The Recruitment and Selection Process

The traditional way to envision recruitment and selection is as

a series of hurdles :
1. Decide what positions to fill, through workforce/personnel planning and
forecasting.
2. Build a pool of candidates for these jobs, by recruiting internal or external
candidates.
3. Have candidates complete application forms and perhaps undergo initial
screening
interviews.
4. Use selection tools like tests, background investigations, and physical exams to
identify viable candidates.
5. Decide who to make an offer to, by having the supervisor and perhaps others
interview the candidates.

Forecasting Personnel Needs (Labor Demand)

How many people will we need? There are several simple tools for projecting
personnel needs, as follows:
TREND ANALYSIS
Trend analysis means studying variations in the firms employment levels over the
last few years. For example, you might compute the number of employees at the
end of each of the last 5 years, or perhaps the number in each subgroup (like sales,
production, secretarial, and administrative). The aim is to identify trends that might
continue into the future. Trend analysis can provide an initial estimate of future
staffing needs, but employment levels rarely depend just on the passage of time.
RATIO ANALYSIS
Ratio analysis, means making forecasts based on the historical ratio between (1)
some causal factor (like sales volume) and (2) the number of employees required
(such as number of salespeople). For example, suppose a salesperson traditionally
generates $500,000 in sales. If the sales revenue to salespeople ratio remains the
same, you would require six new salespeople next year (each of whom produces an
extra $500,000) to produce a hoped-for extra $3 million in sales.
THE SCATTER PLOT
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A scatter plot shows graphically how two variables such as sales and your firms
staffing levels are related. If they are, then if you can forecast the business activity
(like sales), you should also be able to estimate your personnel needs.
MARKOV ANALYSIS
Employers also use a mathematical process known as Markov analysis (or transition
analysis ) to forecast availability of internal job candidates. Markov analysis involves
creating a matrix that shows the probabilities that employees in the chain of feeder
positions for a key job (such as from junior engineer, to engineer, to senior
engineer, to engineering supervisor, to director of engineering) will move from
position to position and therefore be available to fill the key position.

Forecasting the Supply of Inside Candidates

Here, managers turn to qualifications (or skills) inventories. These contain data
on employees performance records, educational background, and promotability.
Whether manual or computerized, these help managers determine which
employees are available for promotion or transfer.
MANUAL SYSTEMS AND REPLACEMENT CHARTS
A personnel inventory and development record form compiles qualifications
information on each employee. The information includes education, companysponsored courses taken, career and development interests, languages, desired
assignments, and skills.
Personnel replacement charts are another option, particularly for the firms top
positions. They show the present performance and promotability for each positions
potential replacement. As an alternative, you can develop a position replacement
card. For this you create a card for each position, showing possible replacements as
well as their present performance, promotion potential, and training.

COMPUTERIZED SKILLS INVENTORIES

Larger firms obviously can t track the qualifications of hundreds or thousands of
employees manually. Larger employers therefore computerize this information,
using various packaged software systems such as SurveyAnalyticss Skills Inventory
Software. Computerized skills inventory data typically include items like work
experience codes, product knowledge, the employee s level of familiarity with the
employers product lines or services, the person s industry experience, and formal
education.

Improving Productivity Through HRIS(Succession Planning System)

Succession Planning is the process of deciding how to fill the companys most
important executive jobs positions.

Forecasting the Supply of Outside Candidates

Factors In Supply of Outside Candidates
General economic conditions
Expected unemployment rate

THE NEED FOR EFFECTIVE RECRUITING

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Employee recruiting means finding and/or attracting applicants for the employer
s open positions.
External Factors Affecting Recruiting
Supply of workers
Fewer qualified candidates
Other Factors Affecting Recruiting
Consistency of recruitment with strategic goals
Types of jobs to be recruited for and recruiting methods
Successful prescreening of applicants

INTERNAL SOURCES OF CANDIDATES (Finding Internal Candidates)

Job Posting
Job posting means publicizing the open job to employees (usually by
literally posting it
on company intranets or bulletin boards). These postings list the job s
attributes, like
qualifications, supervisor, work schedule, and pay rate.
Rehiring
Succession Planning (Through HRIS)
Succession planning entails three steps: identify key needs, develop inside
candidates, and assess and choose those who will fill the key positions.
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OUTSIDE SOURCES OF CANDIDATES

Recruiting via the Internet
E-recruitment takes two basic forms:
On own website
On employment agencys website
Pros:
Inexpensive. Cost of setting up a good website is roughly equal to a medium
level advertisement in a newspaper.
It is speedy. People can respond within seconds by e-mailing their CV to
employer
Can potentially reach a worldwide audience.
It shows the organization technologically aware and up-to-date.
Cons:
Employer can be bombarded with thousands of applications with the
possibility of more of them unqualified, since it takes little effort to send a
pre-prepared CV to the employer.
Not all potential recruits may visit the website or have access to the internet
at all.
Concern for security and confidentiality may deter people from submitting
personal details over the web.

