Recruitment and Selection

Abstract

One central setback that is common with several organisations in many developing economies is the absence of established policies and procedures. This also extends to planning because there are various external factors that can impact on planning. For example, many organisations importing raw materials struggle with a workable time frame between placing of orders and arrival of the items in the factory. These organisations are therefore forced to juxtapose with seemingly unplanned recruitment and selection procedures such as word of mouth, particularly for lower cadre jobs. The HR function therefore contacts the respective departmental head requesting that qualified candidates be contacted. This approach indirectly creates a platform for unplanned paternalism and nepotism. For more senior positions, the procedure can be better managed because of the restricted numbers being recruited. However, deciding on a proper approach ignores the use of advertisement (which will ordinarily improve the number of possible applicants) but also translates to the problem of managing the huge number of prospective applicants. Most organisations are therefore faced with adopting an approach that can be likened to a policy of ‘whispering’ their vacancies rather than ‘advertising’ the same.