2.5.2 Effective Recruitment Flashcards
Responsibilities of directors:
- overall business performance
- business target-setting and strategy formation
Responsibilities of senior managers:
management and leadership of key business functions
Responsibilities of supervision and team leaders:
- leading a team of workers
- performance management
- providing training, support and motivation
Responsibilities of operational staff:
carrying out the key operations of a business
Responsibilities of support staff:
providing services that support the main function of the business
Recruitment process:
- Decide on type of worker need
- Draw up recruitment documents - e.g. job adverts, job descriptions, person specification, job particulars etc.
- Attract applicants - e.g. through job adverts
- Receive applications - though CVs, application forms and letters
- Shortlist - a list of suitable candidates is drawn up
- Selection - involves interviews and assessments, references might be requested
- Select the right people - involves interviews and assessments; references might be requested
- Training - to develop skills using on-the-job and off-the-job training (all staff, but especially new staff)
Person specification:
- a profile of the ideal candidate for the job
- It lists the criteria necessary to carry out the job – skills and qualities
- essential and desirable characteristics
What should be included in a person specification?
- Skills, knowledge and aptitudes
- Experience
- Qualifications, education and training
- Personal characteristics
- Essential and desirable criteria
Skills, knowledge and aptitudes:
Include any skills, knowledge or aptitudes that the candidate need e.g. IT or written skills
Experience:
You may want candidates to have prior experience of performing particular skills or tasks
Qualifications, education and training:
- Required qualifications must be necessary for satisfactory job performance
- In some professions it will be a legal requirement that the candidate has certain qualifications in order to practice
- In other cases it may be that it would be impossible to carry out certain tasks without having been trained to do them
Personal characteristics:
If you want candidates to demonstrate particular personal qualities e.g. the candidate may need certain personal qualities such as the ability to work in a team, or to take on a leadership role
Essential and desirable criteria:
- ‘Essential’ criteria are those attributes or qualifications which the candidate must have in order to do the job
- Any candidate who does not meet these requirements can be ruled out straight away
- ‘Desirable’ criteria are not essential to carry out the job but a candidate who meets these criteria is likely to perform the job better
- Desirable criteria can help you choose between good candidates who all meet the essential criteria
Benefits of a person specification:
- it can be used as a guide when devising job advertisements and application forms
- it provides recruiters with a tool to compare one candidate with another
Job description:
contains essential information about a job role
What does a job description include?
- job title
- who the person is responsible to (line manager)
- key duties
- salary or wage
- responsibilities
- special requirements
- conditions
CV:
a document that lists a person’s experience and qualifications
What does a CV include?
- employment and history
- skills and experience
- references from current or previous employees
Contents of job application form:
- Person details (name, nationality etc.)
- Educational history and qualifications
- Previous employment history (periods, positions, roles, achievements etc.)
- Sustainability and reasons for applying for a job
- A chance for applicants to sell themselves’
- Names of referees
Advantages of job application form vs CV:
- Business can tailor questions and format to exact needs
- An application form forces candidates to answer same questions and provide information in a consistent format
- CV’s come in many different formats, with key information either missing or presented in different ways
- Encourages the applicant to consider the specific needs of the employer – e.g., to respond to questions relevant to the employer
- More likely to get up to date information from the applicant
Reasons for rejecting candidate from job application stage:
- May not meet standards et out in job specification
- Wrong qualifications
- Insufficient experience
- May not have completed application form to a satisfactory standard
- May be unlucky
- Employer has set a limit on number of candidates who progress through to interview stage
Internal recruitment:
jobs given to staff already employed by the business, involves promotion and reorganisation
Pros of internal recruitment:
- fast and easy to advertise vacancy
- cheaper than external advertising - saves money
- candidates already know the business so will be more efficient from the beginning
- promotion opportunities motivate current employees and increases employee engagement
- shorter hiring time
- reduces need for onboarding
Cons of internal recruitment:
- May create jealousy between employees
- Limits application pool
- May leave gaps in certain teams
- May encourage unfair promotions
External recruitment:
job centres, job advertisements, recruitment agencies (offline and online), headhunting, personal recommendation etc.
Pros of external recruitment:
- more potential applicants (larger hiring pool)
- new ideas, viewpoints and skills brought into the business → help business to grow
- suitable if the business is growing and needs more employees
- enhances diversity
- easier to find a specialised candidate
- reduces employee tension
Cons of external recruitment:
- May create jealousy between employees
- wont understand company values as well as internals
- Higher recruitment costs
- Further training may be required increasing costs
Job advertisement examples for internal recruitment:
- notice boards
- staff magazine and newsletter
Job advertisement examples for external recruitment:
- Newspapers and magazines
- Job centres
- Employment agencies and “headhunters”
- Direct contacts (e.g. with employees in a competitor business)
- Internet recruitment websites
Factors to consider when job advertising:
- Type of job
- Senior management jobs merit adverts in the national newspapers and/or specialist management magazines
- Many semi-skilled jobs need only to be advertised locally to attract sufficient good quality candidates
- Cost of advertising
- National newspapers and television cost significantly more than local newspapers etc.
- Readership and circulation
- How many relevant people does the medium reach?
- How frequently is the publication published?
- Frequency
- How often does the business want to advertise the post?
What makes a good job advertisement?
- accurate
- short
- honest
- positive
- relevant
Contents of a job advertisement:
- Details of the business (name, brand, location, business activities)
- Outline details of job (title, main duties)
- Conditions (special factors affecting the job)
- Experience / qualifications required
- Rewards (financial and non-financial)
- Application process (how should applicants apply, how to; deadlines)
Longlist:
total pool of applicants
Shortlist:
- Shortlist = small number of suitable applicants
- Should ideally be drawn up by two people, acting independently
- Important not to only include “perfect” or “ideal candidates”
What information can the interviewer obtain?
- Whether they are suitable for job
- Whether they fit into the business
- Information that cannot be obtained on paper from a CV or application form
- Conversational ability – often known as people skills
- Neutral enthusiasm or manner of applicant
- See how applicant react under pressure
- Queries or extra details missing from CV or application form
What information can the candidate obtain from an interview?
- Obtain information about job
- Access the working culture of a possible new employer
- Whether job or business is right for them
- What is culture of company like
- What are exact details of job that may be omitted from job description
Examples of selection tests:
- aptitude tests
- intelligence tests
- personality tests
Why are selection tests used?
- Basic interview can be unreliable as applicants can perform well at interview but not have qualities or skills needed for job
- Selection tests increase chances of choosing best applicant and so minimise high costs of recruiting wrong people
References:
- Written character statements from people who know the applicant well
- An important “safety check”
- A chance to learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of an applicant
- Final check that all information given by candidate is correct
- Good honest reference from an independent source can also reveal good or bad incidences from candidate’s past or particular traits that may have been missed
