Recruitment at IKEA: Objectives, Strategies and Recommendations

This report provides an overview of IKEA and its organizational structure. It analyzes the current recruitment process at IKEA and proposes strategies to achieve the recruitment objectives. The report recommends the adoption of contingency hiring model and recruitment process outsourcing to select the best talent for the company.

Recruitment at IKEA 0
Recruitment at IKEA
Student’s Name
8/1/2019

Recruitment at IKEA 1
Overview of IKEA
IKEA is the well-recognized brand that sells the home furnishing and is considered as the
largest seller of furniture in the 21st century. The company currently operates 423 stores in 50
countries and specializes in providing low priced goods. The company was established in the
year 1943 in Sweden. The vision of the company is to make a better every day for many
persons. It provides well designed efficient home furnishing products at the affordable prices.
The company is able to manage the quality at the affordable prices by developing strong
relationships with the supplier and optimizing the value chain. It focuses on producing large
volumes through the use of automated machines. The key principle of the company is to
grow with the use of the available resources and effectively contributes towards the
environment. The company inspires its workforce to work collaboratively and develop an
inclusive organizational culture (IKEA.com, 2019).
Organization structure
(Source: IKEA.com, 2019)

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The company launched the new organization structure to improve the franchising system and
provide clarity of the roles. IKEA range, supply and production activities were transported to
the new Inter IKEA Group headed by Inter IKEA Holding B.V. It operates the hierarchical
structure to control the mass operations of the company (IKEA.com, 2019).
Introduction
Human resource management is the exercise of recruiting, appointing, organizing and
handling of the human resource. It is concerned with achieving organizational efficiency by
providing training to the employees and hiring the right amount of employees at the right
time. The company focuses on maintaining high employee retention rate by engaging the
employees and creating a higher level of employee satisfaction (Sparrow, Brewster and
Chung, 2016).
In order to control the behaviour of the humans, the organizations use the strategic approach
that allows effectively managing the human resource and allowing the organization to gain a
competitive advantage (Bratton and Gold, 2017). This strategic approach is concerned with
all the human resource activities .i.e. from employing to the managing of the human resource.
It allows developing the positive relationship between employees and the organization and
contributes towards the development of the high-performance culture (Aithal and Kumar,
2016).
It is analyzed that IKEA majorly focuses upon the management of the human resources and
has incorporated it with the corporate strategy of the company. It allows the company to
sustain its competitive advantage by developing innovative solutions and positive working
environment. The human resource function focuses on recruiting the best employees and
retaining them by providing maximum satisfaction to the employees (Noe et al, 2017). It

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focuses on recruiting the best talent for the company who is able to strengthen the culture at
IKEA and is able to transform the vision of the organization (Tronvoll, Edvardsson,
Mollerskov-Jonzon and Innlandet, 2019).
The further paragraphs of the report will reflect upon the recruitment objectives of IKEA and
will also include the proposed strategies to attain the objectives. It also describes the current
situation at IKEA and the recommendations to improve its recruitment process and recruit the
right number of employees at the right time.
Current Situation at IKEA
The recruitment process at IKEA begins with recruitment planning under which the company
analyses the various job positions and provides the specifications of the job to attract the
potential candidates. It identifies the vacancies and specifies the responsibilities to be carried
out by the employees of IKEA. The job description and job specification provides detail
information about the expectations of the employees and helps in attracting potential
candidates (Cascio, 2015).
(Source: Noe et al, 2017)

