Employee Recruitment and Selection
(Source: Smith,2015)
Introduction
The process of
identifying willing and able applicants to fill actual or anticipated
organizational vacancies is known as recruitment (Decenzo, Robbins and
Verhulst,2010). Normally, an organization will have a pool of applicants who
are sourced from recruitment process. Shortlisting applicants from the pool created
by the recruitment process using screening tools to match the Knowledge ,Skills ,Abilities and other
Competencies(KSACs) which are required for performing the Job with the
applicant’s/applicants’ KSACs is called selection (Dessler,2017).The main objective of the recruitment and selection
process is to acquire required number and quality human resource to fulfill the organizational
human resource needs at a minimum cost. Armstrong (2006) explains the
recruitment and selection process in 3 steps as mentioned below.
1.
Outline Organizational Human Resource Requirements –
preparing job descriptions and specifications; deciding terms and conditions of
employment.
2.
Alluring Candidates to apply for Vacancies – reviewing
and evaluating alternative sources of applicants, inside and outside the
company, advertising, using agencies and consultants.
3. Selecting Candidates best fit for the Job and
the Organization – sifting applications, interviewing, testing, assessing
candidates, assessment centers, offering employment, obtaining references;
preparing contracts of employment.
Importance of Recruitment and Selection to an Organization
In today’s
dynamic business environment, it is important to survive and thrive for an
organization to achieve its short to long term business objectives. It is only
with the development and nurturing of leadership and management competencies of
the new staff that an organization could achieve this (O’Meara and Petzall,
2013).
The following
are the most significant factors why an organization should have a sound
recruitment and selection process.
· To ensure the workforce has the required KSACs to meet an
organization’s short- and long-term objectives (CIPD,2018). With the aging,
retirement and employee turnover the KSACs of employees in an organization
which are required for survival and growth in the competitive business sphere
may be diminished. Only with a robust recruitment and selection process this
could be avoided.
· To introduce new knowledge, skills and innovations to
outperform competition and to face unknown future challenges (Storey,Wright and
Ulrich,2008).Especially in knowledge based industries like financial service
providers and high-tech companies, new knowledge and innovation which could be
introduced through employing the best
are key factors to outperform competition.
· To reduce costs. Hiring and training of a new employee
involves seen and unseen costs, such as time spent by a supervisor to train a
recruit, to an organization (Whitford et al., 2005). Hence it is important to hire the “right” person to a
job who will remain with the organization and perform expected duties in a
correct manner.
· To avoid legal issues which are time consuming and
costly. Laws governing discrimination, right to work in a country, criminal
record checks and data protection may affect recruitment and selection process
(CIPD,2019).
Recruitment and Selection Methods
Recruitment
methods as identified by (Torrington,
Hall and Taylor, 2005) could be broadly mentioned as follows.
·
Internal Recruitment-filling a job vacancy internally
from existing employees. This could be done by way of a transfer, job rotation
or a promotion.
·
External Recruitment- calling for applications for a job
vacancy externally using Advertisements in press, business journals, electronic
media, corporate web sites, liaison with education institutes such as
universities, colleges, executive recruitment agencies and consultants, word of
mouth. Under external recruitment 2 most commonly used techniques are:
1.
Recruitment Advertising-using an external recruitment
advertising agency who are experts in drafting job vacancy advertisements and
know how to select suitable media to communicate and attract applications for
vacancy/vacancies to be filled in an organization. This method is often cost
effective as opposed to head hunters and recruitment consultants.
2.
E-Recruitment-with the low cost, innovative use and
popularity and success of social media networks websites, Internet and mobile
technology platforms are widely used as a recruitment method across the world (Newell-Brown and Swain, 2009).
Employer Branding is
a concept in recruitment which is in simple terms describes a symbol of an
identity and promise of delivery of functional benefits( such as high remuneration
,excellent working environment and cutting edge technology) and emotional
benefits (such as values driven from total work experience , satisfaction from
the work performed ,recognition from colleagues/society and belief of the quality ,purpose and
value of the
organization work for) which lures
quality and skilled applicants to apply for existing/potential vacancies of an
organization (Barrow and Mosley, 2005).
Redman and
Wilkinson (2006) recognizes four main selection methods. They are;
1.
Structured Interviews
– One of the most commonly used selection methods. Same sorts of questions
mainly based on behavioral (hypothetical situation and ask how the candidate
would react to it) and situational (how the candidate has reacted to an actual
situation experienced) perspectives are asked from all the candidates and they
are assessed based on same dimensions.
2.
Biographical
Measures-Using past behavior of a person as the basis to predict future
behavior to select the right candidate.
3.
