Module 11. Recruitment and training of manpower

Lesson 26

RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING OF MANPOWER

26.1 Introduction

As defined by Flippo, Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for jobs in an organization.” In the words of Yoder, “Recruitment is a process to discover the sources of manpower to meet the requirements of the staffing schedule and to employee effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection of an efficient working force. An analysis of these definitions reveals the following features of requirement:

(i) Recruitment is a series of activities instead of a single act or event.

(ii) Recruitment is a link between those with jobs (employer) and those seeking jobs (prospective employees).

(iii) Recruitment seeks to develop a reserve of eligible persons from which most suitable ones can be selected.

(iv) The basic aim of recruitment is to search the sources of people required to meet job requirements and attracting such people to offer them selves for employment in the organization.

(v) Recruitment is a regular process for smooth functioning of an organization.

26.2 Steps in Recruitment Process

The process of recruitment includes the following steps:

1. Requisitions for recruitment from any department of the company. The personnel requisition performa contain details about the position to be filled, number of persons to be recruited, qualifications required and duties to be performed.

2. Identifying the prospective employees with required distinctiveness.

3. Locating and developing the sources of required employees.

4. Communicating the information about the organization, the job and the terms and conditions of service.

5. Motivating the identified candidates to apply for jobs in the organization.

6. Evaluating the usefulness of recruitment process.

26.3 Sources of Recruitment

Different sources of recruitment may be classified into two broad categories, namely internal sources and external sources.

26.3.1 Internal sources

Some of the Internal sources are given below:

(a) Present employees – Permanent, temporary and casual employees already on the roll of the organization. Vacancies may be filled up from such employees through promotions, transfers, upgrading and even demotion’.

(b) Retrenched and retired employees who want to return to the company may be rehired.

Internal sources have the following merits:

Morale and motivation of employees improve when they are assured that they would be preferred in filling up vacancies at higher levels. A sense of security is buildup among employees.

Internal sources, however suffer some demerits. First, it may lead to inbreeding. Secondly, it hinders the flow of new blood in to the organization.

26.3.2 External sources

External sources of recruitment are those resources which lie outside the organization. These are as follows:

(i) Educational and Training Institutions/ Campus recruitment: Various institutes like IIMs, IITs, engineering colleges, medical colleges, ITIs and universities are a good source for recruiting well qualified executives, engineers, medical staff, pharmacists, chemists, etc.

(ii) Recruitment Agencies: Several private consultancy firms e.g. A.F. Ferguson Associates, Price Waterhouse, ABC consultants, etc. perform recruiting function on behalf of client companies by charging fee. In addition some websites are also access for required vacancies.

(iii) Employment Exchanges: Government of India has established public employment exchanges throughout the country. They contain a data bank of candidates for different types of jobs. The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959 makes it obligatory for both public sector and private sector enterprises to fill certain types of vacancies through employment exchanges.

(iv) Labour Contractors: Manual workers can be recruited through contractors who maintain close links with the sources of such workers. This source is often used to recruit labour for construction jobs.

(v) Press Advertisements: Advertisements in newspapers and journals is a common and widely used source of recruitment process. The advantage of this method is that it has a very wide reach. This method can be used for clerical, technical and managerial jobs. Considerable details about the job to be filled and qualifications required can be given in the advertisement to facilitate self-screening. However, this method has some draw back bring in a large number of unsuitable candidates.

External sources of recruitment offer the following advantages:

(i) Talented people having the requisite skill, education and training can be obtained.

(ii) The candidates with request expertise and experience from other organizations can be brought.

External sources, however, suffer from the following disadvantages:

a) It is more expensive and time-consuming process to recruit people from outside.

b) The employees being unfamiliar with the organization, their orientation and training is necessary

26.4 Methods of Recruitment

Through the recruitment methods and techniques, an organization establishes contact with potential candidates, provides them necessary information and encourages them to apply for jobs. These methods are different from the sources of recruitment. Various methods employed for recruiting employees may be classified into the following categories:

26.4.1 Direct methods

Under the direct recruitment method, scouting, employee contacts, manned exhibits and waiting lists are used. In scouting, representatives of the organization wish to recruit the candidates are sent to different educational and training institutions.They act in cooperation with the placement cell/head of the institution. Another direct method is to ask employees of the organization to contact the public and tell about the vacancies. Manned exhibits involve sending recruiters to seminars and conventions, setting up exhibits at fairs and using mobile officers to go to the desired centres.