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The second step involves the development of the recruitment strategy that allows the
company to search for the potential candidates. The company searches the candidates by
collecting the relevant data. It uses the campus recruitment and recruits the employees
through the inside and outside foundations of recruitment which comprises direct
recruitment, advertising, campus recruitment and word of mouth (Lindgren and Osterlind,
2018).
The recruitment process starts with the applications that are spontaneous and come either
through the website or the company receives CVs at stores. The company receives 7 CVs per
day and 200 in a month. The company develops a partnership with the business and the
communication schools to hire the candidates that have well-equipped skills. The company
recruits the employees by analyzing its personal specification and through a formal job
application form (Noe et al, 2015).
The company focuses upon using the online recruitment process under which it uses
resourceful advertising and attracts the candidates who find relevant profiles and the
candidates who do not find relevant profiles can mail their CVs at the website. The company
responds them through the mail and takes the voice call interview. The online recruitment
process provides ease to the company to recruit the most reliable source for the company.
The ad campaign allows the company to receive 4285 applications recruits 280 new
employees. The company also focuses on establishing long term relationships with the
employees so it also uses internal recruitment to fill the relevant positions and also uses
external recruitment to source the reliable candidates and inculcates fresh blood in the
organization (Berman et al, 2019).

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The third step under the recruitment process of IKEA is shortlisting of candidates which
consists of three steps i.e. assessment center, second round, and personal interview. In the
first round, the 10 applicants are assessed to get a detailed analysis of the future colleagues of
the organization. The applicants are assigned with the individual and the group task to
analyze the performance of the candidates and will help the candidate to analyze its strengths
and weakness through the feedback of the assessor. It also provides the areas where the
improvement is required and provides the opportunity for professional growth (Wilton,
2016).
The two-three candidates that are selected at the assessment center come to the second round
where the personal interview is arranged with the future manager. It is analyzed that the
managers at IKEA expects honest answers and do not ask tricky questions. It also requires
the participation of the candidate in filling the personal test. The candidates at this stage get
the opportunity to ask about their future job (Ericsson, 2018).
The last step under the selection process in the personal interview under which, the most
suitable candidate is required to participate in a personal interview with the boss of the
company. Under this step, the company focuses on analyzing the motivation of the candidate
and the expectation he or she has from the company.
The former step under the recruitment process includes the assessment and control of the
recruitment process. Under this step, the company analyses the cost involved in the
recruitment process. It includes the salaries paid to the recruiters, advertisement cost and the
administrative expenses, outstanding cost and cost incurred on the final selection of the
candidates. The recruitment through the agencies increases the risk because these agencies
are not aware of the organizational culture and it increases the cost for the company (Paauwe
and Boon, 2018).

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It is analyzed that the recruitment strategy of IKEA creates dissatisfaction among the existing
employees and involves high risk and cost. The external recruitment does not provide the
scope of growth of the existing employees and leads to internal conflicts. It also increased the
risk of protecting the confidential information of the candidates. The recruitment of the new
employees is time-consuming and involves complex process and creates issues in the
maladjustment. The adoption of the advertising campaign as a source of recruitment brings a
large number of applicants that do not fit the particular job position. However, it is analyzed
that the corporation majorly emphases on recruiting the personnel through the external
sources of recruitment (Bilsland and Cumbers, 2018).
Recruitment Objectives at IKEA
The recruitment objectives of IKEA include:
 To create a talent pool of candidates and select the best candidates for the
organization.
 The company aims to recruit the best talent at the minimum cost.
 The objective of IKEA is to attract and increase the number of applicants. It focuses
on increasing the hiring speed and making it stronger by making the recruitment
process easier and shorter.
 IKEA aims to reduce the new hire failure rates and increasing employee retention by
providing the opportunity for professional growth and advancement (Smith and Rees,
2017).
Proposed Strategy
In order to achieve the aforesaid objectives, the company must focus more on the internal
sources of recruitment. It must fill the job positions with the existing employees this will help

