Selection and Integration of a Technical Staff - Essay Example

RECRUITMENT PROCEDURES Recruitment, Selection and Integration of a Technical Staff Introduction Recruitment is a factor of staffing. Staffing is filling and keeping filled positions in an organization structure with the right people. Once the staffing needs have been identified the organization would require and effective and conclusive recruitment. (Bratton and Gold, 1999) By definition recruitment is a set of activities which are designed in a way to attract a qualified pool of applicants to an organization. In order for this to be achieved, the pool must in the first place be sufficient enough in terms of size. The aim of effective recruitment is to bring employment opportunities to the attention of persons with abilities and skills appropriate to job specifications. Immediately after recruitment exercise is over, the selection process starts. Selection is the process of making a choice from a pool of applicants, someone who best meets the specifications of the job in question. In this case he must be someone with the best knowledge and technical skills required of a technical staff. After recruitment and selection there is need to integrate the successful applicant into the job for him/her to adapt to the job requirements, procedure and processes. In our case study, we shall consider the case of a project whereby the technical staff member will be involved in project matters. We shall therefore analyze the recruitment, selection and integration of the staff in relation to an investment project. (Dale, 2001) Recruitment First the technical manager will advertise the job vacancy that has befallen in the organization. The advertisement must outline the job specification which gives an overview of what the job requirements are. For a technical staff, with respect to a project, the contents of the job specification would include: - Ability to analyze projects to determined their viability using financial skills. Possession of technical skills of effectively working with the computer in data manipulation to achieve the end results. That the technical staff must work with minimum supervision and report his findings to the senior manager. After the job has been advertised and the job specification outlined, a preliminary contact is made to the potential candidates. It is advisable to give all the candidates a standard contact. It must be made early enough to avoid locking out potential candidates. Then, initial screening is done to create a pool of qualified candidates. The technical manager would be free to either select the member internally or externally. Internal recruitment would come into play when maybe there is another technical staff member who is ready to be promoted to such a position. But the member must posses the necessary qualifications for such an appointment (internal) to be effective. If this is the case, then the technical manager need not advertise for the job vacancy but make employees aware of the job vacancies. He can do this through newsletters, bulletin, boards and personal recommendations including recommendations by other managers. (Dale, 2001) The advantage of this method is that it motivates employees to work harder so that they can get promotion opportunities. It is also more efficient and less costly because the technical manager would not need to advertise for the job or even contact every candidate individually. Another reason as to why the technical manager should adopt this approach is that already he knows the performance and/ or skills of every staff with regard to project appraisal. It would increase the chances of making a good choice since the people he has in the organization are already known to him in terms of performance. However, there are enough reasons as to why the manager should discard this approach of internal recruitment. Internal recruitment is characterized by an insufficient pool and the best person for the job may not be available from within the organization. Again, people from within the organization may have developed the same ideas, similar experiences, similar exposure and similar background. They may therefore not be the best sources conditioned by the organization to act in a certain way. Internal jealousies and conflicts could also cause disharmony as people compete/ vie for the same job. (Dale, 2001) If he externally recruits the technical staff member the normal advertisement of the vacancy would be carried out either through the newspapers, television, employment agencies, personal contacts or technical training centres. It has the advantage of getting higher chances of getting the right candidate since the selection is made from a wider source. It also avoids internal disharmony arising from rivalries, besides bringing outsiders with new ideas, vision, energy, imagination and inspiration to the organization. The technical staff member recruited externally would also be able to work independently and without intimidation. However the external recruitment tends to demotivate the current employees who would not see the need of working harder to get promotions. It can also result to enemas turnover of employees due to dissatisfaction. It is costly bearing in mind the advertisement cost incurred and other costs incidents to the recruitment. During the recruitment exercise, the potential candidates should be given both positive and negative information that pertain the organization and the job in particular. They should be told the problems associated in project design and implementation rather than been hoodwinked that everything is to move as anticipated. Traditional recruitment sought to sell the firm to outsiders by communicating only positive features about the organization leaving out negative ones. The negative features could be conceded whereas the positive ones were exaggerated. The technical manager should hence desist from this traditional approach of recruitment because it would create unrealistic expectations by the newly hired person. And if these expectations are not fulfilled, then the person will get frustrated, dissatisfied and disillusioned and could terminate employment permanently. I would therefore urge the technical manager to adopt a realist recruitment which tends to give the job candidate vital information before the job is accepted. SELECTION This is the process of choosing from a pool of applicants, the person(s) best meeting job specification i.e. choosing from among candidates, the most suitable ones. The technical manager must select a candidate who can be able to appraise projects and advice management accordingly on whether or not it should be undertaken. He must be able to conduct the technical feasibility of the project i.e. whether it can be able to fit the existing technology. The person must have such attitudes as; patience to be able to explain to the would be users of the project who may find it difficult to understand its technology; commitment since the project may call for his being in existent most of his/ her time. (Bratton and Gold, 1999) The technical manager would follow certain steps in the selection exercise. These are however not standardizes but vary form organization to organization. However, what is important in the selection process are; 1) The content of the application - what the applicant has written is considered. The manager should consider quality rather than quantity of its content. 