Human Resource Management (HRM)

Executive Summary
The success of every company begins and ends with

finding, hiring and keeping good employees. In the
tightest labor market, this is getting continually
harder. Companies need any, and every edge to win
this war for talent.
Recruiting the right person for a job is a time-
consuming and lengthy process. It need not be difficult though, so long as
it is approached in a careful and systematic manner.
Recruitment and Selection, strictly speaking, are differentiated
functions, in that recruitment deals with the forming a pool of applicants,
whereas Selection deals with picking out the best one. However, in
practice no clear distinction is seen between the two; it is considered as
an integrated process.
Recruitment must start with a thorough assessment of immediate
staff requirements. The vacant job should be analysed, and a job
description and employee specification written out to show what the job
involves and the type of person who is needed to do it. Attention must
also be given to future staff requirements, with any prospective employee
able enough to be transferred or promoted to other jobs as they arise.
Next, a pool of suitable people has to be found and sufficiently
attracted to want to apply for the job. Possible sources of recruitment -
internal and external - have to be studied and selected. Informative and
appealing advertisements and other ways of attracting candidates need
to be designed.
Applicants must then be screened and reduced to a shortlist of
candidates. They would then pass through the various stages of selection,
including interviews and tests. The most suitable candidate should be
chosen and an offer of employment made.
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In Search of the Best Fit
A successful recruitment policy should continue with the new
employee being helped to settle into the job as quickly and smoothly as
possible. He or she must be appraised to see that standards of work rate
and performance are maintained. The entire recruitment process should
then be reviewed, and changes and improvements implemented as
necessary.
Recruitment and selection thus represent a multistage decision
making process under conditions of risk. The process is geared towards
obtaining competent human resources at a minimal cost. Many different
recruitment and selection decision making techniques are available to
organizations. These range from the highly subjective interview, which is
as old as the human organization itself, to many types of psychological
testing devices.
If one looks around at the fastest growing companies, those that are
winning the recruiting wars, they all have a couple of things in common.
First they view recruiting, hiring and retention as a strategic initiative.
This means they plan for it, manage to it and hold people accountable for
their results. It has visibility at the highest levels in the company. Next,
they use a structured process to recruit and hire people. They invest in
training their management team for hiring the best people. They use a
variety of assessment tools to help them separate the winners from the
losers. They use tools to build teams the right way.
A Human Resource professional’s caliber lies in his ability to frame
the most appropriate recruitment and selection policies and getting the
best out of them, under the allocated financial resources. Let us now look
at the various options available in this respect, and some of the best
practices followed in the industry.
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I. Recruitment
A careful and comprehensive approach towards recruitment can ensure

that you select the right person for the job, both for now and in the future.
Theoretically speaking, Recruitment and Selection are 2 separate
functions. Recruitment deals with the forming a pool of applicants for a
particular job, whereas Selection deals with finding the best one of the lot.
In the first part of the project the various stages of Recruitment and
Selection have been defined.
However, it must be noted that in practice, Recruitment and
Selection are considered to be synonymous and used interchangeably.
Before coming to details of recruitment, it is useful to note that,
contrary to popular perception, this is an ongoing process and not
confined to the formative stages of an organization. Employees leave the
organization in search of greener pastures—some retire and some die in
the saddle. More important an enterprise grows, diversifies, takes over
other units—all necessitating hiring of new and more capable employees.
In fact, this function stops only when the organization ceases to exist.
MEANING AND DEFINITION

In simple terms, recruitment is understood as the process of
searching for and obtaining applicants for jobs, from among whom the
right people can be selected. A formal definition of recruitment is:
“It 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 next logical step is the Screening of applicants, which is included by
some companies in Recruitment and by some in Selection.
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PURPOSES AND IMPORTANCE

The general purpose of recruitment is to provide a pool
of potentially qualified job candidates. Specifically, the
purposes are to:
1. Determine the present and future requirements of the
organization in conjunction with its personnel
planning and job analysis activities
2. Increase the pool of job candidates at minimum cost
3. Help increase the success rate of the selection process by reducing the
number of visibly, underqualified or overqualified job applicants
4. Help reduce the probability that job applicants, once recruited and
selected, will leave the organization only after a short period of time
5. Meet the organizations legal and social obligations regarding the
composition of its workforce
6. Begin identifying and preparing potential job applicants who will be
appropriate candidates
7. Increase organizational and individual effectiveness in the short term
and long term
8. Evaluate the effectiveness of various recruiting techniques and sources
for all types of job applicants
Recruitment represents the first contact that a company makes with
potential employees. It is through recruitment that many individuals will
come to know a company, and eventually decide whether they wish to
work for it. A well-planned and well-managed recruiting effort will result in
high-quality applicants, whereas, a haphazard and piecemeal effort will
result in mediocre ones. High-quality employees cannot be selected when
better candidates do not know of job openings, are not interested in
working for the company, and do not apply. The recruitment process
should inform qualified individuals about employment opportunities,
create a positive image of the company, provide enough information
about the jobs so that applicants can make comparisons with their
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qualifications and interests, and generate enthusiasm among the best

candidates so that they will apply for the vacant positions.
RECRUITMENT: INDIAN EXPERIENCES

The experiential guide brought out by Business Today, Jan 7-21, 1996, summarising
the results of a path-breaking survey of Indian industries, commented thus about the
recruitment function:
"Woven into strategic planning, recruitment no longer involves short-term vacancy-
filling measures or the annual ritual of campus recruitment. Translating corporate
strategies into a manpower plan and developing a long-term hiring programme
accordingly, corporations are tracking down people with the combination of
knowledge, experience, skills and behaviour best suited to achieving the company's
objectives".
What do Indian companies expect from job-seekers?
The expectations of recruiters are inextricably intertwined with the corporate culture
in which they operate. They are in line with the overall philosophy of the company in
question. These can be summarized in a capsule form thus:
Recruitment of Trainees: Expectations of Indian Companies
Pepsi: Pepsi is a flat organisation. There are a maximum of four reporting levels.
Executives here emphasise achievement, motivation, the ability to deliver come
what may. As the Personnel Manager of Pepsi Foods remarked “we hire people who
are capable of growing the business rather than just growing with the business”.
Recruitees must be capable of thinking outside the box, cutting the cake of
conventional barriers whenever and wherever necessary. They must have a winner's
mindset and a passion for creating a dynamic change. They must have the ability to
deal with ambiguity and informality.
Reebok: As Reebok's customers are young, the company places emphasis on
youth. The average age at Reebok is 26 years. Employees are expected to have a
passion for the fitness business and reflect the company's aspirations. Recruitees
should be willing to do all kinds of job operations. The willingness to get one's hands
dirty is important. They must also have an ability to cope with informality, a flat
organisation and be able to take decisions independently and perform consistently
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with their clearly defined goals.

Indian Hotels: The Taj Group expects the job aspirants to stay with the organisation
patiently and rise with the company. Employees must be willing to say 'yes sir' to
anybody. Other criteria include: communication skills, the ability to work long and
stressful hours, mobility, attention to personal appearance and assertiveness without
aggression.
FACTORS GOVERNING RECRUITMENT

Given its key role and external visibility, recruitment is naturally subject
to influence of several factors. These include external as well as internal
forces.
External Factors
Of particular importance is the supply and demand of specific skills in the
labour market. If the demand for a particular skill is high relative to the
supply, an extraordinary recruiting effort may be needed. For instance,
the demand for analysts and specialists is likely to be higher than their
supply, as opposed to the demand-supply relationship for non-technical
employees.
When the unemployment rate in a given area is high, the increased size
of the labour pool provides better opportunities for attracting qualified
applicants. On the other hand, as the unemployment rate drops,
recruiting efforts must be increased and new sources explored.
Another external factor is political and legal considerations. Reservation
of jobs for SCs, STs, minorities, and other backward classes (OBCs) is a
political decision. There are acts, which deal with recruitment and
selection. Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, for
instance, prohibits employment of children in certain employments, and
seeks to regulate their working conditions in certain other employments.
The Constitution prohibits discrimination in matters of employment and
also provides for protective discrimination to the less-privileged sections
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of the society. Preferences to ‘Sons of the soil’ is In
another
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of the Best Fit
These need to be taken into consideration while recruiting.
The company’s image also matters in attracting large number of job
seekers. Blue chip companies attract large number of applications. Often,
it is not the money that is important. It is the perception of the job
seekers about the company that matters in attracting qualified
prospective employees.
Internal Factors
In addition to the external factors, there are certain internal
forces which deserve consideration while recruiting
personnel.
One such internal factor is the recruiting policy of the
organization. Most organizations have a policy on recruiting internally
(from own employees) or externally (from outside the organization).
Generally, the policy is to prefer internal sourcing, as own employees
know the company well and can recommend candidates who fit the
organization’s culture.
Another related policy is to have temporary and part-time employees. An
organization hiring temporary and part-time employees is in a less
advantageous position in attracting sufficient applications.
In multinational corporations (MNCs), there is the policy relating to the
recruitment of local citizens. MNCs operating in India, China, Japan, etc.
may prefer local citizens as they can understand local languages, customs
and business practices well.
A major internal factor that can determine the success of the recruiting
program is whether or not the company engages in HRP. It takes time to
examine the alternatives regarding the appropriate sources of recruits
and the most productive methods for obtaining them. Once the best
alternatives have been identified, recruiting plans may be made. Effective
HRP greatly facilitates the recruiting efforts.
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Cost of recruiting is yet another internal factor that has to be considered.
Recruiters must operate within budgets. One cost-saving measure, for
instance, is recruiting for multiple job openings simultaneously. The best
solution is to use proactive personnel practices In toSearch
reduceof employee
the Best Fit
turnover, thus, minimizing the need for recruiting.
Finally, an organization registering growth and expansion will have more
recruiting on hand than the one, which finds its fortunes declining.
RECRUITMENT PROCESS
Employment Recruitment: Build a
Planning and Personnel pool of Candidates To Selection
Forecasting Needs
Supply of Supply of
Internal External
candidates candidates
Employment Planning and Forecasting

Employment planning is the process of formulating plans to fill future
openings based on an analysis of the positions that are expected to be
open and whether these will be filled by inside or outside candidates.
Employment planning, therefore, refers to planning to fill any or all of
the firm’s future positions, from maintenance clerk to CEO. However,
most firms use the term succession planning to refer to the process of
planning how the company's most important executive positions will be
filled.
In any case, employment planning is best thought of as an integral
part of the firm's strategic and HR planning processes. For example,
plans to enter new businesses, to build new plants, or to reduce the level
of activities all influence the number of and types of positions to be
filled. At the same time decisions regarding how to fill these positions
will have to be integrated with other aspects of the firm's HR plans for
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instance, with plans for appraising and training current and new
employees.
The fundamental employment planning decision will be whether
projected positions will be filled internally or externally. In other words,
should the projected open positions be filled by current employees? Or
is the situation such that all or some of the openings must or
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filled by recruiting outside candidates?
Like any good plans, employment plans are built on premises -
basic assumptions about the future. The purpose of forecasting is to
develop these basic premises. If you are planning for employment
requirements, you'll usually need three sets of forecasts: one for
personnel needs, one for the supply of inside candidates, and one for the
supply of outside candidates.
Factors in Forecasting Personnel Needs

