Employee Recruitment and Selection - Research Paper Example

Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 2 Theoretical Overview 2 2 Recruitment 3 2 1 Web Based Recruiting 6 2 2 Employee Referrals 7 2.2 Selection 8 3 Recruitment and Selection Model 10 Conclusion 12 5 References 13 Appendix I: Jobs Being Recruited For (5 Per Job) 16 7 Appendix II 17 Appendix II: Interviews - Selection Guidelines 18 7.1 Interview Types 18 7.2 Structured vs Unstructured Interviews 19 7.3 Situational vs. Behavioural Interviews 20 7.4 Interviewing Mistakes and Avoidance 21 1 Introduction Although commonly used, the term recruitment is difficult to define. A comprehensive definition, which permits meaningful consideration of the complexity of the process and the variables involved and reflects both the identification and attraction functions, is difficult to formulate. A suitable definition, although not comprehensive, is: Recruitment is the process of identifying and attracting qualified employees. Labour efficiency is achieved by employing people with the right skills for assigned jobs and balancing the right number of workers to do the job. Therefore, applicants should be carefully identified, targeted, and recruited for positions (Cappelli, 2001). This research report, focusing on the recruitment and selection of IT employees, preferably Information and Computer Science Graduates, for an international organisation will, following a review of the relevant theoretical literature, suggest a recruitment and selection technique which is cost effective, timely and, importantly, establishes an immediate correlation between targeted recruitment environment, candidate selection and job description. In other words, drawing upon both empirical and theoretical literature, the report shall propose a recruitment and selection framework which is immediately informed by the job requirements, its associated tasks and responsibilities. 2 Theoretical Overview There is a wealth of theoretical and empirical literature on employee recruitment and selection. This section shall review some of this literature with the purpose being the latter formulation of a best-practices framework for the recruitment and selection of 20 IT employees in the international firm referenced in the preceding. Appendix I presents an overview of the positions to be filled. 2.1 Recruitment Recruiting techniques to maximize not only the quantity of applicants, but also quality, are important because the screening process requires significant organizational resources (Sherman, Bohlander and Snell, 1996). IT positions take an average of 37% longer to fill than non-IT positions, ' search firm recruiting fees can be as high as 40 percent of annual salaryr3' and average costs may range from $7,500 to $25,000 per employee for all modes of recruiting combined. In addition to the direct costs, the difficult to measure, but undoubtedly more critical lost opportunity costs of not having necessary human resources, make IT recruitment a strategic imperative in the current economy (Mencken, 1998). Recruitment research has steadily increased over the past thirty years, including studies of the effect of selected recruitment sources on outcome. One of the earliest studies of recruitment sources and linkage to beneficial organizational outcomes compared results of informal versus formal sources. A primary difference between these two broad types of recruiting techniques is that formal recruitment involves a formal market intermediary between the organization and potential employee, Ullman's (1966) study discovered a lower turnover rate for employees recruited through informal sources (i.e. direct applications, referrals) than for those identified through formal approaches (i.e. advertising, employment agencies) . Subsequent research offered theoretical explanations for the relationship between source and outcome, most notably the "realistic information" hypothesis and the "individual difference" hypothesis. The " realistic information" hypothesis suggests that workers recruited through informal sources (i.e. referrals) have better information about vital job characteristics than through formal sources and, therefore may make better decisions about the suitability of the position." Through informal sources, for example, individuals may also receive information about the fairness and attitudes of supervisors, the working environment, and the direction of the company. These details offer an advantage in determining the 'fita of the job and the organization. Other sources (i.e. advertising, employment agencies) may produce candidates who lack realistic job information and, therefore, are less likely to self-select out of consideration for positions that do not match their interests, skills, and experience. A second explanation of source-outcome differentials hypothesizes that different sources reach different applicant populations. Based on the idea of differential source effectiveness, in terms of performance and participation behavior, the "individual differences" hypothesis suggests that employees recruited through informal sources have longer tenure because they come from a different applicant pool with different