Recruitment Strategies: Small Business vs. International Organizations

Introduction

Every company has different needs, and this must be reflected in every organization's recruitment and development strategies. Although it is generally true that all organizations want the best employees, beyond that first impulse companies must also be sensitive to the specific types of workers necessary for the size and atmosphere of their organization. This paper will provide a brief comparison of the recruitment techniques of a small company versus a larger, internationally-based organization.

Recruitment Strategies for Small Businesses

For a small business located in Austin, Texas, drawing upon the city's resources of talented young people is essential. A close-knit family environment is likely to be a draw for the population pool available for this company, and creating an orientation program that capitalizes upon youth, exuberance, and enthusiasm would be useful. "Austin leads a list of seven Texas metros that rank among the 10 areas expected to have the fastest job growth through 2015...Austin's employment is expected to increase 4% annually" (Badenhausen 2013). In a market this competitive, focusing on salary alone will not be enough to recruit top candidates. The organization must also communicate the extent to which it can offer opportunities to new hires, such as the prospects of promotion or the ability to engage in participatory leadership through a mentorship program with an older employee. "People are flocking to Austin to take advantage of companies hiring and the city's cool reputation" (Badenhausen 2013). The company can pay homage to this cool reputation as well—for example, by offering flexible hours or other amenities such as fun socializing opportunities outside of work as a way of attracting young people.

Diversity is characteristic of Austin, and fostering respect for diversity is an important component of enabling the company to succeed. "The metro boasts a net migration rate that is the third fastest in the country over the past five years. A strong infrastructure and a thriving energy market helped Texas rank as the top exporting state in the U.S. Many of the jobs added in Austin and Fort Worth will carry six-figure incomes" (Badenhausen 2013). Using a recruitment dynamic that emphasizes a Theory Y leadership style will be more useful.

Theory X and Theory Y leadership approach is a theory developed by the management theorist Douglas McGregor, who suggested there are two basic approaches a manager can take. On one hand, a manager can emphasize transactional relationships with employees, stressing the exchange of pay and promotions for performance and using a succession of carrots and sticks to motivate the individual (Theory X). "This assumes that employees are naturally unmotivated and dislike working, and this encourages an authoritarian style of management" ("Theory X and Theory Y," 2014). Alternatively, managers can take a Theory Y approach, using the excitement of additional responsibilities, creativity, and growth potential to motivate workers.

International Recruitment at Scale

The type of demographic drawn to the Austin area suggests a Theory Y approach would be more useful. Theory Y approaches have been increasingly embraced by companies such as Google and Facebook, which offer flexible workplaces and the ability to pursue independent projects in a collegial work environment as their greatest draw in attracting young and talented workers. Theory Y "assumes that employees are happy to work, are self-motivated and creative, and enjoy working with greater responsibility" ("Theory X and Theory Y," 2014).

Recruiting low-cost labor from the developing world with an emphasis on highly technically literate employees from nations such as India has been extremely helpful for many companies to cut costs while improving quality. Casting a wide recruitment net is essential to use this strategy, however. Recruiters must familiarize themselves with the culture and common recruitment channels manifested in India and their differences versus a U.S. context. Going to top technical schools to recruit employees directly is one way to establish an immediate connection with a core group of individuals looking for a job. "Although pay in India is considerably lower than in Western countries (and even some developing nations), shortages of skilled workers (especially in IT) have led to dramatic pay inflation. Salaries in some sectors of the economy climbed at a staggering 40 percent annually during the mid-1990s" (Gross 2014). Finding a match between needed skills and employee abilities is essential given that cost savings on labor, while still considerable, might not be as substantial as expected.

Despite the chronic poverty which still affects many Indians, there are also new bastions of affluence and companies that can afford to extend attractive benefits to employees. The famed International Technology Park in Bangalore, which boasts self-contained power facilities, modern gymnasiums, food courts and other amenities, is indicative of what it takes to retain IT professionals. "In a country where thousands of villages are without electricity or telephones, India's technology parks stand out as bastions of unexpected affluence" (Gross 2014). An outside, foreign company that wishes to compete must be able to match these amenities and provide an attractive alternative.

Conclusion

Marketing a company to new potential hires requires offering competitive wages and benefits, but particularly for a small company, focusing on wages alone will not enable the company to compete with larger entities. Instead, an attractive company atmosphere and the potential to be mentored and promoted must also be stressed. Conversely, a larger company which hopes to be competitive internationally may have to keep a closer eye on metrics in terms of salary and benefits, given the fact that it is casting a wider net for workers and is competing with a larger range of firms in the global economy.