The Process of Recruitment of Managers: Formal Management Education or Management Experience?

Abstract

In this paper we have analyzed 228 job announcements for the recruitment of managers within two online recruitment platforms most often used in Romania, named Ejobs and Indeed, regarding two important aspects: 1) recruitment of managers depending on management experience or formal management education and 2) recruitment of management graduates. The main objective is to describe the degree the practice of recruitment of managers takes into consideration the scientific advances in the management field and the formal management education. Through the mean of an archival data analysis research strategy, we found that for the recruitment of managers the companies asked almost exclusively for experience (91.2%). The companies in our sample almost did not require the management education. Only in ten announcements the recruiters asked for a formal management educational degree. Moreover, only half of companies asked for management experience (56.1%). Technical (39.4%), industry (25.2%) and working experience (7.7%) are the other types of experience valued by the recruiters. Most companies asked for management abilities, in addition to experience, however (e.g influence), but they did not require that these abilities to be formed during a formal educational program. The future manager only should possess these abilities acquired from somewhere. The paper aims to contribute to the academic debate regarding the criteria used by companies to hire managers. In addition, the paper has a strong practical orientation aiming at improving the recruitment practice of managers and equipping the companies and organizations with management teams with adequate managerial knowledge, abilities, and competences.