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11 RECRUITMENT

LEARNING GOALS

Whenever human resources must be expanded or replenished, a recruiting system of some kind must be established. Advances in technology, coupled with the growing intensity

of competition in domestic and international markets, have made recruitment a top priority as organizations struggle continually to gain competitive advantage through people. Recruit- ment is a business, and it is big business (Bersin, quoted in Deloitte, 2015; Overman, 2008). It demands serious attention from management because any business strategy will falter without the talent to execute it. According to former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, “Recruiting is hard. It’s finding the needles in the haystack. I’ve participated in the hiring of maybe 5,000-plus people in my life. I take it very seriously” (Jobs, 2008).

This statement echoes the claims of many recruiters that it is difficult to find good work- ers and that talent acquisition is becoming more rather than less difficult (Kandefer, 2017; Maurer, 2017b; Ryan & Delaney, 2017). As an example, consider how the Internet has revolu- tionized the practice of recruitment. For the nearly 20% of the world’s workforce who change jobs each year, there are more than 50,000 job-recruitment sites globally, as well as the ability to research employers and to network (Maurer, 2016a).

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to do the following: 11.1 Describe the recruitment process as a talent supply chain 11.2 Explain the three sequential stages of recruitment and key activities that affect each one 11.3 Identify fundamental questions to address when planning for recruitment 11.4 Discuss the pros and cons of hiring internally versus externally 11.5 Explain why a positive organizational image and employer brand help attract candidates 11.6 Know the fundamental questions about internal recruitment that all organizations need to

address 11.7 Craft a strategy for increasing the diversity of an organization’s workforce 11.8 Identify situations in which realistic job previews will and will not work well

Cascio, Wayne F., and Herman Aguinis. Applied Psychology in Talent Management, SAGE Publications, Incorporated, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ashford-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6403253. Created from ashford-ebooks on 2024-09-03 15:14:34.

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Chapter 11 ■ Recruitment 257

About a third of LinkedIn’s revenue comes from corporate customers who buy rights for their recruiters to use LinkedIn’s software as a service. This rapid evolution is expected to continue, with dynamic, customized job postings that use cookie-based targeting to com- municate job advertisements to relevant individuals based on their online behaviors and the incorporation of mobile technology to access Internet-based job information (Dineen & Allen, 2014; Maurer, 2016c). The result? A “leveling of the information playing field” brought about by Web technology.

Organizations recruit periodically in order to add to, maintain, or readjust their total workforces in accordance with HR requirements. Building on the ideas shown in Figure 3.2, the external staffing supply chain, Figure 11.1 illustrates the recruitment process as a talent supply chain.

In Figure 11.1, attract describes the overall process of generating and inducing interest among suitable applicants for potential employment opportunities in the organization. Source is the process of generating a pool of applicants. Assess is the evaluation of knowledge, skills, and abilities, and other characteristics in order to perform a job. Employ is the process of mov- ing the desired candidate into employment. Note, however, that some of the activities associ- ated with each function overlap other functions.

The logic of recruitment calls for sound strategic workforce planning systems (talent inven- tories, forecasts of workforce supply and demand, action plans, and control and evaluation procedures) to serve as a base from which to launch recruiting efforts. This will be evident as we begin to examine the operational aspects of the recruitment function.

In this chapter, our objective is to describe how organizations search for prospective employees and influence them to apply for available jobs. Accordingly, we consider recruit- ment planning, operations, and evaluation, together with relevant findings from recruitment research, and we include organizational examples to illustrate current practices. Figure 11.2, from Dineen and Soltis (2011), serves as an overarching framework for the processes described in this chapter. It integrates earlier views of recruitment in terms of sequential stages (Barber, 1998; Breaugh, Macan, & Grambow, 2008), while also integrating contextual/environmental and “key-process” issues (Rynes & Cable, 2003). As shown in Figure 11.2, two key decision points (application and job choice) separate these primary recruitment stages. Within each stage, the framework also identifies important subcategories.

Source: Based on © ISO. This material is reproducted from ISO 30405:2016 with permission of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) on behalf of the International Organization for Standardization. All rights reserved. Based on Cascio, W. F., & Boudreau, J. W. Investing in People: Financial Impact of Human Resource Initiatives, 2nd ed. © 2011.

Potential talent pool

Talent pool Applicant

pool

Candidates for further evaluation

ATTRACT (employer brand/recruitment communication)

SOURCE (confirm/complete inputs/build talent pool)

ASSESS (screening/selection/final decisions)

EMPLOY (prepare candidate for full employment)

Candidate management

Preboard Board

FIGURE 11.1 ■ The Recruitment Process as a Talent Supply Chain

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258 Applied Psychology in Talent Management

Three contextual/environmental features affect all recruitment efforts, namely, charac- teristics of the firm (the value of its “brand” and its “personality”; Cascio & Graham, 2016; Lievens & Slaughter, 2016); characteristics of the vacancy itself (is it mission critical?); and characteristics of the labor markets in which an organization recruits. Likewise, three sequen- tial stages characterize recruitment efforts: generating a pool of viable candidates, maintain- ing the status (or interest) of viable candidates, and “getting to yes” after making a job offer (postoffer closure).

Figure 11.1 also identifies key activities that affect each of these three stages. These include strategies for targeting potential candidates and for communicating information to them (“messaging strategies”); issues related to screening viable candidates and interactions with organizational agents (recruiters, managers, and employees encountered during site visits); and issues related to actual job offers (e.g., timing, “exploding” offers that disappear after specified periods of time). Finally, Figure 11.2 identifies some key processes that affect the outcomes of each stage of the recruitment process, for example, social networking and infor- mation processing (seen through the lens of the elaboration likelihood model; Jones, Shultz, & Chapman, 2006) at the candidate-generation stage; communication, rapport building, and signaling to maintain viable candidates; and negotiation, decision making, and competi- tive intelligence at the postoffer stage. Space constraints do not permit us to discuss each of the issues, activities, and processes shown in Figure 11.2, but we present it here because it is

Source: Dineen, B. R., & Soltis, S. N. (2011). Recruitment: A review of research and emerging directions. In S. Zedeck (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 43–66). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Environmental/Contextual Considerations

Generating viable candidates

Targeting strategies

• Mass vs. 1–1 • Cycle timing • Internal recruitment • Active, passive, and nontraditional candidates

• Person–environment fit • Message orientation • Diversity advertising • Web recruitment and other sources

• Recruiters

• Communication • Rapport building • Signaling

• Decision making • Negotiation • Competitive intelligence

• Site visits

• Social networking • Information processing (e.g., ELM, image theory)

• Fairness perceptions • Timeliness

• Exploding offers • Timing/offer windows

Key processes at each stage

Messaging strategies

Screening considerations

Interactions with organizational agents

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Competing offers

Maintaining status of viable applicants

Postoffer closure

Firm Vacancy Labor market

• Brand equity • Personality

• Core vs. peripheral • Inducements

• Supply/demand • Diversity

Figure 11.2 ■ An Integrated Model of the Recruitment Process

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Chapter 11 ■ Recruitment 259

rich in implications for advancing both the theory and practice of recruitment. Let’s begin by considering recruitment planning.

