Everything you need to know about what is recruitment. The term ‘recruitment’ applies to the process of attracting potential employees to the organization.

To recruit means to enlist, replenish or reinforce. It refers to the process of bringing together prospective employees and employer with a view to stimulate and encourage the former to apply for a job with the latter.

Thus, it is a “linking activity” bringing together those with jobs and those seeking jobs. The purpose of recruitment is to prepare an inventory of people who meet the criteria laid down in job specifications so that the organization may choose those who are found most suitable for the positions vacant.


What is Recruitment? – Important Definitions by Davis, Flippo, Dale S. Beach and Yoder

Recruitment is another important functions of human resource management. After estimating the manpower requirements, the next process is the procurement function. Recruitment ensures the number of persons necessary to continue the operation of the organisation.

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On the basis of manpower planning, the company determines the right number and right quality of the employees. Thus, the process of recruitment begins with the determination of demand for the employees.

The term ‘recruitment’ applies to the process of attracting potential employees towards the organisation. It is a systematic means of finding and inducing available candidates to apply to the company for employment. The recruitment process includes the identification and evaluation of the sources of the manpower.

It is an important function of personnel administration and a major step in the total staffing process. So, recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and encouraging them to apply for jobs in the organisation.

It aims at securing as many qualified applicants for jobs as possible so as to decrease the hiring ratio. Thus, recruitment is the process of identifying and attracting the right candidates for a job. It follows the human resource planning exercise.

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It is the phase that immediately precedes the selection and its purpose is to pave the way for the selection procedures by producing, ideally the smallest number of candidates who appear to be capable either of performing the required tasks of the job from the outset, or of developing the ability to do so within a period of time acceptable to the employee organisation. The efficient recruitment of staff may be described as knowing what resources you want, what resources are available, and where and how they may be found.

“Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment.” — Davis

“Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for the jobs in the organisation.” — Flippo

“Recruitment is the development and maintenance of adequate manpower resources. It involves the creation of a pool of available labour upon whom the organisation can depend when it needs additional employees.” – Dale S. Beach

“Recruitment is a process to discover the sources of manpower to meet the requirements of staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection of an efficient working force.” — Yoder


What is Recruitment? – With Importance of Recruitment

Recruitment is concerned with attracting the candidates for consideration of selection to various jobs. It enables the management to select suitable employees for vacant jobs.

Recruitment is the process of identifying the sources of prospective candidates to stimulate them to apply for jobs in the organisation. It involves seeking and attracting a pool of people from which qualified candidates for job vacancies can be chosen.

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Recruitment is a positive process as it attracts suitable applicants to apply for available jobs. It precedes the selection process and aims at creating a pool of candidates so that management can select the most suitable candidates. For this, the human resource department communicates the vacant job positions through notice board, advertisement, employment exchange, website, etc.

The process of recruitment:

(i) Identify the different sources of labour supply,

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(ii) Assesses their validity,

(iii) Chooses the most suitable source or sources, and

(iv) Invites applications from the prospective candidates for the vacant jobs.

Recruitment is the process of acquisition of the work force in the organisation. Edwin B. Flippo defined recruitment as “a process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for the jobs in the organisation.” It is the process through which information is provided by the organisation to the prospective candidates regarding the requirement of personnel for job in the organisation.

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The process involves identification of different sources from where potential employees can be selected. According to DeCenzo and Robbins, “recruitment is a process of discovering of potential applicants for actual and anticipated organisational vacancies”. The recruitment process creates a pool of prospective employees from where the organisation can select the best person suitable for the job.

The recruitment process begins with the initiation of employee requisition placed by a manager for a current vacancy or an anticipated future vacancy. Recruitment is the process of acquisition of work force.

Importance of Recruitment:

1. Recruitment process enables creation of pool of talented prospective employees from which the best candidate is selected.

2. It ensures continuous and uninterrupted supply of work force.

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3. Enables employment of right person to the right job at right time.

4. A fair and transparent recruitment process attracts and encourages eligible candidates to apply for organisational vacancies.

5. Recruitment enables quick fill up of the sudden unexpected vacancy.


What is Recruitment? – With Definitions by Authors and Academicians like Werther and Davis, B. Flippo, Dale S. Beach, H. Hawk and Mamoria

Selection of a suitable candidate is the most imperative function of personnel department. If a right candidate is not selected, such an error can prove to be very costly for an undertaking. Many organizations, therefore, have developed sophisticated recruiting and selection methods. Manpower planning must precede recruitment and selection. The present and future requirements should also be kept in mind while planning for manpower.