2) Whether the applicant has attained the necessary qualifications. In the case of a technical staff of a project, possession of a relevant certificate and significant number of working years experience would be necessary. 3) performance at interview - During the interview process, it is possible to determine whether the candidate can be able to perform or not - How he answers questions, whether the answers he gives are relevant or not and a demonstration of a master of technical skills required for the job. The steps are: - 1) Application forms/ planks: - This form declares the individual a formal candidate for the vacancy. It includes the personal resumes i.e. personal history and qualifications. Other facts that may be included are sex, marital status, age, education, knowledge, skills and experience. The essence of this form is to enable the information areas to be standardizes for ease of comparison and evaluation. 2) Interviewing: - An interview is a meeting between employer and a candidate to ascertain the suitability for the post by questioning and discussion. Interviews allow the candidates and key persons in an organization to learn more about another. The technical manager would have to seek for clarifications. He would be compelled to conduct multiple interviews in order to minimize bias and obtain more objective results. (Maund, 2001) The technical manager would have to properly plan the interview exercise, review the job specifications and job description. This will enable him to know the type of relevant questions to ask i.e. what to look for. In this case the questions must be geared towards establishing the technical competence of the candidates. He could opt to embrace structured or even semi - structured or unstructured interview. Structured interviews use standard procedures and techniques. He would prepare a set of questions and ask them in the order in which they (questions) appear. In an unstructured interview, the technical manager may ask any question many of which would be open - ended. A semi - structured interview uses structured questions and open - ended questions. The technical manager should create a good climate. For the interview, establish rapport (understanding) with the candidate, be friendly and courteous. He should not be rude, harass, or intimidate the candidate. He should allow sufficient time for an uninterrupted interview in order to learn much from the candidates. The time and place chosen are also an important factor. It should be quiet with all phone calls held. He should give the candidate a sincere and individual attention and avoid embarrassing questions. He should also avoid irrelevant questions rather ask questions related to the job. (Bratton and Gold, 1999) The technical manager should not be influenced by the candidates' general appearance as it may have little bearing on job performance. He should also press for answers to all questions and check for inconsistencies. He should write notes during the interview or immediately after to avoid forgetting and to be able to rate the applicant properly. Integration to the Job Once the interview is over the best technical staff is offered the job. A letter of offer is sent to the successful applicant and if accepted, the person starts work. The first step towards integration is orientation. (Maund, 2001) The successful candidate is first introduced with the organization structure. He is shown who the overall manager is and to whom he should make his/ her reports. He is then given manuals for the previous projects that the firm ahs recently undertaken to familiarize himself with. Alongside the manuals, the new officer should now be mentored onto the organization. Mentoring entails the placing of the new officer under the close supervision of a senior and experienced officer. The essence of mentoring is to ease tension and build encouragement for the new technical officer towards the challenges of the new job. (Maund, 2001) The new officer should not be reprimanded or harassed for any mistakes committed rather encourages and shown the right ways of how it was supposed to be done. (Bratton and Gold, 1999) Assessment Centres The new technical staff may if necessary be subjection to an assessment centre which is a technique for selecting and promoting people for jobs. The main aim is to measure the potential of the officer in performing his job. At the centres, he is observed and assessed by experts with experience in project design and implementation. The candidate would participate in role playing, simulations, case analysis, group work and testing. (Maund, 2001) Conclusion For the technical manager to successfully execute his task of recruiting, selecting and integrating into the system, the best staff member, he must follow most of it not all of the above factors/ steps. The recruitment pool should be sufficient enough to increase chances of selecting the best. The selection process should be free, being given to all the candidates. The technical manager should then take cognisance the fact the integration process is a progressive exercise aimed at slowly making the new member adapt to the work place. References Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (1999): Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. Houndmills: Macmillan Dale, M. (2001): The Art of HRD: Developing Management Skills , Vol. 3, New Delhi, Crest Publishing House Harrison, R. (1993): Human Resource Management Issues and Strategies. Wokingham: Addison-Wesley Maund, L. (2001): An Introduction to Human to Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Palgrave: Macmillan Sparrow, P. and Hilltop, J. (1994): European Human Resource Management in Transition: New York: Prentice Hall Storey, J. (2001): Human Resource Management: A Critical Text, 2nd Edn, Sydney, Thomson Read More