Unit 2: Recruitment, selection and training of employees (Chap 8)

Question 1

What are the key words for this chapter? (Chap 8)

Answer 1

• Internal recruitment
• External recruitment
• Job description
• Person specification
• Shortlist
• Induction training
• On-the-job training
• Off-the-job training
• Resignation
• Retirement
• Redundancy
• Dismissal

Question 2

What is the difference between internal and external recruitment?

Answer 2

When a business has a job vacancy to fill it can look for someone in its existing workforce - internal recruitment - or search outside the business - external recruitment.

Question 3

Advantages of internal recruitment

Answer 3

• The vacancy can be filled more quickly and more cheaply
• Applicants already know how the business works
• The business already knows the strengths and weaknesses of its applicants
• Employees can become more motivated when they see that there’s a chance of promotion

Question 4

Limitations of internal recruitment

Answer 4

• A better candidate may have been available from outside the business
• Could cause conflict within the workplace if other internal candidates feel they should’ve gotten the job (dearie)
• Doesn’t bring in any new ideas
• There will still be a vacancy to fill, unless the employer’s previous job has become redundant

Question 5

Advantages of external recruitment

Answer 5

• External applicants may bring new ideas and this can improve the effectiveness of the business
• Wider choice of applicants with different skills and experience
• Avoids the risk of upsetting employees when someone who’s internal is promoted

Question 6

Limitations of external recruitment

Answer 6

• Takes longer to fill vacancy
• More expensive than IR because of advertising costs and time spent with interviews
• External applicants will need induction training which increases their expenses

Question 7

What are the first 5 of the 9 steps of the recruitment process?

Answer 7

1. The business identifies the need for a new employee and carries out a job analysis
2. Job description produced
3. Person specification is produced
4. Job is advertised
5. Application forms and job details are sent out

Question 8

What are the last 4 of the 9 steps of the recruitment process?

Answer 8

6. Completed applications are received
7. Shortlist is selected from all applicants
8. Shortlisted candidates are interviewed
9. THE RIGHT CANDIDATE IS SELECTED

Question 9

What is a job analysis?

Answer 9

When a vacancy occurs, the human resource department carries out a job analysis along with the manager of the department where the vacancy is.

• This is a process that identifies the content of a job in terms of the activities involved and the skills, experience and other qualities needed to perform the work.
• It also identifies the main job requirements

Question 10

What does a job description need to include?

Answer 10

• Job title - e.g. Sales and Marketing Executive
• Main duties of the post - e.g. plan and carry out marketing activities to agreed budgets
• Responsibilities - who the job holder’s responsible for supervising
• Accountability - who the job holder reports to

Question 11

Example of a person specification for a Sales and Marketing Executive

Answer 11

Personality: Self-driven, confident, team player, reliable and determined.
Specific job skills: Excellent written communication skills, understands the principles of marketing and advertising and must be an excellent face-to-face communicator. 
Computer skills: Must be adept in use of Excel and Word or similar database to basic level, internet and email.
Management ability: Some people-management skills would be useful
Qualifications: Must be educated to 'A' level standard

Question 12

Example of a CV (curriculum vitae)

Answer 12

Name: Jax Dixon
Address: 27 Avon Street SW34 OCK
Home telephone number: 07654345799
Mobile number: 07323456786
Email address: jaxdixondrip@gmail.com
Education including examinations and qualifications gained: Four 9s, four 8s and two 7s for GCSEs. A-Level Art, Sport and Business Studies plus a degree in Business Studies. Qualification in business administration and teaching.
University: Croydon College
Secondary School: Graveney School
Work experience (include dates from and to and reasons for leaving): Advertising in London from 21st July 2021 to the 30th May 2023. I left because I was made redundant, since the company moved to America.
Other relevant qualifications and skills: Communicating, very friendly, strong interest in marketing.
Other interests and hobbies: All sports, especially football, cycling, swimming, reading, travelling, writing and cooking.
Name and contact details of two referees: Eliazah Jones - 07847362536
Kiyan Lexi - 07833622851

Question 13

What will happen during an interview of the shortlisted candidates?

Answer 13

• May just be a question and answer session
• May be one or two people interviewing each candidate or a whole panel of interviewers
• Usually the more senior the position, the more people are likely to be involved in the interview process
• May be asked to complete tests
• E.g. someone applying for a car mechanics jobs could be asked to fix a problem on a car, watched by the interviewer
• E.g. responding the right way to a rude customer

Question 14

Benefits of part-time employees for the business

Answer 14

• A business can often attract well-qualified employees, mainly women who want to return to work but need to have flexible working hours
• Offering a full-time employee the opportunity to work part-time can help a business to keep experienced staff
• Part-time work provides greater flexibility e.g. if an employee is off sick, part-time employees can often cover their duties at short notice
• Some evidence to suggest that part-time employees are more productive than full-time employees.
• Perhaps because they work fewer hours so are less tired, or because they’re motivated to work for an employer who recognises the benefits of part-time employees
• They don’t need to take time off work for medical and dental appointments but when full-time employees take time off for these reasons, output falls

Question 15

Limitations of part-time employees for the business

Answer 15

• Increase in induction and training costs
• Communication problems because getting the same message to all employees is hard when some employees are only in the workplace at certain times during the week
• Quality of service offered to customers may not be as good
• E.g. if an employee is dealing with a customer complaint on a Monday but isn’t at work again until Wednesday, then the customer has to wait longer.