Advertising

Press advertising is extensively used today despite the cost involved. Because it is
likely to be seen by a wider audience than just the people who may apply and, if
framed correctly, the advertisement can provide not only good employees but also
can provide good image of the organization to the public in general.
THE MEDIA
Newspapers: local and specific labor markets
Trade and professional journals: specialized employees
Internet job sites: global labor markets
CONSTRUCTING (WRITING) THE AD
Create attention, interest, desire, and action (AIDA).
Create a positive impression of the firm.

Employment Agencies
public agencies operated by federal, state, or local governments;
agencies associated with nonprofit organizations;
privately owned agencies.

Executive Recruiters(Headhunters)
Contingent-based recruiters
Special employment agencies retained to seek top management talent
Fee paid by employer

 Have contacts, save top management time by doing preliminary work

of advertising and screening
Maintain confidentiality
Internet technology and specialization trends
Guidelines for Choosing a Recruiter
Make sure the firm is capable of conducting a thorough search.
Meet individual who will handle your assignment.
Ask how much the search firm charges.
Never rely solely on the recruiter to do reference checking.

College Recruiting
On-campus recruiting goals
To determine if the candidate is worthy of further consideration
To attract good candidates
Problems
expensive and time consuming
Ineffective recruiters

Referrals and Walk-Ins

Recruiting the individuals recommended by existing employees. Referral is a costeffective recruitment program. Can be a really effective source because:
- Existing employees are least likely to make wrong referrals, for credibility is at
stake
- Existing employees are most likely to tell true stories to the potential recruit,
which helps in reducing unrealistic expectations thereby fostering retention
Walk-ins Seek employment through a personal direct approach to the employer.
Courteous treatment of any applicant is a good business practice.

RECRUITING A MORE DIVERSE WORKFORCE

Single Parents: Flexible work schedules and child-care benefits are thus just two
big single-parent magnets. In addition, supportive attitude on the supervisor s part
can go far toward making the single parent s work home balancing act more
bearable.

Older Workers: Older workers tend to have lower absenteeism rates, more

reliability, and better work habits than younger workers. It is better to provide
opportunities for flexible (and often abbreviated) work schedules.

Recruiting Minorities: The same prescriptions that apply to recruiting older

workers apply to recruiting minorities. In practice, this requires a three-part effort:
Understand the recruitment
barriers, formulate the required recruitment plans, and institute the specific day-today programs.

Welfare-to-Work
The Disabled
Recruitment and Selection

Recruitment is the way in which an organization tries to attract the

people from whom it will ultimately make selection. It includes
efforts to reach better pool of candidates and to sell the
organization as an employer of choice.
Selection is about choosing among the job candidates as who is
most likely to perform well on the job, through a fair and accurate
assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of applicants.

DEVELOPING AND USING APPLICATION FORMS

After having a pool of applicants, the selection process begins. First step is by filling the application
forms. It is a good way to quickly collect verifiable and accurate historical data from the candidate. A
filled-in application provides four types of information. First, you can make judgments on substantive
matters, such as whether the applicant has the education and experience to do the job. Second, you can
draw conclusions about the applicants previous progress and growths. Third, you can draw tentative
conclusions about the applicants stability based on previous work record. Fourth, you may be able to use
the data in the application to predict which candidates will succeed on the job and which will not.

Job Analysis

Job analysis is the procedure through which you determine the duties of the
positions and the characteristics of the people to hire for them. Job analysis
produces information for writing job descriptions (a list of what the job entails)
and job (or person ) specifications (what kind of people to hire for the job).

Uses of Job Analysis Information

Job analysis is important because managers use it to support just about all their
human resource management activities.
RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION: Information about what duties the job entails and
what human characteristics are required to perform these activities helps managers
decide what sort of people to recruit and hire.
EEO COMPLIANCE :Job analysis is crucial for validating all major human resources
practices. For example, to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act,
employers should know each job s essential job functions which in turn requires a
job analysis.
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL :A performance appraisal compares each employee s
actual performance with his or her duties and performance standards. Managers use
job analysis to learn what these duties and standards are.
COMPENSATION: Compensation (such as salary and bonus) usually depends on the
job s required skill and education level, safety hazards, degree of responsibility, and
so on all factors you assess through job analysis.
TRAINING: The job description lists the job s specific duties and requisite skills
and therefore the training that the job requires.

