YEAR 8 BUSINESS

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

Recruitment is the process that starts from identifying that the business needs to
employ someone up to the point at which applications have arrived at the
business. The more important the job is to the business the more the careful and
time consuming the recruitment will be.
In large business the human resources department is responsible for employing
staff. A business may need staff because of the following reasons:
• Growth: The business may be expanding thus requiring more workers.
• Replacement: Workers may be leaving for one reason or another and need to
be replaced.
• Promotion: When an employee is promoted, a vacancy is created.
Recruitment is therefore necessary to fill such vacancy.
• Workers may also be required on temporally basis to cover staff absence due
to maternity, paternity or education leaves.
• Others may be as a result of death of worker.
Recruitment Documents
❖ Job description
❖ Persons specification
❖ Application form
❖ Curriculum Vitae (CV) or Resume

Recruitment Process

1. Job analysis and job description

The first stage of the recruitment is to carry out a job analysis to study the
tasks and activities to be carried out by the new employee.
A job analysis identifies and records the responsibilities and duties to be
carried out by anemployee.

Functions of job description

❖ Show clearly the tasks, duties and responsibilities expected of a
particular employee
 ❖ Facilitates job specification to be drawn up
❖ Its used for evaluation of the worker once employed
❖ Extracts are used in the job adverts

Contents of job description

❖ Job title
❖ Department
❖ Responsible to
❖ Responsible for
❖ Main purpose of the job
❖ Main duties
❖ The condition of employment

2. Person (Job) specification

A person specification is a document which outlines the skills, qualifications
and expertiseexpected person appointed to do a particular job. Its used to
screen applicants when sorting applications

Contents of job specification

❖ The level of educational qualification
❖ The type and years of experience
❖ Special skills, knowledge or particular aptitude
❖ Personal character

Importance of job specification

❖ It assists the human resource management to prepare a job
advertisement
❖ It helps the HRM to shortlist candidates for an interview
❖ It will assist the HRM to identify training needs of successful
candidates

3. Advertising the vacancy

Advertising costs money so businesses must place the job advertisements in
places where thereare to attract sufficient interest from the right sort of
applications
a) Internal Recruitment
This is when a vacancy is filled by someone who is an existing employee
of the business.
A business might do this by advertising the post internally or by appointing
 somebody who is thought to be suitable for the job.
Advantages of internal recruitment
❖ It’s cheaper as it saves on money compared to external recruitment
on costs such as advertisingand interviewing
❖ It saves on time
❖ The person is already known to the business and his reliability and
potential are known
❖ The person knows the organization’s way of working and what’s
expected fromemployees.
❖ It can be very motivating to other employees to see their fellow
workers being promoted.

Disadvantages of internal recruitment

❖ Doesn’t allow new ideas or experiences to come into the business
❖ There may be jealousy and rivalry between existing employees ❖
It limits the number of potential applicants that would leave out
better qualified
❖ If one vacancy is filled another may be created

b) External Recruitment
External recruitments is when a vacancy is filled up by someone who is not an
existing employee andwill be new to the business.
The recruitment is done from outside the business.
Advantages of external recruitment
❖ A business will a much larger pool of potential employees to choose from.
❖ A new person maybe very talented and have some fresh ideas which
could help the businessbecome more competitive
❖ It reduces internal jealousy and rivalry among workers
❖ There is no vacancy created like in internal recruitment.
❖ Chances of getting the right person are higher than in internal
recruitment.
Disadvantages of external recruitment
❖ It requires more money and time in terms of cost of advertising and
interviewing of applications
❖ The employee is not known to the business and therefore reliability and
potential are not known
❖ The new employee may not know the organization’s way of working and
what is expected of himor her
 ❖ External recruitment may lead to demotivation of workers when they do
not see one of thembeing promoted

Job Advertising
When drawing up a job advertisement the business will need to decide:
❖ What should be included in the advert?
❖ Where the adverts should be placed?
❖ How much the advert will cost and is it affordable?

