How might organizations

improve the way in which

they recruit and select
employees?
MANAGING PEOPLE IN ORGANISATION
(NBS8123)
Nitin Rawat (109152408)
15/2010

Word count: 3453

Abstract

The paper will discuss about the recruitment and selection process of an employee in
organizations; what is the difference between recruitment and selection process is;
how these processes are important for organizations. The literature will further
discuss about the procedure followed for recruitment and selection process by the
organizations and what are the limitations or the reasons of failure of these
processes in organizations. The paper then proposes various methods so that these
organizations might improve the way in which they recruit and select employees and
then discusses how these suggestions will help organizations and in what way.

Introduction

These days each flourishing organization has defined processes of recruitment and selection
of employees to ensure that minimum cost is spent on training and induction as well as the
management gets the right person at right place and at right time (Armstrong, 2003), so as
to gain success and to compete with others in the market. They recognize that to stay
competitive, they need relevant, timely information of their business requirement that can
trigger recruitment and selection process to drive the correct decisions. They go hand in
hand with each other to get the best candidate at right time for right requirement and at
minimum cost by organizations. To understand both these processes better, firstly we have
to know about these processes individually.

Recruitment is a process of attracting applicants for the job and creating a pool of applicants
among whom right employees will be selected (Werther ‘et al’, 1993). According to Flippo in
1984, “it is the process of searching prospective applicants and then stimulating them to
apply for the vacancies in the organization”. Recruitment is a two-way process in which
organization seeks prospective and vice-versa. Recruitment is the activity that links the
employers and the job seekers. Recruitment of candidates is the function preceding the
selection, which helps create a pool of prospective employees for the organisation so that
the management can select the right candidate for the right job from this pool. The main
objective of the recruitment process is to expedite the selection process. It is a continuous
process whereby the firm attempts to develop a pool of qualified applicants for the future
human resources needs even though specific vacancies do not exist. Usually, the
recruitment process starts when a manger initiates an employee requirement for a specific
vacancy or an anticipated vacancy. Recruitment varies according to the needs (Ghosh, 2007)
like:-

1. Planned – This type of recruitment basically arises when there are any changes in the
organization and retirement policy.
2. Anticipated – This need is the movement in personnel, which an organization can
predict by forecasting the trends of internal and external environment.
3. Unexpected – This type of need is very common now days which is like resignation,
deaths, accidents or illness.

While recruitment refers to process of identifying & encouraging prospective employees,

Selection is a process of picking individuals (out of the pool of job applicants) with requisite
qualifications & competence to fill jobs in organisation (Gautam, 2008). “It is a process of
between applicants in order to identify (and hire) those with a greater likelihood of success
in a job” as stated by Stone in 1997. It is a process of many hurdles of success and failure.
Applicants are screened by the employer and then the short-listed or qualified applicants go
on to the next hurdle, while unqualified ones are being eliminated (Yoder, 1997). Basically, it
is a long process which begins with the interview of applicants and ends with employment
contract. In practice Selection process differs among organizations and between two
different jobs in same organization. Selection procedure for senior manager can be a long-
drawn and rigorous but it is simple and short while hiring shop-floor workers. Selection
process is the successor of recruitment process mostly in each and every organization. Both
recruitment and selection are the two phases of the employment process.

Recruitment v/s Selection

In spite of the fact that both these processes go hand in hand still there are significant
differences in recruitment and selection process. Here are few of the common differences
(Giri, 2008) mentioned:-

 The recruitment is the process of searching the candidates for employment and
stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organisation whereas selection involves the
series of steps by which the candidates are screened for choosing the most suitable
persons for vacant posts.
  The basic purpose of recruitments is to create a talent pool of candidates to enable
the selection of best candidates for the organisation, by attracting more and more
employees to apply in the organisation whereas the basic purpose of selection
process is to choose the right candidate to fill the various positions in the
organisation.

 Recruitment is a positive process which means it encourages more and more

employees to apply whereas selection is a negative process as it involves rejection of
the unsuitable or unmatched candidates with the job profile or job requirement.

 Recruitment is concerned with tapping the sources of human resources whereas

selection is concerned with selecting the most suitable or qualified candidate
through various selection methods like interviews and tests.

