Why Recruit?

I am sometimes asked why organizations should post jobs and conduct recruitment when they are already 99% certain that they've identified the right person for the job.

It's easy to understand the reluctance to conduct recruitment. Recruiting is costly and time-consuming. There can be internal pressure to fill the vacancy as soon as possible. Pushing for a recruitment process seems bureaucratic.

There are, however, several advantages:

• If the likely candidate is selected after an open recruitment, the organization will know that it indeed picked the best possible candidates.
• Opening recruitment sends a message to the rest of the organization that the selections are not greased. People will still be cynical, but far less so than if a favored person is tapped without an open recruitment.
• An open recruitment is less vulnerable to Equal Employment Opportunity challenges.

There is another benefit that is seldom acknowledged. An open recruitment permits the organization to learn more about other possible candidates. It can break open the cocoon that often surrounds the inner circle. I've seen many cases where oral boards were surprised at the talent and insight of people who were originally perceived as long-shots. Many of those impressive candidates were already employed by the organization. They simply lacked the opportunity to tout their abilities.