RECRUITMENT PLANNING The process of recruitment planning begins with a clear specification of HR needs (numbers, skills mix, levels) and the time frame within which such requirements must be met. This is particularly relevant to the setting of workforce diversity goals and timetables. Labor-force availability and internal workforce representation of women and minorities are critical factors in this process. In the United States, the Census Bureau provides such information based on national census data for specific geographic areas.

Beyond these issues, two other important questions need to be addressed, namely, whom to recruit and where to recruit (Breaugh, 2008; Ployhart & Kim, 2014; Rynes, Reeves, & Darnold, 2014). Answers to both questions are essential to determining recruitment objec- tives. For example, a prehire objective might be to attract a certain number of applications for pivotal or mission-critical jobs from passive job candidates—those who are not currently looking for a job. Objectives are also critical to recruitment evaluation, namely, if an employer wishes to compare what it hoped to accomplish with recruitment outcomes.

Having established recruitment objectives, an organization should be able to develop a coherent strategy for filling open positions. Among the questions an employer might address in establishing a recruitment strategy are (a) when to begin recruiting, (b) what message to communicate to potential job applicants, and (c) whom to use as recruiters. As Breaugh (2012) has noted, answers to these questions should be consistent with the recruitment objec- tives previously established. In terms of messages, consider the finding that satisfaction with coworkers enhances older-worker engagement (Avery, McKay, & Wilson, 2007). Messages to recruit older workers might therefore be geared toward enhancing perceptions of fit with immediate coworkers (person–group fit). Such messages might also build on the findings of a study by Rau and Adams (2005) that targeted EEO statements, the opportunity to transfer knowledge, and flexible schedules, all of which positively influenced attraction of older workers.

Internal Recruitment

Primed with a comprehensive workforce plan for the various segments of the workforce (e.g., entry level, managerial, professional, and technical), recruitment planning may begin and internal candidates should be considered first. There are four key advantages to recruiting internally (Breaugh, 2014; Maurer, 2016b). First, there is less transition time moving into new jobs. Current employees are already familiar with an employer’s products, people, and operat- ing procedures. Second, there is a greater likelihood of filling a position successfully. In con- trast to external candidates, an employer has considerably more information about internal candidates (e.g., past performance, temperament, work ethic). Third, it is generally cheaper to fill a higher level position internally than it is to fill it from outside. Fourth, assuming that those promoted from within are seen as deserving, there is a positive impact on the motivation levels of other employees.

At the same time, however, organizations must confront a common problem: the reluc- tance of managers to grant permission for their subordinates to be interviewed for potential transfer or promotion. In a recent survey, fully half of 665 firms reported talent hoarding as a serious problem (Lublin, 2017). To overcome this aversion, promotion-from-within poli- cies must receive strong top-management support, coupled with a company philosophy that

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260 Applied Psychology in Talent Management

permits employees to consider available opportunities within the organization and incentives for managers to release them. At EY (formerly Ernst & Young), Johnson & Johnson, and PepsiCo, pay is now determined, in part, by how well a manager does at nurturing people. Technology consulting firm Avanade shifts leaders to new roles every few years to ensure that high-potential employees get noticed (Church, 2017; Lublin, 2017).

With respect to timing, the effective use of “in-house” talent should come first. If an orga- nization undertakes external recruitment efforts without considering the desires, capabilities, and potential of present employees, it may incur both short- and long-term costs. In the short term, morale may degenerate. Over the longer term, an organization with a reputation for consistent neglect of in-house talent may find it difficult to attract new employees or to retain experienced ones. In light of those concerns, organizations are making wider use of job post- ings (via company intranets, on internal social media, or in company newsletters), employee referrals (one way to attract “passive” candidates; Ryan, 2017), and temporary worker pools (Kauflin, 2016).

External Recruitment

Today, firms are hiring externally to fill jobs at all levels (Cappelli & Keller, 2017). To do that well, begin by estimating three key parameters: the time, the money, and the staff necessary to achieve a given hiring rate (Hawk, 1967). The basic statistic needed to estimate these param- eters is the number of leads needed to generate a given number of hires in a given time. Certainly, the easiest way to derive this figure is on the basis of prior recruitment experience. If accurate records were maintained regarding yield ratios and time-lapse data, no problem exists, since trends may be determined and reliable predictions generated (assuming labor-market condi- tions are comparable). Yield ratios are the ratios of leads to invites, invites to interviews, interviews (and other selection instruments) to offers, and offers to hires obtained over some specified time period (e.g., six months or a year). Time-lapse data provide the average inter- vals between events, such as between the extension of an offer to a candidate and acceptance or between acceptance and addition to the payroll.

If no experience data exist, then it is necessary to use “best guesses” or hypotheses and then to monitor performance as the operational recruitment program unfolds. For the moment, however, suppose ABC Engineering Consultants is contemplating opening two

new offices and needs 100 additional engineers in the next six months. Fortunately, ABC has expanded in the past, and, on that basis, it is able to make predictions like this:

With technical candidates, we must extend offers to 2 candidates to gain 1 acceptance, or an offer- to-acceptance ratio of 2:1. If we need 100 engi- neers, we’ll have to extend 200 offers. Further, if the interview-to-offer ratio has been 3:2, then we need to conduct 300 interviews, and, since the invites-to-interview ratio is 4:3, then we must invite as many as 400 candidates. Finally, if contacts or leads required to find suitable candidates to invite are in a 6:1 proportion, then we need to make 2,400 contacts.

A recruiting yield pyramid for these data is presented in Figure 11.3.

Hires

Offers/Hires

Ratio

2:1

3:2

4:3

6:1

Interview/Offers

Invites/Interviews

Leads/Invites

100

200

300

400

2400

Offers

Interviews

Invites

Leads

FIGURE 11.3 ■ Recruiting Yield Pyramid— Engineering Candidates, ABC Engineering Consultants

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Chapter 11 ■ Recruitment 261

Increasingly, companies are using artificial intelli- gence to screen résumés. Here are some typical yield ratios (Weber, 2012): Of 1,000 people who notice a job post- ing online, approximately 200 will begin the application process. Of those, approximately 100 people complete the application process, and of those, a hiring manager reviews approximately 25 résumés. Roughly four to six candidates will be invited to interview for the vacancy, one to three finalists will complete the final steps of the qualification process, and one person will be offered the position. He or she accepts 80% of the time.