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Recruitment is a positive process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for the jobs in the organization. In simple words, the term recruitment stands for discovering the sources from where potential employees will be available. The scientific recruitment leads to greater productivity, better wages, high morale, reduction in labour turnover and better reputation. It stimulates people to apply for jobs and hence it is a positive process.

The success or failure of any organization depends on the caliber of its most important asset; that is, its workforce. An organization cannot progress and prosper without the positive and productive contributions from its people. Therefore, organizations need to recruit people with the necessary skills, qualities, and expertise to perform their operations and accomplish their goals.

In simple words, recruitment refers to searching and inviting applications from eligible job seekers. The challenge is not only hiring the right people, but also hiring them before the competitor does. An ideal recruitment plan is the one that attracts a relatively large number of qualified and competent applicants.

Definition of Recruitment:

Many authors and academicians have defined the recruitment process in their own ways. Some of the popular definitions of recruitment are mentioned in this section.

Werther and Davis have defined recruitment as, “the process of finding and attracting applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which new employees are selected.”

According to Edwin B. Flippo, ”Recruitment is the process of searching the candidates for employment and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization.”

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In the words of Dale S. Beach, “Recruitment is the development and maintenance of adequate manpower resources. It involves the creation of a pool of available labour upon whom the organisation can draw when it needs additional employees.”

According to Roger H. Hawk, “The purposes of a recruitment Junction are primarily straight forward – to seek out, to evaluate, obtain commitment from, place and orient the employees to fill positions, required for the successful conduct of the work of an organization.”

In the words of Mamoria, “Recruitment is discovering of potential applicants for actual or anticipated organizational vacancies.”

Recruitment functions as a bridge or linking activity between HRP and selection. As human resource is becoming central to business success, it is important for organizations to ensure that they have the right talent in place for their current as well as future requirements. An organization can achieve this with the help of a successful and efficient recruitment process.

Organizations differ in terms of their sizes, businesses, processes, and practices; so they adopt different forms or types of recruitment. They can select either the centralized or the decentralized form of recruitment.

These are explained as follows:

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i. Centralized – Refers to a form a recruitment that exists in small organizations. When the HR department performs all the functions of recruitment at the head office, it is termed as centralized recruitment.

ii. Decentralized – Refers to a form a recruitment that exists in conglomerates or organizations that are spread across large geographical areas.

The concept can be elaborated with the help of an example. An organization, QWE, has its headquarters located in Nehru Place, with its other branches spread all over Delhi. The organization adopted a centralized form of recruitment to cut down cost. On the other hand, if the same company had to expand globally, the approach would have been to adopt a decentralized form of recruitment that would suit every culture and environment where it were to operate.


What is Recruitment?

Recruitment occupies prime status in the functions of personnel department. It is recruitment through which desired workforce is procured. This workforce is a factor on which, depends a major proportion of achievement of organisational goals. Thus it can be said that “unless right people are hired for right jobs, even the plans, organisation charts and control system would not do much good”.

Recruitment is the first stage in the process which continues with Selection, Placement, Induction, Training of the manpower. It is the next-step in the procurement function. Recruitment makes it possible to acquire the number and types of human resource necessary to ensure the continued operation of the organisation.

The success of an organisation largely depends upon the team of skilled and qualified workers who are selected out of a number of applicants for the concerned job. Recruitment is the first step in the employment process which aims at developing and maintaining the adequate manpower resources upon whom the organisation can depend when it needs additional employees.

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An analysis of job is a pre-requisite to any recruitment process. It involves the preparation of job description and job specification for individual job, Recruitment process begins only when the requisite number of persons and the requirements of different jobs are known.

“Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for the jobs in the organisation.”

The term “recruitment” stands for discovering the sources from where potential employees will be selected. Systematic recruitment may ultimately result in greater productivity, higher morale, reduction in labour turnover and better reputation of the concern.

“Recruitment is a process to discover the sources of manpower to meet the requirements of the staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate number to facilitate effective selection of an efficient working force.” According to the purpose, recruitment is to locate sources of manpower to meet job requirements and job specifications – Dale Yoder.

“It is a process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for jobs in an organisation. It is often termed positive, in that it stimulates people to apply for jobs to increase the hiring ratio of the number of applicants for a job and number of jobs to increase the hiring ratio of the number of applicants for a job and number of jobs. Selection on the other hand tends to be negative because it rejects a good number of those who apply, leaving only the best to be hired” – Flippo.

