What Is Recruitment Of Staff In Common Terms?

No company can satisfy the requirements of its customers or reach its other goals without the right staff. Typically, when a company needs to identify their future staffing requirements they will compose something called a workforce plan. This plan looks at the current staff and plans for staffing needs such as maternity leave and retirement.

When there is an employment vacancy and a business needs to hire the right candidate, they will start the recruitment process.

What is Recruitment of Staff?

Recruitment of staff is the process of hiring a person for a vacant employment position.

The first step is to compose a job description which includes a detailed description of the kind of person needed to fill the position. Information that usually appears in a job description can include:

• The job title;
• The location of the work;
• The work to be done;
• The main tasks the employee will be expected to complete.

In addition to the above, the job description will also list the desired qualities of the person sought. These can include things like their experience, qualifications or skills.

Once the content of the job description is identified, the ad must then be created. But before this occurs, it must be decided whether the recruitment will taking place internally or externally.

Internal and External Recruitment

When recruitment occurs internally, it means that a company is seeking existing staff to fill a vacant position. Internal positions are advertised within a company via company email, internal job board and other similar means. The reasons for internal recruitment can vary. An employer may wish to build the skills of and offer more training to their existing staff. They may also want to provide existing staff with promotion and development opportunities.

External recruitment occurs when a company seeks an employee from outside their company. External recruitment can occur via many channels. New staff can be found through commercial recruitment agencies, national newspapers, the Learning and Skills Council or word of mouth, as well as local radio, schools, professional journals and the Careers Service.

Whether internal or external, most recruitment processes have 3 goals:

• To be cost-effective;
• To produce enough suitable candidates;
• To ensure fairness in all aspects of the process.

Ingredients of Effective Job Advertisements

In order to attract the right candidates, a job advertisement needs to include several elements. The design of the advertisement is important, but so is the content. An advertisement needs more than the facts about the vacant position; it also needs to tell the applicant how to apply, when interviews will be held, and whether or not a selection test will be used and so on.

Unlawful Discrimination

It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that the recruitment and selection process is free from unlawful discrimination. Unlawful discrimination is any discrimination against an applicant based on the following:

• Race;
• Age;
• Sex;
• Sexual orientation;
• Disability;
• Gender reassignment;
• Pregnancy/maternity;
• Marriage or civil partnership;
• Religion or belief.

Equality of Opportunity

An integral part of every recruitment process is equality of opportunity. Providing equality of opportunity can entail the supply of training or encouragement to any group which has been identified as under-represented. Some examples of training or support are application assistance for those whose first language is not English, or training women in an area such as management, where women may be under-represented. Equality of opportunity can also be stated in the job advertisement.

Regardless of the job being applied for, there is no doubt that the recruitment process requires a lot of thought and time investment in order to meet the goal of filling a vacant position.

Tricia Hay

Tricia Hay is Owner, Director of First Base Employment Limited