HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

1. INTRODUCTION: Recruiting is the process by which organizations locate
and attract individuals to fill job vacancies. Except in times of economic retrenchment
most organizations have a continuing need to recruit new employees to replace those who
leave or are promoted, and to permit organizational growth. recruitment is the biggest
single challenge facing personnel managers in the 1990s. A survey carried out by
Personnel Management Association showed that very few employers, apart from those in
specialized areas, report significant problems. The general level of employment is falling
steadily and recruitment will always be a major feature of the personnel function.

Recruitment follows HR planning and goes hand in hand with the selection process by
which organizations evaluate the suitability of candidates for various jobs. without
accurate planning, organizations may recruit the wrong number or type of employees.

2. RECRUITMENT: Recruitment is the of attracting a number of suitable

applicants.
2.1 SELECTION: choosing the best candidate for the vacancy
2.2 MAIN PURPOSE: is to secure the number and quality of employees at
minimum cost required by the organization to fulfill its human resource needs.

2.3 THREE STAGES OF R&S PROCESS

• Defining requirements-preparing job descriptions and specifications, deciding

terms and conditions of employment.
• Attracting candidates- reviewing and evaluating alternative sources of applicants,
inside and outside the company, advertising, using agencies and consultants.
• Selecting candidates- sifting applications, interviewing, testing, assessing
candidates, assessment centers, offering employment, obtaining references, preparing
contracts of employment.

In the recruitment and selection process the organization and individual goals may
conflict. The organizations is trying to evaluate the candidates strengths and weaknesses
but the candidate is trying to present only strengths.

3.0 DEFINING REQUIREMENTS

the number and categories of people required should be specified in the

recruitment program, which is derived from the human resource plan ( Demand and
supply forecast). In addition, there will be demand for replacements or for new jobs to be
filled, and these demands should be checked to ensure that they are justified. It may be
particularly necessary to check on the need for a replacement or the level or type of
employee this is specified.

a) JOB AND COMPETENCE ANALYSIS

JOB ANALYSIS: produces information about a job which include

• overall purpose of the job
• Job content
• accountabilities
• Performance criteria
• Responsibilities
• Motivational factors.
• Organizational factors (reporting, relationship)
• development factors ( promotion and career factors)
• Environmental factors (working condition)

These information content to the job analysis provide the basis of recruitment and
selection.

COMPETENCE ANALYSIS: competence analysis is concerned with functional analysis

to determine work based competencies and behavioral analysis to establish the behavioral
dimensions that affect job performance. Such as, personal drive, analytical power,
strategic thinking, commercial judgment, ability to communicate, interpersonal skills,
ability to innovate, team management and leadership.

Competence analysis identifies:

• Inputs: what the job holder need to know and able to do. This identifies job based
competence.
• Process: How the job holder applies knowledge and skill to do the job. this identifies
they behavioral requirements.
• Outputs: job holders are expected to achieve as a basis for objective setting.

b) JOB DESCRIPTIONS AND PERSONS SPECIFICATIONS

Job descriptions: typical contents of a job description:

• Title of job
• salary/grade
• purpose of job
• principal task and responsibilities
• performance targets and methods of performance assessments.
• location of job
• special conditions relating to job
Job description of the job are clearly necessary for recruitment and selection but they are
also useful after appointment. They provide and help to form a fair basis for permanent
and merit awards and to identify where training is required.

PERSON SPECIFICATIONS: it includes:

• Qualifications
• Experiences
• competence required by the job holder and any other necessary information that are
demanded by the job.
It also refers to terms and conditions of employment. Such as, pay, employee benefits etc.

When the requirements on the basis of employee qualifications and work based as well as
behavioral based competencies that are required and has been agreed. The way of doing
this were traditionally the seven point plan developed by Rodger (1952) and the five-fold
grading system produced by Munro-Fraser ( 1954).

b1) RODGER SEVEN-POINT PLAN: The seven point covers:

1. Physical attributes- appearance, health, physique, speech etc.
2. attainments- education, qualification and experience.
3. General intelligence- fundamental intellectual capacity.
4. Special aptitudes- mechanical and numerical skills.
5. interests- intellectual, practical, constructional, social, artistic etc.
6. Manner- helpful, friendly, dependability etc.
7. Background circumstances- domestic circumstances, occupations of family.

b2) THE FIVE-FOLD GRADING SYSTEM: The five-fold grading system

covers:
1. Impact on others- physical attributes, appearance, speech and manner.
2. Acquired qualifications- education, vocational training, work experience
3. Innate abilities- natural quickness of comprehension and aptitude for learning.
4. Motivation- the kinds of goals set by the individual, his or her consistency and
determination in following them up, and success in achieving them.
5. Adjustment- emotional stability, ability to stand up to stress and ability to get on with
people.

3.1 ATTRACTING CANDIDATES

Attracting candidates is primarily a matter of identifying, evaluating and using the most
appropriate sources of applicants. Sources include:
• Advertising, Advertising agency
• Recruitment consultants.
• Executive search
• Educational and training establishments
• internal ad using in house magazines, notice boards and meeting.
3.2 SELECTING CANDIDATES
If done properly the recruitment process, should attract a number of possible candidates.
It is now necessary to select the most suitable candidates. selection process involves:

a) compare the applications with the key criteria in the job persons specifications. Now
sorting the applications in three categories:
1. Possible
2. Marginal
3. Unsuitable
b) Scrutinizing the possibles again to draw up a short list for interview.
c) draw up an interviewing program.
Invite the candidates to interview
Review the remaining possibles and marginals and decides if any are to be hold in
reserve.

4. INTERVIEW

AIM OF INTERVIEW: The purpose of interview is to obtain and assess

information about a candidate. It provide answer three fundamental question:

• can the individual do the job? Is he/she competence?

• will the individual do the job? Is candidate motivated?
• How is the individual likely to fit into the organization?

4.1 INTERVIEWING TECHNIQUES

a) Types of question: Questions plays a vital role in a selection interview, as it is the

primary means by which information is obtained from the candidate at the time.
Questions have been categorized in a number of different ways.
• Closed questions: these are questions which require a specific answer or a yes/no
response.
• Open questions; These are questions that require a person to reflect on, or elaborate
upon, a particular point in his own way. Ex, What is it that attracts you about this job?
• probing questions: which ask for more detailed and specific explanations of a
candidates work experience, knowledge, skills and competencies.
• play-back questions- testing the interviewers understanding of what a candidate has
said by playing back.
• hypothetical questions- which involve putting a situation to candidates and asking
how they would response.
b) Psychological tests: Psychological tests are standardized tests designed to provide
a relatively objective measure of certain human characteristics by sampling human
behavior. Such tests tend to fall into four categories as follows:
1. Intelligence tests: these tests are designed to measure thinking abilities.
2. Aptitude tests: aptitude tests are designed to predict the potential an individual has to
perform a job. They can cover as such areas, clerical aptitude, numerical, mechanical
aptitude.
3. attainment tests: these tests measure the depth of knowledge or grasp of skills which
has been learned in the past- usually at school or college. Typical attainment tests are
those which measure typing abilities, spelling ability, and mental arithmetic.
4. personality tests:

4.3 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF INTERVIEWS

ADVANTAGES:
• enable a face-to-face encounter to take place so that the interviewer can make
an assessment of how the candidate might fit in the organization and what they
would be like to work with.
• allow the interviewer to describe the job and the organization in more detail
• provide opportunities for interviewers to ask probing questions about the
candidates experience.
• provide opportunities to candidates to ask questions about the job and clarify
issues.
• enable a number of interviewers to assess candidates, where appropriate.

DISADVANTAGES
• generally lack validity as a means of predicting performance and reliability.
• rely on the skills of the interviewer, but many people are in fact very poor at
interviewing.
• do not necessarily assess directly competence in carrying out the various tasks
which the job involves.
• can lead to biased and subjective judgments by interviewers.

5.0 INDUCTION AND FOLLOW-UP

induction is the process of receiving and welcoming employees when they first join a
company and giving them the basic information they need to settle down quickly and
happily and start work. induction has three aims:
• to smooth the preliminary stages when everything is likely to be strange and
unfamiliar to the starter.
• to establish quickly a favoiurable attitude to the company in the mind of the new
employee so that he/she is more likely to stay.
• to obtain effective output from the new employee in the shortest possible time.

An employee handbook is useful for this purpose. It should convey clearly and simply
what new staff need to know under the following headings;
 • a brief description of the company-its history, products, organisation and
management.
• basic conditions of employment- hours of works, holidays, pension schemes and
insurance.
• pay-pay scales, when paid and how.
• sickness- notification of absence, certificates
• leave of absence
• company rules
• disciplinary procedures
• grievance procedures
• promotion procedures
• union and joint consultation arrangements
• education and training facilities.
• health and safety arrangements
• medical and first aid facilities
• social and welfare arrangements
When the initial briefing has been completed, new employees should be taken to their
place of work and introduced to their manager or team leader for the departmental
induction program.

FOLLOW-UP
It is essential to follow up newly engaged employees to ensure that they have settled in
and to check on how well they are doing. if there are any problems it is much better to
identify them at an early stage rather than allowing them to fester.
Following-up also important