Recruitment and Selection - Selection Interviews and Applicants Skills, Educational Qualification vs Experience - Essay Example

Recruitment and Selection Name Course Name and Code Instructor’s Name Date Executive Summary Human Resource Management is and essentially important aspect of any organization; the latter is responsible for different important activities of the organization. For example, the recruitment and selection of employees, orientation, training, motivation and appropriately remunerating them to ensure that company’s operations are in line with its mission. Recruitment and selection is a HRM activity that ensures the organization recruits and selects the right individual for the job. This process is a challenging process that must be undertaken with extreme precaution to ensure the right individual is selected for the job. This report discusses three challenges associated with recruitment and selection of an employee as well as provides an interview that helps understanding these challenges in a real world perspective. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Major Challenges 5 Selection interviews and applicant’s skills 6 Educational Qualification vs. Experience 8 Skills Shortage and Company Reputation 9 Interview 10 Critical Review 15 Conclusion 17 References 18 Introduction Human resource management is the process of hiring and developing employees to become valuable assets to the organization (Schuler and Jackson, 2008). It is the management of the organization’s human resources or workforce. For this matter, HRM is tasked with attracting, selecting, training, assessment and rewarding of employees together with overseeing organizational leadership and culture to ensure that the organization complies with labour and employment laws and regulations (Trevor et al., 2009). It is vitally important to note that HRM involves conduction of job analysis, planning personnel needs, recruiting the right individuals for the job, orient and training, managing employee remunerations including salaries and wages, providing incentives and benefits, evaluating employee performance, dispute resolutions as well as communicating with employees across all organizational management levels. Organizations’ competitiveness is measured through quality products and services that it offers to its clients which are unique from others hence the best and outstanding services offered to customers is as a result of the best and genius brains working behind them. In this regard, Human Resource is a vitally important entity in any organization. Employee selection is a critical HR process that organizations must undertake cautiously and strategically in order to hire the right person for the job. Recruitment is the process of identifying and determining the organization needs to employ, attract the best manpower. Employee selection on the other hand is the processes of interviewing and evaluating candidates for a particular job and selecting an individual for employment based on the set criteria. Employee selection is a critical aspect of running the business successfully. For instance, organizations need employees with capacities to address critical business needs. Globalization has made the world to be extremely dynamic, causing every aspect of life to change rapidly (Price, 2011). The business environment has been one among the highly impacted sectors; due to this, they have to device means of responding aptly to the requirements of people. It is highly important to get it right when recruiting and selecting employee. This process is mired with a myriad of challenges that companies face when trying to get the right person for the job. This report discusses the challenges that Human Resource face when recruiting and selecting the best employees for the organization. Similarly, the paper will provide interview information as well as give a critical analysis of the selection process. Major Challenges The employee selection and his/her final placement is based on several factors that the organization must consider including: the skill level, work and educational experience, interview results, references, and consideration with regard to the hiring department and the employment service department (ABUQAYYAS, 2011). For this reason, employers must screen their applicants appropriately; assumptions of an applicant being honest should not at any cost be relied on. Following this observation, employee selection process is a challenging task facing the human resource personnel. When this department does not get it right from the beginning, then the whole process would be an expensive waste of resources and time for the organization as well as the candidates. A selection process demands for identifying strengths, motivation and fit of a potential employee. When the company manages to get the mentioned three qualities, then the company will be highly positioned to recruit successful personnel into the organization (Armstrong, 2011). Conversely, it is important to note that there are various challenges that HR managers must address in order to be able to achieve above identified criteria and eventually select the best and qualified employee for the company. These challenges are discussed below: Selection interviews and applicant’s skills The selection process has a singular objective of finding the best and suitable person for the job by subjecting job applicants to a series of questions/answers, discussions, and testing (Dainty & Loosemore, 2013). Critiques of this employee selection technique have criticized its effectiveness the selection interview. Although selection interviews are the most favoured and highly used by recruiters and line managers, it has been established that there is enough evidence suggesting that the technique is not as effective as it is regarded to be (ABUQAYYAS, 2011). Interviews are either structured or unstructured; it has been observed that when the interview process is unstructured, it has a flawed predictive accuracy of how the candidate is most likely to behave in the working environment. Some things can hardly be measured by an interview including ones technical skills, intelligence, team skills, physical skills and attitude (Cooper & Burke, 2011). Consequently, in some interview scenarios, the interview questions are not directly linked to the needed skills. When formulating the interview questions it is also important to consider how the questions will be posed to the interviewee; for instance will it be based on behaviour or situations? Behavioural questions require the interviewee