Knowledge and Understanding
This section can be a very important part of the personal specification, because it can show the level of interest the applicant will need to have in BA. Knowledge of the of BA and its environment is a very important part of the job because it ensures that its employees have understanding of the decisions made by BA and helps give all employees the same sense of direction. If the applicants have a good understanding of the business then BA will have to spend less time on training, which cuts costs. Security is a very high risk for airline companies so it is vital that employees have a good understanding of this because they will have to work to very strict rules laid down by the government.
Skills
This section identifies skills that are need to fulfil the job, that may not processed by the applicant just because of the qualifications. Tied in with experience, skills can be a very key attribute to an applicant, especially if they lack high qualifications. Computer, literacy and numeracy skills are in the desirable section, because the job may still be accomplished without them.
Personal Characteristics
This section suggests what type of person the applicant needs to be to fulfil the job specification. For this job the applicant needs to work in a team, solve problems, write reports, research and manage their own and possibly others time; these are all skills they need regardless of the qualifications or experience. But it may be possible for some of these skills to be learnt, which means applicants could get away with lacking in some of these.
Draft Advertisement
Graduate Consultants Project Team Member
Salary: £22,000 - £27,000 Starting
Job Type: Permanent
Location: London Heathrow
“The sheer diversity and challenges of our business can take your career in almost any direction” (British Airways PLC)
British Airways, a leading airline company are looking for business degree graduates to join their massive worldwide team. The fast moving culture of the business and highly completive market means British Airways has to constantly find new ways to stay ahead. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to join a project team of business graduates to develop ways to deal with internal consultancy problems faced with ever challenging market. In this highly diverse company it is unlikely that there will ever be a boring day in the office.
Key duties may include:
Team building, problem solving, research, people management, financial management and stock control.
Job related experience and skills:
The team will require a mixture of graduates with different skills and capabilities which cover marketing, finance, operations, purchasing, and human resources. Candidates are also required to have a good technical knowledge, have good time management and have the ability to research, generate solutions and write reports. Good communication and social skills are necessary, as team work is a vital component of the job. Ability to follow instructions and abide by all rules and regulations
Justifications of Advertisement
The draft advertisement was done for the use of an internet jobsite, such as , so it has to follow a certain structure. The structure followed however is suitable for this job. The salary is a very important part of the offer and the description of the job is second. This is because; in this current state of the economy it is more likely that applicants will be attracted by money and not necessarily job role. But just in case the applicants are more attracted by the job and its opportunities, a short quote in bold helps attract the reader to read what it would be like to work for BA.
With the lack of information in the brief, the duties section is vague but can be update for the final draft. This also has an effect on the job related experience and skills section. These two sections are very important parts of the advertisement though, because it lets the applicant know if they are suitable for the job. The reason it is placed at the end is because the advertisement needs to attract the reader, by being different to others; and the difference is in its job role and salary, because many jobs require the same skills.
As long as BA publishes this advertisement in other ways to suit all readers, then ethically this advertisement is sound, because it only mentions qualifications, skills and aspirations.
BA must also remember to advertise internally as there might be some existing staff that are suitable for the job. Caution must be taken in section though; equal opportunity must e given to internal and external applicants.
Once the individual function area job descriptions are in place the advertisement could be catered to advertise for that specific job role.
Selection Process
On the assumption that there will be a high number of applicants, because BA is such a well established business, an application form would be best suited for the first step of the recruitment selection process. Application forms allow for consistency in the information received making it easier to assess and store systematically (cipd, 2008a). No matter how the applicant is applying; online, recruitment consultant, application form, the layout should be the same to ensure consistency. Useful personal information can be gathered from the application form, such as medical history, which should be filed separately and should only be used as a safety precaution and not for judgement, as this would be discrimination.
The disadvantage to application forms is there is often not enough space for the applicant to “sell themselves” (cipd, 2008b). So a good idea would be to add a large box at the end of the form for their personal statement. This will enable BA to make a small judgement on the applicant without have to interview them.
Once the applications are received, BA can start to eliminate unwanted candidates. Notes on reasons for acceptance and rejects should be taken as a safety precaution, just in case an applicant complains about being rejected.
Once BA has narrowed their search, interviews can start. Because this is a team based job, a two interview process is suggested. The first interview is to decide whether or not the applicant has what it take to carry out their job and the second can be a group it interview to test how the remanding applicants coordinate within a group/team.
The first interview should be done on a question and answer basis. This can include a point scoring process applied to a multiple choice answer questionnaire and a conversation based approach to find out about the applicant. The points system can show which applicants are more naturally suited for the job and which ones might need more training if hired. It should also be made possible for the applicant to ask questions as this is a good way of discovering whether or not the applicant is interested in the BA. Care must be taken in the questions asked, to prevent discrimination arising, such as family background, religion, age, etc unless it is needed for the job role. Again notes should be taken as a safety precaution.
The second interview which will consist of all the applicants who passed the first interview, will shoe BA how the applicants can work in a team. This can consists of role plays, challenges and quizzes. This will also show which applicants fit into which role of a team, such as Belbin team roles theory (1984), (BPP, page288). This is helpful because it BA would not want a team of clashing personalities. In order for this process to work best, make sure that the teams are constantly change in the exercise to ensure that the applicants are not getting used to their groups. The reason for this is because BA wants to test how the applicants interact with others and the people they first meet are unlikely might to be their team when they are hired. Notes need to be taken for security reasons again.
BA should now be able to decide who they will hire. When the contracts are arranged it is advised to set a “probationary period”, (hrmguide, 2007). This is where BA can let go of staff that are not adequate for the job, and then rehire to fill the spot. This should be assessed with appraisals during the first few months of employment.
Bibliography
British Airways, Our working world – Graduate, [online] UK,
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[accessed 1 May 2009]
CIPD (2008a), Recruitment, [online] UK
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[accessed 1 May 2009]
CIPD (2008b), Recruitment, [online] UK
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[accessed 1 May 2009]
HMR Guide (May 2007), Equal pay and victimisation, [online] UK,
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[accessed 1 May 2009]
Learnonline (2006), PERSON SPECIFICATION (Example), [online] NHS, UK,
Available from:
[accessed 1 May 2009]
Evaluation
I have completed the assignment enough to have met the criteria. I did some research on British Airways, but I think I could of done more to ensure a deeper understanding of what they would want, which could of helped me possibly achieve high grades. I feel I planned this assignment well but unfortunately did not plan my other assignments well enough, which ended up interfering with the time I had to spend on this one. With more time i possibly could have done more research and spent more time proof reading and adjusting my report where necessary.
