小型企业的招聘——过程、方法和问题[文献翻译].doc

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1、 Recruitment in small firmsprocesses,methods and problemAbstract The article summarises findings from recent case study research into recruitment in small firms. The research aims to ascertain whether small firms follow the procedures outlined in the prescriptive literature on recruitment, and to wh

2、at extent they rely on informal recruitment methods. It finds little evidence of the adoption of the recommended systematic procedures and a high use of “tried and trusted” methods including word-of-mouth recruitment and the hiring of “known quantities”. The implications of this are examined. While

3、these methods have certain advantages, they may also give rise 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 unconvinc

4、ed by the case for opening up recruitment channels, and may find their existing approaches more cost effective in the short term.IntroductionA considerable quantity of prescriptive literature is available to managers responsible for recruiting staff aimed at helping them to increase the chances of f

5、inding the right person for the job. Most of this advice, however, seems to be aimed at large organisations. Assumptions are made about the degree of formality which would normally characterise the recruitment process and the extent to which employers are likely to adopt systematic and proactive sea

6、rches for new recruits. In contrast, relatively little material is available specifically for small firms. As Hendryet 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 case stud

7、y firmsAlthough 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 enco

8、urage loyalty to the firm”, “better the devil you know”, or because a lower level vacancy would be easier to fill externally. In the hotel and catering sector and solicitors firms there was most scope for internal promotion. Hotels and catering sector managers tried to identify people with aptitude

9、and ability and promote them into a more senior or supervisory role when a vacancy arose. Those solicitors firms which took trainees said they liked to keep them on if possible after they qualified and there is a recognised career path to associate, salaried partner and equity partner. In the printi

10、ng and road haulage sectors there were very few opportunities for promotion because 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 opport

11、unities for career progression because, for a care assistant, this would mean leaving to undertake formal nurse training.Closed searches were among the most widely used recruitment methods in the case study firms. All had used recommendations from staff, 27 per cent had found staff through a network

12、 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 these methods since starting six years ago. Employing friends and family members of existing staff was especially common in the hotels and caterin

13、g, road haulage and nursing home sectors. The view was expressed that people recruited in this way were more likely to “blend in” well. In the hotels and catering sector, especially for jobs which involve cash-handling, some knowledge of the background of the potential recruit was thought essential.

14、 However, a few employers expressed reservations about employing friends and family members because “if you fall out with one you lose two”. For solicitors the recruitment of fee-earners “through the network” was widespread including offering employment to solicitors who had worked for “the other si

15、de” in a case. The firms had ample opportunities to assess the capabilities of potential recruits, by observing how they performed in court, for example. Attitudes towards poaching staff varied. While some interviewees would poach staff without any reservations, others regarded the practice as “unet

16、hical”. As the manager of an Indian restaurant put it, “it happens very often round here but I dont do it to other people because I dont 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

17、common, especially in the road haulage industry, where drivers often moved around from one company to another. In all sectors, 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 closed se

18、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) expressed reservations about informal, word of mouth recruitment because o

19、f the equal opportunities implications, and because it was thought preferable to consider “the whole field”.Responsive recruitment methods were also widely used. Over half looked at former applications again if a similar vacancy arose. Similarly, over half would offer work to casual callers who cont

20、acted 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 ha

21、ppened to contact the firm. On the other hand, it could be argued that these individuals utilised their initiative in seeking work, and might be all the more attractive to employers because of this.Of the more formal “open search” recruitment methods, advertising in Jobcentres and the local press we

22、re the most common. Jobcentres were routinely used by almost all the case study firms, at least for some categories of staff. The advantages of Jobcentres were said to be that they are free, and the advertisement stays in until the vacancy is filled. However, while some interviewees found the Jobcen

23、tres to be a good source of new recruits, others expressed dissatisfaction with the standard of service 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 interested in finding a job”. Fewer

24、 firms used other recruitment agencies, mainly because they were regarded as expensive. Specialist driver agencies were criticised by the road haulage companies, with only two having used them, and then merely as a last resort. Once again, the people on their books were thought to be “not properly v

