Dave Hall et al (2004)
Referring to the case study, AFF organisation is looking to recruit a position for a sales accountant. John Lee, the HR officer is responsible for recruiting and selecting a suitable candidate for this position. He has examined the company’s staff file but has failed to find any job description for the exiting department staff. Therefore he has to carry out a job analysis before drawing up a job description. There are various methods of carrying out a job analysis such as, the HR officer could describe the job, ask job holder, ask the head of HR, use previous job description but make sure its updated or could observe and follow job holder around making notes. . John Lee could get his information to draw up his analysis by interviewing the sales administrator and the seven assistants, who are currently managing the department and other staff that had contact with the past sales accountant. However it is likely the staff associated with the sales accountant will have different views, which may be bias, about what is involved in the job. After collecting the information he should analyse it by putting it in to five categories; task, activity, skills, role and performance analysis.
Bratton and Gold ( 2003)
Once the organisation has analysed what a job entails, it is important to draw up a job description. This is defined as a detailed statement of the nature of the job, identifying the precise tasks, skill, qualities and responsibilities involved. The job description has a number of uses. It allows the organisation to tell candidates looking for a job what is expected of them. Therfore it is very important for John Lee to draw up a clear job description using the job analysis he’s formed. Job description will state the job title, the department worked in, responsible to, relationships, purpose of the job and objectives, specific duties and responsibilities and physical and economical conditions of the job. He has to write a detailed description of the job so that it will help him to decide on the qualities that successful candidates must have as well as making sure that candidates interested in applying for the sales accountant position have a clear understanding of the job.
Bratton and Gold (2003)
Once the skills and knowledge is acknowledged about the performance of a sale accountant position, has been outlined in job description, John Lee then has to reword this into a person specification. This shows a profile of the ideal person to fill the job. It is a framework that will be used by John Lee to assess the candidates against. A common format for a personal specification is the seven point plan, based on the work of Roger (1970). His format states: Physical characteristics, Attainment, Gerenal intelligences, Specific aptitudes, Interests, Disposition and Circumstances. Using this format John Lee will find a suitable candidate for his organisation. The format may vary according to essential requirements of a job. It’s important that the person specification fits the culture of the business. Both job description and personal specification have been the key elements in the traditional repertoire of personal mangers.
Dave Hall et al (2004)
After John Lee has drawn up a job analysis, job description and personal specification he has to recruit to fill the vacancies of sales accountants. Two methods of recruitment internal or external. He could offer the job internal within the business, to the temporary accounting staff or could offer the job as a promotion to the staff that have been doing overtime or could advise the job internally. The advantages to this method are; quick, less costly, employees have chance to develop their career and reduce the risk of employing wrong staff. However the disadvantages are it limits numbers of applicants and external candidates may be of better quality.
There are many methods of attracting external candidate, which are stated above. He should put an advert in the local paper and job centre to ensure a substantial number of candidates apply for the job. After John Lee has recruited the job, he has to shortlist the candidates in two to, suitable applicants and non suitable and the entire suitable one go through to the next stage which is the selection stage.
Selection is the final and most critical stage of the process. There are various methods stated above which are used to select the most suitable candidates. The two methods that John Lee should use are interviews and assessment centre. These two methods will show candidate’s leadership skills, behaviour in a group, specific skills and qualities required to be a sales accountant. John Lee will assess the candidates against each other, against the personal specification and job descriptions to see if they are suitable for the job.
John Lee has to go through this process to ensure of an effective recruitment and selection is carried out to find suitable candidates for the job with the right skills and qualities.
I will provide a critical insight into interviews, as a selection tool. An interview can be described as the process of obtaining information through questioning conducted either face to face or over the telephone. There are a number of different types of interviews namely structured, panel and telephone. The purpose of an interview is to determine candidate’s suitability and provide him/her an accurate description of what the job entails.
Ian Marcouse (1999)
Firstly, a structured interview is the most popular; usually the interviewer has a fixed set of questions for each candidate, with the aim of finding out individual’s skills and the suitability of the applicant. The questions are the same so that they employer can compare the different answers of candidates against each other to select the most suitable applicant. Disadvantage with this type of interview is that judgment is being based on one individual’s opinion.
A panel interview is similar to a structured one however, more people are present. In this interview you are likely to be asked similar questions to the structured but the questions are likely to be asked by a team of interviewers. Each member of the panel will ask questions about different aspects of the job and company. The advantage in this type of interview is, usually three interviewers to make the decision rather than just one. To a certain risk this eliminates the risk of interviewers being bias as each member has equal input.
An unstructured interview is an informal chat where the interviewer will talk to interviewees about a broad range of issues. The purpose of the interview is to make the candidate feel comfortable and have a free flowing conversation. However in practice this form of interview is rarely used, as it is not effective in determining a candidate’s suitability.
Group interview is commonly used, where an employer interviews a number of candidates together. It involves giving them a problem to solve to determine their communication and teamwork skills. The important issue is the group achieves their goal. Observers may assess candidates through a number of factors such as
contribution to discussion, leadership skills, reaction to other members and work ethic to achieve the group goal. To be successful the candidates should listen to others ideas and consider time factors. The disadvantage with group interviews is an applicant’s performance is often subject to influence of behaviour of peers.
Performance interviews occur when a business wants to test performance on particular aspects. These interviews usually occur in sales related performance positions. In some interviews tests are given for literacy, numerous, computing or driving.
A presentation interview occurs where candidates prepare and deliver a presentation. Interviewers usually give candidates the opportunity to choose their own topic. Most presentations are between 5-10 minutes; candidates may use visual aids such as overheads, handouts or power point.
A telephone interview is similar to a structured one however there is no face-to-face contact. This type of interview is very rarely used however some companies use it as an initial screening method to save time. These interviews are brief and contain questions based on the selection criteria. After usually draw up a shortlist to arrange a structured, face-to-face interview.
Bratton and Gold ( 2003)
Interviews may not be suitable for all applicants due to a number of factors. Naturally, they get nervous and stressed affecting performance. Candidates may under perform due to shyness, mood, and lack of confidence. At group interviews candidates may feel intimidated as performance is subject to influence of behaviour of peers. An interview alone is not suitable to judge whether or not a candidate is suitable as there is usually a time restraint therefore does not allow assessment of all key aspects of the position. The interview process is difficult to document in order to compare the suitability of candidates and assessment is subjective, judgement being based on individual’s opinions and experience. Some candidates may be excellent at tackling interviews however may not be so good at the job. It’s important to select candidates using a range of selection techniques instead of relying on just one.
Bratton and Gold ( 2003)
On the other hand, interviews allow both parties to have interactive discussion to clarify any misunderstandings. Allowances can be made for individual’s underperformance when assessing. Interviews can be video recorded to allow reference back to stop the judgement being based on one individual’s opinion. Distance can be overcome by filtering through online aptitude tests or video conferencing. Psychometric tests may be used to test candidate’s honesty and commitment. Real situation interviews may be used to test technical ability. Group assessment may reveal leadership qualities, teamwork /communication skills. Interviews may reveal weaknesses that can be overcome by specific training courses.
Bibliography
Bratton and Gold 2003, Human Resource Management Third Edition, published by Palgrave Macmillan
Dave Hall, Rob Johns, Carlo Raffo, Lan Chambers and Dave Grey, (2004) Business Studies, Third Edition, British Library Cataloguing
David Lines, Lan Marcouse &Barry Martin (2000), The complete A-Z Business Studies handbook Third Edition, odder & Stoughton
Ian Marcouse(1999), Business Studies, Stoughton & Sloughton
