HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

Dr Joe Azzopardi
 Purpose and Process
• Purpose:
to attract sufficient and suitable potential employees to
apply for vacancies in the organisation.
• Process:
External Recruitment Organisation’s
labour activities need for
market additional
labour
Selection
activities

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 Recruitment Policy
Represents the organisation’s code of conduct
A typical policy statement:
In its recruitment activities the company will:
1. Advertise all vacancies internally.
2. Reply to every job applicant with the minimum of delay.
3. Aim to inform potential recruits in good faith about the basic details and job
conditions of every job advertised.
4. Aim to process all applications with efficiency and courtesy.
5. Seek candidates on the basis of their qualification for the vacancy concerned.
6. Aim to ensure that every person invited for interview will be given a fair and
thorough hearing.
The company will not:
1. Discriminate unfairly against potential applicants on grounds of sex, race, age,
religion or physical disability.
2. Discriminate unfairly against applicants with a criminal record.
3. Knowingly make any false or exaggerated claims in its recruitment literature
or job advertisements.
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 Procedures
Recruitment checklist:
1. Has the vacancy been agreed by the responsible
manager?
2. Is there an up-to-date job description for the vacant
position?
3. What are the conditions of employment (salary, hours,
holidays etc)?
4. Has a candidate specification been prepared
5. Has a notice of the vacancy been circulated internally?
6. Has a job advertisement been agreed? Have details of
the vacancy been forwarded to relevant agencies?
7. Do all potential candidates (internal or external) know
where to apply and in what form?
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 Procedures
8. What arrangements have been made for drawing up a shortlist of candidates?
9. Have the interviewing arrangements been agreed, and have shortlisted
candidates been informed?
10. Have unsuitable candidates, or candidates held in reserve, been informed of
their position?
11. Have offer letters been agreed and dispatched to successful candidates? Have
references been taken up, where necessary?
12. Have suitable rejection letters been sent to unsuccessful shortlisted
candidates, thanking them for their attendance?
13. Have all replies to offer letters been accounted for?
14. Have the necessary procures for placement, induction and follow-up of
successful candidates been put into effect?

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 Person Specification
or candidate profile
The Seven Point Plan (devised by Prof Alec Rodger in the 1950s)
1. Physical Make-up – What is required in terms of health, strength, energy and
personal appearance?
2. Attainments – What education, training and experience is required?
3. General Intelligence – What does the job require in terms of thinking and
mental effort?
4. Special Aptitudes – What kind of skills need to be exercised in the job?
5. Interests – What personal interests could be relevant to the performance of the
job?
6. Disposition – What kind of personality are we looking for?
7. Circumstances – Are there any special circumstances that the job requires of
candidates?

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 Applying the Seven Point Plan
Feature sought Essential Desirable
Physical make- Weight in proportion to height; eyesight, None
up hearing, perfect; neat, clean appearance; age
between 21 - 28
Attainments Secondary school level of education Experience in
nursing/catering
Intelligence Alert, quick-thinking None

Aptitudes Social skills adequate to deal firmly but Fluency in relevant

politely with passengers languages
Interests none Travel, flying, first-
aid
Disposition Friendly personality; ability to remain cool Sense of humour
and calm in an emergency; ability to work
short periods under intense pressure
Circumstances must be able to work irregular hours; must Flexible domestic
be willing to stand for long periods; must be situation
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willing to live near the airport
 Person Specification
or candidate profile
Five Point Grading developed by Munro Fraser (1978)
1. Impact on others – embraces Rodger’s physical make-up and also aspects such as
dress, speech, manner and reactions. Important to look at individual objectively.
2. Acquired knowledge or Qualifications – this part deals with general education, work
experience and training, and is similar to Rodger’s attainment category.
3. Innate abilities or ‘Brains’ – the individual’s ability to exercise his/her intelligence in
a range of situations. Especially applicable in cases where the individual has few formal
qualifications. Emphasis on potential.
4. Motivation – ‘goal-directed’ aspect of human personality. How has the individual
achieved his/her personal needs and ambitions, rather than trying to identify these
needs.
5. Adjustment – The individual’s emotional status: stability, maturity, ability to cope
with stress. Basically the individual’s reaction to pressures.