Managers should consider several factors when forecasting personnel
needs. From a practical point of view, the demand for your product or
service is paramount. Thus, in a manufacturing firm, sales are projected
first. Then the volume of production required to meet these sales
requirements is determined. Finally, the staff needed to maintain this
volume of output is estimated. In addition to production or sales
demand, you will also have to consider several other factors:
1. Projected turnover (as a result of resignations or terminations).
2. Quality and nature of your employees (in relation to what you see as
the changing needs of your organization).
3. Decisions to upgrade the quality of products or services or to expand.
4. Technological and administrative changes resulting in increased
productivity.
5. The financial resources available to your department.
Specific techniques for determining human resource requirements
include trend analysis, ratio analysis, scatter plot analysis, and
computerized forecasting.
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Trend Analysis: Trend analysis means studying your firm’s
employment levels over the past years to predict future
needs. For example, you might compute the number of
employees in your firm at the end of each of the last five
years. The purpose is to identify employment trends In that youofthink
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continue into the future. Trend analysis is valuable as an initial estimate,
but employment levels rarely depend solely on the passage of time.
Other factors (like changes in sales volume and productivity) will also
affect our future staffing needs.
Ratio Analysis: Another forecasting approach, ratio

analysis, means making estimates based on the ratio
between (1) some causal factor (like sales volume) and (2)
number of employees required (for instance, number of
salespeople). For example, suppose you find that a
salesperson traditionally generates $500,000 in sales and that in each of
the last two years you required ten salespeople to generate $5 million in
sales. Also assume that your plans call for increasing your firm's sales to
$8 million next year and to $10 million two years hence. Then, if the
sales revenue-salespeople ratio remains the same, you would require six
new salespeople next year. In the following year, you would need an
additional four salespeople to generate the extra $2 million in sales.
Ratio analysis can also be used to help forecast your other employee
requirements. For example, you can compute a salesperson-secretary
ratio and thereby determine how many new secretaries will be needed to
support the extra sales staff.
The Scatter Plot: A scatter plot can be used to determine whether two
factors-a measure of business activity and your staffing levels--are
related. If they are, then if you can forecast the measure of business
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activity, you should also be able to estimate your personnel
requirements.
Here is an example. A 500-bed hospital expects to expand to 1,200
beds over the next five years. The director of nursing and the human
resource director want to forecast the requirement for registered nurses.
The human resource director therefore decides to determine the
relationship between size of hospital (in terms of number of beds) and
number of nurses required. She calls five similar hospitals of of
In Search various sizes
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and gets the following figures:
Size of Hospital Number of Registered

(Number of Beds) Nurses
200 240
300 260
400 470
500 500
600 620
700 660
800 820
900 860
One way to determine the relationship between size of hospital and

number of nurses is to draw a scatter plot as illustrated below:
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Hospital size is shown on the horizontal axis. Number of nurses is shown
on the vertical axis. If the two factors are related, then the points will
tend to fall along a straight line, as they do here. In
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you then carefully
of the Best Fit
draw in a line to minimize the distances between the line and each one of
the plotted points, you will be able to estimate the number of nurses that
will be needed for each given hospital size. Thus, for a 1200-bed hospital,
the human resource director would assume she needs about 1210
nurses.
Computerized Forecast: Employers also use computerized systems

(Human Resource Information Systems) to forecast personnel
requirements. With such a system, a personnel specialist, working with
line managers, compiles the information needed to develop a
computerized forecast of personnel requirements. Typical data needed
include direct labor hours to produce one unit of product and three sales
projections - minimum, maximum, and probable - for the product line in
question. Based on such data, a typical program generates figures on
"average staff levels required to meet product demands,” as well as
separate forecasts for direct labor (such as assembly workers), indirect
staff (such as secretaries), and exempt staff (such as executives).
Managerial judgment: Whichever forecasting approach you

use, managerial judgment will play a big role. It is rare that
any historical trend, ratio, or relationship will continue
unchanged into the future. Judgment is thus needed to
modify the forecast based on factors you believe will change in the
future. Important factors that may modify your initial forecast of
personnel requirements include the following:
1. Decisions to upgrade the quality of products or services or enter into
new markets
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2. Technological and administrative changes resulting in increased
productivity
3. The financial resources available
Forecasting the Supply of Internal Candidates

The personnel demand forecast only provides half the staffing equation
by answering the question: "How many employees will we need?" Next,
supply must be forecast. However, before determining how many outside
candidates to hire, you must forecast how many candidates for your
projected job openings will come from within your organization from the
existing ranks.
A qualifications inventory can facilitate forecasting the supply of
inside candidates. Qualifications Inventories contain summary data like
each employee's performance record, educational background, career
and development interests, languages, special skills and promotability,
compiled either manually or in a computerized system.
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Manual Systems and Replacement Charts: There are several types of
manual systems used to keep track of employees' qualifications. In a
personnel inventory and development record, information is complied about
each employee and then recorded on the inventory. This Information can
then be used to determine which current employees are available for
promotion or transfer to projected open positions.
Some employers use Personnel Replacement Charts to keep track of
inside candidates for their most important positions. These show the
present performance and promotability for each potential replacement
for important positions.
As an alternative, you can develop a position replacement card. Here
you make up a card for each position, showing possible replacements as
well as present performance, promotion potential, and training required
by each possible candidate.
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Computerized Information Systems: Many firms computerize qualifications
inventories, and a number of packaged systems are available for
accomplishing this task. In one such system, employees fill out a 12-page
booklet in which they describe their background and experience. All this
information is stored on disk. When a manager needs a qualified person
to fill a position, he or she describes the position (for instance, in terms of
the education and skills it entails) and then enters this information into
the computer. After scanning its bank of possible candidates, the
program presents the manager with a computer printout of qualified
candidates.
According to one expert, the basic ingredients of a computerized
human resource skills inventory should include work experience codes,
product knowledge, industry experience, formal education, training
courses, foreign language skills, relocation limitations, career interests,
performance appraisals, etc. The data elements in a human resources
information system could range from home address to driver's license
number, employee weight, salary, sick leave used, skills, to veteran
status.
Internal Sources of Candidates

Although recruiting may bring to mind employment agencies and
classified ads, current employees are often the largest source of recruits.
Some surveys even indicated that up to 90% of all management positions
are filled internally.
Filling open positions with inside candidates has several
advantages. Employees see that competence is rewarded and morale and
performance may thus be enhanced. Having already been with your firm
for some time, inside candidates may be more
committed to company goals and less likely to leave.
Promotion from within can boost employee
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commitment and provide managers a longer-term perspective when
making business decisions. It may also be safer to promote employees
from within, since you're likely to have a more accurate assessment of the
person's skills than you would otherwise. Inside candidates may also
require less orientation and training than outsiders.
Yet promotion from within can also backfire. Employees who apply
for jobs and don't get them may become discontented; informing
unsuccessful applicants as to why they were rejected and what remedial
actions they might take to be more successful in the future is thus
essential. Similarly, manager often knows ahead of time exactly whom he
or she wants to hire, and requiring the person to interview a stream of
unsuspecting inside candidates is therefore a waste of time for all
concerned. Groups may also not be as satisfied when their new boss is
appointed from within their own ranks as when he or she is a newcomer.
Perhaps the biggest drawback, however, is inbreeding. When an
entire management team has been brought up through the rank, there
may be a tendency to make decisions "by the book" and to maintain the
status quo, when an innovative and new direction is needed. Balancing
the benefits of morale and loyalty with the drawback of inbreeding
In Search is thus
of the Best Fit
a challenge.
To be effective, promotion from within requires using job posting,
personnel records, and skill banks. Job posting means posting the open
job and listing its attributes like qualifications, supervisor, working
schedule, and pay rate. Some union contracts require job posting to
ensure that union members get first choice of new and better positions.
Yet job posting can also be a good practice even in nonunion firms, if it
facilitates the transfer and promotion of qualified inside candidates.
Personnel records are also useful here. An examination of personnel
records (Including application forms) may uncover employees who are
working below their educational or skill levels. Computerized systems can
help to ensure that qualified inside candidates are identified and
considered for the opening. Some firms also develop skill banks that list
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current employees who have specific skills. For example, under
“aerospace engineers,” the names of all persons with this experience or
training are listed.
Building Employee Commitment

Promotion from within
Employees tend to be committed to firms that are committed to them. Two-way
communications, guaranteed fair treatment, and job security are some of the things
a firm's HR system can provide to show that the firm is indeed committed to its
employees. But many employees will ultimately measure their firm's commitment by
the degree to which they were able to achieve their career goals. At this point it's
useful to emphasize the fact that internal recruiting and promotion from within can
be central to boosting employee commitment.
To build commitment, the promotion from within program should be
comprehensive. Certainly, firms often associated with committed employees - for
example, Delta Airlines and Federal Express - have promotion from within policies.
At Federal Express, for instance, "open positions are filled, whenever possible, by
qualified candidates from within the existing work force." But there's more to a
successful promotion from within program than just a strong policy statement.
Promotion from within is aided first by careful employee In
selection.
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of the DeltaFit
manager explained "First of all, we hire for the future…the employment process
favors applicants who have the potential for promotion. That helps explain how
Chairman R W Allen climbed the ranks at Delta from an entry-level position to head
of personnel and then to CEO and Chairman.
Effective promotion from within also depends on other HR actions. It
depends on providing the education and training needed to help employees identify
and develop their promotion potential. It also requires career-oriented appraisals:
The supervisor and the employee are charged with linking the latter's past
performance, career preferences, and developmental needs in a formal career plan.
Finally, it requires a coordinated system for accessing career records and posting
job openings, one that guarantees all eligible employees will be informed of
openings and considered for them. For example, Federal Express has a job
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posting/career coordination system called JCATS (Job Change Applicant Tracking
System). Announcements of new job openings via this electronic system usually
take place each Friday. All employees applying for the position get numerical scores
based on job performance and length of service. They are then advised as to
whether they were chosen as candidates. Internal recruiting and promotion from
within can thus be a force for creating employee commitment.
Succession Planning: Forecasting the availability of inside or outside

candidates is particularly important in succession planning. In early 1995,
for instance, the business press was filled with reports that General
Electric Chairman and CEO Jack Welch had just had open heart surgery.
While Mr. Welch was able to resume his GE duties, many people inside
and outside the firm naturally wanted to know whether GE's board of
directors had adequate plans to find a successor in the event Welch had
to step down.
In a nutshell, succession planning refers to the plans a company
makes to fill its most important executive positions. In practice, however,
the process often involves a fairly complicated and integrated series of
steps. For example, potential successors for top management might be
routed through the top jobs at several key divisions as well as overseas.
As a result, a more comprehensive definition of succession planning
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that it is the process of ensuring a suitable supply of successors for
current and future senior or key jobs arising from business strategy, so
that the careers of individuals can be planned and managed to optimize
the organization's needs and the individuals' aspirations.
Forecasting the Supply of Outside Candidates

If there are not enough inside candidates to fill anticipated openings, the
company will probably focus next on projecting supplies of outside
candidates. This may require forecasting general economic conditions,
local market conditions, and occupational market conditions.
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General Economic Conditions: The first step is to
forecast general economic conditions and the
expected prevailing rate of unemployment. Usually,
the lower the rate of unemployment, the lower the
labor supply and the more difficult it will be to recruit
personnel.
Local Market Conditions: Local labor market conditions are also important.
For example, the build-up of computer and semiconductor programs
resulted in relatively low unemployment recently in cities like Seattle,
quite aside from general economic conditions in the country.
Occupational Market Conditions: Finally, you may want to forecast the

availability of potential job candidates in specific occupations (engineers,
drill press operators, accountants, and so on) for which you will be
recruiting.
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Recruiting External Job Candidates
Introduction
Once you have been authorized to fill a position, the next step is to
develop an applicant pool, probably using internal recruiting and one or
more of the recruitment sources. Recruiting is important, because the
more applicants you have the more selective you can be in your hiring.
Some employers use a
recruiting yield pyramid to
calculate the number of
applicants they must generate to
hire the required number of new
employees. In the diagram, the
company knows 50 new entry-
level accountants must be hired
next year. From experience, the
firm also knows that the ratio of offers made to actual new hires is 2 to 1;
about half the people to whom offers are made accept. Similarly, the firm
knows that the ratio of candidates interviewed to offers made is 3 to 2,
while the ratio of candidates invited for interviews to candidates actually
interviewed has been 4 to 3. Finally, the firm knows that the ratio of
new leads generated to candidates actually invited has been 6 to 1.
Given these ratios, the firm knows it must generate 1,200 leads to be
able to invite 200 viable candidates to its offices for interviews.
However, it's not just recruiting but effective recruiting that is
important. For example, consider the results of a recent study of college
recruiter effectiveness. Subjects were 41 graduating students from four
colleges (arts and sciences, engineering, industrial relations, and
business) of an American university. The students were questioned twice
during their spring semester, once just after they'd had their first round
of interviews with employers, and once after their second round of
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interviews.
The quality of a firm's recruiting process had a big impact on what
candidates thought of the firm. For example, when asked after the initial
job interview why they thought a particular company might be a good fit,
all 41 mentioned the nature of the job; however, 12 also mentioned the
impression made by the recruiters themselves. When asked why they
judged some firms as bad fits, 39 mentioned the nature of the job, but 23
said they'd been turned off by recruiters. For example, some were
dressed sloppily; others were "barely literate"; some were rude; and
some made offensively sexist comments. All these recruiters, needless to
say, were incompetent recruiters of their firms.
Line and staff cooperation in recruitment is essential. The HR
manager who recruits and initially screens for the vacant job is seldom
the one responsible for supervising its performance. He or she must
therefore know exactly what the job entails, and this, in turn, means
speaking with the supervisor involved. For example, the HR person might
want to know something about the behavioral style of the supervisor and
the members of the work group.
Advertising as a Source of Candidates

