Finding the right people, for the right roles, at the right time is crucial for any business
to ensure its workforce has the skills and competencies required to achieve its aims,
whilst effectively meeting the needs and wants of its customers.
This video looks at the process and importance of effective recruitment and selection
to ensure a business has the right people, in the right roles, at the right time.
First of all, let’s talk about recruitment. Put simply, recruitment is the process of
finding people to work for the business. The recruitment process starts with the business
identifying the job vacancy itself. This commonly occurs when an employee leaves the business
and they are simply looking to replace them, however this is not the only reason
why a business might identify a vacancy. Job vacancies also occur for a variety of reasons,
such as: a restructure within which job roles are changed or created, growth of a business whereby
new roles are added, and a change in either the nature of employees work or consumer demands.
Regardless of the reasons for the job vacancy, a business should conduct a job analysis to formally
decide the key characteristics of the role such as: how many hours the employee will work,
what their responsibilities will be, the skills required, and who they will report to.
Now the business has identified the job vacancy and conducted the job analysis
to formalise the requirements of the role and employee recruited, they can now start to prepare
the key recruitment documentation which are known as a job description and a person specification.
The job description outlines the role to prospective applicants, informing them
of the core tasks and responsibilities of the job vacancy, including: the pay,
contracted hours, and location of the role. A person specification outlines the skills,
experience, and qualifications expected of applicants to competently work in the role should
they get the job. These are generally identified as either being essential or desirable, providing
the applicant with a chance to self-assess their suitability for the role before applying.
Now it’s time to advertise the job vacancy which can be done internally
or externally dependent on how the business wishes to recruit for the job vacancy.
Internal recruitment would see a current employee either promoted or redeployed into the role.
Internal job vacancies are usually advertised on the business’ intranet and notice boards.
There are a number of key benefits of recruiting internally such as: the reduced costs, decreased
timescales, and the business already knows the employee, including their personality, skills,
and areas for development, alongside the employee being familiar with company policies and culture.
However, internal recruitment does limit the choice of candidates for the job vacancy
as the business is restricted to current employees who bring limited fresh ideas to the role, and it
naturally creates another vacancy in the business. In contrast, external recruitment is when the
business employs a person who does not currently work for them. There are a number of key benefits
to recruiting externally such as attracting a wider pool of applicants who may bring fresh
ideas to the business, alongside the possibility of finding a candidate with previous experience in
a similar role with a competitor and the required skillset which can reduce training requirements.
However, external job vacancies usually cost more to advertise and can be commonly found online
or in physical form via recruitment agencies, professional job boards,
or local and national press. Also, external recruitment often takes longer, and the business
may recruit the wrong person as they provide a false impression during the interview process.
So now we’ve look at recruitment, lets take a look at how selection finishes the process.
So, the first stage in the selection process is to collect and review the application forms
and CV’s of anyone who has applied for the job vacancy. Essentially, the business is looking to
narrow the applications down to a small number based on their suitability for role against the
job description and person specification through a process called shortlisting. The reason a
business shortlists is due to the sheer volume of applications it may receive, making it impossible
to interview every applicant as this would take up too much time and cost too much money.
Therefore, the best applicants are shortlisted and invited to an interview, which may also
include a form of assessment. Interviews can be conducted with an applicant on an individual basis
or in a group setting alongside other applicants and come in many formats, such as in person, over
the phone, or in more recent times, businesses can opt to interview applicants via video call.
Interviews provide the opportunity for the business to ask the applicant
a series of questions to assess their suitability for the role. They support the selection
process by allowing the business to explore the applicant’s personality & provide the opportunity
for additional questions should they be required. However, Interviews can be very time consuming,
often being conducted by senior members of staff such as managers, which can then lead to them
being absent from their normal role for hours, if not days, potentially costing the business money
in both wages and other factors such as potential lost productivity and decreased levels of customer
service. Also, the interview process does not always identify the best applicant for the job,
as some people are just naturally better at talking and selling themselves than others
which may lead to the business to selecting the wrong applicant.
Alongside an interview, applicants may be required to complete assessments which can play
a pivotal part in the selection process, providing additional information about their suitability for
the role by testing their personality, attitude, abilities, & skills. There is credible research
to suggest that testing applicants can be an effective predictor of future job performance,
especially for roles which require more complex thinking. However, testing can be time consuming,
especially if it is done alongside an interview and more importantly some applicants may
crumble under the pressure of a test and not demonstrate their true capability. Therefore,
results should be not be used as the sole basis for a selection decision, rather to support the
selection decision alongside an interview and consideration of other relevant factors.
The final stage of the selection process is to select a successful applicant & offer them the
role, at this point the business would typically request references to clarify and confirm the
information the business has been supplied by the applicant is a true and accurate representation.
It’s important to be aware that the business does not have to recruit any of the applicants
if they have not found the right person for the job after finalising all of the applicants scores
from the interviews and assessments. In this case, the recruitment process would simply start again.
So that’s it, the recruitment and selection process. I hope you’ve found the video useful,
if you have don’t forget to like the video and subscribe to Two Teachers
YouTube channel for lots more Business Studies videos. Thanks for listening and all the best.