Psychometric
Tests-Deals in two type of tests used for selection. Cognitive Tests which
examine general intelligence and Personality Tests which examine the
personality traits of a candidate (since personality differs from one person to
another initially there was low validity for this type of tests which were
later changed due to emergence of models such as “Big 5” personality traits
namely openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and
neuroticism).
4.
Assessment or
Development Centres-This method uses variety of exercises over a given period
of time to assess (by a group of assessors who rate the candidates)
competencies of candidates in a small group which are relevant to perform a
particular job in an organization. Exercises might include: a group
decision-making exercise, a presentation, a role play, an in-basket test,
psychometric tests and interviews. Increased usage of this method is seen
especially among large organizations due to relatively high level of predictive
validity and fair and thorough by candidates.
Recruitment and Selection in Practice in different Organizations
Sparrow (2007) had studied recruitment approaches of four UK based
organizations and following are the findings:
·
South East
London Strategic Health Authority (SHA) - When SHA wanted to recruit specialist skill
shortage areas (such as doctors and nurses) they ran global advertising using
web-based media giving a value proposition to the prospective clients. They
were mindful of not to damage (due to drain of skills) the countries where the
recruitments were made. SHA adopted following strategies for this.
§ Establishment of
policies targeting specific skills and countries and use of communication
channels in agreement with service providers.
§ Adopted passive
recruitment strategies to negate the effects of growing number of international
employees in the domestic labour market in UK.
§ Lastly,
longer-term strategies ensured the continued attractiveness of the SHA as an employer
in overseas markets.
·
BBC World Service - BBC used its employer
brand as the main strategy to attract journalists/producers. Vacancies were
advertised in their commercial web site which had been communicated via
brochures and the process was handled by an external service provider.
·
Barclaycard
International – When Barclaycard wanted to drive its internationalization
strategy, they used their multi-cultural work force. Vacancies were
advertised on intranets and
international HR business partner was appointed to negotiate preferred
supplier arrangements with headhunters and other institutions. An employee value
proposition and employment brand were also developed across countries to
attract candidates.
·
Save the Children – To fill their
vacancies spanning over six geographical regions, Save the Children used four
main strategies.
§ Used regional HR
managers to identify and collate data bases of local candidates using local
communication channels.
§ Used recruitment
advertising with a global protocol to identify sources.
§ Entered into
collaborative arrangements with other agencies and charities to source
candidates.
§ Used brand image
heavily through advertising to lure candidates.
My Own Experience
I work for a
leading private sector commercial bank in Sri Lanka.It adopts both Internal and
external recruitment methods to fill vacancies.
Internal
recruitment are done on posting job vacancies in Intra-Net calling for
applications.
External recruitment are done on publishing advertisements through printed media and
bank’s web site. Special emphasis is given for the “employer branding” to
attract candidates.
The selection
methods mainly include written aptitude tests and structured interviews.
Conclusion
Often the words
recruitment and selection are used interchangeably. However, these are two
different set of activities which are part of best HR practices and vital for
the performance of the organization. Over a time, we have seen change of recruitment
methods however the traditional methods are still in use in conjunction with
new methods such as E-recruitment. The selection is a two-way process where
both the employer and employee make selection decisions. Although poorly done,
it is very important to frequently review and validate the effectiveness of
recruitment and selection methods to get the maximum benefits to an
organization from the process(Torrington et al., 2014).
List of References
Armstrong,M.(2006)A hand book of HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
PRACTICE.10th
ed.London,KOGAN PAGE.
Barrow, S. and Mosley, R. (2005). The
Employer Brand:Bringing the Best of Brand Management to People at Work. 1st
ed. West Sussex: John Willey & Sons Ltd.
Chartered Institute
of Personnel and Development (CIPD) (2018) Recruitment:an
introduction[online]. London:CIDP.Available at <https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/people/recruitment/factsheet>.[Accessed on 25th
December 2018].
Chartered Institute
of Personnel and Development (CIPD) (2019) Recruitment
Employers:learn how to safely recruit within the law[online].London:CIDP.Available
at
< https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/emp-law/recruitment
>.[Accessed on 6th
January 2019].
Decenzo, D. A.
R., Robbins, S. P and Verhulst, S.L. (2010)
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. 10th ed.United States
of America,John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Dessler,G.(2017)Human Resource Management.15thed.United
States of America,PEARSON.
Newell-Brown, J. and Swain, A. (2009). THE
PROFESSIONAL RECRUITER'S HANDBOOK:delivering excellence in recruitment practice.
1st ed. London: KOOGAN PAGE.
O’Meara,B and Petzall,S.(2013)The Handbook of STRATEGIC RECRUITMENT and
SELECTION A Systems Approach.Bingley,Emerald.
Redman, T. and Wilkinson, A. (2006). CONTEMPORARY
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:Text and Cases. 2nd ed. Essex: Pearson.
