Essentials of Employee Recruitment - Essay Example

?Essentials of Employee Recruitment As part of the primary group project we learned about two leading organizations AVIVA and NHS. Thorough analysis of information gathered from individuals interviewed, I decided to take Aviva as my choice because I thought my skills and abilities would par with the Aviva’s requirements. Aviva is a leading provider of life and pension products in Europe including UK and is regarded as the world’s sixth largest insurance group as per the data of 31st December 209. Since Aviva functions in insurance sector, it mainly considers communication as its major requirement for employees. The Aviva ask the candidates to deal company’s clients through telephone line and the candidate’s performance in this process is evaluated by company officials. 1. Communication skill Communication skill is the basic requirement that every employer expects with an applicant regardless of the nature and size of the company. This is highly significant in sectors like insurance industry where group work and customer interaction are inevitable factors. Communication skill is considered as primary requirement for employees as it enables the upward and downward flow of information easily at the organisational level. Obviously Aviva also gives higher importance to this skill as one of the criteria for employee recruitment. 2. ICT skills This is another area of expertise that modern enterprises including Aviva have fixed as employment criterion. According to their recruitment strategy, an employee must possess Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills in order to be employed at their reputed insurance business venture. Aviva’s nature of business includes creation and presentation of plans using graphs and diagrams which necessitate employees’ need of ICT skills. Only a person with good experience in office management and computer applications can meet this requirement. 3. Leadership skills Aviva thinks that leadership quality must be an essential criterion in the employee selection process as their staffs are expected to take charge of projects and be able to work among other group members. Leadership skill in fact involves an array of innate qualities and acquired skills which enable a person to carry out positive interaction with his group members and also with the employer on behalf of his group. From the point of view of Yukl (2003), leadership behavior can be grouped into three such as ‘task-oriented, relation-oriented, and participative leadership’. An individual with leadership skill would come up with innovative ideas and normally undertakes the responsibility of his group toward the accomplishment of the given task. All other personal skills including communication skill, knowledge, negotiation skill, and many more add to one’s leadership abilities. 4. Project management skills As mentioned earlier, insurance sector involves wide range of planning activities on their new projects. Therefore, Aviva asks project management skill as another inevitable area of employees’ proficiency. Sometimes, the company would assign specific tasks to its employees and it is not possible to dispose those assignments successfully if the candidate cannot efficiently comply with project management requirements. Although Aviva values math skills, social skills, and work skills, these are not mandatory because the company provides six months basic training to its employees to meet these requirements. 2 Given below are the areas of my proficiency that make me an appropriate candidate at Aviva. I have also specified the area in which I have to further track my excellence. Communication skill must be one of the most important potentials I possess that can meet the employer’s requirements. In addition to the academic knowledge in my majors like Humanities & Social Science and Business Marketing, I have sufficient work experience in marketing field where I had to deal with a wide range of customers. My employment with Samjee International CORP’s Sales Department was indeed the most important event during which I got trained on internal as well as external communication. The acquired proficiency in English language is another advantage that adds to my communication skill. I have been lucky enough to be at language school in Cambridge and Oxford since my arriving England in 2002. I believe that I would meet the requirements of AVIVA in regard to ICT skills too because I am good at computer applications including MS Word, MS Excel, Power Point. Therefore, I can easily perform necessary tasks like data analysis and making excel sheets, graphs and charts, and presentations which would make the overall business operation easy. These abilities have already helped me to develop excellent customer care service skill also. If leadership quality is of any relevance to one’s employability at AVIVA, I am blessed with it. This way or that I have been always at leadership since my early school days. Skiing, swimming, and mountaineering were my major free time activities through which I turned to be a good leader. The most memorable event in my schooldays was that I had to demonstrate my leadership skill as a scoutmaster by taking a troop to Japan for a month from school. After my schooling I had two years’ military service where I gained rather formal training on leadership and teamwork. To be specific with my recent achievements at my university with regard to leadership, I could successfully undertake the leadership of several group assignments. Perhaps the only area where I may not reach the expected standard of proficiency is project management skills. Although I hailed from a family that has a very good traditional business background, I must still learn designing projects which can par with the complexities of the modern business operation. 