HR

INTRODUCTION:

Plumbley (1985) suggested that “Profitability and even the survival of an enterprise usually depends upon the calibre of the workforce”. And Cullen (2005) in his turn indicated “human resources represent a critical means of achieving competitiveness. Nowadays, a lot of a recent literature on personnel management underlines the necessity for the recruitment and selection of employees who are committed to the goals of the organisation.

Thus the terms recruitment and selection became compulsory processes in employment, as one depends on a success of another.

·         Recruitment is concerned with identifying requirements for new staff (if recruited from outside), already employed staff (if recruited from inside) and procuring a list of appropriate applicants for these vacant job positions. Recruitment also refers to ways of attracting candidates to the organisation.

·         The Selection process is essentially concerned with assessing these applicants and engaging those that are deemed most suitable for employment.

It has been argued, the recruitment and selection decisions are most important of all decisions that managers have to make in order to develop an effective workforce, wile the costs of “ineffectual commercial viability” can often be attributed to decades of ineffective recruitment and selection methods (Gunnigle et al, 1997).

        Both stages, as recruitment and selection are considered to be equally important and hard to control. Hence with a time, once the heads of companies realised that it takes a lot of time and effort to recruit an ideal employee, they began using the services of recruitment agencies. There, going through hundreds and sometimes thousands of applications, agents usually cut the number of applicants to minimum. Once such list of candidates is constructed a second stage begins, where the companies must identify and select a perfect applicant for the vacancy.

PROCESS OF RECRUITMENT:

It is important that managers and HR staff are involved in decision-making at all stages of the recruitment process. The process itself involves a number of challenges. For example it is important to keep within the law with regard to employment equality as this became particularly relevant today due to the increasing diversity within the workforce in terms of sex, age, race, qualifications, backgrounds, etc.

Usually a job vacancy appears when: an employee leaves an organisation; an employee moves a promotion level up; new positions are created due to expansion of organisation or employee requests job-sharing arrangements. Linda Reidy (2003) proposed that once a vacancy has appeared the first question that arises is “whether it is really necessary to replace an employee who has left or whether expansion actually requires employment of new staff”. She also insisted that at this point in the process alternatives to recruitment should be considered.

When there is a vacancy to be filled, a comprehensive examination of the role needs to be carried out. It is crucial that the recruiter knows as much as possible about the job itself and also what is expected of the individual that fills the vacancy. Organisation that engages in HR planning usually has updated job description and person specification available (or at leas must have). The information gathered during the job analysis is useful for clarifying precisely what the job entitles. It helps the employer to focus on exactly what needs to be done and what kind of person would be best suited to doing it. This info can also help to shape the expectations of potential applicants.

It was assumed that when a job description specifies the responsibilities attached to a particular job the employee may turn the offer down or refuse to do any work as it is not clearly spelled out. And Reidy (2003) in her turn concluded that in order to increase the flexibility of the job description and ensure that employees cannot refuse to do work on the basis that is not in their job description it is better to emphasise the outcome of the job rather than detailing the task.

There are a number of ways in which the employees can be found to fill a job vacancy. And thus it is very important that the organisation invests enough time, resources and analysis in the recruitment process in order to avoid potential negative outcomes of bad recruitment. If the individual selected for the job turns out to have been a poor choice, the organisation will have to face the costs of a further search. Using inappropriate sources may mean that time and money will be wasted. The source the organisation chooses depends on the type of job and the availability of workers. Armstrong (1993) suggested: “the criteria of cost, speed and likelihood of proving good candidates” should be considered when choosing a recruitment sources (Table 1).