Additional information, critical to effective recruitment planning, can be derived from time-lapse data. For ABC Engineering Consultants, experience may show that the interval from receipt of a résumé to invitation averages four days. If the candidate is still available, he or she will be interviewed five days later. Offers are extended, on average, three days after interviews, and, within a week after that, the candidate either accepts or rejects the offer. If the candidate accepts, he or she reports to work, on average, three weeks from the date of acceptance. Therefore, if ABC begins today, the best estimate is that it will be 40 days before the first new employee is added to the payroll. With this information, the “length” of the recruitment pipeline can be described and recruiting plans fitted to it. A simple time- lapse chart for these data is presented in Figure 11.4. Data on 350,000 cases from Glassdoor indicate that companies take an average of 23 days to screen and hire new employees (exclud- ing the time from acceptance to report for work) (Shellenbarger, 2016). Time to fill averages 42 days (Society for Human Resource Management, 2016c).

All of this assumes that intervals between events in the pipeline proceed as planned. In fact, longitudinal research indicates that delays in the timing of recruitment events are per- ceived negatively by candidates, especially high-quality ones, and often cost job acceptances (Boswell, Roehling, LePine, & Moynihan, 2003; Bretz & Judge, 1998; Chapman, Uggerslev, Carroll, Piasentin, & Jones, 2005; Rynes & Cable, 2003; Wright, 2017). In addition, time to fill can be misleading, especially if measures of the quality of new hires are ignored (Maurer, 2015b). Here is a simple example: It is one thing to know that a firm’s sales openings average 55 days to fill. It’s another thing to know that the difference between filling them in 55 versus 30 days costs the firm $30 million revenue, or that a 20% improvement in quality of hire will result in an $18 million productivity improvement.

Note, however, that these yield ratios and time-lapse data are appropriate only for ABC’s engineers. Other segments of the workforce may respond differently, and widespread use of the Internet by job seekers in all areas may change both yield ratios and time-lapse data. From the perspective of job seekers, it takes people who apply online an average of three more weeks to get a job than if they contacted the employer directly and six more weeks compared to a personal referral (Maurer, 2016a). Of course, the time period also depends on labor-market conditions. As we noted on Chapter 10, a labor market is a geographic area within which the forces of supply (people looking for work) interact with the forces of demand (employers looking for people) and thereby determine the price of labor. However, since the geographic areas over which employers extend their recruiting efforts depend partly on the type of job being filled, it is impossible to define the boundaries of a local labor market in any clear-cut manner (Newman, Gerhart, & Milkovich, 2016). If the supply of suitable workers in a particular labor market is high relative to available jobs, then the price of labor generally will be cheaper. By contrast, if the supply is limited (e.g., suppose ABC needs certain types of engineering specialists who are unavailable locally), then the search must be widened and additional labor markets investigated in order to realize required yield ratios.

Average number of days from:

Résumé to invitation 4

Invitation to interview 5

Interview to offer 3

Offer to acceptance 7

Acceptance to report for work 21

FIGURE 11.4 ■ Time-Lapse Data for Recruitment of Engineers

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262 Applied Psychology in Talent Management

In traditional internal labor markets, employees are brought into organizations through a small number of entry-level jobs and then are promoted up through a hierarchy of increas- ingly responsible and lucrative positions. In recent years, however, internal labor markets have weakened, such that high-level jobs have not been restricted to internal candidates, and, as noted earlier, new employees have been hired from the outside at virtually all levels (Bidwell, 2017; Cappelli & Keller, 2017). This has had the predictable effect of weakening employee loyalty and trust in management, and it puts employers at a disadvantage when labor mar- kets tighten. Table 11.1 presents some of the advantages and disadvantages of internal versus external recruitment.

Staffing Requirements and Cost Analyses

Experienced professional and technical recruiters can be expected to produce about 50 new hires per year, but that number varies by company size. It could be 85 hires per year for a large com- pany, and as few as 20–30 for a small one (Glenn, 2009). Let’s assume four full-time recruiters will be required to meet ABC’s staffing requirements for 100 engineers in the next six months.

So far, we have been able to estimate ABC’s recruiting time and staffing requirements on the basis of its previous recruiting experience. Several other parameters must be considered before the planning process is complete. The most important of these, as might logically be expected, is cost. Before making cost estimates, however, let’s assume that an organization has no prior recruiting experience (or that the necessary data were not recorded). The devel- opment of working hypotheses about yield ratios is considerably more complex under these conditions, though far from impossible.

It is important to analyze the external labor market by source, along with analyses of demand for similar types of people by competitors. It is also important to evaluate the entire organizational environment in order to do a “company advantage study.” Numerous items must be appraised, including geographic factors (climate, recreation), location of the firm, cost of living, availability of housing, proximity to shopping centers, quality of local public and parochial schools, and so forth.

Capitalizing on special factors that are likely to attract candidates, such as organizational image, reputation, and future opportunities, is important as well (Collins, 2007; Collins & Han, 2004; Feffer, 2016; Weber, 2016). Image is a strong predictor (ρ = .48) of organizational attraction (Allen, Mahto, & Otondo, 2007; Lievens & Slaughter, 2016). Such information will prove useful when developing a future recruiting strategy and when gathering baseline data for estimates of recruiting yield.

Here are three reasons why a positive organizational image or reputation might influence prospective candidates to apply (Lievens & Slaughter, 2016; Rynes & Cable, 2003): (1) People

Advantages Disadvantages

Internal recruitment Faster, cheaper Motivates other employees More successful placements

May encourage hoarding of top talent May perpetuate the status quo

External recruitment New ideas Facilitates expansion Fills jobs where internal talent is not available

Longer trajectory to full productivity Slower, more expensive

TABLE 11.1 ■ Advantages and Disadvantages of Internal Versus External Recruitment

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Chapter 11 ■ Recruitment 263

seek to associate themselves with organizations that enhance their self-esteem. Job seekers might pursue high-reputation companies to bask in such organizations’ reflected glory or to avoid negative outcomes associated with working for an employer with a poor image. (2) A positive reputation may signal that an organization is likely to provide other desirable attributes, such as high pay and strong opportunities for career growth and development. (3) A positive reputation may make applicants more receptive to whatever information an organization provides.

Yield ratios and time-lapse data are valuable for estimating recruiting staff and time requirements. Recruitment planning is not complete, however, until the costs of alternative recruitment strategies have been estimated. Expenditures by source must be analyzed care- fully in advance in order to avoid any subsequent “surprises.” In short, analysis of costs is one of the most important considerations in determining where, when, and how to approach the recruiting marketplace.

The International Organization for Standardization (2017) has issued a cost-per-hire (CPH) international standard. The CPH metric is designed to measure the costs associated with the sourcing, recruiting, and staffing activities borne by an employer to fill an open position in the organization. CPH is a ratio of the total dollars expended (in both external and internal costs) to the total number of hires in a specified time period (see Equation 11.1).

