Recruitment and Selection Strategy - Assignment Example

recruitment and selection strategy recruitment strategy: job analysis: Job Analysis is a process to establish and document the 'job relatedness' of employment procedures such as training, selection, compensation, and performance appraisal. There are several ways to conduct a job analysis, including: interviews with incumbents and supervisors, questionnaires (structured, open-ended, or both), observation, and gathering background information such as duty statements or classification specifications. In the case study given, Duties and Tasks The major duty of a sales manager is to establish goals for the sales team and to come up with plans to achieve them. He should come up with innovative strategic methods to increase the market base and market share. It will be the duty of the sales manager to take an active role in recruiting and forming new sales team. He shall provide the adequate training and educational programs that they need. Environment: The sales manager should be able to adapt to the global standards and manage the budget for his department by minimizing expenditures. He should be able to adapt in utilizing online sales support system. He should be able to strongly understand the customer and market dynamics and their requirements. Relationships: He will directly report to the Sales Director and submit the sales report every month. He will discuss about the goals set and his strategy to the future market with the sales director. Monitors the performance of each Account Executive, analyzes their strengths and weaknesses, and provide them with appropriate feedback and tips for further improvement. He shall establish programs to motivate the accountant executives. The manager will make appropriate presentations and reports regarding products and sales performance to clients and executives. Requirements: He should have 3-5 years experience in sales management with excellent oral and communication skills. He should have the ability to lead, guide, and motivate a diverse sales team. Also he must be willing to be exposed to global divisions. A proven leadership and ability to drive sales teams is a chief requirement. most effective methods of attracting applicants: a) POSTING VACANCIES As indicated earlier, job posting refers to the practice of publicizing an open job to employees (often by literally posting it on bulletin boards) and listing its attributes, such as criteria of knowledge, qualification, skill and experience (Gary Dessler, 2000) .The purpose of posting vacancies is to bring to the attention of all interested persons (inside or out of the organization) the jobs that are to be filled. Selected attributes of the job, for example, skill or experience, will change; There are sufficient qualified, potential applicants serving in other positions within the organization who may be potential candidates for that job. Also necessary is the availability of a functional human resource information system that supports recruitment. An effective, computerized system [for medium and large scale] would: flag imminent vacancies throughout the organization to ensure that the recruitment process is timely; ensure that no candidates are lost but, instead, move through the process and are kept informed of their status; ensure that good candidates whose applications are pending are kept in touch to maintain their interest in the organization; assist in analyzing hiring, transfer and exit trends and provide other data that are helpful in planning, evaluating and auditing the recruitment process; identify any adverse impacts of the recruitment process on vulnerable groups (for example minorities, especially where Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action legislation exists); (Cynthia D. Fisher, Lyle F .Schoenfeldt, James B Shaw,1993); As the sales manager position requires better understanding about the companies market goals, principles and strategies, it would be better to look for internal candidates also who are more experienced and are having sufficient potential to perform the job. This will enhance and strongly motivate the workforce loyalty towards the firm. b) Recruiting from external sources: External recruiting methods can be grouped into two classes: informal and formal. Informal recruiting methods tap a smaller market than formal methods. These methods may include rehiring former employees and choosing from among those “walk-in” applicants whose unsolicited résumés had been retained on file. The use of referrals also constitutes an informal hiring method. Because they are relatively inexpensive to use and can be implemented quickly, informal recruiting methods are commonly used for hiring clerical and other base-level recruits who are more likely than other groups to have submitted unsolicited applications. Formal methods of external recruiting entail searching the labor market more widely for candidates with no previous connection to the organization. These methods have traditionally included newspaper/magazine/journal advertising, the use of employment agencies and executive search firms, and college recruitment. More often, now, job/career fairs and e-Recruiting are reaching the job seeker market. Posting vacancies externally through the various arms of the media or via employment agencies reaches a wider audience and may turn up a greater number of potential candidates from which the organization can choose. At the same time, this method is relatively expensive and time-consuming as the organization works through initial advertisements, short-listing, interviewing and the other processes that precede selection. Recruiting firms/employment agencies are gaining in popularity, especially in the search for management level/executive talent. Recruiting via this medium is expensive, whether the organization uses a contingency firm or has one on retainer. c) RECRUITING VIA INTERNET/ e-recruitment: Using the Internet is faster and cheaper than many traditional methods of recruiting. Jobs can be posted on Internet sites for a modest amount (less than in the print media), remain there for periods of thirty or sixty days or more - at no additional cost - and are available twenty-four hours a day. Candidates can view detailed information about the job and the organisation and then respond electronically. We can post online through the company’s host website that allows potential candidates to learn about the company before deciding whether to apply, thus lowering the incidence time-wasting through the submission of unsuitable applications. The website can be used as a tool to encourage potential job seekers to build an interest in joining the organization. Job websites offer unlimited space which can be used, by management, to sell the organization. The site can then be used, not only to post vacancies, but also to publicize the organization. That will allow candidates to become more familiar with the company, know what skills the company is looking for and get to know about its culture. For effectiveness in the use of the strategy of e-Recruiting, it is advised to: use specialized Job Sites that cater to specific industries; thoroughly assess the service level provided by Job Sites to ensure that they maintain the level