Difference Between Recruitment and Selection

The main difference between recruitment and selection is that recruitment involves searching candidates and encouraging them to apply for the vacant position in the organization, while selection involves choosing the most suitable candidate for the vacant post.

Recruitment and selection are two stages in the employee hiring process. Although we generally use these two words interchangeably, there is a distinct difference between recruitment and selection. Recruitment is the initial process of identifying the need for hiring and advertising, while selection is the process that involves a series of steps to choose the best candidates for the company.

Key Areas Covered

1. What is Recruitment
     – Definition, Steps
2. What is Selection
     – Definition, Steps
3. What is the Difference Between Recruitment and Selection
     – Comparison of Key Differences

Key Terms

Hiring, Recruitment, Selection

What is Recruitment

Recruitment is a long process that involves a series of activities. Recruitment can be defined as the process of attracting, interviewing, selecting, and hiring employees. Overall, it involves everything from the identification of a hiring need to filling it. Moreover, hiring can be either internal or external. Internal recruitment involves filling vacant positions with existing employees from within an organization, while external recruitment involves bringing in new employees.

Every company may have its own hiring process. Larger companies have a whole team for recruitment, while smaller companies may have only one recruiter. Some companies also outsource recruiting to recruiting firms.  However, there are some common steps in the hiring process, as given below.

• Identifying the hiring need
• Devising a recruitment plan
• Write a job description
• Advertising the position
• Attracting interested candidates.
• Managing responses from applicants.
• Scrutinizing applications from interested applicants.
• Shortlisting the candidates

What is Selection

In the hiring process, the selection is a part of the recruitment process. Once recruiters have advertised the job and received hundreds of applications, they have to shortlist few candidates out of them. Selection is the process where a company picks a certain number of applicants out of the hundreds of applicants, they have received for the advertised vacancy. In other words, it is the process of choosing the right candidate for the position. Like recruitment, selection also involves a number of steps.

• Screening applicants and removing unqualified job applicants
• Offering tests such as intelligence tests, personality test, aptitude test and performance test to candidates
• Conducting interviews
• Verifying the job applicant’s references
• Conducting medical examinations

The selection process may be more complex than recruitment, as it is long and stressful. This is because recruiters have to carefully to analyze the eligibility of every applicant for the post and take into consideration important factors like educational qualification, experience, age, etc. 

Difference Between Recruitment and Selection

Definition

Recruitment is the process of advertising for vacancies, attracting, interviewing, selecting, and hiring employees, while selection is the process where a company picks the best candidates out of the hundreds of applicants received.

Steps Involved

Recruitment involves everything from the identification of a hiring need to filling it while selection involves choosing the right candidate from the applications received. Moreover, the steps involved recruitment include identifying the hiring need, devising the job description, advertising, and attracting interested candidates. In contrast, selection involves screening applicants, conducting tests like aptitude tests, intelligent tests, etc., interviewing, verifying references, etc. 

Order

Selection occurs after recruitment.

Objective

The main objective of recruitment is to encourage a large number of candidates to apply for a post while the main objective of recruitment is to select the right candidate for the post.

Conclusion

In brief, recruitment and selection are two stages in the employee hiring process. The main difference between recruitment and selection is that recruitment is the process of advertising for vacancies, attracting, interviewing, selecting, and hiring employees while selection is the process where a company picks the best candidates out of the hundreds of applicants received.

Reference:

1. “What Is Recruitment? (HRM): SmartRecruiters Glossary.” SmartRecruiters Recruiting Software, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Hire, hiring, recruitment, recruiting, advertisement, career, vacancy, office, employee, business” (CC0) via Pxfuel
2. “1449657” (CC0) via Pexels