 There is no contract of recruitment established in recruitment whereas selection

results in a contract of service or employment between the employer and the
selected employee.

Importance of Recruitment and Selection process

Recruitment and selection process is a very important process of Human Resource

Management (Geet ‘et al’, 2008). It is a very important tool that is used by many businesses
or corporations. This is a form of business competition. This tool helps organizations get
closer to achieving their overall corporation goal. This is why recruitment and selection
process demands serious attention from upper management because it is said that any
business strategy will falter without the talent to execute that tie of business (Kaila, 2006). It
is the process which links the employers with the employees. It also increases the pool of
qualified candidates required for the particular job profile at minimum cost and also
increases the success rate of selection process by minimizing the count of under qualified or
over qualified job candidates or job applicants (Harris ‘et al’, 2003). This process not only
helps organizations getting right candidate but also minimizes the probability of that the job
applicant once recruited and selected will leave the organization only after a short period of
time. Through recruitment and selection process organizations can meet social and legal
obligations regarding the composition of their workforce (Taylor ‘et al’, 2008). It also helps
in identifying and preparing potential job applicants who will be appropriate candidates.
Recruitment and selection process supports for increase organization and individual
effectiveness of various recruiting techniques and sources for all types of job applicants.

Limitations of Recruitment and Selection process

In spite of following the procedures of recruitment and selection process there are some
reasons where selection and recruitment get stuck most of the time. These are the reasons
for not following the process properly and hence the recruitment and selection processes
are flawed. Some of the common flaws while practising the process is given by Parrot in
1998 are:-

 Poorly defined job specification or undeclared, hidden agendas – due to poor

defined job specification or without doing any analysis on the person specification
there is improper recruitment and selection of the candidate.
 Selection criteria that are unduly conservative, too rigid, incomplete, unfocused or
not able to be tested – criteria which are not relevant or focussed with the job
description and person specification or which are not enough to test the ability and
personality of the candidate can lead to improper selection of the applicant.
Selection criteria which are not connected with the job profile or which are not
followed anymore in the organization are set during the selection process.
 Poorly chosen advertising strategies or deficiencies in the advertisement – poor
advertisement of relevant information of the organization and at improper timing
leads to waste of time and money of the organization.
 An inflexible selection strategy, like using the same methodology on all occasions –
according to the requirement, the strategy of selection and selection criteria has to
be change. When there is a fixed process of assessment of candidates for every role
then there will not be proper selection process followed.
 Lack of thought in response handling like the contact person is not contactable –
when there is a lag of time and lack of thought process while responding back to the
candidate then the problem arises in the process.
 Concentrating the short-listing process in too few hands – short-listing of the
candidates has to be very critical part of recruitment process. When this is done by
few people then there are chances that the short-listing of candidates is not done
properly and it becomes a flaw in the recruitment and selection process.
  Not utilising referees or using them too late in the process – many candidates not
use references or often use them very late when the decision has been taken which
results in rejection of some potential candidates.
 Not asking core questions of each applicant, asking 'double-barrelled' questions,
asking questions about hypothetical situations outside the applicant's experience –
there are situations when an interviewer asks questions based on his or her
experience but may be which are not related to the job profile or person
specification, which again can lead to the rejection of capable applicant.
 Absence of testing for competence in essential job skills – at many situations the
assessor forget to take the test of skills, ability and knowledge maybe because the
candidate is assessor’s relative or applicant’s referee is assessor’s colleague which
can wrongly assess the candidate for the required job profile.
 Making the selection decision fit the process after the event.
 Failure to provide feedback.
 Sloppy notification processes in respect of applicants.

Procedures of Recruitment and Selection process and their importance

The purpose of recruitment and selection process is to match people to work (Roberts,
1997). It is the most important element in any organization’s management of people or
simply a major function of the human resource department because it is not possible to
optimise the effectiveness of human resources, by any method. The recruitment process is
the first step towards creating the competitive strength and the recruitment strategic
advantage for the organisations. Any organization cannot achieve its best until it has a right
combination or basic match of people and work (Greenberg ‘et al’, 2003). Recruitment and
selection process involves a systematic procedure from sourcing the candidates to arranging
and conducting the interviews and requires many resources and time. Overall flow of
recruitment and selection process has been shown in Figure 1 and these processes are as
follows:

Prepare job description and person specification – Recruitment and selection is a process
of searching needle in a haystack. Good techniques may remove the hay effectively, but
being able to clearly recognise the needle is essential. It is very important for selection to
get proper specification of the profile of the role and the person to fill that role. Since
selection is about matching people to work (roles), it is important to balance both the sides
of the specification.