Question 16

What are the benefits of training? (Card 1)

Answer 16

• Trained production workers are more efficient which increases productivity and improves quality
• Management training improves the quality of business decisions and reduces the risk of costly mistakes
• Helps employees to develop their abilities and reach their potential and they’re less likely to leave a business that provides them with good training

Question 17

What are the benefits of training? (Card 2)

Answer 17

• Easier to recruit new employees and to keep existing ones
• Training can improve customer service, improving customer relationships and customer loyalty
• Health and safety training helps to reduce accidents
• Well-trained workforce improves a business’s competitiveness

Question 18

What are the 3 main methods of training?

Answer 18

• Induction
• On-the-job
• Off-the-job

Question 19

Notes on induction training

Answer 19

Every new employee will need some kind of training when they start a new job.

Induction training introduces the new employee to:

• their work colleagues
• organisation structure and their role/responsibilities within the structure
• health and safety procedures
• facilities available to employees e.g. canteen and toilet facilities

Question 20

What is are 2 benefits of induction training?

Answer 20

• The employee quickly feels part of the business.
• This brings a benefit to the business since the employee is more settled and likely to perform their tasks more effectively

Question 21

What is is a limitation of induction training?

Answer 21

It increases business costs since during the period of induction training, employees are not adding any output yet receiving their wage or salary.

Question 22

Notes on on-the-job training

Answer 22

• Employee is learning the skills they need to complete tasks
• Sit with an experienced employee
• Watch how they perform the task
• Complete the task under the guidance of the experienced employee

Question 23

Advantages of on-the-job training

Answer 23

• Relatively cheap
• Employees learn the way that the business wants the job done
• Employees producing output while training

Question 24

Disdvantages of on-the-job training

Answer 24

• Employees might pick up any of the experienced employee’s bad habits
• They may not learn the most up-to-date methods
• Make more mistakes when learning and this increases waste
• Slows down the experienced employee’s tasks

Question 25

Notes on off-the-job training

Answer 25

• Takes place away from the workplace
• Most often used when the job requires a high level of technical skill

Question 26

Advantages of off-the-job training

Answer 26

• Employees learn the latest methods
• Doesn’t disrupt production of other employees

Question 27

Disadvantages of off-the-job training

Answer 27

• Can be expensive, especially if the training is by a private training provider
• Employee doesn’t produce any output during training

Question 28

Notes on resignation

Answer 28

• Employee may decide to leave the job voluntarily
• E.g. they leave to go and work for another employer
• May be several reasons for this such as promotion, better pay or shorter working hours

Question 29

What is retirement?

Answer 29

In some countries, employees must leave their job when they reach retirement age. Other countries don’t have a compulsory retirement age and employees can work to any age.

Question 30

Notes on redundancy

Answer 30

• A business may close down because the owners no longer want to run the business
• It may have failed since it’s no longer profitable
• It may decide to relocate far away
• Manufacturing businesses may introduce new technology that can perform the work of several employees
• A worker’s employment can be terminated in all these situations because their job is redundant (PEAK)

Question 31

Notes on dismissal

Answer 31

Employer may dismiss an employees for one of two reasons:
1. Incompetence - the employee doesn’t perform their task to the required standard
2. Poor conduct - the employee breaks the rules e.g. often late for work or ignores safety procedures

Question 32

What are the reasons for downsizing the workforce in a business?

Answer 32

All examples of redundancy:

• Fall in demand for the product the employee produces
• If demand doesn’t increase, the business may need to reduce the size of its workforce because it’s costly to employ workers who have nothing to do for any length of time
• Business may introduce new technology which automates tasks that employees currently do, so their no longer needed
• Business may relocate some distance from its current site, perhaps to another country
• Not possible for employees to move or travel to the new location, so they’ll have to leave their jobs

Question 33

What are some of the criteria that employers use to select employees for redundancy?

Answer 33

• How productive employees are
• How often employees have been late or absent from work in the past year
• How old an employee is

Question 34

What are the 5 legal controls over businesses?

Answer 34

• Contracts of employment
• Unfair dismissal
• Discrimination
• Health and safety
• Minimum wage

Question 35

What is a contract of employment?

Answer 35

It’s a legal requirement that employees are given a written contract of employment which is a legally binding agreement between the employer and employee.

Question 36

Notes on a contract of employment

Answer 36

• Removes any misunderstanding that could arise over issues such as hours of work, rate of pay and holidays
• If an employer ignores any terms in the contract, like paying the employee less than the amount agreed, the employee could take legal action
• However, if an employee breaks any of the terms in the contract, like refusing to work the agreed number of hours, then the employer could dismiss the employee for breaking their contract

Question 37

Unfair dismissal

Answer 37

• In most countries the law will protect employees and ensure they’re treated fairly by their employer
• Includes the legal right not to be dismissed from their job without good reason
• Legal action can be taken against the employer
• If the employee is a member of a trade union they will fight the case on the employee’s behalf

Question 38

Discrimination

Answer 38

• Many countries have laws that prevent employers from discrimination when recruiting new employees, or in how they treat employees who are in their employment.
• Laws to prevent discrimination on the grounds of gender, race, colour, religion, disability and age are the most common
• Employee has the legal right to take their employer to court

Question 39

Health and safety

Answer 39

• Workplace can be very dangerous for employees
• Health and safety laws aim to protect employees from injury or physical discomfort e.g. being too hot or too cold
• Employees can’t do anything that might cause harm or injury to their fellow employees
• Employees who ignore these rules and cause injury to themselves or others could be dismissed for misconduct

Question 40

Legal minimum wage

Answer 40

• Minimum wage laws in some countries to prevent employers from exploiting employees by paying very low wages
• In the UK the minimum wage from ages 18 to 20 is £7.49 per hour