Recruitment

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Recruitment is the process that businesses use to find new people to join their business and to fill specific job vacancies.

A business must first carry out a job analysis.
- This means carefully examining the requirements of a specific job role.
The job analysis results in two key documents:
- A job description which outlines the duties and responsibilities of the role.
- A person specification which describes the skills, experience, and qualifications required.

Internal recruitment is when a job position is advertised to people who already work at a business.
Internal recruitment can be beneficial to a firm because the employees that already work for a firm may need less training because the employee will already know a lot about the firm.
Because the role is advertised internally, the costs of attracting and training people are lower.
But it may create another vacancy in the business.

External recruitment is when a business looks for new people outside of the organisation to fill a specific position.
It is usually more expensive because jobs are advertised and hires need more training. But it will reach more people.
New people from another business may bring in new ideas.
It does not create another vacancy in the business.

A business can advertise job vacancies in different ways, such as:
- Employment agencies, which help match businesses with suitable candidates.
- Online recruitment platforms, such as job boards or professional networking sites, which can quickly reach a large audience.
- Newspapers and local advertising, which may be useful for specific job roles in a local community.

A business should carefully decide which type of recruitment to use depending on the situation.
For example, if a business needs someone who already understands the company culture and processes, internal recruitment is more suitable.
If a business needs new skills, new ideas, or to fill a highly specialised role, external recruitment is more appropriate.
The business must justify its choice by balancing cost, training needs, and the quality of candidates.

Main Stages in the Recruitment Process

There are 4 main stages to the recruitment process:

Job analysis involves a business analysing what the exact function of the job will be, and what sort of person they are looking for.

Job description involves the business advertising the job.
A job description simply describes what the job is, what the person will be doing day to day, and gives some background on the firm itself.

In the advertisement, the business will state the requirements for what qualifications, training, language and education that a person applying needs to have.
The business will also state what skills are preferred and essential for the job.

After the advertisement, the business receives applications for the job. These selection methods are used to choose a candidate:
- CVs – candidates will send a document that contains information about their education, qualifications and previous experience.
- Online testing – businesses usually give candidates a maths and/or verbal reasoning test to get a better idea of their skills.
- Interviews – most companies will have some form of interview process to get an idea if the candidate is a good fit for the job.