Labor Relations and Recruitment Know-How - Coursework Example

Labor Relations and Recruitment Know-How Abstract The paper examines recruitment and selection in the HR process. Aspects such as online recruitment, recruitment best practices, the pros and cons and other specific features of recruitment and selection in HR management is analysed. Introduction: In any organization, the process of recruitment and selection is the most important function. Several issues need to be taken into consideration in order to find the right candidate that will be suitable in a particular job description. With most job descriptions having generalists and specialists it becomes all the more important that the process of recruitment and selection is clearly defined. The design of the recruitment process must be attractive enough to encourage job seekers to apply, to be able to select the best suited candidate for the job description (Meister, 2014). Before we dive deep into the selection and recruitment it is very much necessary for us to understand what selection is and what competencies are. The selection process is designed in such a way that it can help the interviewer to identify the right candidate and have the potential to benefit from the program and become the leaders of tomorrow. Today the selection process starts with the online application form, which helps in selecting the right candidate as per the qualification and experience. In the context of the essay selection is referred to as the selection interview, which is nothing but a process where a personnel selector observes a candidate through the behaviour and attitude for the suitability of the post. It is the most necessary step in the recruitment process of any organization. The main skill that goes hand-in-hand with selection is to observe or assess the competencies of the candidate to judge the fitment of the position. Competencies are nothing but the ability to a job successfully yet efficiently. In today’s corporate world competency is the main skillset that the recruiter would look into a candidate during the selection process. Modern day employers give great importance to the competencies of the candidates that they are interviewing for the position. They use the competency frameworks as an essential vehicle to assess the potential future effectiveness of the candidate and also help the interviewer to review capability, performance and potential of the employee. Two types of competencies that the interviewer would like to see in a potential candidate are behavioural and technical competencies. The competency based approach help the interviewer to asses various skills in the candidate. The competency framework that the modern day employers generally use usually contains not more than 12 competencies. The most widely used competencies used by the employers are communication, leadership, teamwork, customer service, result orientation and problem solving. Recruitment Approaches: The process of recruitment may be done by the in-house HR Managers or by a Recruitment Agency or even by a Recruitment Broker. The purpose of most organizations using all the different types of resources for the recruitment process is to be able to get the best candidates that the industry offers on their terms and compensation package.(Deligiannis,2012) The Process of Recruitment and Selection: The process starts with the organization identifying the needs of the organization. Once the needs are identified, the job description has to be prepared. This is traditionally done by the HR Departments of the organizations, but in a cost cutting exercise the Managers of the different departments design the job description that is necessary for the department. Once the job description has been defined, the vacancy is placed in publications, provided for internal candidates, given to college campuses, recruitment brokers are informed, recruitment agencies are informed and the in house Hr Department socially contacts available candidates who may be working in other organizations and are looking for a change. (Formunjong,2013) From the applications that are received, the list of candidates is shortlisted and the shortlisted candidates are informed of the date of the telephone interview or the personal interview. Before the interview a general test construct questionnaire is sent normally by email for the short listed candidates to fill out in order to understand the temperament and the psychology of the candidate. ( Messick,1995). On the date of the interview the HR Managers arrange the panel that will be interviewing, making sure that the necessary facilities for the candidates and the panel are available at the venue, every candidate’s resume has been given to the members of the pane which should ideally consist of 3 to 5 members. When the candidates arrive they are placed at ease, made to sit as the interviews take place and the selection process starts. The selected candidates are normally verbally informed of the appointment and after the medical examination that is compulsory is completed the appointment letter is handed over to the selected candidate. Competency-based approach for recruitment is the process that is based on the ability of candidates to produce anecdotes about their professional experience that can be used as evidence about the candidate has a given competency. Candidates demonstrate competencies on the application form and then in the interview, which in this case is known as a competency-based interview. The intent of this approach is to be fairer than the other recruitment process, which is done by laying down required competencies in