Common steps in the recruitment and selection process
Before filling in a vacant
job position, a company must go through a step by step hiring process to find
the most suitable and qualified candidate for the job. Though the process can
be time-consuming, a rushed hire could be disastrous for a company, leading to
high staff turnover and missed opportunity costs (Mascarenhas, 2011). Therefore, by investing time and money on a
detailed and well-organised hiring process, the company can ensure that it has selected
the most suitable candidate for the job. Most common steps in the recruitment
and selection process are:
- Job vacancy- A vacancy is created when a
present employee either resigns, retires or when a new job is created
altogether. The HR division and the particular department that needs the
post filled must work together to make sure the right employee is
selected for the job by analysing the
number of posts to be filled, the duties and responsibilities expected
and the qualification requirements (Kapur, 2018).
- Job analysis- After the vacancy is created, the company must create the job description and the job specification that match up with the requirement of the job and what the company expects from the employee (Mangaleswaran and Kirushanthan, 2015). It is a well informed and systematic approach and examination of the scope and responsibilities of a job in supporting business objectives. Job description gives you the job title, job summary and other data related to the nature of the job. Job specification, on the other hand, deals with the educational qualifications, experience requirements and other skills the candidate should possess (Mangaleswaran and Kirushanthan, 2015).
- Manpower planning- As mentioned by Kapur (2018), this refers to estimating the total number of employees required to get a particular job done. As is the case, this depends on the nature of the job involved. For example, a managerial position often requires just one potential employee to be recruited to fill the vacancy. On the other hand, considering aircraft engineering, aircraft technician recruiting involves at least a dozen technicians being recruited at one time to fill the job vacancy.
- Attracting candidates- The next step is to
attract potential employees into applying for the job vacancy (Kapur,
2018). The company should decide beforehand if they are going to recruit
internally or externally. Benefits and drawbacks of each source of
recruitment were discussed earlier. After deciding on the source, the
company has to make a decision on which type of advertising medium they
are going to use, ranging from newspapers, internet to internal mediums
such as promotions and job postings.
The figure below highlights the steps to be taken by
an organisation when selecting internal recruitment as a source to fill a job
vacancy.
Figure 01: A guide to
succession planning
(Source: Pope, 2019)
- Screening candidates- This is sort of a filtering process where the most suitable candidates are selected from many applicants, based on a number of factors such as their professional qualifications, experience, age etc. The candidates’ CVs are closely studied to select the most suitable for the job (Mangaleswaran and Kirushanthan, 2015).
- Interviewing - The interview process is widely regarded as one of the most sort after methods of assessing a candidate. Most interviews take the form of a conversation between the candidate and representatives of the company that form the interview panel (Kapur, 2018). Depending on the nature of the job, the interview can either be a structured form where most of the questions asked are basic and predictable, to a more elaborative unstructured and freewheeling conversation. However, it is not without its flaws. Interviews are time-consuming and costly, since all the suitable candidates need to be assessed to select the most favourable person (Kapur, 2018). Also, it can be a biased process when favouritisms play a part in the process.
Take a look at the video below to see Mike Gamson, SVP of Global
Solutions at LinkedIn, describe that one of the
first questions that he asks salespeople isn’t about the qualifications or
experience, rather, it’s about their childhood. He has realised that passion,
creativity and ingenuity are traits that can’t be taught, but are usually
characteristics the candidate has exhibited their whole lives, not to mention
the most important of them all: ambition.
Video 01- LinkedIn’s
Sales Leader's #1 Interview Question (and the Top Trait He Hires For)
(source: LinkedIn Talent Solutions,
2017)
- Selecting
and appointing candidates- When the job vacancy needs to be filled as soon as possible, this process can sometimes precede immediately after the interview, with the signing of the contracts and acceptance of the appointment letters (Harky, 2018). In other cases, the interview results are carefully assessed and calculated and an offer is made to the most suitable candidate. This is especially when the vacant job is of a
managerial position.