Competencies – One of the key factors of determining the role and the person specifications
is the use of competencies. The term ‘competencies’ is used to describe all the work-related
personal attributes, knowledge, experience, skills and values that a person draws on to
perform their work well. Mainly, the focus is on those competencies which differentiate
between effective and superior performance.

Advertisement - The advertisement reflects the most important criteria of the person
specification, which must be justifiable and objective as an advertisement can be challenged
on discrimination grounds. The advertisement should deliver the maximum amount of
information in the minimum number of words that enables people to decide whether or not
to apply. It helps in attracting candidates of more relevant profile and also can give an idea
to the candidates regarding the basic requirement of that particular job profile. There are
various means by which an organization can advertise their vacancy like newspapers,
magazines, pamphlets, websites, fairs and recruitment consultants.

Attracting candidates – The process of attracting people to apply for the role requires
achievement of balance. There has to be sufficient candidates to afford an opportunity to
choose and also the quality of the candidates has to be good enough to make these
decisions meaningful or effective. There has to be a proper way of attracting candidates as
even processing of unsuitable candidates also cost considerably when the number of
applicants are huge. This process helps in getting enough applicants so that management
can select right employee without making any compromises.

Response – The response process is mainly base on application forms or curricula vitae. The
use of application forms adds an additional stage to the overall recruitment and selection
process because the initial contact from the candidate has to be followed with a response in
sending out the forms. This step is basically helping the organizations in screening of
candidates which are less suitable or not at all matching the job description and profile as
required.

Screening – This is a process which is widely used by the organizations in their recruitment
and selection process. Screening process significantly improves the quality and consistency
of the selection process. There are many variations in the screening process depending
upon the types of the services like some of the organization’s screening process is done
through telephone in which the candidates are questioned by the screening person using a
defined set of questions. Due to the standardised questionnaire being asked to each and
every candidate the screening process is very helpful in assessing the behaviour, skills and
knowledge of a candidate.

Interviewing – Interviewing is most frequently used selection technique. But the interviews
can be structured and unstructured. The unstructured interview generally takes the form of
free-ranging discussion in which the interviewer uses his or her judgement about the overall
performance of the candidate in deciding whether he or she matches the role. It is the most
commonly-used interview and is used by the interviewers who are very much confident
about their assessment or judgement. The structured interview is focussed on a set number
of clearly defined criteria, usually competencies. In this type interview, the questions are
carefully and logically structured to obtain the information about the criteria.

Testing – Testing is also a technique to assess an employee’s personality or ability. Ability

test can measure specific aptitudes, such as vocabulary, numeracy, spatial awareness,
typing speed and accuracy. These types of tests are more accurate in predicting potential
than personality of the candidate. But there are personality tests which measure the range
of personal characteristics, values and attitudes which shape an individual’s beliefs and
behaviours. Ability test actually delivers the actual result which is required in terms of the
skills and knowledge as per the role.

Assessment Centres – Assessment centres involve the application of a number of

techniques over a prolonged period to build a comprehensive picture of the applicant. It
usually comprise some visits and presentations of information of the organization, one or
more structured interviews and work simulations and exercises. Here, assessors are brought
together for debriefing and provide their evaluation of applicant elements. They are most
often used in graduate recruitment as the investment of the organization is high in case of
the selection of graduate recruitment and also experienced candidates will find this
assessment process a bit time taking and will not be able to commit their time in it.

Checks and Offer – This is the process of checking the information provided by the
candidate for authenticity. This may include checking of documents on qualifications,
licenses, statutory checks on work eligibility, specialist checks on health and credit or
criminal records, and taking up references. References are generally more useful when the
request is framed around specific questions.

