- Swanlea School use external recruitment as a means of recruiting. This is when the business looks to fill the vacancy from any suitable applicant outside the business.
The advantages of that was that there is an increase in the amount of applicants in which to find the best candidate and it also means that people who apply for the job post will more suitably have a large range of experience because of the fact that the adverts are specific in terms of what Swanlea School require for a field, i.e. qualifications, previous experiences, previous jobs etc...
- External recruitment means that it enables a person recommendation, which is often referred to as ‘word of mouth’ and can be a recommendation from a colleague at work. This enables an increase in the amount of applications and a save on advertising cost for the school as this increases quite a large amount of free publicity for the school in newspapers such as The Times and The Guardian Education.
- The most important thing to look out for in job adverts are the closing dates, and in order to make the recruitment and selection process at a short amount of time as possible, Swanlea provide a closing date in which candidates can apply. This enables a very quick response from applicants and makes the whole process as efficient as possible.
Representing panels
In the following task I have been asked to work in groups of three and recruit a Business and Enterprise Coordinator for Swanlea School. In my role as panel member, I will need to undertake the relevant activities below:
- I will review the application forms (making notes on the relevant documentations).
- I will plan the selection process of interviewing for the most suitable candidate and ultimately role play the interview process selecting the appropriate candidate.
- I will create the necessary documentations needed for the interview.
- I will outline the criteria upon which I will base my selections.
- I will conduct the interview – with panel members taking on agreed roles.
- I will select the appropriate candidate with reasons for choice and rejections.
- I will complete the necessary documentation including outcome letters to all categories of candidates.
- I will review the selection interview highlighting good and bad points.
Reviewing the application forms
There were three people in each group. I was assigned in the RED group and my group members were Jaheda and Akhmol and myself.
My group members and I collected in all the relevant application forms from the other group that we were reviewing. We had to read through the applications making sure that we selected the best person for the job according to their skills and qualities.
I was reviewing one application form and I thought that it did contain the necessary attributes needed for the post as a Business and Enterprise Coordinator at Swanlea School. Although, the person didn’t have a degree, they did have very good skills, such as:
- Good interpersonal skills.
- Confident in working alone and working in teams.
- Good writing skills.
- Experience in working with children – this is a key requirement for the job.
I think that this person was a very good candidate for the job post because their strong confidence and the ability to work in teams instantly stood out and that is essential for the job role.
Although I would have chosen this person, there were two other people in my group who were reviewing other peoples’ application forms as well and we had to make fair and suitable decisions on one candidate that would be the best person for the job and give reasons as to why we chose this person.
After talking about the most suitable candidate we made a decision. The reason why we chose this person was because we talked about all the three candidates who applied for the job and we thought that this specific candidate’s letter of application and application form instantly was more suitable for the job from the rest of the other candidates.
They also have the willingness to work in a busy environment and to work with different organisations and be a loyal employee to the school. The above summarised skills highlight their attributes that they have which is essential for them to succeed in the job.
Selection process of the interview
- Due to lack of funds and time we interviewed the selected candidates in a single classroom at Swanlea School. We couldn’t do any sort of selection tests for them because it takes a very long time and is not as reliable as basic face to face interviews.
- The two other members in my group as well as myself interviewed three different people from the other group separately in order to find out a bit of information about them.
- The interviews took a maximum of 10 minutes each and this allowed us to have enough time to choose the best candidate out of the three people that we interviewed.
- Finally we decided together on who would be the best person for the job as a Business and Enterprise Coordinator. The candidate that won the position as a Business and Enterprise Coordinator was Rumi.
Documentations used in the interview and criteria in which decisions will be made
- Before the interview process, we made a questions sheet which consisted of seven questions outlining the most important things we wanted to find out about the candidate. This was the only resource we used for the interviews and the questions sheet gave us enough information on who will be most suitable for the job.
The questions that we asked are as follows:
1) Tell us about yourself?
- Basic
- Good
- Excellent (Detailed)
2) What interested you to apply for this job post?
- Basic
- Good
- Excellent (Detailed)
3) Can you tell us about your strengths?
- Basic
- Good
- Excellent (Detailed)
4) What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
- Basic
- Good
- Excellent (Detailed)
5) What job-related skills can you contribute to our company?
- Basic
- Good
- Excellent (Detailed)
6) Tell me about a problem you have had on the job and how you solved it?
- Basic
- Good
- Excellent (Detailed)
7) Where do you want to be in 5 years?