25、etted”, inexperienced, or not looking for permanent, full-time work. Although most firms had advertised 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 t

26、hrough CVs or application forms, shortlisting, interviewing, checking references (possibly) and making a selection 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 advertised in the national press, and in each c

27、ase this was a “one-off” to fill a management position rather than being used as a regular recruitment method. Specialist journals were, however, more widely used, especially by the solicitors firms. Another open search method popular with the bars and pubs was placing a notice of the vacancy in the

28、 bar itself, which was felt had the advantage of attracting the same type of person as the establishments customers. Other open search methods of recruitment used by the nursing homes were placing notices of vacancies in post offices and newsagents and, in one case, advertising on local radio.Having

29、 reviewed the extent to which these firms followed prescriptions about the recruitment process and the methods they used to attract staff, we can now turn to an assessment of the problems encountered in recruitment. Despite using a variety of methods, several of the case study organisations reported

30、 difficulties attracting staff. In some cases these difficulties were compounded by high staff turnover rates so that, despite their small size, the firms had ongoing recruitment drives, involving permanent advertisements in the Jobcentre and/or regular advertisements in the local press.None of the

31、employers had actually calculated the direct and indirect costs of recruitment and, indeed, some said they would rather not know. Typical responses were “its a necessary evil” and “I dont need anything else to horrify me”. Although several of the employers admitted to having made expensive mistakes,

32、 generally high levels of satisfaction with recruitment methods were expressed. Most employers used a range of different methods and many said “I dont know how else wed do it”. Where there were problems, they were thought to stem from a shortage of suitable candidates, rather than recruitment method

33、s as such.ConclusionsThe main purpose of this paper has been to outline and analyse 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 focused on five diverse industries (hotels a

34、nd 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 capa

35、ble of generalisation to the workforce as a whole, although it is highly likely that similar processes, methods and problems are observable in other workplaces. Once the more detailed results from the1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey(Cullyet al., 1999) become available, it may be possible to

36、draw wider conclusions about employment practices in firms employing ten or more people.There are a number of implications from these results. First, the “core/transient” model proposed by Holliday gains support from our study, and is a much better way of characterising the employment relationship i

37、n small firms than the core/periphery model which is so widely quoted. We would like to suggest that the use of stability indices for labour turnover would be rather more effective than simple labour turnover calculations expressed in terms of wastage rates; indeed, in several of these organisations

38、, many new recruits did not last longer than a few days. In many cases there was an almost fatalistic acceptance of high turnover rates. Managers in small firms seem unaware of the “costs” of recruitment which tend to become manifest if employees leave within a few days of starting, if they fail to

39、perform at a satisfactory level or employers have to appear before an employment tribunal to defend their actions. Second, given that small firms are generally recognised as a major source of new employment opportunities, despite the publicity gained by large employers which open new establishments,

40、 it is worrying that their recruitment practices tend to be “exclusive” in nature and often not “open” to applicants who fail to find out about these opportunities. Third, the dominant emphasis at the recruitment stage on “interpersonal fit”, while understandable, is potentially unstable given that

41、relationships change over time and previously-close friendships can be broken. Similarly, the highly personalised management styles which characterise small firms can lead to reassessments of employee worth and contribution, with the danger that once trust has been lost it is almost impossible to ma

42、intain professional working relationships. Often the result is a “forced” dismissal or resignation.Of course, the key question remains of whether or not small firms should be encouraged to adopt more systematic recruitment processes and methods, and if so how this might be done. With some exceptions

43、, it is unlikely in our view that small employers would be convinced by the moral and ethical case for opening up recruitment channels so as to widen the net and attract other applicants. The business case might be more persuasive, as too would examples of firms which had saved money in the longer t

44、erm from more systematic recruitment such as through lower levels of labour turnover in the early stages of employment, through better quality work and less defects, through employees offering alternative perspectives on work, or through less need to discipline or dismiss employees on grounds of poo

