RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

CHAPTER FOUR
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 4. Recruitment and Selection

Recruitment:
Recruitment is the process of attracting enough individuals with
appropriate qualifications to apply for jobs with an organization.
the first step in the hiring process.
Selection:
The process of making a “hire” or “no hire” decision regarding each
applicant for a job;
the second step in the hiring process.

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 4.1. Purpose of Recruitment

 Find individuals who can do the job to a required standard to

obtain a pool of suitable candidates with minimum cost
 Promote equal employment opportunity
 Ensure all recruitment activities contribute to a desirable
organizational image
 Recruitment Process
1. Recruitment planning: Translating information on human
resource planning (HRP) in to targets that specifies the number
and type of potential applicants to be contacted.
2. Searching: Involves identifying source of the recruitment.
Sources are: internal and external
3. Attracting qualified candidates to apply for the jobs
4. Screening: Identifying potential candidates/ Short listing
applicants/ creating applicant pool and eliminating those who are
not qualified for the job

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 Source of Recruitment
Internal Source of Recruitment:
 Internal recruitment refers to looking for Potential qualified candidates within the
organization to fill job vacancies.
 It usually takes the form of Promotion or Transfer with in the organization.
 Therefore, internal source of recruitment are employees in the organization.

External Recruitment refers to attracting qualified candidates from outside the organization to
apply for job vacancies.

This source is widely used especially to:

 fill entry-level jobs
 acquire skill not owned by current employees
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 Sources of External Recruitment

Temporary workers, Former employees/re-recruitment

Passive job seekers- People who are not looking for jobs but could be persuaded to
take new ones
Professional associations, Internship
College/Universities
Walk-ins/write-ins
Walk-ins are job candidates who physically arrive at the organization in search for a
job
Write-ins are job seekers who send application letter to an organization employment
office

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 Methods for Internal Recruiting
Methods of Internal Recruiting
1. Job Posting: this involves announcing job openings to all current
employees. Position, location, pay scale and qualifications are
described. The means used for announcing the job vacancies can be:
Bulletin boards, In-house Newsletters, Circulars/memos, intranet.
2. Job Bidding: Procedure that permits individuals in the organization
who believe they are qualified to apply for posted jobs.
3. Employee Referrals: Supervisors or current employees generally
recommend best-qualified candidates for the vacant jobs.

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 Advantages of Internal Recruiting
Better Selection: The employee is already known, information on employee

performance is readily available and predictable.

Employee loyalty: Internal recruitment sends a message to the current
workforce that the organization offers opportunities for advancement.
Adaptability: Those chosen internally already know the organization, hence, less

training and orientation will be required.

Cost-effective: Internal recruitment is less costly as compared to external

recruitment because of low advertisement and training costs requirement

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 Disadvantages of Internal Recruiting

Limited Choice (inadequacy of supply): Internal recruitment

excludes excellent candidates that may be available from external
sources.

In-Breeding: The employee tends to demonstrate on the job only

what he/she has learned in the organization and has few new ideas
and experiences.

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 Methods for External Recruitment

1. Advertising: a means to communicate the organization

employment requirement to the general public using mass
medias (radio, TV, news paper, Internet, career sites,
employer/organization website and social media)

2. Employee referrals: current employees refer job seekers from

outside the organization.

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 Methods for External Recruitment…cont’d

5. Job Fairs- is used by a single employer or group of employers to attract a large

number of applicants to one location for interviews. Job fairs are often organized
by colleges and universities to assist their students in obtaining positions.

6. Internship- involves placing a student in a temporary job with no obligation either

by the company to hire the student permanently or by the student to accept a
permanent position with the firm.

7. Employment agency /headhunters: Employment agencies carry out

recruitment function on behalf of their client organization.
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Reasons for using employment agencies:
When a firm doesn’t have organized HR department

If the firm has found it difficult in the past to generate a pool of qualified
applicants.
The firm wants to cut down on the time it’s devoting to recruiting.

The firm must fill a particular opening quickly.

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Avoiding problems with employment agencies:

Give the agency an accurate and complete job description.

Make sure tests, application blanks, and interviews are part of

the agency’s selection process.
Periodically review data on candidates accepted or rejected
Check on the effectiveness and fairness of the agency’s
screening process

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 Advantages of External Recruiting

new employees bring fresh perspectives, different approaches skill and

experience to the organization (organizational innovation)

Provide sufficiently large number of candidates

Fairness in recruitment (minimize nepotism)

New recruits are less susceptible to conformity pressures (disagreement )

the cost of searching external specialists may be less the cost of training current
workers in a new process or technology.

