Recruitment and Selection Strategy

Introduction

Armstrong (2006) defines Induction as the process of receiving and welcome and welcoming employees when they first join a company and giving them the basic information they need to settle down quickly and happily and start work. Induction has four aims:

• To smooth the preliminary stages when everything is likely to be strange and unfamiliar to the starter.
• To establish quickly a favourable attitude to the company in the mind of the new employee so that he or she is more likely to stay.
• To obtain objective output from the new employee in the shortest possible time.
• To reduce the likelihood of the employee leaving quickly.

Induction to Yashraj Limited

Once an offer has been made and I have accepted, the first point is to be shown the office/location where I will be carrying my duties. In addition, other requirements such as a computer, telephone and stationary that will be used will be requested to ease the start –off (Bizhelp24, 2008). The next point will be introduction to the company and its staff. By help of a senior manager in the organization, I will familiarize myself with the different structures in the company and also know who is who and who is doing what. I will also request for the employee handbook. In case the employee handbook is not available, then other records will be useful and the following information will be sought;

• A brief description of the company – its history, products, organization and management;
• Basic conditions of employment – hours of work, holidays, pension scheme, insurance;
• Pay – scales, when paid and how, deductions, queries ( Queensland Government, 2006)
• Sickness – notification of absence, certificates, pay;
• Company rules;
• Disciplinary procedures;
• Grievance procedure;
• Promotion procedure;
• Union and joint consultation procedure ;
• Education and training facilities;
• Health and safety arrangements (Changeboard, 2008);
• Medical and first aid facilities;
• Restaurant and canteen facilities;
• Social and welfare arrangements;
• Telephone calls and correspondence;
• Rules for using email;
• Travelling and subsistence expenses.

In addition to the above, I will arrange for meeting with senior managers to ask questions and clarifications on issued not covered above in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the organization. The above will give a general overview of the company and will give the direction to follow in the set up of the HR department

Job description

• Development of a human resources strategy
• Coordinating evolution of organizational structures and reviewing current job descriptions with a view to further refining the organizational structures and job descriptions to support enhanced functioning of the institution
• Management of the recruitment function and provision to the Authority of adequate and appropriate human resource skills and competencies
• Development and management of staff welfare schemes such as medical, insurance and others
• Compliance with statutory health, safety and other requirements in all working places
• Development and monitoring of the Authority’s staff appraisal process
• Regular reviewing of remuneration policies and structures and provision of advice as appropriated
• Establishment and implementation of an internal communication system
• Provision and management of administrative services
• Matters relating to staff discipline
• Coordinating and have the primary responsibility for the recommendations to the management for the recruitment, selection, training, assignment, transfer, promotion and termination of personnel.
• In cooperation with all department heads, determines personnel needs of the organization
• Maintain all personnel records, including applications, current certificated and classified employee lists, assignments, salary, credential information, employment testing records, required health tests, position descriptions, and evaluation procedures.
• Coordinates wage, salary and benefit administration and research.
• Coordinate an evaluation program for all personnel and preparation of a complete report in cases of discipline, dismissal or suspension ( Pritchard and Murlins, 1992, pg 102).
• Direct organizational policies and administrative procedures pertaining to employee rights and responsibilities as well as advising managers of their rights and responsibilities with respect to employees.
• Coordination of leadership for the organization in employer-employee relations as well as collective bargaining procedures (Guest and Horwood, 1981, pp 19 )
• Cooperate with, and act as administrative liaison, for representative committees from employee organizations as appropriate.
• Cooperate and assist the Accounting Department with payroll and insurance programs, and in the preparation of those portions of the budget relating to personnel ( Hall and Torrington, 1998).
• Carrying out any other duties as may be assigned by the Managing Director.

Recruitment strategy

The overall aim of the recruitment and selection process should be to obtain at minimum cost the number and quality of employees required to satisfy the human resource needs of the company (Armstrong, 2006, pg 410). The process will have to go through two stages; defining requirements and attracting candidates

Defining Requirements

Requirements for the position will be set out in the form of role profiles and person specifications. This provides the basic information required to draft advertisement, brief agencies or recruitment consultant, and assess candidates (Roberts, 1997, pg 116). A role profile listing competence, skill, educational and experience requirements produces the job criteria against which candidates will be assessed at the interview or by means of psychological tests.

There will be a need to set the job specification which will define the education, training, qualifications and experience. The job specification can be set out under the following headings: Technical competencies, Behavioral and attitudinal requirements, Qualifications and training, Experience, Specific demands– where the role holder will be expected to achieve in specified areas, e.g. introduce new systems, Organizational fit– the corporate culture and the need for candidates to be able to work within it, Special requirements and Meeting candidate expectations– the extend to which the organization can meet candidates’ expectations in terms of career opportunities, training, security etc.

Attracting Candidates

Townley (1989) states that attracting candidates is primarily a matter of identifying, evaluating and using the most appropriate sources of applicants. However, in cases where difficulties in attracting or retaining candidates are being met or anticipated, it may be necessary to carry out a preliminary study of the factors that are likely to attract or repel candidates-the strengths and weaknesses of the organization as an employer.

