Importance of Recruitment and Selection in the Public Sector - Essay Example

Alternatively, the organization may outsource the recruiting services from a recruitment centre, which specializes in ensuring that the right workforce with the right skills receives employment at the right time from the organization. However, other HR practitioners has less involvement with recruitment and selection because these activities are delegated to line managers or outsourced, leaving the in-house practitioners limited to a few activities or overseeing the process (Tinzer, 2002:154).

Recruitment and selection are the core roles of HR practitioners, although there are other activities that affect the policy of an organization and the external environment. These include business contraction or expansion, employment legislations, skills shortage and the general economic climate. Regardless of the economic climate, the process of workforce planning is not necessarily simple. Organizations must predict workforce requirements in line with future corporate objectives. Over the years, the employment situation has shifted from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market and back again, especially in the public sector, thus the approach and time spent by HR practitioners need to anticipate and reflect this (Adams, 2007:97).

This paper seeks to evaluate and analyze the context within which public sector recruitment occurs, as well as the factors affecting recruitment, the impact, and place of employment legislation. Additionally, the paper seeks to provide an overview on the recruitment and selection process in the public sector, considering both skills and activities (Saunders, and Thornhill, 2009:65). Demographics The impact of two factors is evident on the nature of the UK workforce, both with relation to recruitment and selection processes: demographic changes, and the adoption of traditional working patterns, which include significant growth in outsourcing.

The workforce is set to diversify in terms of ethnic balance, age, and gender, drawing upon changes already occurred (Hyde et al., 2001:137). Concerning gender, there is a continuous trend of more women entering the labour market, raising important issue such as provision of childcare and equal pay. Concerning age, the greater longevity and falling birth rates mean that the about 46% of the UK population will be past 50, compared with only 33% in 2002. The changes in pension will also have significant impacts in this area, forcing many people to work longer.

Concerning ethnicity, the government estimates that the net migration will by 2020 account for over 40% of the growth in the labour market (Caplin, and Dwyer, 2000:94). All the above issues are complex and important, thus public sector organizations need to take serious considerations during recruitment and other employment activities. Employers need to attract and retain a diverse workforce (Walliman, 2009:81). The complexity of these issues is evident from analyzing and evaluating one of the elements above: age.

To maximize the participation of employees from different age groups as well as encourage generational diversity, the needs and expectations of each group will need consideration in designing the jobs, in induction and in recruitment activities into the organization. Although their expectations are not homogeneous, there are