DECISIONS ON RECRUITING SOURCES/METHODS

1.Recruiting and Legal Considerations 

Recruiting as a key employment-related activity is subject to various legal considerations. The wide range of equal employment laws and regulations was discussed in preceding chapters, but it is useful to highlight their impact on recruiting activities here.

DISPARATE IMPACT AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION 

One facet of legal compliance of the recruiting process is to ensure that external disparate impact is not occurring. 

Remember that disparate impact occurs when there is underrepresentation of protected-class members in relation to the labor markets utilized by the employer. To determine if disparate impact is occurring, it is necessary for applicant flow information to be maintained in line with the processes . If disparate impact exists, then the employer may need to make special efforts to persuade protected-class individuals to apply for jobs. For instance, one major Midwestern insurance company sends announcements of job openings to over 40 different agencies and organizations that specifically service various protectedclass members. For employers with affirmative action plans (AAPs), special ways to reduce disparate impact will be identified as goals listed in those plans.

Some employers that emphasize internal recruiting should take actions to obtain protected-class applicants externally if disparate impact exists in the current workforce. Even using current employees as referral sources can create legal concerns.

When the organization has an underrepresentation of a particular protected class, word-of-mouth referral has been considered a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. An organization composed primarily of nonprotected-class individuals presumably would refer more of the same for consideration as employees.

EMPLOYMENT ADVERTISING 

Employers covered by equal employment regulations must take care when preparing the wording for employment advertisements. 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued guidelines stating that no direct or indirect references that have gender or age connotations are permitted. Some examples of likely impermissible terminology include the following: young and enthusiastic, recent college graduate, and journeyman lineman.

Additionally, employment advertisements should indicate that the employer has a policy of complying with equal employment regulations. Typically, advertisements should contain a general phrase, such as Equal Opportunity Employer, or more specific designations, such as EEO/M-F/AA/ADA.

2.Recruiting Diverse Workers

The growing difficulty that many employers have had in attracting and retaining workers has led them to tap a wide variety of sources. Specifically difficult has been recruiting protected-class individuals under equal employment laws and regulations. If outside agencies are used, equal employment and affirmative action concerns of the actual employers still must be met. What is interesting, though, is that even if the legal stipulations were not present, employers who recruit workers with diverse backgrounds have found these recruits to be valuable employees. Three specific groups that have been attracted into the workforce effectively by some employers are individuals over 55 years of age, persons with disabilities, and persons who are members of racial/ethnic minorities.

RECRUITING OLDER WORKERS 

Demographic data reveals that the percentage of the population over the age of 55 continues to increase each year due to increasing

life expectancies. When discussing the recruitment of older workers, the first task is to identify which individuals are included in this group. Senior experienced individuals may include the following:

1. Midlife career changers: those who are burned out in their jobs and career fields and leave voluntarily to try new fields
2. Displaced workers under age 62: those who have worked but have been displaced, often involuntarily, through job reductions or plant closings
3. Retirees: those who took early retirement buyouts or retired at age 62 or later. Here are some concerns expressed by older workers:

• Am I employable if I’m older or lack some education or skills?
• Can I be re-trained, and will employers be patient while I learn new knowledge and skills?
• Are working schedules flexible enough given other life demands?
• How will my Social Security benefits be affected if I earn money working fulltime or part-time

Except for the last question, the reality is that most workers of any age would have similar concerns. Therefore, it is important that older workers not be viewed by their age alone. Rather, they should be viewed as experienced workers who may need some training, much as other workers would. In fact, older individuals often already have good skills and work habits.

RECRUITING INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES 

Another group of individuals providing a potential pool of recruits for jobs are the over 40 million individuals with disabilities covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Many of them are in the workforce, but others have not been able to find employment, particularly those with severe or multiple disabilities. Yet some 79% of those people surveyed said they want to work despite their disabilities, and 71% of employees in another survey said they would be comfortable working with a person who is disabled.

Two keys to successfully recruiting and utilizing people with disabilities are well-designed jobs and working with associations representing these people. Jobs must be such that accommodation can be made for people with disability. Not every disability lends itself to every job, even with accommodation. However, in many cases changes in job duties, work stations, and equipment might result in a job that a person with a disability can do—and very well. Associations of people with various disabilities can sometimes refer people whose disability will fit with a particular job. Such groups can also often make recommendations for accommodation.

Individuals with disabilities have generally been found to be reliable and productive employees when properly placed in the right job.

RECRUITING MEMBERS OF RACIAL/ETHNIC MINORITIES 

Employers that do business with federal and state governments must have affirmative action plans

(AAPs). Consequently, those employers face pressures to increase the number of women employees and employees in racial/ethnic minorities.

These pressures often are stronger for managerial, professional, and technical jobs than for unskilled, clerical, and blue-collar jobs. Employers that are successful in diversifying their workforce use recruiting sources that target the appropriate types of applicants. For example, a firm that needs to ensure hiring of minority engineers may use special minority-oriented publications or recruit at colleges with large numbers of minority students. Other means of recruiting have included participating in job fairs sponsored by certain racial/ethnic organizations, establishing a minority internship program, and using current minority employees to recruit others of similar backgrounds.

3.Maintaining Recruiting Visibility

Recruiting efforts may be viewed as either continuous or intensive. Continuous efforts to recruit have the advantage of keeping the employer in the recruiting market. For example, with college recruiting, it appears to be advantageous for some organizations to have a recruiter on a given campus each year. Those employers that visit a campus only occasionally are less likely to build a following in that school over time.

Intensive recruiting may take the form of a vigorous recruiting campaign aimed at hiring a given number of employees, usually within a short period of time.

Such efforts may be the result of failure in the HR planning system to identify needs in advance or to recognize drastic changes in workforce needs due to unexpected workloads.

For many people, the only contact they will have with an organization occurs when they apply for a job there. Of course, the probability is that a given individual will not get the job. If 50 people apply for a job and one is hired, 49 were not hired and are potentially unhappy. It is at this point that recruiting can do real damage to the perceptions people have of that organization. In addition to the impressions candidates have of the organization, recruiter friendliness and other variables affect decisions of job seekers.

4.Organizational Recruiting Responsibilities

In small organizations, the recruiting process is simplified. For many positions, an advertisement in the local paper may be enough to tap into the local labor market. In very small organizations, the owner/manager often places the ad, determines the recruiting criteria, and makes the decision. However, for some specialist jobs, a regional or national search may be undertaken. Figure shows a typical distribution of recruiting responsibilities between the HR department and managers in larger organizations.

Typical Recruiting Responsibilities