Recruitment & Selection

GCSE Business Studies

tutor2u™ Revision Presentations 2004
 The Recruitment Process

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 Reasons to Recruit Staff
Business is expanding due to:
 Increasing sales of existing products
 Developing new products
 Entering new markets
Existing employees leave:
 To work with competitors or other local employers
 Due to factors such as retirement, sick leave, maternity leave
Business needs employees with new skills
Business is relocating – and not all of existing workforce want
to move to new location

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 Workforce Planning
Workforce Planning involves deciding how many and what
types of workers are required
The workforce plan establishes what vacancies exist and
managers then need to draw up a job description and job
specification for each post.
A job description is a detailed explanation of the roles and
responsibilities of the post advertised. Most applicants will ask
for this before applying for the job. It refers to the post
available rather than the person.
A job specification is drawn up by the business and sets out
the kind of qualifications, skills, experience and personal
attributes a successful candidate should possess. It is a vital
tool in assessing the suitability of job applicants and refers to
the person rather than the post.

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 Changes in Employment Patterns
Affecting Recruitment
The way we work is changing rapidly:
 Increase in part-time working
 Increases in numbers of single-parent families
 More women seeking work
 Ageing population
 Greater emphasis on flexible working hours
 Technology allows employees to communicate more effectively
whilst apart (“teleworking”)
 People rarely stay in the same job for life
Businesses need to understand and respond to these changes
if they are to recruit staff of the right standard – and keep them!

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 Part-time Staff
Increased numbers of people in the UK are working part-time
Advantages
 Cheaper to employ as entitled to less benefits
 More flexible workforce (easier to reduce labour hours when sales
fall or add hours when demand increases)
 Wide range of potential recruits (e.g. working mothers who want to
restrict the number of hours they work)
Disadvantages
 Employees feel less loyal to business and therefore less motivated
 Harder for managers to control and coordinate workforce

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 Recruitment Methods
Internal recruitment
 Positions are filled from people already employed by a business
 Involves promotion and reorganisation
External recruitment
 Job centres
 Job advertisements
 Recruitment agency
 Personal recommendation

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 Internal Recruitment
Advantages
 Cheaper and quicker to recruit
 People already familiar with business and how it operates
 Provides opportunities for promotion with in business
Disadvantages
 Business already knows strengths and weaknesses of candidates
 Limits number of potential applicants
 No new ideas can be introduced from outside
 May cause resentment amongst candidates not appointed
 Creates another vacancy which needs to be filled

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 External Recruitment
Advantages
 Outside people bring in new ideas
 Larger pool of workers from which to find best candidate
 People have a wider range of experience
Disadvantages
 Longer process
 More expensive process due to advertisements and interviews
required
 Selection process may not be effective enough to reveal best
candidate

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 Stages of Recruitment Process
Preparation
 Identifying what jobs need filling and what role and specification of
job is
Finding possible candidates
 Various methods (e.g. advertising) to encourage potential
candidates to apply for job
Selection
 Interviews and other selection processes to choose best person for
job
 Completing contractual employment of that person
Induction
 Introducing selected candidate to business

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 Job Description and Specification
Job description
 Detailed explanation of roles and responsibilities of post advertised
 Most applicants will ask for this before applying for job
 Refers to post available rather than person
Job specification
 Drawn up by business
 Sets out qualifications, skills, experience and personal attributes a
successful candidate should possess
 Vital tool in assessing suitability of job applicants
 Refers to person rather than post

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 Contents of a Job Description
Job Title: this indicates the role/function that the job plays
within an organisation, and the level of job within that function
(e.g. Finance Director would be a more senior position than
Financial Accountant - although both jobs are in the "finance
department")
Reporting responsibilities: who is the immediate boss of the
job holder?
Subordinates; who reports directly TO the job holder?
Main purpose - who is involved in the job overall
Main tasks and accountabilities: description of the main
activities to be undertaken and what the job holder is expected
to achieve
Employment conditions (e.g. basis of payment; amount of
benefits, holiday etc, period of notice)
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Objectives of Recruitment Advertising
Inform audience of potential candidates about opportunity
Provide enough information to both inform and interest possible
applicants
Help “screen” or dissuade unsuitable applicants
Obtain most number of suitably qualified applicants for post
advertised
Note – recruitment adverts can be published internally and
externally

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 Placing a Job Advertisement
Internal recruitment
 Notice boards
 Staff magazines & newsletters
 Email
External recruitment
 Newspapers and magazines
 Job centres
 Employment agencies and “Head-hunters”
 Direct contacts (e.g. with employees in a competitor business)
 Internet recruitment websites

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 Role of a Recruitment Agency
A recruitment agency works to provide a link between the
employer and employee
 Potential employees register with the agency and provide personal
details
 Employers approach the agency for shortlists of potential
candidates
Recruitment agencies charge a fee for the service
 Main fee is to the employer
 Usually a percentage of the employees wages and salary in the
first 6-12 months
 Often an expensive option
Some agencies specialise in particular employment areas
 E.g. nursing, financial services, teacher recruitment

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Factors to Consider When Advertising
a Job
Type of job
 Senior management jobs merit adverts in the national newspapers
and/or specialist management magazines
 Many semi-skilled jobs need only be advertised locally to attract
sufficient good quality candidates
Cost of advertising
 National newspapers and television cost significantly more than
local newspapers etc
Readership and circulation
 How many relevant people does the medium reach? How
frequently (e.g. weekly, monthly, annually!. Is the target audience
actually only a small fraction of the total readership or Viewer ship?
Frequency
 How often does the business want to advertise the post?