Recruiting is the discovering of potential applicants for actual or anticipated organisational vacancies. In other words it is a “Linking activity” bringing together those with jobs and those seeking jobs.

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“Recruitment is the development and maintenance of adequate manpower resources. It involves the creation of a pool of available labour upon whom the organisation can depend when it needs additional employees” – D.S. Breach

Thus “the purpose of a recruitment function is to seek, to evaluate, to obtain commitment, and to orient the aspirants to fill positions, required for the successful conduct of the work of an organisation.”

Recruitment enables the management to select suitable employees for different jobs. It is significant to point out that hiring of employees through selection is a negative process since it involves the taking of suitable candidates for the organisations and rejection or elimination of other applicants.


What is Recruitment? – With the Steps Involved in Recruitment Process

“Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for job in the organisation”. — Edwin B. Flippo

“The term recruitment applies to the process of attracting potential employees to the company”. — D. E. McFarland

The basic purpose of recruitment is to develop and maintain adequate manpower resources upon which an organisation can depend. It involves seeking and attracting a pooI of people from which qualified candidates for job vacancies can be chosen. Accordingly, the purpose of recruitment is to locate sources of manpower to meet job requirements and job specifications. In simplest terms recruitment involves placing the right person on the right job. Recruitment can be done either from inside or from outside the organisation.

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Recruitment involves the following steps:

1. Identifying the source of supply of adequate number and right type of personnel required.

2. Publicising information about job vacancies in the organisation.

3. Assessing alternative sources of manpower and selecting the best sources.

4. Contacting the chosen source of recruitment to secure applications e.g. advertisement for jobs in a newspaper so as to stimulate the prospective candidates to offer themselves for employment.

Recruitment – In simple words, recruitment is understood as the process of searching for and obtaining applicants for jobs from among whom right people can be selected.

As per Flipps – “Recruitment is the process of searching of prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for jobs in an organisation.”

It is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruit are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which new employees are selected.

According to Hawk – The purposes of recruitment functions are patently straight forward: to seek out, evaluate, obtain commitment from, place and orient new employees to fill positions required for the successful conduct of the work of the organisation.

According to Edwin B. Flippo, – “Recruitment is the process of searching the candidates for employment and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organisation”. Recruitment is the activity that links the employers and the job seekers.

A few definitions of recruitment are:

i. A process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applications from which new employees are selected.

ii. It is the process to discover sources of manpower to meet the requirement of staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection of an efficient working force.

Recruitment of candidates is the function preceding the selection, which helps create a pool of prospective employees for the organisation so that the management can select the right candidate for the right job from this pool. The main objective of the recruitment process is to expedite the selection process.

Recruitment is a continuous process whereby the firm attempts to develop a pool of qualified applicants for the future human resources needs even though specific vacancies do not exist. Usually, the recruitment process starts when a manger initiates an employee requisition for a specific vacancy or an anticipated vacancy.

Recruitment refers to the process of finding possible candidates for a job or function, undertaken by recruiters. It may be undertaken by an employment agency or a member of staff at the business or organisation looking for recruits. Advertising is commonly part of the recruiting process, and can occur through several means – through newspapers, using newspaper dedicated to job advertisement, through professional publication, using advertisements placed in windows, through a job center, through campus interviews, etc.

Suitability for a job is typically assessed by looking for skills, e.g., communication skills, typing skills, computer skills. Evidence for skills required for a job may be provided in the form of qualifications (educational or professional), experience in a job requiring the relevant skills or the testimony of references.

Employment agencies may also give computerised tests to assess an individual’s “off-hand” knowledge of software packages or typing skills. At a more basic level written tests may be given to assess and literacy. A candidate may also be assessed on the basis of an interview. Sometimes candidates will be requested to provide a resume/CV or to complete an application form to provide this evidence.

Recruitment and selection allow management to determine and gradually modify the behavioural characteristics and competences of the workforce. The fashion for team working, for example, has focused on people with a preference for working with others as opposed to the individualist ‘stars’ preferred by recruiters in the 1980’s. Attention has switched from rigid lists of skills and abilities to broader-based competences. In general there is greater regard for personal flexibility and adaptability – a reorientation from present to future stability.

