HR Recruitment Interview Preparation Guide

- Recruitment is the process of identifying, screening and hiring the most suitable candidate for a job vacancy.
- The candidate might be hired internally or from external sources
- The process must be performed in timely and cost effective manner
- It can also be termed as a process linking the employers and the employees

The purpose of recruitment is to:

- Attract the maximum number of candidates to the organization and encourage them to apply
- Create strong database and select the best candidate for the position
- Ascertain the current and future manpower requirements of the organization
- Make the hiring exercise a cost effective one

Importance of recruitment is:

- To identify the potential candidates within the organization for future man power requirements
- To identify the outside candidates and hire them to meet the man power requirements
- To establish various sources of candidates
- To help in increasing the success of hiring process

There can be two kinds of sources of recruitment for organizations - internal and external.

Internal recruitment - It means getting the candidate from within the organization to fulfil a vacancy. Internal recruitment can be done by:

- Transfer - transferring an employee from one location/ department to other.
- Promotion - Taking the employee higher up in the hierarchy
- Ex-employees - These could be the retired or retrenched employees
- Demotion - Lowering the position of an employee in the hierarchy for various reasons


External recruitment - It means getting the absolutely new candidate to the company. The sources of these employees could be many:

- Job notifications in the print/ online media
- College campuses
- Placement agents
- Unsolicited applicants
- Employee referral program
- Employment exchange
- Labour contractors

The recruitment process tries to get the best manpower for the organization. It can be considered as the first strategic step towards the success of an organization.

The process consists of following major steps:

- Identifying the vacancy
- Preparing the job specifications and description of the potential candidate
- Advertising the requirement
- Receiving and managing the applications
- Short listing the candidates
- Arranging the interviews
- Conducting the interviews and deciding on the candidate

There can be various internal and external factors which affect the recruitment process.

Internal factors - The factors which are under the control of organization are called internal factors.

These could be -

i.) Recruitment policy of the organization
ii.) Human Resource Planning
iii.) Expansion plans
iv.) Cost of recruitment

External factors - These are the factors which are not under the control of the organization.

These could be -

i.) Availability of talent
ii.) Brand image of the organization
iii.) Politico-social environment
iv.) Legal conditions
v.) Economic condition of the market
vi.) Recruitment policy of the competitors

A good recruitment policy helps the organization in developing an effective recruitment process. It can be termed as the first step in developing an efficient recruitment process. A recruitment policy defines the recruitment objectives and clearly defines the framework to work within.

A good recruitment policy should focus on:

- Being unbiased towards all candidates
- Recruiting the best talent
- Helping the employees identify their potential
- Promoting transparent, merit based selection
- Developing cost effective recruitment process
- Appointing an authority for final decision
- Being socially, politically, legally and economically friendly

Various factors which can affect the recruitment policy of a company are:

- Its objectives
- Policies of the competitors
- Government laws - Social and economic
- Political environment
- Cost of recruitment
- Time available
- Preferred recruitment sources

The main components of a recruitment policy are:

- Terms of recruitment
- Sources of recruitment
- Using the services of placement agents
- Payment terms and conditions for placement agents
- Recruitment of contractual employees
- Obtaining requirements from departments
- Selection process
- Employment terms and conditions

Many organizations outsource their recruitment services to the placement agencies. The main advantages of doing so are as follows:

- It allows the organizations to focus on core and strategic activities
- It leads to optimal use of resources and time
- It provides access to the expertise of the placement agents
- Reduction in recruitment cost

Poaching in recruitment means hiring the employee of a competitor who is working in the same capacity as desired by you. This is a major challenge faced by the HR managers as it causes the leakage of talent from an organization and effects its productivity.

The employee is usually hired by offering him better salary and perks.