to recall past behaviour; relying on historical information to predict the future (Mayrhofer, Brewster & Morley, 2013). Some interviews are usually designed to cover what really happened in the past. It should be noted that how one accomplished something yesterday might not exactly work in the todays or future occurrences (Nel et al., 2012). Situational questions on the other hand, focus on the applicants’ ability to be future oriented while also anticipating how they can act in a given situation. Accordingly, some interviews are inherently misleading; most interviewers presume that during the interview all candidates are acting normally as well as telling the truth. To the contrary, most applicants are scared to death before, during, and after the interviews. The situations within which interviews are usually undertaken are not real; it is not a real job situation and hence what happens during the interview might not exactly represent what one can actually do on the job. Many are cases where, interviews are designed to find faults in the applicants rather than finding their positive aspects and potential skills they posses. In addition, non-job related factors influence the interviewers’ decision; there are numerous subjective factors including the applicant’s body language, accent, height, grooming, and coming late have a direct impact and thus may be a distraction to the answers provided. Similarly, the demographic factors sex, race, and nation of origin can also affect the results (ABUQAYYAS, 2011). In some occasions, the candidates may say what the interviewing panel wants to hear; they provide answers that they strongly believe that interviewers want to hear instead of the most accurate answers in accordance the skills they have. In this regard, they lie and omit key facts: it is unfortunate that interviewers also do the same. Educational Qualification vs. Experience Across the world, companies heavily concentrate and rely on applicant qualifications to select a potential employee. For example, if the company is in need of an accountant, then applicants must poses the needed accounting skills and qualifications in order for him/her to legally do the job. Similarly, if the company is need of a corporate administrator, then the applicant must poses skills and qualifications needed for corporate administration. This is determined by evaluating the applicant’s educational accomplishments in that particular field. Despite of this set criteria, employers and companies alike miss exceptional and outstanding candidates since they may not have the desired high educational accomplishments that are perceived to be the ultimate requirement of the job. In the today’s corporate world, employers crave for applicants experience rather than educational qualifications that are at times difficult to prove and determine competency in (ABUQAYYAS, 2011). Various countries have qualification frameworks that are very instrumental to employers particularly during employee recruitment process; however, these frameworks have been proved unreliable. For this matter, it vitally essential for recruiters and line managers to look at the bigger picture of the candidate rather than disqualifying someone because he/she doesn’t have or meet the educational qualification threshold. Recruiters and line managers for this matter should place extreme emphasis on the behavioural and personality traits of the applicant. In this regard, they should focus on the candidate’s job history, titles and education; sometimes, employers forget that they are looking for somebody who fits or will fit in the organization. However, there are many questions looming about what recruiters look for in fresh candidates. In some instances, it wholly depends on the type of organization. Secondly, the stamp of an institute might offer an added advantage. Conversely, it should be noted that, the relevant experience is extremely essential and important when determining the best candidate for the job. Private organizations differentiate employee bands with regard to qualifications or minimum years of experience. This observation therefore implies that educational qualification and ones experience are vitally important when selecting the right person for employment. Organizations must choose rightly while also keeping in mind the company’s own capabilities and strengths. Skills Shortage and Company Reputation Recruiters in most cases are vastly frustrated particularly if they do not manage to get quality and highly qualified candidates to meet the needs of the company (Bratton, 2010). Line managers are the heavily affected individuals especially when trying to create teams that work together cohesively and effectively. The needs for meeting specific company obligations are continuously changing, and the lack of qualified individuals who are flexible to adapt to change usually paralyses the recruitment and selection activities; similarly finding an ideal applicant for the job can be extremely difficult. The above mentioned facts have directed companies the world over to emphasize on the organization’s reputation. For instance, companies are working hard to position themselves as employer of choice in order to attract extensively experienced and qualified candidates from which they can select the best for the job (ABUQAYYAS, 2011). Across the globe it is evident that companies compete for talented employees in order to efficiently run their businesses; the war of talents has made it critical for organizations to attract the highest quality candidates and as a significant part of this is ensuring potential applicants view the organization as the better place to work. A company that designs and uses a recruitment website has an upper hand in attracting highly qualified candidates having all the educational qualifications and experiences required (Fottler, Khatri & Savage, 2010). In situations where there are only a few major players who all exceptional and qualified individual want to work for while the rest are left with under-qualified group of individuals or candidates to select from, industries struggle to gain competitive advantage. Organizations with outstanding and appealing public image or reputation always attract candidates with superb skills including educational experiences and experience, for this matter they can only select the best as well have the positional capacity to approach high level performing managers together with senior executives. Without a good public image, companies face a hurdle in getting people with experience and management skills to