Unit 2: Recruitment in the Workplace

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Nahidul Islam

Unit 2: Recruitment in the Workplace

Task 1 (A01)

In this report, I am going to describe and explain the recruitment and selection process and the different stages that the business has to go through when filling a vacantly

Recruitment is when an organisation identifies a vacancy and from the range of applicants that require a job, the organisation employ the best candidate from the application forms received to fill the vacancy in order for the business to run efficiently. Selection is when all the applicants are shortlisted and from them, the employer chosen the best candidate for the job role.    

The human resources (HR) department are required to work for the organisation by recruiting, training staff also motivating them to work hard in the business. If the employees are trained and recruited correctly, it would show that the business is successfully operating. There are also many other tasks the HR department do such as giving employees promotions and a wage/salary boost, annual appraisals and other employee benefits.

Recruitment can be internal or external depending on the job role and the vacancy being filled.

Internal recruitment is when an employee already within the business fills a vacancy rather than employing someone outside the business. The vacancy for internal recruitment can be advertised by putting up notice boards, on the intranet and it can also be discussed during staff meetings on who would be the best person to fill the vacancy. The advantages of recruiting internally in the business are that when performing an induction for them, it will not be as difficult because the employee would be familiar with the business workplace and surroundings also it is quicker and less expensive than recruiting someone externally because the amount of candidates is already been narrowed down to certain employees inside the business. The disadvantages if recruiting internally is that the person filling the vacancy from inside the business may not have all the required skills and qualifications to perform the job effectively and by recruiting someone externally offers a versatile range of skills, qualities, experience and qualifications.  

External recruitment is when someone from outside the business is employed to fill a vacancy. This is a more common approach when recruiting as there is a larger range of candidates that have different skills and abilities. There are many ways to recruit externally. Most businesses will advertise using media such as the internet, newspapers, company newsletters and magazines. Another way to recruit is to go to the job centre and tell them that the company has a vacancy and eventually there will be a range of different candidates with different levels of experience, qualifications and skills. The advantages of using external recruitment are that a wider audience can be reached which increases the chance that the business will be able to recruit the skills it needs also the disadvantages mentioned for internal recruitment are advantages of external recruitment. The disadvantages of external recruitment are firstly even if the new employee has all the experience and skills required for the job, he may not be able to adapt to the businesses system and therefore will take longer to familiarize with the workplace and the employees however with internal recruitment, you would not have this problem.

During the recruitment process, candidates must go through seven different stages before a suitable candidate can be chosen and made an employee in the business. This applies to both internal and external recruitment.

The seven stages are:

1) Identify a vacancy – This is when the business makes it known that a job is available and currently vacant so this could be because an employee has either left the business and this could be for a number of different reasons for example One reason could be that they have had a disagreement and there has been conflict between them and the owner or manager or another reason could be because they have had a better offer from a different business and they are receiving a better wage or salary. Recruitment does not have to be permanent as female employees could be on a maternity leave or an employee could be sick for a long time so they will need someone to cover for them while they return to their job and in these cases, most businesses would internally recruit someone and the advantages of this are it’s quicker and causes less hassle.  Human resources will need to formally agree with the department that is requiring an employee to fill the vacancy so a replacement can be searched for immediately. Since recruiting employees cost a large amount of money, the business will only hire employees if it is absolutely vital for their business to run efficiently as the money could be spent on other parts of the business such as paying off any bills or ordering stock.

2) Draw up a job description – This is when the job is described in detail so firstly, the name of the job or job title. This is important because it gives a brief ideas of what the job involves e.g. if the job that is a marketing director, the candidates applying for the job will know what they are applying for just from the name. Marketing means to advertise the products and make sure the customers are aware of what products the business offers and persuade them to buy it. Some job titles may change over time such as in schools, the head teacher may chance to principal or head master to give a different feel to the job and possibly increase the prestige and responsibility of the job.

Job description also includes employment conditions such as how much the employee will get paid and how many hours a work so for example a cashier could get £5.50 per hour so if they work 8 hours a week for 6 days then they will receive a£264 a week.

