QUESTION
Question 1. How would you evaluate the recruitment activity? Why is evaluation important?
Question 2. Explain what is meant by ‘strategic recruitment’. Give practical examples to illustrate your answer.
Question 3. How can an organisation change its recruiting activities to improve employee diversity?
SOLUTION
The recruitment activity is the genesis to creation of a wholesome and subtle firm which needs to be generated and monitored excellently so as to narrow the gap between desired goal and achieved goal. The evaluation process is basically a controlling activity which helps to extract the loopholes and work on that so as to gain perfection and proper delivery of services. In case of recruitment and selection, evaluation process is very important because it provides a guide for future improvements and developments to be done. [Ace Project, 1998-2012] It can also be said that if evaluation of recruitment processes is done on continuous basis then it can provide an early diagnosis of the mistakes and subsequently providing the chance to rectify the mistakes before the next recruitment process.
The evaluation of recruitment activity can be done in many ways. One of the most commonly used techniques is evaluating the training session of the selected staff which in most of cases helps to understand the competence level and their effectiveness before commencement of their duties. Secondly evaluating the recruitment process can be done with the help of monitoring the induction or initial days of the selected staff and minutely analyze their role plays and group activities. For junior level or non- executive level staff, one of the most cost effective techniques is to do a briefing session with that of the staff’s direct reporting officer wherein he/she can analyze the required inputs and already possessed qualities.
Continual evaluation of the recruitment process can also be done with the help of performance measurement and appraisal techniques of employees during and after their probation period. Continual evaluation will help find out the scope of rectifying the errors in techniques and standard of recruitment.
Taking one example we can elaborate the evaluation techniques in use. UNESCO for evaluating its recruitment process used the methodology of linking the strategic directions to HR elements. They evaluate on yearly basis the percentage of strategic goals achieved and the link of its achievement with the new recruitment done in the respective year i.e. ratio of male to female recruited, tracking of key HR milestones like reminders to managers, generating reports, extensive review of all documents submitted by the employee, online survey about the joinee from peers and seniors. [Perrin, 2009]
Evaluation is a very important process because it is a method of putting a control over the policies and practices being followed in any firm in terms of human resource recruitment. It may not yield direct profit but its indirect relevance is worth a credit because it provides a base for deciding whether further changes are to be made or not. The contribution of evaluation can also be seen in measuring the performance of employees, staff participation, external effectiveness of the firm, decreasing the potential sources of any conflicts internally and externally, forming better techniques and methods of recruitment, improved organizational culture and most importantly retained employees and healthier environment of the organization.
Answer 2:
Strategic recruitment approach is a wider and more effective technique of doing recruitment activity where recruitment and selection is not taken as a primary step to HRM but is considered as a long term profit yielding method of doing strategic human resource planning. This method considers real recruitment needs and their linkage with desired goal of the organization. In this approach the recruitment needs are linked with overall strategic corporate plan. Practical implication can be seen in case of recruitment done on the basis of right people on the right job technique where extensive scrutinizing is done of the candidates so as to find out their long term benefits for the firm. [Strategic Human Resource, 2008:2012]
Strategic recruitment approach focuses on planning for the future where employees are treated as assets of the firm and not a liability. This concept considers recruitment is not a method of fulfilling the empty positions but actually giving key responsibilities in the hands of only competent and effective people who can add to the competitive advantage.
Apart from this it also considers employee branding as its base and not employer branding. This approach considers that each employee is a revenue centre in itself and that employee can serve as a brand in itself with the help of effective public relation, hard work, lesser mistakes, improved performance every year, motivated and optimistic approach.
We can take example of Wal Mart the world leading retail company which follows strategic recruitment method even for recruiting its non executive level employees. For the recruitment of drivers who carry goods and raw materials from one place to another, it only considers those drivers who can drive on environment friendly techniques and least pollution creation. For this it takes various tests so that even the drivers should be of the world’s best environment protecting quality which Wal-Mart promotes as a business concept- the go green concept which can also be seen in its recruitment of drivers for the firm. This is the example of strategic recruitment on a very ground level which is being immensely followed on higher levels as well in many firms. [Wal-Mart, 2012]
The role of strategic recruitment is very crucial in an organization. It provides a base for long term retention of employees; it caters to the needs of organizational goals and vision. It also helps in clear and transparent recruitment policy and also in having motivated employees who can work towards achieving individual as well as organizational goals. Strategic recruitment helps an organization gain competitive advantage over its competitor in today’s world of liberalization, globalization and privatization. Today is a world of neck to neck competition in global scenario where there is tough fight for retaining good and sincere employees and there are thousands of opportunities prevailing in the market, under that circumstance when strategic recruitment will be done it may add to cost effectiveness, perfect role plays and also motivated and performing employees who will have sufficient reason to retain loyalty with their organization.
Answer 3:
Employee diversity is a very nice concept which should be followed so as to bring wider approach and high level of reach in the global world. It should be followed but this concept is still not booming to the desired level and it is still limited only to MNCs because employee diversity practices are not efficiently being performed. Employee diversity can be geographical, racial or cultural depending upon the nature of the organization. [Sharpe and Dohme, 2012]
In order to have employee diversity in any organization, what is most important is to change and modify the recruitment strategy and bring modern methods of recruitment into practice. The universe of recruitment should not be limited just to local newspaper announcements and third party consultants but recruitment through job portals, online applications, state wise interview scheduling and also by means of campus recruitment should be followed.
Internal recruitment is a method being followed in most of public sector and government organizations which narrows the scope and reach of recruitment amongst fresh and new talents. This should be limited to a certain percentage only and employee referrals should also be scrutinized very deeply so as to find out absolute talent for any desired position. Employee referral is an easy and reliable method of recruitment in which cost effectiveness is also very high but through this concept, the talent is limited only to the nearby locations and almost similar work force as that of the present workforce. It is not that these methods are not appropriate but these methods decrease the chance of diversity and variety in any firm.
Recruitment through various portals helps all those candidates apply in the organization even if they are at far off place and are ready to relocate themselves. This may increase the diversity and also the chances of selecting more effective and knowledgeable workforce out of the huge pool of candidates created.
With the help of campus recruitment and sate wise interviews or job fairs, the company can find out better people who may be willing to work at lesser salaries and the selected candidates can be from different states, backgrounds, competences, universities and also having different mental stabilities. This will eventually increase the balance of all kind of people in the organization which will help in diversity being achieved.
It becomes very important to achieve diversity in any organization in order to achieve long term goals because diverse work force will lack internal politics and they can be more motivated and loyal towards their firm rather than amongst themselves.
All other means of recruitment like employee referrals, internal recruitment increases the collective bargaining power of the employees which may in future turn out to be a threat to the integrity of the firm. Employees should be united but not intricately connected and higher the variety of workforce, the higher will be level of mental stability in employees. Therefore employee diversity should be practices in organizations with the help of modern strategic recruitment practices and also with the help of proper evaluation of recruitment already done so as to find out further scope of improvements.
References:
- Ace project 2012, Evaluation of recruitment and training, viewed on 26th march 2012, <http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/vo/voe/voe05>
- Burt Perrin, 2009, Evaluation of UNESCO’s recruitment practice and policies, viewed on 26 march, 2012, <http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001804/180408e.pdf>
- Strategic Recruitment 2012, viewed on 26th march, <http://www.strategic-human-resource.com/strategic-recruitment.html>
- Wal-Mart stores Inc. 2012, viewed on 26th march, <http://www.walmart.com/ >
- Merck sharp and Dohme 2012, viewed on 26th march, <http://www.merck.com/about/how-we-operate/diversity/employee-diversity.html>
JC14
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