Recruitment
Businesses recruit workers for a number of reasons, such as:
- To acquire particular skills, for example in a new technology.
- To get more staff for expansion or new products or markets.
- To replace staff who leave due to retirement or to move to another job
The steps taken in recruiting a new employee normally follow this pattern:
- A job description is written which details the job title, duties and tasks, responsibilities and accountability expected of the jobholder.
- A person specification is written which lists the qualities, experience, skills and abilities, which are desired in the jobholder.
- Applicants are searched for. This may done:
- From within the business, by displaying internal advertisements
- By advertising outside the business in local or national newspapers,
The information in the advertisement will include:
- Information from the job description and the person specification
- Some information about the business
- An indication of pay and conditions
- Details of where and when to apply
Methods to get information from applicants include:
- Application forms
- Curriculum vitae (CV)
- Letter of application
Application forms present information about the applicant in a standard form, making it easier for companies to compare candidates and ensure they all have the information they need.
CVs give candidates the opportunity to present their experience, skills and personal information in a way to suit themselves, and can give business much information that they might miss on an application form. A letter of application gives applicants a clear opportunity to explain why they want the job and why they are suitable. However many application forms also give this opportunity.
Applicants are screened and short-listed. This means discarding candidates who do not meet the person specification, and reducing the number of candidates going further in the process to keep the next stage manageable. Selection from the short-listed candidates is the last stage. This process may involve some or all of the following:
- Interview
- Personality or psychometric testing
- Aptitude or skills testing
- Medical or health testing
- Review of applicants references, obtained from previous employers, schools or colleges.
Much of the above process can be undertaken by specialist recruitment agencies. This particularly happens for senior appointments, as well as for temporary staff.
Motivation
There are several theories of what motivates people to work hard and to produce the best quality they can. It is important to remember that they are theories, and that not everyone acts in the same way. What is an incentive to one person may not be to another. There are two main ways of motivating employees:
- financial
- non-financial
Financial motivation is to do with giving staff money as a reward for their work. This can be as
- salary, usually paid monthly
- wages, usually paid weekly
- overtime, usually paid to people who get wages for extra hours worked
- bonus, paid for achieving stated targets
- piece work, unusual nowadays: paid for each item produced
Other 'fringe benefits' can also be thought of as financial incentives since they are worth money to employees. These might include
- health insurance
- subsidised or free meals
- pension
- lower prices for the company's goods or services
Non-financial motivation is about using the other ways of encouraging workers to work hard. There are many theories that have been put forward, some of which are outlined below.
- F W Taylor believed early in the 20th century that workers were lazy and worked only for money, so he established his "principles of scientific management". This led to work being planned carefully to get the most out of each worker
- Maslow thought that there is a 'hierarchy of needs'
Conclusion
I can summarise that in recruitment you must write a job description and a person specification. You must the place some adverts and collect application forms, CV’s and letters of application. You must then screen and short-list the applicants. And then decide on the best ones.