CPH = ∑ (External Costs) + ∑ (Internal Costs)/ Total Number of Hires in a Time Period (11.1)

External costs include all sources of spending outside the organization on recruiting efforts during the time period in question. Examples of external costs include third-party agency fees, advertising costs, job-fair costs, and travel costs for recruiting.

Internal costs include all sources of internal resources and costs used for staffing efforts during the time period in question. Examples of internal costs include the fully loaded salary and benefits of the recruiting team and fixed costs, such as physical infrastructure (e.g., talent- acquisition system costs).

Total number of hires refers to the total added during the time period in question. Regard- less of the hires’ staffing type (e.g., regular full time, regular part time, temporary) and total number, we assume that the fully loaded costs to staff the included positions have been calcu- lated in external costs and internal costs.

Source Analysis

Analysis of recruiting sources facilitates effective planning. Three types of analyses are typical: cost per hire, time lapse from candidate identification to hire, and source yield. In terms of cost per hire, the most expensive sources generally are private employment agencies and executive search firms, since their fees may constitute as much as 35% of an individual’s first-year salary (Stewart, 2015). The next most expensive sources are field trips, for both advertising expenses and recruiters’ travel and living expenses are incurred. Less expensive are advertising responses, Internet responses, write-ins, and internal transfers and promotions. Employee referrals, direct applications (mail or Web based), and walk-ins are the cheapest sources of candidates.

Time-lapse studies of recruiting sources are especially useful for planning purposes, since the time from initial contact to report onboard varies across sources. In the case of college recruiting, for example, a steady f low of new employees is impossible, since report- ing dates typically coincide closely with graduation, regardless of when the initial contact was made.

For those sources capable of producing a steady flow, however, employee referrals and direct applications usually show the shortest delay from initial contact to report (Maurer,

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264 Applied Psychology in Talent Management

2016a). By contrast, when an organization has an efficient recruiting infrastructure in place, it may be difficult to beat the Internet. Today’s cloud-based applicant tracking systems, such as IBM Kenexa BrassRing, Greenhouse, or SmartRecruiters, have intuitive interfaces and tools that allow recruiters to cast a wider net for candidates. They also include robust analytics with “dashboards” that illustrate key recruitment metrics (Maurer, 2017a; Zielinski, 2015). Fully 75% of hiring and talent acquisition managers use applicant tracking or recruiting software to improve the hiring process (Kandefer, 2017).

From an applicant’s perspective, it takes an average of about 15 applications to different employers to get a job through an online job site, versus 10 for those who apply directly to a company, and six for those who are referred by current employees (Maurer, 2016a). Competi- tion for top candidates is intense; the organization whose recruiting section functions smoothly and is capable of responding swiftly has the greatest likelihood of landing high-potential people.

The third index of source performance is source yield (i.e., the ratio of the number of can- didates generated from a particular source to hires from that source). Although no ranking of source yields would have validity across all types of organizations and all labor markets, Breaugh, Greising, Taggart, and Chen (2003) examined the relationship between five recruit- ment methods (i.e., employee referrals, direct applicants, college placement offices, job fairs, and newspaper ads) and prehire outcomes for applicants for information-technology jobs. They found no difference for level of education or interview score. Not surprisingly, those recruited from college placement offices had less experience than applicants in the other groups. In terms of a job offer, employee referrals and direct applicants were more likely to receive one than were those in the other groups. This pattern also held for those who were hired. Thus, although employee referrals and direct applicants did not differ from those in the other groups on two measures of applicant quality, they still were viewed as being more deserving of job offers.

A more recent study of employee referrals used longitudinal data from 386 referrer– referral hire pairs at the same job level in a U.S. call center over a two-year period (Pieper, 2015). Referral hires from high-performing referrers performed better but had higher turnover propensities than did those from lower-performing referrers.

The most commonly used sources are changing, however (Ryan & Delaney, 2017). Fully 87% of recruiters now use LinkedIn and 55% use Facebook (many use both sources) (Kandefer, 2017). At the same time, informal contacts are used widely and effectively at all occupational levels. In fact, word-of-mouse (informal, Web-based conversations about compa- nies) are viewed as more credible and associated with higher organizational attractiveness than are Web-based testimonials (Farrell, 2012; Van Hoye & Lievens, 2007).

Having examined source yield, we are almost ready to begin recruiting operations at this point. Recruiting efficiency can be heightened considerably, however, once employment requirements are defined thoroughly in advance. This is an essential step for both technical and nontechnical jobs. Recruiters must be familiar with the job descriptions of available jobs; they must understand (and, if possible, have direct experience with) the work to be performed. Research has shown clearly that characteristics of organizations and jobs (e.g., location, pay, opportunity to learn, challenging and interesting work) have a greater influence on the likeli- hood of job acceptance by candidates than do characteristics of the recruiter (Barber & Roeh- ling, 1993; Rynes, 1991; Taylor & Bergmann, 1987).

Nevertheless, at the first stage of recruitment, characteristics of recruiters (personable, trustworthy, informative, competent) do affect the perceptions of candidates (Chapman et al., 2005), particularly with respect to the procedural justice of the process (Chapman & Webster, 2006), but not their intentions to accept job offers (Stevens, 1998). Neither the job function (HR versus line management) nor the gender of the recruiter seems to make much difference to candidates (Chapman et al., 2005). At the same time, there are at least three reasons why

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Chapter 11 ■ Recruitment 265

recruiters might matter (Breaugh et al., 2008). Different types of recruiters may be important because (a) they vary in the amount of job-related information they possess (and therefore can share), (b) they differ in terms of their credibility in the eyes of recruits, and (c) they signal different things to job candidates. In online social networks, recruiters who secure a central network position as a connector and who brand themselves well (in addition to employer branding) are most successful in attracting quality candidates (Ollington, Gibb, & Harcourt, 2013). Still, it is likely that applicants rely less on recruiter signals as more information about job and organizational characteristics becomes salient (Dineen & Soltis, 2011).

Planning is now complete. Strategic workforce plans have been established; time, cost, and staff requirements have been specified; sources have been analyzed; and job requirements and employment standards have been determined and validated. Now we are ready to begin recruiting operations.

OPERATIONS Operationally, all organizations need to address five important questions about internal recruitment. To illustrate each one, consider the role of technical professionals and their potential moves to managerial positions (Cascio, 2018):

� How does the organization create a talent pool? For example, how does it prepare technical professionals for future management positions?

� How does the organization attract candidates for promotion? Do the most suitable technical professionals want to advance to management, or do they prefer to pursue technical work?

� How does the system choose candidates? Are promotion candidates chosen as a reward for good technical performance or for their leadership abilities?

� How does the organization make offers to land candidates? How successful is the organization in convincing technical professionals to move into leadership positions?

