Examine effective recruitment and selection practice in the 21st century

Introduction:

To run an organization properly, organization need qualified and efficient employees.

Recruitment and selection process both essential tools to find qualified people quickly. It is

certainly remarkable that although the innovations that have been brought about by the

technology revolution in the structure and practice of the recruitment and selection in the 21st

century, some nations are still trapped with their ancient practice of traditional system of

recruitment which is not only ineffective but inefficient in all aspects. This is because old

systems of recruitment are not only ineffective but also inefficient in terms of the structure

and practice of the recruitment and selection. Human resource managers must perform a

crucial function: finding the most qualified candidates for open positions in the most cost-

effective manner possible. Methods of employee selection are criteria used to identify the

best candidates for a certain post. A person's talents, education, experiences, and personality

are examined to see if they are in line with the company's general culture and if they can do

critical duties. An essay about 21st-century recruiting and selection processes is presented in

this study.
Recruitment

Whenever a job vacancy opens, the Human Resource ("HR") Department of a firm takes

several procedures to find suitable skilled workers. In other words, it is a connecting activity

that connects those who have employment with others who are looking for work. Recruitment

is essential for the both new and existing firms, and it has an impact on a company's entire

performance. It's generally regarded as a positive procedure, with the primary goal of

attracting as many qualified candidates as possible for the offered position. During the hiring

process, the candidate's educational credentials, experience, talents, and skills must all be

taken into account.

It is necessary for a company to build the finest recruiting procedure in order to get the best

human resources in order for the firm to carry out each of the business operations in the most

efficient manner. In the 21st century, several recruiting strategies have been established in

order to improve the HR practices in firms and raise their efficiency of their company

performance. One of these practices is known as the contingent workforce. There is a wide

variety of recruiting procedures, and every procedure has the potential to be appropriate for a

particular type of corporate organization. It is essential for the managers of the firm's human

resources to find the methods that are most suited to the organization so that they can assist

the company in finding the appropriate individual for the right position in the most cost-

effective manner. Increasing the size of the applicant pool that is used for recruitment

purposes may be considered to be one of the most effective strategies. It can assist those in

charge of human resources in finding the most qualified candidates for open positions in the

firm. In this respect, a commercial enterprise may create an online platform by means of

which it may publicize the open position so as to deliver information to all of the applicants

who are qualified for the job across the country and even on a global scale. It can assist
human resource managers in assembling the most qualified candidates for open positions

throughout the selection and recruitment process. Despite this, utilizing this method may

result in the collection of a high number of applicants for the job, many of whom may not be

suitable for the post that is open. The effectiveness of the job that human resource managers

do may be improved using this method in this sequence. In addition, recruitment marketing

can also be characterized as an additional best approach for the recruiting process. Within this

method, the organization has the ability to use a variety of marketing strategies for the aim of

recruiting.

Selection

Selection is the antithesis of recruiting, which aims to attract as many qualified individuals as

possible. Selection is a negative process in which contenders are narrowed down and

subsequently the best candidate is chosen. When it comes to making a hiring decision, it's not

only about finding the best individual with the necessary skills and experience. We are trying

to find that sweet spot between what a candidate can do and what we need from them.

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. Therefore, by investing time and money on a detailed
and well-organized 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 analyzing the number of posts to be filled, the duties and

responsibilities expected and the qualification requirements.

 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. 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.

 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
Factors affecting recruitment and selection

The prime objective of recruitment and selection of any company is to hire the right person

for the right job so that the company as well as the employee can benefit (Kapur,

2018). Realizing the importance of recruitment and selection, it is essential the company

understands what factors affect the process. There are certain factors which are involved that

influence the functionality of the recruitment and selection process and eventually affect the

performance of the company. If a company wants the recruitment process to be effective and

hire the right people for the job, the factors must be considered first. As mentioned by Islam,

Habib and Pathan (2010) and Kapur (2018) the factors can be broadly categorised into two

main parts: internal and external.

Internal factors are under the control of the organisation as their scope is within the

organisation (Kapur, 2018). Some of the internal factors are mentioned below:

 Size of the organisation- Sri Lankan Airlines is the largest airline in Sri Lanka with an

approximate workforce of around seven thousand, among that 10% working abroad.

