Recruitment refers to the process of attracting, selecting, and appointing candidates for jobs or unpaid positions. It involves locating and encouraging suitable candidates to apply. The recruitment process typically includes creating job requisitions, identifying internal and external candidate sources, communicating job information, encouraging applications, and evaluating effectiveness. Recruitment is affected by both internal factors like company size and policies, and external factors such as labor market conditions, unemployment rates, and legal considerations. The overall goal is to hire the best qualified candidates to fill positions and meet an organization's human resource needs.

1. Introduction to Recruitment
Recruitment – synonymous with "hiring" in American English – refers to the
overall process ofattracting, selecting and appointing suitable candidates for jobs
(either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment can also refer
to processes involved in choosing individuals for unpaid positions, such as
voluntary roles or unpaid trainee roles. Managers, human resourcegeneralists and
recruitment specialists may be tasked with carrying out recruitment, but in some
cases public-sector employment agencies, commercial recruitment agencies, or
specialist search consultancies are used to undertake parts of the process. Internet-
based technologies to supportall aspects of recruitment have become widespread.
What is Recruitment?
“Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and
stimulating and encouraging the to apply for the job.” – (Flippo EB,
1980)
“Recruitment is a process to discover the sources of manpower to meet
the requirements of the staffing schedule and to employ effective
measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate
effective selection of an efficient working force.” – (Yoder D, et al
1972)

2. Features ofRecruitment:
 It is a process rather than a single act or event.
 Linking activity as it brings together the employer and the prospective
employees.
 Positive activity to seek out eligible persons from which suitable ones are
selected.
 To locate the sources of people required to meet job requirements.
 Ability to match jobs to suitable candidates.
 A two way process between recruiter and recruited.
 A complex job that involves lots of factors like image of the company,
nature of jobs offered, organizationalpolicies, working conditions etc.
Steps in Recruitment Process:
 Requisitions contains the details about the positions to be filled, no. of
persons to be recruited, etc.
 Developing and location of sources, i.e both internal and external.
 Communicating the information of the organization to acquire prospective
employees.
 Encouraging the identified candidates to apply for the job.
 Analyzing and evaluating the effectiveness of recruitment process by
candidate progression.

3. Recruitment Policy
 It specifies the objectives of recruitment and provides a framework for the
implementation of the recruitment programmer
It involves:
 Enriching the organization’s human resources by filling vacancies with the
best qualified people
 Attitudes towards recruiting handicaps, minority groups, women, friends and
relatives of present employees
 Promotion from within
 Development of organizational system for implementing the recruitment
programmer and procedures to be employed
Merits
 Morale and motivation of employees improves.
 Promotes loyalty and commitment amongst employees due to
sense of job security and advancements.
 Chances of proper selection high
 Present employees familiar with organization surroundings.
 Time and expenditure for recruitment reduced

4. Demerits
 Fails to bring in fresh blood into organization.
 Promotion based on seniority.
 Choice in selection is restricted.
 All vacancies cannot be filled from within organization.
 Not available to newly established enterprise.
Recruiting Goals & Objectives
The recruitment and selection goals should be always based on the general
objectives of the recruitment process. Thehiring process exists to attract, hire and
evaluate new employees for the organization. It does not start with the individual
selection of the new hire and it does not end with the signature of the employment
contract. Moreover, the recruitment process is one of the best measurable HR
processes.It is a great advantage for setting goals and objectives of HR Recruiters
and Recruitment Specialists.
Each company will have unique goals and objectives that should be taken into
account when developing recruiting strategies. A successfulrecruiting strategy
allows a company to find the human capital it needs to move forward with business
objectives and goals while growing profits. The most profitable innovations often
come from a diverse team of individuals with shared goals.

5. Additional recruitment goals
The company can define the additional recruitment goals as it supports its business
or HR Strategy. The additional recruitment goals are usually defined in the areas
of:
 HR Marketing
 CorporatePromotion
 Diversity
 Internal Mobility
The additional recruitment goals are added on the basis of the request of the top
management or HR Team can add them to supportthe overall HR Strategy. They
should be taken as extras, not the basic goals for the recruitment process.
Factors affecting recruitment
There are a number of factors that affect recruitment.
These are broadly classifiedinto two categories:
1. Internal Factors
2. External Factors
These are discussed one by one.

6. 1. InternalFactors:
The internal factors also called endogenous factors are the factors within the
organization that affect recruiting personnel in the organization. Some of these are
mentioned here.
a. Size of the Organization:
The size of an organization affects the recruitment process.Experience suggests
that larger organizations find recruitment less problematic than organizations with
smaller in size.
b. Recruiting Policy:
The recruiting policy of the organization i.e., recruiting from internal sources (from
own employees) and from external sources (from outside the organization) also
affects recruitment process. Generally, recruiting through internal sourcing is
preferred, because own employees know the organization and they can well fit into
the organization’s culture.
c. Image of Organization:
Image of organization is another internal factor having its influence on the
recruitment process ofthe organization. Good image of the organization earned by
a number of overt and covert actions by management helps attract potential and
competent candidates. Managerial actions like good public relations, rendering
public services like building roads, public parks, hospitals and schools help earn
image or goodwill for the organization. That is why blue chip companies attract
large number of applications.
d. Image of Job:
Just as image of organization affects recruitment so does the image of a job also. Better
remuneration and working conditions are considered the characteristics of good image of a job.
Besides, promotion and career development policies of organization also attract potential
candidates.

7. 2.ExternalFactors:
Like internal factors, there are some factors external to organization which has
their influence on recruitment process.
Some of these are given below:
a. Demographic Factors:
As demographic factors are intimately related to human beings, i.e., employees,
these have profound influence on recruitment process. Demographic factors
include sex, age, literacy, economic status etc.
b. Labor Market:
Labor market conditions i.e., supply and demand of labor is of particular
importance in affecting recruitment process.Forexample, if the demand for a
specific skill is high relative to its supply, recruiting employees will involve more
efforts. On the contrary, if supply is more than demand for a particular skill,
recruitment will be relatively easier.
In this context, the observation made by 11PM in regard to labor market in India is
worth citing: “The most striking feature in the Indian Labor market is the apparent
abundance of labor – yet the ‘right type’ of labor is not too easy to find”.
c. Unemployment Situation:
The rate unemployment is yet another external factor having its influence on the
recruitment process.When the unemployment rate in a given area is high, the
recruitment process tends to be simpler. The reason is not difficult to seek. The
number of applicants is expectedly very high which makes easier to attract the best
qualified applicants. The reverse is also true. With a low rate of unemployment,
recruiting process tends to become difficult.

8. d. Labor Laws:
There are several labor laws and regulations passed by the Central and State
Governments that govern different types of employment. These cover working
conditions, compensation, retirement benefits, and safety and health of employees
in industrial undertakings.
Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, for example, prohibits
employment of children in certain employments. Similarly, several other acts such
as Employment Exchange (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959, the
Apprentices Act, 1961; die Factory Act, 1948 and the Mines Act, 1952 deal with
recruitment.
e. LegalConsiderations:
Another external factor is legal considerations with regard to employment.
Reservation of jobs for the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other backward
classes (OBCs)is the popular example of such legal consideration. The Supreme
Court of India has given its verdict in favor of 50 per cent of jobs and seats. This is
so in case of admissions in the educational institutions also.