� How does the organization bring new employees on board? How much support and training are technical professionals given after they assume their new positions to help them become effective leaders?

Internal mobility may be beneficial from the standpoint of creating social network ties to new areas of the business (Somaya, Williamson, & Lorinkova, 2008). In many cases, however, organizations turn to external sources to fill entry-level or higher level jobs, jobs created by expansion, and jobs whose specifications cannot be met by present employees. To that topic we now turn.

External Sources for Recruiting Applicants

A variety of external recruiting sources are available, with the choice of source(s) contingent on specific hiring requirements and source-analysis results. Available sources include the following:

� Advertising—Internet-based job boards or talent platforms, newspapers (physical or online), social media, technical and professional journals, television, radio, and (in some cases) outdoor advertising

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� Employment agencies—federal and state agencies, private agencies, executive search firms, management consulting firms, and agencies specializing in temporary help

� Educational institutions—technical and trade schools, colleges and universities, co-op work/study programs, and alumni placement offices

� Professional organizations—technical society meetings and conventions (regional and national) and society placement services

� Military—out-processing centers and regional and national retired officer associations’ placement services

� Labor unions

� Career fairs—physical or virtual

� Outplacement firms

� Direct application (walk-ins, write-ins, online applicants)

� Intracompany transfers and company retirees

� Employee referrals

To illustrate how companies try to gain a competitive advantage over their rivals in univer- sity recruiting for top talent, consider the example in Box 11.1.

The sources listed here may be classified as formal (institutionalized search methods such as employment agencies, advertising, search firms) or informal (e.g., walk-ins, write- ins, employee referrals). In terms of the most popular sources used by employers, evidence indicates the following (Breaugh, 2012; Dineen & Soltis, 2011; Griffeth, Tenbrink, & Robinson, 2014):

� Use of public employment services declines as required skills levels increase.

� The internal market is a major recruitment source except for entry-level, unskilled, and semiskilled workers.

BOX 11.1 HOW GOLDMAN SACHS USES VIDEO TO SCREEN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FOR SUMMER JOBS

Goldman Sachs is changing its focus from on-campus interviews at elite schools to find students who are pas- sionate about and committed to careers in finance. To do that, it is changing the way it interviews and assesses candidates for summer analyst roles, typically the first- rung jobs for a career in banking. To cast a wider net for candidates, especially those from non-elite schools, it is experimenting with video interviews, in which can- didates answer prompts from a software program (Bazaaz, 2016). Videos are reviewed by Goldman’s recruiting team and the bank invites those who make the cut to one of its offices for a day of in-person interviews,

called “super days.” The new procedure allows recruit- ers to conduct significantly more first-round interviews than in the past.

In addition, the firm is deploying more résumé- screening technology, and it is piloting the use of per- sonality measures to better identify students with dispositions that reflect the firm’s core values, such as “grit,” “judgment,” and “problem solving.” Goldman recruiters still visit a few dozen campuses to get to know students, host gatherings, and answer questions about life at the firm. They also still conduct on-campus interviews for MBA students (Gellman, 2016).

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� Larger firms are the most frequent users of walk-ins, write-ins, and the internal market. They clearly have a hiring advantage (Knowledge@Wharton, 2014).

� There is no consistent relationship between recruitment sources and person– job fit.

� Use of multiple recruitment sources together with informal sources provides the most realistic and accurate information.

In practice, most applicants use more than one recruitment source to learn about jobs. However, the accumulated evidence on the relationship among recruitment sources, turnover, and job performance suggests that such relationships are quite weak (Griffeth et al., 2014). What may be more important than the source per se is how much support and information a source provides, or the extent to which a source embeds prescreening on desired applicant characteristics (Maurer, 2017b; Rynes et al., 2014).

With respect to job advertisements, those that contained more information resulted in a job opening being viewed as more attractive (e.g., Allen et al., 2007) and as more credible (Allen, Van Scotter, & Otondo, 2004) than those that contained less information. Research also has shown that advertisements that contain more specific information about a position increase applicant interest in the position and may result in better person–organization fit (Roberson, Collins, & Oreg, 2005). Meta-analysis shows that fit, in turn, is the best predictor of applicant attraction (Uggerslev, Fasina, & Kraichy, 2012). Box 11.2 highlights the special issues associated with recruiting for diversity.

Employee referrals have been and remain extremely popular. They are a major source of new hires at many levels, including professionals. The logic behind employee referral is that “it takes one to know one.” Interestingly, the rate of employee participation seems to remain unaffected by such efforts as higher cash bonuses, cars, or expense-paid trips (Breaugh, 2012). This suggests that good employees will not refer potentially undesirable candidates, even if the rewards are outstanding. Finally, considerable research evidence indicates that referrals result in consistently lower quit rates than other sources (Griffeth et al., 2014).

Research shows that employee referrals work for three major reasons. First, assuming that current employees value their reputations, they prescreen referrals. Second, referrals are more likely to have accurate expectations about jobs, assuming they have discussed them with current employees. Third, newly hired employee referrals have someone they can go to for coaching (Breaugh, 2014, Griffeth, Hom, Fink, & Cohen, 1997). Employee referrals clearly have advantages, but from an EEO perspective, employee referrals are fine as long as the workforce is diverse in gender, race, and ethnicity to begin with. A poten- tial disadvantage, at least for some firms, is that employee referrals tend to perpetuate the perspective, the belief systems, and, in some cases, the lack of diversity of the current workforce. This may not be the best way to go for organizations that are trying to change those things.

Managing Recruiting Operations

Administratively, recruitment is one of the easiest activities to foul up—with potentially long-term negative publicity for the firm. Recent evidence indicates that this area needs serious work, as almost 60% of job seekers report having a poor candidate experience (see Box 11.3). Of those, 72% proceeded to share information about their poor experiences online on an employer-review site, such as Glassdoor, on a social networking site, or directly with a colleague or friend (Kandefer, 2017). Among other things, organizations are trying

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BOX 11.2 RECRUITING FOR DIVERSITY

For organizations that wish to increase the diversity of their workforces, the first (and most difficult) step is to determine their needs, goals, and target populations. Once you know what you want your diversity program to accomplish, you can take steps such as the follow- ing (Babcock, 2017; Dineen & Soltis, 2011; Kravitz & Klineberg, 2000; Volpone, Thomas, Sinisterra, & Johnson, 2014):

zz Emphasize the ready availability of training and career development programs, the presence of a diverse upper management, and the presence of a diverse workforce (Avery, 2003).

zz Make initial contacts and gather information from community-support and other external recruitment and training organizations.

zz Develop one or more results-oriented programs. What actions will be taken, who will be involved, and how and when will actions be accomplished?

zz Invite program representatives to tour your organization, and recognize that they will pay attention to three aspects: the number of minorities at the site, the level of jobs held by minorities, and the types of interactions observed

between minority- and majority-group members (McKay & Avery, 2006).

zz Select a diversity of organizational contacts and recruiters for outreach and support, including employees outside the HR department.

zz Get top-management approval and support. Train managers to value diversity in the workplace.

zz Develop procedures for monitoring and follow-up; make revisions as needed to accomplish objectives.

zz Think carefully about the messages your organization wishes to transmit concerning its diversity programs; do not leave interpretation to the applicant’s imagination. For example, Cropanzano, Slaughter, and Bachiochi (2005) found that preferential-treatment plans are generally unappealing to prospective minority candidates, who want to ensure that they will be perceived as having been treated fairly and not as receiving preferential treatment.

