Many factors and issues must be taken into consideration by an organization if it is going to be successful in its recruiting efforts. For example,
the nature of the organization’s recruiting activities must be aligned to its strategy and philosophy as well as other important features such as the organization’s reputation and the environmental factors that influence recruitment success. In this section we will discuss several issues and factors related to
successful recruitment.
Organizational Reputation
Probably the most important factor affecting the success of the recruitment program is the organization’s reputation in terms of its products or services. If the organization has a negative image it may be limited in its HRM recruitment efforts. For example, the pool of qualified candidates may not include the ‘‘best” candidates; or the “best” candidate may not want to be employed by the organization. Overall, the
organization projects a certain image to the community at large and this influences its ability to attract qualified employees. In many cases, good advertising and successful public relations efforts can increase community knowledge of the organization, raise public appreciation, and thus make a dramatic impact on recruitment.
The image of the organization should be recognized as a potential barrier. If that image is perceived to be low, the likelihood of attracting a large number of applicants is reduced (“Code Words,” 1995). For example, if a potential employee’s image of an organization is pessimistic or negative because the organization has a reputation for being in a declining industry, for engaging in practices that result in polluting the environment, poor-quality products, and unsafe working conditions, or for being indifferent to employee’s needs, then these potential employees may not be interested in pursuing job opportunities in the organization.
An organization’s relations with labor unions can be critical to public perceptions of the organization, as can the organization’s reputation for offering high or low wages. Subtle elements in the organizational culture and climate are also important. Since many people hear about job possibilities from friends or relatives already working at the organization, attitudes about the organization are passed along through this informal network. For example, as suggested in the previous paragraph if an organization has a reputation for being indifferent to employee’s needs or employees are annoyed by what they perceive as lack of recognition for their efforts, their casual comments may discourage their friends from applying.
In the end, such reputations can and do reduce the organization’s abilities to attract the best individuals available (Turban and Greening, 1997).
Attractiveness of the Job
Social attitudes about particular types of employment will also affect the supply of potential employees.
If the job to be filled is considered uninter-
esting, oppressive, or unattractive, recruiting a large and qualified pool of applicants will be difficult. In recent years, for instance, many organizations have been complaining about the difficulty of finding suitably qualified individuals for “manual labor” jobs. In a job market where unemployment rates are low and where a wide range of opportunities exist creating competition for workers, a shortage results.
Moreover, any job that is viewed as boring, hazardous, anxiety-provoking, low-status, low-paying, or lacking in promotion potential will seldom attract a qualified pool of applicants, since most potential employees will shun it unless the wages are extremely attractive. Even during economic slumps, people have refused to take many of these jobs (Holoviak and DeCenzo, 1990, p. 5).
Costs of Recruiting
Cost is an important factor in recruitment. Recruiting efforts by an organization are expensive. A small organization, for example, may not have the resources to interview candidates at colleges outside the region or to pay the travel expenses of candidates who might be invited from outside the area.
Sometimes a long search is not possible because of budget restrictions. Accordingly, when an
organization considers various recruiting sources, it does so with some sense of effectiveness in mind— such as maximizing its recruiting travel budget by first interviewing employees over the phone or through videoconferencing. Each organization will need to analyze the costs involved in alternative methods of recruitment.
Recruiting Goals
Among the key issues in recruitment are the goals of the recruitment program. A successful recruiting program needs to serve many and sometimes conflicting goals. The most basic and fundamental goal of an organization’s recruiting effort is to accomplish exactly what is stated in the definition—discover, develop, seek, and attract individuals to fill actual or anticipated job vacancies. In short, the goal is to optimize the pool of qualified applicants. If an organization has, say, ten openings and somehow ends up attracting several thousand applicants for these jobs, then the organization has actually created a large problem for itself. In this situation the applicant pool can be too large and thus very costly to process.
Enormous amounts of time and resources will be necessary to process the large number of applicants for the positions, and if this processing is not handled effectively and efficiently, then ill will for the
organization will be created as well. Thus, the HRM department handling the recruitment process does not really want to attract a pool of applicants that is too large.
Recruiting also must attract a high proportion of well-qualified candidates who are seriously interested in accepting a job offer. Posthiring goals
also must be considered. The recruiting process must yield employees who can then be further assessed in the selection process, individuals who will be good performers and who will stay with the
organization for a reasonable length of time.
Another goal of the recruiting process is to offer an honest and candid assessment to prospective
applicants of what kinds of jobs and what kinds of opportunities the organization can potentially make available to them. It does no one any good to trick or mislead job applicants into thinking that they are going to have more challenging or higher-level jobs than are actually available or that they will be earning higher salaries than the organization is actually prepared to pay. Thus the recruiting process needs to paint a realistic picture of what the potential job actually entails. This goal will be discussed in more detail later when we discuss realistic job previews.
An additional goal is that recruiting efforts should have beneficial “spill-over” effects; that is, the organization’s general image should be enhanced, and even unsuccessful applicants should develop positive attitudes toward the organization and its products. Further, all the preceding goals should be reached with the greatest speed and at the least possible cost to the organization (Rynes and Barber, 1990).
Recruitment Philosophy
Another key issue is the organization’s recruitment philosophy (i.e., whether to hire from outside the organization for vacancies at all levels or to promote from within the organization). Some prefer to hire proven talent from the outside. Other organizations put great emphasis on developing and socializing managers and other employees within the organization, from the ground up. The advantages and disadvantages of external and internal recruiting will be discussed later in this chapter.
Another aspect of an organization’s recruitment philosophy focuses on where the emphasis is: on hiring for long-term careers or merely filling vacancies. Is the organization interested in seeking individuals with knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) for present vacancies, or does it try to attract the type of talented candidates who can feed the ongoing management or leadership needs of the organization? A short-term view may emphasize filling vacancies quickly, whereas a longer-term view may tolerate delay in the interests of finding just the right people to bring into the organization for the long haul (Breaugh, 1992).
An additional aspect of an organization’s recruitment philosophy concerns depth of commitment to seeking and hiring a diverse range of employees. Some organizations are still at the EEO/affirmative action stage of mere compliance with the law, whereas others have graduated to valuing diversity as a central principle of organizational life. Their recruiting practices, both internal and external, actively encourage participation by all
types of individuals. Perhaps more important, extensive training and consultative processes strive to create a climate that is welcoming to and supportive of all candidates (Thomas, 1990).
A fourth aspect of an organization’s recruitment philosophy is whether applicants are viewed as commodities to be purchased or as customers to be wooed. Organizations that adopt a marketing orientation with respect to recruiting will spend substantial time and money to determine what their customers (potential applicants) want and to tailor their recruiting practices and messages to various segments of the market.
A final aspect of an organization’s recruitment philosophy has ethical overtones, in terms of fairness and honesty in the recruitment process. For example, one of the ethical challenges that can arise in the
recruiting process is that both parties to recruiting may be motivated to present their best sides while concealing weaknesses, and this may lead to a temptation to lie or mislead by omission or commission.