Now that the organization has a good idea of what positions are going to be available
and what the supply of candidates looks like, it must now decide the best methods for recruitment.
Recruiting is a more complex activity than most managers believe. Recruitment efforts
should make sense in terms of the company's strategic plans. It is also important to understand
that some recruiting methods are superior to others, depending on who you are recruiting
and what your resources are.
The success you have with your recruiting actually depends on a number of factors. Some
external factors affecting recruiting are the looming undersupply of workers and increasingly
fewer "qualified" candidates, meaning that many organizations today are looking for highly
trained employees and the number of people qualified is getting smaller and smaller.
Also there are some internal factors affecting recruiting. One is the consistency of the
firm's recruitment efforts with its strategic goals. For example, if the firm's goal was
to open a new manufacturing plant which will require over 500 new employees, then the recruitment
methods chosen need to generate a large number of applicants. Also, lower-level jobs are
easier to fill because the number of qualifications needed are fewer and therefore can probably
be filled by someone local, but for more highly skilled jobs an organization may need to look
nationally or even internationally to find the right candidate.
Some additional internal recruitment issues are available resources and choice of recruiting
methods. For example, not all organizations have an unlimited recruitment budget so cost
is a concern. There are many avenues organizations can take to find qualified candidates both
inside and outside of the organization. Be sure to read about the different options and
the advantages and disadvantages of each in your textbook.
With many challenges to effective recruiting, companies are turning to previously untapped
talent pools. The first group more organizations are trying to attract is single parents. Formulating
an intelligent program for attracting single parents should begin with understanding the
considerable problems they often encounter in balancing work and family life.
The next group is older workers. Many employers are encouraging retirement-age employees not
to leave, or are actively recruiting employees who are at or beyond retirement age by making
their companies more appealing.
There are also more minorities and women entering the workforce than ever before and attracting
this group requires employers to understand the recruitment barriers that can hinder these
groups. For example, many minorities do not meet the minimum job qualifications and may
need some additional training. However, this added investment on the front-end can payoff
for the organization in creating extremely hard working and loyal employees.
Another option for organizations is the Welfare-to-Work Program which allows organizations to apply
for federal grants to develop training programs for welfare recipients. The Federal Personal
Responsibility and Welfare Reconciliation Act of 1996 prompted many employers to implement
programs to aid in bringing people off of welfare.
Lastly, disabled individuals can bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to organizations
in many cases with only minor accommodations. Employers can do several things to tap into
this huge potential workforce. The Department of Labor offers several programs, and all
states have local agencies that provide placement services and other recruitment and training
tools.
All of these groups can be great sources to draw potential applicants from and many organizations
are taking advantage of this opportunity.
Over the course of this video we have discussed some of the main techniques organizations
use to plan for and recruit qualified candidates. It is now time to apply what you have learned.