The overall goal is to create a consistent corporate image that will support recruiting efforts across the board. After all, it’s not just hiring. People want to feel like they belong (Parsi, 2017; Wells, 2017).

BOX 11.3 IMPROVING THE COMPLETION RATE OF ONLINE JOB APPLICATIONS

More than 80% of active candidates now use smart- phones to search and apply for jobs, yet as many as 60% of them quit in the middle of filling out online job appli- cations because of their length or complexity. The cost to organizations is the loss of top talent, poor word-of- mouth from candidates frustrated with the process, and higher costs to firms that use cost-per-click recruiting models. What can organizations do? A study by recruit- ment company Appcast of 500,000 job seekers looking at online applications across diverse platforms and

more than 30,000 completed applications revealed that completion rates drop by almost 50% when an applica- tion asks 50 or more questions vs. 25 or fewer ques- tions. Other barriers include double logins (one account to log on to a careers site and another to apply through an ATS) and job descriptions that are too brief. Those between 250 and 2,000 words produce conversion rates five times higher than job descriptions of 170—250 words (Zielinski, 2016a).

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to eliminate operational problems by using an applicant tracking system (ATS). Figure 11.5 shows the flow of activ- ities in a typical ATS.

The process begins with a requisition from a hiring manager to authorize the filling of one or more posi- tions. Once a job posting is created, it is published in a variety of potential hiring channels (e.g., company website, job boards, social media). As candidates apply, they receive acknowledgments, and the documents they submit proceed through rough screening on a pass/fail basis. Hiring managers then interview the most promis- ing candidates and select the one or more who receive the highest ratings.

Through cloud- or computer-based ATS applications, firms have reengineered the entire recruitment process (see Box 11.4). ATS applications have evolved from résumé databases to well-rounded recruitment-optimization tools—cloud-based models that incorporate intuitive interfaces and tools that allow recruiters to cast a wider net for candidates (Maurer, 2017b; Zielinski, 2015, 2017). For example, HiringSolved is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop a conversational interface to a robust talent analytics platform—basically “Siri” for recruiting—to leverage massive data analysis and learn- ing capabilities known as RAI (recruiting artificial intelli- gence) (Maurer, 2017a). Many ATS applications can easily be integrated with “add-on” recruiting technologies from outside vendors, such as video inter- viewing, prehire assessments, and the sourcing of passive candidates. The last are not actively looking for jobs. To attract them, LinkedIn has a feature called “Open Candidates” that lets users announce to recruiters their openness to changing jobs while keeping that decision hid- den from their current employers (Maurer, 2016f).

Source: Alliance Investigative. (2016, July 26). Retrieved October 23, 2017, from www.allianceinvestigative.com/applicant-tracking-system/.

Requisition Job created

Published to website, job

boards, & agencies

Candidates apply &

acknowledged

Applicants screened—

pass/fail

Hiring managers

interview— select/reject

Applicant hired Applicant

tracking system

FIGURE 11.5 ■ Flow of Work in an Applicant Tracking System

BOX 11.4 ANALYTICS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HELP IMPROVE THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Every year more ATS applications incorporate robust analytics. Companies want to know how long it takes candidates to move through interview stages, how that influences drop-out rates, and where recruiters spend the most time. IBM Watson helps recruiters measure the degree of effort required to fill certain job openings, helps prioritize job requisitions, accurately predicts the likelihood of candidates being successful, and per- forms social-media “listening” to create insights that

help recruiters improve their messages to candidates. Greenhouse’s ATS automatically sends a recruiter a pop-up e-mail form when candidates are rejected, reminding him or her to communicate with that can- didate. More broadly, the ability to communicate auto- matically with candidates as their applications move from one stage to another is a game changer for many companies, helping to improve the talent-acquisition process (Wright, 2017; Zielinski, 2017).

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MEASUREMENT, EVALUATION, AND CONTROL If advance recruitment planning has been thorough, later evaluation of the recruitment effort is simplified considerably. Early hypotheses regarding cost and quality can be mea- sured against actual operating results. Critical trade-offs can be made intelligently on the basis of empirical data, not haphazardly on the basis of hunch or intuition. Any number of cost and quality analyses might be performed, but it is critical to choose those that are strategically most relevant to a given organization (Cascio & Boudreau, 2011b; Feffer, 2017; Maurer, 2016d).

Another consideration is to choose measures of recruiting success that are most relevant to various stages in the recruitment process (see Figure 11.2). An important metric in the first stage, whose objective is to generate viable candidates, is total résumés received. In the second stage, maintaining the status of viable applicants, analysis of postvisit and rejection questionnaires is particularly relevant. In the final stage, postoffer closure, the acceptance-to- offer ratio, combined with an analysis of reasons for acceptance and rejection of job offers, are appropriate metrics. Ultimately, however, the success of recruitment efforts depends on the number of successful placements made.

To assess the quality of hires, it is necessary to calculate metrics both pre- and posthire. Quality measures that focus on recruitment (e.g., time-to-fill, candidate assessment scores) are distinct from those that focus on posthire performance quality (e.g., measures of perfor- mance, productivity, and cultural fit) (Maurer, 2015b). Here are some other possible metrics, including those noted above:

� Cost of operations

� Cost per hire

� Cost per hire by source

� Total résumés received

� Résumés by source

� Quality of résumé by source

� Source yield and source efficiency

� Time lapse between recruiting stages by source

� Time lapse between recruiting stages by acceptance versus rejection

� Workflow conversion rates (time spent in each of the workflow steps of an ATS)

� Geographical sources of candidates

� Individual recruiter activity

� Individual recruiter efficiency

� Acceptance-to-offer ratio

� Offer-to-interview ratio

� Interview-to-invitation ratio

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� Invitation-to-résumé input ratio

� Biographical data analyses against acceptance/rejection data

� Analysis of postvisit and rejection questionnaires

� Analysis of reasons for acceptance and rejection of job offers

� Analysis of post–reporting date follow-up interviews

� Placement-test scores of hires versus rejections

� Placement-test scores versus observed performance

� Salary offered—acceptances versus rejections

� Salary versus age, year of first degree, and total work experience

Results of these analyses should be presented graphically (e.g., via “dashboards”) for ease of interpretation and communication. Software makes that easy to do. With this information, each recruiter can analyze his or her own performance, and senior managers can track cost and hiring trends. In addition, future needs and strategies can be determined.

