Recruitment & Selection

Recruitment & Selection

1. Workforce planning is about deciding how many and what types of workers are required

2. Why a business might need to recruit staff?

   • Business expansion due to
     • Increasing sales of existing products
     • Developing new products
     • Entering new markets
   • Existing employees leave
     • To work with competitors or other local employers
     • Due to factors such as retirement, sick leave or maternity leave
   • Business is relocating- Not all of existing workforce want to move to new location
   • Business need employees with new skills

3. The world of work is changing rapidly

   • Increase in part-time working
   • Increased number of single- partent families
   • More woman seeking work
   • Aging population
   • People rarely stay in the same job for life
   • Technology allows employees to communicate more effectively whilst apart
   • Greater emphasis on flexible working hours

4. Steps involved in workforce planning

   • The workforce plan establishes what vacancies exist
   • Job Description
     • Detailed explanation of the roles and responsibilities of the post advertised
     • Refers to the post available rather than the person
     • Most applicants will ask for this before applying for the job
   • Job Specification
     • Refers to the person rather than the post
     • Sets out the kind of qualifications, skills, experience and personal attributes a successful candidate should possess
     • A vital tool in assessing the suitability of job applicants
   • Managers produce a job description and job specification for each post

5. Recruitmant Process

   • A vacancy arises
     • A job description is written or revised, based on the job analysis
       • A person specification or job profile is written
         • A decision is made about whether to recruit internally or externally
           • Advertisements are drawn up and placed in appropriate media
             • Application forms are issued and/ or CV's and letters of applications are requested
               • Shortlisting takes place
                 • Interviews and held and assessment and testing takes place
                   • Selection takes place and someone is appointed

6. Internal Recruitment

   • Employee's abilities already known
   • Motivation for workforce
   • Recruitment and selection process is quicker
   • Short induction period
   • Less expensive
   • Reduces risk of employing wrong person
   • Its appropriate if training needs are specific to the individual organisation. For example a trainee needs to learn how to use a particular, new computer system

7. External Recruitment

   • Larger choice of well-qualified applicants
   • New ways of thinking
   • Overcome jealousies that may occur if someone was promoted above another aolleague.
   • Improve understanding of other firms
   • Joining a college course or supervisory training. it gives the opportunity to meet people from other organisations, allowing an interchange of ideas and a broadening of understanding. It can make employees feel valued and increase motivation

8. Advertisement Media

   • Commercial employment agencies
   • Newspaper or local magazines
   • Job Center
   • Local schools/ colleges
   • Local radio, national TV or internet
   • Word of mouth
   • Internal newsletters, notice boards & billboards
   • Headhunting

9. Application forms & CV's

   • Candidates complete application form, CV and letter of application
   • An application is a standard format so that firms can collect information in a systematic way

10. Shortlisting

    • Best candidates are selected from their application forms & CV's against a set criteria
    • References from previous employers and tutors in order to confirm information about candidate

11. Appointment

    • Candidate has been selected, they then have to select the position. Debrief those shortlisted candidates that were not successful.
    • Firms have to take into account of sex discrimination, equal pay, race relations, disability discrimination and age discrimination

12. Interview and other methods of assessment

    • Interviews are the more traditional- decision swayed by apperance and personality
    • Aptitude and attainment test- measure how people cope under pressure
    • Psychometric or personality tests- they measure the personality, attitude and character of applicants
    • Assessment Centers- group invited for a few days of in-depth assessments
      • Role play, team work, oral or written activities, presentations, simulations and case studies

13. Factors affecting methods of recruitment and selection

    • Level of the job in the organisation, shop-floor or senior management
    • Size of the organisation, larger multinational or small shop
    • Resources available to fund recruitment and selection process
    • Cost of any particular method- recruitment and selection can be an expensive process including advertisement, cost of administering, time spent shortlisting, interviewing and assessing
    • Supply of labour- plenty of potential applicants with relevant skills and experience or whether there are a few
    • Culture of the organisation and the extent to which it dictates that internal recruitment and promotion and the norm

14. Training

    • Development and introduction of new products
    • Restructuring of the firm
    • Development and introduction of new technology
    • Changes to procedure, including improvements to customer services
    • High labour turnover
    • Low morale
    • Changes in legislation

15. On-the-job training

    • Where an employee learns a job by seeing how it is carried out by an experienced employee
    • Cheaper than off-the-job training as existing employees and equipment can be used
    • It can take place in a realistic environment
    • Quality training depends on the ability and willingness of the instructor.
      • However the instructor may teach trainees with the improper skills that they had developed such as bad habits and short-cuts

16. Off-the-job training

    • All forms of employee education apart from that at the immediate workplace
    • May be conducted internally in a conference room or externally at a college
    • Training will be focused on skills, attitudes and theories that relate to work and it likely to include generic skills and knowledge that is useful in the workplace
    • Carried out by a specially trained expert. This means that training is more highly valued by employees
    • Costs are more expensive but are more straight foward to estimate
    • Training is easier to monitor
    • It's questioned whether the skills learnt can be transfered effectively yo the actual work environment