26.4.2 Indirect methods

In this method , advertisement in newspapers, journals, on the radio and television are used to publicize vacancies. A well structured and clear advertisement enables the candidates to assess their suitability so that only those possessing the requisite qualifications may apply. This method is appropriate where the organization scattered geographically and wants to reach out to a large target group.

26.4.3 Third party methods

In this method various agencies can be used to recruit personnel. Public employment exchanges, management consulting firms, professional societies, temporary help societies, trade unions, labour contractors are the main agencies.

26.5 Training and Education

Training can be distinguished from education. “Training is any process by which the aptitudes, skills and abilities of employees to perform specific jobs are improved. On the other hand, education is the process of increasing the general awareness, perception and understanding of employees. Thus, the scope of education is wider in scope and more general in purpose than that of training. Training is job-oriented or occupational having an immediate utility and the major burden of training falls upon the employers. Training is vocational whereas education is general and major burden of education falls on the Government. The difference in training and education is given in Table 26.1.

Table 26.1 Difference in education and training

	*Point of Comparison*	*Education*	*Training*
1.	Content and Scope	large and general	Narrow and specific-job related
2.	Character	Pure and theoretical	Applied and practical
3.	Period	Long duration	Short duration
4.	Result	delayed and in apparent	Quick and apparent

26.5.1 Need for training

The purpose of the training required is on account of the following reasons:

i). Job requirements

Employees selected for a job might lack the qualifications required to perform the job effectively. New employees need to provide orientation training to make them familiar with the job and the other staff of the organization.

ii). Technological changes

Technology is changing very fast in almost all the sectors, therefore, Increasing use of fast changing techniques requires training into new technology. New job require new skills.

iii). Organizational viability

Training programmes foster the initiative and creativity of employees and help to prevent obsolescence of skills. An organization can build up a second line of command through training in order to meet its future needs for human resources.

iv). Internal mobility

When an employee moves from one job to another due to promotion and transfer. Employees chosen for higher level jobs need to be trained before they are invited to perform the higher responsibilities.

v). Types of training

Training is required for several purposes. Accordingly training programmes may be of the following types:

vi). Orientation training

Induction or orientation training seeks to accurate newly appointed employees to get conversant with the work environment. Every new employee needs to be made fully familiar with his job, his superiors and subordinates and with the rules and regulations of the organization. It is also known as pre-job training.

vii). Job training

Job training is provided in order to improve the knowledge and skills of an employee for improving performance on the job. Employees may be taught the correct methods of handling equipment and machines used in a job. Such training helps to reduce accidents, waste and inefficiency in the performance of the job.

viii). Safety training

Training provided for the purpose to avoid accidents and damage to machinery is known as safety training. It involves instruction in the use of safety devices and in safety consciousness.

ix). Promotional training

It includes training of on job employees to enable them to perform higher level jobs. Employees with potential are selected and they are given training before their promotion, so that they can shoulder the higher responsibilities of the new positions with self confidence.

x). Refresher training

It is designed to revive and refresh the knowledge and to update the skills of the existing employees. Short-term refresher courses have become popular on account of rapid changes in technology and work methods. Refresher or re-training programmes are conducted to avoid obsolescence of knowledge and skills.

xi). Remedial training

Such training is arranged to overcome the shortcomings in the behavior and performance of old employees. Some of the experienced employees might have picked up appropriate methods and styles or working. Such employees are identified and new work methods and procedures are taught to them.

26.6 Quality System Training Programme

A quality system training programme should facilitate the achievement of an organization’s mission, goals, and objectives. Quality system training will help the organization to improve/change the organization structure, system, procedure and environment. Training related to implementation of quality systems like ISO certification, TQM, HACC, etc. needs to be provided.

Selected references

1) C.B.Gupta 2007. Human Resources Management, Eighth Revised Edition, Sultan Chand & Sons publishers, New Delhi

2) Harold Koontz, o’Donnel-Heinz 1984. Essential of Management- The McGraw-Hill Company.