Formal procedures for translating recruitment-related differences in sources and costs into monetary payoffs from recruitment and selection activities are also available (Boudreau & Rynes, 1985; Cascio & Boudreau, 2011a; De Corte, 1999; Law & Myors, 1993; Martin & Raju, 1992). Operating executives want to see the financial return on their investments in recruiting, and monetary payoffs can provide this additional perspective.

JOB SEARCH FROM THE APPLICANT’S PERSPECTIVE How do individuals identify, investigate, and decide among job opportunities? Research has found that many job applicants (a) have an incomplete and/or inaccurate understanding of what a job opening involves; (b) are not sure what they want from a position; (c) do not have self-insight with regard to their knowledge, skills, and abilities; and (d) cannot accurately predict how they will react to the demands of a new position (Breaugh, 2008, 2012; Breaugh et al., 2008; Rynes & Cable, 2003). At the same time, the Internet has been a game changer in recruitment. Dineen and Allen (2014) noted how it has increased the richness of informa- tion, especially early in the process; increased the customization of information; changed from pushing information to job seekers to candidates pulling information; and decentralized the recruitment function in organizations.

Applicants should exploit the vast capabilities of the Internet, since 92% of companies use social media for recruitment, and 45% of Fortune 500 firms include links to social media on their career-page sections (Staff.com, 2013). Beyond that, company websites such as Accenture, Goldman Sachs, Ikea, and L’Oréal offer interactive tools to help candidates assess person–organization fit (Ryan & Delaney, 2017). Online networking sites—such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, and Twitter—have become increasingly important to job seekers. Geared toward professional relationships, networking websites allow their members to build a web of social and business associates and to interact person-to-person with new contacts. As an example, consider SilkRoad Technology’s OpenHire. Once a candidate submits a résumé to a job site using OpenHire, he or she can view potential

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connections between the organization and his or her existing professional network (Career Profiles, n.d.).

Networking is crucially important (Rosato, 2009; Sundheim, 2014; Wanberg, Kanfer, & Banas, 2000; Yang, 2009), because it’s often casual contacts who point people to their next jobs. Social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook can facilitate virtual networks, but experts caution that a solid network of 50 people is better than 1,000 acquain- tances (Rosato, 2009).

How do organizational characteristics influence applicants’ attraction to firms? This is an important question, since many applicants are at least as concerned about picking the right organization as with choosing the right job. Chapman et al.’s (2005) meta-analytic evidence revealed that work environment (ρ = .60) and organizational image (ρ = .48) are both strong predictors of organizational attraction. Employer image is part of the broader multidimen- sional construct of organizational image (e.g., financial image, image as a responsible corpo- rate performer, and image as a provider of goods and services) (Lievens & Slaughter, 2016). Employer image is an amalgamation of transient mental representations of specific aspects of a company as an employer, as held by individual constituents (Highhouse, Broadfoot, Yugo, & Devendorf, 2009). Lievens and Slaughter’s (2016) review confirmed earlier findings that organizations with a positive image are able to attract more and better applicants. They also emphasized that external employer branding is a synonym for employer image management.

The most feasible way to improve an employer’s recruitment image is to provide more information, not only recruitment information, but also product and service advertisements (Cable, Aiman-Smith, Mulvey, & Edwards, 2000). Being a good community citizen is another strategy to enhance the employment brand. Employers can sponsor community events and provide opportunities for employees to donate their work time in community projects. Finally, be sure to emphasize information about the company’s culture, values, collaboration, and teamwork (Society for Human Resource Management, 2016a). Show how those elements may affect a new employee on a day-to-day basis. What about information customized to job seekers? Dineen and Noe (2009) found that the effects of customization tend to encourage poor-fitting job seekers to self-select out, rather than encouraging well-fitting job seekers to self-select in.

In today’s global markets it is crucial to invest in effective employer branding (Cascio, 2014; Cascio & Graham, 2016; Graham & Cascio, in press). Since employer branding is tar- geted at current and prospective employees, it is important to understand target employees cross-culturally and to develop branding strategies that fit those differences. Thus, the employer-brand message of global accounting giant EY reflects key features of the work environment—diversity, challenge, variety, f lexibility, and teamwork—in all countries and in all cultures where it operates (Society for Human Resource Management Foundation, 2012). Likewise, KFC Asia Pacific operates thousands of restaurants in the Asia-Pacific region, and millennials staff many, if not most, of them. To attract and retain talent, KFC emphasizes three key features of its work environment in its employer-brand message: fun, family, and flexibility. That is, working at a KFC restaurant is fun, crew members at each restaurant treat each other like family, and employees have a lot of f lexibility to set a work schedule that fits the constraints of their lifestyles (Society for Human Resource Manage- ment Foundation, 2015).

Finally, what about the effects of site visits on candidates? They clearly affect the eventual choices of candidates (Ryan & Delaney, 2017), but Slaughter, Cable, and Turban (2014) pro- vided a more nuanced interpretation. They found that when recruits had little confidence in their initial views, they were much more likely to be affected by the site visit than those who already had strong image perceptions (positive or negative). The latter group’s views were less likely to change.

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REALISTIC JOB PREVIEWS A final line of research deserves mention. Given that many employers try to make themselves appear to be a good place to work (Buss, 2017), applicant expectations generally are inflated. If hired, individuals possessing inflated job expectations are thought to be more likely to become dissatisfied with their positions and more likely to quit than applicants who have more accurate expectations. Nearly all (90%) of the 1,817 executives polled in a recent survey by Futurestep said that new-hire retention is an issue for their organizations. More than half said that up to 25% of newly hired workers leave within the first six months (Maurer, 2017d). One way to counter these tendencies is to provide realistic information to job applicants.

Numerous investigations have studied the effect of a realistic job preview (RJP) on with- drawal from the recruitment process, job acceptance, job satisfaction, performance, and turnover. In general, when the naive expectations of job applicants are lowered to match orga- nizational reality, job acceptance rates may be lower but job performance, job satisfaction, and survival are higher for those who receive an RJP (Breaugh, 2008; Hom, 2011; Landis, Earnest, & Allen, 2014; Phillips, 1998; Premack & Wanous, 1985; Wanous, 1977; Weller, Michalik, & Muhlbauer, 2014). Over many studies, meta-analysis shows that RJPs improve retention rates, on average, by 9%, but smaller improvements can be expected in low-complexity jobs than in high-complexity jobs (McEvoy & Cascio, 1985).