execute the projects (ABUQAYYAS, 2011). It is vitally important to note that not all jobs require a professional qualification, or even the evidence of intelligence a degree could provide. Interview Mr. Lalindra Silva is the subject of this report; he is the Support Manager at Woolworths Supermarket/Grocery. The company specializes in selling supermarket related products and groceries. Woolworths is among the largest supermarkets and retail chains in Australia. Mr. Lalindra has extensive knowledge with regard to designing and conducting interviews as well as recruiting and selecting employees for his department. He was instrumental in giving extensive and interesting information with regard to the employee selection process; for instance he provided information on how to determine different qualities and characters of a good employee. These include ability to handle stress, adaptability, analytic skill and/or problem solving, attention to detail, client focus and/or customer orientation, communication, creativity, decision making, goal setting, initiative, integrity, interpersonal skills, leadership, planning and organization, negotiation, teamwork, and tenacity. With regard to the above, the interview questions were based on the employee selection as well as the insights into the managers’ perception particularly when they want to select an employee who perfectly the company requirements. The following are the questions for the interview together with questions acquired from it. 1. Which department do you head sir? Support Department 2. As a manager at Woolworths, what is your exact role in employee recruitment? I have been tasked with various roles over my stay here, first of all, whenever there is need for recruiting a new employee into the department, I always consult the line managers to identify the exact needs of the department, evaluate the working conditions and employee aptitudes. Secondly, I forward the identified needs to the HR department who then float job advertisement in the major newspapers and the company recruitment website. The finally, I also help the recruitment team to design the interview questions. 3. I understand you are vastly involved in the selection of employees for your department, what are the core values that you look for in a potential employee? The main attributes that I strongly emphasize on are: ability to handle stress, adaptability, analytic skill and/or problem solving, attention to detail, client focus and/or customer orientation, communication, creativity, decision making, goal setting, initiative, integrity, interpersonal skills, leadership, planning and organization, negotiation, teamwork, and tenacity. 4. In matters of employee selection you have been applauded by your colleagues, what kind of training did you receive in selecting the right employees for your department? You know when you are in management you can easily identify what skills and experiences the company needs and use it design your selection criteria. Similarly, my second educational degree is in employee recruitment, selection and placement. In addition, I have attended several Human Resource Management Seminars. With regard to this, I can say that I have pretty vast knowledge with regard to this matter. 5. The Human Resource department plays a vital role in selecting company employees, how do you manage to work effectively as well as take part in employee selection? The HR department as I have already mentioned, are very effective and cooperative in this whole exercise; for instance, they have developed the company’s recruitment and selection strategy that act as a guideline in all company’s employee selection processes. 6. Is the HR department approachable and supportive? Our HR department has been and still is instrumental in all our company’s recruitment and selection of employees. They are very instrumental. 7. What are the approaches for selecting the best employee? Hurdle and Compensatory approaches. 8. Which approach do you prefer most? The multiple hurdle approach process is the best as it involves pre-employment inquiries, application forms, background investigations, initial screening interviews, work sample tests as well as interviews. 9. Are candidates’ biographical factors including hobbies, life experiences, and sports important in the selection process? Not really, our selection is primarily based on experience and educational qualification. 10. What was your best experience in employee selection if any? I have had various best experiences in employee selection; this is particularly when I am involved in recruiting an individual who actually fits in the organization and performs his duties outstandingly. 11. Is there any worst employee selection instance that you experienced? When I was a junior in management, I had not grasped the selection process and when me together with the selection team chose an underqualified individual; this employee was not ideal and could not deliver. The Company incurred a lot of loses as well redo the selection process after six months. I really felt really bad. 12. Is there any way that the HR department can integrate its employee recruitment and selection procedures in order to attract the best candidates? Our company is currently performing better both nationally and internationally which means our public image and overall reputation is good. However, the HR department must always ensure that they attract the best personnel to join the organization as well as offer competitive remuneration packages like other companies across the world of the calibre. 13. Is it employee academic qualification or experience that you rely on when choosing the best employee? Actually when looking for the best fit person for the job, both academic qualification and experience should be used. An applicant with exceptional educational qualification and superb work experience is always the best choice. 14. How does your company attract the best candidates? As I have mentioned above, our company is positioned among the best companies nationally and internationally and given the fact that it is a business software development company, it has all that it takes to attract the best employees. Similarly when designing the job vacancy adverts, the HR department has set standards that applicants must meet in order to apply for the advertised job. 15. Do you have an employee recruitment website? The company has a job recruitment website that has always played a vital role in attracting highly qualified and experienced candidates. 