TABLE 1: Sources of Recruitment (adopted from HR Management)

Source	Advantage	Disadvantages
Internal Search	·         Applicants know organisation and vice versa ·         Fast ·         Inexpensive ·         Can help motivation	·         Narrow pool of organisation may need new blood ·         Still have a vacancy to fill ·         May have negative effect on motivation
Previous Applicants	·         Info on candidates already available ·         Quick ·         Inexpensive	·         Narrows pool of applicants ·         May no longer be available
Recommendations	·         Contact made through existing employees ·         Applicants may be familiar with organisational culture	·         Narrows pool of applicants ·         May be too similar to existing employees
Advertising	·         Open competition ·         Increases profile of organisation ·         Large number of potential candidates	·         Can be expensive
Recruitment agencies	·         Professional recruiters ·         Save time for organisation	·         Very expensive
Search consultants	·         Have useful contacts ·         Can identify suitable people	·         Very expensive
Colleges and universities	·         Up-to-date qualifications ·         Can be trained in way to suit organisation	·         Little or no work experience
Source	Advantage	Disadvantages
Recruitment fairs	·         Attract interested people ·         Increase organisation’s profile	·         May be expensive
E-recruitment	·         Fast ·         Inexpensive ·         Good for organisation’s image	·         Excludes candidates who are uncomfortable using technology

When a job vacancy arises within an organisation it may not be necessary to recruit a new employee. HR and managers should first consider whether the job really exists or whether the tasks involved in the job still need to be carried out. Thus there are some alternatives to recruitment:

·      Subcontracting – staff that are not direct employees of the organisation (i.e. cleaning, security, etc). Such alternative can make the organisation to avoid the many employer responsibilities involved in finding and training staff, however there are also negative results. For example reduced organisational control over subcontracted employees.

·      Automation – where new technology or equipment may replace employees. For example, the banking industry has responded to consumer demand for more flexible and convenient banking hours by installing ATM machines and adopting internet banking instead of lengthening bank opening hours and employing more staff. Also such alternative have a negative result – it usually requires heavy financial investment.

·      Overtime – if the organisation requires extra staff in the short term it may be useful to offer overtime work to existing employees, who might welcome the opportunity to earn extra money. Since recruitment and selection may be an expensive and time-consuming process, it might not be worth employing someone new for a short period of time. However there is a danger when offering an overtime that the regular work is deliberately prolonged to create more overtime hours. The Organisation of Working Time Act (1997) limits the average working week to 38 hours.

·      Job enlargement or Job enrichment – another way to manage the vacancy is to divide the workload among existing staff. Job enlargement involves combing smaller tasks into the job. Where job enrichment entails giving workers more tasks to perform and more control and more responsibility over how they are performed.

Reidy (2003) also explained that during recruitment of new employees, organisation may encounter some of the obstacles. For example:

·      Reputation of organisation or profession – it can be difficult to recruit new employees if either organisation or the profession has a bad reputation or image.

·      Nature of the job - some vacancies are difficult to fill due to the nature of the job. It may be perceived to be unpleasant, dangerous, poorly paid, too stressful, etc. Hence the hospitality industry finds it difficult to recruit and retain staff because of the unsociable working ours or poor pay.

·      Costs – the costs of recruiting and selecting staff can be quite expensive depending on the method used. In addition the employer has a number of financial obligations to the new worker which may prove to be prohibitive. Apart from salaries or wages, the employer is obliged to make PRSI contributions for each member of staff.

The costs of employing an individual can be examined from different perspectives (Gunnigle et al, 1997). The fist cost relates to the tangible costs of the process itself in terms of advertising, testing, interviewing and placement. The second cost is concerned with the employment contract, and includes such things as wages and attendant benefits, support and training. The final cost is a potential cost and refers to the costs associated with making a poor selection decision.

·      Employment Legislation – the Employment Equality Acts (1998 – 2006) oblige an employer to provide equal employment opportunities to potential candidates. This particularly relevant today due to increasing diversity within the workforce in terms of sex, race, age, backgrounds and qualifications.

·      Lack of necessary specialist skills – sometimes it can be hard to find the set of skills required by the organisation, particularly in management positions.

A number of recent studies have suggested that some recruitment methods are more effective than others in terms of the value of the employees recruited. Cook (1993) indicated that while advertising is usual for job vacancies, applicants are sometimes recruited by word-of-mouth, through existing employees. People recruited in such way stay longer because they hae a clearer idea of what the job really involves. During his research, DeWitte (1989) found that labour turnover for applicants recommended by existing employees was 30%, while the research of Bredly (2004) showed that this number reached 43%. DeWitte in is work also argued that people “suggested by other employees” were better and more realistically informed about the job than those who applied through agencies or newspapers. Thus they were in a better position to assess their own suitability. Better informed candidates are likely to have more realistic view of the job, culture of the organisation and job prospects.