Potential candidates may come from an internal trawl of the organisation, or from the external job market. The latter are reached through channels such as recruitment advertising, employment agencies, professional associations or word of mouth.

The approach differs according to the organisation’s resourcing philosophy:

i. Organisations with a strong culture are likely to seek malleable new employees at school-leaving or graduate levels. More senior jobs are filled from the internal job market.

ii. Companies looking for the ‘right’ (best fit for the job) person however may rule out internal applicants because they do not match the personnel specification prepared for the job.

Recruitment is defined as a set of activities which helps in preparing a pool of candidates from which the right candidates can be selected. The pool must have ‘right match’, retainable talent and must have been prepared at minimum cost.

Hiring is on a high and most sectors and companies are looking to have more people on-board. Blame it on the positive market indicators. But what is also be significant to note here is that – the higher attrition in these buoyant times in the market is also playing its role in increasing these hiring numbers.

This is where hiring assumes higher significance in today’s context Hiring is not just about increasing headcount but also finding, attracting and roping-in ‘right’ candidates who are more ‘retainable’.

Species of Candidates to be Avoided:

Recruiting ‘wrong’ candidates and then thinking ways and means to ‘retain’ them is not going to work.

Let us have a look at some ‘species’ of candidates whom recruiters should give a miss:

a. Paper Tigers:

Recruiters generally weed-out the visibly over and under qualified candidates but they often fall into the tarp of ‘paper tigers’. These are those candidates who have qualifications and degrees on their resumes however lack real knowledge and skill. They may turn – turtle when it comes to real job performance. Looking at a combination of quality of qualification, nature of experience (rather than experience per say) and individual abilities may be a better idea.

b. Money Grubbers:

These are candidates who use the new job offers to bargain with their current employers. Such candidates shall always show too much enthusiasm on the package even before the selection process has begun. These money grubbers are better avoided.

c. Ever-Seekers, Never-Keepers:

Frequent job-hoppers are a dangerous species as although they may have worth on paper, their loyalties shift over-night. These candidates cannot be trusted.

d. High-Flyers:

Too high-profile candidates (w.r.t., the firm) are never retainable. The seeking firms were never among their aspiring set of companies and hence even if they are selected, these candidates may use the company as a stop-gap arrangement.

In other words, there has to be a good match between the background and profile of the candidate and the status of the firm. Few B-tier IT companies faced this problem initially when recruiting from top-notch Indian campuses for whom Silicon Valley was the preferred destination.

e. Dust-Kickers:

It has been very aptly said ‘Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill’. People who are having obnoxious attitude are likely to be problem- creators in organization and seldom add any value despite the fact they may be good performers. Dust-kickers very rarely hit the target; forget about scoring (meeting) goals.

f. Counterfeits:

Post-hiring reference checks and background verifications are a passé. Back-channel referencing is in, where the recruiters pre-qualify executives when they are initially sourcing candidates for a role by speaking to their peers within the same sector. They may also look in the public domain as well, doing a check of blogs, news media sites, social networking sites etc., to familiarize themselves with the candidate. This helps avoid fake candidates completely and avoid the hiring cost.

g. Job Skimmers:

High-nosed candidates and the job skimmers (i.e., those who are not very serious about changing their current jobs but are skimming jobs to see if there is anything worthwhile) are the ones to be approached with caution, as firm may end-up losing money on them since their likelihood of leaving their current jobs may be minimal. Before drafting such candidates into the recruitment pool, their seriousness about job-change must be determined.

With the job market becoming increasingly competitive and the available skills growing more diverse, recruiters need to be more selective in their choices. Poor recruiting decisions can produce long-term negative effects; among them high training and development costs to minimise the incidence of poor performance and high turnover which, in turn not only impacts employee motivation but also hampers the production of high quality goods and services and the retention of organisational knowledge.

Worst, the organizations can fail to achieve their objectives thereby losing their competitive edge and their market share (Richardson).


What is Recruitment?

Recruitment of personnel for the civil services is one of the crucial tasks of Human Resource Management it would be based on the principle of merit and equal opportunity for all. The recruitment process should be able to attract the best available talent among the youth to the civil services.

The increasing diversification of the nature of civil service function and the growth of democratic and equalitarian principles have largely determined the normative context of personnel recruitment in democratic countries.

According to J.D. Kingsley, “Public recruitment may be defined as that process through which suitable candidates are included to compete for appointments to the public service. It is thus an integral part of a more inclusive process selection, which also includes the process of examination and certification”.