To use help wanted ads successfully, you need
to address two issues: the media to be used and the
ad's construction. The selection of the best medium -
be it the local paper, The Wall Street journal, or a
technical journal - depends on the type of positions for
which you're recruiting. The local newspaper is usually the best source of
blue-collar help, clerical employees, and lower-level administrative
employees. For specialized employees, you can advertise in trade and
professional journals. One drawback to this type of trade paper
advertising is the long lead time that is usually required. Yet ads remain
good sources, and continue to appear.
Help wanted ads in papers like The Wall Street journal can be good
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sources of middle or senior-management personnel. The of
In Search Wall
the Street
Best Fit
journal, for instance, has several regional editions so that the entire
country or the appropriate geographic area can be targeted for coverage.
Most firms use newspaper ads, but other media are used too. For
example, radio is best when multiple jobs are involved, such as staffing a
new facility.
Some Major Types of Media
Employment Agencies as a Source of Candidates

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There are various types of private organization that can

help to find the right person for a particular job.
Employment agencies exist in many towns and cities. Some
handle all general vacancies from junior up to supervisory
level while others specialize in various occupations such as
accountancy, clerical or computer personnel. Since they
maintain a register of job seekers, they initially attempt to find applicants
from this list. They might further promote the vacancy on their premises,
in newspapers on the radio or on television. A shortlist will be drawn up by
reading through applications and conducting interviews on your behalf.
Although fees vary, around 10 to 15 per cent of the annual salary is
usually offered if a suitable person is found. This may be partly refundable
if he leaves within a certain period of time.
Recruitment agencies are similar to employment agencies in the
services that they offer. The main difference is that recruitment agencies
tend to operate at a higher level, concentrating on technical, managerial
and executive appointments. Accordingly, increased time, effort and
expertise are needed to compile a quality shortlist. This is reflected in the
fees charged, often between 18 and 22 per cent of the annual salary.
Again, a proportion of this may be refundable if the employee proves to
be unsatisfactory and subsequently departs.
Search consultants, also known as 'headhunters', specialize in finding
candidates for senior positions. They normally headhunt people currently
at work in similar posts, possibly at rival companies. Discreet approaches,
perhaps by telephone, are made directly to the persons involved. Such a
process is time-consuming and requires considerable tact and diplomacy
if it is to be successful. Charges may be in excess of 30 per cent of the
annual salary.
Some specific situations in which you might want to turn to an
agency include the following:
1. The firm does not have its own HR department and is not geared to do
recruiting and screening.
23
2. The firm has found it difficult in the past to generate a pool
In Search of of
thequalified
Best Fit
applicants.
3. A particular opening must be filled quickly.
4. There is a perceived need to attract a greater number of minority or
female applicants.
5. The recruitment effort is aimed at reaching individuals who are
currently employed and who might feel more comfortable dealing with
employment agencies rather than competing companies.
Employment agencies are no panacea. For example, an
employment agency prescreens applicants for your job, but this
advantage can also backfire. The employment agency's screening may
let poor applicants bypass the preliminary stages of your own selection
process. Unqualified applicants may thus go directly to the supervisors
responsible for the hiring, who may in turn naively hire them. Such errors
show up in high turnover and absenteeism rates, morale problems, and
low quality and productivity. Similarly, potentially successful minority and
non-minority applicants may be blocked from entering your applicant
pool by improper testing and screening at the employment agency. To
help avoid such problems, experts suggest the following:
1. Give the agency an accurate and complete job description.
2. Specify the devices or tools that the employment agency should
use in screening potential applicants.
3. Where possible, periodically review data on accepted or rejected
candidates.
4. Establish the cost of commissioning the agency - is it in proportion
with the importance of the job to your company?
5. If feasible, develop a long-term relationship with one or two
agencies.
Some questions to ask in order to decide which agency is best for your
firm: What is the background of the agency's staff? What are the levels of
their education and experience and their ages?
Do they have the qualifications to understand
24
the sorts of jobs for which you are recruiting? What
In is their of
Search reputation
the Best in
Fit
the community?
Employee Leasing as a source of candidates
Employee Leasing means any arrangement
whereby a company (recipient) obtains a labour
supply by contracting for the services of
employees on the payroll of another company
(leasing firm). Also defined as temporary workers, part-time workers and
just-in-time employees, such a contingent work force is big and growing
and is broadly defined as workers who don't have permanent jobs.
Employers find that by tapping temporary help agencies, they can
save the time and expense of personally recruiting and training new
workers, as well as the expenses involved in personnel documentation
(such as filing payroll taxes and maintaining absence records). As a result,
the contingent work force is no longer limited to clerical or maintenance
staff. In fact, growing numbers of firms use temporary workers such as
engineers and other professionals to carry out engineering projects, to
staff hospitals to meet fluctuating patient loads, and to serve as short-
term chief financial officers, for instance.
The benefits of contingent staffing don't come without a price. While
they may be more productive, and less expensive to recruit and train,
contingent workers hired through temporary agencies generally cost
employers 20% to 50% more than comparable permanent workers (per
hour or per week), since the agencies themselves not only do the
recruiting, screening, and paying but also earn a profit. Another concern is
that once you put them in the contingent category, you're saying they're
expendable. And one would assume that such expendable workers are
less likely to exhibit the benefits of loyalty that many employers expect
from their permanent workers.
College Recruiting as a Source of Candidates

Many promotable candidates are originally hired through college
25
recruiting. This is therefore an important source of In
management trainees,
Search of the Best Fit
as well as of professional and technical employees.
There are two main problems with on-campus recruiting. First, it is
relatively expensive and time-consuming for the recruiters. Schedules
must be set well in advance, company brochures printed, records of
interviews kept, and much recruiting time spent on campus. Second,
recruiters themselves are sometimes ineffective, or worse. Some
recruiters are unprepared, show little
interest in the candidate, and act superior.
Many recruiters also don't effectively screen
their student candidates. Such findings
underscore the need to train recruiters
before sending them to the campus.
There are two goals of a campus recruiter. The main function is
screening, which means determining whether a candidate is worthy of
further consideration. Exactly which traits you look for will depend on
your specific recruiting needs. Traits to assess include motivation,
communication skills, education, appearance, and attitude. The other aim
is to attract them to the firm. A sincere and informal attitude, respect for
the applicant as an individual, and prompt follow-up letters can help to
sell the employer to the interviewee.
Recruiters and schools must be chosen. Employers choose college
recruiters largely on the basis of who can do the best job of identifying
good applicants and filling vacancies. Factors in selecting schools in
which to recruit include the school's reputation and the performance of
previous hires from it.
IIM Calcutta-Campus Recruitment Plan for 2001

Final Placements commence on February 27, 2001 and will carry on for 3 to 4 days,
until all the students have been placed.
Till January 31 2001, companies come down to campus to conduct pre-placement
talks. These talks give the students an idea about the recruiting organizations and
26
opportunities available within these. Based on these talks, students decide if they
wish to apply to those organizations.
The resumes of the interested students will be sent to the companies within a week
of the Pre-placement Talk. The companies would then come out with a shortlist of
candidates for Group Discussion / Interviews preferably well in advance of the
scheduled Interview slot.
Companies come to campus for conducting interviews over 3-4 days starting from
February 27. Typically, there are 2 slots per day, which means 2 sets of companies
per day. The order in which the companies will come to campus is dependent on the
ranks that are given by the students to the companies. This elaborate Ranking
procedure will be conducted in the beginning of February (after all the pre-placement
talks are over) and towards mid-February, companies will be notified their interview
slot.
Finally, companies come down to campus on the allotted slot, conduct their
processes and make their offers.
Source: http://www.iimcal.ac.in/corporates/recprocess
Referrals and Walk-ins as Sources of Candidates

Some organizations encourage applicants by mounting 'employee
referrals' campaigns. Announcements of openings and requests for
referrals are made in the organization's bulletin and posted on wall
boards. Prizes are offered for referrals that culminate in hirings. This sort
of campaign can cut recruiting costs by eliminating advertising and
agency fees. It can also result in higher-quality candidates, since many
people are reluctant to refer less qualified candidates. But the success of
the campaign depends a lot on your employees' morale. And the
campaign can backfire if an employee's referral is rejected and the
employee becomes dissatisfied.
Employee referral programs are popular. Of the firms responding to
one survey, 40% said they use an employee referral system and hire
about 15% of their employees, through such referrals. A cash award for
referring candidates who are hired is the most common referral incentive.
27
Walk-ins are a major source of applicants. In
AllSearch
walk-ins should
of the Best be
Fit
treated courteously and diplomatically, for the sake of both the
employer's community reputation and the applicant's self-esteem. Many
employers thus give every walk-in a brief interview with someone in the
HR office, even if it is only to get information on the applicant in case a
position should open in the future. Good business practice also requires
that all letters of inquiry from applicants be answered promptly and
courteously.
Computerized Employee Data Bases

Employers increasingly use computerized resume registries to find candidates.
Several of these computerized data bases are now functioning, but the nature of one
- Career Placement Registry, Inc. (CPR), Virginia, USA - illustrates how they work.
CPR is not an employment agency but rather a company that compiles a data base
of resumes from people who are looking for work. That data base is then available
on-line to all businesses, service organizations, and government agencies.
The process is fairly simple. CPR compiles resume data bases for both
students and recent graduates and for experienced job seekers. Each applicant fills
out data entry forms covering items such as name, address, career objectives, work
experience, type of position desired, and educational background. Along with the
'personal summary of qualifications,’ the form presents a fairly complete picture of
each candidate's qualifications, occupational preferences, and desired salary range.
The form is then returned to CPR along with a registration fee. Resumes remain in
the CPR data base for six months and are available to employers 24 hours a day,
seven days a week. Candidates can also specify the geographic areas where they
prefer to work.
This particular data base isn't too expensive to access. Employers get a
manual explaining how to access it and can customize their search based on the
skills and experience required, as well as preferred geographic areas.
28
II. Selection
Next to recruitment, the logical step in the HR process is selection of

qualified and competent people.
MEANING AND DEFINITION

Selection is the process of picking individuals (out of the pool of job
applicants) with requisite qualifications and competence to fill jobs in the
organisation. A formal definition of selection is
“It is the process of differentiating between applicants in
order to identify (and hire) those with a greater likelihood of
success in a job.”
Although some selection methods can be used within an organization for
promotion or transfer, here, the focus is on selecting applicants from
outside the organisation.
Recruitment and selection are the two crucial steps in the HR
process and are often used interchangeably. There is, however, a fine
distinction between the two steps. While recruitment refers to the process
of identifying and encouraging prospective employees to apply for the
job, selection is concerned with picking right candidates from a pool of
applicants. Recruitment is said to be positive in its approach as it seeks to
attract as many candidates as possible. Selection, on the other hand, is
negative in its application in as much as it seeks to eliminate as many
unqualified applicants as possible in order to identify the right candidates.
ROLE OF SELECTION
The role of selection in an organisation's effectiveness is crucial for at
least, two reasons. First, work performance depends on individuals. The
best way to improve performance is to hire people who have the
competence and the willingness to work. Arguing from the employee's
viewpoint, poor or inappropriate choice can be demoralising to the
29
individual concerned (who finds himself or herself in the wrong job) and
demotivating to the rest of the work-force. Effective selection, therefore,
assumes greater relevance.
Second, cost incurred in recruiting and hiring personnel speaks
volumes about the role of selection. Here is one instance to prove how
expensive recruitment
has become. Pepsi had gone on a crash recruitment drive. Six
people from the company took over the entire Oberoi Business Centre in
Bombay for six days. 3000 applications in response to an advertisement
issued earlier were scanned, applicants were asked to respond by fax
within 100 hours. Finally, the short-listed persons were flown in and
interviewed. Quite an expensive affair by any standard!
False Negative True Positive

