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原文：
Recruitment in small firms——process,methods and problem
Marilyn Carroll
Abstract The article summaris findings from recent ca study rearch into recruitment in small firms. The rearch aims to ascertain whether small firms follow the procedures outlined in the prescriptive literature on recruitment, and to what extent they rely on informal recruitment methods. It finds little evidence of the adoption of the recommended systematic procedures and a high u of “tried and trusted” methods incl uding word-of-mouth recruitment and the hiring of “known quantities”. The implications of this are examined. While the methods have certain advantages, they may also give ri to a number of problems. The study argues that the adoption of more formal procedures and methods could reduce staff turnover in small firms and its associated costs. However, it concludes that many small employers would remain unconvinced by the ca for opening up recruitment channels, and may find their existing approaches more cost effective in the short term.
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you were my everythingIntroduction
A considerable quantity of prescriptive literature is available to managers responsible for recruiting staff aimed at helping them to increa the chances of finding the right person for the job. Most of this advice, however, ems to be aimed at large organisations. Assumptions are made about the degree of formality which would normally characteri the recruitment process and the extent to which employers are likely to adopt systematic and proactive arches for new recruits. In contrast, relatively little material is available specifically for small firms. As Hendry et al.(1995, p. 14) note, “training and human resource management advice to smaller firms has been monotonous in its prescription of large-scale solutions”. Recruitment in the ca study firms
Although some firms might be considered to be too small to offer opportunities for career progression or movement into a different type of work, there was a great deal of evidence of the operation of internal labour markets. Reasons given by the respondents were “to motivate people”, “to encourage loyalty to the firm”, “better the devil you know”, or becau a lower level vacancy would be easier to fill externally. In the hotel and catering ctor and solicitors firms there was most scope for internal promotion. Hotels and catering ctor managers tried to identify people with aptitude and ability and promote them into a more nior or supervisory role when a vacancy aro. Tho solicitors’ firms which took tr ainees said they liked to keep them on if possible after they quali
customercarefied and there is a recognid career path to associate, salaried partner and equity partner. In the printing and road haulage ctors there were very few opportunities for promotion becau of the nature of the work. However, printers sometimes had the opportunity to move on to operating a bigger machine and drivers to a larger vehicle. The nursing homes, however, found it most difficult to offer opportunities for career progression becau, for a care assistant, this would mean leaving to undertake formal nur training.sku是什么意思
Clod arches were among the most widely ud recruitment methods in the ca study firms. All had ud recommendations from staff, 27 per cent had found staff through a network of contacts in the industry and 13 per cent had poached staff directly from competitors. One printing company had been able to fill all its vacancies by the methods since starting six years ago. Employing friends and family members of existing staff was especially common in the hotels and catering, road haulage and nursing home ctors. The view was expresd that people recruited in this way were more likely to “blend in” well. In the hotels and catering ctor, especially for jobs which involve cash-handling, some knowledge of the background of the potential recruit was thought esntial. However, a few employers expresd rervations about employing friends and family members becau “if you fall out with one you lo two”. For solicitors the r ecruitment of fee-earners “through
北京mbathe network” was widespread including offering employment to solicitors who had worked for “the other side” in a ca. The firms had ample opportunities to asss the capabilities of
potential recruits, by obrving how they performed in court, for example. Attitudes towards poaching staff varied. While some interviewees would poach staff without any rervations, others regarded the practice as “unethical”. As the manager of an Indian restaurant put it, “it happens very often round here but I don’t do it to other people becau I don’t like it happening to me”. Sometimes competent staff were “poached back” after leaving to work for another employer and, indeed, the hiring of former employees was common, especially in the road haulage industry, where drivers often moved around from one company to another. In all ctors, apart from road haulage where drivers have to be at least 21 to train, some firms recruited direct from local educational establishments. Typical reasons for using clod arches included the belief that an existing member of staff is unlikely to recommend someone unsuitable, the preference for a “known quantity”, and valuing someone who would “fit in”. Only two of the interviewees (solicitors) expresd res ervations about informal, word of mouth recruitment becau of the equal opportunities implications, and becau it was thought preferable to consider “the whole field”.
