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Unit 3 Recruitment and selection

Recruitment is the process of finding and engaging the people the organization needs.

Selection is that part of the recruitment process concerned with deciding which applicants or
candidates should be appointed to jobs.

The recruitment and selection process

The four stages of recruitment and selection

1. Defining requirements– preparing job descriptions and specifications;

deciding terms and conditions of employment;
2. Planning recruitment
3. Attracting candidates– reviewing and evaluating alternative sources of
applicants, inside and outside the company, advertising, using agencies and
consultants;
4. Selecting candidates– sifting applications, interviewing, testing, assessing
candidates, assessment centers, offering employment, obtaining references;
preparing contracts of employment.

Defining requirements

Requirements are set out in the form of role profiles and person specifications.

Role profiles

Role profiles define

 The overall purpose of the role,

 Its reporting relationships and
 The key result areas.

For recruiting purposes, the profile is extended to include information on terms and
conditions (pay, benefits and hours of work); special requirements such as mobility,
travelling or unsocial hours; and learning, development and career opportunities. The
recruitment role profile provides the basis for a person specification.
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Person specification

A person specification Also known as a recruitment or job specification, defines

 The knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) required carrying out the role,
 The types of behavior expected from role holders (behavioral competencies) and
 The education, qualifications, training and experience needed to acquire the necessary
KSAs.

The specification is set out under the following headings:

1. Knowledge – what the individual needs to know to carry out the role.
2. Skills and abilities – what the individual has to be able to do to carry out the role.
3. Behavioral competencies – the types of behavior required for successful performance of
the role. These should be role-specific, ideally based on an analysis of employees who are
carrying out their roles effectively. The behaviors should also be linked to the core values
and competency framework of the organization to help in ensuring that candidates will fit
and support the organization’s culture.
4. Qualifications and training – the professional, technical or academic qualifications
required or the training that the candidate should have undertaken.
5. Experience – the types of achievements and activities that would be likely to predict
success.
6. Specific demands– anything that the role holder will be expected to achieve in specified
areas, e.g. develop new markets or products; improve sales, productivity or levels of
customer service; introduce new systems or processes.
7. Special requirements – travelling, unsocial hours, mobility, etc

Planning Recruitment Campaigns

Recruitment campaign refers to planning, designing and making an organized and active effort
with regards to creating a pool of talented people who can effectively and efficiently contribute
to the operations of the business.

A plan for recruitment will include the following:

 The number and types of employees required

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 Identification of The pool/sources of candidate.

 Alternative Sources for employees and their tapping.

 Plan for conducting the recruitment programme.

Attracting candidates

Attracting candidates is primarily a matter of identifying, evaluating and using the most
appropriate sources of applicants.

Steps

1. Analyze recruitment strengths and weaknesses

The analysis of strengths and weaknesses should cover such matters as

 The national or local reputation of the organization, pay,

 Employee benefits and working conditions,
 The intrinsic interest of the job,
 Security of employment,
 Opportunities for education and training,
 Career prospects, and
 The location of the office or plant.

2. Analyze the requirement

First it is necessary to establish how many jobs have to be filled and by when.
Then turn to an existing role profile and person specification.
The next step is to consider where suitable candidates are likely to come from; Next, define the
terms and conditions of the job (pay and benefits)
Finally, refer to the analysis of strengths and weaknesses to assess what is likely to attract good
candidates to the job or the organization

3. Identify sources of candidates

 First, consideration should be given to internal candidates.

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 It may also be worth trying to persuade former employees to return to the organization or
obtain suggestions from existing employees (referrals).

If these approaches do not work the main sources of candidates are

 Advertising,
 Online recruiting,
 Agencies and job centers,
 Consultants,
 Recruitment process out-sourcing providers and
 Direct approaches to educational establishments.

4. Advertising
A conventional advertisement will have the following aims.
 Generate candidates – attract a sufficient number of good candidates at minimum cost.
 Attract attention – it must compete for the attention of potential candidates against other
employees.
 Create and maintain interest – it has to communicate in attractive and interesting way
information about the job, the company and the terms and conditions of employment.
 Stimulate action – the message needs to be conveyed in a way that will prompt a
sufficient number of replies from candidates with the right qualifications for the job

The following steps should be taken when choosing an advertising agency:

 Check its experience in handling recruitment advertising;
 See examples of its work;
 Check with clients on the level of service provided;
 Meet the staff who will work on the advertisements;
 Check the fee structure;
 Discuss methods of working.
Information in a recruitment advertisement
 The organization.
 The job.
 The person required – qualifications, experience, etc.
 The pay and benefits offered.
 The location.
 The action to be taken.
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Design the advertisement

The main types of advertisement are:
Classified/run-on, in which copy is run on, with no white space in or around the
advertisement and no paragraph spacing or indentation. They are cheap but suitable only
for junior or routine jobs.
Classified/semi-display, in which the headings can be set in capitals, paragraphs can be
indented and white space is allowed round the advertisement. They are fairly cheap and
semi-display can be much more effective than run-on advertisements.
Full display, which are bordered and in which any typeface and illustrations can be used.
They can be expensive but obviously make the most impact for managerial, technical and
professional jobs
Plan the media: - An advertising agency can advise on the choice of media (press, radio,
television) and its cost.

Evaluate the response:- Measure response to provide guidance on the relative cost-effectiveness
of different media. Cost per reply is the best ratio.

