Strategic recruitment & applicant attraction

Question 1

What is the difference between recruitment, selection and employment?

Answer 1

→ Recruitment: identifying and attracting
→ Selection: assessing & evaluating
→ Employment: decision making & final matching

Question 2

What are 3 characteristics of recruitment?

Answer 2

1. Generating as many potential applicants as possible
2. A strategic process starting at organizational level and feeding into recruiters
3. Alignment and climate are crucial factors

Question 3

What is the difference between corporate and agency recruitment?

Answer 3

Corporate: 
→ In-house
→ Part of the HRM process
→ Bound to the organization's strategy
→ Main stakeholders: hiring manager and the candidates

Agency: 
→ External
→ Independent from the HRM process
→ More a 'sales' process
→ Strategy is presenting HR with as many potential candidates as possible

Question 4

What are the benefits of in-house recruitment?

Answer 4

→ Often less costly
→ Signal of people-oriented culture
→ Knowledge of cultural values

Question 5

What are the benefits of agency recruitment?

Answer 5

→ Specialized in niche areas
→ Large and specific networks
→ Rapid access and presentation

Question 6

What are the three levels of the strategic recruitment model? (Philips & Gully, 2015)

Answer 6

→ Organizational level: the organization as a whole including strategy and shared set of beliefs

→ Team level: the department and business units as well as working groups and teams (e.g. different departments doing own recruitment have the same recruitment strategy)

→ Individual level: individual recruiters and hiring managers who execute the recruiting strategy and interact with individual job seekers and applicants (e.g. if there are 90 recruiters in a team, are they consistent in their assessments)

Question 7

Explain the horizontal and vertical level of the strategic recruitment model (Philips & Gully, 2015)

Answer 7

→ Vertical: alignment of HRM practices across levels, organizational strategy needs to align with the HR strategy

→ Horizontal: linkages of HRM practices within a level, looks at consistency

Question 8

What should be considered when defining recruitment goals?

Answer 8

1. Time frame: how long will the position be advertised before invitations are sent (e.g. ongoing basis or sudden new vacancy)?
2. Speed: how fast do applicants need to be attracted?
3. Attraction: what KSAOs are needed to fulfil the organizational needs (e.g. highly skilled or starting position)?

Question 9

What are the characteristics of an open approach?

Answer 9

Focused on gaining as many applicants as possible

→ Cast a wide net, little market segmentation
→ Diverse set of applicants
→ Large numbers needed
→ Time consuming: risk of overlooking candidates

Question 10

What are the characteristics of a targeted approach?

Answer 10

Filling a niche position for which there is high demand

→ Specific KSAOs (focus more on hard skills)
→ Specific recruitment message
→ Passive candidates
→ Complex vacancies

Question 11

What is the difference between a centralized and decentralized staffing process?

Answer 11

→ Centralized: a dedicated team, concentrated expertise and consistent policy execution (e.g. Deloitte)

→ Decentralized: there are decision makers (hiring managers) that are responsive to specific needs (e.g. VU lecturers)

Question 12

Which variables influence applicant attraction? (Uggerslev et al. 2012)

Answer 12

1. Perceived fit: how well applicants goals, values and ideals suit the job (person-job fit) and organization (person-organization fit)
2. Job characteristics: the work itself and compensation
3. Organizational characteristics: the image of the company, work environment, familiarity, location and size
4. Recruitment behaviour: competence, informativeness, trustworthiness
5. Process characteristics: extent to which recruiting messages are perceived as complete, realistic, timely and credible. Also focused on procedural justice

Question 13

What do applicants value when it comes to organizational-level? (Uggerslev et al., 2012)

Answer 13

1. Prestige
2. Treating employees well
3. Social and supportive environments: CSR and sustainability focus
4. Social media: organizational personality

Question 14

What do applicants value when it comes to job-level? (Uggerslev et al., 2012)

Answer 14

1. Opportunities for growth
2. Opportunities for challenge
3. Work characteristics: workload, level of autonomy
4. Sufficient wages

Question 15

What are the critical process elements?

Answer 15

1. Fairness: outcome fairness (feedback can help) and process fairness (including clear communication)
2. Opportunity to perform
3. Process delays undermine attrition
4. Congruence ads vs. image

Question 16

What is signaling theory?

Answer 16

Aims to reduce the information asymmetry, if potential candidates have more information, there is a higher likelihood they will apply.

Quality, frequency and accuracy of signals is crucial

Question 17

What do fit theories entail?

Answer 17

Applicants have perceptions of fit of organization/job with their own values/preferences

Question 18

What is critical contact theory?

Answer 18

Applicants have limited knowledge about the job / organization and are influenced by recruiter aspects and behaviours

Question 19

What is the elaboration likelihood model (ELM)?

Answer 19

How recruiters can persuade applicants to apply?

→ Central processing (high elaboration): focus on content of message, long-term and more sustainable. Targets specific beliefs

→ Peripheral processing (low elaboration): focus on other cues, shorter-term and more superficial. Targets general beliefs.

During recruitment, elaboration is often low due to limited information