Saturday, June 23, 2012

The Recruitment Mission


The beauty of this summer was the internship and its gyan exploration. Knowledge grows with sharing, right? And It’s a long one.

My assignment was on ‘Recruitment – Selecting profiles and Scheduling for interviews’ and to close ‘X’ number of openings. So, the mission starts with the objective to close the openings in ‘Z’ week(s) timeframe.
First action was to devise the plan, How? I need to choose the right channel, ideal profiling , categorization based on profiles, time scheduling, and gyan (knowledge) on the JD (Job Description) of openings.


Gyan on JD

First of all be acquainted for whom and which position(s) the recruitment is done. Foundation on the roles & responsibilities, benefits entitled, etc through the JD.

Channel Selection

Choosing a channel depends on the job position (opening), the employer’s brand, the resources, the recruiting budget, urgency to close the opening or the time window, manpower forecast, etc.
So, one can choose from a huge pile of options; say
  • Ø  Internal advertising – Posting on intranet via online notices, mails to employees(Buddy referral)
  • Ø  Printed advertising – Posting on local/national/employment special newspapers, newsletters etc
  • Ø  Online – Using job portals, social – media (as LinkedIn or twitter)
  • Ø  Consultancy
  • Ø  Head hunting and /or Poaching
  • Ø  Re-hire
  • Ø  Campus recruiting
  • Ø  Walk-in
  • Ø  Body Shopping
  • Ø  Promotions and Present temporary workforce
  • Ø  Casual applicants
  • Ø  Candidate references i.e. taking references from the candidates, etc…

Profile Selection and Ideal Profiling

The profiles are selected based on the JD i.e. role and responsibilities, age, benchmarking the current/previous working companies, pay scale, preferred work location, etc… Recruiters practicing the same and using job portals might notice a strange phenomenon that not all profiles available on the website are job-seekers. Many candidates upload the resume just to check their own market demand and stay updated (assumption- by getting recruiter’s call). Also, some resumes are inactive for a period; still they make appearance on search; which can be filtered out.
Again, before jumping to the assignment a recruiter need to do groundwork on Ideal Profiling i.e. identifying the common employee profile based on psychological parameters that incline to succeed in definite role.

Time Scheduling

It is the most important, yet at times neglected section. A recruitment process can be breakdown into 1-5 stages depending upon the employer’s style of recruitment drive and channel. It may consist of an initial written knowledge test followed by interviews, discussions or combination. The efficiency of the recruitment based on time taken to conduct each stage is necessary; it will help the recruiter to amplify the process.  It also has dependence on the decision making ladder. The more complex and lengthy the ladder, the slower the decision, thus long time taken to close the opening(s).
Also, the time taken to complete the entire process starting from the first round till the result announcement impacts the employer’s brand.

Even though for a greenhorn initially it seems as easy as cakewalk, but its demanding. But the above four points of homework makes it enjoyable. It may seem story of recruitment - selecting 10 profiles from job portal, 8 interested to attend, 4 – 5 arrived for the drive and 2 candidates are offered the position, ending up as 1 new hire. But selecting the right channels, ideal profiling and scheduling makes it easier.

What do you think on the same?