best recruitment practices

According to Edwin B. Flippo, recruitment is the process of searching the candidates for employment and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization”.  The recruitment trends like- Outsourcing, E-Recruitment, Poaching/Raiding are catching everyone’s attention. These practices, have given the organization an edge over the other. So far, how has the recruitment scenario changed? Do the recruiters feel that their way of selection is the best, retains talent and promises loyal employees?

I feel the answer to the above is ‘not sure’ or ‘most likely’ or ‘may be no’. We all are aware of the recent trends in recruitment, the practices, what sells and what does not and all WH questions related to recruitment. I read some interesting excerpts on the practices and felt why we can’t emulate them!

Google was the company which came to my mind because, recently, a survey by Business Week noted that Google was the number two choice among students as a place to begin their career. This is an incredible accomplishment for any firm and unprecedented for a firm less than five years old. All of the brand recognition around Google has been developed without employing any of the formal advertising approaches that many other firms rely upon. Google's recruitment process is based largely on a series of interviews with a series of different interviewers. A range of interview topics from programming questions to general logic puzzles to personality checks are there. While Google does have some outrageous benefits and management practices, what truly establishes their great brand is their ability to get their management practices talked about in such a wide range of media outlets. I have heard that the interview process is intense!

Bank of America is a company which is known for its retreat from outsourcing. Even though every consulting firm on the planet seems to be pushing recruitment for outsourcing, Bank of America has chosen to pull back after realizing that outsourcing can negatively affect the quality of applicants and hires, which in turn impacts organizational performance. As an early adopter, they gave outsourced models time to adapt and refined established processes. Ultimately, though, they decided that driving efficiency was not the answer and concluded it’s the quality. It takes great vision to measure the effectiveness of outsourcing, and even greater courage to drop it when you find it’s not as fast, cost effective, or focused on quality as you might have hoped.

Infosys, a US$ 2 billion company by the year 2006, has reportedly one of the best recruitment practices. Infosys attracted the best talent from across the world, and recruited candidates by conducting one of the toughest selection process. All the selected candidates were required to go through an intensive 14 week training program. All the employees were required to undergo training every year, and some of the chosen employees were trained at the Infosys Leadership Institute to take on higher responsibilities in the company. Infosys was one of the first companies to offer ESOPs to its employees. The company followed variable compensation structure where the employees' compensation depended on the performance of individual, the team and the company.

Recruitment is the activity that links the employers and the job seekers. It is important to have a clear and concise recruitment policy in place, which can be executed effectively to recruit the best talent pool for the selection of the right candidate at the right place quickly.