As per unpublished company report, the company has plans to expand its aircraft fleet

by buying four more Airbus A320 aircrafts within the coming years. The company,

therefore, will have the need to recruit additional pilots, cabin crew and engineers to

cater to the additional demand.

 Recruitment policies – This depends on the culture of the company; whether they rely

mainly on external applicants applying for the advertised job, or filling the gap

internally with their employees (Islam, Habib and Pathan, 2010). Sri Lankan Airlines
 adapts both methods to recruit candidates. For example, cabin crew positions are

usually filled using external sources of recruitment. Senior managerial positions on

the other hand, are filled internally using the company’s own workforce.

 Image of the organisation – This too plays a vital part in attracting the right

candidates. Research conducted by Belt and Paolillo (1982) concluded that candidates

were more likely to apply for a job when they held a more favorable image of the

organisation. Sri Lankan Airlines has a reputation for creating and maintaining a

pleasant and comfortable work environment for new as well as long term employees.

This helps the company in terms of attracting the right candidates for the job.

 Image of the job –Just like the image of the organisation, the image of the job also

plays a vital role in the recruitment and selection process. Jobs with fringe benefits,

guaranteed promotions, and pleasant work environments tend to arouse interest and

enthusiasm among qualified candidates.

 Nature of the job- Sri Lankan Airlines engineering department, for example, tend to

hire mostly male engineers, taking into consideration the shift timings and the harsh

conditions that should be dealt with. On the other hand, the Sri Lankan Airlines’

Finance Department, consists of mainly female accountants, since they work on

regular office hours.

 While above are some of the internal factors that need to be considered, the points

below summaries some of the external factors that play a part in the recruitment and

selection process of a particular job:

 Demographic factors -This relates to the characteristics of the applicants itself, such

as their age, gender and culture.

 Labor market- This refers to market conditions surrounding the company at the time

of the job vacancy. The company does not have to even spend much on advertising
 the job if there is a surplus of manpower at the time of recruitment. This relates

directly to the supply and demand of the particular job.

 Labor laws- In some countries, government legislation prevents the discrimination of

certain minority groups as well as castes. For example, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled

Tribes and physically handicapped are protected under the government of India.

 Competitors- They play a huge role when it comes to recruitment, especially in a

highly competitive business such as aviation. Industry standards and practices need to

be in place and followed rigorously if you are to employ the best and the most

qualified candidates.

RECOMMENDATION & CONCLUSION

From the viewpoint of 21st century HRM emergence, the globalization has many

implications for the firms that may entail the diversity of cultures. The HRM in today’s era

has to mount the expertise, mind set and capabilities that are needed to gain competitive edge

on global scale. It is recommended that organizations must put efforts to align their HR

processes efficiently with organizational goal on broader perspective. Last but not the least,

HR must be on a continuous look out for creativity and innovation as it is known to be the

key to success. It depends highly on HR to face the challenges of globalization posed by 21st

century which has given an entirely new look to organizations. The organizations have grown

savvier in using technology hence it is important to adopt all changes. The role of HR has

been shifted towards becoming strategic partners of organization which in turn forces HR to

coordinate with all the function and provide support in various activities like attracting and

retaining the best talent, developing organizational structure, train and retrain employees. As
companies grow by acquisition and merger, they make multiple HR groups. One approach is

that the HR groups in various parts of the organization may develop their competencies in a

specific domain and can meet the demands of the larger organization in that domain. HR

groups that operate in this manner find each other as helpful resources rather than rivals

which will help to gain high level competencies in numerous areas. In 21st century, the HR

has the handle many challenges like; change management, conflict management, managing

multi-generational workforce, managing 5R’s, workforce diversity, globalization, striking

work life balance, succession planning etc. It is the responsibility of HR to increase

organizational efficiency and effectiveness by adding value and gaining competitive edge

over competitors for a long term survival in complex and highly uncertain market place. It is

clearly the time for a quantum leap in the field of human resource. HR professional can

contribute in this transition by taking some serious steps to meet the challenges of

organizational change; they can serve to find out ways to measure HR value for the company.

Last but not the least; they can conduct significant research related to human resource and

their performance in future organizations.

***Should be 1500 words