Elements of Recruitment and Selection Process - Essay Example

?One of the major roles of human resource management in an organization is staffing as no single organization is in a position to run its operations without employees, both fully functional and support staff (Sims 2006, p.568). As such human resource management sees the recruitment and selection of human resources, in other words employees, into the organization. This occurs after human resource development runs planning for human resources where they determine the employees required to meet the goals and achieve set targets for the organization. Recruitment involves attracting qualified applicants for a job that exists in the organization and the qualifications should meet the job description while selection involves human resource management selecting from the qualified applicants that are best suited. The other role of human resources is orientation into an organization where after hiring; an employee is expected to familiarize him or herself with the organization and its functions and operations (Durai 2010, p.180). In this case, human resource management plays its role in orientation, where it acquaints its employees with aspects of the organizations so that the employee is comfortable in the organization and ready to work based on the information that is passed on to him or her during this process. Human resource managers provide information on the basics and other information that an employee collects and creates in the process of working in then organization, but most of it is the basics that are provided at orientation. The third important role of human resource managers is training and development, where it provides employees with skills and knowledge to perform their tasks and fulfil their duties responsibly and as per organizational objectives. In this role, human resource development provides training for new employees who lack in experience and provide training for employees with experience, but whose jobs are dynamic in that they are undergoing change (MacDonald, n.d). Line managers are similar to human resource managers in that they manage their own employees but with the only difference, which that implies that they have necessary skills to act as supervisors and solve problems that the employees might encounter (Sunny-tbadesha, 2010). Line managers have the responsibility of maintaining a working environment that can be said to be open concerning the absence of discriminative practices and harassment (Manchester Metropolitan University, n.d, p.5). Elements of Recruitment and Selection Process The key aspects if the recruitment process entails well documented steps that are only charged to human resource managers and they include human resource planning, job analysis, staffing, orientation, training and development, performance appraisal and others. Some are more significant than others are and the first is job analysis, which entails mapping out the availability of a job opening and knowing, and comes up with job description. The importance of indicating clear job specification in any organization cannot be over emphasized as it is of critical value to all. Compiling of job descriptions lies squarely within the human resource manager, who is charged with the role of hiring personnel based on tasks to be carried out in the organization (Gitman et al., 2009, p.206). A clear-cut description highlights what the organization expects from each employee as it entails the details of personnel roles and duties. This saves time and resources that could have been otherwise lost in the confusion created by mixed roles and disorganization within the company. Therefore, effective job descriptions provide efficient communication channels within an organization since every employee is aware of their role. Similarly, the employees become aware of the company’s mission and vision, as well as explaining how each of them fits into the organization’s future. Moreover, clear job specifications help in weeding out unqualified applicants while ensuring the recruitment of qualified personnel (Deb, 2006, p.116). This acts to save the organization a significant amount of money and thus boosts productivity. From a legal point of view, job specifications help in reducing the risk of unfair hiring purposes, which cushions the organization against legal action from disgruntled applicants (Deb, 2006, p.54). In addition, another important element in recruitment and selection is the staffing process, which involves the selection of employees based on their qualifications and presence of a vacancy as mentioned earlier, and this follows the process of attracting applicants into the selection and recruitment process. The next element is orientation, which is the element of acquainting applicants that are successful with their jobs by informing them of their roles in the organization. This is important following the need to have fully competent employees with an understanding of their requirements in the organization as without this the selection and recruitment process is just bland. One such way in which Human resource managers can assist line managers is by managing gender-based discrimination, which in most cases is viewed or perceived to be limited only to sexual harassment. However, there are other forms of gender based discrimination and are commonly perpetrated against one gender more than the other, which in this case refers to discrimination against women more than men. One example of gender-based discrimination is the availability of work that is meant for women, where women are unable to find employment opportunities in conventional work places by virtue of being women, but not because they lack qualification. Therefore, Human resource managers can play a crucial role at enforcing employment resources to optimize conduct at the workplace. This is especially so by following set out laws such as federal laws or even taking action against those that go against the rights of other employees at the work place such as firing them or issuing penalties. This is because it is the role of the line manager to ensure that there are no cases of discrimination, but only human resource managers can hire and terminate employment following evaluation. One such law, as mentioned above is the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 in the US that bars discrimination of women who are pregnant in the workplace (Bennett, 1992, p.152). Consequently, Human resource managers have grounds to terminate service and even issue punitive measures after line managers are unable to cope with tough cases of discrimination. In addition, human resource can function as a facilitator for the development of the right organizational culture and behaviour, which is all part of recruitment based on the fact that potential employees need to have the right work attitude and conduct to qualify and in which case human resource is expected to train line managers (Sage, n.d, p.2). As a result, they can also enhance the understanding that line managers have in regard to the many or limited resources they have at their disposal in a bid to develop and retain the talent of their employees. This is especially considering the evaluation aspect of human resource; where they can assist line managers evaluate employee talent. Still looking at talent, there is talent management, in which case human resource is expected to demonstrate unity on management of an organization by seeking solutions to challenges faced by line managers by illustrating the importance of talent to organizational success (Sellwood, 2009). Moreover, human resource managers can support line managers in the recruitment and selection process of an organization such as strategic human resource management in other ways. As such, strategic human resource management ensures that staffing is based on the goals of the organization such that every member of staff understands his or her role in the organization and what he or she must do to see the organization succeed (Purcell, 2005, p.3). In addition, integrating staff and goals acts as part of strategic human resource management in that employees are recruited and selected based on being the best suited to the goals and expectations of the organization and an adequate number of employees is selected for efficiency (Sluijs and Kluytmans, n.d, p.2). In conclusion, human resource managers and line managers can do a lot for the benefit of the organization in terms of recruitment and selection by supporting one another. This is especially true when it comes to the identification of vacant positions' specification and issuance of a job description to assist in the selection. References Bennett, M. 1992. Gender-Based Employment Discrimination in Japan and the United States. Law Reviews 12-1. Deb, T. 2006. Strategic Approach to Human Resource Management. London: Atlantic Publishers. Sims, R. R. 2007. Human resource management: contemporary issues, challenges, and opportunities. Charlotte, N.C.: Information Age Pub. Gitman, L. 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