Recuritment and Selection

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Task 6 (D1)

It is very important for businesses to select the right candidates for the right job because selecting the wrong candidate for the job can cost the organisation both time and money because later the business may need to recruit new staff to do the effective job.

Business success depends on the staff of the business, if staff is not good there is less chances for the business to succeed regardless of how good the products and services of the business are.

Selecting the right candidate is not as easy as it may seem. Many factors have to be taken into considerations, such as has the candidate got the skills and experience to do the job? Has the candidate the relevant qualifications to do the job? Has the candidate got the abilities to work under pressure? All these factors must be taken into consideration before the candidate is selected for the job.

There are ways companies can use to select the right candidate for the job. For example if five people have been short listed for an interview, the company can give them a role-play in which they have to perform a particular role. In role-play candidates might have to satisfy a dissatisfied customer by using their customer service skills.

Candidates who can stay confident as well as calm while dealing with dissatisfied or rude customers should be offered the job. Those candidates who cannot perform well in the role-play should be considered for jobs, which do not have direct links with customers. These jobs can be like Administrations job or website designer. It is essential for businesses to have the best people in the business.

Nowadays many businesses are using the role-play method to select the candidate for the job especially if the job is customer related. In Barclays when the candidate is selected for the interview, he/she has to firstly undertake a Numeric and Literacy test. After the candidate has passed these tests, candidates are given a role-play in which they have to perform to the best of their abilities in order to be offered a job.

The reason Barclays is using this method of role-play is that usually Barclays jobs are customer related. Barclays wants to ensure that whoever is selected for the job must be able to deal with customer enquires. Barclays does not use this method to make the candidate feel afraid or confused. Instead they are using this method to give the candidate a rough idea as to what the real job is about

Before candidates come to the Barclays head office, Barclays sends an information pack to candidates for them to perform better in their interview, the information pack will ...

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Before candidates come to the Barclays head office, Barclays sends an information pack to candidates for them to perform better in their interview, the information pack will have all the necessary information like what kind of role play they may be accepted to do.

Barclays only select candidates on their ability they have to offer to the company. Barclays does not discriminate people on the basis of their race or religion.

In today’s competitive world if business staff is not good enough to perform the job then there are very high chances for the business to be taken over by business competitors. Staffs are the face of the business. If staff is motivated to do the job then there are high chances for the business to succeed but in cases where the staff is not motivated then there are high chances for business to be unsuccessful.

Some businesses only rely on the candidate test scores to select the people for the job Companies such as Barclays and HSBC bank make use of both tests and role plays to select the candidate for the job. Barclays is a successful business because they have the right staff with the right skills to do the right job.

In the near future Barclays aims to use only the method of role play for customer related jobs because customer related jobs require the candidate to perform well all the time while the staff is dealing with customers enquires. It is very important for businesses to ensure that customers are satisfied with the service they have received from the business.

All the methods of selecting the candidate have its own advantages and disadvantages. For example if companies use the test to assess the ability of the candidates, the candidate may not be able to perform better in the test because of the stress of the test or nervousness of the interview, whereas candidate who cannot do well in the role play but pass the Numeric or Literacy test may be right candidate for the job because they cannot perform better in the role play.

Nowadays almost all businesses use the role-play method to select the candidate. The method of role-play and test is effective because it gives the company an idea of how good the candidate is. Some people are good with performing under stress whereas for some people it can be a big problem. Some candidates may find it easy to deal with both the role-play and tests. These candidates should be offered the job.

Candidate who can do well in both role-play and tests should be offered a job. In Barclay’s candidates are only selected if they have passed the both role-play and Numeric and Literacy tests. In Barclays some employees have been working for the company for a long time. The reason behind this is that they have the skills to do the job. It can be very difficult for employees to perform effectively as well if he has not got the skills to perform the job. For example if the job requires candidate to work on Microsoft Excel but the candidate has no experience or knowledge of working with this package, how can the company expect the candidate to perform well?

I believe selecting candidates by giving these tests and role-play is an effective method. This will show both the company and candidate how good they are with their skills. After the test has been completed, Barclay’s recruitment team give scores to the candidates. For example if a candidate was given 40 Maths question and pass mark to move to another stage is role play is 35, but the candidate only managed to get 25 question, this mark will be given to the candidate, in the form of feedback, for them to prepare better in the future.

Barclays makes sure that if 4 people are selected for interview, they do the same test.

This is to ensure that candiate does not feel that there test was difficult or complicated comparing to other colleagues. Barclay’s main aim is to select the best candidate for the job regardless of where these people come from or what their religion or ethnicity is. Barclays select only people on the ability they have to offer to the business.

After researching on Barclays, I personally do not think Barclays should change the way they recruit people. However I will suggest some ways, which Barclays can use to select people.

For example if 50 people applied for a cashier job, Barclays should first short list 10 candidates for the interview, and then they should give the candidate a date for a telephone interview. This to ensure that the best candidates are selected for a final face to face interview. If out of 10 people only 4 people are selected for a face-to-face interview Barclays can first give them a test, which they have to pass before they can be interviewed by the panel. This will surely save the company time and money. Giving the test before the interview will save the candidate time as well. This is important if the candidate has to travel a long way to attend the interview.

Those 4 people who have passed telephone interview but only 3 three of them manage to pass the test; those 3 candidates should then be interviewed by the panel. After the interview, the panel team should discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate. The candidate who has more strength for the job they have applied for should be offered for a job. It some times helps if company select the second best candidate for the job that is to save time later if the first candidate rejects the company offer.

The above are my recommendations to Barclays, which I think when applied could be both time saving and cost efficient.

Through researching on Barclays and completing this assignment, I have learnt a lot about the different laws that are in place. It has made me realise how important to have these laws in the first place, in order to ensure that everyone is treated fairly and not on their race or religion.

I have also learnt a lot about Barclays, its history, ethics and procedures. From the information and knowledge I have obtained, Barclays is a very friendly and professional company. They ensure that they always comply with laws set out and procedures are followed correctly.