Despite their potential advantages, RJPs are not appropriate for all types of jobs. They seem to work best (a) when few applicants are hired (i.e., the selection ratio is low); (b) when used with entry-level positions (because those coming from outside to inside the organization tend to have more inflated expectations than those who make changes internally); and (c) when unemployment is low (because job candidates are more likely to have alternative jobs to choose from) (Breaugh, 1983, 1992; Wanous, 1980, 2017).

Longitudinal research shows that RJPs should be balanced in their orientation. That is, they should be conducted to enhance overly pessimistic expectations and to reduce overly optimistic expectations. Doing so helps to bolster the applicant’s perceptions of the organiza- tion as caring, trustworthy, and honest (Meglino, DeNisi, Youngblood, & Williams, 1988). Applicants’ overall evaluations of organizations, however, are influenced more by the aver- age intensity of their immediate emotional reactions to an RJP, rather than by the relative balance of positive and negative information in the message. Thus, one extremely positive aspect may offset multiple mildly negative aspects (Reeve, Highhouse, & Brooks, 2006).

Intrinsic rather than extrinsic job factors seem most in need of an RJP. Recruiters find it much easier to communicate factual material than to articulate subtle, intrinsic aspects of organizational culture. Yet intrinsic factors are typically more potent contributors to overall job satisfaction than are extrinsic factors (Kacmar & Ferris, 1989). Those responsible for recruitment training and operations would do well to heed these results.

Thus far, we have been discussing RJPs in the context of entry-level hiring, but they can also be quite useful for internal recruitment. For example, a study by Caligiuri and Phillips (2003) described how an employer successfully used an RJP to help current employees make decisions concerning overseas assignments. Similarly, Templer, Tay, and Chandrasekar (2006) documented the effectiveness of an RJP in facilitating cross-cultural adjustment for employees transferred to non-U.S. assignments. RJPs are sound management practices from the employ- er’s perspective. Box 11.5 presents advice from experts to job candidates about what not to do when trying to find a new job.

For ease of exposition, we have treated recruitment as if it exists separately, but as Figure 11.1 shows, it is part of a talent supply chain. All components of the recruitment–selection process are interrelated, for they are dynamic, open systems. Keep this in mind as you read subsequent chapters in this book.

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BOX 11.5 HOW NOT TO FIND A NEW JOB

Consider the following scenario, which has happened all too frequently in recent decades (as a result of merg- ers, restructurings, and downsizings) and is expected to occur often in the future as economic conditions change. You are a mid-level executive, well regarded, well paid, and seemingly well established in your chosen field. Then—whammo!—a change in business strategy or a change in economic conditions results in your layoff from the firm you hoped to retire from. What do you do? How do you go about finding another job? According to management consultants and executive recruiters, the following are some of the key things not to do (Boswell, 2017; Nishi, 2010; Shellenbarger, 2010):

zz Don’t panic. A search takes time, even for well- qualified middle- and upper-level managers. Seven months to a year is not unusual. Be prepared to wait it out.

zz Don’t be bitter. Bitterness makes it harder to begin to search; it also turns off potential employers.

zz Don’t be ashamed. Some executives are embarrassed and don’t tell their families or friends what’s going on. A better approach, experts say, is to get the word out that you are looking for work, whether it’s by phone, e-mail, or an online social network.

zz Don’t drift. Develop a plan, target companies, and go after them relentlessly. Realize that your job is to find a new job.

zz Don’t kid yourself. Do a thorough self-appraisal of your strengths and weaknesses, your likes and dislikes about jobs and organizations. To land an in-person meeting, don’t just ask for a job. Offer something in return, like information about the competition. After all, organizations may not have jobs, but they always have problems. If you can help to solve one or more, they are more likely to offer you a job.

zz Don’t be lazy. Remember, the heart of a good job search is research. Use the Internet or personal

contacts to develop a list of target companies. If negotiations get serious, talk to a range of insiders and knowledgeable outsiders to learn about politics and practices. You don’t want to wind up in a worse fix than the one you left.

zz Don’t be shy or overeager. Since personal contacts are the most effective means to land a job, you simply must make and maintain them. Find out who will be attending events, show up early, and then mix and mingle. Networking is a gradual process of building trust with people. At the same time, resist the temptation to accept the first job that comes along. Unless it’s absolutely right for you, the chances of making a mistake are quite high.

zz Don’t ignore your family. Some executives don’t tell their families what happened because they’re embarrassed. A better approach is to bring the family into the process and deal with issues honestly.

zz Don’t lie. Experts are unanimous on this point. Don’t lie and don’t stretch a point—either in résumés or in interviews. Be willing to address failures as well as strengths. More important, use the interview to show what you will deliver in the first 30, 60, and 90 days. In today’s economic environment, companies don’t have time for you to grow into a job.

zz Don’t jump the gun on salary. Always let the potential employer bring up this subject first, but, once it surfaces, thoroughly explore all aspects of your future compensation and benefits package. If possible, have a candid conversation earlier with an outside recruiter about your present and desired salary (Ryan, 2016).

Those who have been through the trauma of job loss and the challenge of finding a job often describe the entire process as a wrenching, stressful one. Avoiding the mistakes described here can ensure that finding a new job doesn’t take any longer than necessary.

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EVIDENCE-BASED IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

zz Recruitment is not a “one-shot” activity. It is important to recognize three contextual/ environmental features that affect all recruitment efforts: (a) characteristics of the firm—the value of its “brand” and its “personality” (make the effort to learn how customers and the public perceive it); (b) characteristics of the vacancy itself (is it mission critical?)—these affect not only the resources expended on the search but also the labor markets from which to recruit; and (c) characteristics of the labor markets in which an organization recruits (tight versus loose).

zz Three sequential stages characterize recruitment efforts: generating a pool of viable candidates, maintaining the status (or interest) of viable candidates, and “getting to yes” after making a job

offer (postoffer closure). Devote special attention to each one.

zz Recognize that the Internet is where the action is in recruiting. Nearly 60% of all Internet hires come from a company’s own website, and the best ones make it simple for candidates to apply for jobs. They provide a wealth of information about the company and leave candidates with a favorable impression.

zz Finally, provide a realistic job preview to candidates. Ensure that it enhances overly pessimistic expectations and reduces overly optimistic expectations about the work. Convey realistic information about an organization’s culture.

Discussion Questions

1. Describe three key issues to consider in recruitment planning.

2. How do labor-market conditions affect wages and yield ratios?

3. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Internet-based recruiting.

4. As a senior manager, what metrics would you find most useful in assessing the effectiveness of recruiting?

5. How would you structure an employee-referral program?

6. How can applicant tracking systems enhance the efficiency of recruitment efforts?

7. Outline the components of a diversity-based recruitment effort.

8. Identify five recommendations you would provide to a friend who asks for your advice in finding a job.

9. Develop a realistic job preview for a prospective city bus driver.

10. Your boss asks you to develop recommendations about how to enhance your organization’s image. What would you recommend?

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