Smith, J.
(2015)Building the Bridge Between
Recruitment and Selection-TMHRA Nuts and Bolts.Google[online.]Available at
<https://tmhranutsandbolts.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Josh-Smith-Recruitment-and-Selection-2.pdf >. [Accessed on 9th December
2018].
Sparrow, P.
(2007) ‘Globalisation of HR at function level: Four UK-based case studies of
the international recruitment and selection process’, International Journal of
Human Resource Management, Vol. 18, No. 5, pp. 845–67.
Storey,
J.,Wright,P.M and Ulrich,D.(2008) The
Routledge Companion to Strategic Human Resource Management.United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis e-Library[online].
Available at < https://www.pdfdrive.com/ >.
[Accessed on 25th
December 2018].
Torrington, D., Hall, L. and Taylor, S.
(2005). Human Resource Management. 6th ed. Essex: Pearson.
Torrington, D., Hall, L., Taylor, S. and
Atkinson, C. (2014). Human Resource Management. 9th ed. Harlow: Pearson.
Whitford, F., Hanna,
M., Gerber, C., Wade, M. and Blessing, A. (2005). The Hiring
Process-Recruiting,Interviewing and Selecting the Best Employees. United States of
America, PURDUE University.
Hi Suresh, In addition to what yo have mentioned, Thought of commenting on a fundamental point, Biodata have been defined by Anderson and Shackleton (1990) as ‘historical and verifiable pieces of information about an individual in a selection context usually reported on application forms’. Bio data are perhaps of most use for large organisations filling fairly large numbers of posts for which they receive extremely high numbers of applications.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Vianlo. In fact, biographical measures mentioned in my blog relates to Bio Data. As you have correctly mentioned research has also indicated biographical measures can produce good levels of predictive validity (Oswald et al.,2004) in selection process, since they are based on actual past behavior and subject to less distortion. However, the best results could may be obtained when used in conjunction with another selection method/methods.
DeleteResearchers show that selecting right people into the company will bring a positive management among the individuals and they pay much attention for their duty role. The relationship between employee and management is in high level throughout the company. Ott, et al., (2007)
ReplyDeleteYes,Geethanjali.The challenge of recruitment and selection process is to identify and hire right people for the organization and may not only for the job. In this context understanding the personality of individuals is important. We may use five-factor model (FFM) of personality for this identification purpose.
Delete• Neuroticism (or emotional stability): reflects the tendency to be moody, irritable, lacking in self-esteem and self-confidence, self-pitying, emotional, and intolerant of stress, rather than calm, even-tempered, having high self-esteem and self-confidence, stress-tolerant and independent.
• Extroversion: reflects being outgoing, dominant, assertive, gregarious, sociable, and energetic, rather than passive, submissive, introverted, quiet, reserved, shy and withdrawn
• Openness to experience: reflects the tendency to be broadminded, creative, imaginative, and inquiring versus being conventionally or practically minded,unoriginal,shallow and narrow in interests.
• Agreeableness: reflects the tendency to be warm, friendly, trusting, and empathetic versus being cold,aloof,quarrelsome,distrustful and cynical.
• Conscientiousness: reflects the tendency to be prudent, organized, precise, planful, dependable, achievement-oriented and persistent versus being undependable,impulsive,careless and inattentive to detail.
(Source:Peterson and Mannix,2003).
I would like to quote the following, “Ask leaders what their biggest challenge is, and you get the same answer: finding attracting and keeping talented people. Ask talented people that what their biggest career challenge is and you will hear the same refrain: finding good people to work with - and to work for” (Holbeche, 2004, p.166). One of the key activities of an organization is to attract new talent, which is a shortage, while retaining the presented talent (Owais, 2012).
ReplyDeleteHi Premila, thanks for your comment. I feel it takes the topic to a new dimension of attracting and retention of talent. In this context I would like to share following few thoughts.
DeleteBerger and Berger (2004) state that an organization can attract new talent from competitors, synergistic organizations, when economic down turn conditions prevail and expanding organization’s contacts with potential new talent through networking and sourcing.
Bernthal and Wellins (2001) feel an organization could adopt following 5 tactics to retain their existing talent.
