Job Advertised, internal and external recruitment.
It depends on the organisation because if it’s a big company then they might have a website to advertise or use recruitment agencies. On the other hand if it’s a small company for example: a local convenience then they might use their window to advertise. John Lewis can do internal recruitment because it’s easier and cheaper than the external recruitment. For example, if John Lewis does internal recruitment, the person that gets the job doesn’t need to go training because he or she is already in the organisation and have the knowledge about it.
Internal Recruitment
This refers to the filling of job vacancies from within John Lewis - where existing employees are selected rather than employing someone from outside.
John Lewis might decide that it already has the right people with the right skills to do the job, particularly if its training and development programme has been effective.
Internal vacancies are usually advertised within John Lewis via a variety of media:
- Staff notice boards
- Intranets
- In-house magazines / newsletters (for example, Emap, a major publishing business) have a weekly staff magazine devoted solely to advertising jobs within the organisation!
- Staff meetings
Advantages of internal recruitment:
- Gives existing employees greater opportunity to advance their careers in John Lewis
- May help to retain staff who might otherwise leave
- Requires a short induction training period
- Employer should know more about the internal candidate's abilities (= a reduced risk of selecting an inappropriate candidate)
- Usually quicker and less expensive than recruiting from outside
Disadvantages of internal recruitment:
- Limits the number of potential applicants for a job
- External candidates might be better suited / qualified for the job
- Another vacancy will be created that has to be filled
- Existing staff may feel they have the automatic right to be promoted, whether or not they are competent
- John Lewis may become resistant to change; by recruiting from outside, new perspectives and attitudes are brought in.
External Recruitment
This refers to the filling of job vacancies from outside John Lewis (contrast with internal recruitment). Most businesses engage in external recruitment fairly frequently, particularly those that are growing strongly, or that operate in industries with high staff turnover.
Advantages of external recruitment:
- Outside people bring in new ideas
- Larger pool of workers from which to find the best candidate
- People have a wider range of experience
Disadvantages of external recruitment:
- Longer process
- More expensive process due to advertisements and interviews required
- Selection process may not be effective enough to reveal the best candidate
The four most popular ways of recruiting externally are:
Job centres - These are paid for by the government and are responsible for helping the unemployed find jobs or get training. They also provide a service for businesses needing to advertise a vacancy and are generally free to use.
Job advertisements - Advertisements are the most common form of external recruitment. They can be found in many places (local and national newspapers, notice boards, recruitment fairs) and should include some important information relating to the job (job title, pay package, location, job description, how to apply-either by CV or application form). Where a business chooses to advertise will depend on the cost of advertising and the coverage needed (i.e. how far away people will consider applying for the job
Recruitment agency - Provides employers with details of suitable candidates for a vacancy and can sometimes be referred to as ‘head-hunters’. They work for a fee and often specialise in particular employment areas e.g. nursing, financial services, teacher recruitment
Personal recommendation - Often referred to as ‘word of mouth’ and can be a recommendation from a colleague at work. A full assessment of the candidate is still needed however but potentially it saves on advertising cost.
Source:
Application forms/CV
This is a method used by big industries (for example: John Lewis). If you wanted a job in a big industry then they would say “drop in your C.V and then we will contact you”. They judge your C.V by looking at your skills, experience and qualifications. The CV contains information about you (name, age, experience, education, history, ect). Application forms ask for a standard set of questions and boxes to be completed. The big companies, such as John Lewis use these documents because it’s easier and they can compare the applicants.
Short listing
While they’re looking at the C.V’s they short list meaning the ones that are the closest to what they are looking for. If they had about 50 C.V’s then they would short list at least 5 from them. They would then get in contact with those people. And call then in for an interview.
Interviews and selection
At the interview they would ask the person to go in further detail about them, and while they’re talking to them they would note down their communication skills and their appearance as in the way their dressed and tidy looking, not messy.
Vacancy filled
After interviewing all of the short listed people they would then make a decision of who was the best at their interviews along with their skills, experience and qualifications. John Lewis will inform the candidates over the phone or send e-mails.
Retention
Retention of staff is a measurement of how good a firm is at keeping its employees loyal. An annual retention of 95 percent leave. A firm’s retention rate is likely to be a function of how well it provides for its employee’s hygiene factors and motivators.
Description of the Documents
Job Description
The purpose of the job description is to give information to prospective employees about what the job involves. It explains the purpose of the job and the type of responsibilities and duties that will be expected as part of that job. Different organisations will have their own particular information that they will include but the key elements that are always required are shown in the following table:
Person Specification
The job description essentially concentrates on providing information about the job. The person specification is a direct contrast; it provides information about the type of person that John Lewis is looking for to do the job.
