RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

 

The recruitment and selection process commences when the business realises that there is a vacancy in the organisational hierarchy which needs to be filled.

 

A job description needs to be written, this outlines the job title, as well as the tasks and the responsibilities that will be covered by the successful applicant. Once this is completed, then a job specification needs to be written, this goes beyond a description of the job, and it lists the physical and mental attributes that will be desirable or essential for the successful applicant (such as the level of intelligence, their disposition and their interests).

 

The H.R.M. department will then need to write an advertisement for the job and to place it in a variety of media (newspapers, job centres, job agencies, the internet, radio, and internal notice-boards), in order to get as many people as possible to apply for the post.

 

The advertisement will include the hours of work, the pay and fringe benefits, the job title, the relevant experience and qualifications that are required, and a contact name and address.  It is likely that the job will be advertised within the business as well as through external media. The advantages of recruiting from within the existing workforce include the fact that a shorter training and induction period is necessary, as well as far less time and money being spent on the whole process.

 

The H.R.M. department will then need to send out application forms to, and request Curriculum Vitae (CVs) from, all those people who write to the business expressing a desire to apply for the job.

 

It is vitally important that the application form is tailored to the specific post that is being advertised, as well as asking questions that are relevant, legal, inoffensive and essential. Once these application forms have been completed and returned to the business (often with a CV and a covering letter) then the short-listing process will ensue, this involves analysing the CVs and the application forms and deciding which applicants appear to be most suitable for the post. Once this is done, then the H.R.M. department will contact the successful applicants and ask them to attend an interview.

 

INTERVIEWS

The interview process is very time-consuming but is, nevertheless, an essential factor in getting the 'right' person for the 'right' job. A good interviewer will have studied the job description, the job specification and the job advertisement before interviewing the applicants, as well as studying their application forms, CVs and covering letters in order to know as much information as possible about the applicants before the interview commences.

 

A good interview needs to be well structured, uninterrupted, and conducted in a friendly manner, with the use of open-ended questions which will give the applicants the chance to talk openly about themselves. The interviewer must listen carefully to the applicants' comments and make notes as necessary.

 

At the end of the interview, the applicants must be given the opportunity to ask questions about the job and about the business, and then the interviewer must inform the applicants when they will be notified of the decision.

 

It is likely that applicants for a job will be interviewed by a number of people. This can be in sequence (i.e. the applicant will have one interview quickly followed by another) or it can be simultaneous (i.e. the applicant will be interviewed by a panel of people). Whichever method of interviewing is chosen, the purpose remains the same, to select and appoint the 'best' applicant for the job.

 

It is possible that the business may choose to use a variety of tests to complement the interview process, in order to measure the applicants' intelligence, their performance in certain scenarios, and their personality traits.

 

Once a business has selected the most suitable applicant for the available post (often involving much discussion between the different interviewers), then he/she will be appointed.

 

This will involve the new employee being given a Contract of Employment, which is a written statement covering the terms and the conditions of employment (e.g. date employment commences, job title, pay, hours of work, holiday and pension entitlements), as well as the process for disciplinary and grievance procedures.