Offers of the candidate can be conditional or unconditional. Conditional offers are

sometimes based on pre-conditions such as receipt of satisfactory references or
achievement of an academic qualification. Some offers are post-conditional like they may be
subject to satisfactory completion of probationary period. Offers need to be clear and
explicit and along with the complete terms and conditions of the employment.

Follow-up – Recruitment and selection process is often viewed as the process up to the
decision on the applicant. The complete information of the candidate gained is then kept in
the recruitment file and retained in case of any discrimination claims or any complaints.
Each and every selection process is not completely successful to get what the organization
want. It is often the case the case that the final selection is a compromise as no candidate
perfectly matches the specification, and that the offer is made to the person who most
closely matches the requirements. Therefore, it is important to plan the induction process
to meet the needs of that person or candidate.
 Analyse
Role

Develop
competenci
es/person
specificatio
n

Recruitment process
Identify
labour
market

Attract
candidates

Screen
application
s
Short-list Rejec
Assess t
(interview,
tests,
assessment
centres
etc )

Decision
Selection process

Choice Rejec
t
Take/check
references

Offer

monitor/rev
iew
Induction

Figure 1: Recruitment and Selection

Process
Methods to improve Recruitment and Selection process

Organizations should tailor their recruitment strategies to the specific position(s) they are
seeking to fill. These strategies can be different depending upon the level of the position.
Through the inference drawn, this paper has proposed some suggestions to improve the
recruitment and selection process of an employee in the organization such as:-

Use of behaviour –based interviews: Interviews are already a part of recruitment and
selection process in the organization but as discussed earlier there are different types of
interviews that are structured and unstructured. To select appropriate candidate for the job
description and profile, ability, skills and knowledge are not sufficient. Behaviour of an
applicant is also a key element to determine the right person for role as the behaviour can
actually guide the performance of the employee at different situations. Behaviour-based
interviews enhance the effectiveness of the selection process by:

 Focussing on job-related behaviours.

 Obtaining accurate behavioural data.
 Using past behaviour to predict the future behaviour.

Motivational Fit Inventories: During the selection process, most of the organizations mainly
focus only on assessing the skills of a candidate necessary to perform the job. However, skill
is only one factor related to job performance. Job motivation and organizational fit also
must be taken into consideration (Byham, 1989). A candidate might have all the skills
necessary to perform the job tasks, but not be motivated by the factors associated with the
particular job or by the company’s values and way of doing things. Thus, assessment of
these motivations can help identify candidates who not only have the “can do” aspect of the
job, but also have the “will do.”

Computerized Resume Screening: Computerized resume screening greatly reduces the time
HR professionals must spend sifting through non-standardized resumes. Now, HR can gather
resume data in a standard, computerized format or use special software to scan and process
resumes. Large banks of applicant data ensure that when new jobs arise, the database can
be easily searched for potential matches.
Training/Experience (T&E) Evaluations: Most of the organizations assess job-relevant
abilities, skills, and motivations in an applicant for their job profile. It is assumed that
individuals who have successfully performed job relevant tasks requiring these skills and
abilities in the past will also be successful in performing similar tasks in the future. T&E
evaluations can be used as a screening device for positions in which previous experience
and training are necessary for job performance. Organizations can use a well developed T&E
evaluations to set minimum qualifications for essential job tasks and skills that are
predictive of job performance.

Also, all the processes of recruitment and selection procedure as mentioned before incur
cost which needs to monitored and reviewed each time so that these processes can be
optimised and cost effective. In addition to information on the cost and effectiveness of the
processes, there needs to be monitoring of the standards. These include both quality and
legal aspects. Quality will be reflected in speed of response like whether all applications
were acknowledged, service response from clients (including internal) and candidates
(whether these are successful or unsuccessful). Legal aspects will include monitoring of
response rates and success rates for business ethics like minorities, male v female and
disabled.

Outcomes of Improved Recruitment and Selection process

Organizations with effective selection systems can better identify and hire employees with
the right skills and motivations to succeed in the positions, as well as in the organization.
When employees are successful in their jobs, the organization benefits through increased
productivity and higher quality products and services. Thus, effective selection of right
employee in initial retains the employee for longer duration and finally reducing internal as
well as external cost which ultimately leads to critical business outcomes.
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