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the company to increase the satisfaction among the present customers and will develop the
zeal to attain the objectives of the company. The cost of the recruitment process will be
reduced by hiring from the internal sources as well as using social media as the main source
of recruitment. It will help the company to advertise a job and communicate with the
potential candidates (Applicants, 2017).
To create a talented pool of candidates the company must focus on employee referrals and
must develop social media campaigns to attract the potential candidates. The company must
use the procedure of inbound recruiting under which it must focus on sharing the cultural
videos and employee testimonials to develop the talented pool of candidates. It must adopt
the mechanism of creating landing pages on the career site of IKEA. This will help in hiring
the potential candidates those are efficient and can perform the different job roles at the
company (Davis et al, 2016).
The second objective of the company is to recruit the best talent at minimum cost for which
the company must adopt the process of internal recruitment and must focus on using the
process of e-recruitment for reducing the sourcing cost and identifying the right candidates
that match the capabilities. It must focus on providing satisfaction to the current employees
so that IKEA can reduce labour turnover and retain the employees for a longer period of
time. It must focus on reducing the agency cost and must save the direct cost of recruitment
by reducing the external cost of hiring and managing internal recruitment (Iannotta and Gatti,
2016).
In order to increase the hiring speed at IKEA, it must focus on improving the interview
process by hiring the leaders who have a high level of emotional intelligence to judge the
potential candidates at the early stages of the recruitment process. It must keep the eye on the
reviews and must focus on converting the negative reviews into a positive one. It is analyzed

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that the company currently focuses more on external sources of recruitment which creates
complexity in the recruitment process as is often turned into a longer process of hiring.
However, the company must use the internal process of recruitment and attract the potential
candidates through the clear specification of the job requirements and creating a stronger
brand employer (Pieper, 2015).
The fourth objective of the company is to reduce the new hire failure rates. It can achieve by
developing strong cordial relations with the managers and the team members. It must focus
on providing on the job training to the employees and creating the opportunity of professional
growth and advancement. The company must on adopting the process where it focuses on
screening and interviewing the candidates at the early to have a deep understanding of the
candidates. It must focus on effectively listening to the candidates and analyzing their skills
and experience to analyze the best fit for the company (Pieper, 2015).
In order to achieve the above objectives, IKEA must use the internal sources of recruitment
and must develop effective marketing campaigns to attract potential candidates. It must
improve the interview process through hiring the best leaders that are capable to analyze the
best fit for the company. The company must be clear with the expectations and must listen to
the candidates to have a deeper understanding of their skills and nature (Applicants, 2017).
Recommendations
In order to recruit the best talent, the company needs to focus on adopting contingency hiring
model and recruitment process outsourcing. Under contingency hiring model the work is
done on the basis of terms and conditions with the client company. It is an ongoing
placement and recruitment action for the client company. Under this model, the candidate
does not pay any fees to the recruiter but the company who hires contingency recruiters pays

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the fees. In this model, the contingency recruiters take various test of the candidates
depending upon the requirements of the company and provide the best candidate after doing
the extensive research (Rathi and Lee, 2015).
Another model of recruitment that IKEA must use is recruitment process outsourcing. Under
this model, the company outsources an outside service provider who works for the internal
recruitment process of the company. Under this model, the RPO partner is responsible for all
the actions from sourcing to the closing of all the requirements. The provider focuses upon
scheduling and interviewing process and can offer its own or considers the technology, staff,
reporting system of the company. It does not create the need for the company to develop its
own recruitment team and allows the company to save the cost (Brown et al, 2019).
There are various strategies that will allow IKEA to select the best talent for the company. It
includes the following:
A broader job vacancy:
IKEA must focus on clear communications and must clearly specify the culture, pay scale
and the career opportunities offered by the company. The job seekers focus on clarity in job
advertisements. In response to the above, the company must focus on mentioning every
detail. It must mention the company culture and the perks that the company offers through a
video. It will allow attracting maximum potential job seekers and will allow the company to
select the best talent (Brown et al, 2019).

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(Source: Brown et al, 2019)
Campus recruiting
This is another strategy that will allow the company to recruit the best employees. Under this
strategy, the company must tie-up with the famous universities and colleges and must engage
themselves in their placement cells. It will allow the company to incubate fresh blood that is
dynamic in nature and has more enthusiasm (Rathi and Lee, 2015).
The company can recruit younger talent through featuring in the campus newspapers. It must
conduct workshops and seminars and must sponsor college events and festival to create
awareness among the students. The company must invite the students for the industry tour to
make them aware of the company’s culture and must offer different internship programs to
make them comfortable with the work at IKEA (Rutter, Roper and Lettice, 2016)
Allow Flexibility
Flexibility in the workplace is the finest strategy to fascinate and preserve the staff. The
employees strive for achieving work-life balance and the flexibility to work according to
them. The company must focus on providing flexibility in terms of working from anywhere
the employees feel and must provide them various holidays to spend time with their families.

