Identify the key recruitment documents and describe the factors to be considered when planning to fill a vacancy and carrying out interviews.

Samantha Bellamy 13SC Business Studies: Unit 4 Mrs Elliston

Human Resource Management at Marks and Spencer.

In the Human Resource Management process first Marks and Spencer’s would use Human Resource Planning (H.R.P) this looks at how many employees the business will need in the future, as well as the type of employee that will be required e.g. graduate trainees, skilled-manual and supervisors. H.R.P. also ensures that the ‘right’ employee is in the ‘right’ job, to ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness of the workforce.

After H.R.P the business can then go through the process of recruitment and selection of new employees.

The first task that needs to be done is that a job description needs to be written, this outlines the job title, and also the tasks and the responsibilities that the successful applicant will have to cover. Once this has been written, a job specification needs to be written, this goes into more detail than a job description, as it also entails the physical and mental characteristics that the successful/desirable applicant should acquire. This includes elements of their level of intelligence, their character and their interests.

The Human Resource Management department will then to advertise the job using a variety of mediums so that their position gets as many applicant as possible so that there is more chance if the right person for the right job. A few if the mediums that they could place it in are the newspapers, job centres, job agencies, the Internet, radio, and internal notice boards, in order to get as many people as possible to apply for the post. The advert should include the hours of work, pay and fringe benefits e.g. a company car, the job title, the relevant experience and qualifications that are required, and a contact name and address.

The job may be advertised within the business as well as externally as they could already have the right person for the job inside the business this is an advantage to the business if that person is successful because less training and induction period will be needed and also they will know how the business is run, as well as far less time and money being spent on the whole process. Although saying this if a job is taken from inside the business then they will have to start the process again to fill that applicants former job.

Applicants will send a letter stating why they think they are good for the job and their desire for it. The H.R.M department then needs to send out application forms, and request a Curriculum Vitae (CV) from them.

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It is vitally important that the application form is made so to suit the specific position that is being advertised, it will need to entail relevant questions, which are, legal, inoffensive and essential to find out the information they will need about their applicants. Once these application forms have been completed and returned to the business (sometime applicant include a CV and a covering letter probably because they feel that the application form doesn’t bring out the best in their abilities and attributes they could bring to the business) then the short-listing process will begin, this involves analysing and examining the CVs and the application forms with quite a lot of scrutiny as they do want the best person for the job then deciding which applicants appear to be most suitable for the post. Once this is done, and then the H.R.M. department will contact the successful applicants and ask them to attend an interview.

Interviewing is very lengthy process, however, it is a vital factor in getting the right person for the right job. A good interviewer will have studied the job description, job specification and the job advertisement before interviewing the applicants, as well as studying their application forms, CVs and covering letters so in order to know as much information as possible about the applicants before the interview begins then the interviewee can elaborate on what their application form or covering letter stated.

A good interview needs to be well structured, private/uninterrupted, and carried out in a friendly manner, with the use of open-ended questions, therefore giving the applicants the chance to talk openly about themselves. The interviewer must listen carefully to the applicants’ comments and make notes with good points and bad points.

At the end of the interview, the applicants must be given the chance to ask questions about the job and about the business, the interviewer must inform the applicants when they will be notified of the decision made on their application.

In some cases applicants for a job will be interviewed by a number of people. These can be a short interview one after the other or at times a panel will interview the interviewee. Whichever method of interviewing is chosen, the same purpose remains - to select and appoint the best applicant for the job.

It is possible that the business may choose to use a variety of tests to complement the interview process, in order to measure the applicants’ intelligence, their performance in certain scenarios, and their personality traits. For example a secretary may do a speed-typing test. Marks and Spencer’s do a range of tests they do an interview and then they test the reactions of them by showing them photos with a scenario with for example a customer desk sign, products on the floor or in the wrong place, the lighting of the area and they have to describe what they see in the picture, the person interviewing will tick and write notes when they describe certain points that are on their sheet. This shows the interviewer what attributes the applicant may bring to the company and they gain scores for what they describe in the picture, the results for this test will go along side the interview and experience and therefore make another point for the panel or interviewer, manager to decide on whether they are the right person for the job.

Once a business has selected the most suitable applicant for the available post (often involving much discussion between the different interviewers), and then he/she will be appointed.

This will involve the new employee being given a Contract of Employment, which is a written statement covering the terms and the conditions of employment (e.g. date employment commences, job title, pay, hours of work, holiday and pension entitlements), as well as the process for disciplinary and grievance procedures.

Once a new employee has been appointed to a business, it is likely that they will receive induction training in order to help them settle into the new job. This induction training covers the basics of the new employee’s job, as well as the background details and the history of the business (e.g. number of employees and the range of products).

Analyse the key recruitment documents and evaluate the quality of information in relation to the purpose of each.