3 The module helped me acquire extensive knowledge about the essentials of group work and leadership quality. I also learned how communication becomes one of the competitive advantages of business operation, and how a candidate can effectively interact with an employer. To illustrate, almost all activities of everyday life either at home or in our society involve some sorts of group works. However, working in groups/teams in a more formal setting necessitates deep theoretical knowledge along with individual efforts. Numerous studies have been made on the socio-psychological aspects of team work so far with intent to explore its further scope, rather than approaching it as a means to increase interpersonal interaction. As Kozlowski and Ilgen (2006) reminds, ‘task’ is the central aspect that differentiates team, and is ‘the source of goals, roles, and task based exchanges’. According to the writer, though interpersonal relation is important, that is only a background and if team lacks individual capabilities and collective knowledge, skills, or resources in order for resolving the total task, it cannot meet goals effectively. Task is important in another way too; for instance, the task determines what individuals have to do primarily before moving to further decision making processes. As Connelly et al (2000) state, upper level leadership tasks need several complex cognitive abilities such as logical reasoning, fluency of ideas, originality, oral defense, oral expression, and resistance to premature judgment. From an organizational perspective, the significance of group work is more relevant to an individual as it enhances self-understanding along with the great amount of help derived from other members of the group. Although individuals are bound to work on themselves, the way they carry out assignments would help and motivate one to perform one’s responsibilities in a better way taking others as models. One of the notable advantages of a group is that it can go beyond the range of individual abilities with its collective abilities and collaborated problem solving tactics. “From almost every perspective, competence in personal, interpersonal and group skills is a critical prerequisite for success in management.” (Whetten & Cameron 2007, p.14). As compared to individual tasks, working in a group is more feasible because individual work is of slower pace and demands higher level of proficiency and patience. Initiating group works is always advisable especially on tasks that require higher amounts of materials or sources because individual work will have to face more constraints with regards to thorough study. Group can go deep into various aspects of the topic using the most potential individuals for the appropriate choices to bring out better outcome at the earliest. In contrast, there are certain factors that would impede the effectiveness of the group. For instance, as Smith (2004) points out one of the basic tendencies of every group is that group members tend to demonstrate over dependency on group leader believing that leader would perform the major part of the remaining activities. The author reminds that a leader is only to instruct and direct a group toward the task competition (ibid: 193). Effective communication is the key element of the successful completion of every group activity. Regardless of the nature of the group or the task, successful communication can ensure on time response to problems; and can guarantee help when required. Communication in a group of students refers to the interaction between the group members as well as the student’s interaction with his/her mentor. If it is within an organization, it is essential between employees of various sections and between employees and the employer. Modern organizations these days heed genuine efforts to enhance their communication with intent to ensure the organizational cohesion as well as the increased level of productivity. In order to integrate various departments, organizations depend on modern information technology including the internet and other web-based technologies. For instance, human resource information system (HRIS) has become the major facet of almost every organization that enables firms to have immediate access to its HR information. Whether in an organization or among student groups most part of the communication takes place via group work as members work corporately on the assignments and tasks. As part of the group work, interaction and discussion take place which would encourage each member of the group to contribute to the overall accomplishment of the proposed goals. Although group work has been implemented as an effective tool for increasing employee productivity, it does not lessen the significance of individual efforts; instead in many situations individual effort is more essential to meet the emergent challenges of an organization. Obviously the most vital result of group work is the improved level of communication which in fact is the base of organizational success. As far as I am concerned, CEOs in general can be of two traits; one that initiates communication with employees making