Recruitment – The process of hiring new employees

(Pronounced ri-kroot-muhnt)

To remember what recruitment means use the following mnemonic:

The captain had to find new recruits because of the poor treatment (recruitment) of his last crew. The captain had an interesting process of hiring a new gang.

Recruitment is the process of finding and hiring new employees. It is vitally important for a business. There can be whole sections of a company dedicated to recruitment and looking after staff called human resource management.

The recruitment can be divided into several stages:

• Identifying the need for new employees: The first step in the recruitment process is to recognise the need for new staff. This may be due to growth, diversification, or a need to replace employees that have left the company or have been sacked.
• Creating a job description: Once the need for new employees has been identified, a job description should be created. This document should outline the duties and responsibilities of the position, as well as the skills and experience required. It should also be developed to entice the right sort of candidates.
• Finding candidates: This involves sharing the job description so that candidates can apply. Methods include sharing it in newspapers, magazines or online job sites. Headhunting (directly contacting selected people to offer them an interview) and using a recruitment agency are also popular.
• Screening candidates: Once a pool of candidates has been identified, they need to be screened. This may involve reviewing CVs, conducting interviews and checking references. Many companies now look up the social media profiles of prospective candidates.
• Making an offer: Once the best candidate is selected, an offer should be made. This should include the position, salary, benefits and start date.
  
  

High-quality recruitment is essential for a business’s success, as it can assure that only high-quality candidates who are suited for the positions are selected. This has knock-on effects which can improve the working culture of a company, raising productivity, innovation and therefore profits, while lowering employee turnover.

Further to recruitment interviews as mentioned above, it is interesting to note that hiring people only because of an interview is only 40% successful. A much greater success rate of over 70% is achieved through certain army recruitment processes, in which applicants stay for 3 days, and carry out lots of interviews, cognitive tests and team challenges.

Some other interesting recruitment facts are:

• The average number of people who apply for a corporate job in the US is 250.
• Job interviews last between 45 and 90 minutes.
• If a job interview only lasts 15 minutes, it probably means you haven’t got the job.
• 90% of all employers prefer some work experience in the field that the recruit is applying for.
• Over 75% of job applicants do not receive an interview because of spelling or grammar mistakes in the candidate’s application letter.
• Many interviewees have decided whether or not they like the candidate or not within 90 seconds.
• Over 70% of employers reject prospective recruits if they dress inappropriately for the interview.
• Candidates who lack confidence are 40% less likely to be recruited.
• 82% of all candidates are now being interviewed through video calls.