Human Resource Management: Business organization - Essay Example

On account of the economic expansion of the first half of the 2000s, organizations were faced with a scenario in which on many occasions only very few applicants responded to vacancies. The number of vacancies nearly surpassed the number of unemployed people, following decades of surplus in labor supply. Behavior of organizations became more and more focused about filling a pool of applicants instead of selecting from the vacant pool. Hence organizations do not only look at more conventional search methods, such as posting an ad, but also at the importance of the internet in finding staff.

Another difficulty faced to organization regarding recruitment is that most of the firms do not carry out any form of job analysis, and less than a quarter overtly questions whether or not the vacancy needed filling or drew up a person specification. Job descriptions are, however, used in 60 per cent of the firms. (Breaugh, 2000, p-411) In terms of the methods which were used, all 40 firms used recommendations from existing staff, and at least two-thirds used Jobcentres, local newspapers, internal labor markets, and the employment of former employees and registers of interested applicants.

Irrespective of the chosen method, it tended to massively depend on tried and trusted techniques/methods; for instance, internal recruitment and Jobcentres were used by all the hotel and catering establishments, former employees were recruited by all but one of the road haulage firms, local press advertisements were used by all the nursing homes, registers of interested applicants were universal at the printing firms, while all the solicitors used registers and Jobcentres for at least some grades of staff.

While this may be potentially difficulty for a number of reasons, not least in terms of social exclusion and the strengthening of imbalances in the workforce, it does have some advantages for these small firms. (Turban, 2002, pp 734-737) In particular, it makes the recruitment process simpler to conduct given that it relies on existing channels and contacts, so it reduces the risk and uncertainly which is typically associated with hiring new recruits. With many organizations seeking to identify, appoint and retain quality people within their organizations it is not surprising that many would seek to use the services of executive search firms and advertised recruitment agencies in order to locate the most appropriate people.

Recruitment and selection are vital and central HRM functions. However, in a labor market where particular skills are eagerly sought and personal commitment to organizational life is apparently decreasing in favor of attention to personal career and life-style needs, recruitment and succeeding selection have become terribly difficult tasks to assume in an efficient and valid manner. The professional firms that claim to be "recruitment and selection experts" in matching the right individual with the organization or role are