Places of advertisement
❖ Local newspapers

Used for clerical or manual positions

❖ National newspapers

Used for more senior positions where there may be few if any local people
who have the right experienceskills and qualifications
❖ Specialist magazines and journals

Used for professional jobs that require particular technical people such as scientist
and teachers
❖ Recruitment agencies

These are specialist in recruiting employees that will advertise and interview
people for particular type ofjobs. Recruitment agencies charge a fee for
recommending the applicant
❖ Job Centre run by the government in (Uk)

These are places where job vacancies can be advertised for free.
Other ways to attract applicants:
I. Word of mouth – The information is given to employees and other
contacts from the businessthat is shared with friends who apply for the
vacancy.
II. Direct applicants – Business may keep all speculative applications made by
job seekers
III. Heading hunting – This is where specific people are targeted and
approached for a vacancy
Content of the job advertisement
 ❖ Job title
❖ Name, address, email and telephone number of employer
❖ Brief details of job description
❖ Skills, qualifications and experience required for the job
❖ Salary and other benefits
❖ Methods of applications
❖ Conditions of employment

4. Receiving applications and shortlisting

A job advertisement will require the applicant to apply in writing. This can either
be by completing application form or by writing a letter of applications and
enclosing a copy of curriculum vitae (CV) resume.A business must sort through the
applicants and produce a short list.
Application form
Many business use application forms to gather information from job applicants. It
is a standard form and very applicants will be expected to submit a list of
information on the form. One advantage is that ensuresthe same data is collected
from each applicant which makes comparison between them easier.
The following list includes common information requested:
❖ Full name address and other contact details
❖ Personal or tax identification numbers such as national insurance number
❖ Education details
❖ Employment history
❖ Qualifications and experience
❖ Name and addresses of two referees
Advantages of using application forms
❖ The skills and experience of the applicants can be compared very quickly ❖
It’s speeds up the process to read and analyze information from a large
number of differentsources

Curriculum Vitae or resume

A CV or resume is a summary of a person’s qualifications experience and
qualities and is writtenin a standard format. It is produced by the job seeker
and is there for personalized.
Contents of CV
 ❖ Name, address, telephone number
❖ Date of birth
❖ Nationality
❖ Education and qualification
❖ Work experience
❖ Positions of responsibilities
❖ Interests
❖ Names of referees

Content of letter of application

❖ Address of the applicant
❖ Date of application
❖ Why the applicants want the job
❖ Why the applicants feel he is suitable

Shortlisting
Thisinvolvessorting through all the applications and choosing those applicantsthat
best match the person specification. This is done after the deadline has been
reached for receiving applications. It can be time consuming tasks if hundreds of
people have made an application.

5. Interviewing and selection

This is where interviewer can find out more about the applicants by asking direct
questions face-to-face. It also gives candidates the opportunity to provide more
detailed information and to ask questions aboutthe job and business. Interviewer
is often done by people who are experienced or have been trained in interviewing.
Interviewers are likely to be more effective if:
❖ They have been carefully planned
❖ All candidates are asked same questions and probably same order
❖ Measures are taken to try to make candidates feel more at ease ❖
More than one person carries out the interview
❖ Candidates are encouraged to talk by asking open questions ❖
Candidates are given opportunities to ask questions about the role or

business Interviewer are still the most widely used form of selection.

The main purpose of an interview are:

 • Help clarify information on the application form or CV
• Assess motivation, attitude, commitment and communication skills •
Challenge candidates by asking searching questions such as how the might
deal with a specificwork-related problem
• Assess applicant’s ability to do the job and any personal qualities that are
an advantage ordisadvantage
Some businesses include tests in their selection process, for example;
❖ Skills tests – aim to show the ability of the candidate to carry out certain
tasks
❖ Aptitude tests – aim to show the candidate’s potential to gain additional
skills
❖ Personality tests – used if a particular type of person is required for the job
❖ Group situation tests – to assess the applicants on the way they work as a
member of a team andthe way they tackle the tasks themselves

