Recruitment

Recruitment is about locating potential employees and attracting applications from suitable candidates in a reaction to an existing, planned or expected shortage of staff, Mullins (2010). It is an important an expensive activity and the organisation must demonstrate a fair process and ensure all recruitment activities contribute to the organisational goal, Mullins (2010)

I visited the recruitment website www.monster.co.uk to see how easy it was to use and navigate around to look at potential jobs I could apply for if I had just graduated. On the homepage there is quite a lot of advertisements, which is quite distracting when you first enter the site, however when you enter the main job search part of the website it is very easy to use, and the tool bar down the side lets you narrow down your search to find the right job relative to your education, experience, job type etc. This saves you a lot of time as you don’t need to read through all of the different job adverts and can direct yourself to the ones that are right for you almost immediately.  In my opinion I would use this website again as the layout was clear and simple and generally easy to use. To access the site I typed monster into Google and it was the first link, so it was easy to find for anyone new to the internet.

Advantages of online recruitment:

·       Large pool of applicants

·       Quick for employers to post job advertisements

·       Cost effective

·       Easy for potential candidates to apply

·       Easier and quicker to complete recruitment and selection process

Disadvantages of online recruitment:

·       Too many applicants

·       No applicants

·       Time consuming if sorting through large numbers of applications

·       Rules out those who do not have access to the internet

·       Increase in unsuitable applications, Foot & Hook (2008)

Online recruitment is increasing in popularity due to the large pool of applicants that can be reached by posting job advertisements online, however “47 per cent of organisations reported that e-recruitment led to an increase in numbers of unsuitable applications” (Foot & Hook, pg. 161, 2008). Although e-recruitment has many benefits to employers, some highly skilled workers will only be attracted through head-hunters and agencies. Furthermore jobs which have little appeal, for example ‘dust bin men’ must make sure they advertise in the right places to attract people to apply for the job. Employers must not rely on e-recruitment and should use a variety of sources to ensure the best candidates are chosen to go through to the selection process.

The British Army have had one the most interesting recruitment campaigns in my opinion. By using a TV and digital advertising campaign, it ensures millions of people know that they are recruiting and furthermore know the benefits there are working for the army. The reason this campaign caught my interest straight away was because of the TV advert, it is very visual and catches your eye as soon as you see it, it then goes on to entice you by showing you the lives you can save and the benefits you can receive by working for the Army, and the many different jobs they offer for people of all different backgrounds and experience.

Recruitment begins with writing a job description and person specification for the vacancy, it then is has to be decided where to place the advertisement, Foot & Hook (2008). If an organisation can get these steps right, it should attract suitable candidates to put through to the selection process. An advertisement needs to entice people, and make individuals want to work for you, so designing the advertisement is as important as where you place it.

In conclusion it is imperative that organisations get all the steps in the recruitment process right, to give them the best chance of finding suitable candidates for their vacancy. The recruitment and selection process is time consuming and expensive so it is important to ensure they get it right first time. Effective recruitment is a crucial element of talent management, Foot & Hook (2008), and the new employees are the manager and staff of the future for the company. Recruitment is the first step and locates potential employees, the selection process follows to choose the best candidate for the job. 

Foot, M & Hook, C. (2008) Introducing human resource management. 5^th ed. Essex: Pearson education limited.