Meaning & use
to recruit
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To find and persuade people to join a company, organization, or group.
Grammar: Takes an object: recruit new staff. Can also be used intransitively: The company is recruiting.
Patterns
- recruit someone
- recruit for something
- recruit someone to do something
The company is recruiting new engineers for its London office.
They recruited her to lead the marketing team.
We need to recruit more volunteers for the event.
verbtransitive or intransitivemilitary
To get people to join the armed forces.
Grammar: Often used in military contexts: recruit soldiers; the army recruits heavily in poor areas.
Patterns
- recruit soldiers
- recruit for the army
The army is recruiting soldiers to serve overseas.
He was recruited into the navy at the age of 18.
Word forms
| third person singular | recruits |
|---|---|
| past tense | recruited |
| past participle | recruited |
| -ing form | recruiting |
Common combinations
- recruit new staff
- The hotel is recruiting new staff for the summer season.
- recruit volunteers
- The charity hopes to recruit 100 volunteers.
- recruit heavily
- The tech firm has been recruiting heavily this year.
- recruit from
- They recruit from top universities.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hire
- Hire means to give someone a job, often for pay; recruit focuses on the process of finding and attracting people.
- enlist
- Enlist is mainly used for joining the military; recruit can be used for any group.
- employ
- Employ means to have someone work for you; recruit is about getting them to join.
Opposites
Word family
- recruit noun
- A new member of a group, especially the military.
- recruiter noun
- A person whose job is to recruit others.
- recruitment noun
- The process of finding and attracting people to join.
Commonly confused: to recruit or enroll?
to recruit vs enroll
Enroll means to register yourself for a course or school; recruit means to persuade others to join.
Practice
The company plans to _____ 50 new workers next month.
Choose one answer.
After 'to' we need the base form of the verb: 'to recruit'. 'Recruits' is third person singular, 'recruiting' is the -ing form, and 'recruited' is past tense, which do not fit after 'to'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “to recruit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.