12th Standard Commerce — Recruitment Methods Online Test

About Recruitment Methods

Easy ~35 min study

Recruitment Methods is the tenth chapter of the Tamil Nadu State Board Class 12 Commerce book and the first lesson of Unit 4, Human Resource Management. It opens with Thirukkural couplet 517 on entrusting a task to the person able to do it, and then defines recruitment as the process of attracting potential people to apply for a job in an organisation.

The lesson gives the definition of Edwin B. Flippo, the reasons why vacancies arise and the seven steps of the recruitment process. It then explains the internal sources and the direct and indirect external sources, and ends with recent trends: recruitment process outsourcing and poaching.

This page gives the five printed one mark questions of the book exercise with the book's answer key checked against the lesson, followed by additional questions on every section, each with a short explanation.

What you'll learn

• Define recruitment and quote the definition of Edwin B. Flippo.
• List the reasons why vacancies arise in an organisation.
• State the steps of the recruitment process in order.
• Explain the internal sources of recruitment.
• Distinguish direct and indirect external sources of recruitment.
• Describe recruitment process outsourcing and poaching.

Before you start

• Chapters 1 to 4 on the principles and functions of management.
• The idea of staffing as a function of management.
• A general idea of how organisations advertise vacancies.

Recruitment Methods explained

What this lesson covers

Meaning and definition

Recruitment is the process of finding suitable candidates for the various posts in an organisation. It links the job provider and the job seeker. Edwin B. Flippo defined it as a process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for jobs.

Reasons and process

Vacancies arise from retirement, death, resignation, disablement or dismissal. The process runs from planning recruitment and determining vacancies to evaluation and control.

Internal sources

Transfer, upgrading, promotion, demotion, recommendation by existing employees, job rotation, retention, retired employees, dependants, previous applicants, and acquisitions and mergers.

External sources

Direct sources include advertisements, unsolicited applicants, walk-ins, campus recruitment, factory gate recruitment, rival firms and e-recruitment. Indirect sources include employee referral, employment exchanges, private agencies, consultancies, professional associations, deputation, word of mouth, labour contractors and job portals.

Recent trends

Outsourcing through recruitment process outsourcing firms, and poaching, also called raiding.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Calling advertisement an internal source. It is a direct external source.
• Mixing up upgrading, which moves an employee up, with demotion, which moves an employee down.
• Treating employee referral as a direct source. The lesson lists it as an indirect external source.
• Confusing retention, which keeps retiring employees after superannuation, with dependants, the heirs of a deceased employee.
• Thinking e-recruitment needs only a computer. The book's answer is the internet.

Test yourself on these with the practice test, then check the worked reasoning in the solved MCQs.

Frequently asked questions

What is recruitment?

Recruitment is the process of finding suitable candidates for the various posts in an organisation. It attracts potential people to apply for a job, acts as a link between job provider and job seeker, and leads to shortlisting of suitable candidates for selection.

What is promotion?

Promotion is an internal source of recruitment in which employees, based on their seniority and merit, are given the opportunity to move up in the organisational hierarchy.

What are unsolicited applicants?

They are job seekers who voluntarily apply to an organisation for vacancies that it has not yet notified. Their applications are a direct external source of recruitment.

What is meant by job portals?

Job portals are internet sites through which organisations screen prospective candidates and fill up their vacancies. They are listed as an indirect external source of recruitment.

What is poaching?

Poaching means that organisations, instead of training and developing their own employees, hire employees of competing companies by paying them more financial and non-financial benefits. It is also called raiding.

What are the steps in recruitment process outsourcing?

Requirement understanding, advertisement and source, screening, validation, profile submission, interview process and feedback, and selection and follow-up.

Name any two internal sources of recruitment.

Transfer, where staff move from a department with surplus staff to one with deficit staff, and promotion, where employees move up the hierarchy based on seniority and merit.