Recruitment & Selection

Recruitment & Selection

Q1 What are the various sources of recruitment?

 Ans. Recruitment is understood as “the Process of searching for and obtaining applicants
for jobs”, from among whom the right people can be selected. Recruitment aims atattracting a large no. of qualified applicants who are eligible job-seekers and are ready to take
up the jobs.
Some of the Internal sources of recruitment are:-
1. Promotion
 2. Transfer
3. Retired or Ex-Employees
4. Job Posting
Some of the external sources of recruitment are:-
1. Advertising in Newspapers and Journals
2. Employment Exchanges
3. Internet (E-Recruitment)
4. Educational/Professional/Technical Institutions
 5. Executive Search Firms
6. Union as a Source
7. Unsolicited or Walk-in Applicants
8. Direct Recruitment
 9. Casual Callers
10. Campus Recruitment
11. Placement Agencies and Management Consultants
12. Recommendations of Employees
13. Labour Contractors
 14. Web Publishing
15. Job Fairs
16. Personal Contacts
 17. Poaching and Raiding
18. Service Commissions
19. Nepotism
20. Leasing
21. Data Banks
(i) Job Posting:
Job posting, also known as internal advertisement, involves recruiting persons from within either
from the organization concerned or organizations belonging to a business group. The positions to
be filled are notified through organization‟s intranet. Intranet is a website of an organization
which is accessible by members of the organization concerned only. 
In response to such a notification, the employees forward their resumes for consideration.
Selection process in job posting follows the selection process used for selecting candidates from
outside. In many industrially-advanced countries, this method of filling organizational positions
is very common.
In India, some organizations have adopted this practice, for example, Hindustan Unilever, Larsen
& Toubro, etc. At the level of business group, Kumarmangalam Birla group has adopted this
method.
Internal sources of recruitment have many advantages which are as follows:
a. Internal recruitment is motivating to employees as they see opportunities for future growth in
the organization, particularly in the case of promotion.
b. It leads to simplification of recruitment and selection process as candidates are available
internally and simplified selection process may be followed in place of rigorous process used in
selecting candidates from external sources.
c. It leads to reduced training and development efforts as many training and development efforts
are not required, for example, orientation, understanding of organizational culture and practices,
etc.
d. It leads to workforce rationalization by transferring employees from those units having surplus
employees to those units having shortage of employees.
Limitations of Internal Sources of Recruitment:
Limitations of internal sources of recruitment are as follows:
a. Internal recruitment leads to inbreeding filling organizational positions with employees having
the same mind set which brings inertia (a kind of rigidity in organizational functioning). This
leads to adoption of same organizational practices even though these might be faulty. In fact, this
is the most crucial limitation of internal recruitment.
b. It leads to almost assured time-based promotion. It makes employees lethargic.
c. It results in elimination of competitive spirit among employees which is a very significant
ingredient for higher performance.
d. Frequent transfers, which internal recruitment follows, tend to reduce employee productivity.
Q2- Discuss the Selection Process in detail.
Ans:
 SELECTION IS THE PROCESS OF PICKING INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE
RELEVANT QUALIFICATIONS TO FILL JOBS IN AN ORGANISATION.
Finding the interested candidates who have submitted their profiles for a particular job is the
process of recruitment, and choosing the best and most suitable candidates among them is the
process of selection. It results in elimination of unsuitable candidates. It follows scientific
techniques for the appropriate choice of a person for the job.
The recruitment process has a wide coverage as it collects the applications of interested
candidates, whereas the selection process narrows down the scope and becomes specific when it
selects the suitable candidates. 
Stone defines, „Selection is the process of differentiating between applicants in order to identify
(and hire) those with a greater likelihood of success in a job‟.
Steps Involved in Selection Procedure:
A scientific and logical selection procedure leads to scientific selection of candidates. The
criterion finalized for selecting a candidate for a particular job varies from company to company.