1. Conduct internal studies (surveys, focus groups) to understand why employees leave/stay
2. Improve selection practices
3. Conduct exit interviews
4. Improve communication between management and employees
5. Expand or improve training and development opportunities
Bohlander, Snell & Sherman (2001) reported that it is important for managers to understand the objectives, policies and practices used for selection. More importantly, those responsible for making selection decisions should have adequate information upon which to base their decisions. As Robbins (2005) observed, organization’s human resource policies and practices represent important forces for shaping employee behaviour and attitudes
ReplyDeleteGanga, thanks and I do agree with your comment. In this context Armstrong (2006) suggests to adopt a human resource management (HRM) approach which will ensure taking much more care in matching people, who display commitment and ability to work as a member of a team, to requirements of an organization and specifications of the job. He drew example from Japanese Nissan car manufacturing plant in Washington where they followed a conscious recruitment policy with rigorous selection procedures. Aptitude tests, personality questionnaires and group exercises were used and the initial pre-screening device was a detailed ‘biodata’-type questionnaire, which enabled the qualifications and work history of candidates to be assessed and rated systematically. Subsequent testing of those who successfully completed the first stage was designed to assess individual attitudes as well as aptitude and ability. They termed the steps taken at Nissan to achieve commitment and team working as something genuinely believed by the management and people who were successful in securing a job opportunity also believed in same.
DeleteIn the present context of organizational culture employee recruitment and selection is Para important. If you don’t select the right employee for the right job both the employee/ employer will suffer which will have a longstanding damage on the institution. Therefore it’s very important you select the correct person for the specified job. Recruitment and selection is a key aspect for every organization in getting the right employee for the right job (Noe, 2012).
ReplyDeleteThx Renuka.Agree with your comment. Following are the tips given by Davis(2016) to select a right employee for an organization, which could be useful in a recruitment and selection process.
Delete• Envision your ideal candidate.
• Get to know the real person.
• Ask the right questions covering Crucial skills and Competencies, Expectations and Goals and most importantly Cultural fit.
Otoo., Assuming. & Agyei. (2018) explain the challenges of Recruitment and Selection Process as ; Cost of the Recruitment Process, Impersonation, Nepotism and Favoritism, The Size of the Organization, The location of the organization.
ReplyDeleteTaniya, thank you for your input. Adding to your comment on a more practical aspect let me cite what few of hiring experts feel on modern challenges on recruitment and selection process as described by Phan(2018).
Delete• Long Lead times - Glen Loveland, HR Manager, Global Talent Acquisition of CGTN
• Competition- Robin Schwartz, PHR, Managing Partner at MFG Jobs
• Lack of skilled, quality talent in a demanding location and industry. - Darron Nelson, Recruiting Lead for Clara Lending
• Lack of Diversity- James Rice, Head of Digital Marketing at Wikijob
• Lack of true culture and company fit - Steven Benson, Founder and CEO of Badger Maps
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAdding more to your examples of recruitment, as reported by Competency and Emotional
DeleteIntelligence (2004), Britannia Building Society recruits on the basis of the candidates’
attitudes first, and skills and abilities second. Developing the process involved mapping the Society’s values to its core competencies, identifying the sort of competency-based questions that should be asked by interviewers, defining the typical types of responses that candidates might make, and tracking those back to the values.
Hi Nalin, thanks for your comment. McCord (2018) believes there can be situations where it is always not necessary to recruit and select people who always fit organization’s culture and other specifications. There could be instances where organizations can adapt to many people’s styles. She explains the process requires probing beneath the surface of people and their résumés, engaging managers in every aspect of hiring, treating your in-house recruiters as true business partners, adopting a mindset in which you’re always recruiting and coming up with compensation that suits the performance you need and the future you aspire to.
DeleteIn addition you mentioned Elearn (2009) mentioned The determination of selection is to match people to workplace. It is the most essential component in any organization’s management of people simply because it is not promising to improve the efficiency of human assets, by whatever technique, if there is a less than acceptable match
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pubudu.In addition to what you have mentioned, I think the employer has a pivotal role to play in making the match by creating an organization of one’s dream to work on. In this regard they must make sure it is an organization where individual differences are nurtured, information is not suppressed or spun, the company adds value to employees (rather than merely extracting it from them), the organization stands for something meaningful, the work itself is intrinsically rewarding and there are no stupid rules (Goffee and Jones,2013).
DeleteThis has to be kept in mind at the recruitment process that Overall, staff satisfaction, happiness and staff compliance can be determined by work, which can affect salary, Patten's supervision and the next level of promotion.(McNeese-Smith, 1997; Kangas et al., 1999).
ReplyDeleteHi Priyantha, things you have mentioned in your comment has been further validated by statistics from the side of people apply for a job, as to what they take in to account when accepting a job. There are 5 things that they look for and mentioned below from most to least important.
Delete1) salary and compensation 2) career growth opportunities 3) work-life balance 4) location/commute 5) company culture and values (Economy,2015).
In addition (Price, 2007).defines that this is the process of retrieve and attract of the good applications for the requirement of the recruitment and selection process and that the requirement is not a simple selection procedure and this requires discussions and broad planning of the management in order to select and appoint the most suitable employee who would be best for the corporate culture and the ethics of the company.
ReplyDeleteYes Shamalka, I agree with your comment. Recruitment and Selection is not a just a process to hire employees to an organization. As per Australian Human Resource Institute-AHRI (2019), it is a strategy which is paramount to the success of any organization. The recruitment and selection function can become a costly and inefficient process if not approached in a systematic and proactive manner. A recruitment and selection strategy:
Delete• Ensures the organization has the necessary skills, knowledge and attributes to meet current and future strategic and operational requirements
• Ensures supply meets demand requirements of human resource
• Increases the pool of potential applicants which provides the greatest opportunity to select the best people for the required roles in an organization and Improves the selection process by ensuring that only those applicants that meet the requirements of the position are selected for further investigation
• Can impact on the likelihood that a suitable candidate will accept a job offer
• Increases organizational effectiveness
According to Vyas (2011) the current trend is that organizations are looking for ways to reduce time and effort in hiring and selection processes. However, Munyon, Summers, Ferris and Gerald (2011) admonished recruitment and selection methods should convert to competitive advantage of an organization. Devaro (2008) indicate Recruitment strategies can have positive results for organizations. Using quality systems in recruiting and selection helps organizations grow as they can find the right talent to fill that gap
ReplyDeleteHi Rukshan,on the comment on reducing time, cost and effort in the recruitment and selection process,the concept of "contingent workers" has gained popularity in the recent past. Deloitte (2019) observes , the Businesses have dramatically increased their use of contingent workers over the past decade as they struggle with rising labor costs and the need for a workforce that can quickly adapt to market conditions. Contingent workers are not on the company payroll but provide services to an organization, such as contractors, consultants, temporary workers and advisers. Fournier (2018) feels contingent work force must be hired with an eye for future recruitment and selection on a permanent basis. She points out it will give following benefits to an organization.
Delete• Determining a candidate’s suitability
• Reduce costs
• Employers/Employees get the chance to evaluate their fit
• Build a blended workforce
Also would like to add when employees are selected at the interview it would be the “Cream of the Crop” which would be selected. There is no guarantee how they would be totally acceptable to perform in the organization (Dessler, 2008). Therefore it is the responsibility of the organization to train the correct candidate to perform the right job, to benefit the organization as well as the individual.
ReplyDeleteThank you Nilusha for your comment. Please note recruitment and selection is a well thought out and planned out process to select a candidate best fit for the organization and the job (Armstorng,2006). It is not mere selecting a candidate at an interview. I agree with your point that there is no guarantee of performance until tried and tested. Lanthier(2016),states that most of the time a new recruit fails not due to lack of knowledge,ability,skills and other competencies, it is because mismatch between personal and company culture. She goes on to add four training tips in this regard which are mentioned below.
Delete1. Write top 10 core values of the organization
2. Test employee values
3. Ask culture-specific questions
4. Reinforce culture with ongoing training
Hi Suresh, while Recruitment and Selection majorly forcussing on permanent base employees, a considerable amount of focus goes on recruiting temporary staff. Although there has not been a through empirical work on the temporary employees, the research shows that this segmant of workers tend to be attracted to almost the same organizational and job characteristics as full-time employees (Lievens and Chapman, 2010). If the organization can offer this pool of employees better pay, prestige and opportunities, they can turn out to be as useful as the core employees.
ReplyDeleteAchintha thank you for your comment. It is observed nowadays ,that more and more companies increasingly focus on the core 20% to 25% of permanent workforce who reliably generate the 70% to 80% of organizational value. They’re rethinking their economic relationships with the rest. So it raises the questions as to;
Delete• will employers invest in developing the knowledge, human capital and capabilities of their contingent workforce?
• Or is the temporary employment is merely about a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay?
As the brilliant economist, Treasury Secretary and former Harvard University President Larry Summers once observed, “In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car.” If this implies that no employers will invest in the upgrade of their “rented” temps and part-timers, that bodes very poorly for this rising class of workers (Schrage,2013).
To addition to what you have stated: The process of recruitment does not cease with application of candidate and selection of the appropriate candidates, but involves sustaining and retaining the employees that are selected(Karthiga et al, 2015)
ReplyDeletestated by Silzer et al. (2010).
Hi Lakshmi. You open the discussion on what next after recruitment and selection. This brings us to the topic of “Onboarding”. Bauer (2010) defines onboarding as the process of helping new hires adjust to social and performance aspects of their new jobs quickly and smoothly in order to successfully contribute to the firm’s goals and objectives. She further explains, research on new employee onboarding shows that when onboarding is done correctly, it leads to:
Delete• Higher job satisfaction
• Organizational commitment
• Lower turnover
• Higher performance levels
• Career effectiveness
• Lowered stress.
Hi, here is a significant difference between the terms ‘recruitment’ and ‘selection’, even though they are often regarded as indistinguishable from each other (Orlitzky, 2007). ‘Recruitment’ refers to the process of collecting talented candidates who are likely to be hired by an organisation (Chan & Kuok, 2011), while ‘selection’ addresses the final stage following the recruitment process, in which an ideal candidate who is eligible to fill a vacant position is chosen (Pynes, 2004).
ReplyDeleteNishad, agree with your definitions on recruitment and selection since they are similar in idea to the definitions given in the blog. On a more scholarly note Armstrong (2010) lists Recruitment and selection as a part of one of the main human resource management functions -Resourcing. He defines same as follows.
Delete“Recruitment is the process of finding and engaging the people the organization needs. Selection is an aspect of recruitment concerned with deciding which applicants or candidates should be appointed to jobs.”
As explained by Armstring (2014)employee resourcing is not just about recruitment and selection. It is concerned with any means available to meet the firm’s need for certain skills and behaviours. A strategy to ensure the organization has the talented people it needs (a talent management strategy) may start with recruitment and selection but would extend into learning and development to enhance abilities and skills and modify behaviours and succession planning. Performance management processes can be used to identify development needs (skills and behaviours) and motivate people to make the most effective use of their abilities.
ReplyDeleteHi Shiromi,as you have correctly pointed out recruitment and selection is one of the key activities coming under human resource management (HRM)function of resourcing(Torrington,Hall and Taylor,2005).In this context ,primary benefits of effective recruitment and selection processes include a strong pool of applicants, accurate qualification screenings, proactive strategic alignment with company goals, reduced turnover and high morale(Kokemuller,2017).Further one should not forget that the recruitment and selection process is not just about employers identifying suitable employees, it’s also about candidates' finding out more about the business, and considering whether the organization is one they would like to work for. Therefore, candidates’ experience is another important aspect of recruitment and selection which will lead to long term benefits with regard to maintaining employment relationship. Often, the first interaction a potential employee has with an organization is the recruitment process, so effort should be made to ensure the process is transparent, timely and creates a good impression of the organization, regardless of whether the candidate is successful or not (CIPD,2018).
DeleteIn addition to internal recruitment: Armstrong (2000a), proposed that first consideration should be given to
ReplyDeleteinternal candidates, although some organizations with powerful equal opportunity policies
(often local authorities) insist that all internal candidates should apply for vacancies on the
same footing as external candidates.
Hi Anne, many organizations opt for internal recruitment mainly due to following benefits as per SHRM(2018).
Delete• Less expensive
• No requirement for extensive training
• Quicker
• Have the support of superiors and ready availability of performance review documents
• Availability workplace connections and knowledge of the corporate culture
• Boost employee morale
SHRM add employers use external recruitment to attract individuals with the necessary skill sets that are not found in-house or when seeking to grow the business or take it in a different direction. A fresh perspective is one benefit of bringing someone new into the organization.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Suresh,
ReplyDeleteIn addition, ineffective recruitment has a number of cost implications for employers: low morale which can affect employee performance; lost business opportunities, as well as higher levels of labor turnover. Recruitment and selection also has an important role to play in ensuring worker performance and positive organisational outcomes. It is often claimed that selection of workers occurs not just to replace departing employees or add to workforce but rather aims to put in place workers who can perform at a high level and demonstrate commitment (Ballantyne, 2009).
Agree with your comment Tharika.Sullivan(2015) further elaborates the impact of bad recruitments as follows.
Delete• Reduced sales from a bad candidate experience - By providing a bad candidate experience, a firm may frustrate and anger candidates who may be are firm’s existing customers. Which may result in not buying your products/services. It makes sense to find out if those candidates are current customers of one’s firm and then to make sure that the firm is responsive to them if they are not hired.
• Reduced revenue from hiring below-average performers in revenue impact jobs- Bad hiring will result in less innovation in products/services and poor customer service.
• Lower productivity from hiring below-average performers in all jobs- Organization can calculate the cost of hiring a single underperformer by using your average revenue per employee figure.
• A bad candidate experience may reduce the power of firm’s product/service brand- At many firms; the employer brand is difficult to separate from the product brand. For example, Google and Apple rank one and two on both product brand and employer brand. And that interconnection means that if the employer brand is damaged, the r product brand will also suffer.
• The significant added costs related to replacing mis-hires- Bad hires often prematurely quit or they need to be released. Beyond the obvious recruiting replacement costs the largest revenue cost results from having no productivity in that job during each day that the position is vacant. If the vacant position is a revenue-generating job, that revenue may be lost forever.
• A bad candidate experience will reduce future job applications - You are also likely not to get job applications from any individuals who read the negative reviews on social media posted by your disillusioned candidates or employees.
As stated by Armstrong,2006,the overall aim of the recruitment and selection process should be to obtain at minimum cost the number and quality of employees required to satisfy the human resource needs of the company.
ReplyDeleteThe three stages of recruitment and selection dealt with in this chapter are:
1. defining requirements – preparing job descriptions and specifications; deciding terms and conditions of employment;
2. attracting candidates – reviewing and evaluating alternative sources of applicants,inside and outside the company, advertising, using agencies and consultants.
3. selecting candidates – sifting applications, interviewing, testing, assessing candidates assessment centers, offering employment, obtaining references; preparing contracts of employment.
Thanks, Gabriel, for your comment. The point and the reference you have brought forward has already been mentioned in the blog. On an additional note, Rothwell and Kazanas (2003) opined that the Recruitment and Selection process as one in which;
Delete- Sources of appropriate talent are identified.
- Continuous recruitment efforts are established for critically needed talents
- Specific requirements are established for vacancies as they come open.
- Individuals are recruited for vacancies as they occur.
- Individuals are initially screened.
- Employment tests are used to assess relative strengths and weaknesses of job applicants.
- Interviews are conducted with promising candidates.
- A background-check of a promising applicant is carried out.
- An offer is extended to a promising applicant.
- Orientation and placement begin.
Hi Kumar,
ReplyDeleteAdding on to people resourcing, though the Five Fold grading system is a traditional classification, which is less popular in today’s context, it covers the following important factors (Armstrong, 2006);
1. Impact on others
2. Acquired qualifications
3. Innate abilities
4. Motivation
5. Adjustment
Ashanthi, Five-Fold grading system introduced by Munro-Fraser could be used for preparation of person specifications in preparing job descriptions and specifications in the recruitment and selection process. As stated by Cushway (2006), it is complimentary to job description which describes the content of the job, person specifications describe the desired characteristics of the person required for the job.
DeleteHi,As stated by Sinha and Thaly (2013) the relevant channels can help your organization obtain multiple sources and turn them into effective hires. The end result of the organization depends on the quality of employees the organization have recruited, so recruitment and selection of all organizations is a serious problem (Ezeali and Esiagu, 2010).whats your opinion?
ReplyDeleteHi Mark, it is observed over 3 million people are recruited by employers in the UK each year. The process is termed as costly and difficult. The estimated recruitment cost for a senior manager is £8,000 and it is £3,000 for other staff (CIPD, 2012a). Despite the economic climate, employers experience difficulties in recruiting at least some areas of skills shortage, most in the context of reduced budgets. Effective recruitment remains a central HR objective whether labour markets are tight or slack (Torrington et al.,2014).
DeleteHi Suresh, As described by Armstrong (2014), a survey conducted on 2006/7 has revealed that emotional intelligence and competency should be applied 85% during recruitment and selection for better results and about 95% of the responded participants used behavioral competencies, and 66% used technical competencies.
ReplyDeleteHi Prasad, it is a fact that more and more organizations looking at recruiting people for their soft skills. According to Half (2018),research show 60% of businesses agree that emotional intelligence (EQ) is an important trait for employees to have. Those with a high EQ will typically have excellent emotional awareness, will be able to harness their emotions for creative tasks and problem solving and can manage their emotions in a mature, constructive way. He further opines digital transformation which has taken the world of work by storm and its impact on hiring has been drastic. A rise in demand for professionals with the necessary digital skills has caused an industry-wide skills shortage. Despite same emotional intelligence has been identified as a skill that comes with added benefits, such as better team collaboration, better leadership and higher morale.
Deleteempowering managers to recruit the perfect individuals for the right job. It was understood that most organizations did not have standard procedures it followed in recruiting staff
ReplyDelete(Darkoh 2014)
A recruitment and selection policy of an organization is a statement of principles and guidelines detailing out how an organization conducts its recruitment and selection process. The aim of such a policy is to ensure that a transparent and unbiased recruitment and selection process is followed with a view of appointing the best candidate, based solely on merit and best-fit with your organizational culture (Slezak,2016). Most large and some small employers do have a formal process that it follows to recruit and hire new employees (Doyle,2018). Any organization that does not consider recruitment as important will be thrown out of business and It must be a top priority for any business entity (Brown and Swain,2009).
DeleteA close combination can be observed in the comparison of the internal recruitment and the human resource planning, work analysis, job design and human resource development (Muscalu 2015)
ReplyDeleteYes, Dishan according to Dessler (2017), when we think recruitment we normally think about fascinating advertisements and recruitment agencies and websites. However internal recruitment could be termed as the best source due to following reasons;
Delete• Availability of tested knowledge on candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, as the employee has been working for the organization for some time.
• Current employees may also be more committed to the company.
• Morale and engagement may rise if employees see promotions as rewards for loyalty and competence.