PROCESS OF SELECTION:

Smith and Robertson (1993) suggested that a company can be dragged to its knees by the weight of ineffective staff which “decades of ineffectual selection methods have allowed to accumulate”. While the calibre of candidate is determined by the value of the recruitment process, the selection decision remains a difficult one.

If the recruitment campaign has been successful, there should be a number of job applications to be considered. The selection process involves integration with HR activities such as planning and training. Throughout the process of selection, care must be taken not to discriminate against any candidate on the basis of age, race, gender and so on.

Both Reidy (2003) and Foot (2008) claimed that in order to achieve a desired result, there is a list of main objectives that every manager must consider during such process of selection:

·         gather as much relevant information as possible about the candidate;

·         organise and evaluate information;

·         assess each candidate in order to forecast performance on the job

·         give information to candidates so that they can judge whether or not they wish to accept an offer of employment

        There are many criteria for choosing the right person for a job. For example Reidy (2003) mentioned of one in her book, explaining that once a manager in a large multi-national company based in Ireland recounted a situation where candidate was taken out to a launch by his prospective employers. It was quickly decided that he would not be offered the job because he has put salt on his plate before tasting it.

        There are number of more conventional methods available for selecting a person to fill a job vacancy. And the interview tends to be the central selection method. But it is often supplemented by one or more of the other selection techniques. In addition when deciding which method or methods of selection to employ, the employer must consider the criteria such as: validity (does the method measure what it is supposed to measure); reliability (if the method shows the same result even when carried out by different people); fairness (is the method unbiased toward different subgroups of applicants e.g. race, sex, etc); cost (is it expensive?); acceptability (is this method acceptable to both the candidate and the employer?), etc.

        Thus, baring in a mind method criteria, every employer can use any of the following methods in order to select an employee.

TABLE 2: Evaluation of selection methods (adapted from Human Resources Management)

Method	Validity	Reliability	Fairness	Cost	Acceptability
Interview	can be low depends on standard of interview	low	moderate	moderate – low	high
Intelligence test	moderate	high	moderate	low	moderate
Aptitude and ability test	moderate	high	high	low	high
Personality test	moderate	moderate	high	moderate	moderate
Work samples	high	high	high	high	high
Biographical Date	high	unknown	moderate	low	high
References	low	questionable	unknown	low	high
e-selection	moderate	moderate	moderate	moderate - high	high

Another method involved into a selection most often is Shortlisting (Reidy, 2003). It is usually a stage between recruitment and selection and is necessary in situation where a large number of applications are submitted for a vacancy. Shortlisting involves reducing the number of applicants to a more manageable number by narrowing down the field of applicants who will continue to the next stage of selection process. There are two methods of shortlisting:

·      I – compare the person specification or competency framework against the application form or CV of each candidate to decide whether they meet the requirements of the job. Candidates who do not possess criteria deemed as “essential” usually are eliminated.

·      II – look at the person specification or competency framework and give points for each criterion that the candidate meets. Then add up the points and eliminate the lowest ranking candidate.

·      Also exists a third method of shortlisting. It is when such criteria as person experience and education together with social acceptability counted in. Employers cutting the list down rely on such info as how easily the candidate can reach a place of work; will the potential candidate be able to take extra shifts if required (on investigating a marital status), maternity (pregnancy expected soon) and some other that may have an impact on the employee’s work. However the last method can also be considered to be the one to break the laws of Employment Equality Acts (1998 – 2002), due to discrimination on the basis of private and family life. However this method is involved into the recruitment and selection process equally as those two mentioned above.

SCENARIO, of successful recruitment and selection processes

Mr X, the head of the construction company ABC, is about to start a new project and requires more people to get involved. The project is anticipated to be a successful achievement in construction, and hence will require a long-term management. He believes he must have about five people, managing this project. Three of Mr X’s employees are at some extent familiar with requirements of an upcoming project and are ready to participate in it. However due to an overload of their own work they must refuse. Mr X decides to follow the steps of internal and external recruitment at the same time and has three weeks to resolve a problem. Therefore...