- Basic
- Good
- 3) Excellent (Detailed)
Conducting the interview – Reasons for choice and rejections
- The interviews were held for a maximum of 10 minutes each due to lack of time and within that time my group and I made quick decisions on who will be the best candidate for the job as a Business and Enterprise Coordinator.
- Our group interviewed a maximum of three different people from the BLUE team. Their names are, Rumi, Somsu and Rashna.
- I felt that the questions that we asked were very specific in terms of what we wanted to find out about the interviewee. Although we got brief answers, it allowed us to select the most suitable candidate and we knew who would be most suitable for the job in terms of their skills and abilities.
- After the recruitment and interview process we agreed on one candidate because of their skills and expertise to do the job. Their skills included a number of things like:
- Good interpersonal skills.
- The ability to work in a team as well as independently.
- Previous managerial experience of working in a busy environment, i.e. the Young Enterprise Challenge.
- Experience in working with young children and did past youth work.
- Strong typing skills and efficient.
- The above attributes are of the candidate that we chose and it shows the importance of peoples’ skills needed for a job. The person we chose was Rumi. Although the person was a bit inexperienced, it didn’t matter because their confidence and their willingness to learn new things was one of the reasons on why we chose this specific candidate.
- Another very important skill they possess is that they have experience in working with young children and that is a key requirement for the job. During the interview, the candidate mentioned that they know how kids think and can relate to them and that was the main reason why we chose this candidate.
- The reasons why we rejected the other two people was that they were very brief with their answers during the interview process and they took longer to answer the questions.
- As well as that we couldn’t tell whether they had the essential skills with working with young children because they lacked in that sort of experience.
- They also lacked in skills and abilities for the job requirements, such as working with different organisations, team building etc… and that was the reasons why we didn’t choose them for the job.
Outcome letter for the selected applicant
The following is an outcome letter that we sent out to the successful candidate that we chose for the job:
Unsuccessful letter to the other two candidates
The following is a letter that we as a group created for the two candidates that didn’t get the job:
Evaluations of the effectiveness of the interviews
Good points of the interviews
The good points of the interviews are as follows:
- The candidates were all very corporative in providing detailed answers to the questions that I asked.
- During the length of the interview process I was able to ask quite a lot of questions regarding information on the specific candidate’s background and qualifications and that helped me with making quick decisions on who I should ask back for a second interview.
- I think that the interview questions were very specific in terms of the key information that I wanted to know about and that made it interesting.
- The interview wasn’t very time consuming to implement and it allowed me to gather a lot of information from speaking to the interested candidates.
- The candidates were polite and were in time for the interview and that made a good impression on them.
- It was also very informal and that made it easier for us to interview the candidates.
Bad points of the interviews
The following information was some of the bad points that I experienced during the recruitment and selection process and they are:
- I think that there were too many candidates that signed up for the job post but I had to choose only one candidate out of the whole group of people.
- There weren’t many candidates with much experience of the specific job post that they applied for, which was for a Business and Enterprise Coordinator and that made it harder to choose the right person for the job.
- Another problem was that I didn’t know who was being honest in the interview and who was lying about their experiences and personal hobbies.
- Some of the candidates were a bit brief with their answers and I could see that they didn’t prepare well for the interview.
- Since I was working in groups, it meant that there were some disagreements with who they liked and disliked for the job post and it was quite hard to make decisions because of the differences of opinion between the different group members.
- Due to limited amount of time, I couldn’t do any form of selection tests that could have been used in addition to an interview in order to help select the best candidate. The problem about basic interviews is that it can be unreliable as applicants can perform well in interviews but they may not have the necessary qualities and skills needed for the job.
The effectiveness of selection interviews in selecting candidates
The purpose of the selection interview is to provide a supervisor or manager with job-related information upon which a selection can be made.
There are a lot of advantages and disadvantages in doing selection interviews in order to find the most suitable candidates. Some of these are summarised below:
Advantages
- Selection interviews increases the chances of finding the best candidate.
- It minimises the cost and reduces time of recruiting the wrong people.
- Selection interviews provide candidates to undergo a variety of tests, such as role plays and stimulations for a number of days. This helps the employer to find out how the prospective employees will cope in a potential real life situation.
- Selection interviews are usually informal than basic face to face interviews. The selection interview is a one-on-one meeting, i.e. the interviewer and the candidate.
- It is also very useful for determining if the applicant has necessary communicative or social skills which may be required for the job.
- It can assess several applicants’ job knowledge that are taking part in the selection interview.
- The selection interview can be used for selection among equally qualified applicants.
- It also enables the supervisor and co-workers to determine if there is compatibility between the applicant and the current employees.