Recruitment is done by direct methods as well as by indirect or promotion. Promotion is essential to secure the service of senior employees with experience and efficiency. It is also essential to provide incentives to internal employees to perform well in order to achieve promotion.

On the other hand, direct recruitment provides opportunities to new and bright process, who join the service with fresh ideas, new energy and outlook. Direct recruitment is therefore a counterfoil to obsolescence of older employees.

Recruitment is a basic function in personnel administration. There is a special feature in recruitment to Indian services, where selection and appointment is made on merit there is constitutional provision for the reservation of certain percentage of each service for the candidates belonging to scheduled castes and tribes. There is also a similar provision of reservation for the backward castes.

In organizations, among all the resources, humans are the living resource who works with emotion, one’s knowledge and skill, and many other attributes and personality traits. Recruitment and selection are two interrelated, interacting, and interdependent functions.

Recruitment has been defined by academic stalwarts from different perspectives. Recruitment is the process of attracting individuals on a timely basis, in sufficient numbers, and with appropriate qualifications, to apply for jobs with an organization.

Recruitment is the process through which the organization seeks applicants for potential employment.

The term recruitment may be defined as the process to discover sources of manpower to meet the requirements or the staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate number to facilitate the selection of an efficient working force.

Thus, recruitment is a process of attracting job seekers with appropriate qualifications who are capable to meet the organizational staffing needs and are likely to achieve the business goals. They should be recruited in sufficient numbers on a timely basis.


What is Recruitment?

The first step in the procurement function that is manpower planning aims at ascertaining the manpower needs of the organization both in right number and or right kind. Once a determination of human resources requirements has been made, the recruitment and selection process – which forms the next phase of procurement function – can begin.

Recruitment and selection represents one of the most routine yet one of the most vital functions of any organization. Procurement of efficient and capable employees can significantly contribute to the success of an organization.

A faulty recruitment and selection procedure can play havoc with the organization’s plans and all its future vision will be in jeopardy. Thus, to ensure a smooth implementation of its plans and policies, a sound recruitment and selection has to be carried out by the personnel department in the organization.

In the words of Flippo, “Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization”.

According to Dale S. Beach, “Recruitment is the development and maintenance of adequate manpower resources. It involves the creation of a pool of available labour upon whom the organization can depend when it needs additional employees”.

Thus, recruitment is the act or process of an organization attempting to obtain additional human resources for operational purposes. The goal of recruitment is to create a large pool of persons who are available and willing to work for a particular organization.

Recruitment is discovering potential applicants for the actual or anticipated vacancies in the organization. It involves attracting the potential employees and seeking viable candidates for particular jobs. As it is difficult to anticipate always exactly how many new employees are required in a given period of time in a given category, the role of HR recruitment is to build a supply of potential people that the organization can draw when the need arises. Recruitment creates a buffer between planning and actual selection of new employees.

Recruitment activities are designed to influence:

(i) The number of people who apply for the job.

(ii) The type of people who apply.

(iii) The likelihood that those who apply will accept the positions, if offered.

The two goals of recruitment are:

(i) To generate a large pool of applicants, and

(ii) To provide enough information for individuals to self-select out of the process.

In general, all companies are required to make decisions in three areas of recruiting viz., Personnel Policies, Recruitment Sources and the Characteristics and Behaviour of the Recruiter.


What is Recruitment? – Quotable Definitions according to E. McFarland and Dale Yoder

The term ‘recruitment’ applies to the process of attracting potential employees to the organization. To recruit means to enlist, replenish or reinforce. It refers to the process of bringing together prospective employees and employer with a view to stimulate and encourage the former to apply for a job with the latter.

Thus, it is a “linking activity” bringing together those with jobs and those seeking jobs. The purpose of recruitment is to prepare an inventory of people who meet the criteria laid down in job specifications so that the organization may choose those who are found most suitable for the positions vacant.

According to Dale Yoder, “Recruitment is a process to discover the sources of manpower to meet the requirements of the staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection of an efficient working force”, thus the purpose of recruitment is to locate sources of manpower to meet job requirements and job specifications.

Every organization has to recruit the personnel thought of the method of recruitment may differ from organization to organization depend upon the size of organization, nature of job and the recruitment policy etc. It is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulates them to apply for jobs in the organization. In other words, it is concerned with developing suitable techniques for attractive more and more candidates. Selection made from the available well qualified applicants ensures that the people hired have the potential to meet organization needs.

