Executive Summary
Human resource selection and recruitment are regarded as a vital process in any business organization since it’s a way through which an organization gets competent and the right workforce that will ultimately achieve organizational goals through effective participation in their specific duties. Recruitment and selection entail issues regarding management, performance and selecting the best employees to work for an organization. Such aspects are interconnected and should be done simultaneously in the organization. For instance, issues of selection and management of workforce enable the firm to obtain the most qualified and competent human resource in the organization. Further with an effective recruitment process, the organization will obtain the right and required number of employees that will serve in respective capacities within the organization and this will help avoid overstaffing and understaffing issues
Introduction
The labor body states that organizations are encountering difficulties when searching for human capital and this comes up as a result of a competitive environment through which we find that many companies compete for a talented workforce. Companies believe that having a talented workforce enhances the success of an organization. It should also be noted that most organizations engage in the attractive selection, recruitment and payment processes that will allow them to select the most qualified and competent candidates (Robbins, 2005).
Aims
The aim of study is to shed more light on the issue of recruitment and selection as one of key components that organizations have to engross in order to enhance there effectiveness towards attaining the set goals. The research is also aimed at equipping managers particularly those from Human Resource department to look critically on the best ways of recruiting employees.
Objectives
The overall objective of this study is to find out whether recruitment plays a key role in achieving firm’s objectives. Other objectives will include; finding out the various recruitment and selection approaches in organizations that can be utilized by the management, to find out the best ways of linking recruitment and how an organization can best evaluate the performance of a motivated workforce.
Research Questions
Based on the objectives of this study research questions will include the following:
- Does recruitment and selection play a key function in attaining organizations goals or objectives?
- What are the different ways of selection and recruitment in an organization?
- How can management link recruitment in its effort of trying to achieve stated objectives?
- How can the management evaluate recruitment processes put in place and rate them as effective or non effective?
Literature review
Discussion
The Importance of Recruitment and Selection
Recruitment is defined as an act of an organization to hire an individual to be part of an organization. There have been many questions regarding this action on its importance towards an organization. This paper will therefore discuss the importance of selection and hiring of individuals in an organization. Many organizational management teams are aware that for the firm to be productive and successful in the business arena therefore it has to employ individuals who skilled and well experienced in the required field of expertise. Research indicates that those organizations that hire incompetent employees are always faced with challenges such as poor coordination between the employees and the employers, poor performance and losses in terms of financial assessments
Research indicates that when an organization applies a better recruitment and selection procedures it will bring some benefits to the organization at large. Indeed, making a business successful in a particular setting demands crucial and detailed studies and examination of the factors that will generate the best results that will serve the aims and objectives of the company (Dainty, 2000).
Recruiting and selection processes
Looking at the importance at the importance of human resourcing we find that an organisation can only benefit from it depending on the methods of selection that the management opts to use during the selecting process for the posting available in the organization. To know the importance of the recruitment and selection of the employees then we need to look at the methods applied and how important they are to the organisation recruiting its workforce.
Advertising the position through Advertisements
Business firms are found to be selecting their workforce through advertisements mostly on newspapers that are published on a daily basis. This method of selection is found to be very important to both the candidates and the candidates, since these advertisements qualified candidates are always made aware of the available vacancies in a particular organisation through which they can apply for the posting. The other type of advertisements used is that of the internet that allow the creation of websites that allow organisation post their vacancies, this is normally referred to as online advertising this method is normally advantageous to the organisation since it is found to be cheaper (Beardwell and Holden, 1997). Coming up as a result of globalization the use of internet as a tool of advertising vacancies in organizations carry a number of benefits to those practicing the transaction, through this tool the vacancies are taken up to the international job market where a number of targeted candidates from various countries are always in a position to be aware of the vacancies that is put on the online advertisements, this has actually pronounced a gain in the profits of many organisation since there is a prove of an increased awareness of position by the applicants by the targeted candidates who normally use the internet on a daily basis, through this we find that the advertisements gets to a large number of qualified candidates which reduces the cost of advertising that could have been used in other means of advertising.
Information technology is pronounced to be an important tool in businesses currently since it puts an organisation in a position to enter new markets and enhance its growth. The internet creates a direct link between numbers of businesses this actually provides an opportunity for any member in the transaction to change the information about its postings when launching a new advertisement in the job market, this simplicity normally reduces the costs of advertising that is used in other advertising methods. The other advantage of using the internet in the advertising of jobs by organizations is that it reduces the competitive gap of employee recruiting between organizations; this may be done through the reduction of marketing and advertising costs. The internet market always provides room for small businesses to interact with multinational organizations in the same market to know the best recruitment method that they apply in order to get qualified and productive workforce (Beardwell and Holden, 1997).