they claim to provide; enhance the Corporate Web Site as a tool to encourage potential job seekers to become interested in joining the company; take advantage of the fact that Internet job advertisements have no space limitations so we can use longer job descriptions to fully describe the company, job requirements and working conditions offered. i) Increased internet usage. ii) Development of e-commerce. Iii) Internet access through mobile telephone and digital TV. iv) Diversification of destination, it covers globally rather than localized advertisement. Thus, we shall design and implement a successful e-Recruitment strategy. selection strategy: The assessment tools and techniques: The various assessment tools required for the selection of sales manager are: Achievement tests Achievement tests, also known as proficiency tests, are frequently used to measure an individual's current knowledge or skills that are important to a particular job. Knowledge tests typically involve specific questions to determine how much the individual knows about particular job tasks and responsibilities. Traditionally they have been administered in a paper-and-pencil format, but computer administration is becoming more common. Knowledge tests tend to have relatively high validity. Marketing manager requires a strong knowledge on accounts, human relations and communication. Work-sample or performance tests require the individual to actually demonstrate or perform one or more job tasks. These tests, by their makeup, generally show a high degree of job-relatedness. Use of these tests often results in less adverse impact than mental ability tests and job knowledge tests. As a marketing manager he be asked to develop strategies for different case-studies. The response to various problems posed can be examined to determine the candidate’s decision making and analytical skills. Employment interviews The employment interview is probably the most commonly used assessment tool. Structured interviews are more preferred than unstructured interviews. The most structured interviews have characteristics such as standardized questions, trained interviewers, specific question order, controlled length of time, and a standardized response evaluation format. At the other end of the spectrum, a completely unstructured interview would probably be done "off the cuff," with untrained interviewers, random questions, and with no consideration of time. A structured interview that is based on an analysis of the job in question is generally a more valid predictor of job performance than an unstructured interview. Regardless of the extent to which the interview is structured or unstructured, the skill of the interviewer can make a difference in the quality of the information gathered. The managerial job in the marketing field requires strong communication skills which can be gathered from the interview. And also the required personality check can be done. Recommendations and reference checks: Recommendations and reference checks are often used to verify education, employment, and achievement records already provided by the applicant in some other form, such as during an interview or on a resume or application form. These verification procedures generally do not help separate potentially good workers from poor workers. This is because they almost always result in positive reports. However, use of these measures may serve two important purposes, firstly they provide an incentive to applicants to be more honest with the information they provide. Secondly, they safeguard against potential negligent hiring lawsuits. Assessment centers In the assessment center approach, candidates are generally assessed with a wide variety of instruments and procedures. These could include interviews, ability and personality measures, and a range of standardized management activities and problem-solving exercises. Typical of these activities and exercises are in-basket tests, leaderless group discussions, and role-play exercises. Assessment centers are most widely used for managerial and high level positions to assess managerial potential, promotability, problem-solving skills, and decision-making skills. In-basket tests ask the candidates to sort through a manager's "in-basket" of letters, memos, directives, and reports describing problems and scenarios. Candidates are asked to examine them, prioritize them, and respond appropriately with memos, action plans, and problem-solving strategies. Trained assessors then evaluate the candidates' responses. Leaderless group discussions are group exercises in which a group of candidates is asked to respond to various kinds of problems and scenarios, without a designated group leader. Candidates are evaluated on their behavior in the group discussions. This might include their teamwork skills, their interaction with others, or their leadership skills. In role-play exercises, candidates are asked to pretend that they already have the job and must interact with another employee to solve a problem. The other employee is usually a trained assessor. The exercise may involve providing a solution to a problem that the employee presents, or suggesting some course of action regarding a hypothetical situation. Candidates are evaluated on the behavior displayed, solutions provided, or advice given. Assessment centers apply the whole-person approach to personnel assessment. It provides a good feedback about the employees fitness to a particular job. Though it is costly to set up an assessment center it is very much effective for all kinds of firms. Large companies have their own assessment centers and smaller firms sometimes send candidates to private consulting firms for evaluation. Conclusion After clearly stating the recruitment strategy, the selection strategy in the recruitment of the sales manager, it might be clearly evident that the e-recruitment strategy and assessment center selection strategy are more valid towards the requirement. As the candidate for the sales manager requires dynamic decision making capabilities, the assessment center selection along with structured interview will be promising for a successful employee with matching skill set required for the job. All these strategies shall be profitable in exploring their capabilities towards leading the team and motivating the sub-ordinates. Works Cited Arthur, Diane 1998, Recruiting, Interviewing, Selecting & Orienting New Employees AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn,New York Bruce N. Pfau and Ira T. Kay 2000, The Human Capital Edge, McGraw-Hill, London Dessler, Gary: Human Resource Management, Eighth Edition. New Jersey, USA, 2000. Fisher, Cynthia D.; Schoenfeldt, Lyle F.; Shaw, James B. 1993, Human Resource Management,Second Edition. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. Foster, Michael, 2002, Recruiting on the Web: Smart Strategies for Finding the Perfect Candidate, McGraw-Hill Professional, London Human Resource Management, Manufacturing Strategy, and Firm Performance The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Aug., 1996), pp. 836-866 Kemske, Floyd 1995, Human Resources, Catbird Press, North Haven Mark A. Youndt, Scott A. Snell, James W. Dean, Jr. and David P. 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