SUCCESS Error (‘High Hit’)
True Negative False Positive
FAILURE (‘Low Hit’) Error
FAILURE SUCCESS
PREDICTED PREDICTED
Outcomes of Selection Decision
Costs of wrong selection are much greater. The figure shows four
possible outcomes of a selection decision. Two of these—'true positive'
('high hit') and 'true negative' (low hit')—are right selection decisions. The
other two out-comes represent selection errors. In the 'false positive
error', a decision is made to hire an applicant based on predicted success,
but failure results. In 'false negative error', an applicant who would have
succeeded is rejected based on predictions of failure. In either case,
selectors will have erred. They may remember that the selection
successes will be written in sand and failures in stone.
30
An organisation with a false positive error incurs three types of

costs. The First type is incurred while the person is employed. This can be
the result of production or profit losses, damaged company reputation,
accidents due to negligence, absenteeism, and the like. The second type
of costs is associated with the training, transfer or terminating the
services of the employee. Costs of replacing an employee with a fresh one
—costs of hiring, training and replacements—constitute the third type of
costs. Generally, the more important the job, the greater the cost of the
selection error.
In the case of false negative error, an applicant who would have
succeeded is rejected because of predicted failure. Most false negative
errors go unnoticed except when the applicant belongs to a reserved
category and files a discrimination charge. Costs associated with this type
of error are generally difficult to estimated
A careful selection will help an organisation avoid costs associated
with both false positive error as well as false negative error.
PROCESS OF SELECTION
SCREENING
Screening of applications can be regarded as an integral part of the
selection process, though many view it as the last step in the recruitment
process. Even the definition on recruitment excludes screening from its
scope. However, screening is included in recruitment by some HR
professionals.
The purpose of screening is to remove from the process, at an early
stage, those applicants who are visibly unqualified for the job. Effective
screening can save a great deal of time and money. Care must be
exercised, however, to assure that potentially good employees are not
lost and that women and minorities receive full and fair consideration and
are not rejected without justification.
31
In screening, clear job specifications are invaluable. It is both a good

practice and a legal necessity that applicants' qualifications be judged on
the basis of their knowledge, skills, abilities and interests required to do
the job.
The techniques used to screen applicants vary depending on the
candidate sources and recruiting methods used.
Letters and curricula vitae

Many companies ask applicants to send a letter of
application, with or without curriculum vitae.
Unfortunately, letters of application have significant disadvantages.
The main and largely insurmountable problem is that the applicant is free
to include and exclude whatever he wants. Although a precisely worded
advertisement stating exact requirements can help he is still unlikely to
put in all the facts you wish to check. Also, it will take time to read, find
and extract what information there is. Also, some applicants will be better
at letter writing than others. This doesn't necessarily mean they'll be
better at the job.
Asking applicants to attach a curriculum vitae to their letter should
ensure that key facts are placed within a more structured and logical
format, such as Personal Details, Education, Work Experience and Leisure
Interests. However, it is still up to each individual applicant to decide what
he mentions and, more importantly, prefers to overlook. If a fact is
omitted, you do not know if this is a simple oversight or a deliberate act.
How People Read Resumes

If you are investing your time in writing resumes it probably is wise to spend some
time thinking about how people actually read them. Here are some
In Search interesting
of the Best Fit
observations:
“I don't spend a lot of time studying resumes trying to divine deep meaning. I quickly
glance at them looking for key points that will rule them in or rule them out. For
example, I'll glance at education, years of experience, nature of their most recent job
32
just to get a sense if they are in the ballpark. I spend no more than a couple of
minutes looking at a typical resume before deciding if it is ‘in pile’ or ‘out pile’. “
“If someone like me is assessing your resume the key is simply to make it short and
easy to scan. If I can quickly see the key points then it goes into the in-tray. I'm not
all that different from one of those automated resume management programs that
pulls out resumes based on key words.”
“There is no point putting too much effort into writing a lot of intelligent, persuasive
prose because I'm unlikely to read it.”
“I have found myself ignoring resumes which are too bright in color or are too unique
in presentation. I like resumes which are typed in black ink on white paper and make
it easy to find the relevant information.”
“Candidates write about what their positions entailed and not what they actually did.
So they tell us their job was to do XYZ. I know what controllers do I know what
recruiters do; I need to know what accomplishments you made in your role. This
makes you different than another candidate. In less than two sentences I want to
know the scope of your responsibilities, size of budget, geographic territory, number
of team members you lead or were a part of, product lines, and reporting relationship
relevant to each of your roles in the last eight years. I want short bullets and not long
winded detailed stories about one event that occurred ten years ago.”
“When I get a cover page with a resume, I typically staple it to the back of the
resume without even looking at it. Why? Everyone seems to spend time selling
themselves in their cover letter in very generic and non-specific terms (i.e. good
communicator, team player, strong leadership skills, blah blah blah!). My advice,
make sure you are not including key information in a cover letter just because it isn't
on your resume. Put it on your resume too! Make sure your resume is customized
for each position you send in to highlight key experience that they will be looking for.
People like me don't have time for long winded self promoting sentences in a cover
letter.” In Search of the Best Fit
Source: http://www.hr.com
Using the telephone
Talking on the telephone is a prompt way of screening applicants,
especially appropriate if good speech and the ability to chat informally are
33
necessary attributes for the job, for example tele-marketing jobs.
Information can be swiftly collected and assessed with suitable applicants
being invited for an interview. Cutting back on paper-work, by removing
the necessity of drafting, posting and reading completed application
forms (or letters and curricula vitae), is an added bonus.
However, there are some limitations of this
screening method. Some interested, and possibly
suitable, applicants may find it difficult to call,
particularly if they're already in employment. Putting a
'phone number in a job advertisement will also
increase the number of casual, half-interested
enquiries.
Application forms
Probably the best way of screening applicants is to ask them to fill out an
application form. There are many valid reasons for adopting this
approach. Full details about the job and your company can be sent with
the form. Only then can he decide if he wishes to proceed with his
application, attend an interview and accept a job offer. Supplying
background information is in your interests too. Some people, realizing
that this isn't the job or company for them, will not apply.
With applicants answering the same questions in exactly the same
place, it will be simple to check whether essential and desirable
requirements are met. Some basic criteria - age, possession of a full
driving license and so on - can be quickly referred to and unsuitable
applicants promptly eliminated, although more detailed requirements,
perhaps relating to previous training, will need to be scrutinized carefully.
The recruiter will be able to compare applicants directly and more easily.
Application forms may also be used as the basis of an interview with
many interviewers dealing with each section of the application
In Search of the form in
Best Fit
turn.
Of course, the main benefit of using an application form as a
34
screening method - the simplicity of checking and comparing information
- can only be derived if the form is well designed. Asking the right
questions in the right order to elicit answers which enable you to match
the applicant with the employee specification is difficult. There are several
points that need to be thought about before an application form is drawn
up.
Ideally, the form should be individually designed for the particular
job, and composed after a careful study of the appropriate job description
and employee specification. Every form should be set out in a logical and
progressive manner. Although the precise content and order of all
application forms will differ according to the job and company, most
would include the following:
• opening instructions
• personal details
• education and training
• employment history
• medical information
• further details
• closing instructions
• interviewer's notes
Most companies, at the end of the form, ask the applicants to sign a
declaration stating that the information given in the application is true
and accurate. This helps protect the company if legal issues arise later
with regards to the employee’s qualifications, experience and other
details.
Weighted Application Blanks (WABs)

To make the application form more job-related, some organisations assign numeric
values or weights to responses provided by applicants. Generally, the items that
have a strong relationship to job performance are given high scores. For example
for a medical representative's position items such as previous selling experience,
35
martial status, age, commission earned on sales previously, etc., may be given high
scores when compared to other items such as religion, sex, language, place of
birth, etc. The total score of each applicant is obtained by summing the weights of
the individual item responses. The resulting scores are then used in the selection
decision. The WAB is best suited for jobs where there are many workers, especially
for sales and technical jobs and it is particularly useful in reducing turnover. There
are, however, several problems associated with WABS. It takes time to develop
such a form. The cost of developing a WAB could be prohibitive if the organisation
has several operating levels with unique features. The WAB must be updated every
few years to ensure that the factors previously identified are still valid predictors of
job success. And finally, the organisation should be careful not to depend on
weights of a few items while selecting an employee.
Acknowledgement / Invitation / Rejection letters: All written applications

should be acknowledged as and when they are received, thus promoting a
friendly and caring company image which will appeal to would-be
employees. Suitable applicants should be sent invitation letters for an
interview. Unsuitable applicants must be sent rejection letters, which is
also a good PR exercise for a company.
PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW
This is usually followed by a preliminary interview the purpose of which is
more or less the same as scrutiny of applications, that is, elimination of
unqualified applications. Preliminary interview helps reject misfits for
reasons, which did not appear in the application forms. For example,
when recruiting for the post of a receptionist, you need to first see
whether the person is presentable enough or not for the job. Besides,
preliminary interview, often called ‘courtesy interview’, is a good public
relations exercise.
SELECTION TESTS
They should be seen strictly as an aid, not as a replacement to other
36
steps in the process. Testing candidates can help to create a more
comprehensive picture of them than one might otherwise obtain. With
test results measured on a scientific basis, it should also be more
accurate and reliable than when subject to personal interpretation.
Nevertheless, testing is a highly specialized area, and reputable
tests take years to be developed, tested and checked for validity and
reliability before being used. No manager should devise his own tests
unless he is fully trained and sufficiently experienced; nor should he run
other, professionally designed tests without first having been through an
appropriate training programme.
Bear in mind the financial outlay involved in testing candidates as
well. The reference sets, manuals, test sheets, answer booklets, scoring
charts and so on that are needed to run the test on several candidates
might cost the company a lot of money. Weigh the costs against the
importance of the job to the company. Only use the test if you cannot
obtain the same, equally accurate information in another way.
Types of Tests
1. General aptitude tests: General aptitude tests, also commonly known as

general intelligence or mental ability tests, similar to IQ tests measure
and assess the candidate in a number of ways. Those involving words
allow you to judge his verbal ability and how well he understands and can
deal with verbal concepts. Symbols enable you to evaluate his non-verbal
ability to process and differentiate between relevant and irrelevant data.
Numerical ability can be gauged from those questions using numbers,
showing how well the candidate reasons with figures.
2. Specific aptitude tests: In addition to finding out about a candidate's

general intelligence, you may also want to measure the innate skills which
are needed or need to be developed to do the job properly. For example,
a candidate applying for a job in a market research agency is tested on
37
his knowledge in Statistics.
3. Personality tests: Personality tests are probably the most widely used
selection tests because all employers want to be certain that a candidate
will fit in and get on well with other employees. Personality tests could
thus be of some assistance if you cannot accurately assess candidates'
personalities in any other way. Such tests typically comprise a
series of questions. His answers are then used to draw up a
profile of his personality so you can decide if he is a suitable
person for the job.
4. Group tests: Having assessed candidates individually, by reading