Quotable definitions of recruitment are as follows:

According to Dalton E. McFarland, “the term recruitment applies to the process of attractive potential employees to the company”.

According to Dale Yoder, “it is process to discover the source of man power to meet the requirement of the staffing schedule and too employ effective measures for attractive that manpower in adequate number to facilitate effective selection of an efficient working force”.

Thus, from above two definitions one can conclude that effective selection depends upon effective recruitment.


What is Recruitment?

To recruit means to obtain fresh supplies. It also means restoring and replenishing. In the context of personnel management, recruitment means discovering applicants for the present or future jobs in an enter­prise. Recruitment may also be termed as an activity that brings the job seeker (applicant) and the jobs giver (employer) face to face with one other.

“Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for jobs in an organisa­tion.” Recruitment is often termed as positive whereas selection that follows is described as negative. The recruitment is a positive process because it stimulates people to apply for jobs the selection is a negative process (in that) it attempts to eliminate and screen the applicants leav­ing only those who are best to be hired.

How far an enterprise is successful in getting and retaining suitable workers will increase or reduce its recruitment effort. Similarly, the extent of salary and other benefits given by it to its staff and the working conditions in it, will also decide how often it has to engage in recruitment activity. Recruitment is a two-way affair. It takes two to complete the Recruitment process—the recruiter (the person who is recruiting) and the recruited (the person who is to be recruited.) No doubt in personal man­agement, we are concerned with this question only from the point of view of the recruiter.

An analysis of job is a pre-requisite to any recruitment process. It involves the preparation of job description and job specification for individual jobs. Recruitment process begins only when the requisite number of persons and the requirements of different of persons and the requirements of different jobs are known.

Once the process of forecasting for human resources has been made, the next step is to find out suitable candidates and attract them to fill vacancies. This task is achieved through the process of recruitment. Recruitment may be defined as the process of discovering and attracting candidates, and maintaining their pool for filling vacancies in an organisation.

It is a positive process under which candidates are invited to offer their services. It is in contrast to selection which is a negative process of eliminating those candidates who are adjudged the least promising.

Recruitment is important in human resource management for a number of reasons, the more notable of which are the following:

(1) It provides the main base for ensuring selection of suitable candidates for filling vacancies.

(2) It is helpful in maintaining a pool of prospective candidates for filling future vacancies, especially where the need for a large number of candidates is projected.

(3) It offers wide options in choosing the most promising from amongst the numerous applicants.

(4) It is useful in maintaining stability of workforce by way of reducing the frequency of initiatives for filling vacancies as and when they arise.

(5) Effective and well-designed recruitment programme leads to saving of time and cost in employment activities.

(6) Sound recruitment programme ensures compliance with legal requirements concerning employment and thus reduces the scope of future friction and litigation.

(7) A well-planned recruitment programme is also conducive to promoting candidates’ faith and attraction towards the organisation.

(8) Sound recruitment practices can also promote a competitive advantage for the firm.


What is Recruitment? – Definitions of Recruitment by Subbarao, Dr. C.B.Mamoria, Misra, Edwin B. Flippo, Denerely and Plumblay

Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which new employees are selected.

The recruitment and selection is the major function of the human resource department and recruitment process is the first step towards creating the competitive strength and the strategic advantage for the organizations. Recruitment process involves a systematic procedure from sourcing the candidates to arranging and conducting the interviews and requires many resources and time.

According to Subbarao (2005) Human Resource Management – Recruitment is defined as a process to discover the source of manpower to meet the recruitment of starting schedule and to employee effective measure for attracting that work force in adequate numbers to facilitated effective selection of an effective work force.

According to Dr. C.B. Mamoria (2000) – Recruitment is essential to every organization and it is the post stage of employee entering the organization Recruitment is an systematic process finding/attracting applicants skills knowledge for knowledge process of individual recruitment is recruit is employee carefully and right place and right job, it makes possible to acquire the number and types of people unnecessary to ensure the continued operation of this organization.

According to Misra (1990) – Recruitment is the differences between job recruitment and individual performance recruiting is a process of recruiting to employee right place in right job, that is ensure the person industry to working and it is an identified eligible person on the time of recruiting, if person recruitment level of select to applicant an proper manner.

According to Edwin B. Flippo (1969) – The process of searching for prospective employee and stimulating them to apply for jobs in organization,

According to Denerely and Plumblay (1969) – Recruitment is concerned with both engaging the required number of people and measuring their quality. It is not only a matter of satisfying a company’s needs, it is also an activity which influences the shape if the company’s future.