Job Analysis Methods

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INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW METHOD

Managers may conduct individual interviews with each employee. Method to
collect a variety of information from an incumbent by asking the incumbent
to describe the tasks and duties performed.
Is suited for all types of job
While conducting a job analysis interview, it is advisable that you explain
your role clearly to the incumbent(s), so that they dont feel you are
appraising their performance.
Pros:
Allows the incumbent to describe tasks and duties that are not observable. It Is a
simple and
quick way to collect information, including information that might not appear on a
written form.
Cons:
The incumbent may exaggerate or omit tasks and duties.
Distortion of information.
GROUP INTERVIEW METHOD
Similar to individual interview method except that a number of job incumbents are
interviewed simultaneously. Group interviews are taken with groups of employees
who have the same job.
They use group interviews when a large number of employees are performing
similar or identical work, since this can be a quick and inexpensive way to gather
information.
Pros:
Increased accuracy due to multiple opinions delivered at once.
Less Time consuming. Less costly.
Cons:
Group is something more specialized than a random collection of individuals
because when people are in a group they interact and influence one another. So this
very group dynamics may impact the answers given by the individual members .
Observation Method
Direct observation is especially useful when jobs consist mainly of observable
physical activities assembly-line worker and accounting clerk are examples. On the
other hand, observation is usually not appropriate when the job entails a lot of
mental activity (lawyer, design engineer). Nor is it useful if the employee only
occasionally engages in important activities, such as a nurse who handles
emergencies.
Advantage First hand information, hence lesser biases
Disadvantage People may not exhibit their normal behaviors under direct
observation, not applicable for jobs requiring significant mental efforts
Structured Questionnaire Method
Incumbents are sent a structured questionnaire that encompasses the issues
relevant to the job. The result is then analyzed, typically using a standard software.

 Advantage: Impersonal, hence likely to generate true opinions, quick and

efficient way
to obtain information from a large number of employees, less costly than
interviewing
hundreds of workers.
Disadvantage: Developing a comprehensive questionnaire is at times a
challenge in the sense not all pertinent topics may be incorporated (which
the incumbent is likely to spell out during an interview)
Diary Method(work-log method)
For every activity engaged in, the employee records the activity (along with the
time) in a log.
Advantage: some consider it better than other options in the sense that it is
expected to provide detailed information on a day to day activities
Disadvantage: variance in writing styles, difficult to remember in detail what
was done earlier, exaggeration

Job Description
The most important product of job analysis is the job description. A job description
is a
written statement of what the worker actually does, how he or she does it, and what
the
jobs working conditions are. You use this information to write a job specification.
It summarizes the most important duties and responsibilities of a job.
There is no standard format for writing a job description. However, most
descriptions
contain sections that cover:
1. Job identification
2. Job summary
3. Responsibilities and duties
4. Authority of incumbent
5. Standards of performance
6. Working conditions
7. Job specification

Job Specification
A statement of employee characteristics and qualifications required for satisfactory
performance of defined duties and tasks comprising a specific job or function. In
essence, a document that states the minimum acceptable qualifications that the
incumbent should possess to perform the job successfully is Job Specification.
Typically includes: Education, experience, training , communication skills,
specific skills required, health considerations
Example receptionist
Bachelors in any discipline, good spoken and written English, hands on
exposure to fax machine and intercom telephone set
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Writing JD
Job Identification:
Job title: name of job
Department
Fair Labor Standards Act status section: Exempt or nonexempt
Title of immediate supervisor
Preparation date: when the description was written
Prepared by: who wrote the description
Job Summary :
Describes the general nature of the job
Lists the major functions or activities
Relationship :
-shows the jobholders relationships with others inside and outside the organization.
-chain of command
For HR Manager : Example
Reports to: Vice president of employee relations.
Supervises: Human resource clerk, test administrator, labor relations
director, and one secretary.
Works with: All department managers and executive management.
Outside the company: Employment agencies, executive recruiting
firms, union representatives, state and federal employment offices,
and various vendors.
Responsibilities and Duties :
This is the heart of the job description. It should present a list of the jobs significant
responsibilities and duties.
Standards of Performance and Working Conditions :
-lists the standards the company expects the employee to achieve for each of the
job descriptions main duties and responsibilities. Standards must be specific.
Writing Job Specification :
It shows what kind of person to recruit and for what qualities you should test that
person. It may be a section of the job description, or a separate document.

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