Therefore, the selection procedure followed by different organizations, many times, becomes
lengthy as it is a question of getting the most suitable candidates for which various tests are to be
done and interviews to be taken. The procedure for selection should be systematic so that it does
not leave any scope for confusions and doubts about the choice of the selected candidate.
Brief details of the various steps in selection procedure are given as follows:
1. Inviting applications:
The prospective candidates from within the organization or outside the organization are called
for applying for the post. Detailed job description and job specification are provided in the
advertisement for the job. It attracts a large number of candidates from various areas.
2. Receiving applications:
Detailed applications are collected from the candidates which provide the necessary information
about personal and professional details of a person. These applications facilitate analysis and
comparison of the candidates.
3. Scrutiny of applications:
As the limit of the period within which the company is supposed to receive applications ends, the
applications are sorted out. Incomplete applications get rejected; applicants with un-matching job
specifications are also rejected.
4. Written tests:
As the final list of candidates becomes ready after the scrutiny of applications, the written test is
conducted. This test is conducted for understanding the technical knowledge, attitude and interest
of the candidates. This process is useful when the number of applicants is large.
Many times, a second chance is given to candidates to prove themselves by conducting another
written test. 
5. Psychological tests:
These tests are conducted individually and they help for finding out the individual quality and
skill of a person. The types of psychological tests are aptitude test, intelligence test, and
personality test
 INTELLIGENCE TESTS- ABILITY TO LEARN QUICK AND MAKE
JUDGEMENTS.
 APTITUDE TESTS-TEST MEASURES THE INDIVIDUAL POTENTIAL TO
LEARN CERTAIN SKILLS EG-CLERICAL,MECHANICAL,MATHEMATICAL ETC
 PERSONALITY TEST-TEST MEASURES PERSONALITY TRAITS LIKE
MOTIVATION,EMOTIONAL BALANCE,CONFIDENCE ETC
 ACHIEVEMENT TESTS-TO MEASURE WHAT THE APPLICANT CAN DO ON
JOB CURRENTLY.
 SIMULATION TEST- IT DUPLICATES THE WORK LIKE SITUATION
 ASSESSMENT CENTRE(ROOM)- INCORPORATES INDIVIDUAL AND
GROUP EXERCISES.
EXAMPLE- IN BASKET, BUSINESS GAMES,INDIVIDUAL PRSENTATION, STRUCTURED
INTERVIEW ETC.
 GRAPHOLOGY TESTS- INVOLVES USING A TRAINED EVALUATOR TO
EXAMINE THE LINES,LOOPS,CURVES AND FLOURISHES IN A PERSON‟S
HANDWRITING TO ASSESS THE PERSON‟S PERSONALITY AND EMOTIONAL
MAKE UP
 POLYGRAPH TESTS- LIE DETECTOR TESTS
INTEGRITY TEST- TEST TO MEASURE EMPLOYEE‟S HONESTY TO PREDICT THOSE WHO
ARE MORE LIKELY TO STEAL FROM THE EMPLOYER OR OTHERWISE ACT IN A MANNER
UNACCEPTABLE
6. Personal interview:
Candidates proving themselves successful through tests are interviewed personally. The
interviewers may be individual or a panel. It generally involves officers from the top
management.
The candidates are asked several questions about their experience on another job, their family
background, their interests, etc. They are supposed to describe their expectations from the said
job. Their strengths and weaknesses are identified and noted by the interviewers which help them
to take the final decision of selection.
7. Reference check:
Generally, at least two references are asked for by the company from the candidate. Reference
check is a type of crosscheck for the information provided by the candidate through their
application form and during the interviews.
8. Medical examination:
Physical strength and fitness of a candidate is must before they takes up the job. In-spite of good
performance in tests and interviews, candidates can be rejected on the basis of their ill health.
9. Final selection: 
At this step, the candidate is given the appointment letter to join the organization on a particular
date. The appointment letter specifies the post, title, salary and terms of employment. Generally,
initial appointment is on probation and after specific time period it becomes permanent.
10. Placement:
This is a final step. A suitable job is allocated to the appointed candidate so that they can get the
whole idea about the nature of the job. They can get adjusted to the job and perform well in
future with all capacities and strengths.
References:
1. ASWATHAPA, K. 2013. Human Resource Management. Tata McGraw Hill, 2013.
2. DESSLER, Gary. 2004. Human Resource Management. Prentice Hall,2004.
3. FRENCH, WENDELL. L. 2006. Human Resource Management. Houghton Mifflin,2006