The employee will also need to know how much pay they will receive and that depends on whether the business pays an annual salary or wages every week. If the employee is temporarily working then they may receive the same pay as the employee they are covering for e.g. john is a cashier who earns £7 an hour and he is off sick long term so an internal employee is recruited and will receive the same pay until john is healthy and fit enough to work again. The business will be looking to recruit someone that not only matches the job description but also has additional qualities which will make them be more conspicuous.  

Finally, the job description will include duties and responsibilities that are involved in the job and have to be performed on a daily basis so the applicants will understand how important the job is and how hard they will have to work. Job security is another element in the job description which will tell the employee how long they are being employed for because not all jobs are permanent as mentioned before, employers can just temporarily fill a vacancy and once that person returns to their job, the temporary employee will have to leave the job. The job description will also have a large variety of candidates all after the same job with different skills and traits.

This is an example of a job description. It shows what the job is (which is a technical support engineer), the required skills but also useful and desirable extra skills which could be the difference to whether they are recruited or not and the qualifications and experience are required also. The desired skills mention what experience they have so has the candidate worked before and if so how long for, education is their school, college and university placements and what they have achieved in the time they have spent there also the work status is what type of job they like as there is part- time which is only a couple of hours so no more than 30 hours in a week. full-time work is over 30 hours a week and this shows that they may in the job for a long time and the befits of working full time are that the organization will provide you with annual leave, sick leave and health insurance also the hours they work are more flexible however, the most popular and more rewarding benefit is the fact that full time workers will get paid more money that part time workers because they are dedicating more time to the business.

3) Draw up a person specification – This is when the employer entails the physical, mental and any other requirement requirements that a candidate needs in order to perform the tasks effectively and successfully such as training and experience e.g. if the business was to be a chauffeur, the person applying for the job would probably need a long driving career which would show that they have a lot of experience and also be able to drive under pressure and quickly.

professional qualifications such as GCSE’s and A-level qualifications such as GCE’s will also be required to show they have a thorough understanding of the job and may make it easier for them to perform the job e.g. an accountant will need a range of different qualifications so the requirements may be that they will need a Degree, preferably in maths, accountancy, business studies, economics or finance. However, it is possible to become an accountant with lower school qualifications. Without A Levels it is possible to acquire the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) qualification, which is fully recognised in the trade. Office juniors can work up to accountant level, but you have to have GCSEs and preferably A Level to begin with. Qualifications show that the candidate has been studying in recent years and are prepared for them job they are going to apply for.

Experience is also required in the person specification as it could be the different to whether a candidate is employed or not. Having a high level of experience in a certain field of work will show that the candidate is well trained and has the acquired skills for the job and also shows that they will require less training e.g. if the job being applied for was a cashier, someone who has already worked in other businesses undertaking the same job role will know what they are doing so they don’t need a very detailed induction and require less training also they may be able to generate a higher income perform their tasks more efficiently. A candidate new to the field of work may find it more difficult to get the job will sufficient experience as they may have never done this job before however they me able to bring new ideas or if they have performed similar jobs then they can use that knowledge to perform the job as a cashier.  

Candidates must also have competence which is the ability of a person to perform tasks and take on certain responsible. The more competent a person is, the better they can perform their duties e.g. a business would rather have a more competent employee that can do their job to a high standard by producing quality output results such as high sales or revenue because it would prove more successful in the long run also having a incompetent employee would require the business to waste their time and money training them especially if they are young candidates who have possibly just finished their education or have finished a degree. The advantages of having a competent employee are that they are reliable for getting their task done efficiently and are resilient to their job. The disadvantage could be that since they may be extremely good at one job but if told to perform a different task they may struggle as it may not play to their strengths e.g. if the job was a reporter, and the employee was very competent in their job but then their manager asks them to illustrate their findings in a more abstract such as creating a presentation, this does not work well for them as they may be so accustomed to writing reports that they don’t have a clue how to create a presentation and this is a disadvantage for competent employees as they don’t offer that versatility.

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Essential skills will have to be met in order to get the job such as in a call centre, the person will definitely need fluent communication and also be responsive to customer calls. Essential skills are what an employee should have in order to complete the job and if they don’t have the essential criteria then they may be rejected. They can also have personal or desirable skills such as being able to work a computer effectively so they can type up emails quickly rather than constantly calling or being able to co-operate in a team and possibly even ...

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