Recruitment and Selection

Recruitment and selection refers to the chain and sequence of activities pertaining to recruitment and selection of employable candidates and job seekers for an organization. Every enterprise, business, start-up and entrepreneurial firm has some well-defined employment and recruitment policies and hiring procedures. The human resources department of large organizations, businesses, government offices and multilateral organizations are generally vested with the responsibilities of employee recruitment and selection. Recruitment and selection set the stage for other human resources intervention. Before, recruitment and selection process are done manually. But the system of recruitment and selection are built the make the job become easier. If recruitment and selection are done properly, the subsequent movement of the worker through the organizational system is made easier and employee makes a long-term, positive contribution to organizational survival and process. Both recruitment and selection are the two phases of the employment process. The differences between the two are recruitment is the process of searching the candidates for employment and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization whereas selection involves the series of steps by which the candidates are screened for choosing the most suitable persons for vacant posts. The basic purpose of recruitment is to create a talent pool of candidates to enable the selection of best candidates for the organization, by attracting more and more employees to apply in the organization whereas the basic purpose of selection process is to choose the right candidate to fill the various positions in the organization. Recruitment also is a positive process i.e. encouraging more and more employees to apply whereas selection is a negative process as it involves rejection of the unsuitable candidates. Recruitment is concerned with tapping the sources of human resources whereas selection is concerned with selecting the most suitable candidate through various interviews and tests. Recruiters need to keep abreast of changes in the labor market to ensure that their recruitment efforts are not wasted or directed at too small a pool of labor. Skill shortages may occur unexpectedly and recruitment and training processes need to be kept flexible. It is a good idea for any organization to plan its labor force requirements, matching available supply against forecast demand. A skills audit of existing staff will increase knowledge of the skills the organization has available and those which are lacking, and thus help pinpoint areas for future development.

Reference:

Douglas H. Reynold, John A, Weiner (2009). Online Recruiting and Selection: In Innovation in Talent Acquisition.