Top 5 Recruitment and Staffing Myths

Posted by Jim Stroud

January 17, 2008

This post is courtesy of HRM Advice. (Thanks Luke!)

The Recruitment and Staffing Process has its own myths as any other HR process, which is connected with the external world and involves management of the organization. The recruitment and staffing process looks simple and the managers have a feeling of a deep understanding to the principles of the recruitment and staffing. And from this feelings a lot of myths about recruitment and staffing come.

The top 5 recruitment and staffing myths are dangerous as the managers believe to them and it takes a long time to teach them the real facts about recruitment and staffing. The most common recruitment and staffing myths are:

The candidates will come on their own as we are an attractive employer - the managers believe they manage and lead the best company in the world and every single person want to join their star team. It is very difficult HR Role to explain the real situation on the job market and the necessity to promote the organization on the job market, which needs also a participation from the managers.

The best candidates will apply online - the managers believe in the power of the Internet that it brings automatically the best candidates on the market. They expect every expert on the job market searching the websites of the competitors applying for positions. The managers do not want to spend money for the search of the candidate, but many positions can be filled just by using specialized headhunting companies. They have a deep knowledge of the market and they know, which person to call to get the best candidate. But the service is not cheap.

The job interview needs no preparation - the managers are very demanding from the HRM Function, but when it comes to the job interview, they can come completely unprepared. They do not do their home work and they have no questions and competencies to observe prepared. The managers believe they have the excellent job interviewing skills and they can find out everything. Generally, the strong presence of the HRM Staff at the job interview can secure the best result of the job interview as the managers can learn just by watching.

The candidate will wait for our offer (almost forever) - the managers are requesting the candidates to be delivered as soon as possible. But, when they have to select the final candidate to make an offer, they have a lot of time and they want to see another candidate. They demand to see more candidates to make the best choice and they believe the candidate can wait almost forever for the job offer. They do not understand the competition and the patience of the candidate. The managers have to be pressed to limit their requirements and wishes.

The recruitment process has no impact on our image - the managers do not realize the destroying power of the slow recruitment and staffing process. They have a feeling that people wait for being employed by the best company they manage and they do not believe the people speak to each other and “rumors” spread quickly on the job market. The managers need to be pushed by the HRM Function to make a job interview to come with a final decision quickly.

Finally, there is one more myth - the recruitment and staffing is not about time, quality and money. The recruitment and staffing process is about investments as any other process is, but the managers believe, they can have results quickly, in a perfect quality and with no additional costs.

The top 5 recruitment and staffing myths are generally recognized in all the organization, but the HRM Function has to develop a training to train the managers in the proper usage of the recruitment and staffing process to build a strong recruitment position of the organization.