applications and running interviews and tests, you may wish to bring
them together as a group to see how they behave and interact with each
other. This can be a valid and extremely important testing method
especially where the successful candidate is expected to lead or work as
part of a team. Group testing can be carried out in a variety of ways, such
as group discussions, case studies, management games, etc.
In the Armed Forces, a typical exercise would involve the
candidates taking one of their team with a broken leg and all their
equipment across an imaginary river without failing in or breaking any
other legs. In business, it might involve data being supplied to the group
about a particular market opportunity. They must then discuss and decide
which product should be launched, which consumer group should be
targeted and so on.
5. Tests of Motor and Physical Abilities: There are many motor abilities one
might want to measure. These include finger dexterity, manual dexterity,
speed of arm movement, and reaction time. Tests are available which
measure the speed and accuracy of simple judgment as well as the speed
of finger, hand, and arm movements. Tests of physical abilities may also
be required. Physical abilities include static strength (lifting weights),
dynamic strength (like pull-ups), body coordination (as in jumping rope),
38
and stamina. In Search of the Best Fit
6. Psychometric tests: These tests assess specific characteristics of the

person’s psychology; such as, if he is capable of handling several tasks at
a time and is assertive in nature, then he can be a good marketing
person. On the other hand, if he has good deal of patience and does not
get bored with repetitive tasks, then he can be given admin jobs. They
predominantly test emotional intelligence and personality; the way a
candidate relates to others at work. In other words they attempt to
answer one of the primary interview questions: ‘will this person fit in?’
THOMAS PROFILING
The Thomas Personal Profile Analysis system is a powerful work place
inventory which can be used in virtually every aspect of human relations
within the work environment. This Psychometric tool can assess the person’s
behavioural traits, identify frustrations and stresses and give details of
motivators and fears.
Source: Thomas Profiling: http://www.thomasint.com
7. Graphology: The use of graphology (handwriting analysis) is based on

the assumption that the writer's basic personality traits will be expressed
in his or her handwriting. In graphology, the handwriting analyst studies
an applicant's handwriting and signature in order to discover the person's
needs, desires, and psychological makeup.
8. Physical Examination: The exam can he used to determine that the

applicant qualifies for the physical requirements of the position and to
discover any medical limitations that should be taken into account in
placing the applicant. For example, in the Air Force, any candidate having
a spectacle number is considered ineligible. Hence, a physical
examination of the eyes of all applicants is required here.
39
9. The Polygraph and Honesty Testing: The polygraph (or 'lie detector')
machine is a device that measures physiological In
changes
Search like increased
of the Best Fit
perspiration. The assumption is that such changes reflect changes in the
emotional stress that accompanies lying. The usual procedure is for an
applicant or current employee to be attached to the machine with
painless electronic probes. He or she is then asked a series of neutral
questions by the polygraph expert. This kind of test is used during
operations involving high level of secrecy, such as military operations,
space research, etc.
10. Work Sampling for Employee Selection: The work sampling technique
measures how a candidate actually performs some of the job's basic
tasks. There are several advantages to work sampling. Since you are
measuring actual on-the-job tasks, it is harder for the applicant to fake
answers. Well-designed work samples also exhibit better validity than do
tests designed to predict performance.
11. Interest Tests: These are used to measure an individual’s activity

preferences. These tests are particularly useful for students considering
many careers or employees deciding upon career changes.
Computer-Interactive Performance Test

Microprocessors and minicomputers have opened up new possibilities for measuring
various types of performance. One expert classifies the uses of computers in
selection into 4 kinds of applications. The first simply uses the computer as a way to
administer a currently available printed test. Using the computer in this way
facilitates scoring and the compilation of cumulative norms.
A second way in which computers are used today in selection testing may be
called the adaptive test. Adaptive tests automatically tailor a sequence of test items
to each examinee, contingent on his or her response to earlier items in the
sequence. In tests like these, correct responses generally trigger more difficult items.
40
The effect is to reduce substantially the number of test items needed, since those
that are either too easy or hard for the examinee are not administered.
Third, computers are being used to enhance the administration
In Search ofofthe
tests when
Best Fit
dynamics are involved, as in tests of perceptual speed. Here the computer can be
used to present signals rapidly and sequentially to test the person’s perceptual
speed. Similarly, a test of short-term memory, where the stimulus can be removed
from the display and recall required later, is another example of an application here.
Fourth, computers are being used to measure human capabilities not easily
measurable by printed tests. For example, measuring capabilities like the ability to
function under time pressures, or under different work load conditions or the ability to
concentrate under stress are not human capabilities easily measured by printed
tests. Computers are being used in this area, for instance, by measuring the
person’s ability to concentrate as various stimuli are projected on the screen.
For example, a computerized testing procedure was developed for the
selection of clerical personnel in a large manufacturing company. The eight test
components were selected and constructed to represent actual work performed by
secretarial personnel and to cover typical secretarial tasks such as maintaining and
developing databases and spread0shhets, general clerical activities including
answering the telephone and filing, and handling travel arrangements. For example,
the word processing test, applicants were given 3 minutes (monitored by the
computer). To type as much of this paper as possible; the computer recorded and
corrected the manuscript. For the travel expense form completion task, the applicant
needed to access the database file, use some of the information in it to compute
quarterly expenses, and transfer this information to the travel expanse form.
Choosing Tests
Tests must he chosen based on the criteria of reliability, validity,
objectivity and standardisation.
Reliability refers to standardisation of the procedure of
administering and scoring the test results. A person who takes a test one
day and makes a certain score should he able to take the same test the
next day or the next week and make more or less the same score. An
41
individual's intelligence, for example, is generally a stable characteristic.
So if we administer an intelligence test, a person who scores 110 in March
would score close to 110 if tested in July. Tests which produce
In Search wide
of the Best Fit
variations in results serve little purpose in selection.
Validity is a test which helps predict whether a person will be
successful in a given job. A test that has been validated can be helpful in
differentiating between prospective employees who will be able to
perform the job well and those who will not. Naturally, no test will be 100
per cent accurate in predicting job success. A validated test increases
possibility of success.
When two or more people can interpret the results of the same test
and derive the same conclusion(s), the test is said to he objective.
Otherwise, the test evaluators' subjective opinions may render the test
useless. Subjectivity of this kind nullifies the purpose of objectivity and is
the reason why some tests are not valid.
A test that is standardised is administered under standard
conditions to a large group of persons who are representatives of the
individuals for whom it is intended. The purpose of standardisation is to
obtain norms or standards, so that a specific test score can be meaningful
when compared to other scores in the group. When a test is standardised,
it is administered to a large number of people who are performing similar
tasks.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE?
An on-line career network company is changing the face of recruitment and aiming
to deliver the complete Human Resource solution.
Creating Careers specialise in assessing cultural and emotional Intelligence to
match recruits and employers most effectively. Claire Veitch, marketing and
development director, at Creating Careers says: "Sometimes candidates can look
brilliant on paper, but when they are appointed they just don't "fit" in the client's
organisation. To save time and minimise client frustration, we offer a cultural
42
assessment, completed on-line, to help clients establish the key characteristics of
their organisation's culture."
Emotional Intelligence assessments cover personal qualities and competencies such
as innovation, self awareness, emotions, motivation, empathy and social skills. "Our
Emotional Intelligence Skills package is excellent added In
value because
Search it includes
of the Best Fit
an individualized feedback report and development programme covering a six-month
period for all participants, designed to enable new staff to fulfill their potential faster"
explained Claire.
Source: Online Recruitment (web-site): http://www.onrec.com
EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEW
The next step in the selection process is employment interview. This
interview is a formal, in-depth conversation conducted to evaluate the
applicant's acceptability. It is considered to be an excellent selection
device. Its popularity stems from its flexibility. Interview can he adapted
to unskilled, skilled, managerial and professional employees. It allows a
two-way exchange of information, the interviewers learn about the
applicant, and the applicant learns about the employers.
The employment interview can be (i) one-to-one (ii) sequential (iii)
panel. In the one-to-one interview, there are only two participants-the
interviewer and the interviewee. The sequential interview takes the one-
to-one a step further and involves a series of interviews, usually utilizing
the strength and knowledge-base of each interviewer, so that each
interviewer can ask questions in relation to his or her subject area of each
candidate, as the candidate moves from room to room.
The panel interview consists of two or more interviewers and the
figure may go up to as many as 15. Any panel interview is less intimate
and more formal than the one-to-one, but if handled and organised well, it
can provide a wealth of information. If not handled carefully, the panel
interview can make the candidate feel ill at ease and confused about
whose question to answer and whom to address. Interviewers themselves
43
are likely to experience nightmare, not knowing who will ask which
question and in what order. In Search of the Best Fit
Objectives of Interviews: Interview has at least three objectives: (i) It helps

obtain additional information from the applicant; (ii) It facilitates giving
general information to the applicant such as company policies, job,
products manufactured and the like; and (iii) It helps build the company's
image among the applicants.
Types of interviews: The different types of interviews are structured,

unstructured, mixed, behavioural and stress-producing.
In a structured interview, the interviewer uses preset standardised
questions which are put to all the interviewees. This interview is also
called as 'guided' or 'patterned' interview. In an unstructured interview,
also known as 'unguided' or 'unpatterned' interview, the interview is
largely unplanned and the interviewee does most of the talking. Unguided
interview is advantageous in as much as it leads to a friendly
conversation between the interviewer and the interviewee and in the
process, the latter reveals more of his or her desires and problems. But
the unpatterned interview lacks uniformity and, worse,
this approach may overlook key areas of the applicant's
skills or background.
In practice, a blend of structured and unstructured questions is used
by the interviewer while interviewing the job seekers. This approach is
called the mixed interview. The structured questions provide a base of
information that allows comparisons between candidates. But the
unstructured questions make the interview more conventional and
permits greater insights into the unique differences between applicants.
Behavioural interviewing focuses on a problem or a hypothetical situation
that the applicant is expected to solve. Often, these are hypothetical
situations, and the applicant is asked what he/she would do in the given
circumstances. This interview technique has a limited scope. It primarily
44
reveals the applicant's ability to solve the types of problems presented.
Validity is more likely if the hypothetical situations match those found on
the jobs. When the job involves much stress, stress interviews attempt to
learn how the applicant will respond to the pressure. This technique
In Search of the BestisFit
more relevant in jobs involving stress, for example, in the police force.
Since stressful situations are usually only a part of the job, this technique
should he used along with other approaches.
Devising an interview plan: An interview plan should consist of a list of
topics that are to be covered during an interview, with a number of
questions under each heading, which will help to match the candidate
with the employee specification. Draw one up in collaboration with
colleagues before any interviews are conducted with shortlisted
candidates. Having a skeletal plan at an interview reminds one to deal
with all the main areas, allows one to listen to the candidate's answers
without thinking what to say next and enables one to, return or move to
another topic or question if he dries up, rambles on or even tries to take
over the interview.
A typical interview plan might begin with a brief chat about the
company and job. Following this, information given in the application
form, curriculum vitae or letter could be checked to ensure the candidate
really does meet the criteria set. Moving on, questions might be asked
about his education, work experience, outside interests, any anomalies
apparent in his application, and ambitions. Then, he could be given the
opportunity to ask any questions he has thought of.
Common Interview Problems: Regardless of the type,