Stage ONE - recruitment:

·         Mr X must conduct analysis of the job requirements and construct a list of job descriptions and person specifications;

·         Enthusiasm is one the features that can have a good impact. Hence he may decide to involve “fresh blood” into the project and therefore to use a service of Recruiting Agency(s). That can also involve advertising and e-recruitment. It might cost a lot of money. But “money is required to make money” (Cullen, 2005).

·         Mr X must also consider those three employees who volunteered to work on the project. He might seek a way to split their workload among other employees within an organisation and involve those three into the project.  Or he can simply recruit new employees who would take over those three, while the internal specialists will start working on the project (refer to overtime, job enlargement or job enrichment)

·         Mr X can also consider internal recruitment. He may announce of the open vacancy to the personnel, as there is a chance that others have an interest in taking this job.

·         There is a possibility Mr X holds some previous applications, he can use them to review if any of those are suitable for the vacancies.

·         Mr X can use recommendations and references to search for a number of candidates that will fit for a job

·         Mr X must not forget that colleges and universities have good specialist, though most of them have no experience. But it is known that experience comes with the practice only and thus Mr X might consider such possibility as giving a chance to a few young graduates step into the project

·         Subcontracting and automation are not a way out to fill in the vacancy

Stage TWO – shortlisting

·         Collecting all application forms as a result of utilised recruitment methods and relying on the Employment Equality Acts (1998 – 2002) and avoiding a third method of shortlisting Mr X can gather a thick stock of candidate’s forms.

Stage THREE – selection

·         Because interviewing is a most popular way to select a suitable candidate, Mr X can choose this one. But to get a maximum result, Mr X must prepare the right questions for the candidates to answer.

·         However, if he seeks any special specifications he might consider other methods of selection indicated in table 2. It is believed that personality test may play a good role in choosing the candidates as conducting such test Mr X will be able to identify qualities of individuals surveyed.

       Eventually, having few people for him to help and going through all stages of process, Mr X will definitely have a required number of employees who will be able to start work on the project in the required time.

CONCLUSION:

Unemployment continues to be a pervasive characteristic of the Irish labour market where a readily accessible pool of qualified young people available to fill vacant positions provides organisations with few difficulties in attracting job candidates.

In general, policies in relation to recruitment and selection tend to be determined at either national HQ level or at the level of establishment. At the organisational level, responsibility for policy decisions in relation to recruitment and selection continued to be shared jointly by the specialist HR function and managers.

A number of strategies have been adopted in an effort “to facilitate the recruitment process” (Gunnigle, 1997). According to Reidy (2003) many organisations, particularly those that are Irish-owned, are investing heavily in retraining as a means of aiding their recruitment, while others improve their benefits package, target international recruits or seek to improve their corporate image. In terms of the recruitment process itself, a variety of internal and external methods continue to enjoy popularity. It is also believed that all organisations are making greater use of their internal labour markets for the purpose of filling vacancies. Hence this reflects on the external labour market. Irish companies have little difficulty finding suitable external candidates therefore there is a progressive internal career development within the organisation.

In order to recruit a candidate, the methods and sources mentioned above are all effective; however negligence in shortlisting or low-grade interviews may lead to recruitment of unsuccessful candidates. Therefore, for achieving a maximum-positive result it is recommended:

·         Use as many as possible methods to collect application forms of all potential candidates (internally and externally). Thus a chance of recruiting a most suitable employee increases;

·         Shortlisting, if considered, must be based on the specification and requirements of the job only and not on the social accessibility. The employer shouldn’t cut those candidates down, who for example live in another corner of the city. A employee desiring to get a job, might consider moving closer toward the place of work;

·         Based on the statement of Reidy (2003), where the majority of organisation recruit internally, it is recommended that companies make as much as possible of external recruitments. Such “float of fresh blood” into the company always has a good impact;

·         Experience is one of the most essential specifications that are listed on the vacancy requirements form, however graduates, who have little or no experience at all can be no less intelligent than already working employees within a company;

·         Discrimination should not be an issue during selection.