Recruitment and selection

Recruitment and selection

1. The importance of recruitment and selection

   • Recruitment and selection is not just important where recruitment to management or professional positions is concerned. The same principle holds true for all the jobs in an organisation
     • Factors that should be taken into account when you are recruiting and selecting
       • Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting a pool of suitable candidates for the vacancy
         • Cost and budget
           • As a manager, you will need to keep control of your costs and keep within a budget
         • Validity
           • This refers to the extent to which a particular recruitment or selection technique is an accurate or valid predictor of actual future job performance
         • Fairness
           • Does any part of the recruitment, initial screening and final selection process introduce the possibility of bias in terms of age, gender, race, disability
         • Recruitment
           • Does a vacancy exist?
             • The first issue to be addressed within the process is to consider whether or not a vacancy exists
               • Conduct a job analysis
                 • There is some debate over this stage. Traditionally, once the decision has been made that a job needs filling, the first step is to undertake a job analysis of the vacancy.
                   • The recruitment strategy
                     • Once the decision has been taken that a company wants to advertise a job vacancy a decision must be taken as to how the advert will be worded and where it will be placed
                       • Which recruitment techniques should a company use?
                         • Small and medium-sized companies often do not have a specialised HR team of their own, or where they do the HR team may be only one or two people. When these organisations want to recruit, they often outsource the activity to a specialised agency
                           • Advantages of online recruitment
                             • Quicker. The web operates 24 hours a day, and no one has to wait for the post
                               • Disadvantages of online recruitment
                                 • Will limit applicants to those people with access to a computer. This is becoming less of a problem, but may still apply in different labour markets in different parts of the world.
                                   • Shortlisting
                                     • Once the company has received the applications for the job, it is then in a position to begin the shortlisting process. The aim here is to reduce the pool of candidates either because the advert attracted too many applicants or to ensure that the candidates have the skill and knowledge required to do the job.
                                       • Application form
                                         • This is the most popular method of obtaining initial information on candidates. Often, companies screen candidates using a number of set criteria, in terms of whether they have the qualifications, skills and experience required.
                                           • Biodata inventories
                                             • Candidates are requested to complete a series of multiple-choice questions relating to biographical data, behaviour and attitudes
                                               • Job previews
                                                 • There are a variety of methods that can be used to give candidates information about the job for which they have applied. The aim is to set expectations (influencing the psychological contract)
                                                   • Drug screening
                                                     • This is considered especially important when recruiting to jobs for which public safety is an issue
                                                       • Graphology
                                                         • Online tests
                                                           • Curriculum vitae or résumé
                                                             • Selection
                                                               • The decision is whether the candidate is likely to be able to do the job. The selection method chosen, therefore, should be capable of generating evidence that is relevant and reliable. The only guaranteed way of seeing if someone can do the job is to let them do it! The next best thing is to give them the opportunity to do some work sampling
                                                                 • Effectiveness of interviews
                                                                   • There is a lot of controversy over the effectiveness of interviews as a final selection technique, and a lot of evidence to suggest that their effectiveness is poor, which is worrying and perhaps surprising
                                                                     • Effectiveness of tests
                                                                       • Typically, these types of test have been rated as highly valid predictors of future job performance
                                                                         • Personality tests
                                                                           • There is a fairly vociferous debate about the value of personality tests and whether or not personality can be measured (Beardwell and Holden, 2000). The debate centres around a lack of agreement on four key issues.
                                                                             • Assessment centres
                                                                               • The types of selection tests discussed above are often administered in assessment centre situations
                                                                                 • Reference checks
                                                                                   • As a final stage within the recruitment and selection process, a reference request is normally sent to previous or current employers
                                                                                     • Is there an ideal, or ‘one best way’ approach to final selection?
                                                                                       • In this chapter, a range of different recruitment and final selection techniques have been examined, some of which are more effective than others. How do we bring all of this information together? Is there