Application forms
Application forms is another method of recruitment that carries a number of advantages to many organizations in this case we find that this method allows the qualified candidates to a particular position to carryout the activity of filling forms meant for their application of the vacancy in a particular organisation after which they send it to the organisation. These forms are found to be advantageous to the organisation as it enables the firm to firm to get enough details of information of the applicants’ experience and educational background. This method of selection is regarded as effective in terms of decision making process because the organisation gets a detailed data of each of the candidates thus enabling the management to make the right decisions (Robbins, 2005).
The importance of this method is that gives time to the management to formulate the questions to be administered to the candidate at the time of interviewing. These forms enable the management team to start comparing and contrasting the availed data by the applicants and through this the organisation will be in a position to make the right choice in terms of employing a qualified candidate. Through this method we find that the filtering of the candidates who are not suitable for the position is made easier, this brings in the focusing of the management team towards the most promising applicant. The other advantage of this method is that it record keeping whereby the organisation is put in position to keep future references for the same job posting this enables the organisation to save costs on advertising of the same positions. Though this method is easy and cheap it also carries a negative impact in the organisation whereby the applicants are given a chance to cheat and give wrong information with an aim of getting the employment and at the end of the time the organisation may end up employing the candidates with wrong information towards the mentioned position for this reasons organizations are always advised not to use this method alone but should use other methods availability for them to reach their target goals(Robbins, 2005).
Interviews
After placing advertisements in daily newspapers and in the respective website, potential employees are expected to submit their application letters within two weeks from the date of advertisement. The application letters will be scrutinized based on the basic desired qualifications and those meeting the initial criteria will be conducted and required to attend in person scheduled interviews. Those who will not have received any feedback after a month from the date of the advert should consider themselves unsuccessful. Since interviews results to clear information then the organisation will be in a position to know who the applicants for the position are with their specific personalities and to assess whether they will produce if the organization recruits them (Armstrong, 2006).
Apart from obtaining the most qualified and competent workforce, the assessment of interview method clearly depicts that the recruiting team will also lead to recruiting those individuals with desired qualities that the organization is looking for. Interviews therefore are effective since the recruiting panel have the opportunity to interrogate the potential candidates particularly on their expectations and productivity levels if recruited.
Evaluation of this method shows that employers had the opportunity to introduce the company to potential employees. This was a very good opportunity for the employers to explain in detail what the company entails. This method is effective in the sense that potential employees can ask the employers any questions concerning this company. It is quite effective as any misunderstandings between the two parties can be aired.
However, it should be noted that interviews as a selection means is subjective and can therefore lead to recruiting non-competent candidates. For instance those in the panel may recruit their relatives and friends thus rendering the method to be bias.
Competency framework
For an organisation to build its foundation the organisation needs to know how its employees are competent in the performance to enable the firm reach its respective goals. To achieve this competency test then the organisation should be able to measure the capabilities and technological know how on their performance in the organisation. The following competency framework can be used for the management trainee post in any modern company that seeks to recruit and retain competent workforce.
Leading change
The candidates to be recruited need to be evaluated for the position by the management of the organisation; this involves the evaluation of how innovative and creative the candidate is. Evaluation of how responsive they are in times of a crisis. The other thing that can be evaluated in a candidate is his or her vision in life and the employment if granted. This can be used in the interviews where the candidates are asked questions about their ability to manage conflicts candidates can be asked if they have ever been in a conflict situation and how they managed it (Armstrong, 2006).
This aspect of leadership framework is very important because leadership skills in leading people are clearly evaluated in the candidates. This is because one can find that there are candidates who may have passed their examinations but do not have the skills to lead other people. Candidates can also be evaluated if they have the skills to develop others. This is because there are some people who are quite self- centred in nature. They work towards the downfall of other people. The candidates should also be evaluated whether they have the ability to leverage diversity. This is whereby a candidate is tested on his or her ability to create a common culture for different people. This is seen in leading people of different cultures and from different religions. Qualities like team building are also essential.
Business acumen
In business acumen the financial management of the applicants has to be critically analyzed. This is whether the applicants are good or they are poor financial managers. This is very fundamental when organizations are carrying out recruitment process. This is because if any organization will employ poor financial managers then this will greatly affect the Company financially (Druker, 1995). Human capital management is also important in management trainee responsibilities in any organization. This is ability to carry out planning in the organization. Do the candidates have leadership skills in managing people of diverse characters? Human resource management skills are very important in this case as they will determine whether the organization will be successful or not.