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 Disadvantages of External Recruiting
1. High cost: The cost of advertisement and training new entrants is
high as compared to internal recruitment
2. Adaptability Problems: More time will be needed for new
employees to adapt to the work environment of the organization and it
may take weeks before a new recruit has learned the job
3. Wrong Selection: External recruitment can result in wrong selection
of employees.
4. Poor Employee morale: Recruitment from outside can adversely
affect the morale of existing employees

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 Alternative to Recruitment
To save cost incurring in recruiting process and meet the short-term demand for
increased work volume.
Most common alternative to recruitment includes:
1. Job Enlargement and Enrichment
2. Overtime- In case the increase in demand of a product/service, seasonality of
workforce.
3. Temporary employment- the temporary employees are those who are hired for a
specific time period.
4. Subcontracting/Outsourcing a certain portion of the work is delegated to other
specialized agencies/organization.
5. Employee leasing - wherein the permanent employees of other firms are hired due
to their specialization in a certain field on a lease basis to meet the short term
requirements of the client company.
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 4.2. Selection

Selection is the process of choosing the most suitable candidate for a particular position
from among the candidates.
 Process of choosing the individual best suited for particular position and organization
from a group of applicants.
 Goal is to properly match people with jobs and organization.
Effective selection process requires:
Clearly spelled out job description and job specification

Sufficiently large pool of prospective applicants

Series of steps through which applicants pass

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 Selection…cont’d
Right selection improves Poor selection leads to
Human capital of the organization
Increased employee turnover,
Employer-employee relations Absenteeism,

Productivity and commitment of Job related Accidents

employees Job dissatisfaction

High costs of training and Productivity

losses.

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Steps in Selection:
1. Application Blank
2. Initial Interview of the Candidate
3. Employment Tests
4. Interviews
5. Checking References
6. Physical or Medical Examination
7. Offer the Job
8. Inform unsuccessful Candidates
9. Open Personal File
 The Selection Process
The number of steps in the selection process and their sequence will
vary, not only with the organization, but also with the type and level of
jobs to be filled.
1. Initial Screening
2. Pre-employment tests
3. Employment interviews
4. Post interview screening
5. Reaching a selection decision and notifying the candidates 20
 Initial Screening

1. Preliminary Evaluation of Application Forms to check whether there is a

match between the applicants' qualification and the vacant position.
The main purpose of application form :
 To aid as a pre-employment screening tool.
 Helps to collect consistent information about candidates.
 Provides an important input in determining whether the applicant satisfies the
minimum requirement set by the organization and the relative strength of a
job applicant.

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 Initial Screening…cont’d

Application forms consist of information about:

 Personal background information: Name, gender, age, marital status,
nationality etc.
 Qualifications: Educational, professional and other qualifications and
specialized skills.
 Work Experience: Experience in previous jobs; duties, responsibilities,
etc.
 References: Names and addresses of persons who can be contacted for
references.
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 Initial Screening…cont’d

2. Internet checks- check online social networking sites before

deciding whether or not to invite them for an actual face-to-face
interview.
3. Preliminary or screening interview - Short video or phone
interviews usually conducted by HR personnel, to narrow down
the field and save decision makers time by eliminating candidates
who are not likely to be hired.
 Employment Interview
The major purpose of interview is to assess the candidates in the
following areas:
Ability to do the job
Motivation and eagerness to do the job
Ability to 'fit-in' with the organization
Personality and interpersonal skills
Ability to work under pressure (stress)
 Employment Interview

Types of Interview:

1. Structured Interview-a set of standardized questions based on critical Factors to a

person’s job performance and an established set of answers against which applicant responses
can be rated, it provides a more consistent basis for evaluating job candidates.
2. Situational Interview
Is one variation of the structured interview, with this approach, an applicant is given a
hypothetical incident and asked how he or she would respond to it. The applicant’s response is
then evaluated relative to pre established benchmark standards, can be used for entry level
positions.
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 Employment Interview …cont’d

3. Panel Interview- An interview in which a board of interviewers

questions and observes a single candidate.

4.Sequential Interview- A format in which a candidate is

interviewed by different interviewers who have a vested interest,
one right after another one-on-one. The interviewers later get
together and compare their assessments of the candidates.

