HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGIES

Human Resource Strategies

Human Resource Strategies

Recruitment and Selection

It has suggested that recruitment and selection are the most critical components of HRM. In essence, effective management of these two phases of HRM will ensure that you get the right people in the right jobs. Recruitment includes activities and processes that define employee or volunteer needs and generate a suitably qualified pool of candidates for various positions. Selection encompasses the techniques and methods of choosing the best candidate from the pool that has generated by recruitment (Baruch & Rosenstein, 1992, pp. 477-495).

The key to successful recruitment is to ensure that the criteria of suitability are properly identified in a way that allows for decisions to be made on evidence rather than perceptions or intuition. The costs of poor hiring decisions are significant; selecting the wrong candidate can result in disruption to a sport organization because of reduced productivity, conflict in interpersonal relationships, decreased team morale, reduced customer service levels, and other associated costs. In direct monetary terms, improper hiring decisions can cost up to three times the person's total annual salary (Bottger, 1990, pp. 18-27).

Recruitment may be done internally, externally, or through an independent contractor. Internal recruitment methods should be made clear and transparent to all employees. External recruitment strategies include traditional methods such as advertisements in newspapers or trade journals, the use of employment agencies, internships, and/or recruitment of graduates direct from universities. Sourcing volunteers has largely relied on friends, family, or individuals already involved in the sport. The recruitment procedure for volunteers will to the extent depend on the organization's attractiveness and reputation (Bouillon & Doran, 1996, pp. 30-41). Increasingly, online or “e-recruitment” has become the default recruitment method for both paid staff and volunteers because of ease of use, breadth of coverage, and reduced costs. Online recruitment can encompass advertising/job dissemination, as well as selection and assessment.

From the literature, Cappelli & Peter (2000) identifies the following five dimensions of recruitment: players, activities, outcomes, context and phases. Players are described as individuals or organisations involved in recruitment, with primary players being the organisation and the candidate. Activities refer to all of the recruitment tasks, procedures, and actions undertaken by the organisation during the hiring process. Outcomes comprise the qualitative and quantitative dimensions and include the actual number of potential candidates, the number of candidates with desired attributes, and post-hire outcomes. Context refers to both internal and external factors that will influence recruitment efforts (e.g., labour market, salary, employment laws, and culture of the organisation). The final dimension of recruitment refers to the phases that result in the generation of a candidate pool, maintenance of candidate status, and job choice or persuading the selector to accept the job offer.

Recruitment typically begins with the knowledge of an anticipated or known vacancy. DiFrancesco & Berman (2000), in their study on executive selection, recognize organisational needs assessment as a first step in recruitment. This assessment "is to define and assess the work environment in terms of the characteristics of the organisation," ...