Recruiting , Selecting and Orienting the Right People - Research Paper Example

Recruitment, Selection and Orientation Introduction Human assets are now the forerunners of success in every business as they manage and control all other secondary resources in an organization. As such, identification and hiring competent and skilled people at work is not an easy task anymore. Proper forecasting, job analysis and preliminary activities are required to be completed to get the best out of the lot (Dessler 2008). This paper examines the tasks and strategies needed to be able to find people for key positions in a medium-sized high tech firm facing stiff competition. Background Before heading on to the task of defining and chalking out appropriate strategies, it is essential to take a careful and descriptive look at what factors are being presented by the current environment and what constraints might put hurdles in selection of one strategy or the other. Also, some factors might support the choice of one or more strategies for recruitment, selection or induction. As given, the organization in question is medium-sized high technology firm. It obviates the need to incorporate cost effectiveness in the process of recruitment, selection and orientation because being a technology intensive firm; it would not like its majority of funds to be invested in other organizational activities. Technology is fast changing and investment needs to be done to remain competitive in the technological market. Furthermore, prevailing situations reinforce the need of people who are zealous and ambitious to take on more responsibilities and carry on multitasking as job duties will change with every single project assigned. Instance of stiff competition highlights the scarcity of skilled people in the labor market and as such, securing cost effectiveness in the entire process will be a mammoth task. Recruitment Theoretically, recruitment is a positive drive of creating pool of competent candidates which are found to have fulfilled the job criteria and possess the necessary qualifications and abilities. Before proceeding for actual recruitment, it is first necessary to find out the demand. In this regard, forecasting will be done by use of computerized system which is obvious in a high technology firm. There are a number of recruitment techniques to choose from. However, their applicability differs on parameters of cost, effectiveness and relevance. The figure below depicts the most common recruitment techniques: RECRUITMENT (Searching Sources of labor) Internal sources External sources Rehiring Succession planning Transfer Promotion Internet recruitment Advertisement Employment agencies Educational institutions Labor contractors Management consultants Fig. 1: Recruitment techniques Under recruitment, the organization is presented with an opportunity to choose from external or internal modes. Though both of them have their specific advantages and disadvantages, yet no singular mode can help achieve the goals. As such, a combination of techniques in both the modes has to be adopted. While internal sources ensure quality, cost effectiveness and ease of process, external sources bring in innovation, enthusiasm, spirit and creativity. For the organization in question, its medium size calls for internal sources while competition and technology compel the use of external sources. As already known, both managerial and technological positions have to be filled. As such, it is feasible to fill in the managerial and executive grade through internal recruitment techniques and the latter through external means. Managerial positions Managerial positions require decision making abilities, good communication and interpersonal skills and some leadership qualities also. Using internal sources would be practical in this case as existing employees are already accustomed with the company culture, the policies, regulations and have gained good experience working with the clients of the organization. They are now in a position to lead and influence the newly inducted candidates. Keeping this thing in mind, promotions and succession planning will be adopted as the company has already witnessed the abilities of the employees. It will further work as a motivator to the selected employees and groom up their personality and bonding with the organization. Use of replacement charts will be made in this regard as it will clearly demonstrate the improvement and skills added to the employees and will facilitate matching of the position with the candidate. Transfers can be resorted to only when it is cross departmental recruitment in managerial grade only. Technical transfers cannot be termed as feasible because of the technical qualifications constraints and also it is not sure as to whether the organization can provide appropriate technical training for it. Technical positions Going with the prevailing situation at the firm, competition is due to fast changing technology and scarcity of skilled and competent people in the market. As such, external sources are the best to capture the talent. In this light, use of internet recruitment and educational institutions will be done. This choice is supported by two main reasons. First is the cost effectiveness involved in both the techniques and the second is the creative and adept workforce who can be targeted by these means. Being a high-technology firm, the organization is already equipped of the requisite knowledge, systems and people to place advertisements and calls on internet which will attract maximum eye balls of potential candidates. Further, it is a very cost effective means of creating the talent pool (Stelzner n.d). Educational institutes offer fresh minds with creative instincts and high ambitions which can be used very well by the organization in its favor. Further, regular recruiting with educational institutes ensures top breed of candidates attracted because the college management also develops confidence in the organization and recommends its best students to be recruited. This will ensure quality recruitment in the future also (Curtain 1997). Use of other techniques like agencies, consultants and contractors suffer from two major drawbacks. First is the expenditure involved inclusive of commissions and other fee. Secondly, other competitors might also be in touch with the selected contractor or agency and possibilities of strategic plans getting leaked out cannot be denied. Selection After recruitment process, next step is that of selection which aims at eliminating non-competent candidates from the pool of talent created. It is sort of a negative approach because rejection is more than acceptance in this process. While recruitment was meant to provide a snapshot of the organization and vacancies to the external world, selection is aimed at analyzing every single aspect of candidates’ personalities to decide whether they match with the job description or not. Factors to be considered