6. Rejecting Unsuccessful Applicants

When the suitable applicant has been offered the job and has accepted it,
the unsuccessful applicantsshould be informed that they have not got the job
and thanked for applying.
The contract of employment
It is a legal recruitment for employers to provide a new with a written contract
of employment to sign.
Contents of employment contract
❖ Name of the employer and the employee
❖ Job title
❖ Date of commencement
❖ Hours to be worked
❖ Amount of notice to be given to terminate the employment that the
employer must give to endthe employment
❖ Rate of pay and any other benefits
❖ When payment will be made
❖ Holiday entitlement if any

Types of Employment
a) Part-Time employment
 A part-time worker is someone who works fewer hours than a full-time
worker.
Advantages of part-time workers
❖ Flexible working hours
❖ Easier to ask employees just to work at busy times, such as weekends
❖ Easier to extend business working hours
❖ Fits in well with looking after children
❖ Less expensive than employing full time workers

Disadvantages of part-time workers to the employer

❖ Less likely to be trained because the worker is perceived to leave any time.
This can lead to poorquality of the output.
❖ Takes longer to recruit part-time workers to fill up the position of full-time
workers.
❖ The employee can be less committed to the business.
❖ More difficult to communicate with part-time workers when they are not in
work place.

b) Full-time Employment
It is when an employee works for five days a week (more than 30-35 hours
per week).
Advantages of full-time workers
❖ More likely to be trained because the worker is seen to be permanent.
❖ Takes a short period to recruit full time employee
❖ The employee is more committed to the job and business.
❖ More likely to be promoted because of gaining skills and experience as full
time employee.
Disadvantages of full-time workers
❖ More expensive the employing part time worker.
❖ Not easier to extend business operating hours.
❖ Not flexible in the hours of work on the part of employee.

c) Job Share
This is where two-time workers share the work and pay of a single full-time
post. Advantages of job share

❖ Suitable for employees who want to reduce their working hours, to provide
 more leisure or familytime.
❖ Better motivated workers and less stressed since they have themselves
chosen to reduce theamount of work they have to do.
❖ A business enjoys ideas and enthusiasm of two people rather than one.

Disadvantages of job share

❖ The two people have to work as team and interact effectively for it to work
effectively.

Other types of employment

A number of other employments exist. These are likely to provide businesses
with more flexibility and mayhelp improve efficiency since people are only
employed when needed. They include;
d) Casual Employment
Casual work is often used in the hospitality industry where people are required to
help staff at specificevents, such as Indian Premier League.
Advantages of casual employment
❖ Provides a great deal of flexibility for the business. Some workers are ‘on
call’.
❖ Saves the business costs associated with hiring of full-time employee, such
as health insuranceand overtime.
Disadvantages of casual employment
❖ Casual workers may lack the commitment of their full-time or part-time
colleagues.
❖ Casual workers do not get any guarantee of work form their employer.
Their hours of work areoften variable and uncertain.
❖ Not entitled to certain benefits and rights, such as health insurance and
overtime.

e) Seasonal Employment
This is where a work is regular and full time but short lived for a particular time of
the year. For example,a farm manager may need extra workers during the harvest
period and in the UK, postal delivery workersare needed before Christmas to help
out with heavy volume of cards and parcels.
Advantages of seasonal employment
❖ Provides a business with flexibility since seasonal workers are laid off when
 the season ends.
❖ Some people prefer seasonal work because it suits their lifestyle.
❖ It may appeal to people like to travel.

Disadvantages ofseasonal employment

❖ Not entitled to certain benefits and rights, such as health insurance and
overtime, in addition topay.
❖ Less likely to be trained because the worker is perceived to leave any time.
This can lead to poorquality of the output.
❖ The employee can be less committed to the business.

f) Temporary Employment
This is where a business employee a person for a short period of time to cover
for absent workers, for example, such as those on maternity leave or long-term
sickness. The work islikely to be full-time but thelength of the contract may
vary – perhaps between 3 and 12 months.
Advantages of temporary employment
❖ Suitable for job seekers to earn some income while they look for a
permanent job.
❖ Might provide a ‘doorway’ into a permanent position.
Disadvantages of temporary employment
❖ Not entitled to certain benefits and rights, such as health insurance and
overtime, in addition to pay.

THE END !