List
of references
- Harky, Y. (2018). The Significance of Recruitment and Selection on Organizational Performance: The Case of Private owned Organizations in Erbil, North of Iraq. International Journal of Contemporary Research and Review, Section: Social Science, [online] 9(02). Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323380295_The_Significance_of_Recruitment_and_Selection_on_Organizational_Performance_The_Case_of_Private_owned_Organizations_in_Erbil_North_of_Iraq
- Kapur, R. (2018). Recruitment and Selection. [online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323829919_Recruitment_and_Selection
- LinkedIn Talent Solutions (2017). LinkedIn’s Sales Leader's #1 Interview Question (and the Top Trait He Hires For). [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl95jLnEZ5Y
- Mascarenhas, M. (2011). Issues in Recruitment and Selection. [online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282667917_Issues_in_Recruitment_and_Selection
- Mangaleswaran, T. and Kirushanthan, K. (2015). Job Description and Job Specification: A Study of Selected Organisations in Sri Lanka. International Journal of Information Technology and Business Management, [online] 41(1). Available at: https://www.jitbm.com/41%20volume/4%20JOB%20DESCRIPTION%20AND%20JOB%20SPECIFICATION.pdf
- Pope, L. (2019). Recruit Proactively: How to Use Talent Acquisition. [image] Available at: https://learn.g2.com/talent-acquisition
Ekwoaba, Ikeije & Ufoma (2015) Highlights the crucial role of defining an effective recruitment strategy, where quality gates set for recruitment and selection are not compromised, while those who entrusted with enlisting new employees have all the requisite information in hand to make a good decision.
ReplyDeleteI agree Kanchana. The importance of a detailed and a well organized recruitment and selection process cannot be overstated. Even though it costs time and money, companies can be assured that the right candidate is selected for the job, which in turn leads to higher productivity and reduced employee turnover (Mascarenhas, 2011).
DeleteIt has well explained well in your description on the common steps to be followed in order to recruit and select suitable candidates for the available positions. In such process the succession planning plays a major role that considers on identifying and developing new leaders for the organization. It is the duty of the HR team to follow the common steps by adjusting them according to the organizational strategy.
ReplyDeleteWell said Yohan. It is the responsibility of the HR department to ensure they follow a detailed and well organized recruitment process in order to have reduced employee turnover, a proactive strategic alignment, increase morale of newly recruited employees and increase productivity (Kokemuller, 2019).
DeleteAgreed on the process and adding to the statements, Selection is a process of picking up a suitable candidate for the job vacancy, According first step would be after getting an application from a candidates to conduct a screening interview generally conducting over the phone, As a second step is to conduct a selection test inline with organization"s policies, after getting trough from test to carry out an interview can consider as a third step and recruiting candidates after background check and verification upon referee would be the final step (Gusdorf,2008).
ReplyDeleteYes Nayani, an interview over the phone would be a fast and cost effective way of screening candidates. However, the inability to assess body language and the method being too impersonal means that many companies opt to go directly to a face to face interview in order to better assess the candidates (Scott, 2019).
DeleteAdding to your well-written article on the common steps involved in recruitment and selection process, Santos et al. (2017) analyses the importance and the current status of ethics in the process of recruitment and selection, concluding that organizations might be not paying enough attention to the ethics, in the hurry to hire the best possible candidates. Examples of unethical practices in recruitment and selection are discrimination based on race/gender/religion and the invasion of the candidates privacy.
ReplyDeleteIndeed Nadeeranga. It is well documented that companies forget the importance of ethics during the recruitment and selection process. Other unethical behaviour include sharing confidential information without consent, to charging candidates for placement services (Agbon, 2013). Moreover, as mentioned by Wheeler (2004) misleading job advertisements and practicing redirection are also considered unethical behaviour, and should be avoided at all costs.
DeleteHi Jehan! over the period of time, recruitment processes have been evolved and currently we witness a great deal of complexity intergrated into the recruitment process. Honesty, integrity and organizational violence has been some key factors which are been screened by the employers to make sure they select the right individuals (Piotrowski and Armstrong, 2006)
ReplyDeleteI agree Shan. The recruitment and selection process is continually evolving in order to cater to the demands of the 21st century. In addition to what you have mentioned, companies have also started using psychometric tests in order to better assess the candidate's capabilities, aptitude for the job and personality fit (Mellett, 2019). As stated by Page (2019) these tests provide measurable data that give a better picture of the candidate's suitability for the job.
DeleteAccording to Armstrong (2009), recruitment and selection process comprises of four stages: defining requirements, attracting candidates, selecting candidates and placing them on the job.It is the duty of the HR team to follow the common steps when recruiting by adjusting according to the organizational strategy.
ReplyDeleteI agree Anne. The HR team of an organization must ensure they follow a well defined recruitment process in order to safeguard from missed opportunity costs and high staff turnover, resulting from a rushed hire (Mascarenhas, 2011).
DeleteHi Jehan, agree with you and one suggestion on e-recruitment.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Dhamija (2012), e-recruitment influences every aspect of human resource management which refers to posting vacancies on the corporate website by allowing applicants to send their resumes electronically through an email or in some other electronic format. This e-recruitment system has helped to reduce much of the routine administrative tasks involved in recruitment.
Agree with you Jehan. An organisation must see its future staffing needs, work detail and an vacant position to be filled before drawing in and reaching with competitors association ought to recognise best recruitment technique (Yaseen, 2015)
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