Recruitment has been regarded as the most important function of manpower management and administration. Unless the right matches of people are not hired, even the best organizational plans and control systems will be of no effectiveness. A company cannot prosper, grow, or even survive without adequate human resource and particularly when the right people with the right skills are not available.

Need for skilled manpower in recent years has created a pressure on the industry to establish an efficient recruitment function. Many organizations who are not good at this function have been found to outsource the recruitment activity from an outside HR consultant firm. Recruitment if not planned and executed wisely, lead to ineffective management. Manpower costs increases and bottlenecks worse. Training costs increase and customer service suffers.

Now a days the recruitment process is strategically meant to locate the source of work force so as to meet job related requirements and skills or experience related specification as well has or the first stage the process with continues with selection and carrier with the placement of candidate recruitment is the process of attracting the applicants with certain skills abilities and other personal character has to job vacancies on organization.

A successful recruitment strategy should be well planned and practical to attract more and good talent to apply in the organization.

The human resource management primarily involves securing and maintaining the work force of an organization. Megginson defines recruitment as reaching out to the supply sources and finds the individuals who may have the needed qualifications. Dale Beach views that recruitment tends to be positive in that it seeks to persuade people to respond to the advertisements.

The recruitment phase includes the planning of human resources and locating the potential candidates. Many academicians and practitioners tend to confuse the terms of recruitment and selection and use them interchangeably. Let us for a few moments examine these two terms.

While recruitment reaches out to the sources of human resources supply and identifies the candidates who may possess the needed qualifications for the job being advertised, the selection process utilizes different methods and techniques of gathering information for judging whether a given candidate is or is not qualified for the job opening. In other words, the recruitment process filters the potential candidates from the labor market and the selection process filters suitable candidates from the potential ones.


What is Recruitment? – Important Definitions by Edwin B. Flippo, David A. DeCenzo and Stephen P. Robbins

Recruitment is a process of attracting potential people to apply for a job in an organization. Efficient and effective recruitment will facilitate selection process to absorb the best candidates for filling up the existing vacancies in an organization. It links the job provider and the job seekers.

It is a positive process that encourages all the aspiring and potential candidates to apply for the job. From the pool of applications received, the candidates are scrutinized and suitable candidates are shortlisted for further selection processes. The main objective of the recruitment process is to expedite the selection process.

Some of the important definitions are given below:

According to Edwin B. Flippo, “Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for jobs in the organization”.

David A. DeCenzo and Stephen P. Robbins define recruitment as, “discovering potential candidates for actual or anticipated organizational vacancies”. In the words of Bergmann and Taylor, “Recruitment is the process of locating, identifying and attracting capable applicants”.

The following are the recent trends in recruitment:

1. Outsourcing:

The human resource functions are being outsourced for its advantages. The outsourcing firms help the organization in recruiting and do initial screening of the candidates who have applied for the jobs. In turn, these outsourcing firms charge the organization for their service.

2. Poaching:

Poaching is also called ‘raiding’. It is an act of buying talent from the external sources than developing the existing employees by conducting training and development programmes. It is to attract the resourceful employees from a competing organization by providing attractive monetary and non-monetary benefits. In fact, it is an unethical practice prevailing to enhance competitive advantages over the competitors. Koontz and O’Donnell observe that the policy should be to ‘raise’ talents rather than ‘raid’ them.


What is Recruitment? – As Defined by Werther, Davis, Yorder, Flippo, Mamoria, Curnow and Whitehill

The human resources are the most important assets of an organization. Successful human resource planning should identify our human resource needs. Once we know these needs, we will want to do something about meeting them. The next step in the acquisition function therefore is recruitment.

This activity facilitates us to acquire the number and types of people necessary to ensure the continued operation of the organization. Their objective is to increase the selection ratio, that is, the number of applications per job opening. It can be seen both, from the short-term and the long-term application.

The short range plans involves those activities which are carried on to meet current demands for personnel, such as that which continually exists in every organization when positions are vacated and cannot be fill from internal manpower sources. The long-term planning includes those activities designed to assure a continuous supply of qualified professionals and service personnel.

The success or failure of an organization is largely depending on the calibre of the people working therein. Without positive and creative contributions from people, organizations cannot progress. In order to achieve the goal or activities of organizations, we need to recruit people with requisite skills, qualifications and experience.

