, B.Y., Ismael, N.B., Ali, B.J. and Anwar, G., (2021). ‘Recruitment and Selection: The Relationship between Recruitment and Selection with Organizational Performance’. International Journal of Engineering, Business and Management, 5(3), pp.1-13.

4. Jeevan, P.K. and Nijaguna, G., (2018). A Study on Sources of Recruitment at IBM India Pvt. Ltd.

5. Karim, M.M., Bhuiyan, M.Y.A., Nath, S.K.D. and Latif, W.B., (2021). ‘Conceptual Framework of Recruitment and Selection Process'. International Journal of Business and Social Research, 11(02), pp.18-25.

6.  Malik, P. K, (2018). Sales Management. 7th edn. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

7. Muscalu, E., (2015). ‘Sources of human resources recruitment organization’. Land Forces Academy Review, 20(3), pp.351-359

8. Singh, H. and Kamal, R., (2019). Recruitment practices in IT sector: ‘A study of Employees perspective’. Pramana research Journal, 9(1), pp.318-323.