CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS TO EFFECTIVE RECRUITING

Recruiting is becoming more and more difficult among employers today. There are a variety of challenging attached to the recruitment exercise ranging from finding to attracting good talent. On the other hand, employees have become more and more aware of the need to identify employers who are more likely to accommodate them indefinitely and to give them a reasonable compensation while at the same time placing them under proper working conditions. This paper analyzes the major drawbacks to the recruitment process and provides viable solutions.

Challenges

Finding talent is one challenge that employers find rather difficult in the present age. In this regard, employees are becoming more and more likely to resist new employers if they are of high quality (Shafique, 2012). High quality employees also have restrictions as to who may employ them (Gberevbie, 2008). If the needs of the employer and the employee to not complement each other, then recruitment is made difficult.

Employers must also seem attractive for them to attract good talent. In this regard, for employers to get access to good talent, they must also be willing to go an extra mile while dealing with potential employees (Shafique, 2012). This includes giving feedback to unsuccessful candidates, planning for interviews swiftly and using a variety of platforms to advertise the company’s vacancies.

Another challenge to the recruitment exercise is selecting the right platform for advertising. While employers have recognized the need in utilizing multiple platforms, they have failed in regard to identifying the right partners in this regard (Hutchinson, 2010). On the one hand, they must identify companies that offer relevant personnel and on the other hand they must obtain one with a sufficient employee network.

Today, employers have had to change their staple from A-level to mainly graduate recruiting (Shafique, 2012). This is because present generations have come with a vast knowledge in technology coupled with a high level of education. With this regard, employers have found the need to accommodate the new developments in order for them to remain relevant to their field.

Another challenge in the industry is the problem of identifying individuals who will fit into the company culture (Sage, 2014). For certain companies such as Apple, identifying someone who will fit into the company culture is vital. The company culture at Apple requires creative people who are able to work in teams. Identifying such people is sometimes rather difficult. Consider the position of Head of Retail in the company. When it was left vacant after the resignation of Ron Johnson in 2011, the position was filled by John Browett. However, the new head of sales could not fit into the culture at Apple and was finally replaced. Currently however, the position has been filled by Angela Ahrendts. Angela fits perfectly in the culture of Apple (Gurman, 2013). The only issue arises in that the company had to search for a whole two years before finally settling on her.

Finally, there is the challenge of identifying the best candidate fast. Sometimes employees need to identify a good candidate fast. If they do, they are faced with the challenge of compromising on some of their values or doing devising alternatives of getting the roles performed. Both of these options may impact on the productivity of the company. It is therefore important that each of the roles be satisfactorily filled as soon as reasonably possible.

Solutions

With the many challenges that have been identified in recruitment, employers must devise suitable recruitment methods of recruitment. Company should also be willing to look at various platforms before finally settling on any one platform. Alternatively, the company should identify various platforms and adopt as many as possible so as to get access to a wider number of potential candidates.

One very important aspect of recruiting today is using the internet. Using the internet solves most of the challenges above. First, using the internet is often one of the swiftest recruitment methods. It comes with little effort and brings with a it a variety of option. The internet is also one of the most cost-effective methods (Shafique, 2012). Today, all major companies have identified the need to incorporate recruitment into their online company profiles. All major companies make sure that they advertise vacant positions on their websites. In most instances, employees who are motivated or interested in working for the company often look on the company’s website. Tapping the internet could therefore be a source of quality employees who are ready to jump ship.

Advertising is another important aspect of recruiting. Advertising vacant positions has always been part of most companies’ recruitment programs. It involves the company’s paying for advertisement services from another company in order to fill vacant positions (Walker, 2008). On doing this, the company must be willing to pay as well as explore various options. Some quality employees are only going to be reached on the internet while others are only going to be reached on newspapers or magazines (Haar & White, 2011). Posting advertisements on numerous platforms opens up the position to various candidates.

Once the position has been opened to the public, numerous applications will often be made. It is important for the company to identify methods of obtaining only the right candidate for the position. This involves eliminating all those who are unqualified and retaining only those who are potential candidates (Walker, 2008). The best method is to review the properties of each candidate individually and only retaining only those who will be suitable for the position. After this, the right candidate should be identified by interviews.

In the course of filling positions, companies can take advantage of the big number of applicants to identify talent (Shafique, 2012). Some candidates may not qualify for certain positions but be perfect for others. Analyzing each candidate independently helps the company to identify such talent and take advantage of them accordingly.

Once talent has been identified, it should also be retained. Retaining employees involves a variety of concepts. First, employers should be willing to go an extra mile and provide good compensation plans for its employees (Rostker, Hix & Wilson, 2007). If employees are not given attractive plans, they will keep looking. Employees who keep looking will be most likely moving to other companies if an opportunity arises. Proper working conditions should also be prioritized to ensure that employees prefer working there regardless of the pay levels.

In conclusion, companies usually must a have a continuous recruitment program to deal with its growth and the positions that are left vacant by exiting employees. Identifying the right talent is vital to the recruitment exercise. Employees who move the operations of the company should be retained at all costs. Getting such employees requires identifying a variety of strategies and employing as many as possible to ensure that the company never falls short of candidates to employ.

References

Shafique, O. 2012. Recruitment in the 21st Century. International Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 4(2), 887-901.

Gberevbie, D. 2008. Employee Retention Strategies And Organizational Performance. IFE PsychologIA, 16(2).

Gurman, M. 2013. Apple finally finds new Head of Retail: Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts. Will begin in Spring 2014, run Online Stores too. [online] 9to5Mac. Available at: http://9to5mac.com/2013/10/14/apple-finally-finds-new-head-of-retail-burberry-ceo-angela-ahrendts/ [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

Haar, J. and White, B. 2011. Corporate entrepreneurship and information technology towards employee retention: a study of New Zealand firms. Human Resource Management Journal, 23(1), pp.109-125.

Hutchinson, I. 2010. People glue. Warriewood, N.S.W.: Woodslane Press.

Rostker, B., Hix, W. and Wilson, J. (2007). Recruitment and retention. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Gulf States Policy Institute.

Sage, 2014. Top five recruiting challenges HR professionals face and how to overcome them. [online] Available at: http://na.sage.com/us/articles/hr/five-recruiting-challenges [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

Walker, H. 2008. Advertising and recruiting. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 40(2), p.16.