Challenges of Recruitment and Selection

 

 

(Sunshine, 2022)

 

Recruitment and selection are two key aspects of HRM that allow organizations to find and select the best talent (Ekwoaba, et al., 2015). Recruitment is the process of sourcing, attracting, and identifying candidates for open positions, whereas selection is the process of assessing candidates’ qualifications, skills, and abilities to narrow down the pool of applicants and choose the best person for the position. Proper recruitment and selection strategies are important for an organization as it helps connect with top candidates, reduce turnover and absenteeism, and improve productivity and efficiency. Effective recruitment and selection strategies are also crucial to help organizations save money in the long run, as bad hires or leaving a role sitting empty for too long can be costly (Personio, 2023).

However, recruitment and selection is not an easy task and requires a lot of effort and time. HR teams have to face many challenges during the recruitment and selection process as well (Ghodasara, 2023). Some of the challenges of recruitment and selection include:

• Attracting the right candidates - About 70% of hiring managers agree that attracting the right job candidates is the greatest challenge (Talentlyft, 2019). The options are limited when it comes to locating the right talent from the pool of unqualified talents, and in the end, the hiring manager often ends up settling for the best person at the time despite them not being the best fit (Ghodasara, 2023). To avoid this, hiring managers should ensure the job description is properly refined and has a clear set of skills and requirements. They can also support a pre-screening process to identify individuals who are not right for the role (Indeed, 2023). 
• Engaging qualified candidates -  Good candidates are often swamped with emails from multiple recruiters, making it hard for HR managers to engage them. Hence, HR managers should put in extra effort to attract and persuade passive candidates to choose the organization in the sea of competition (Bika, 2023).
• Rapid hiring – Although hiring teams try to fill up vacant positions as soon as possible, some industries can take a long time to hire, frustrating candidates and recruiters alike. A long hiring time could be a byproduct of a shortage of qualified candidates or difficulty in reaching a consensus among hiring teams (Bika, 2023).
• Employing data-driven methods – Organizations can use recruitment data and metrics to continually improve their recruitment process and make more informed decisions. However, the drawback is that maintaining such data can be tiresome and require time and effort. Spreadsheets are one way to organize and track hiring data, but they require manual work and are vulnerable to human error, making them less reliable. Hiring teams should find ways to compile and organize data in an efficient and streamlined manner (Bika, 2023).
• Building a good employer brand – A good employer brand is crucial to help attract and engage great talent. In fact, organizations that focus on employer branding are three times more likely to make a quality hire. However, the employer branding process is quite complex and includes anything from ensuring a positive candidate experience to promoting organizational culture in social media. It is a continuous, collective effort that requires HR managers to step out of their regular duties and secure buy-in from coworkers (Bika, 2023). 

 

Conclusion  

Effective recruitment and selection can benefit organizations in many ways through quality hires. However, HR managers are bound to face many challenges during the recruitment and selection process. Most of these challenges are due to communication issues and can be resolved by investing in recruitment tools and technologies such as the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and Recruitment CRM Software and training the hiring team to make the process easier.

 

References 

Bika, N., 2023. The most common recruiting challenges and how to overcome them. [Online]
Available at: https://resources.workable.com/stories-and-insights/common-recruiting-challenges
[Accessed 30 April 2023].

Ekwoaba, J. O., Ikeije, U. U. & Ufoma, N., 2015. The impact of recruitment and selection criteria on organizational performance. Global journal of human resource management, 3(2), p. 24.

Ghodasara, A., 2023. 11 biggest challenges faced by recruiters in 2023. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ismartrecruit.com/blog-recruitment-challenges-faced-by-recruiters
[Accessed 30 April 2023].

Indeed, 2023. 10 common recruitment challenges for HR professionals. [Online]
Available at: https://uk.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/recruitment-challenges-for-hr-professionals
[Accessed 30 April 2023].

Personio, 2023. How to get the recruitment and selection process right. [Online]
Available at: https://www.personio.com/hr-lexicon/recruitment-and-selection/
[Accessed 30 April 2023].

Sunshine, B., 2022. The simple truth about recruitment and selection will help you start with talent and end with performance. [Online]
Available at: https://blog.thecenterforsalesstrategy.com/the-simple-truth-about-recruitment-and-selection
[Accessed 30 April 2023].

TalentLyft, 2019. Top 20 recruitment challenges to tackle in 2020. [Online]
Available at: https://www.talentlyft.com/en/blog/article/331/top-20-recruitment-challenges-to-tackle-in-2020
[Accessed 30 April 2023].