Coalition building
Partnering is a very important aspect of coalition building. Applicants in any organization should have partnering techniques. This is because these candidates will end up being partners with this Company. In partnership, stakeholders do business together. A partner would not want to see the downfall of the business because he or she will be affected too. When applicants have partnership mentality, they will not work to the downfall of the organization but to the betterment (Druker, 1995)
Political know how of the applicants is also very important. This is because every company is always affected by the political environment around it. This political environment could have positive or a negative effect to the organisation. Applicants should also have the ability to negotiate this is because one of their tasks will be to carry out negotiations with their customers and also other stakeholders. This includes the ability to influence other people to make decisions or to carry out a task. This design will be used by selectors when screening application forms. This framework will also help interviewers to frame their questions for candidates. This design can also be used to make questions administered through test method.
The following table shows a competency framework designed to fit a contemporary organization;
Methodology
Research Design
This research requires the researcher to come up with the importance of employee selection and retention in organizations. This clearly indicates that the concentration of this study will be based on factors involved in employee recruitment and selection and how they can be applied by the management of the business organizations with the aim of boosting their productivity and benefits. Since this study is an exploratory one it will therefore focus on the following elements; desired activities and time-based plans, research questions, selection of sources and types of information required, outline of procedures for every research activity to be carried out and also it will be based on the framework that will specify the relationships among the samples identified for this research purpose.
Target Population
The target sample will be mainly those business organizations that normally carryout their employee selection and recruitment on a yearly basis. However, some middle level and top managers will be considered and given an opportunity too to air their views. A total of twenty respondents will be identified and questionnaires administered to them. The administering of questionnaires as a tool of measurement will be based on the willingness of the respondents to adhere to the instructions thus in the process answer the questions in their best knowledge.
Data Collection methods
Since a sample of the population will be identified the researcher will utilize both open and closed questionnaires to collect the required information from the respondents who will be selected from the sample identified. This method is considered and found to be effective and efficient to the researcher since he will only drop the questionnaires to the respondents and collect them at a later date. The reason for choosing both open and closed questionnaires to be administered is that it will give the respondents an opportunity to answer freely to the set of questionnaires that will be administered to them during the study.
Expected Results
This study is expected to conclude that human resource management is a very crucial function in any modern organization that seeks to achieve its objectives. Further this research study is expected to ascertain that qualified and competent employees in an organization are the most important asset in an organization as compared to other assets that aid in running an organization.
Schedule
The following schedule will be followed by the researcher during the research study
Resources
The following are the required resources in order to successfully carry out the research; first and foremost the availability of funds is critical since this study requires substantial amount of money to complete it; the money for example will be used to pay the personnel employed as well as to buy the required stationeries to facilitate the research work. Secondly, Human resource being the most important asset in any research setting, competent and qualified research assistants will be recruited in order to achieve and get reliable and valid results. Also time as a resource will be required to complete the whole study.
Conclusion
Employee selection process is very important in every organization. Selection methods that are commonly used include interviews, tests, advertisements and application forms. All these methods have their strengths and weaknesses. Competency involves having a measurable pattern of abilities, behaviours; skills and knowledge that one needs to have in order to perform a task. The best method an organisation can directly improve its overall performance in the first place is to employ, select and train the right people. The best strategic practice to achieve this is to perform what is normally referred to as job-fit practice (Dainty, 2000). This practice is useful to organisations which do not want to have their employees undergo extensive training but rather conduct their duties right away using their skills gained elsewhere.
References
Abassi, S,. & Hollman, K,. 2000 Turnover: The Real Bottom Line Public Personnel Management, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 333.
Armstrong, M,. 2006. Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice: 10th Edition, London: Kogan Page, pp 35-75
Beardwell. I,. & Holden. L,. 1997. Human resource management. A contemporary perspective., London: Financial Times -pp 15-75
Dainty. A,. 2000. Improving employee resourcing within construction organizations: Proceedings of the ARCOM 2000 Conference; Glasgow; Vol. 1; pp. 49-59
Druker. J,. 1995. Misunderstood and undervalued? Personnel Management in Construction. Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 77-91
Hoyer. S,. 2001 Human Resource Management (HRM) Concepts, Practices and Strategies– 4th European Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin: pp 12-49
Robbins. S,. 2005. Organizational Behavior: 11th Edition. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice-Hall pp 45-78