Factors Affecting Recruitment
The recruitment function of the organizations is affected and governed by a mix of various internal and external forces. The internal forces or factors are the factors that can be controlled by the organization. And the external factors are those factors which cannot be controlled by the organization. The internal and external forces affecting recruitment function of an organization are:
Figure: Factors Affecting Recruitment
Internal Factors Affecting Recruitment
The internal forces which can be controlled by the organization are:
Recruitment Policy
The recruitment policy of an organization specifies the objectives of recruitment and provides a framework for implementation of recruitment program. It may involve organizational system to be developed for implementing recruitment program and procedure by filling up vacancies with best qualified people.
Factors affecting recruitment policy
- Organizational objectives
- Personnel policies of the organization and its competitors.
- Government policies on reservations.
- Preferred sources of recruitment.
- Need of the organization.
- Recruitment costs and financial implications.
Human Resource Planning
Effective human resource planning helps in determining the gaps present in the existing manpower of the organization. It also helps in determining the number of employees to be recruited and what qualification they must possess.
Size of the Firm
The size of the firm is an important factor in recruitment process. If the organization is planning to increase its operations and expand its business, it will think of hiring more personnel, which will handle its operations.
Cost
Recruitment incur cost to the employer, therefore, organizations try to employ that source of recruitment which will bear a lower cost of recruitment to the organization for each candidate.
Growth and Expansion
Organization will employ or think of employing more personnel if it is expanding its operations.
External Factors Affecting Recruitment
The external forces are the forces which cannot be controlled by the organization. The major external forces are:
- Supply And Demand
The availability of manpower both within and outside the organization is an important determinant in the recruitment process. If the company has a demand for more professionals and there is limited supply in the market for the professionals demanded by the company, then the company will have to depend upon internal sources by providing them special training and development programs.
- Labor Market
Employment conditions in the community where the organization is located will influence the recruiting efforts of the organization. If there is surplus of manpower at the time of recruitment, even informal attempts at the time of recruiting like notice boards display of the requisition or announcement in the meeting etc will attract more than enough applicants.
- Image / Goodwill
Image of the employer can work as a potential constraint for recruitment. An organization with positive image and goodwill as an employer finds it easier to attract and retain employees than an organization with negative image. Image of a company is based on what organization does and affected by industry. For example finance was taken up by fresher MBA’s when many finance companies were coming up.
- Political-Social-legal Environment
Various government regulations prohibiting discrimination in hiring and employment have direct impact on recruitment practices. For example, Government of India has
introduced legislation for reservation in employment for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, physically handicapped etc. Also, trade unions play important role in recruitment. This restricts management freedom to select those individuals who it believes would be the best performers. If the candidate can’t meet criteria stipulated by the union but union regulations can restrict recruitment sources.
- Unemployment Rate
One of the factors that influence the availability of applicants is the growth of the economy (whether economy is growing or not and its rate). When the company is not creating new jobs, there is often oversupply of qualified labor which in turn leads to unemployment.
- Competitors
The recruitment policies of the competitors also affect the recruitment function of the organizations. To face the competition, many a times the organizations have to change their recruitment policies according to the policies being followed by the competitors.
Internal Source:
