Recruitment and Selection

• Recruitment and selection are essential in leading, managing, and developing people
• Recruitment decisions underpin the whole area of managing people
• Issues associated with exclusion from the workplace highlight the need for professionalism, fairness, and ethical behavior
• Recruitment aims to attract applications from suitable applicants and discover sources of manpower
• Recruitment is the first step to fill a vacancy and includes examining the vacancy, considering suitable candidates, making contacts, and attracting applications
• Recruitment needs/vacancies may arise from planned changes in organizational structure, anticipated movements, or unexpected events like resignation or illness
• Internal factors affecting recruitment include recruitment policy, HR planning, size of the firm, cost of recruitment, and growth and expansion
• External factors affecting recruitment include supply and demand, labor market conditions, employer image, and political-social-legal environment
• Sources of recruitment can be internal (promotions, job postings, personnel records) or external (employee referrals, advertisements)
• Advantages of internal recruitment include lower costs, better knowledge of internal applicants, and enhanced organizational commitment
• Disadvantages of internal recruitment include resistance to change, potential bias, and inbreeding issues
• External recruitment is important when a firm cannot fulfill its needs internally or wants a new perspective
• Advantages of employee referrals include employee motivation and higher acceptance rates, while disadvantages include potential nepotism
• Factors influencing the response rate to advertisements include identification, attractiveness, and accessibility
• Factors influencing response rate to job ads:

  • Identification of the organization
  • Labor market conditions
  • Degree to which specific requirements are listed
• Advantages of using job ads:

  • Reach a larger application pool
  • Attract more highly qualified candidates
• Disadvantages of using job ads:

  • Can be time-consuming
  • Requires a careful screening process
• Employment Agencies:

  • Public or state employment services focus on helping unemployed individuals with lower skill levels to find jobs
  • Private employment agencies provide more comprehensive services and are perceived to offer positions and applicants of a higher caliber
  • Management consulting firms ("headhunters") research candidates for mid- and upper-level executive placement
• Advantages of Employment Agencies:

  • Staffed by qualified professionals
  • Provides job announcement writing service
  • Provides screening assistance
• Disadvantages of Employment Agencies:

  • May not have the best applicant pools
  • Not highly regarded by some managers
• Reasons to turn to employment agencies:

  1. Your firm doesn’t have its own HR department and is not geared for recruitment and screening

  2. Your firm has found it difficult to generate a pool of qualified applicants in the past

  3. You must fill a particular opening quickly

  4. You want to reach currently employed individuals who might prefer dealing with agencies

  5. You want to reduce the time spent on interviewing
• Executive Recruiters (Headhunters):

  • Special employment agencies retained by employers to seek out top management talent
  • Usually for crucial executive and technical positions
  • Becoming more specialized to recruit for specific functions or industries
• Advantages of Executive Recruiters:

  • Recruiters may have many contacts and are skilled at contacting qualified, currently employed candidates
  • Can keep the firm’s name confidential until late in the search process
  • Save top management's time on advertising and screening
• Disadvantages of Executive Recruiters:

  • Employers must explain completely what sort of candidate is required
  • Some recruiters may prioritize persuading to hire over finding the right candidate
  • Clients' requests may not always align with what they actually need
• Job Analysis is essential for the success of the recruitment and selection process
• Intended learning outcomes:

  • Summarize the purpose of job analysis and identify the activities involved
  • Explain the methods used in analyzing jobs
  • Conduct a job analysis using various methods
• A job consists of a group of related activities and duties, ideally clear and distinct from other jobs to minimize conflict among employees
• A position consists of different duties and responsibilities performed by only one employee
• Job families are created when different jobs have similar duties and responsibilities for recruitment, training, compensation, or advancement opportunities
• Job Analysis is the process of studying jobs to gather, analyze, synthesize, and report information about job responsibilities, requirements, and work conditions
• Important applications of Job Analysis:

  • Job descriptions
  • Employee selection
  • Training
  • Performance appraisals
• Reasons for conducting Job Analysis:

  • Staffing
  • Training and Development
  • Compensation and Benefits
  • Safety and Health
  • Employee and Labor Relations
  • Legal Considerations
• People involved in job analysis should include the employee, immediate supervisor, and other key stakeholders in the organization
• Terminology:

  • Job Family: Grouping of jobs according to function
  • Job Category: Grouping of jobs according to generic job title or occupation
  • Job Position: Grouping of positions with similar tasks
  • Task Dimension: Grouping of task dimensions that constitute the total work assignment of an employee
• Information collected in a Job Analysis includes tasks or job functions, scope of responsibility, tools and equipment used, work context and environment, social/relationship factors, decision-making authority, and knowledge, skills, and abilities required
• Data sources for Job Analysis:

  • Job incumbent
  • Supervisor or manager
  • Former jobholders
  • Job analyst
  • Subject matter experts (SMEs)
  • Industry resources
  • Professional organizations like SHRM
• Data Collection Methods:

  • Observation
  • Work sample
  • Work diary
  • Interview
  • Questionnaire
  • Perform the job
  • Background records
  • Multiple methods
• Observation:

  • Directly observe job incumbents performing job duties
  • Best for repetitive and short cycle tasks
  • Not suitable for non-repetitive or creative tasks
• Work Diary:

  • Workers maintain a log of daily activities and time spent
  • Suitable for non-repetitive and creative tasks
  • Requires accurate recall of activities
• Interview:

  • Generates qualitative data
  • Time-consuming and expensive
  • Lack of anonymity and subject to interviewer's skill level