abilities, attitudes and values. Ullman (1966) additionally found that utilization of informal sources of referrals produced more capable workers because employees pre-screened prospects carefully to protect their own reputations within organizations. Taylor and Schmidt's (1983) study of differentials in absenteeism, turnover, and performance of employees recruited from various sources seemed to produce support for both the individual difference and realistic information hypotheses. Measuring several individual difference variables that might affect source differences, they found that employees who were rehired or recruited through referrals received higher performance appraisals from supervisors and had better attendance than those coming from other sources. Similarly, Breaugh and Mann (1984), in their research to test both the "individual differences" and "realistic information" hypotheses, discovered that workers recruited by current employees had more realistic job expectations, while those recruited through direct application subsequently had the highest performance ratings. However, subsequent studies by Swaroff et al. (1985) and Kirnan, Farley, and Geisinger (1989) produced no relationship between productivity and recruitment source and a study by Hill (1970) attempting to use more accurate objective measures of performance, found no statistically significant differences in employee performance for those recruited through referrals. Traditional newspaper advertisements are the most common method of recruiting employees. Greater public awareness of corporate responsibility has increased the significance of a company's image in advertising design. Corporate image affects the success of an advertisement, as well as the type of individual who will reply to an ad. Consumer analysis, segmentation, and targeting may be used to develop accurate and effective recruitment advertising (Ryan, Guberi & Rodriguez, 2000). The employment management association cost per hire survey (2000) found that the cost per hire was highest for print advertisements ($3,295), followed by employee referrals ($570), and web based advertisements ($377) (Lachrnit, 2001). Behling (1968) reported three theories on individual selection of employers. Objective factor theory states that the individual chooses the organization according to a basic set of objectives and measurable attributes such as salary, benefits, career development prospects, and the nature of work. Critical contact theory suggests that individuals can neither make objective decisions nor discriminate between job offers because their knowledge and contact with the firm is limited. Subjective theory suggests the choice of employer is highly emotional and personal based on links between the individual personality, and the organization's corporate image. Advertising techniques chosen by an organization determine the effect and message desired. 2.1.1 Web Based Recruiting Eighty-eight percent of the world's largest corporations use a website for recruiting purposes. This is an increase from four years ago when only 29% of companies used their websites for recruitment. Making use of technology to recruit talent is a key instrument companies use to stay competitive. Companies which master the art and science of on-line recruiting will attract and retain the best people (Cappelli, 2001). Four key steps to on-line hiring include attracting applicants, sorting applicants, making contact quickly, and closing the deal. Use of the company's reputation, product image, on-line technology, and relational marketing will allow a company to reinforce its human resources brand and provide information about jobs and working conditions. Sorting applicants involves the employment of sophisticated, standardized tests to screen applicants to a manageable number. Job boards are used to sort applicants based on their levels of availability. A survey by Recruitsoft/iLogos found that 12% of employers now test applicants on-line (Cappelli, 2001). The use of automated hiring systems aids in making contact with applicants quickly and aggressively. Traditionally, human resources functions have been slow and methodical, which is not effective in today's hiring climate. The fast pace of on-line recruiting requires a personality suited to tasks where quick results are critical, outcomes are easily and constantly measured, and failures are common. On-line recruiting facilitates the decentralization of the hiring function. Closing the deal relies heavily on the human touch, because good applicants have an array of opportunities and options (Cappelli, 2001). 