A Study in Recruitment

One of the classes of HRM, we were studying a case on recruitment. Two of my misconceptions which the Prof clarified were:

• Recruitment is the process of attracting the suitable candidates and has nothing to do with receiving applications. That part is called selection.
  
• For Any Job, overburdening is not required. The Ratio of applicants to Final employees should not be high.
  

Now, the second one came as a rude shocker for me who: competed with at least a thousand humans of my age(at those particular moments) at various stages of my education. I was witness to IITians applying for posts where that the final employee to applicant ratio was less than 1 % and getting emotional when they did not make it.

But the above mentioned learning has placed all these events in a new light.

There are some organizations for which, there exists value in high ratio of applicants to final list:
Examples:

• Educational institutions: A high ratio means good perceived value among parents/Recruiting companies.

• Consulting companies: They have to sell themselves to their customer companies. (Our organization has the best of the best).That is one reason many consulting companies adopt select campuses. They do not want to say that they took guys rejected by a competitor.

• Investment banks: We have the best people from the best campuses .So networking is assured.

But what makes HRM people in IT organizations (Let us face it, they are competing on cost) and Consumer goods Companies be proud of the fact that they have high ratio?

Please do not blame the Indian population numbers (The population is to be blamed for many problems, but not this). If that were the case, people would be happy that they were employed, work hard and show company loyalty like the Japanese after WW2.Most of the people leaving your organizations would have been fired.

Instead what we see is opposite, this high ratio the HRM guys are proud of means that those who get in , want value for the change in their lifestyle they underwent.(For many that means sacrificing their favorite games/hobbies). They want more than what the company gives them. Result: High attrition rate caused by people leaving the company.

So guys, if the company is not getting any value with the high ratio, do not get burdened with too many applications to read. If you believe too many people will apply anyway, talk about the long hours in the Pre-placement talk. Tell them that the chances of promotion are very slim after 40. Do not let fear guide you . Go for the employees- employer fit. The low number gives you people more time to study people. Why worry that you did not get the one who had mugged up the most in his/her exams. Most of you seem to opine that college learning is not worth much. Instead get guys who know the truth. They are people who will trust the company more because of the honesty you showed during recruitment. They are people who will be content at their career-path.

I have not been alive for long time. But I do believe that having a Contented employee is more valuable than some one whom you can exhibit among your peers as a prize catch

Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor.

Benjamin Franklin