Q.Why is selection called a negative process while recruitment is called a positive process?

Recruitment and selection are related but opposite in aim: one gathers applicants, the other screens them out.

Recruitment and selection are two connected but opposite stages of building a sales force.

Recruitment — a positive process. The purpose of recruitment is to search out and attract candidates and to encourage as many suitable persons as possible to apply. It adds to and enlarges the pool of applicants. Because its effect is to bring in and increase the number of candidates, it is described as a positive process.

Selection — a negative process. The purpose of selection is to choose the few most suitable persons from the recruited pool and to reject the rest. At every step — screening applications, preliminary interview, tests, main interview, reference check, medical examination — some candidates are eliminated. Because its effect is to reduce the number of candidates and screen people out, it is described as a negative or eliminating process. …

'Negative' here does not mean bad or harmful — it refers only to the eliminating/rejecting nature of select …