Recruitment and Selection Procedures.

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Recruitment and Selection Procedures

Recruitment is:

Searching for and attracting candidates - external or internal - for job vacancies.

New people are found and brought into the organisation. This involves communicating with actual or potential job seekers, motivating them to apply and persuading candidates that they really want to come and work for the firm. The objectives are to attract candidates of the right quality in the right number and matching the job specification of the company.

The importance of good recruitment and selection

People are the most important asset of any organisation and the success of that organisation depends on having people with the right skills and abilities. To make sure that the right people are recruited in the first place, a fair, structured and professional selection process must be used. Poor selection decisions can result in increased staff turnover, increased costs for the organisation, the lowering of morale amongst the existing staff and legal claims against the organisation.

The aims of the recruitment and selection process should be to:

· Recruit high quality staff with the right skills on the appropriate contracts to deliver the key objectives of the position and organisation

· Ensure that equality of opportunity is considered as an integral part of recruitment practice, thus encouraging diversity

· Ensure that recruitment is effective as a key public relations exercise for all involved

· Ensure that recruitment is fair, efficient and cost-effective

· Facilitate and encourage Best Practice by training those involved to follow a structured and systematic process of selection;

· Continuously monitor, review and improve the recruitment process in the light of experience and information obtained from those involved in the process.

The importance of fair treatment

The employer has a legal responsibility to ensure that no discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, marital status or disability occurs in the recruitment and selection process. Equality of opportunity must be an integral part of the process.

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· Ensure that recruitment is fair, efficient and cost-effective

· Facilitate and encourage Best Practice by training those involved to follow a structured and systematic process of selection;

· Continuously monitor, review and improve the recruitment process in the light of experience and information obtained from those involved in the process.

The importance of fair treatment

Everyone involved in the recruitment and selection process must be aware of and comply with current legal requirements relating to recruitment. A separate handout is available from Human Resources, which provides details of all the relevant legislation together with practical implications for recruitment and selection. Assistance and advice on the implementation of the Equal Opportunities Policy is available from Human Resources.

Selection is a latter stage of recruitment. It involves choosing

Competent and qualified applicants suited to the job.
New members of the organisation

Selection Methods

The prescriptions, the "how-to do-its" of selection, are problem-solving strategies (heuristics of general and specific scope) which, taken as a cocktail, may narrow down the selection decision and increase the chances of choosing the "right" candidate although probably "best available" is a better term.

Selection methods range across

Interviews - the most popular and hence the skills of interviewing are important
References
Analysis of candidate career/life data
Evaluation of candidate behaviour/ performance in group activities
Work attachments/experience (trial periods)
Skill testing with task/work simulations e.g. typing, computer programming, brick-laying and candidates making presentations etc
Knowledge, aptitude and psycho-metric tests of various facets of know-how, intelligence and personality
Graphology!!!!

Aims of the selection interview

The key aim should be to collect relevant information within a limited time. Collection of information about the candidate means matching his/her attributes to those on the person specification, and not comparing candidate against candidate. (This could lead to selection of the best candidate, but he/she may not be able to do the job). In addition you must ensure that it is a two-way process and that the candidate fully understands the nature of the job for which he/she has applied. The way in which the interview is conducted reflects the level of professionalism of the organisation, and recruitment needs to be seen as a significant public relations exercise.

Job Description, Job Analysis and Person Specification are vital in the recruitment and selection process as a company can decide who best fits the attributes needed.

Job analysis and the job description

A job description must be produced for each vacancy, detailing the purpose, tasks and responsibilities of the post. A well-designed job description should include:

· Job title - this should clearly convey the nature of the work to be done
· Main purpose -this should be a summary of why the job exists and should ideally be captured in one sentence
· Key tasks - in listing these, active verbs should be used e.g. 'writing', 'filing', 'calculating', instead of vaguer terms such as 'assisting with', 'dealing with'. Wherever possible it is useful to indicate the frequency with which particular tasks occur
· The scope of the job - this should give details of the structure within which the post-holder will operate and the main working relationships e.g. identification of his/her 'line manager', the number and levels of staff to be supervised and the key internal and external contacts for the post. Details should be provided of any quantifiable items such as budgets for which the post-holder will be responsible
· Conditions - special conditions of the job should be detailed e.g. travelling requirements, shift work.

Person specification

A well-written person specification is crucial for an effective and professional recruitment and selection process. It sets out the qualities, which are needed for high performance in the job. Unless these are properly defined, interviewers cannot answer the following questions consistently:

What do we want to measure?
Against which criteria can we evaluate candidates?
What is it about candidates that we want to evaluate?

The skills, aptitudes, and knowledge included in the specification should be precisely related to the needs of the job. Also the interviewers will need to make sure they are not discriminating against the candidate in any shape or form.

People leaving/quitting their job is also an important part of the Recruitment and Selection process, which will be explained below. Businesses will have to deal with this quite regularly as a part of labour turnover, and then recruit new employees.

Severance

This is ending the employee/employer relationship. I.e. contract of employment.

It can include:

Resignation:

-The voluntary decision of an employee to leave a business and terminate their contract of employment.

Retirement:

-When an employee leaves work altogether because they have reached a certain age.

65 for men and women- become eligible for state pension.
Not compulsory to retire at this age.
Many continue to work. Others retire before 65.

Redundancy:

When an employee/group of employees are dismissed through no fault of their own, but changes within the firm/its environment, which makes their job surplus to requirements.

Could result from:

Closure of business
Restructuring/reorganising responsibilities

The employer will have to follow these Employment Legislations:

Employment Rights Act 1996

Unfair Dismissal

Redundancy

Maternity

Health and Safety at Work Act (HASAWA)
Minimum Wage
The Social Chapter(especially Working Time Directive)

Recruitment and Selection Procedures.