2.1.2 Employee Referrals Organizations involved in world-wide quality transformations realize that building employee involvement is crucial to their success. Employee referrals are a good source of recruits and are among the most popular and cost effective methods of identifying top-quality candidates. Employment management association 2000 cost per hire survey found that 21.8% of total hires were from employee referrals (Do employee referral programs, 2002). A study conducted of human resource professionals indicated that employee referrals were among the top three sources for finding motivated and multi-skilled workers. Employee referral programs are effective in several ways. First, current employees know the skills, personality style and work ethic of the company; therefore their referral will likely be a good match. Secondly, an employee's reputation is on the line so referrals are likely to be higher quality than respondents to ads or job fairs. Lastly, employee referrals tend to stay longer, impacting retention (Let staff help, 1999). Rice-Ratcliff (1990) found that the most often cited referral source for both full and part-time employees was a friend or relative. The Referral Networks found that 85% of employees surveyed stated that they would be motivated by a reward of $1,000 or less, while 213 stated that they would be happy with non-cash awards (Lachmit, 2001). 2.2 Selection Effective staffing procedures are critical if organizations are to hire skilled employees who can meet the demands of today's workplace (Offerman & Growing, 1993). Organizations need "super employees" with multiple skills who can operate in demanding work environments (Graves & Karen, 1990). IT employees should possess an array of technical, managerial, and interpersonal skills to be successful. The selection process for high customer contact employees is a systematic approach which includes identification of specific skills, and an assessment of key characteristics of successful employees. Past performance is the most important indicator of a candidate's possible success in their next position (Otting, 2004). The most widely used personnel selection process is the interview. Over 70% of organizations in the U.K. use the unstructured interview (Hough & Oswald, 2000). The validity and reliability of the unstructured interview has been shown to be relatively low. Comparatively structured interviews are considered to have higher reliability, standardization and fairness than unstructured interviews. Standardized interviews place more burden on the instrument than the interviewer's interviewing and assessment skills (Hough & Oswald, 2000). Structured interviews include holding all applicants to the same questions and providing job information with a clear set of specifications for requirements (Lowry, 1994). A highly standardized situational interview, in which applicants respond to hypothetical critical work incidents, are usually less susceptible to rating biases (Kataoka, Latham, & Whyte, 1997). Interviewer training in note taking improves attention, encoding, recall, and evaluation of interview information focusing on work behaviors (Burnett, Fan, Motowidlo, & Degroot, 1998). Mean differences by race are reduced with highly structured interviews (Huffcutt & Roth, 1998). The final step in employee selection is a probationary period. The probationary period affords administrators and personnel officials an opportunity to gauge those intangible and personal qualities of a new employee which are not assayed by tests or other examining techniques (Elliot & Peaton, 1994). An analysis of the person to environment fit, which includes person to job fit, person to group fit, and person to organization fit, aids in selecting applicants based on their ability to make contributions to a given work team. Person to job fit is concerned with finding a match between the skills, knowledge and abilities needed to perform the relatively static job duties. Traditional job analysis is the basis for assessing this fit. Self efficacy and job proficiency are likely to be high with a person to job fit (Werbel & Johnson, 2001). Person to group fit is conducted at the group level of analysis and is based on the evidence that employees are likely to value having the prestige of their colleagues and work hard to achieve that acknowledgement. Person to group fit will likely impact organizational effectiveness by promoting group cooperation and synergy (Werbel & Johnson, 2001). Person to organization fit is conducted at the organizational level of analysis and is concerned with the match between the worker and the organizational culture. It will likely improve worker attitudes and retention rates (Werbel & Johnson, 2001). 3 Recruitment and Selection Model On the basis of the theoretical assumptions presented in the preceding and, bearing in mind the positions that the firm is recruiting for, the report will present what can be described as a best-practices model for the recruitment and selection of 20 graduate IT employees. Recruitment techniques have to emerge both from the nature of the jobs and the demographic characteristics of the target group. Noting the overwhelming tendency of this age group to derive their information from the internet and their proclivity for submitting their resumes to online recruitment agencies, as opposed to the more traditional ones, a decreased reliance of newspapers ads and a greater focus on web recruitment is proposed. The proposed recruitment strategy is consistent with the firm's international status, implying that its recruitment base is transnational and with the nature of the talent it is searching for: information technology. While employee referrals can function as an additional recruitment technique, primary reliance should be upon web-based recruitment. Apart