- It allows the applicant to ask questions that may reveal additional information useful for making a selection decision.
- Engaging other people in a selection process can be very helpful. The business that is looking to recruit can include a senior staff member, a board member and a colleague. The benefits of this is that their contribution can include:
- Helping to develop selection criteria.
- Screening resumes.
- Preparing interview questions.
- Participating in interviews.
- Assessing each candidate against the selection criteria.
- Providing input about the final selection.
Disadvantages of selection interviews
There are also a lot of disadvantages in selection interviews as there are advantages. Some of the bad points of selection interviews might include the following:
- Firstly selection interviews are very time consuming to implement and they are also very costly to the employer or organisation that wants to set it up.
- Another disadvantage of selection interviews is that there may be a very wide selection of candidates that want to apply for the job post and it will make the whole of the selection process harder for the employer to choose the best candidate.
- If the employer selects and recruits the wrong person than it can be a very costly mistake.
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There is not much evidence of validity of the selection procedure.
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It is also not as reliable as tests and may give out false assumptions to the employer of the selected candidate.
- The selection procedure may allow bias such as favoritism to be used to enter in the selection process.
- It is not useful for selecting large numbers of applicants because it doesn’t provide accurate information on the evaluation on selected candidates.
Improvements and recommendations
The following information is a summary of the improvements and recommendations that would have made the whole of the recruitment process more effective and they are:
- One of the improvements that I would have made is that I would have preferred to advertise the job post in a variety of different newspapers so that I would have been able to get a wider selection of people applying.
- I would have liked other experienced people from the school to have interviewed the candidates along with my assessment because I would have got valuable feedback from them and it would have also reduced the amount of time needed for the recruitment process.
- Another improvement that could have been made for better recruitment is through job centres which are paid for by the government. They are very effective because they provide a service for businesses and schools like Swanlea to advertise a vacancy and are generally free to use.
- The additional improvements that could have been made in order to ensure better recruitment is through recruitment agencies, which provides employers like Swanlea with information of suitable candidates looking for a vacancy according to their skills and abilities.
The recruitment practices and procedures at Swanlea School
- The recruitment practices at Swanlea School are sometimes carried out by the assistant head teacher and the head teacher if it is for a senior job role.
This enables the school to find the most suitable person for the job post because they are at a senior level of their job and have more experience in it and realistically they are accountable to make the right decisions.
- The usual recruitment practices and procedures at Swanlea School are mainly done by the administrations department who will interview prospective employees, such as teachers, cleaners, IT managers etc…
- If the head teacher of Swanlea School likes a specific candidate that they have interviewed than they will usually ask them back for a second and even third interview if it is required depending on the job post that the candidate has applied for.
- Swanlea School will definitely do a security check and medical test on their prospective employees, such as finding about information on any criminal convictions if any etc… because of the fact that they have to be extra cautious on who they employ since they are a school.
The main legislations that Swanlea School must comply with as an employer
There are a number of legislations that Swanlea School need to ensure that they comply with because they have a duty as an employer to be treating their employees and prospective employees ethically. Some of the legislations that they must ensure they comply with are as follows:
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Sex Discrimination Acts 1975 and 1986 – This act ensures that men and women are treated equally. Employers cannot discriminate people because of their gender.
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Direct discrimination – For example, this would occur where a less qualified man was given a job in preference to a more qualified woman.
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Indirect discrimination – This occurs when a job has requirements that one gender is likely to be unable to comply with, such as requiring only men in construction and building careers.
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Race Relations Act 1976 – This act makes it unlawful for anyone to be discriminated against on the grounds of race, colour, nationality and ethnic origin. Swanlea School must ensure that they protect their employees from discrimination, victimisation and harassment.
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Equal Pay Act 1970 – This act requires employers to pay men and women equally. This includes all aspects of pay including benefits such as, childcare services, healthcare benefits and car allowances.
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Disability Discrimination Act 1995 – This act makes it unlawful for a disabled person to be treated less favourably because he or she is disabled. As well as that Swanlea School need to ensure that reasonable adjustments are made to the school so that disabled workers are not finding it difficult towards working for the organisation in any way.
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Working Time Regulations 1998 – This legislation protects the employee of working a maximum of 35 hours per week. This can be extended to no more then a maximum of 48 hours per work and adjustments can be made according to the worker’s personal workforce agreement. This act also allows the employee to have rest periods and ensures a minimum annual leave allowance of four weeks.
Swanlea School have to keep a record of how many hours their employees are working in order to comply with the legislation.