them share their perspectives on business operation, and the other with major focus on their own business tactics rather than following well developed strategies. “The leader serves as a model through self-disclosure and as a person who sets limits, enforces rules, and manages time” (Jacobs et al 2008 , p.25). From employees’ perspective, engaging with employer is always advisable as it help them resolve many of the issues associated with workplace stress. In a democratic setting this engagement is often achieved through workers’ union through the process termed ‘collective bargaining’. However, this is not a panacea for all disputes of employees’ concerns; and there will be situations when individuals need to make personal meeting with the employer. Employees are more likely to be nervous about what to communicate or how to present their views in a better way to make a positive impression. What makes a leader has been a topic for debate for centuries and volumes have been written on it with varying theoretical perspectives. Until 1940, the Greatman theory and Trait theory were the foundation of leadership research among which Greatman theory believed that some are born to lead and some are born to be led; whereas Trait theory proposed that people who have certain personality traits become leaders (Marquis & Huston 2008, p. 37). Individual traits have been identified as the power house for leadership qualities in some studies after 1950s. Intelligence, birth order, parental background and socioeconomic status of a person have much to do with his leadership qualities. According to Palmer et al (2001) in the modern service-oriented business world, leadership mainly aims the motivation of other employees. Capacity, achievement, responsibility, status and situation are generally considered as the six factors of personal attributes to leadership. Another development in the leadership styles was the liberty of situational choices to make leaders or subordinates. Under this thought, a leader or follower was made according to the force of the situation irrespective of his position in the organization. As I propose myself to be an employee of AVIVA, I have developed my own conviction regarding the strategies for interacting with the employer. To illustrate, while interacting with the employer, the candidate should maintain a gentle appearance. He should be ready with the questions to know more about the organization so that it would demonstrate one’s interest on the employer. The entire talk should emphasis on the value of the firm rather than the fiscal aspects of the job or the firm. Meantime the things one ask should not be irrelevant to the context or easily known to anyone because this would lessen employer’s interest on the candidate. On the other side, the candidate should have a clear cut idea on what to be spoken about himself to the employer. The things disclosed should be concise and reliable enough so as to help the employer to get an overview of the person’s skills, qualification, experience, interests, and outlook. It should also explain why the candidate is interested in the company and the specific position he would like to undertake if appointed. As a candidate, I would anticipate the possible questions that the employer might ask me as well. Normally the questions that every employer asks include one’s expectations on the job, what is the important aspect of the career to the person concerned, the strategies one would take to meet challenges etc. In addition to the appropriateness of the answer, the way of answering questions would be more relevant I assume. 4 Given below is my personal development plan Focus Area Activity Criteria Time Duration Project Management Skill I will undertake projects of some private companies & will obtain feedback from departmental head. Successful operation of mini projects under the control and guidance of senior officers 1 year Emergent Decision Skill I will conduct a deep research on previous managers experiences, referential case studies etc. A critical study on psychological factors affecting decisions Take decision on company matters and discuss the various aspects with experienced officials before implementation 1 Year Negotiation Skill I will visit organizations where conflicts exist between workers and management. I will carefully learn how the manager would handle the situation Effective way of resolving disputes between individuals. 6 months References Connelly, MS., Gilbert, JA., Zaccaro SJ., Threlfall, KV., Marks, MA. & Mumford MD 2000, Exploring the relationship of leadership skills and knowledge to leader performance. Leadership Quarterly, vol.11, No1, pp. 65-86, viewed 9th Jan 2011 Jacobs, EE., Masson, RL & Harvill, RL (Eds.) 2008, Group Counseling: Strategies and Skills, Edition 6, Thomson Higher Education, USA. Kozlowski, SW & Ilgen, DR. 2006, Enhancing the effectiveness of work groups and teams, Association for Psychology Science, Vol. 7, no. 3.pp. 77-110 Marquis, B & Huston, C 2008, Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing: Theory and Application, Edn6, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Philadelphia. Smith, B 2004, Group Work. In Keys to educational psychology. I, Eloff, & L, Ebersohn, (Eds.). 2004. Cape Town: Juta and Company Ltd. Palmer, B, Walls, M, Burgess, Z. & Stough, C 2001, Emotional intelligence and effective leadership. Leadership& Organization Development Journal, pp. 5-10,MCB University Press, viewed 9th Jan 2011 Read More