First consideration should be given internal candidates, although sometimes due to equal opportunity policies, all internal candidates should apply for vacancies on the same footing as external candidates. If there are no people available within the organization the main sources of candidates are advertising, the internet and outsourcing to consultants or agencies. Advertising is the most obvious method of attracting candidates. A recruitment advertisement should start with a compelling headline and then contain information on; the organization, the job, the person required-qualifications, experience etc., the pay and benefits offered, the location and the action to be taken (Small Business:Canada, n.d.).

Selection methodology

There is a choice between the main selection methods. What Cook (1993) refers to as the classic trio consists of application forms, interviews and references. These can be supplemented or replaced by bio data, assessment centres and psychological tests. Interviews are an inefficient method of predicting success in a job. Smart (1983) claims that only 94 out of 1,000 interviewees respond honestly in conventional interviews. Validity studies such as those quoted by Taylor (1998) produce equally dubious figures for conventional interviews and indicate that assessment centres, psychometric tests, bio data and structured interviews are more accurate methods of selection.

There is a very powerful case for structuring the interview and as a strong case for supplementing it with tests. The more evidence that can be produced to help in making crucial selection decisions, the better. After the interviewing and testing procedure has been completed, provisional decision to make an offer by telephone or writing can be made (The UK Insolvency Helpline, n.d.). This is normally subject to satisfactory references and the candidate should be told that these will be taken up. If there is more than one eligible candidate for a job it may be advisable to hold one or two people in reserve.

Obtaining References

Wood and Payne (1998) states that the purpose of references is to obtain in confidence factual information about a prospective employee and opinions about his or her character and suitability for a job. According to the HRM guide (n.d), the factual information is straightforward and essential. It is simply necessary to confirm the nature of the previous job, the period of time in employment, the reason for leaving, the salary or rate of pay and, possibly, the attendance record ( The Business Link,(n.d.).

Incentive plan

I would recommend a pay-by-results incentive scheme. These systems relate pay directly to output or effort. They are most applicable to manual operations involving repetitive tasks on a short time-cycle. The Recruitment Development Report (1991) suggests that the most well known system is that of ‘piecework’, where an employee is paid on the basis of the number of items produced at an agreed rate per item.

Piecework is a form of direct incentive, where bonus is related directly to effort, under time-studied standards, and where the employee receives the monetary reward a few days after his or her efforts. Quinn(1980) indicates that the more the employee produces, the more he or she earns. Hope-Hailey et al, 1998, pp10-11) tells us that there are several variations of piece-work, for example incorporating a guaranteed rate up to say 75 per cent standard performance, followed by enhanced rates for higher performance. The advantages of payment-by result are primarily

• that employees can be motivated to put in extra effort, and be rewarded within days, and
• that high levels of output can be achieved.

The disadvantages are as follows; -the rate fixed per item is often subject to argument and haggling; -employees can find ways of achieving high earnings without commensurate effort; -According to Peters and Austin (1985), production effort is in the hands of the individual employees (i.e. if an employee decides to ease off, having reached a personally satisfactory level of earnings for that day, or that week, the supervisor is hardly in a position to interfere); – quality tends to suffer in the pressure to attain high levels of output; -support workers, whose efforts cannot be measured in the same way are unable to share in the benefits of increased output, and this can create dissatisfaction among such groups.

It is important for an organization to review their pay and benefits programmes on a regular basis. The continuing ability to recruit, retain and motivate staff is vital to employee resourcing.

Bibliography

Armstrong, M. (2006), A handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 10^th Edition, kogan Page, London and Philadelphia.

Bizhelp24, 2008. Web.

Changeboard, (2008).How to launch an employee induction process. Web.

Guest, D. E.and Ho Chgarwood, R (1981) Characteristics of the successful personnel manager, personnel management, pp 19.

Hall, L and Torrington, D (1998) The Human Resource Function, FT/Pitman, London.

Hope-Hailey, V, Gratton, L, McGovern, P, Stiles, P and Truss, C (1998) A chameleon function? HRM in the ‘90’s, Human Resource Management Journal, 7(3), pp. 10-11.

HRM Guide (n.d) Employee Selection. Web.

Peters ,T and Austin, N (1985) A passion for excellence, Collins, Glasgow.

Pritchard, D and Murlins, H (1992) Jobs, Roles and people, Nicholas Brearley, London.

Queensland Government, (2006). Employee Induction. Department of Education and Training. Web.

Quinn Mills, D (1980) Planning with people in mind, Havard Business Review, pp 97-105.

Roberts, G. (1997) Recruitment and Selection: A competency approach, Institute of Personnel and Development, London.

Small Business:Canada, (n.d.), Employee Recruitment; 10 tips for attracting employees. Allabout. Web.

Smart, D (1983) Selection Interviewing. Wiley, New York.

Taylor, S (1998) Employee Resourcing, Institute of personnel and Development, London.

The Business Link (n.d.). Practical advice for business. Web.

The Recruitment Development Report (1991) New ways of managing your human resources: a survey of top employers, Industrial relations review

The UK Insolvency Helpline, (n.d.) Starting up- Employing people. Web.

Townley, B (1989) Selection and Appraisal: reconstructing social relations? In new perspectives in Human Resource Management. Ed J Storey, Routledge, London.

Wood, R and Payne, T (1998) Competency-based Recruitment and Selection, Wiley, Chichester.