Recruitment, a fundamental HR function, has recently shifted from routine rituals to a strategic initiative of image-building drive for the organization. The value system, competitor's maneuvers, legislation and increasing technology interventions have brought new challenges to the fore. The HR is facing difficulty to deliver right people at the right time, in right volume, with the ongoing talent crunch. To keep the function cost-effective, the source of recruitment is a vital issue, which is largely dependent on selection of the right sourcing partners. This article highlights those inherent challenges.

The economic turbulence is throwing new challenges. The downturn of some sectors is encouraging gross downsizing of employee strength to keep the organization competitive. But at the same time, the sunrise sectors with their domain upsurge creates abundance of growth opportunity. The majority of HR domain thus became busy in strategizing innovative means of reducing the fringe employee; acquiring and retaining the talent within organization. The challenge for HR is to recruit the best potential candidate from the marketplace. Continuous switchover of personnel from one place to other, both intra and inter industry, are throwing new challenges in the recruitment processes of the company. Those days are gone when young employable graduates used to be kept waiting for vacancy to come across, apply for position with steep examination fees and pass through a long period of recruitment process ranging even up to two years; sometimes it even ended with the chaos of cancellation of the whole process. It is the turnaround of the whole system - the employer making rounds of the college to get the `day one slots' for their campus interview. The job market during last few years has undergone some fundamental changes in terms of technologies, sources of recruitment, competition in the market, etc. In an already saturated job market with serious resource crunch, the practices like poaching is gaining momentum. Thus the HR professionals handling the recruitment function of their organization shall continue to face new challenges.

Recruitment : The Emerging Challenges, Economic Turbulence, Growth Opportunity, Business Process Outsourcing, BPO, Online Recruitment, Fluctuating Market, Performance Standards, Cost-benefit Analysis, Competency Framework, E-Recruitment, Campus Recruitment, Recruitment Agencies, Video Conferencing.