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 What Makes a Good Job
Advertisement?
Whilst there are no hard and fast rules about the contents of a
job advert, the following features are likely to be in an effective
advertisement:
Accurate - describes the job and its requirements accurately
Short - not too long-winded; covers just the important ground
Honest - does not make claims about the job or the business
that will later prove false to applicants
Positive - gives the potential applicant a positive feel about
joining the business
Relevant - provides details that prospective applicants need to
know at the application stage (e.g. is shift-working required; are
there any qualifications required)

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 Contents of a Job Advertisement
Most job adverts contain:
Details of the business/organisation (name, brand, location,
type of business)
Outline details of the job (title, main duties)
Conditions (special factors affecting the job)
Experience / qualifications required (e.g. minimum
qualifications, amount of experience)
Rewards (financial and non-financial; the financial rewards
may be grouped together under a total valued "package2 - e.g.
total package circa £50,000)
Application process (how should applicants apply, how to;
deadlines)

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 Contents of a job application form
Personal details
Name, address, date of birth, nationality
Educational history
Including examination results, schools/universities attended,
professional qualifications
Previous employment history
Names of employers, position held, main achievements,
remuneration package, reasons for leaving
Suitability and reasons for applying for job
A chance for applicants to ‘sell themselves’
Names of referees

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 Curriculum Vitae
A written document
Often on one or two sides of A4
Designed by the job applicant
Covers similar ground as job application

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 Using a Job Application Form Rather
than a CV
Advantages of a Job Application Form
 Business can tailor questions and format to exact needs
 An application form forces candidates to answer same questions
and provide information in a consistent format
 CV’s often come in many different formats, with key information
either missing or presented in different ways
 Encourages the applicant to consider the specific needs of the
employer – e.g. respond to questions relevant to the employer
 More likely to get up-to-date information from the applicant

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 Reasons for Rejecting Candidates at
Application Form Stage
May not meet standards set out in job specification
 Wrong qualifications
 Insufficient experience
May not have completed application form to a satisfactory
standard
May be unlucky
 Employer has set a limit on number of candidates who progress
through to interview stage

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 Recruitment Interview
Interview is a crucial part of the recruitment process
Chance for an employer to meet applicant face to face
Can obtain much more information on:
 What person is like
 Whether they are suitable for job
 Whether they will fit into the business
Interview is also an important for the candidate
 Obtain information about job
 Assess the working culture of a possible new employer
Recruitment interviewing is a hard skill – often it is done very
poorly!

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 Information to Obtain During a
Recruitment Interview
By the employer:
 Information that cannot be obtained on paper from a CV or
application form
 Conversational ability- often known as people skills
 Natural enthusiasm or manner of applicant
 See how applicant reacts under pressure
 Queries or extra details missing from CV or application form
By the employee
 Whether job or business is right for them
 What is culture of company like
 What are exact details of job that may be omitted from job
description

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 Selection Tests
Formats
 Aptitude tests
 Intelligence tests
 Personality tests
Why used
 Basic interview can be unreliable as applicants can perform well at
interview but not have qualities or skills needed for job
 Selection tests increase chances of choosing best applicant and
so minimise high costs of recruiting wrong people

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 References
What are references?
 Written character statements from people who know the applicant
well
 An important “safety check”
 A chance to learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of an
applicant
Final check that all information given by candidate is correct
Good honest reference from an independent source can also
reveal good or bad incidences from candidate’s past or
particular traits that may have been missed.

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 Employee Retention
All businesses lose staff
 Retirement / Maternity / Death / Long-term Illness
 Unsuitability
 Changes in strategy (e.g. closure of locations)
Staff turnover needs to be managed if the business is to
succeed
Employee retention = the ability of a business to convince its
employees to remain with business
How to keep staff
 Offer financial (e.g. bonus, salary rise)
 Offer non-financial (e.g. promotion, more decision making power)
incentives

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 Labour/staff turnover
What it means
 Proportion of a firm’s workforce that leaves during course of a year
 A business with a high staff turnover is said to have problems with
“staff retention”
Problems of high staff turnover
 Increases recruitment costs (e.g. advertising for replacement staff;
employing temporary staff whilst job vacancies are filled)
 Reflects poor morale in workforce
 Increases training costs of new workers
 Loss of productivity while new worker settles in

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