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 What for?
Some concerns:
• Can people be ‘chopped up’ in five or seven separate sections?
• Are we not over-simplifying personal characteristics?

Justification:
• A means to an end – to concentrate attention on one facet at a
time;
• Provides a practical framework to enable selectors to make
reasonable consistent comparisons between candidates;
• To try to introduce a greater element of predictability and
control in HRM processes – to minimise the effects of personal
prejudice and judgement and increase objectivity.

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 Advertising
To entice potential applicants and to inform them about the
basic features of the job in question.

Main sources of job advertising (external):

• Local newspapers
• National newspapers
• Technical/professional journals
• Via the internet (employer’s website or on agency’s)
• Via job centres
• Via other agencies
• Posters at the gate

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Effectiveness of Advertisements

Can be judged by:

1. The number of enquiries it
stimulates
2. The number of applications
submitted
3. The suitability of the applicants

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 Effectiveness of Advertisements
An effective job advertisement:
• Identifies the organization and/or its industry with a few brief
references
• Provides brief but sufficient details about the salient features of the job
• Summarises all the essential personal features required by the job-
holder
• Refers briefly to any desirable personal features
• States the main conditions of employment, including salary, for the
job
• States how and to whom the enquiry or application can be made
• Presents all the above points in a concise but attractive form
• Conforms to legal requirements
• Attracts sufficient numbers of suitable applicants

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 The Selection Process
Salient features:
REFERENCES

APPLICATIONS
INTERVIEWS
•Application forms SIFTING/ •One-to-one SELECTION
•CVs SHORTLISTING
•Two-to-one DECISION
PROCESS
•Letters
•Panel

SELECTION TESTS
•Intellectual ability
•Aptitudes
•personality
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 Application forms
Advantages:
• To have information about candidates in a
standardised format that facilitates
comparison
• Enable applicants to give a full and fair
account of themselves and their suitability
for the vacancy
• Can be used as the basis for the interview
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 Application forms
We need to have different forms to meet differing
demands of major employee groups, e.g.
managers, professionals, clerical, manual.
One way of differentiating is to employ:
‘closed’ forms (requiring only routine information
for unskilled manual and clerical jobs)
Or
‘open’ forms (requiring the expression of opinions
and judgements + routine info for managerial,
executive and professional positions)
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Example of a ‘closed’ form
Job applied for:
Surname: First Name(s):
Address: Tel No.:
Date of Birth: Place of Birth:
Marital Status: Children
Educational Qualifications:
School:
College:
Training Courses:
Work Experience:
Present/last Job:
Employer: Weekly Pay: Bonus:
Previous jobs:
Notice required in present job:
Referee:

Signed: Date:
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Example of a ‘open’ form
(first two sections as in closed form)
Career Details:
Current Position & Salary:
Brief Details of Previous Posts:
(commencing with most recent)
Principal Interests/Hobbies

What attract you to this post?

What contribution do you think you can make?
What has given you the greatest satisfaction at work to date?
How do you see your career developing in the next few years?
Notice required by present employer:

Referees: Please supply the names of two persons abel to

provide a reference on your behalf.

Signed: Date:

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 The Curriculum Vitae
The candidates own description of how they see their
personal history in relation to a job application.