16. Is your selection gender sensitive? No. 17. Do you feel that bias has ever played role in the jobs you personally were selected or not selected for? Not really, every organization that I have worked with was strict and merit with regard to both educational qualification and experience were observed. 18. In the selection process, I understand that the HR department play a vital role, has it ever selected a candidate (s) who meets the standards you would expect? According to the company recruitment and selection strategy, it is rear for the recruiting group to miss the concept. In most selection occasions, right individuals have been chosen for the job 19. If not, have you ever made an effort of making them understand that you are not pleased? With regard to my above answer, there is no single day that we have encountered this situation. 20. Finally, does your best selected candidate always perform or fit in the organization and deliver accordingly? Yes. Critical Review The process of employee selection is a sophisticated one and hence demands extensive understanding of human behaviour together with how they react particularly when they are confronted with different circumstances (ABUQAYYAS, 2011). Candidates for employment can present themselves exceptionally during the interview; however, a close observation of their references can discover some flaws with regard to their expertise. Similarly, an applicant can excel outstandingly in interview; nonetheless, he may not be able to deliver on the job itself. Following these facts, it is extremely important for the recruiting panel to plan for the selection and stick to the plan for them to be able to recruit and select the best candidate for the job. Most interviews are centred on the fact that human beings are unpredictable; for instance, the chosen candidate can have all the qualities and attributes needed for the job including educational qualifications, skills, work experience as well as positive reference checks, however, interview may reveal that he/she is not the best candidate for the job. This has been found by many human resource management advocates to be the reason for having employee recruitment and selection plan in order to ensure that the candidate with best fit is selected. The job applicants must and should be selected with regard to principles of effectiveness; this will ensure that the selection process succeeds. The above description, demands that human resource managers must have extensive understanding of what management skills and attributes they are looking for in an employee for them to be able to recruit the best group of candidates to select from (ABUQAYYAS, 2011). The accomplishment of this vital objective can be met by first meeting with the line managers and asking them to give the personnel requirements of their departments as well as the kind of qualifications and experiences; they need for their work to be effective and efficient. After acquiring these needs, the HR managers should now tailor a recruitment and selection plan that will ultimately meet the identified needs of the business. Experts in HR have come up with different effective employee recruitment tools that are very vital in the selection process including interviews, tests such as aptitude and personality, reference checks, site tour, lie detector tests together with handwriting analysis. In some instances, candidates undergo medical evaluation to establish their medical well-being and if they are substance abusers. Like the selection process, finding the right combination of selection tools can be a challenge and thus the need for constantly consulting the selection plan to make sure that the selection process succeeds. The recruiting team that deviates from the selection plan always ends up selecting an individual who does not fit the company needs and thus making the whole process ineffective and extremely expensive for the company. During the development of the selection plan, the recruiting team should measure the advantages of experience and educational qualifications. The interview questions are always designed to determine part of the applicant’s experience, educational qualifications, extracurricular activities, and personal interests (ABUQAYYAS, 2011). Although high educational qualifications are extremely vital for any applicant, it should not singularly be relied on as the basis for the applicant’s selection. HR managers look for the right personal fit within the team and organization together with the needed qualities. Employers in many occasions value what the worker is able to accomplish as well as the attitudes they bring to the organizations’ workplace. The company reputation is another critical fact that influences the recruitment of the best and fitting employees. As acknowledged in the above report, company reputation is an unavoidable challenge when it comes to the recruitment and selection of quality employees (Cascio & Boudreau, 2012). In this regard, it is significantly important for all the company players to ensure that the company’s public image is positioned as the best company in order to attract quality candidates. Most job seekers have a perception that companies with good reputation are the best and hence have an un-ending desire to work for such companies. Similarly, the companies have an inherent desire attract and select from the best candidates. By ensuring that the company has, a good reputation helps in bringing together the best minds to work together. Conclusion The human resource management department of any organization plays a critical role in the employee recruitment and selection process and thus they must work to ensure that only individuals with best fitting attributes are employed. For instance, they have to perform an extensive job analysis in order to understand the importance of the recruitment process and thus design a plan for selecting best employees. The extensive job analysis, accurate job description and its constant and regular review empowers the recruitment team to have a solid plan to work with. This will also involve the involvement of all stakeholders in the recruitment process including the HR and the line managers as well as ensuring that the recruitment and selection process is in line with the overall organization recruitment strategy. The recruitment and selection process is a very expensive task and hence demands for the recruitment team to get it right by selecting the best fit employees for the organization. References ABUQAYYAS, A. (2011). Strategic human resource management (SHRM). 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