While doing so, we have to keep the present as well as future requirements of the organizations in mind. Recruitment is a “linking function” — which it tries to bring together jobs seekers and employer with a view to encourage the former to apply for a job with the latter.

The ideal recruitment effort will attract a large number of qualified applicants who will take the job if it is offered. The basic purpose of recruitment is to develop a group of potentially qualified people. The organization must communicate the position in such a way that the job seekers respond.

To be cost-effective, recruitment process should attract qualified applicants and provide enough information for qualified persons to self-select themselves out, e.g., the recruitment advertisement of a foreign bank may invite applications from chartered accountants who have cleared the CA examination in the first attempt only.

Recruitment is the discovery of the potential candidates for actual or anticipated organizational vacancies. Recruitment is the process concerned with the identification of the sources from where the personnel can be employed and motivating them to offer themselves for employment. It is the process of exhausting all the sources for finding prospective employees.

Werther and Davis have defined this as follows:

“Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which new employees are selected.”

Lord has defined recruitment in terms of its competitive nature.

He views that:

“Recruitment is a form of competition. Just as corporations compete to develop, manufacture, and market the best product or service, so they must also compete to identify, attract, and hire the most qualified people. Recruitment is a business, it is a big business.”

As Yorder and others point out:

“Recruitment is the process to discover the sources of manpower to meet the requirements of the staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers. It facilitates effective selection of an efficient working force.”

Flippo views recruitment both as “positive” and “negative” activity.

He says:

“It is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for jobs in an organization. It is often termed positive in that it stimulates people to apply for jobs to increase the ‘hiring ratio’, that is, a number of applicants for the jobs. Selection, on the other hand tends to be negative because it rejects a good number of those who apply, leaving only the best to be hired.”

In the words of Mamoria, “Recruiting is the discovery of potential applicants for actual or anticipated organizational vacancies.”

The people factor is getting due, though belated recognition. The human resource is now viewed as an essential resource that determines the growth, productivity and efficiency of the organization. It is the only resource that increases in value over time and therefore deserves special attention.

Simultaneously, there is a recognition that competitive edge is not possible through advanced technology alone, it is the “people” that will make a key difference. The competitive edge is really the “people edge”. The human resource makes and will continue to make a critical difference to business success in future years. The organizations, therefore, have realized the importance of “good” managers who show results.

And they are doing everything possible to acquire and retain such people. With competition for human resource talent hotting up in the job market, and the consequent increase in employee turnover levels, strategies for attracting quality employees are getting greater attention than ever before.

“Recruitment”, a poor second to “selection” till now, is not only one of the most frequent human resource activity that organizations engage in today, but one that is now being viewed as systematically as other human resource functions.

In the years to come, the growing importance of recruitment for many organizations will primarily be for two reasons. First, a majority of companies will face shortages of employees who possess the necessary skills for modern jobs. Second, many companies have undertaken downsizing and cost-saving measures in recent years, leaving the recruitment budgets much smaller than before.

There is a pressure on human resource managers to control recruitment costs. Thus, recruiters will have to become acquainted with new and more cost-effective ways of attracting qualified applicants. Curnow (1989) observed, “recruitment is the biggest single challenge facing human resource managers in the 1990s”.

Recruitment represents the first contact that a company has with potential employees. It is through recruitment that many individuals will come to know about an organization, and decide whether they wish to work for it.

It is not possible to select quality employees when the quality candidates do not know of job openings, are not interested in working for the company and do not apply. A well-managed recruiting effort leads to high-quality applicants, whereas a haphazard approach will result in mediocre ones.

A useful definition of recruitment is – “searching for and obtaining potential job candidates in sufficient numbers and quality so that the organization can select the most appropriate people to fill its job needs”. Whitehill (1992) describes the recruitment process as a positive one – “building a roster of potentially qualified applicants,” as opposed to the “negative” process of selection.

The recruitment process has two key objectives:

i. The attraction and retention of the interest of suitable applicants.

ii. The projection of a positive image of the organization to those who come in contact with it.

The ideal recruitment effort is one that attracts the qualified and not attracts the unqualified. A good recruitment programme will attract a large number of qualified applicants who will take the job if it is offered. It also provides sufficient information so that unqualified applicants can self-select themselves out of the job candidacy.

This will minimize the cost of processing unqualified applicants. This applies to candidates from outside of the organization (external recruitment) as well as current employees interested in different jobs within the company (internal recruitment).