from the fact that web-based recruitment techniques are cost and time effective, requiring the expenditure of comparatively little resources on this process, it can facilitate the selection process and render it as cost and time-effective as possible. In brief, rather than upload their prepared resumes, candidates will be required to fill in and submit a close ended questionnaire. The responses, which will be automatically scanned, will determine which of the candidates will be contacted for submission of their resumes through the website. In other words, in the first of the recruitment and selection stages, only the candidates who submit model responses to the questions posed will be invited to submit their resumes. The review of these resumes, which will constitute the second phase of the recruitment stage, cannot be automated as determination of suitability will require something of a qualitative assessment on the part of the HR. The output of this stage will be the identification of the suitable candidates. The last phase of the selection and recruitment process will consist of a series of interviews with the candidates identified through the previous phase as having the greatest potential. Following up on the advice offered in the literature reviewed in the preceding, the initial interview will adhere to a structured format and will be subjected to objective quantitative scoring. The final round of interviews, with both the HR and the IT department will be semi-structured in order to allow for a greater exploration of the candidate's knowledge and suitability. Appendix III offers a set of advice regarding interviewing format and a guideline for best practices. Conclusion On the basis of the literature reviewed and taking into account the nature of the position being recruited for, a recruitment and selection model was presented. This model considers both the time and the cost factors and aims towards their minimisation without impairing the quality of the process. It does so through the identification of the web as both a selection and recruitment tool sand through the provision of an interviews guideline which allows for the quantitative assessment of candidate suitability. It should also be noted that the proposed model negates the possibility of discriminatory practices from influencing the decision-making process because its initial stages are automated and, following from that, tend towards the quantitative rather than the qualitative. As such, the report deems the proposed model both suitable and valid. 5 References Behling, O. (1 968). Recruitment: A theoretical base. Personnel Journal, 47,13- 19. Breaugh, J.A. and Mann, R.B. (1984) Recruiting source effect: A test of two alternative explanations. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 57, 261-267. Burnett, J.R., Fan, C., Motowidlo, S.J., & Degroot, T. (1998). Interview notes and validity. Personnel Psychology. 51, 375-396. Cappelli, P. (2000) Is There a Shortage of Information Technology Workers, Retrieved May 25,2007 from http://www.programmersguild.org/archives/lib/it1_cappelli_wharton.doc Do employee referral programs cut hiring costs (2002, April 15). HR Briefing, 3. Elliot, R.H. & Peaton, A.L. (1994). The probationary period in the selection process: A survey of its use at the state level. Public Personnel Management, 21 (1), 47-60. Graves, L.M., & Karen, R.J. (1990). The employee selection interview: A fresh look at an old problem. Human Resource Management, 35(2), 163-1 80. Hill, R.E. (1970). A new look at employee referrals as a recruitment channel. Personnel Journal, 144-148. Hough, L.M., & Oswald, F.L. (2000). Personnel selection: Looking toward the future remembering the past.. Annual Review of Psychology, 5l, 63 1-664. Huffcutt, A.I. & Roth, P.L. (1998). Racial group differences in employment interview evaluations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(2), 179- 189. Kataoka, H.C., Latham, G.P. & Whyte, G. (1997). The relative resistance of the situational, patterned behaviour, and conventional structured interviews to anchoring effects. Human Performance, 10 (1), 47-63. Kirnan, J. P . , Farley, J.A, & Geisinger, K . F., (1989) The relationship between recruiting source, applicant quality, and hire performance: An analysis by sex, ethnicity, and age. Personnel Psychology, 42, 293-308. Lachmit, D. (2001, June). Employee referral saves time, saves money, delivers quality. Workforce, 80(6), 67-72. Let staff help you do the hiring. (1999, July 15). HR Briefing, 2 Lowry, P.E. (1994). The structured interview: An alternative to the assessment centre Public Personnel Management,23(2), 20 1-2 16. Mencken, F.C. (1998) In search of the right stuff: the advantages and disadvantages of informal recruiting practices in the external labour market. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 2(57), Retrieved May 25,2007 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0254/is_n2_v57/ai_20824079 Offerman, L., & Growing, M.K. (1993). Personnel selection in the future: The impact of changing demographics and the nature of work. In Schitt, N. & Borman, W.C., Personnel selection in organizations (pp.385-417). San Francisco: Josey-Bass. Otting, L. (2004, January). Don't rush to judgement. HR Magazine, 49 (1), 95-98. Rice-Ratcliff, R.L. (1 990). Profile of characteristic and their effect on the retention of full and part-time foodservice employees. Journal of Foodservice Systems,5,275-385. Ryan, G., Guberi, M. & Rodriguez, I. (2000, May). Recruitment advertising: The marketing human resource interface. International Advances in Economic Research, 6(2), 354-365. Sherman, A., Bohlander, G., and Snell, S. (1996), Managing Human Resources. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College Publishing. Swaroff, P. G., Barclay, L.A., & Bass, A.R. (1985). Recruiting sources: Another look. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 720-728. Taylor, M.S. and Schmidt, D.W.(1983) A process oriented investigation of recruitment source effectiveness. Personnel Psychology 36, 343-354. Ullman, J.C. (1966). Employee referrals: A prime tool for recruiting workers. Personnel, 43, 30-35. Werbel, J. & Johnson, D. (2001). The use of person-group fit for employment selection: A missing link in person-environment fit. Human Resource Management. 40(3), 227-240. Appendix I: Jobs Being Recruited For (5 Per Job) Computer scientists, responsible for designing computers, conducting research to improve design, creating and applying new technologies, and developing specialized programming languages Computer Engineers, the developers and designers of hardware and software systems Systems analysts, who adapt new technologies in response to specific business and organizational requirements Computer programmers, the professionals responsible for writing and maintaining software according to the detailed instructions developed by Systems Analysts, 7 Appendix II Appendix II: Interviews - Selection Guidelines 7.1 Interview Types 1. Unstructured Panel Interviews: A panel interview may be generally defined as an interview which is conducted by two or three interviewers at the same time, following which they combine their quantitative interview scores for assessment of the candidate's suitability. What this means is that the job candidate is asked a series of questions by two or three interviewers, each of which independently assess him and then combine their assessments to produce a final evaluation of the candidate. The unstructured setting implies that the interviewees, or the panel conducting the interview, do not follow a set format or read off a list of questions. The unstructured setting means that the interview may take any direction as the panel is licensed to ask follow up question and pursue different lines of interest as they are raised. 2. Structured Sequential Interviews: A structured interview differs significantly from the above in one key area. Namely, within the context of a structured interview, the list of question are agreed upon and established in advance of the interview itself and the applicant or candidate is evaluating in accordance with the appropriateness of his response. Hence, from here we can determine that a structured sequential interview refers 3. Job Related Structured Interviews: In this form of interview, and as stated in the above, the interview proceeds from a list of predetermined questions. However, the job related structural interview focuses almost exclusively on the candidate's suitability to a particular job as determined by his or her past experiences. No hypothetical questions are asked as the interview focuses entirely on suitability to a particular job. Such suitability is generally evaluated through the responses given to questions regarding particular courses taken at university and previous job experience. 7.2 Structured vs Unstructured Interviews While both structured and unstructured interviews have the positive and their negative aspects, the fact remains that structured interviews are often a more reliable guide for predicting job performance than are unstructured interviews. One of the reasons for this lies in the fact that because the questions are predetermined and set, they are asked of all applicants. This lends to the greater reliability and validity of the selection process because it implies that all candidates are evaluated on a unified or consistent basis. Another of the reasons for the greater validity of the mentioned interview type is that it reduces the tension and stress that candidates may be feeling. Generally speaking, job applicants tend to approach job interviews with anxiety. Unstructured interviews add to that anxiety as the candidate is led from one question to the other and asked to elaborate on answers given. What this means is that the format of this type of interview increases anxiety leading to the candidate's possibility inability to offer coherent or well-considered replies. The replies, quite simply stated, may be distorted due to the stress the candidate feels. In contrast, the structured interview reduces stress that candidates may feel and, as such, help them present more coherent and, hence, much more reliable and valid responses. It is precisely due to these considerations that the structured interview may provide the responses necessary to better, or more accurately predict job performance than an unstructured interview will