several problems are inherent in interviews. Selection
specialists must he aware of these problems and need
to be trained to overcome them. Some of the typical
problems are outlined below:
1. Interviewers do not seek applicants' information dimensions needed
for successful job performance. Often, they do not have a complete job
45
description or an accurate appraisal of the critical job requirements. In
addition, the interviewer often does not know the conditions under
which the job is performed.
2. Interviewers may make snap judgments early in theof interview.
In Search the Best Fit
Consequently, they block out further potentially useful information.
3. Interviewers permit one trait or job-related attribute to influence their
evaluation of the remaining qualities of an applicant. This process,
called the halo effect, occurs when an interviewer judges an applicant's
entire potential for job performance on the basis of a single
characteristic, such as how well the applicant dresses or talks.
4. Interviewers have a tendency to be swayed by negative information
about the applicants.
5. Information from interviews is not integrated or discussed in a
systematic manner. If several interviewers share information on an
applicant, they may do so in a haphazard manner. They do not identify
job-related information or seek to examine any conflicting information.
This casual approach may save time and confrontation, but only in the
short run. In the long run, everyone in the organisation will pay for
poor hiring decisions.
6. Interviewers' judgments are often affected by the pressure to favour
a candidate or fill the position, hence they lower the standards.
7. Interviewer's judgment regarding an applicant is often affected by
the list of available applicants. For example, a good person looks better
in contrast to a group of average or below-average applicants.
8. There is the problem of different cues used by interviewers. Some
interviewers may place more weight on certain attributes than others,
or they may combine attributes differently, as they make their overall
decisions. For instance, some interviewers may give emphasis to
educational experiences while may others give weightage to work
experiences.
9. Sex, race and attitudes similar to those of the interview may lead to
favourable evaluations.
46
The Computer-Aided Interview
When Gracie tried out for a teller’s job at Great Western Bank,of
In Search California,
the Bestshe
Fit
faced a lineup of customers.
One young woman sputtered contradictory instructions about depositing a
cheque and then blew her top when the transaction wasn’t handled fast enough.
Another customer had an even shorter fuse. “You people are unbelievably slow,” he
said.
Both tough customers appeared on a computer screen, as part of a 20-minute
automated job interview. Gracie was seated in front of a PC, responding via a colour
touch-screen and a microphone. She was tested on making change and sales skills,
as well as keeping cool in tense situations.
When applicants sit down facing the computer at Great Western Bank’s
branches, they here it say, “Welcome to the Interactive Assessment Aid.” The
computer doesn’t understand what the applicant says at that point of time, although
it records their comments to be evaluated later. To begin the interview, applicants
touch a label on the screen eliciting an ominous foreword: “We’ll be keeping track of
how long it takes you and how many mistakes you make. Accuracy is more
important than speed.”
First, the computer tests the applicant on money skills, asking him or her to
cash a cheque for $192.18, including atleast 3 five-dollar bills and 2 dollars in
quarters. Then, when an angry customer appears on the screen, candidates are
expected to grab the microphone and mollify him. Later, a bank official who listens to
the interviews gives the applicants five points for maintaining a friendly tone of voice,
plus upto 15 points for apologizing, promising to solve the customer’s problem, and,
taking a cue from the screen, suggesting that in the future he use the bank’s deposit-
only line.
The touchy young woman on the screen is tougher. Speaking rapidly, she
says she wants to cash a $150 cheque, get $40 in cash, and put $65 in savings and
the rest in checking. As an applicant struggles to sort that out, she quickly adds, “No,
it has to be $50 in checking because I wrote a Cheque today morning. If the
47
applicant touches a label on the screen that says “?”, the woman fumes,
In Search of “how manyFit
the Best
times do I have to tell you?”
Great Western reports that its computer-aided interviewing system has been
successful. Not only has it dramatically reduced the number of useless interviewing
managers have to do of unacceptable candidates, but candidates hired by the
program were reportedly 26% less likely to quit or be fired within 90 days of hiring.
(This partly because the computer tells the applicant what the job really involves,
something a candidate might be reluctant to ask a person for fear of appearing
negative.)
REFERENCES AND BACKGROUND CHECKS

Employers ask for references to check upon the
backgrounds of the new employees, though in several
cases, references are a formality and are seldom verified.
At times, when the labour market is tight (though only in exceptional
situations) organizations could hire the applicant even before checking
the references.
Background checks are done for the purpose of verifying the
available information and gaining additional info about the applicant.
Many a times employers request for addresses, names, and telephones
numbers of the references.
References could be the previous employers, known public figures,
university and college professors, neighbours and friends. Previous
employers are preferable because they are already aware of the
applicant’s performance.
Organizations seek references through letters and through the
telephone. Telephone references are accurate, low cost, immediate and
the biggest advantage is that, comments and attitudes of the reference
i.e. hesitation and inflection about a particular issue can be clearly
understood, while letters are preferred because they are written and can
be held for future references and proof. The problems with references
could be that if the applicant is really good and if his previous employer
48
doesn’t want him to leave the company he might not give an appealing
response when asked for. Otherwise, if the applicant is bad, then his
previous employer might exaggerate showing a positive picture just to
get rid of him. Other problems could be that the applicant would
In Search approach
of the Best Fit
only those persons who he knows would speak well about him. People,
many a times, avoid to speak ill about a candidate because that might
damage or ruin his career.
SELECTION DECISION
After obtaining information through the proceeding steps, selection
decision- the most crucial of all the steps must be made. The other stages
in the selection process have been used to narrow the number of
candidates. The final decision has to be made from among the individuals
who have passed the various stages like the tests, interviews and
references checks.
For the final selection the line manager should be involved along
with the HR Department because it is he who is responsible for the
performance of the new employee. The line manager also has to take
adequate care in taking the final decision because of economic,
behavioural and social implications of the selection decisions. A careless
decision of rejecting a candidate would impair the morale of the people
and they suspect the selection procedure and the very basis of selection
in a particular organisation.
PHYSICAL EXAMINATION
After the selection decision and before the job offer is
made the candidate may have to undergo a physical
examination. The objectives of physical examination are:
- To detect if the candidate is suffering from any infectious disease
- To test if the candidate has the physical abilities and capacity to do

the job
49
- To protect the candidate from taking up a job that is injurious to his
health say if he has some kind of an allergy.
- To protect the employer, because nobody wants to spend on a
medical compensation for the newly joined worker; it is better not to
employee people who do not have any medical problems.
JOB OFFER
It is the next step to the selection processes. Now the employer makes an
offer to the selected candidate. The offer could be oral or written, but the
latter is preferred to avoid doubts and uncertainties. The essentials of a
job offer are:
- Job title, job description, location, hours of work, holiday etc.
- The conditions of the job offer, such as satisfactory references, a
medical check up and an acceptable trial period of work
- Time limit allowed for accepting or rejecting the offer (generally 7 – 14

days)
- A negotiable salary
It may so happen that the candidate is not satisfied with the job
offer made to him, and even after negotiation if still not satisfied, he may
reject the offer. In such a situation the employer may make the offer to
the second best selected candidate. Hence the employer may keep one or
two candidates till the end just to be on a safer side, because after
rejecting it becomes difficult to get them back if required.
As soon as the final selection is made and the offer is accepted the
employer must immediately inform all the other candidates. This must be
done with utmost care, because this may make the rejected candidates
upset and unhappy and that they might spread a negative word about the
organization. The ideal situation would be such that if there is an opening
at another time then even the rejected candidates must want to try again.
50
CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT
After the offer is accepted by the employee on agreeing upon the various
essentials in the job offer, the candidate needs to execute certain
documents. He needs to fill up a form which would contain certain vital
details about him. This form has to be attested by the candidate saying
that the information in the form is correct up to the best of his knowledge.
Besides the attestation the contract includes: In Search of the Best Fit
- Job title
- Duties / job description
- Date from when continuous employment starts and the basis of
calculating service
- Rate of payment, allowances, shift and overtime rates, method of
payment
- Hours of work, breaks, overtime, shift management
- Holiday arrangements
- Sickness
- Length of notice due to and from employee
- Procedures regarding the grievances, disciplinary, etc.
- Work rules
- Arrangement for terminating the employment
- Arrangement for union membership
- Employer’s right to vary terms of the contract subject to proper

notification being given, etc.
STARTING WORK
The recruitment process must not suddenly end as soon
as a job offer is accepted. If recruitment is to be
considered successful, you still need to help the new recruit settle down
to work for the company on a long-term basis. One should monitor and
assess him regularly, developing his strengths and eliminating his
weaknesses. One should then review the way he was recruited, learning
51
from the mistakes and making the necessary changes for the future.
Induction - the process of settling a recruit into his new job should
serve several purposes. It must fully familiarize him with his role and the
company he'll be working for.
Introduce the recruit to his immediate superior, workmates and
anyone responsible for training him. Should the former job holder be
available, it may be a good idea to get them together to discuss the job,
but only if the predecessor is a cheerful person withInaSearch
positive
of attitude
the Best Fit
towards the job and company.
APPRAISING THE NEW EMPLOYEE
A new recruit should be formally assessed for the first time after three
months, perhaps when his trial period is coming to a close. The employee
should be given a copy of the staff assessment form - detailing the key
areas to be evaluated - before- hand so he can study it and prepare
himself. This form should be worked through and completed together at
an assessment interview.
EVALUATION OF SELECTION PROGRAMME
The broad test of the effectiveness of the selection process is the quality
of the personnel hired. An organisation must have competent and
committed personnel. The selection process, if properly done, will ensure
availability of such employees. To evaluate the effectiveness of a
selection programme, a periodic Audit must be conducted by people who
work independent of the HR department.
52
BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE SELECTION

The main objective of selection is to hire people having competence and
commitment. This objective is often defeated because of certain barriers.
The impediments which check effectiveness of selection are perception,
fairness, validity, reliability and pressure.
Perception: Our inability to understand others
accurately is probably the most fundamental
barrier to selecting the right candidate.
Selection demands an individual or a group of
people to assess and compare the respective
competencies of others, with the aim of
choosing the right ones for the jobs. But our limited perceptual ability
tends to be a stumbling block to the objective and rational selection of
people.
Fairness: Fairness in selection requires that no individual should be
discriminated against on the basis of religion, region, race or gender.
Validity: Validity, as explained earlier, is a test that helps predict job
performance of an incumbent. A test that has been validated can
differentiate between the employees who can perform well and those who
will not. However, a validated test does not predict job success
accurately. It can only increase possibility of success.
Reliability: A reliable method is one which will produce consistent results
when repeated in similar situations. Like a validated test, a reliable test
may fail to predict job performance with precision.
Pressure: Pressure may be brought on the selectors by politicians,
bureaucrats, relatives, friends and peers to select particular candidates.
Candidates selected because of compulsions are obviously not the right
ones. Appointments to public sector undertakings generally take place
under such pressures.
53
INTERNATIONAL HIRING
With increasing globalization, the problem of international hiring assumes
relevance. The issue that bothers the foreign employer is whether to fill
top posts with citizens of the host country or to send people from the
home country. Using host-country citizens reduces relocation expenses,
lessens the likelihood of nationalization, and frees
the employer from economic exploitation. Such
incumbents are familiar with the local customs
and they quickly understand local business
practices. But the problem is to find host-country
people with talents and abilities to occupy senior
positions.
Other factors which need to be considered while solving the problem are:
• Type of parent-subsidiary relationship: - a wholly owned subsidiary,
a minority owned subsidiary, or a joint venture.
• Duration of foreign operation: - long-term, short-term or permanent.
• Type of industry: - high technology, standardized technology, labor
intensive manufacturing, service industry, distributorship, etc.
• Type of product or service: - technological and high cost, low priced
and mass produced, custom made machinery, insurance, etc.
• Organizational structure: - of the parent firm and subsidiary-product
division, geographic area of organisation, etc.
• Degree of control and management style required to meet the
corporate needs: ethnocentric, polycentric or geocentric
management.
• The environment of the host country.
Four Approaches to Selection

