Recruitment of Staff

1
Recruitment of Staff the Job Analysis and Job
Description

• Recruitment is the process of attracting people
  to apply for a job. An organisation will have to
  carry out a JOB ANALYSIS to decide if the job
  does exist and if it will remain the same or
  change.
• The structure of the job will then be detailed in
  a JOB DESCRIPTION and will include
• job title
• location/department
• who the job holder is responsible to and for
• main purpose of the job
• relationships internal external to the
  organisation
• specific duties and responsibilities
• any other duties
• It is a legal requirement that a new post holder
  is given a written copy of his/her job
  description within the first 8 weeks of
  employment.

2
Recruitment of Staff the Person Specification

• From the JOB ANALYSIS and JOB DESCRIPTION, a
  description of the type of person that would be
  suitable for the post can be drawn up.
• The Person Specification should categorise the
  requirements of the job as either ESSENTIAL or
  DESIRABLE and would contain
• qualifications
• experience
• personal qualities
• interests that an IDEAL candidate would
  possess.
• This information is particularly useful in the
  selection process as it provides a way of
  measuring candidates against the requirements of
  the job and against each other.

3
Recruitment of Staff Advertising the Post

• The next stage is to inform potential applicants
  of the vacancy with the aim of attracting the
  right kind of applicant.
• INTERNAL SOURCES OF ADVERTISING
• notice on staff bulletin boards
• notice in staff newsletter
• notice on company intranet
• This is an efficient method of recruitment as the
  vacancy can be filled quickly, it can enhance
  staff morale, is less costly as it saves on
  induction/training costs.
• EXTERNAL SOURCES OF ADVERTISING
• Local or national newspapers
• Specialist journals/magazines eg Times
  Educational Supplement
• Internet adverts on company website
• Job Centre
• Recruitment Agency
• This method allows an organisation to appoint
  someone from outside who can bring in new ideas
  and experience to a job.

4
Recruitment of Staff the Selection Process

• Selection is the process of sorting and selecting
  a suitable employee from the applicants. It would
  be impractical to interview ALL candidates
  vetting applications/references allows a short
  list to be drawn up.
• APPLICATION FORMS OR LETTERS
• CURRICULUM VITAE (CV)

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Easy to use/match application against job criteria May not give a real feel of the person
Can be designed to give information relevant to post Not always accurate items omitted/candidate may lie, etc
Gives indication of candidates writing skills May have been completed/tidied up by someone else
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Can provide good personal overview of the applicant Not always accurate items omitted/candidate may lie, etc
Can assess candidates writing skills May have been completed/tidied up by someone else
5
Recruitment of Staff the Selection Process

• TESTS
• INTERVIEWS

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Can check validity of candidates skills Performance may be affected by nerves
Can compare candidates skills Can be discriminatory
Can give all-round picture of candidate Can be unreliable if not administered by trained staff
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Can meet candidates face-to-face Decisions may be based on first impressions
Interviewer can ask further questions not already covered Interview may be affected by interruptions, poor questions, etc
Gives opportunity to ask what if? scenarios Unfair if all candidates not asked the same questions
Applicant can ask further questions Interviewers may be biased
6
Recruitment of Staff How to correctly interview

• Use trained interviewers and prepare well for
  interview
• Have more than one interviewer
• Structure the interview welcome, time to
  acquire information, time to give information,
  confirmation of next stage
• Design questions appropriately
• OPEN to gain opinions/examples from
  candidate
• PROBING to draw out all information from
  candidate
• Use Person Specification and a scoring system as
  a guide to measure candidates
• Use references as a back-up selection method
• The use of ASSESSMENT CENTRES is growing and
  while these are costly, they have proved very
  reliable when appointing senior managers.

7
Staff Development and Support Performance
Management

• APPRAISAL SYSTEMS can be used to measure, assess,
  rate and record employee performance and they
  will involve
• an annual performance review
• a 2-way discussion employee and employer
  evaluated
• a paper-based rating of performance
• a face-to-face interview or discussion of
  rating/performance
• the setting of targets and discussion of
  development needs to achieve these
• feedback of performance
• An appraisal system must be
• objective
• participative
• considered
• developmental

8
Staff Development and Support Appraisal Methods

• MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES (MBO) emphasises the
  setting of agreed targets by both employer and
  employee. The employer measures the achieved
  performance against the targets, development
  needs identified and targets set.
• COMPETENCY-BASED METHOD emphasises the
  importance of assessing how the work is carried
  out. The employer measures the achieved
  performance. This is particularly useful in areas
  of work where it is less easy to measure
  performance eg customer service.
• 360O METHOD this method uses a variety of
  people in the assessment process supervisors,
  subordinates, peers, customers. An overall
  profile is built up by the Human Resource Manager
  and this is then fed back to the employee and
  their development needs and targets are
  identified.

9
Staff Development and Support Training and
Staff Development

• BENEFITS OF TRAINING STAFF
• Staff become more competent at their jobs
• Staff become more flexible
• Staff motivation increases
• Staff become more productive
• Changes become easier to introduce
• The organisations image improves

• COSTS OF TRAINING STAFF
• Once fully trained, staff may leave for
  better-paid jobs
• The financial cost of training can be high
• Work time is lost when staff are being trained
• Output is lost when staff are being trained
• The quality of training must be high for it to
  have a positive effect

10
Staff Development and Support Training Methods

• ON-GOING TRAINING can take place
• ON THE JOB where training is conducted at the
  employees normal place of work
• OFF THE JOB where training is conducted at a
  different location such as a training centre,
  college, university
• TRAINING METHODS
• DEMONSTRATION the trainee watches a task being
  demonstrated, then completes it themselves
• COACHING the trainee is taken through a task
  step-by-step and helped to improve by a trainer
  or coach
• JOB ROTATION the trainee moves around different
  jobs or internal departments learning different
  tasks in each
• DISTANCE LEARNING the trainee receives a pack
  of materials to work through at their own pace
  and the completed work is marked by an external
  assessor.

11
Staff Development and Support Staff Support
Systems

• COUNSELLING most organisations will offer
  counselling on a range of issues such as stress,
  health, drugs, alcohol, careers.
• ADVICE most organisations will offer advice on
  employment and health and safety legislation eg
  maternity and paternity rights, grievance and
  disciplinary procedures, rights to time off.
• GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES most organisations will
  have grievance and disciplinary procedures in
  place to resolve issues between employer and
  employees.
• RETURN-TO-WORK INTERVIEWS most organisations
  will have policies on absence and illness and it
  is common for employees to receive advice and
  counselling upon returning to work after a
  prolonged absence.
• FAMILY-FRIENDLY POLICIES more and more
  organisations are realising the importance of
  flexibility in working practices eg time off for
  family issues, unpaid maternity/paternity leave