Responsive recruitment methods were also widely ud. Over half looked at former applications agai
n if a similar vacancy aro. Similarly, over half would offer work to casual callers who contacted the firm either by telephone or in person, provided there was a vacancy and the person was suitable; 70 per cent kept a register of interested applicants or a file of CVs. To some extent, this approach is rather less proactive than the others, relying on a pool of potential recruits who had happened to contact the firm. On the other hand, it could be argued that the individuals utilid their initiative in eking work, and might be all the more attractive to employers becau of this.non stop
Of the more formal “open arch” recruitment methods, advertising in Jobcentres and the local press were the most common. Jobcentres were routinely ud by almost all the ca study firms, at least for some categories of staff. The advantages of Jobcentres were said to be that they are free, and the advertiment stays in until the vacancy is filled. However, while some interviewees found the Jobcentres to be a good source of new recruits, others expresd dissatisfaction with the standard of冲刺
rvice offered. The most frequent complaints were that candidates were “not properly vetted”, they frequently failed to turn up for interview, or they were “not really interest ed in finding a job”. Fewer firms ud other recruitment agencies, mainly becau they were regarded as expensive. Specialist driver agencies were criticid by the road haulage companies, with only two having ud them, and
2013四级答案then merely as a last resort. O nce again, the people on their books were thought to be “not properly vetted”, inexperienced, or not looking for permanent, full-time work. Although most firms had advertid in the local press, some only did so when less expensive methods had failed to produce a suitable candidate. The whole process of advertising, an initial telephone screening (sometimes), sifting through CVs or application forms, shortlisting, interviewing, checking references (possibly) and making a lection decision was thought to be not only costly in terms of management time, but was regarded as a “hit and miss affair”. Only three firms had advertid in the national press, and in each ca this was a “one-off” to fill a management position rather than being ud as a regular recruitment method. Specialist journals were, however, more widely ud, especially by the solicitors’ firms. Another open arch method popular with the bars and pubs was placing a notice of the vacancy in the bar itlf, which was felt had the advantage of attracting the same type of person as the establishment’s customers. Other open arch methods of recruitment ud by the nursing homes were placing notices of vacancies in post offices and newsagents and, in one ca, advertising on local radio.
你还差得远呢Having reviewed the extent to which the firms followed prescriptions about the recruitment process and the methods they ud to attract staff, we can now turn to an asssment of the proble
ms encountered in recruitment. Despite using a variety of methods, veral of the ca study organisations reported difficulties attracting staff. In some cas the difficulties were compounded by high staff turnover rates so that, despite their small size, the firms had ongoing recruitment drives, involving permanent advertiments in the Jobcentre and/or regular advertiments in the local press.
None of the employers had actually calculated the direct and indirect costs of括号英语
recruitment and, indeed, some said they would rather not know. Typical respons were “it’s a necessary evil” and “I don’t need anything el to horrify me”. Although veral of the employers admitted to having made expensive mistakes, generally high levels of satisfaction with recruitment methods were expresd. Most employers ud a range of different method s and many said “I don’t know how el we’d do it”. Where there were problems, they were thought to stem from a shortage of suitable candidates, rather than recruitment methods as such.
Conclusions
The main purpo of this paper has been to outline and analy the ways in which recruitment takes place in small firms, drawing on data collected during 1998 from a sample of 40 organisations in the
North West of England. The project focud on five diver industries (hotels and catering, road haulage, nursing homes, printing and solicitors) in order to examine recruitment in a range of circumstances, including workplaces where there are significantly different proportions of men and women in employment. Despite this diversity, we can not claim that the findings are capable of generalisation to the workforce as a whole, although it is highly likely that similar process, methods and problems are obrvable in other workplaces. Once the more detailed results from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey (Cully et al., 1999) become available, it may be possible to draw wider conclusions about employment practices in firms employing ten or more people.
There are a number of implications from the results. First, the “core/transient” model propod by Holliday gains support from our study, and is a much better way of characterising the employment relationship in small firms than the core/periphery model which is so widely quoted. We would like to suggest that the u of stability indices for labour turnover would be rather more effective than simple labour turnover calculations expresd in terms of wastage rates; indeed, in veral of the organisations, many new recruits did not last longer than a few days. In many cas there was an almost fatalistic acceptance of high turnover rates. Managers in small firms em unaware of the “co
sts” of recruitment which tend to become manifest if employees leave within a few days of starting, if they fail to perform at a satisfactory