Ethnocentric Selection: In this approach, staffing decisions are made at
the organization's headquarters. Subsidiaries have limited autonomy, and
key jobs at home and abroad are filled by employees from the
54
headquarters. Nationals from the parent country dominate
In Search theFit
of the Best
organisation at home and abroad.
Polycentric Selection: In polycentric selection, each subsidiary is treated
as a distinct national entity with local control over operations. However,
the headquarters control key financial targets and investment decisions.
Subsidiaries are managed by local citizens, but the key jobs remain with
staff from the parent country. This is the approach which is largely
practiced in our country.
Regiocentric Staffing: Here, control within the group and movements of
staff are managed on a regional basis, reflecting the particular disposition
of businesses and operations within the group. Regional managers have
greater discretion in decisions. Movement of staff is largely restricted to
specific geographical regions and promotions to the top jobs continue to
be dominated by managers from the parent company.
Geocentric Staffing: In this case, business strategy is integrated
thoroughly on global basis. Staff development and promotion are based
on ability, not nationality. The board and other parts of the top
management structure are thoroughly international in composition.
Needless to say, such organisations are uncommon.
55
RECRUITMENT BUDGET
Below is a list of cost categories that should be taken into consideration
while developing a recruitment budget. It is important to remember that
costs and what/how things are budgeted vary depending on the
organization.
Advertising Costs: You should take into consideration the amount of
money you will be spending on advertising throughout the budget
period. This should include:
1. Print
2. Television
3. Radio
4. Job Fairs
5. Online Services
Agency Costs: If your organization uses search firms, employment
agencies, or contract/outside recruiter, than you should allocate a portion
of your budget to these types of costs.
Technology Costs: If the Company employs any software packages or any
other technology to enhance the recruitment process, then this would
form a major component of the recruitment budget.
Testing Costs: If screening tools or tests are used during the recruitment
process, they should also be considered when developing the budget.
Internal Recruiter Costs: The salary and benefits for internal recruiters
should also be budgeted for. This area generally covers just those directly
involved in the interviewing and hiring activities and does not generally
include administrative staff.
Travel Costs: Travel costs for recruiters and reimbursed travel costs for
candidates should also be taken into consideration. This can include travel
to and from career fairs or mileage reimbursement for going to and from
off site interviews.
56
Relocation Costs: This category covers the amount of the budget allocated
for the relocation of new hires. Some of the factors to consider for this
area of the budget are:
1. House Hunting Costs
2. Moving Expenses
3. Temporary Housing
4. Miscellaneous Expenses
Referral Bonus: If your organization has a referral bonus program you
should budget money for it.
Sign-On Bonus: If your organization provides employees with sign on
bonuses you should also budget for this category.
Miscellaneous: An additional 10% of the total should be allocated for
miscellaneous costs.
Source: Saratoga Institute: Human Resources Financial Report (1999), http://www.hr.com
57
Standardizing the Recruitment Process

In practice, many companies have several departments who routinely interview
candidates for positions without advising HR or having the applicant complete an
application. They often even have offers extended to people without a job opening
being available. This can create a nightmare for the company, especially for the HR
Department. It therefore becomes imperative that the recruitment and selection
processes are standardised and applied throughout the company.
The best thing that a company can do in regards to standardizing the
interview process is to create a policy stating when they are to be conducted, by
whom, based on what criteria, and the corresponding paperwork that must be
completed. In addition, one might want to include a provision stating the HR
department's role in the selection process.
One thing that might help is to create a policy on Job Postings (in addition to
the general recruitment policy). This policy can state that all vacant positions will be
posted internally, prior to or at the same time that the position is posted externally.
Make sure that everyone understands the potential problems that such hiring
mistakes could have on the company and the candidate.
Source: http://www.hr.com
58
III. Company Study
RALLIS INDIA LTD.

An interview was conducted with Mr. Rohit Nirodi, Senior
Officer - HRM, for the purpose of this project.
The recruitment and selection procedure followed by
Rallis India Ltd. is as follows (Some steps may be interchanged in order,
depending on the situation):
1. A Need Assessment is carried out as to how many people are / will
be required and at what level(s). These would normally include
Management Trainees or other recruits at middle or senior levels.
2. A Job Requisition Form is filled in case of any openings, based on
which the Job Profile and other details are laid out.
3. On the basis of the nature of job and present employee inventory,
the HR Department decides whether to go for Internal Recruitment
or External Recruitment.
4. In case of Internal Recruitment, a Job Posting is made on the notice
boards of the company for the employees to make applications.
5. The company may also decide to go for Group Level Recruitment,
wherein internal transfers are made within the Tata Group.
6. In case of External Recruitment, the sources for applicants would
include consultants, media such as newspapers and online
applications through the Rallis website.
7. After receiving applications, they are first shortlisted on the basis of
their Resumes.
8. Depending on the post, the candidates may be required to go
through a Psychometric Test.
9. The first interview is then conducted, normally by the Recruitment
Manager and Jr. HR Manager.
10. The second interview may be conducted, again depending on the
post, normally by the HR Head, the Head of the concerned functional
59
department. In case of senior level positions, an invitee (a senior level

manager from within the Tata Group) and other senior managers from
Rallis may also be present.
11. After the Interviews, the applicants are sent Regret / Offer letters,
depending on whether they are selected or not.
12. Once the candidate accepts the Job Offer, the salary is negotiated.
13. A compulsory Medical Examination is done for every single
candidate before he is given the appointment letter. This is done so as to
ensure that the employee will not face any health problems during the
course of his service.
14. The Appointment Letter is given.
15. Induction Program is held.
JET AIRWAYS
An Interview with Mr. Nikhil Maini, Asst. Manager,
Training and Resource Development, revealed the
following procedure followed by Jet Airways:
1. A Need Analysis is done to determine the Number of people
required and for what jobs.
2. Advertisements are then placed in Newspapers for Recruitment
purposes.
3. Applications are then received from the candidates.
4. The candidates are screened on the basis of their applications.
5. The shortlisted candidates are then called for the first Interview,
which is generally conducted by the HR manager and the concerned
line manager,
6. General Medicals are then conducted to check on the physical
fitness of the candidates.
7. A second round of interview may be conducted if required,
depending on the post and quality of candidates.
8. If selected, the candidate is then made a Job Offer.
60
9. If the candidate accepts the offer, he is given the appointment
letter.
10. Training is then given to the employee, relevant to his / her post.
The Induction / Orientation program is also conducted.
SHAW WALLACE & COMPANY LTD.

Recruitment at Shaw Wallace is of 2 types:
1. Executive Trainees
2. Other Job Openings
Executive Trainees:
These are MBAs recruited from the top Management schools in India as
trainees in the production and marketing departments. Every year in June,
20-25 such trainees are absorbed, 2 from each campus. The procedure
includes:
i. Shortlisting on the basis of Resume
ii. Group Discussions
iii. Interviews (conducted by the HR Head and the functional heads of
the departments concerned)
iv. Filling of Rating Sheet for each applicant on the basis of the
interview, further shortlisting of candidates
v. Personality Assessment
vi. Job Offer
Other Job Openings:

In case of any Job openings in the organization due to retirement,
termination, exit or any other reason, recruitment is done mainly on the
basis of internal recruitment or employee referrals. The employees are
paid an honorarium if the candidate is absorbed in the company. If
through these methods the opening does not get filled, then the company
61
resorts to Consultancies, newspaper advertisements and web-based
applications. Here, the basic procedure includes:
i. Collection of Resumes
ii. Shortlisting on the basis of minimum requirements for the job
iii. Interviews (2 or more, depending on the post, conducted by
Director of HR and the person whom the candidate would report to)
iv. Filling of Rating Sheet for each applicant on the basis of the
interview, further shortlisting of candidates
v. Personality Assessment
vi. Job Offer
BRITISH AIRWAYS
The British Airways website displays the following Recruitment Process:
The Recruitment team is comprised of experienced recruitment
professionals with diverse backgrounds gained in blue chip businesses
and from within British Airways itself. When recruiting, they ensure taking
an objective view and following best practice guidelines laid down by The
British Psychological Society (BPS) and the Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development (CIPD). They also carefully adhere to Equal
Opportunities legislation.
The recruitment methodology is based on looking at capabilities -
also known as competencies. These capabilities are sets of behaviours,
skills and knowledge that can be determinants of job success and focus
on what the role involves. They're a valuable tool in ensuring consistency
and accuracy in assessments and increase the reliability of the selection
process.
The selection process may involve up to three stages depending on
the position for which applied. Stage One includes the application form,
and if the candidate meets the first set of criteria here, he / she is invited
to attend a second stage: One Day Assessment. For some roles the
candidates may be required to sit tests and other exercises before
progressing to the final stage.
62
The assessment methods used include group exercises, interviews,
psychometric tests, presentations, fact-finding exercises and one-to-one
role plays.
Group exercises: Group exercises look at how the candidates work with
other people, in particular examining their influencing, communication
and teamwork skills.
The interview: Candidates are asked for examples of how they behaved in
different situations drawing on examples from work, university, school, a
club or home.
Psychometric tests: Psychometric tests are timed exercises that look at
their ability and potential. The tests they use most often focus on verbal
and numerical skills. They may also include a personality assessment. It
adds to their understanding, but is not the sole basis of a decision as to
whether the candidate would be successful or not. Normally the
candidates would sit two tests, but for senior roles they may be required
to participate in more.
Presentations: The presentation is a chance for the candidate to show his /
her ability to communicate to a group of people. They are given the topic
on the day and time to prepare.
Fact-finding: The fact-finding exercise looks at the candidate’s ability to
interact with someone else and obtain information from them.
Role plays: Role plays usually involve an assessor acting as the client or
customer in a simulation of a negotiation exercise, interview or
performance appraisal.
Source: http://www.britishairwaysjobs.com/recruitment
63
Summary of TOYOTA HIRING PROCESS
Source: Human Resource Management – Gary Dessler
64
RECRUITMENT AS A LONG-TERM STRATEGY: BURGER KING
A Burger-King franchisee at Michigan made recruitment part of his long-term

strategy after experiencing turnover at his restaurants as high as 150 percent in 1
year. He hired a public relations firm to help target 2 groups of employees: working
mothers and students. The recruitment program emphasized 2 things: a free day-
care program and an education Bonus program. The day-care program helped to
increase the employee base by 30 percent within a year after it was started.
Currently half the franchisee’s employees participate in the day-care program.
The education bonus project allows students to earn $1 for every hour worked
upto $2500 a year, to further their education beyond high school. The same program
is also offered to senior citizens-with a twist-they can either use the money
themselves or else pass it along as a gift to younger members of their family.
To spread the word about these benefits, the franchisee and the public
relations firm distributed posters and brochures to women’s centres, high schools,
adult education centres, colleges and other locations where the target audiences of
mothers and teenagers were likely to see the message. They also held news
conferences and placed stories in newspapers.
65
IV. Recruitment & Technology
Integration of Information Technology and Human Resource Development
has extended to a large number of Software packages
available for Recruitment purposes. Their main
functions include:
1. An interactive recruitment and HR information
system to assist the recruiter with each stage of the
placement process.
2. A vacancy publication tool
3. A document management tool that provides structured storage for
and access to personnel related documents (resumes, memos, form
letters and documents).
4. A performance management system which provides up-to-date and
accurate summaries and reports that cover all aspects of both
recruitment and financial performance.
5. A billing management system for invoicing and tracking both
permanent placements and ongoing contracts.
Some important features include:

• Built-in reminders messaging system
• Resume submission, interview and job offer management; tracking
and reporting.
• Skill based personnel, site and vacancy searches.
• Extensive personnel and vacancy search criteria.
• Keyword and phrase document searches using the integrated
Document Search Tool.
• Mail-merge selected personnel data directly to Word Processor
• Export vacancies and reminders to Palm PC.
• Database audit reports.
• Built-in reminders messaging system.
66
Several other features are also provided by various vendors as technology

upgrades day by day.
HOW BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB USES TECHNOLOGY TO FIND TOP MBA