• Inside candidates should require less orientation and training than outsiders.
• External hires tend to come in at higher salaries than do those promoted internally. Some apparent “stars” hired from outside may turn out to have excelled more because of the company they came from than from their own skills
However if an organization need the services of specific skills which are currently not available or need to embark on a drastic change management or face a situation in which current succession planning or skills are inadequate, hiring externally may not be evitable.
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ReplyDeleteGenerally in selection tests organizations expect applicant's knowledge and skill sets required by the job role. However, some companies extend this selection test to identify the level of personality, physical and natural abilities as well (Gusdorf, 2008).
ReplyDeleteThanks, Prabath for your comment. Selection tests are used to identify applicants’ skills such as aptitude, personality, abilities, honesty and motivation that cannot be determined by any other selection method. Properly designed selection tests are standardized, reliable and valid in predicting applicants’ success on the job (Gusdorf,2008).
DeleteThe tests used in selection could be broadly categorized as follows according to Akrani (2011).
• Intelligence Test
• Interest Test
• Performance Test
• Personality Test
• Projective Test
• Aptitude Test
• General Knowledge Test
• Perception Test.
Human resource management involves observation that employees are human resources, not unlike other organizational resources such as finance and technology, who need to be managed in similar and different ways in order to accomplish productivity and profitability effects. Exact human resource management functions then provide the means by which employees are human resource planning, job design, recruitment and selection, human resource development, reward and remuneration system, performance and career management, dismissal, retirement, redundancy programs according to organizational requirements. It thus involves a human resource management strategy and a human resource management plan, consistent with overall organizational strategies, which subsequently feed into each of the related human resource roles. (Compton, Morrissey and Nankervis, 2011).
ReplyDeleteWhilst agreeing with your comment, I would like to mention following regarding modern human resource management (HRM). No doubt all of us are aware of the technological advancements taking place in the world. Soon this will completely overhaul the HRM functions. Following are few such instances that we could expect technology will come into action in the near future, which will influence HRM functions including recruitment and selection.
Delete1. Accenture estimates that social media tools like LinkedIn will soon produce up to 80% of new recruits
2. Cloud computing and intuitive user interfaces let managers monitor goal attainment and give real-time performance feedback continuously and interactively, rather than once or twice per year
3. Mobile applications enable HR capabilities ranging from employee location monitoring to checking digital identities at time clocks.
4. Websites like Knack and True Office help employers add gaming features to training, performance appraisal, and recruiting.
5. Data mining and talent analytics revolutionized how employers such as Google and Xerox identify competencies and recruit and select job candidates.
The concept of who does HR also fast changing. Digital devices and social media are shifting more HR tasks from central human resource departments to employees and line managers. This will enable human resource managers to refocus their efforts from day-to-day activities like interviewing candidates to broader, strategic efforts, such as formulating plans for boosting employee performance and engagement (Dessler,2017).
External recruitment has more advantages than the internal, because it brings fresh minds to an organization which can think differently rather than the regular brains. New recruiters are not involved in office politics or making them less susceptible to unproductive influences by others. The number of potential candidates is high compared to internal employees (DeVaro, 2016). So an external recruitment has higher potential, it could turn to be a more successful recruitment making external hiring worth a risk.
ReplyDeleteHi, Nimali. Agreed with your comment on the benefits of the external recruitment. However, we should not forget the drawbacks associated with same. Listed below are few such drawbacks as pointed out by Reddy (2016);
Delete• Candidates have only a limited understanding of the company and its culture
• Considered as one of the higher risk processes of recruitment
• Time consuming and costly
• May lead to internal disputes with existing employees
As explained by Opatha (2010) Recruitment is the process of people finding and attracting capable people to apply for job openings in the organization. It is a set of tasks that an organization uses to attract job seekers with the required skills and mindsets. Recruitment process is a process of creating a pool of qualified applicants for organizational job openings.
ReplyDeleteHi, Aravinth further to your comment on the concept of recruitment, it should be noted when human resource planning indicates a need of additional employees, organizations have several choices to make that will lead to full-scale recruitment and selection process. Sometimes hiring new employees may not be the best method to acquire additional human resource. It may be appropriate for an organization to consider alternatives to recruiting, such as outsourcing or contingent labor, instead of hiring regular employees. If the requirement for new employees is due to temporary fluctuation in work volume, the simplest solution may be part-time labor or overtime by existing employees. The costs of recruitment and selection can be very high. Therefore, hiring new employees should occur only after careful consideration and only when the organization anticipates a long-term need. Careful HR planning must consider the overall growth prospects of the organization and accurate forecasting of future labor needs. Recruitment planning begins only when other alternatives have been considered and eliminated (Gusdorf,2008).
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