What techniques can managers adopt to improve their recruiting and interviewing practises?

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What techniques can managers adopt to improve their recruiting and interviewing practises?

Recruitment and selection have always been critical processes for organisations. In recent years, there has been growing evidence that the formation of positive psychological contract with employees provides the basis for a positive outcome in terms of organisational commitment and motivation. Recruitment and selection are vital stages in the formation of the expectations that form such a contract, on which, with an emphasis on a two way flow of communication, employees select an organisation and the work on offer as much as employers select employees. Thus employers need to see the attraction and retention of employees as part of the evolving employment relationship, based on mutual and reciprocal understanding of expectations, as well as an attempt to predict how a potential employee might behave in the future and make a contribution to the organisations recruitments. Many approaches to recruitment and selection tend, however, to emphasise the power of employers. For example, traditional methods attempt to attract a wide choice of candidates for vacancies before screening out those who do not match the criteria set in job descriptions and personnel specifications.

There are now wide variations in recruitment and selection practises, reflecting an organisations strategy and its philosophy towards the management of people. Employees seen as part of the primary internal market become the focus for the 'bundle' of human resources practises intended to bring about increased motivation, an increased acceptance of responsibility, deepened skills and greater commitment, providing the organization with a competitive edge. Such employees become a part of the organisations core work force, recruitment and selection representing the entry point activities.

Approaches to the recruitment and selection of employees forming the secondary internal market could be subject to less screening at the point of entry , attention being paid mainly to possession of the required skills. Such employees might be recruited and selected by cheaper methods but still perhaps, with a connection to organisational strategy via the specification of competencies. Giving the findings relating to studies of workers on fixed term contracts and the emphasis given by some workers to work-life balance, it would seem, however, that the crucial feature of a positive physiological contract is the use of progressive HR practices whatever the employment contract, and this will include attention to effective recruitment and selection practises. Once again, employers do not have a choice relating to the practises they adopt.
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Newell and Shackle ton (2000) refer to recruitment as the 'process of attracting people who might make a contribution to the particular organization'. Within this statement, we can highlight two crucial issues. First, there is a need to attract people, this implying that people do have a choice about which organisations they wish to work for. Secondly, the contribution that people will make to an organisation is not totally predictable. Recruitment and then selection processes will therefore aim to attract and admit those who whom management view as 'right' people for such a job. Therefore, one technique a ...

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