Innovation in Recruitment - Reality or Myth

I fully agree with this argument. Recruitment processes have remained unaltered for decades, which has resulted in the recruitment function in majority of the organizations functioning purely as a "cost centre". Even though rest of the HR Functions have undergone a severe makeover in the past two decades, recruitment for some reason has remained untouched. As you mentioned, the only change that has happened is related to technology. But, the way the recruitment process is handled, from a strategic point of view, has remained the same.

The reason for this slow movement forward is that the recruitment function to some extent is ignored. It is only given attention if something is going wrong. Majority of the investment goes into innovation related to the core business (which makes sense) - a software company is likely to innovate in software, a car manufacturer is likely to innovate in manufacturing processes.

If organizations are not so rigid in bringing about a strategic change in the way the recruitment process is manged, there are a number of opportunities out there to significantly reduce costs, improve efficiency and effectiveness and innovate. This will then have a positive effect on their core business, resulting in a "new and evolved" recruitment function, which will no longer be looked upon as only a "cost centre".

Regards,

Om Deshpande