do. 7.3 Situational vs. Behavioural Interviews A situational interview may best be defined as one in which the candidate is asked hypothetical questions regarding response to hypothetical situations. For example, in a situational interview, the candidate may be asked about his potential reaction to a regularly tardy subordinate. His or her response to what they would do if one of their subordinates regularly comes to work late will go a long way in evaluating the candidate's suitability and more importantly, will give a clear indication of the candidate's possible job performance. This type of interview contrasts sharply with behavioral interviews which ask candidates how they reacted in the past to such a situation, or with job related interviews which try to deduce potential performance and reaction on the basis of experience. Hence, in contrasting all three one may note that the situational interview will probably yield a higher mean variety because the behavioral interview does not account for the fact that the candidate may have learnt from past reactions. Similarly, a job related interview hardy gives an indication of the stated. Therefore, from this perspective we may conclude that because of its very structure and the nature of the questions asked, situational interviews will yield a higher mean variety. 7.4 Interviewing Mistakes and Avoidance 1. Lack of Structure: A common mistake is the conducting of interviews which lack structure and focus, wit the consequence effectively being time wasted as irrelevant questions and answers are voiced. Therefore, it is necessary, both for the goal of time management and reliability of interviews, that the interviewer structures his interviews. That doe not mean that the interviewer has to follow the structured format but that even if he opts for the unstructured format, he is to focus his questions on issues relevant to the actual job's duties. This will minimize both irrelevancy and bias. 2. Untrained Interviewer: A second common mistake is to send an untrained person into the interview room. Not only does the likelihood of the interview being stressful increase, as the interviewer lacks the skills to put the candidate a ease, but the consequent tension will reduce the reliability and validity of the responses. In addition to that, but an untrained interviewer can be the source of problems to the extent that he may ask questions which may be interpreted as discriminatory against race or gender. Over and above, the untrained interviewer will not be able to conduct an efficient interview as would serve as a guide for selection. Therefore, to avoid this it is necessary for both the HR department to train its interviewers and for the interviewer himself to prepare for the interview. 3. Interview Gets Out of Control: In an unstructured interview, it is very easy for the interview to fall from without the control of the interviewer. As questions are open ended and one question may lead to others and yet others which are further and further away from the focus of the interview, the interview produced could be unusable as a basis for applicant selection. Not only that but as applicants have the opportunity to elaborate upon answers, they could actually take control of the direction of the interview. Hence, in order to avoid this, it is absolutely necessary that the interviewer maintain control over the interview by using a number of guidelines. Firstly, the interviewer must limit the number of follow up questions to avoid the interview moving away from its focus. Secondly, the interviewer must prevent questions from the candidates until the end of the interview. Thirdly, the interviewer must have a direction and format for his interview and must be aware of the nature of the job that applicants are applying for. This would allow interviewers to maintain control over the interview. 4. Not Ending the Interview Correctly: Jus as it is important to conduct the interview efficiently, it is imperative to close the interview properly and on a positive note. One can avoid making the mistake of not properly closing an interview by doing two things. First, the interviewer must leave enough time at the end for the candidate to ask whatever question he needs or to elaborate on a particular point. Second the interviewer must end the interview on a positive note, informing the interviewee or candidate of the next step and whether he will be informed of the decision in writing or personally and, above all, whether if rejected he will be given the reason. This prevents misunderstanding and aids even the rejected candidates in assessing the firm's selection process as fair. 5. Making subjective Judgments: As all humans, interviewers are prone to making snap judgments and to evaluating candidates on the basis of first impressions. This can imply that good candidates, even the best, may be overlooked. To avoid that, the interviewer can avoid behavioural type interviews and may, additionally and advisedly, review the interview notes following the interview in order to highlight certain points, while the interview is fresh in the interviewer's mind. That will avoid snap judgments and subjectivity which are common mistakes. Read More