The person specification gives a list of requirements, but these relate to the person doing the job. It will have an introduction at the start of the person specification giving details about the job such as job title, post reference number and manager responsibilities. It will detail attributes that John Lewis wants that person to have, for example their type of personality or intelligence level.
Attributes are the characteristics that someone has, for example their type of personality such as outgoing or conscientious. The type of attributes needed will change depending on the type and level of the job.
Application Documentation
The main documents used as part of the application are the letter, application form and curriculum vitae (CV).
Letter:
A letter of application should highlight all the positive aspects of the applicant and the special skills that they have.
Letters are used by applicants to outline why they are suitable for a job for example, in John Lewis. Applicants can use a letter to highlight special skills they may have and attributes that they feel they have that make them suitable for the job. Applicants should use the job description and person specification when highlighting their particular strengths so that an employer can match them to the job. For example, If I am applying for a job in John Lewis in the sales department I will write in my letter that I am friendly, helpful and I can deal with customers.
Application Form:
Application forms are another way of gaining information in a standard format that makes it easier for John Lewis to actually compare applicants. They can be completed online or in paper form. The information is the questions can be directly related to the individual business needs.
Application forms ask for a standard set of questions and boxes to be completed. This makes it easy for John Lewis to compare candidates. Application forms will only ask questions and information that John Lewis asks for and therefore will avoid the employer having to read information that they don’t need. Paper-based forms may take time and money to be sent out and then will need to be processed and put into a system to compare them. This may take a long time. Online forms have the advantage of doing this automatically. Care should be taken with online application forms to ensure that they are completed using appropriate English and not ‘text language’ at this might not give the right impression of an applicant to an employer.
Curriculum Vitae (CV):
Applicants write all their details including education and history on a two-page sheet including references. John Lewis can see in one go everything about an applicant. CVs only focus on positive aspects of an applicant so it may be difficult to compare candidates. CVs may also have been used to apply for lots of jobs so may no be specific to a particular role. It is important to review CVs regularly or to write them for each individual job if an applicant really wants the job.
How John Lewis keeps its Employees
The benefits for John Lewis employees are:
Annual bonus
Every year, a proportion of the business’s profits is distributed to Partners as a percentage of their previous year’s earnings. In recent years, the bonus has varied between 12% and 18%, and in 2007 this was the equivalent of nine weeks’ pay.
Discounts
After three months’ service, all Partners are entitled to a 12% discount on most purchases from John Lewis and Waitrose. In John Lewis this rises to 25% after one years’ service.
Paid holiday
The holiday entitlement is four weeks per year, rising to five weeks after three years (or in the case of IT graduate trainees after promotion to programmer or trainee analyst). There are further long-service increases for most Partners after ten or fifteen years. Management Partners, including graduate trainees, receive five weeks’ holiday from the outset.
Pension scheme
We offer a non-contributory final salary pension scheme, payable from the age of 60, to most Partners who have completed a five-year qualifying period.
Life assurance
Our life assurance scheme pays a sum equivalent to three times annual salary to your nominated beneficiary.
Subsidised dining room
In most sites around the Partnership, we provide a dining room where you can enjoy excellent food at very reasonable prices.
Holiday and leisure facilities
The business owns a number of residential clubs which offer subsidised holiday accommodation for Partners with at least three years’ service including:
· Ambleside Park in the Lake District
· Brownsea Castle in Poole Harbour, Dorset
· Odney Club in Berkshire, near our Winter Hill Golf Club
· Leckford Abbas in Hampshire
Sports clubs
We support an extensive range of sports activities including football, netball, golf, skiing, sailing, squash, riding and gliding.
Societies
Partners can join many societies including drama, film, photography, music and art.
Ticket subsidies
Ticket subsidies of 50% of the cost of a visit to the theatre, opera or concert hall are available up to a maximum of £60 per year. Partners may also take advantage of corporate membership to bodies such as English Heritage, the Science Museum and the Royal Society of Arts.
Education subsidies
We give generous financial support to Partners who wish to acquire a new leisure skill or continue their education, e.g. through the Open University or evening classes.
Extended leave
Partners who complete 25 years’ service can enjoy paid sabbatical leave of up to six months.
Health services
We have an occupational health service staffed by three full-time doctors and fifty occupational health advisers.
Special help in time of need
In cases of particular need, we will help a Partner with a loan or a grant.
Voluntary benefits and discounted deals
We have negotiated a range of benefits for Partners such as discounted private healthcare and a car purchase scheme, along with a number of one-off deals with hotels, amusement parks etc.
Sources:
It’s important for John Lewis to retain its staff because it’s cheaper for John Lewis. If John Lewis has to recruit new staff its waste of money because John Lewis have to pay for training and the costs for the recruitment. So John Lewis has to retain its staff and give them benefits and motivate them.
