Recruitment-Matching the Organisation’s and Ap-
plicants’ Requirements.
1. The Economic Factors – Economic conditions of a country influence the recruitment process in all the organisations. The globalisation and liberalisation of Indian economy, since 1991 onwards has resulted in a boom in financial services in India. As a result of the new economic policy, the demand for MBA/CA/ICWA/CFA students have grown tremendously. Even the engineering students had to get finance/marketing degrees or diplomas to en cash job opportunities as their demand, especially in the manufacturing sector has not kept pace. People with specific fund management skills were in great demand.
Companies had to resort to extensive advertising to hire suitable people. But the trend had changed by the late 1990s. Except software and pharmaceuticals sectors, recession had set in almost all the other sectors. As a result, companies had to cut down their recruitment costs and they had to resort to less expensive media advertising only in place of campus recruitment, search firms, employee referrals, contractors etc.
2. The Social Factors – The social factors also affect the recruitment policy of an organisation. Social changes in the past two decades in India have forced organisations to place increased emphasis on recruitment. The mentality of modern employees has changed from just any job to a ‘satisfying career’. If they are not satisfied with their jobs they donot hesitate to leave the organisations and go in search of greener pastures outside. To ward of such problems, the companies, now-a-days, present a more realistic picture of the job and the encouraging career opportunities to prospective employees through innovative recruitment campaigns. The organisations have to be aware of and sensitive to the prevailing social values and norms, otherwise theirnrecruitment efforts could go off the track. The organisations should emphasis opportunities for training and development and progression through a series of jobs within the same organisation.
3. The Technological Factors – The globalisation and liberalisation of economy since 1991 has brought about rapid changes in the fields of banking, electronics, telecommunications, automobiles, software and pharma industries. New technologies have created new jobs and existing jobs have undergone rapid changes. Several old jobs have disappeared from the scene. Technological changes have led to a chronic shortage of people with requisite skills and knowledge. In such a scenario, companies have to step up their recruitment efforts to compete successfully for a small, number of suitable candidates.
4. The Political Factors – The late 1980s brought the concept of ‘equal employment opportunity’ in the corporate circles. Companies have at last, realised that employment should be defined in terms of ability to perform the job,nrather than in terms of race, colour, religion, sex or nationalnorigin. However, political compulsions and constitutional provisions covering reservations for special groups, come in the way of recruiting people, based solely on qualifications, skills and experience: Influence of unions, recommendations of trends and relatives of management, political leaders etc. also play an important role in recruitment policies followed by a concern.
5. The Legal Factors. The different legislative policies governing child labour, night shifts, bonded labour, contract labour etc. have brought the legal environment to be a major factor to be looked into carefully by all companies intending to recruit people for various positions Some of the important legislation affecting recruitment are:
(i) The Factories Act, 1948. The Factories Act, prohibits the employment of women and children below 14 years of age in certain jobs which involve night work, underground jobs, carrying heavy loads etc.
(ii) The Apprentices Act, 1961. The Apprentices Act provides for a machinery to lay down syllabi and specify period of training, mutual obligations of apprentices and employees etc. The apprentice after serving a contractual term of training can be taken on regular rolls. The Act, as