A combination of two elements:

1. Standard/routine information
2. Personalised information

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 Standard information
1. Name, address, telephone, email
2. Age, marital status
3. Education: secondary
school/college/university
4. Qualifications: GCSE’s, A levels,
certificates, diplomas and degrees
5. Professional memberships, e.g. ACCA,
MCIPD

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 Personalised information
Scope:
to elaborate on one’s work/professional experience

Includes:
– Job history/achievements
– Motivation/skills (e.g. IT, Languages)
– Personal interests/other activities

Requirements:
Neat, clear print-out, brief

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 Shortlisting
Also referred to as: ‘pre-selection’ or ‘selecting out’

• Economic conditions determine whether pre-selection

is needed
• Application forms and CVs form the core of pre-
selection
• Reliability depends strongly on well-designed
systematic pre-selection procedures

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 References
Brief statements about a candidate made by a third party,
usually the candidate’s superior
• Intended to confirm information supplied by applicants
• Referees are asked to provide:
1. Factual information about the candidate’s
period of employment in their organisation
2. Evidence concerning the candidate’s personal
character (sobriety, honesty, reliability etc)
• Effects of referees on outcome of selection process not
known – they serve mainly to encourage applicants to
tell the truth

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 The Interview
A formal exchange of facts, impressions and viewpoints
between a prospective employer and a prospective
employee with a view to their mutual selection or parting.
Research shows that selection interviews are neither
particularly reliable nor valid:
– Reliability: the degree of agreement between different
interviewers about a set of candidates.
– Validity: the extent to which the interview can predict
suitability for the job.
Research also shows that where selection criteria are
employed in a structured way, reliability and validity
increase.

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 Structuring the Interview
Full use of application form, personnel specification, CV and
references provide a framework for more reliable and valid
interviews.
Some practical suggestions:
• The Interviewer should
– possess and have read all the relevant documents.
– Establish what precise issues need to be drawn out in the interview.
– Prepare crucial questions and comments to put to the candidate.
– Be in control of the situation.
– Be aware of his/her own prejudices and needs.
• All candidates should be given every opportunity to give a
full and fair account of him/her self.

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 Interviewing Skills
• The ability to prepare adequately
• Ability to listen, including picking up points implied in the candidates
responses
• Questioning skills – ability to ask relevant questions at the right time
• Ability to analyse the picture of the candidate that is emerging during
the interview
• Ability to summarise and make notes on the candidate’s performance
• Ability to supply relevant information to the candidate without boring
him/her
• Skill in building and maintaining a relationship with the candidate
(rapport)
• Ability to control the interview with tact, diplomacy and firmness

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 Listening
Requires people to give their undivided attention to another
Looking at the candidate
1. Nodding the head
2. Making verbal signs
3. Asking follow-up questions or making follow-up
comments
4. Picking up any implied points, often accompanied by
changes in voice/facial expression

Distractions from listening:

• Interruptions
• Thinking about the next question while half-listening to the
answer to the current question
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 Questioning
Through questioning an interviewer:
– Selects the issues that need to be covered
– Elicits relevant information
– Controls the pace and direction of the interview
Two broad categories:
‘open’ – seek to draw the candidate out and usually begin
with ‘what’, ‘how’ or ‘why’: get the candidate talking
about key issues
‘closed’ – require a specific answer, usually ‘yes’, ‘no’ or
some specific piece of information like numbers: used
to redirect the line of questioning, curtail it, or to
confirm a point

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 Analysing and summarising
• Making sense of what the candidate is saying
• Building up a picture of the candidate
• Identifying any significant blanks in overall information

How?
• Good analysis cannot be carried out unless we have a clear idea of
what we are looking for
• Interviewers need to make notes immediately after seeing the
candidate – this will assist in coming to a final choice
• Pre-prepared assessment forms (based on the personnel specification)
can help the process

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 Supplying Information
– Information about the job and the organisation
additional to that given via the recruitment process, i.e.
personnel specification and advertisement. E.g.
specific details about the job or about the team he/she
may be joining.
– An interchange of impressions and ideas revealed
spontaneously, en passant, during the interview.
– Opportunity for candidate to learn more about the
organisation – contributes to higher validity.
– Avoid long monologues at beginning, when candidate
is ill-at-ease waiting for the moment to respond to the
first question.
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 Rapport
Face-to-face encounters pose a challenge to both
interviewer and interviewee.

• It is essential to get the candidate talking and

putting him/her at ease
• Good eye-contact
• Encourage facial expressions and comments
• Ensure that candidate feels that the interview is a
constructive and enjoyable experience
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 Control & Conclusion
An interview is a costly and time-consuming business – ensure that the
time available is not wasted.