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 Post Interview Screening

Reference checking- can be done through telephone or through emailing

/faxing/mailing questionnaire. Some of enquiries are:
What were the applicant’s title , responsibilities, the start and end dates of the applicant’s
employment?
 In what areas did the applicant excel? In what areas did the applicant need improvement?
 How well does the applicant communicate with and get along with others?
 How does the applicant deal with conflicts and stress?
 Did the applicant miss a lot of work?
 For what reason did the applicant leave your organization?
 Would you rehire the applicant?

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 Pre-employment Tests

Pre-employment test is an objective and standardized measure of a sample behavior that

is used to gauge a person’s knowledge, skills, and other characteristics relative to other
individuals.

Job knowledge test: a type of achievement test designed to measure a person’s

level of understanding about a particular job.

Work sample tests, or job sample tests: require the applicant to perform tasks
that are actually a part of the work required on the job.

Cognitive ability tests : measure mental capabilities such as general

intelligence, verbal fluency, numerical ability, and reasoning ability.
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 Pre-employment Tests…cont’d

Biodata Tests

Candidates are questioned about events and behaviors that

reflect attitudes, experiences, interests, skills, and abilities that

correlate with on-the-job success.

Is based on the assumption that past behavior is the best

predictor of future behavior.

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 Pre-employment Tests…cont’d
Personality Tests: They measure personality dimensions of the candidates. Measure disposition and
temperament. The “Big Five” factors that summarize personality traits are the following:
1. Extroversion: the degree to which someone is talkative, sociable, active, aggressive, and
excitable.
2. Agreeableness: the degree to which someone is trusting, amiable, generous, tolerant, honest,
cooperative, and flexible.
3. Conscientiousness: the degree to which someone is dependable and organized in tasks.
4. Low Neuroticism: the degree to which someone is secure, calm, independent, and
autonomous.
5. Openness to experience: the degree to which someone is intellectual, philosophical,
insightful, creative, artistic, and curious.
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 Pre-Employment Tests…cont’d

Medical examination- is generally given to ensure that the health of an

applicant is adequate to meet the job requirements. It also provides a baseline
against which subsequent medical examinations can be compared and
interpreted. The latter objective is particularly important in determinations of
work-caused disabilities.

Interest Tests: They are inventories of the likes and dislikes of candidates in
relation to work, hobbies, recreational activities etc. The assumption is that
interests and job satisfaction are correlated.

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 Reaching a Selection Decision
Notifying the result
notify candidates both who are chosen and not chosen for the position.

The decision to accept or reject applicants requires systematic consideration of all the
relevant information about applicants. Summary forms and checklists can be used to
facilitate the process.

Socialization
Refers to a process of helping new employees adapt to their new organizations and work
responsibilities. Process by which an individual comes to appreciate the values, abilities,
expected behaviors, and social knowledge essential for assuming an organizational role and for
participating as an organizational member.
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Stages of Socialization
Socialization is complete when new members become comfortable and when they
internalize coworker and organization norms, and they understand and accept these
norms.
1. Pre-arrival stage
This stage recognizes that individuals arrive in an organization with a set of organizational values,
attitudes, and expectations.
2. Encounter stage
The socialization stage where individuals confront the possible contradiction between their
organizational expectations and reality.
3. Metamorphosis stage
The socialization stage during which the new employee must work out inconsistencies discovered
during the encounter stage. 33
 Orientation and Induction

Induction- is the process of receiving and welcoming employees when they first
join a company. Includes Company overview:
 Mission, Vision, Values, History and clients, hierarchy, Policies
 Company rules (dress code, Business conduct guideline)

Orientation- A procedure for providing new employees with basic

background information about the firm.
•Workplace tour and formal meetings with teams and departments.
•Information of procedures and processes, work assignment/ job, clients, team
members and key contacts, about employment terms and conditions
 Aim of Induction and Orientation

Make new employees feel welcome and at home and part of the team,

Help new employees understand the organization in a broad sense and

the basic information to function effectively, such as e-mail access,
password, and company rules,
To establish quickly a favorable attitude to the company in the mind of
the new employee so that he or she is more likely to stay,
 …aim of Induction and Orientation

•To teach new employees learn the behaviors and attitudes they
need to be successful in the organization,
•To obtain effective output from the new employee in the shortest
possible time,
•To reduce the likelihood of the employee leaving quickly.
End of Chapter Four