the beginning followed by testing them in such a way that interviewer has little discretion to favour one candidate over another. This approach is highly focused towards the story-telling abilities of the candidates and take this as an indication of competency and also disfavours other indications of a candidate's skills and potential, such as references. As far as the best practices of this approach is concerned, having established the competency profiles for groups and roles, organizations can use the competencies as the standards for assessing candidates throughout the screening and selection process as well as advertising and communicating the organization’s requirements to potential applicants. As far as the modern best practices are concerned some of the common benchmark competency-based practices in Recruitment and Selection include notices or adverts of job requirements, interview and reference checking guides, template interview and reference checking guides, competency-based track record or portfolio reviews, other competency-based assessment methodologies and training on competency-based selection to the HR managers and recruitment professionals. While handling over the letter the HR Manager clearly defines the role to the selected candidate, makes it clear what is expected from the candidate, asks what are the essential support systems that the candidate will need to fulfill the job description successfully and makes arrangements for the requirements. During the same meeting the candidate is asked to specify what he or she expects from the organization and what types of training and development programs would the candidate like to participate in. When these formalities are completed, the candidate is taken by the HR Manager to visit the different units of the organization and to be introduced to the units. The contractual agreement that is signed is handed over with the appointment letter which clearly defines the salary, taxation, benefits, bonuses and all the conditions that need to be fulfilled by the candidate. The Code of Ethics and Conduct is handed to the candidate as printed matter to read and understand thoroughly before taking on the responsibilities of the job description for which the candidate has been selected. (Darling 2007) The Concepts of Recruitment and Selection: The Foundational Concept Approach is based on Abraham Maslow’s Theory of fulfilling the needs of an individual and providing the essential need for security through the process of compensation packages in order to pay for the value of the labor. ( Dargai, 2010) The Competency Theory: the recruitment and the selection process is based on the theoretical value of the competency of a candidate to full fill successfully the job description for which a candidate has been selected. There are basically four stages of competence that a candidate would go through during the selection and recruitment process. However, the competences might not be related to every individual who goes through the recruitment process. The four stages of competence are as follows: 1. Unconscious incompetence – In this stage the individual does not know or understand the way of doing things and could not necessarily recognize the deficit. There are chances that the candidate might deny the usefulness of a very basic yet essential skill during the selection and recruitment process. 2. Conscious incompetence – This is the incompetence wherein the candidate can recognize the deficit even though he or she does not understand how to do something. In this scenario the candidate is well aware of the value of the new skills in addressing the difficulties. 3. Conscious competence – In this situation the candidate is well aware of what needs to be done and demonstrate knowledge or skills that require concentration. This can further be broken down to several other steps and heavy consciousness is involved in executing the new skills. 4. Unconscious competence – This theory explains that an individual practices a particular skill so much that it becomes a “second nature” and they can perform the task easily. There are chances that the individual can teach the skill to others depending upon the time and place of learning the skills. The Theory of Binning & Barrett: This is a model that is based on three approaches and each approach is intertwined to be able to understand the levels of achievement that a candidate can show when the constructs are variable and changed to different working environments. This is the most current method that is being used in the recruitment and selection process in all countries today. The researchers developed the model for personnel decision research. They were the foundation builder of today’s recruitment and selection process. According to them the theories that they coined were the approaches to establish the validity of predictor measures. The main aim of their theory is to find the connection between the Predictor Measure and Performance Domain. The three approaches that make the Theory of Binning & Barrett are: Content-related Approach that deals with the resume and the qualifications which make up the content criterion of the recruitment process. In this approach the validity is established by using only the predictor measure. This is the simplest way in the recruitment process where two points are linked to each other. In the selection after receiving the resume of a candidate the recruitment executive checks the relation of the resume pertaining to the job posted and ensures the validity of the data in the resume. Criterion-related Approach is the aspect of the recruitment and selection