While screening candidates for selection, a number of aspects of their attitude, personality and behavior are to be judged closely to get a feel of their mental predisposition and their alignment with the job. Selection of a wrong candidate who has no interest in the job can lead to complete wastage of the entire recruitment and selection process. The table below enlists the prominent and most frequently looked after factors to be considered while putting people on job. Proficiency and ability Experience and qualifications Competency Capacity to learn and gain knowledge Character and temperament Intellect, loyalty, honesty, trust worthiness, etc. Interest Attraction and love for the job Fig. 2: Factors to be considered for selection From the above list, factors of proficiency, competency, character and temperament and interest are the most important while looking for an apt candidate. This is so because the organization in question needs technically competent people and ability to learn and add on skills is the first priority in this regard. Also, interest is another factor which keeps the spirit of learning intact. In case of selection of managerial candidates, personal characteristics like character, temperament and proficiency will matter the most as the position demands influential and commanding personality, decision making ability and qualities of loyalty and honesty to look forward in the direction of growth for the organization. It is worth mentioning here that explicit use of criteria such as age, sex or other discriminatory factors can lead to legal repercussions as per the employment and labor laws. Therefore, such practices are advised to be done away with to ensure fair and just policies at work. Selection procedure Selection procedure in organizations vary according to their size, requirement and cost involved in every step. In this case, major thrust is on getting technically qualified candidates who have been recruited from educational institutions and internet sites. Since recruitment is being done from educational institutes and internet, sort of preliminary elimination is already done because of the fact that only top rankers would be recommended to the organization. In this case, the selection procedure will take the following format: Employment tests will include intelligence, aptitude, technical, interest and personality tests which will be supported by the academic record of the candidates. Through interview, communication skills will be judged and other details provided by the candidate will be cross-checked for validation and confirmation. Reference checking is necessary to ensure and investigate if a candidate has got any previous experience with other employer and his track record. Medical examination is necessitated by the fact that it will reduce illegal medical claims and ensure candidates on board who are physically fit to undergo regular training sessions. Orientation Orientation is the process whereby newly hired candidates are introduced to their peers, supervisors and bosses, colleagues and organizational culture as a whole. It is a planned effort to align the frequency of hired candidates with that of organizational objectives and practices. Without acquaintance and adjustment, hired employees feel hesitated to work in the new workplace environment and this often leads to lack of commitment by the employee. In case of employees who have been promoted from within, induction or orientation is not required because they are already accustomed with the organizational culture, value system and on-going practices. However, they have to be given an overview of the new job responsibilities and added duties by the respective department heads. Termed as socialization process, the orientation of newly recruited will proceed in the following stages: The pre-arrival stage will encompass factual and descriptive information sharing with the selected candidates. It will include telling the employees about their general daily routine at work, organization’s history, products and services, objectives, operations, contribution of employees’ job to the organization, employee benefits, policies and other work related features (Decenzo 2009, p.201). This will help develop aligned expectations in the minds of employees and fit well with the organizational culture. The encounter stage will involve actual socialization process for newly hired. For this purpose, formal and collective orientation programme will be put in place so that every single candidate is trained homogeneously. Individual orientation leads to development of individual perspectives and is also a time consuming and expensive venture (Arthur 1995, p.43). For promoted employees from within, serial orientation will follow because there will be few instances of such promotions and only guidance is needed for such candidates which can be provided by an experienced mentor in the respective department (Durai 2010, p.184). Apart from the orientation training, regular on-the-job and off-the-job training will constitute an integral component of human resources practices at the organization because features of medium sized and stiff competition always compel the need to stay cost effective and this could be achieved by harnessing the qualities and skill set of existing candidates. It retains the in-house talent and also avoids extra hiring and recruitment costs which are almost twice or thrice of training costs. Further, loyalty and low employee turnover is achieved through such arrangements which finally provide a competitive edge against rivals. Conclusion Currently, a few restrictions are placed on the organization owing to its size and turbulences in the employee market due to competition. Though recruitment and selection are strategic decisions, yet actions have to be taken judiciously because of the technology intensive feature of the organization which also calls for huge investments for sustenance and growth. As such, major impetus is placed in internal recruitment solving the problems of competition, costs and retention of talent. In the future course of action, knowledge management systems can be implemented when restrictions of cost are not so intense and organizational culture has also developed. References Arthur, D. (1995). Managing human resources in small and mid-sized companies. New York: AMACOM. Curtain, R. (1997). Using technician level skills to overcome skills shortages in leading edge exporters. Australian Vocational Education Review, 4, (1). Decenzo. (2009). Fundamentals of Human Resources Management. 8th Ed. India: Wiley Dessler, G. (2008). Human Resource Management. 11th Ed. Pearson: Prentice Hall. Durai, P. (2010). Human Resource Management. Noida: Dorling Kindersley. Stelzner, M. (n.d). The effect of high tech solutions and social networking on the recruiting process. Retrieved 26 Jan, 2011 from http://www.shrm.org/Research/FutureWorkplaceTrends/Documents/Spotlight%20Q2%202010.pdf Read More