HR: Employee Recruitment

Who is tired of working these minimum wages jobs and wants to gain a position in the field they want to pursue in the future? Well these two college students, Jack and Jill, are. Both work at McDonald’s as crew members. They are both accounting majors and are looking to gain some experience in this field.  They have both applied for several internships, prospective jobs, and went to many career fairs and where unsuccessful.

But one college morning, they were both walking to class. When they entered into building, they were both approached by two people who work for one of the top accounting firms in the U.S, Ernst and Young. They had a special station set-up next to the school computer lab and where giving out information packets on the company, having several students fill out applications for hiring, exchanging contact information with several students, and even having one-on-one on the spot interviews with several students. In the hiring process, we call this “Recruitment”. Recruitment is said to be one of the most successful and vital roles in the hiring process for various companies because it has created a different approach of selecting the best people for the job but what is Recruitment?

What is Recruitment?

Employee Recruitment is one of the major methods companies use in search of hiring the best people for a specific job or position. Recruitment is defined as the process of attracting, screening, and onboarding a qualified person or group of people for a specific job. When it comes to companies recruiting to fulfill many job openings, companies can recruit in two ways: internally and externally.

Internal Recruitment vs. External Recruitment

When companies choose to hire internally, they hire people from their current employee pool within the company. Some employees can be transferred from one job to another, promoted from one job to another, termination of employees and positions needing to be filled, and many other factors. The advantages of hiring internally is it is less expensive (you don’t incur any training/travel & relocation costs), quicker (a lot easier to fill a position with a current employee whom has knowledge of the business or job whereas hiring outside), and its helps maintain good employee morale. Even though internal recruitment can save many companies money, time and resources, there are also a few disadvantages. One disadvantage is it limits the flow of new ideas and perspectives in which can be in a beneficial favor to the company. Another disadvantage is risk of losing fresh talent and potential to their competition. Internal recruitment is typically identified as the “norm” for hiring but several companies have chosen a different approach which is external recruitment.

When companies choose to hire externally, they look to hire outside of their company. Many companies value external recruitment as a way to gain not only the best qualified employees but also those whom bring potential ideas, thoughts, perspective and a unique vision to the company. The advantages of hiring externally is adds more diversity to the workforce, allow companies to acquire competitive intelligence about other companies, help evolve a company’s overall organizational culture, and bring in new ideas that can enhance the company’s brand. Even though external recruitment creates space for diversity, new ideas, and outside employees with fresh perspective, there are many disadvantages in which can hinder a company’s success. Some disadvantages include higher turnover rates, higher costs, compensation disagreements between internal and external employees, and many others. Did you know that between both ways of recruiting, the average cost of hiring someone from outside the company is 1.7 times higher than an internal hire. Some companies just use internal recruitment, some companies use both but internal and external recruitment both play a vital role in the hiring process.

Technology’s Role in Recruitment

Throughout the year, the industry, overall, has hired various people for various jobs and positions through the “old way” of recruitment which was: go to the company’s career site, fill out the application for the particular job or position of interest, submit resume and cover letter, and wait for a call for an interview which can take from several weeks to not receiving a call at all. But in today’s society, the recruitment process has adapted a new way for searching for the best talent for their company. One of the major reasons for recruitment expanding is the era of technology. Since technology has advanced over the years, it plays just about a role in every aspect of our day to day tasks. This advancement has not only enhanced cellular devices with special features and apps but it also created other forms of communication like I-pads, I-phones, personal computers, laptops, and tablets in which many people use daily.

Technology plays vital role in recruitment because it has help create another outlet for companies to not only look for potential hires but also give them the opportunity to network and build relationships these hires as well. Using technology as a significant option, there are many methods in which recruiters use to look for potential hires.

Methods of Recruitment

If you are a great fan of the internet, then you know that this place is the best place to look for various job opportunities but the major problem is where to look or where do companies look to when they looking to hire new employees. Recruiters have a great advantage over the internet because it is very accessible and everyone uses it. According to Alliant Technology group, by 2002, there were about 360 million users of the internet and as of 2012; there are now over 2 billion users. Well, recruiters use many methods to make searching for jobs a fair opportunity for potential candidates. The top recruit methods are job advertisements, internal bulletins/personal recommendations, career fairs and social media. 

Job Advertisements: Jobs advertisements are one of the most popular because they are very accessible. They can be found on the internet, in newspapers, in magazines, television, posted on several business bulletin boards such as restaurants and stores, college campuses, and many others. The purpose of job advertisements is to help recruiters “Spread the word” about specific job openings. 

Internal bulletins/personal recommendations: This method caters more so to internal recruitment but it is very essential to the recruiting process. Typically, if companies want to hire within the company, they place the job openings in an area where all employees can see it. They usually place them on a bulletin board to ensure awareness and accessibility for details and such. The purpose of internal bulletin boards is to simply inform employees of potential job openings whereas it is a position you want, position you want filled, or even creation of a new position. 

Career Fairs: Career Fairs is also one of the most popular recruitment methods but today careers fairs look to attract a younger demographic: college students. The job market skill sets have become highly advanced and many companies are looking to hire various employees with these types of skill sets. Career fairs are defined as organized professional settings where various employers physically scout for potential hires. The advantage many people have attending these career fairs is networking with potential employers, exchanging contact information, giving out resumes, and making yourself known and visible.

Social Media: Social media is a way of recruiting for the new generation. Social media started off as a trend then expanded into our everyday lives. There are many social media sites in which companies use to look for potential hires such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Career Link, Tumbler, and many others. Social media gives companies many major advantages for recruitment such as allowing them to communicate daily with potential candidates, gives them a mini-profile on a candidate (education , employment history, major, hobbies, interest), gives a candidate full access to details and adjustments of job openings, and creates an easier and efficient way of communicating overall. All of out the social media sites: 

  

80% of companies use Linkedin, 50% use Facebook, and 45% use twitter. Linkedin is considered to be the best social media site to use because it gives you a professional representation of each candidate in which companies can use to help make the best decision when choosing candidates for hiring. 

Take Away Points:

Whether you are in college, graduating or looking for a job, employers are recruiting. Job searching does not just stop at the internet. Recruitment has created several platforms for many applicants and some of those the platforms you use now like facebook and Linkendin. Employers whom recruit today realize that there is a whole another group of unique candidates, aside from the resumes and applications that hit their desk everyday, with the potential and talent to take their company to thenext level. Is that unique candidate you?

 

The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world."
-Steve Jobs

 

Work Cited

1. Breaugh, James A. Annual Review of Psychology: Employee Recruitment. Volume 64 pg. 389-416. Published October 25, 2012. DOI: 10.1146/annual-psych-113011-143757. 

2. Schawbel. Dan. "The Power Within: Why Internal Recruiting and Hiring are on the Rise". Published August 15, 2012.  http://www.ere.net/1999/09/17/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-external-first-hiring-preferences/ 

3. Sullivan, Dr.John. "Advantages and Disadvantages of External First Hiring Preference". Publishd September 17, 1999. http://www.ere.net/1999/09/17/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-external-first-hiring-preferences/

4. David. Susan S. "Recruitment Strategies and Methods". http://smallbusiness.chron.com/recruitment-strategies-methods-10441.html