STUDENTS
In order to get itself noticed by MBA students at some of the best schools in the
country, Bristol-Myers Squibb distributed an interactive computer diskette that
conveyed its recruitment message. That message includes information about the
company, positions available at the company, and case histories of Squibb
managers, specifically, case histories of difficult business problems faced by recent
MBAs who worked for Squibb. After describing a problem, the diskette provides
several options for solving it. Viewers are asked which solution they would choose.
Subsequently they are told which option actually was chosen and why.
Squibb chose to use these interactive quizzes so that viewers would get
involved in recruitment information it provided. In designing the diskette, Squibb
provided a menu so that MBAs could access the information they were interested in
and skip the rest. To set itself apart from other companies, Squibb injected humor
into its 'otherwise information-laden message.'
Was the recruitment diskette effective? Based on follow-up research, 33
percent of those who received the diskette viewed it once, 29 percent viewed it twice
and 18 percent viewed it three times or more. As this example shows, employers
becoming more sophisticated in deciding where, when, and how to approach
markets they have targeted.
67
V. Recruitment on the Internet
The Internet is an invaluable innovation in facilitating the

process of connecting job seekers with potential
employers. Not only can global searches be done
efficiently, but also companies are now able to find the
most talented and qualified individuals.
Today, several web-based recruiting solutions are available for human
resource professionals. Browser-based applications allow corporate
recruiters to review and manipulate information at the various stages of
the hiring process - from the initial job request through to the interview
and the final offer, enabling human resource professionals to qualify and
hire more candidates quickly and easily, thus allowing corporations to
reduce the cost per-hire and minimize lost opportunity costs.
With one click, a recruiter can gain access to candidates and requisitions at various stages of
the workflow and easily navigate through the entire process. With these powerful features
and functionality, these packages are easily adapted to industry standards and additional
systems. Following are some of the day-to-day recruiting activities which can be conducted
quickly and effortlessly using these packages:
− Create a new requisition
− Post job openings directly to the World Wide Web
− Search candidate skills through CV databases
− Check the status of requisitions, interviews and offers
68
Review and provide feedback on CVs
Schedule interviews and provide interview feedback
Review candidate reference information
Initiate and complete offers
Close requisitions once filled or cancelled
"E-recruitment is undoubtedly revolutionizing the HR function and many
businesses now recognize the importance as well as the complexities
of integrating such a policy within the organisational infrastructure,"
comments Mark Abay, Senior Market Manager for Softworld Human
Resources & Payroll. "Issues such as choosing the right software,
implementing and upgrading the technology and having adequate in-
house support in place to maintain the technology, can all affect the
successful implementation of a web-recruitment policy."
Source: Online Recruitment (web-site): http://www.onrec.com
A Click in Time: What you need to know about Automating Processes

When tasks are automated, the assumption is that the automation of the task will
save some time and allow the practitioner to complete more transactions better and
faster. In recruiting automation, some systems have failed to live up to this
assumption -- with them some things improved, and others actually got worse. There
have been recruiters who don’t use their systems because they claimed they could
get the job done faster with a stack of paper resumes and a few colored folders. Yet,
automation -- well implemented and used -- continues to improve and influence the
recruitment process toward greater efficiencies and effectiveness.
Let's look at some specific recruiter desktop activities and see what measure of time
savings are possible through automation.
Automated Resume Prescreening
Currently, automation has escalated to built-in prescreening technology that can
operate at a very general level (like separating out candidates who can't relocate
right away), to more sophisticated prescreening (like displaying all candidates who
have certain specific certifications and other required criteria at the top of the list) -
69
thus eliminating significant reviewing time. This prescreening/sorting now can
literally be done as fast as you can click!
Email Correspondence
A more subtle task for a recruiter is simply utilizing email and managing
correspondence with candidates, hiring managers and other recruiters.
Push Search and Push Source
Automation not only enables the system to pre-screen candidates, send out
automated notices to all the pertinent players and provide auto-links
In Searchtoof
emails withinFit
the Best
the system, but also pre-searches your database, the moment a new requisition is
entered, and offers to push an introductory email to these potentially matching
candidates. In addition, the system also sends out an alert to your email or
phone/pager that let's you know a top candidate has just applied to your position and
provides their call back number. Just-in-time information like this could literally save
hours of time with every occurrence.
Multiple job posting
Multiple posting is the process of managing, storing and posting job ads to a
multitude of employment sites and networks, which are all handled from one Internet
location. This gives the Human Resource department a much more flexible and
effective recruitment structure, alongwith the advantage of being able to track and
analyse the results from the recruitment processes that they are implementing.
Application service provider

An application service provider, (ASP) is an alternative to purchasing software
directly from a retailer and installing it on your hard drive or server. ASP’s are used
to host and manage your software applications on the Internet.
The end user subscribes to an ASP and pays a monthly fee to gain access to the
software. ASPs host all kinds of software, from brand name packaged software to
vertical applications to large back-end programs that power the company. So one
can turn to an ASP to receive a simple e-mail program or run a large human
resources application.
Source: - Online Recruitment (web-site): http://www.onrec.com, http://www.hr.com
An Example of a Recruitment Management Software Package

70
V-Recruiter
− Argued as first-of-its-kind, Web-enabled, browser-based
recruitment management software, Virtual Village has invested over
$5 million in facilitating the staffing/recruitment process.
− V-Recruiter is Virtual Village’s mission-critical, applicant
tracking system which is totally browser based. Thisofmeans
In Search that
the Best Fit
instead of dealing with interface or implementation problems,
companies can register through Virtual Village
and gain direct access to their staffing tools at
anytime and anywhere in the world.
− By providing “total hiring workflow
management from job requisition to the final
hiring process”, Virtual Village claims that V-
Recruiter can streamline your recruitment systems and reduce
overall costs.
− Virtual Village sells their software systems mainly to large,
geographically distributed corporations. Nevertheless, the
capabilities of V-Recruiter have been expanded to suit multiple
industries from staffing agencies to corporations.
− As an effective Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tool, V-
Recruiter enables globally located companies to have access to the
same recruiting information worldwide. ERP’s have increased
dramatically in popularity as a total management system for multi-
national corporations by reducing inefficiencies in redundant
processes and overlapping functions. By providing all employees
with the same information, they can see exactly what transactions
are occurring and where they are located along the business process.
− Some of its extensive features include:
i. automatically post open job postings to an unlimited number of
recruitment web sites such as Monster, HotJobs, Yahoo, etc.
71
ii. post positions to candidates customizably categorized by skill,
geography, title, etc.
iii. search on-line newsgroups for specific criteria such as skill,
experience, geography, etc.
iv. extend secure access to an unlimited number of external users
Source: Katherine Lee: http://www.hr.com
72
Conclusion
The success of every organization lies in its people, more than any other
factor. In today’s scenario, downsizing has become common practice for
companies all over the world, and apparently the job market may seem to
be a buyer’s market. However, given the substantial cost of hiring and
training competent employees, employers must consider the needs of the
employees if they wish to attract and retain top talent.
Further, the most pressing challenges faced by human resource
managers in recruitment today include:
- Attracting people with multi-dimensional experiences and
skills
- Inducting outsiders with a new perspective to lead the
company
- Developing a culture that attracts people to the company
- Locating people whose personalities fit the company’s values
- Seeking out unconventional development grounds of talent
- Search for talent globally, not just within the country
Today, HR Managers are asking questions like, ”How can I hire more
people like my top performers and reduce turnover?”, “How can I be sure
I am hiring the right person for the right job?”, “How can I reduce hiring
costs and save interview time?”
Gone are the days when companies simply hired fresh graduates or
MBAs, started them off as trainees, paternally oversaw their vertical
progress, and repeated the process every year. A recruitment revolution
has arrived in the business world. Abandoning old policies of hiring only at
the bottom level, companies are now inducting new talent at every level.
Even the search for CEOs has intensified as companies look for team
captains and new qualities not available in-house.
And while companies develop innovative techniques to beat
competition at recruitment hotspots like campuses, they are now also
73
looking outside their conventional hunting grounds. This is where people
with unorthodox winning ideas come from. CEOs looking for breakthrough
marketers are recruiting them from other industries to provide a fresh
perspective, since everyone people in the sector only offer tired ideas.
At the organizational level, companies are tailoring their manpower
recruitment plan to corporate objectives, drawing up the profiles of
suitable hires accordingly. Companies focusing on new business
development seek entrepreneurial abilities; companies planning to
withdraw from diversifications look for pragmatists; companies chasing
growth through alliances hire people comfortable in different cultural
backgrounds. Above all, companies are hiring for the future, anticipating
jobs that may not even be in existence yet.
Today, recruitment of managers focuses not on functional expertise,
but on attitudes and approaches that fit the corporate goals and culture.
Companies are now preparing psychological profiles of ideal candidates
and are increasingly using psychographical testing techniques and
unconventional tools like graphology.
The world economy today is in the process of a dramatic transition
from the industrial age to the information society. The workplace and the
worker are increasingly centred on information and knowledge, making
use of information society tools and services. In the past few years we
have already seen the explosion of mobile communications; the
exponential growth of the Internet; the increasing contribution of digital
industries to growth and employment; the restructuring of businesses in
all sectors to make the most of the Internet. These factors influence and
will continue to influence the recruitment methods used by companies
and the level of sophistication they attain.
Compensation today is a crucial factor, but so also is a corporate
culture that cares for people and gives them room to grow. CEOs have to
ensure that their line managers and human resource department design
unconventional jobs and daring responsibilities to create offers that their
targets cannot refuse. And if pursuing the right person and convincing
74
him to agree is taking time, so be it. After all, in the knowledge economy,
Bibliography
the corporate quest for intellectual capital is a continuous process.
Reference Books and Magazines:
 Human Resource Management – Gary Dessler
 Handbook of Recruiting – Iain Maitland
 Human Resources and Personnel Management – K
Ashwathappa
 Managing People – V S P Rao
 Managing Human Resources – Wayne F Cascio
 Business Today – January 7-21, 1996
 International Human Resource Management – Anne-Wil
Harzing, Jorin Van Ruysseveldt
Websites:
 Online Recruitment: http://www.onrec.com
 HR.com: http://www.hr.com
 British Airways Jobs Website:
http://www.britishairwaysjobs.com/recruitment
 IIM Calcutta campus Recruitment web-site:
http://www.iimcal.ac.in/corporates/recprocess
 Thomas International web-site: http://www.thomasint.com
75
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Executive Summary

The success of every company begins and ends with

A careful and comprehensive approach towards recruitment can ensure

MEANING AND DEFINITION

PURPOSES AND IMPORTANCE

qualifications and interests, and generate enthusiasm among the best

RECRUITMENT: INDIAN EXPERIENCES

with their clearly defined goals.

FACTORS GOVERNING RECRUITMENT

Employment Planning and Forecasting

Factors in Forecasting Personnel Needs

Ratio Analysis: Another forecasting approach, ratio

Size of Hospital Number of Registered

One way to determine the relationship between size of hospital and

Computerized Forecast: Employers also use computerized systems

Managerial judgment: Whichever forecasting approach you

In Search of the Best Fit

Forecasting the Supply of Internal Candidates

In Search of the Best Fit

In Search of the Best Fit

Internal Sources of Candidates

Building Employee Commitment

Succession Planning: Forecasting the availability of inside or outside

Forecasting the Supply of Outside Candidates

Occupational Market Conditions: Finally, you may want to forecast the

Recruiting External Job Candidates

Advertising as a Source of Candidates

Some Major Types of Media

Employment Agencies as a Source of Candidates

There are various types of private organization that can

College Recruiting as a Source of Candidates

IIM Calcutta-Campus Recruitment Plan for 2001

Referrals and Walk-ins as Sources of Candidates

Computerized Employee Data Bases

Next to recruitment, the logical step in the HR process is selection of

MEANING AND DEFINITION

False Negative True Positive

Outcomes of Selection Decision

An organisation with a false positive error incurs three types of

In screening, clear job specifications are invaluable. It is both a good

Letters and curricula vitae

How People Read Resumes

Weighted Application Blanks (WABs)

Acknowledgement / Invitation / Rejection letters: All written applications

1. General aptitude tests: General aptitude tests, also commonly known as

2. Specific aptitude tests: In addition to finding out about a candidate's

4. Group tests: Having assessed candidates individually, by reading

6. Psychometric tests: These tests assess specific characteristics of the

7. Graphology: The use of graphology (handwriting analysis) is based on

8. Physical Examination: The exam can he used to determine that the

11. Interest Tests: These are used to measure an individual’s activity

Computer-Interactive Performance Test

Objectives of Interviews: Interview has at least three objectives: (i) It helps

Types of interviews: The different types of interviews are structured,

Common Interview Problems: Regardless of the type,

REFERENCES AND BACKGROUND CHECKS

- To test if the candidate has the physical abilities and capacity to do

In Search of the Best Fit

- Time limit allowed for accepting or rejecting the offer (generally 7 – 14

- Employer’s right to vary terms of the contract subject to proper

EVALUATION OF SELECTION PROGRAMME

BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE SELECTION

Four Approaches to Selection