Tactful control by:

– Interrupting
– Stopping
– Re-directing
Politely but firmly

Conclude by:
– Thanking the candidate for interest and response
– Acknowledging effort invested by candidate
– Being diplomatic to promote the ‘company image’ aspect
of recruitment and selection

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 Guide to Good Practice

• Be prepared
• Welcome the candidate
• Encourage candidate to talk
• Control the interview
• Supply necessary information
• Close interview
• Final steps
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 Be prepared

• Obtain available information (job details,

candidate specification, application form)
• Arrange interview room
• Ensure no interruptions
• Plan the interview

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 Welcome the candidate

• After initial courtesies, thank candidate for

coming
• Explain briefly what procedure you propose
to adopt for the interview
• Commence by asking relatively easy and
non-threatening question

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 Encourage candidate to talk

• Ask open-ended questions

• Prompt where necessary
• Indicate that you are listening
• Briefly develop points of interest raised by
candidate

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 Control the interview

• Direct you questions along the lines that

will achieve your objectives
• Tactfully, but firmly, clamp down on the
over-talkative candidate
• Do not get too involved in particular issues
just because of you own interests
• Keep an eye on the time

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 Supply necessary information

• Briefly add to information already made

available to candidate
• Answer candidate’s questions
• Inform candidate of the next steps in the
selection procedure

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 Close interview
• Thank candidate for his responses to your questions
• Exchange final courtesies

Final steps

• Write up your notes about the candidate

• Grade, or rank, him/her for suitability
• Operate administrative procedures regarding
notification etc

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 Selection Tests
Also referred to as psychological tests.
Usually standardised tests designed to provide an
objective measure of certain human
characteristics by sampling human behaviour.
Typically used to identify:
• an individual’s level of verbal, numerical and
diagrammatical reasoning
• and his/her personality profile
Caution: use tests that have been tested over many
years and that have acquired a reasonable
reputation for both reliability and validity
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 Issues to consider
• Is such a test appropriate in the circumstances and will it
provide the information that we are looking for?
• Is a test to be used as an aid to short-listing or as an element
in final selection?
• How will test evidence be weighed in comparison with other
elements of the selection process?
• Should candidates be given an opportunity to prepare for the
test beforehand?
• Will they be given feedback on their results?
• How will confidentiality of test results be protected?
• Should the test be administered and/or analysed by
organisation’s own staff or by specialist consultants?
• What steps would we take to monitor the use of tests and to
assess their value and effectiveness?
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 Categories
• Tests of intelligence: designed to measure performance of
a number of standardised mental tasks – closely related to
the general ability to learn
• Aptitude tests: special aptitudes – mechanical ability,
spatial and numerical ability
• Attainment test: attempt to test previous learning –
include tests for spelling, arithmetic, typing
• Personality tests: aim to provide a profile of individual
personality – the most controversial – validity open to
question
• Occupational preference tests: to bring out individual
preferences for certain categories of employment – also
useful for career counselling

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 Assessment centres

Not a place but a process

1. A combination of assessment methods
2. A central role for simulation exercises
3. Groups of candidates assessed by groups
of observers
4. An extended period of the selection
process (half to one and a half days)
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 Advantages
• Considerable data about candidates can be collected
• Candidates can display a range of knowledge and
skills over the course of half to one and a half days
• If successful, can produce valid and reliable choices
of candidates
• Has the potential for use as a staff development tool
as well as for selection purposes
• Provides useful experience for assessors who have to
test their personal judgements against those of their
fellow assessors

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 Disadvantages
• Complexities of putting an assessment centre
together (selecting tests, devising simulations,
organising interviews and assessors)
• Costliness of setting up and they running a centre
• A poorly designed centre, or one which fails a
particular group of participants, (e.g. women or
minority groups) can bring adverse publicity and
ill-will as well as representing poor value for
money
• Assessment centres cannot accurately measure
tacit skills or capability
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