Learn about the key differences between recruitment and selection.
Difference between Recruitment and Selection
Difference between Recruitment and Selection – 5 Points
Difference # Recruitment:
1. It is the process that brings suitable candidates to the employer.
2. It creates a large pool of candidates, both good and the not-so-good ones.
3. This is a positive and all-embracing process as it aims at the largest number possible.
4. Candidates are not required to qualify in recruitment.
5. Recruitment is an exercise done prior to selection.
Difference # Selection:
1. It is the process that brings candidates fulfilling the job requirement.
2. Selection identifies the most suitable among the good ones.
3. It has a negative side for it selects only those who are most suitable while eliminating the others.
4. Selection happens after qualifying many interview rounds.
5. Selection is the final step of staffing and is done after recruitment.
Difference between Recruitment and Selection – Explained!
At this stage, it is worthwhile to understand difference between recruitment and selection as both these terms are often used together or sometimes interchangeably. For example, when we talk about recruitment policy of a company, sometimes, it includes selection too.
Though in practice, such usage may not affect the human resource acquisition process, such a distinction should be made in order to have better focus on these two processes.
Recruitment and selection differ in terms of objective, process, technique, and outcome, which are as follows:
1. The ultimate objectives of both recruitment and selection are to acquire suitable candidates but their immediate objectives differ. The basic objective of recruitment is to attract maximum number of candidates so that more options are available. The basic objective of selection is to choose the best out of the available candidates.
2. Recruitment differs from selection in terms of process. Recruitment adopts the process of creating application pool as large as possible and, therefore, it is known as positive process. Selection adopts the process through which more and more candidates are rejected and fewer candidates are selected or sometimes even not a single candidate is selected. Therefore, it is known as negative process or rejection process.
3. There is difference between recruitment and selection so far as techniques involved are concerned. Recruitment techniques are not very intensive, requiring high skills. As against this, in selection process, highly specialized techniques are required. Therefore, in the selection process, only personnel with specific skills like expertise in using selection tests, conducting interviews, etc., are involved.
4. Since recruitment and selection are two interrelated steps in the process of human resource acquisition, they differ in terms of their outcome. The outcome of recruitment is application pool which becomes input for selection process. The outcome of selection process is in the form of finalizing candidates who will be offered jobs.