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Employment Act 2002 – This legislation covers a number of areas within employment law, which includes:
- The right to 26 weeks paid maternity leave and 26 weeks unpaid leave.
- The right to 2 weeks paternity leave for working fathers and 26 weeks for adoptive parents.
- The right for fathers and mothers to ask for flexible working arrangements if they have children under six or disabled children under 18.
- The right for members of trade unions to take paid time off to attend meetings and training.
How can the working legislations affect the recruitment practice?
- One of the most apparent issues for employers like Swanlea School with regard to the working legislations is that they must ensure that they are providing the facilities necessary to comply with specific legislations.
- Swanlea School must also ensure that they are continuously updating their contracts since the legislations are continually advancing and changing and they need to be aware of these changes in order to implement it into the business.
- They must also make reasonable adjustments to their organisation so that they are not discriminating certain people of their basic human rights in the workplace.
- Swanlea School also must ensure that they record the changes of employee contracts, holiday leave, changes of address etc…
The importance of recruitment practices and procedures in Swanlea School
The recruitment practices and procedures are very important to Swanlea School because they have to ensure that they are meeting the ethical and legal requirements of their business.
- The ultimate aim of any recruitment process is to bring in good quality new employees by the most cost-effective and rapid means possible. The appropriate use of IT can help Swanlea School to achieve this goal, but this also highlights the importance of the human role in selection decisions.
- Swanlea School ensures that as an employer that they make file copies of documentation of every post that they have received. Swanlea need to legally create up to date records of new and also present candidates who are working at Swanlea or have applied for a specific job post.
This also enables them to provide future job references for their employees and allows them to provide equal opportunities to their employees as well. This is very important for Swanlea because they need to respect peoples’ basic human rights at work and also comply with their business ethics and legal requirements as an employer so that they are well reputed by the society.
- Another ethical principal that they follow when recruiting new employees is that they allow the opportunity of hiring a variety of different people from different backgrounds, regardless of their age, gender, race etc…
This makes them have a very multi diverse workforce and they also give new and under experienced graduates the chance to work at Swanlea School. This is very important for them to allow the chance for under experienced people to work at Swanlea because they can learn as they become more experienced. This also makes the whole organisation comply with their ethical duties and principals and makes them stand out as a very good employer.
- Swanlea School has a duty to provide honest and clear information when they advertise for a job post that they require for the school. This is very important because they have to make sure that they complying with the ethical and legal requirements when recruiting and selecting for their business.
For example, Swanlea School has recently advertised a post for a Business and Enterprise Coordinator in the newspapers – The Times and The Guardian. This was because they wanted a cost effective approach towards advertising the post and they know that these two different newspapers are very popular with business people and potentially it will bring in a lot of skillful and qualified people wanting to apply for the job post.
They made clear on the job advert that they wanted the applicant to only apply if they have the necessary skills needed ‘for organising events, planning trips and liaising with their partner organisations’.
As well as that they should have ‘excellent interpersonal skills, good ICT and organisational skills and have the desire to shape the future of young people’. The school also preferably wants the applicant to be educated to degree level.
The following is the job advert that they placed:
- When advertising vacancies, many schools like Swanlea continue to make extensive use of newspapers because it is a more effective means of advertising – as well as that, the use of the internet is also very common.
This is a very important method of recruitment for Swanlea School if they want to do external recruitment. It allows Swanlea to bring in a wide selection of candidates making sure that anyone can apply according to their skills and qualifications and that certain people are not discriminated against because of their age, gender, race, religion etc...
Conclusion
To summarise this unit, I have learnt about the importance of recruitment practices and procedures at Swanlea School and how they aim to follow the ethical and legal requirements when recruiting new employees.
In my opinion, I think that Swanlea School are a very good employer because they provide opportunities for under experienced young people, i.e. new graduates to work for them and give them valuable advice on how they can gain new skills and attributes while working for them. They also have a multi diverse workforce which means that they recruit people from all backgrounds in order to make the school a diverse place to work in.
For Swanlea, complying with the working legislations is a very important aspect in their day to day organisation because they need to make reasonable adjustments if certain members of their staff are less able than some people, such as investing money in lifts, wider classrooms, larger walking space in the corridors etc…
Swanlea ensure that they recruit new candidates according to their skills and abilities because that is the legal requirement that they need to comply with as an employer.
They understand the wants and needs of their present employees and make sure that they provide the necessary training for them to advance in their job and from time to time they can also be promoted to a higher more senior level if they are qualified and have the capability of doing so. The most important thing for Swanlea School is to provide equal opportunities to their employees and prospective employees.