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This boosts the morale of the employees and makes them more committed towards the goals
of the organization. The company must offer a sense of transformation and freedom to the
employees (Nelson, 2017).
Social Media Recruiting
It is analyzed that almost 73% of the Millenials search jobs through the use of digital
platforms. In response to the above situation, the company must focus on being socially
active. It must focus on building a strong connection and attract job seekers. It must promote
the brand on the social media platform to attract the Millenials and incubate fresh blood in
the company. It is the best strategy to attract, engage and retain the applicants. The company
must focus on making a robust brand occurrence on social media platforms. It can create a
strong brand presence by being responsive to the audience and sharing the great content that
allows attracting the applicants (Rutter, Roper and Lettice, 2016)
Employee Referral program
The setting of the employee referral program will allow the company to select promising
candidates and make the existing employees happier by providing referral rewards. It allows
the company to increase the retention rate and lower the employee turnover rate. It will allow
the employees to become the brand ambassador of the company and save the cost of the
company (Steiss, 2019).
Applicant tracking system
The company must focus on investing in the applicant tracking system. This is the software
that mechanizes the procedure of putting jobs and discovering competent talent. This
frequently comprises one-click job posting to multiple sites, applicant categorization, and

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interview arrangement. It will allow the company to select the best talent and save money in
extensive research.
Shorter time to hire
The company must focus on taking a shorter time for recruiting the employees. Adoption of a
long recruitment process provides the opportunity to the competitors to attract the potential
candidates and creates the loss for the company. However, IKEA must focus on valuing the
time and creating a short recruitment process that allows the company to recruit the best
talent.
The controlling of human resource is vital for the success of the organization. It is
recommended that IKEA must adopt the Harvard model of human resource management
because this dimension focuses on six dimensions. It focuses on the development of the
human resource policies that allow upholding the interest of the stakeholders. The policies
must be designed based upon the situational factors so as to receive maximum output in the
form of commitment and the cost-effectiveness of the organization. The HRM policies must
be designed in such a manner that it leads to positive long term consequences in the firm or
individual and the organizational well-being (Russell and Brannan, 2016).
The company must focus on using the internal sources of recruitment to provide the
opportunity of growth to the employees and creates a higher level of satisfaction. It will also
help in the management of internal conflicts and will save the time and cost of the company.
The internal sources of recruitment provide the opportunity of growth and create a positive
working environment in which the employees are more committed towards the goals of the
organization. The above-mentioned strategies will allow the company to recruit the best
talent and will allow the company to sustain its competitive advantage over its competitors
(Ekwoaba, Ikeije, and Ufoma, 2015).

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Conclusion
From the above paragraphs, it is concluded that human resource management shows a major
part in inspiring and motivating the employees towards the goals of the business. It allows
increasing satisfaction and creating a positive working environment. IKEA believes that
human resource is the key ingredient for the success of the company and strives for providing
maximum satisfaction to the employees. It performs all the functions related to human
resource .i.e. recruitment to training and development of the employees.
It is analyzed that the business emphases on recruiting the best personnel through the external
sources and scrutinizes them on the basis of the job description and specification. The
company attracts potential candidates through the use of advertisement and campus
recruitment and must adopt various strategies to attract the best talent.
IKEA must adopt contingency hiring model and recruitment process outsourcing to attract
the potential job seekers and must adopt the recruitment strategies to attract and retain the
best talent. The company must also use internal sources of recruitment to generate an optimal
working environment and increasing the morale of the existing employees in the
organization.
In order to attain the recruitment objectives, IKEA must focus on using the internal sources
of recruitment and improving the recruitment process by reviewing the views of the existing
employees and converting the negative reviews into positive ones. It must focus on
developing effective social media campaigns that will allow the company to reach the
potential candidates and develop a talented pool of candidates.

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