45、r performance or misconduct. Ultimately, however, the business case is also fragile as employers may find it more cost effective in the short term to continue with existing relatively amateur approaches. Whatever happens, it is clear that small employers need to give rather more thought and attentio

46、n to the management of employment than is currently the situation.Source：Employee Relations . P236-250, 1999 译文：小型企业的招聘过程、方法和问题玛丽莲卡洛儿摘要 本文从最近的案例中总结了小企业招聘的研究成果，本研究以确定是否跟进小企业的招聘程序的规范性为文学的概述，以及在何种程度上依赖于非正式的招聘方法。经研究发现系统的程序和值得信赖的和高使用率”审判“方法，包括招聘已知的和雇用”。此方法的含义是检查。虽然这些方法具有一定的优势，他们也可能带来一些问题。该研究认为，该方法采用更正式的程

47、序，可以减少小企业的员工流失和与其相关的成本。然而，它的结论是，许多案例中小雇主会不服开放的招聘渠道，可能会发现在短期内更多的成本是现有的有效方法。引言本文旨在了解小企业的做法如何比较符合规范的“教科书”的程序，无论这些小企业是否看到适合他们的需要;小企业面临的招聘问题，他们采取什么样的战略克服这些困难。本文还重点讨论了使用网络的非正式招聘。恩萧等人的研究表示，失败的招聘和甄选决策往往是归咎于小企业中存在的后续纪律问题。 因此，一些企业表示，目前正在更小心进行招聘，以确保他们找到“正确的”，这包括广泛非正规的使用，文字的口碑招聘方法，招聘的“已知数量”。虽然作者认为，这是可以理解的雇主的观点，

48、他也提出了质疑，招聘是否能通过非正式的网络加强现有的种族，性别或残疾失衡在劳动力，以及某些群体是否正被永久排除在小企业中。招聘中的个案研究企业虽然一些企业可能会被认为是太小，无法提供不同类型的机会或运动事业发展的工作，有一个巨大内部交易的劳动力市场操作的证据。受访者给出的原因是“激励人”，“鼓励忠诚”，“更好的水平”，或者是因为一个较低的水平会更容易填补外部空缺。在最有推广范围的行业，如酒店、餐饮业及律师事务所的内部，酒店及餐饮业管理人员试图找出与性向及能力的人的作用，促进他们进入一个更高级或产生监管时的空缺。这些律师事务所学员历时表示，他们希望让它们合格后，如果可能的话，有一个相关联的公认职

49、业道路，成为领薪的合作伙伴和公平的合作伙伴。在印刷和道路运输行业存在的因为工作性质的促进机会很少，。 然而，打印机有时有机会进入到一个更大的机器操作，司机则进入到较大的车辆。我们发现疗养院最难提供具有发展机会的职业，因为，想成为一个服务助理，就将意味着离开正规护士进行培训。封闭搜查，在案件中使用最广泛的研究企业的招聘方法。所有工作人员的建议使用了从27日发现了百分之百分之人员通过网络，每一个接触过的13个行业和工作人员直接从竞争对手挖走。 一印刷企业已经能够填补方法，因为前开始六年的空缺所有这些。现有员工聘用的朋友和家庭成员是特别常见的酒店及餐饮，公路运输和疗养院部门。有人这样这个人更有可能招募到“融入”好了。 在酒店及餐饮业的就业机会，特别是涉及现金处理，一些招聘知识潜力的背景是思想的本质。然而，一些委员表示保留意见雇主雇用的朋友和家人，因为“如果你闹翻一你输了两个“。对于律师的人士的招聘收费“，通过网络”是很普遍的情况，包括提供就业机会，谁是律师所工作过的“另一面”中。这些企业有充足的机会来评估潜在的新聘人员的能力，通过观察他们如何在法院执行例如，对于。不同态度的工作人员偷猎。虽然一些受访者会挖走员工没有任何保留，其他人认为不道德“的做法