process that deals with the need to fit the job description in order to perform for the organization. In the practical experience this is generally done by interacting with the candidate post screening of the resume in order to know more about the current profile of the candidate. This helps in assessing if the candidate has the right exposure and experience that is required for the position. Construct-related Approach is the aspect of recruitment and selection in this theory which deals with the aptitude domain. To measure this, a Predictor Measure is used and the domain criterion of this measure is the performance domain. The Theory of Psychological Construct has been given the most importance and is the primary area that is measured because of the high level of work pressure, results and achievements that are expected by an organization from a candidate. (Binning & Barrett,1989) Examples: The recruitment process in banking industry follows the latest theory of Binning & Barrett. The competency theory with modifications is used by the automobile organizations that have a global market share. In the food and beverages industry the two largest competitors Coca Cola and Pepsi lay emphasis on the Criterion Approach of the theory. Hospitality industries base their recruitment and selection process mostly on Maslow’s Theory and social skills such as Sheraton, Mandarin – Oriental, Taj group of Hotels. The objective of following the right processes in recruitment and selection is to ensure that the human capital that is being obtained through exploration and identification in different organizations is a capital that can be accumulated and not lost over a prolonged period of time. In order to encourage the human capital which in turn means performance for the organization the theories and concepts are being modified and re-defined with the changing business environment. With globalization and global competition it has increasingly difficult to retain talent in any organization. If after training and development another organization reaps the benefits because they have successful recruited the employee the loss to the organization is far greater that the loss of revenue. This makes it necessary to have the correct processes in recruitment and selection in order to be able to attract the best talent, select the best talent and the most important part is retain the selected talent. (Dubois, Rothwell,2004) Source:http://www.inostix.com/blog/en/4-challenges-with-predictive-employee-turnover-analytics/ The illustration of the Predictor Measure for the Performance Domain shows the method that is used in the recruitment and selection process currently. (Inostix,2014) Source: Yu Chong, Ho; Reliability and Validity; (2005) The above predictor measure is for the psychological domain which is given greater importance in today’s business environment than the content or performance domain measures. The purpose of the Predictor Indices is to measure the temporal stability of candidates to be able to understand the form equivalence, the internal consistency and the inter-rater reliability. The consequences of confusion in replication and face validity cause confusion if there are too many measurement indices. (Yo,2005) Conclusion: With more and more talented people opting to become entrepreneurs in the global business environment it is becoming difficult to find talent that is of a high quality, knows business and social etiquette and can command a presence. The recruitment and selection processes should be attractive enough to lure talent to stay and not branch out as entrepreneurs. If the process is stringent then the quality that is substandard and inferior will not pass the criteria and will save the organization money during the recruitment and selection process. The cost of employing and the cost of performance must be in ratio. It is highly recommended to include Group Tasks as well Competence Module classes that defines the sets of tasks and competences. However, it needs to be kept in mind that the Competency class should be to address the requirement and the knowledge area that should belong to certain curriculum module. If the approach of the competency theories is properly followed for the recruitment and selection process the selection will get eased out and the industries will be able to recruit the best fitted talent to the pool. References: Binning, J.F. & Barrett G.V. (1989) Validity of Personnel Decisions: A Conceptual Analysis of Inferential and Evidential Bases, Journal of Applied Psychology 74(3) pp: 478-494 Dargai, Gabor. (2010) Theoretical Background of Competency – based Recruitment & Selection pp:1-20 Thesis Darling, Peter. (August 2007) Disabilities and the Workplace, Business NM Magazine 24(8) pp: 28 Deligianni, Nick C. (April- June 2012) Sharing Our Recruitment Know-How, Hays Quarterly Report Dubois, D.D & Rothwell, W.J. (2004) Competency Based Human Resources Management, Davies-Black Publication Formunjong, M Godwill. (2013). Strategic Human Resources Management & Labor Relations, Thesis, available at: https//:gupea.ub.gu.se, University of Gothenburg, Department of Social Sciences Inostix (September 1 2014) Four Challenges with Predictive Employee Turnover Analytics, HR Analytics Messick, S.( 1995) Validity of Psychological Assessment: Validation of Inferences from Persons’ Responses & performance as Scientific Enquiry into Scoring Meaning, American Psychologist, Chapter 9 pp: 741 -749 Meister, Jeanne. (January 16th 2014) The Year Social HR Matters, Article, Forbes Magazine Yu Ho Chong. ( 2005) Reliability and Validity, American Psychologist Vol 23 (16) pp : 3-72 Read More