Methods of recruitment

A. Online recruitment
 Uses the internet to advertise or ‘post’ vacancies,
 Provide information about jobs and the organization and Enable e-mail communication to
take place between employers and candidates.
 Tests can be completed online

The main types of online recruitment sites are

 Corporate websites,
 Commercial job boards and
 Agency sites
B. Using agencies and job centers
 Most private agencies deal with secretarial and office staff.
 They are usually quick and effective but quite expensive.
 Agencies should be briefed carefully on what is wanted.
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 The job centers operated by the government are mainly useful for manual and
clerical workers and sales or call centre assistants

C. Using recruitment consultants

 Recruitment consultants generally advertise, interview and produce a short-list.
 They provide expertise and reduce workload.
 The organization can be anonymous if it wishes.
The following steps should be taken when choosing a recruitment consultant:
 Check reputation with other users;
 Look at the advertisements of the various firms to obtain an idea of the quality of a
consultancy Check on special expertise;
 Meet the consultant who will work on the assignment to assess his or her quality;
 Compare fees, although the differences are likely to be small
When using recruitment consultants it is necessary to:
 Agree terms of reference;
 Brief them on the organization,
 Give them every assistance in defining the job and the person specification,;
 Check carefully the proposed programme and the draft text of the advertisement;
 Clarify the arrangements for interviewing and short-listing;
 Clarify the basis on which fees and expenses will be charged;
 Ensure that arrangements are made to deal directly with the consultant who will handle
the assignment.

D. Using executive search consultants

 Use an executive search consultant, or ‘head hunter’ for senior jobs where there are only
a limited number of suitable people and a direct lead to them is wanted.
 Used when you want to hire most experience people
 They are not cheap.
 They can be quite cost-effective.

Selection methods
 The aim of selection is to assess the suitability of candidates
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 It involves deciding on the degree to which the characteristics of applicants in terms of

their competencies, experience, qualifications, education and training match the person
specification. It also involves using this assessment to make a choice between candidates
The most common selection method is interview. The most common types of interview are:

The basic types of interviews are:-

 biographical interview,
 behavioral based interview,
 situational interview
 choice approach

Nature of interview question

Open questions

Open questions are the best ones to use to get candidates to talk – to encourage a full response.
Single-word answers are seldom illuminating. It is a good idea to begin the interview with one or
two open questions, thus helping candidates to settle in.

Probing questions

Probing questions are used to get further details or to ensure that you are getting all the facts. You
ask them when answers have been too generalized or when you suspect that there may be some
more relevant information that candidates have not disclosed.

Closed questions

Closed questions aim to clarify a point of fact. The expected reply will be an explicit single word
or brief sentence. In a sense, a closed question acts as a probe but produces a succinct factual
statement without going into detail.

Hypothetical questions
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Hypothetical questions are used in structured situational-based interviews to put situation to

candidates and ask them how they would respond. They can be prepared in advance to test how
candidates would approach a typical problem.

Behavioral event questions

Behavioral event questions as used in behavioral-based structured interviews aim to get

candidates to tell you how they would behave in situations that have been identified as critical to
successful job performance. The assumption upon which such questions are based is that past
behavior in dealing with or reacting to events is the best predictor of future behavior

Capability questions

Capability questions aim to establish what candidates know, the skills they possess and use and
their competencies – what they are capable of doing. They can be open, probing or closed but
they will always be focused as precisely as possible on the contents of the person specification
referring to knowledge, skills and competencies.

Capability questions are used in behavioral-based structured interviews.

Questions about motivation

The degree to which candidates are motivated is a personal quality to which it is usually
necessary to give special attention if it is to be properly assessed. This is best achieved by
inference rather than direct questions.

Continuity questions

Continuity questions aim to keep the flow going in an interview and encourage candidates to
enlarge on what they have told you, within limits.

Play-back questions
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Play-back questions test your understanding of what candidates have said by putting to them a
statement of what it appears they have told you, and asking them if they agree or disagree with
your version.

Career questions

As mentioned earlier, questions about the career history of candidates can provide some insight
into motivation as well as establishing how they have progressed in acquiring useful and relevant
knowledge, skills and experience.

Selection tests

The most common types of selection tests are:-

 Psychological tests
 Intelligence tests
 Ability tests
 Personality tests
 Aptitude tests

Psychological tests: is: A carefully chosen, systematic and standardized procedure for evolving a
sample of responses from candidates which can be used to assess one or more of their
psychological characteristics with those of a representative sample of an appropriate population.
Intelligence tests
Intelligence is defined as ‘the capacity for abstract thinking and reasoning’.
Personality tests
 Personality tests attempt to assess the personality of candidates.
 Refers to the behavior of individuals and the way it is organized and coordinated

The big five personality characteristics.

1. Extraversion/introversion – gregarious, outgoing, assertive, talkative and active
(extraversion); or reserved, inward-looking, diffident, quiet, restrained (introversion);
2. emotional stability – resilient, independent, confident, relaxed; or apprehensive,
dependent, under-confident, tense;
3. agreeableness – courteous, cooperative, likeable, tolerant; or rude, uncooperative,
hostile, intolerant;
4. conscientiousness – hard-working, persevering, careful, reliable; or lazy, dilettante,
careless, expedient;
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5. Openness to experience – curious, imaginative, willingness to learn, broad-minded;

or blinkered, unimaginative, complacent, narrow-minded.

Aptitude tests
Aptitude tests are job-specific tests that are designed to predict the potential an
individual has to perform tasks within a job. They can cover such areas as clerical
aptitude, numerical aptitude, mechanical aptitude and dexterity.

The characteristics of a good test are:

 It is a sensitive measuring instrument
 It has been standardized on a representative and sizeable sample of the population
 It is reliable in the sense that it always measures the same thing
 It is valid in the sense that it measures the characteristic that the test is intended to
measure.
Unit 4 training and development
Training typically focuses on providing with specific skills or helping those correct
deficiencies in their performance.
It refers to learning opportunities designed to help employees grow.
Development involves learning that looks beyond today's job; it has a more long term focus.