Recruitment and

Selection
By Mbonea, D
(BA(Hons),MHRM)
November 2015

Staffing
The process of manning the
organization structure through proper
and effective recruitment , selection,
training and development of the
personnel to fill the positions created
in an organization is referred to as
staffing

Aspects of Staffing
There are three important aspects of
staffing
1. Recruitment
2. Selection
3. Training

Recruitment
Recruitment is a positive step which
aims at attracting number of
candidates to apply for the given
job.
The higher the number of people who
apply for a job the higher will be the
possibility of getting a suitable
employee.

Advertising
Advertising is commonly part of the
recruitment process, and can occur
through several means
Newspapers
Through professional publication
Through a job centre
Through compus interviews

Various Activities Involved with

the Process of Recruitment
The various activities involved with the
process of recruitment includes:
a) Identification of the different
sources of labour supply,
b) Assessment of the validity
c) Choosing the most suitable source
or sources
d) Inviting applications from the
prospective candidates, for the
vacancies

Recruitment
The Management may fill the requisite
positions from within the organization
or from outside.

Sources of Recruitment
There are two sources of recruitment
1) Internal source
2) External source

Internal Sources of Recruitment

In any organization, existing
employees expect that they will have
chances of promotion and will be
considered for higher positions before
outsiders are considered.
Managers, therefore, promote and
transfer existing employees to fill the
vacant positions.
This motivates employees to give their
best performance to the organization.

Internal Sources of
Recruitment(Continue.......)

There are three important sources of

internal recruitment namely:
a) Transfers
b) Promotions
c) Re employment of ex- employees.

Transfers
Transfer is a horizontal movement of
an employee from one job to another,
one department to another or from
one shift to another without a
substance change in the
responsibilities and status of the
employee.
Transfers may lead to changes in
duties and responsibilities, working
condition and so on but not necessarily

Promotion
Promotion is a vertical movement of an
employee from lower jobs to higher
jobs.
Promotion leads to shifting an
employee to a higher position carrying
higher responsibilities, facilities, status
and pay.

Re Employment of ExEmployees
Re employment of ex-employees is
one of internal sources of recruitment
in which business organizations invite
and appoint ex-employees to fill
existing vacancies

Merits of internal sources of

recruitment
1) Motivation
Internal recruitment acts as an incentive to
employees to work harder and improve their
performance through learning and practice
within an organization
2) Simple process of selection
Internal recruitment simplifies the process
of selection and placement as the
employees can be evaluated more
accurately and economically and are already
known the organization

Merits of internal sources of

recruitment(Continue.)
3) Shorter training period
In the case of internal recruitment employees
with inside knowledge of business operations
will need shorter periods of training and time to
fitting in. Also people recruited from inside do
not need induction training
4) Efficient use of human resources
Through internal recruitment, an organization
may shift workforce from the surplus
departments to those where there is shortage
of staff

Merits of internal sources of

recruitment(Continue.)
5) Cheaper source of recruitment
Filling of jobs internally is quicker and
less expensive than recruiting
candidates from external sources.

Demerits of internal sources of

recruitment
i. Limited Choice
Internal recruitment reduces the tapping of
fresh talent available in the market outside
the organization. Moreover, internal
recruitment involve the danger of inbreeding
by Stopping infusion of new blood to the
organization
ii. Stagnation of skills
The employees may become sluggish if they
are sure of time bound promotions. This may
affect their skills as well as productivity and
efficiency of an organization in the long run.

Discourage Competition
Internal recruitment hampers the spirit
of competition among the employees
by not giving opportunity to otherwise
competent candidates from outside
the organization.

Reduce Productivity
Frequent transfers of employees may
often reduce productivity of an
organization

Increase Conflicts
Internal recruitment may increase
the chances of employee discontent
in an organization

External Sources of
Recruitment
1) Direct Recruitment
2) Casual Callers
3) Advertisement
4) Employment exchanges
5) Placement Agencies and
Management of Consultants
6) Recommendations of Employees
7) Labour Contractors

Direct Recruitment
Under the direct recruitment,
enterprise place a notice on notice
board specifying the information about
the jobs available. Job seekers
assemble outside the premises of the
organization on the specified date and
selection is done on the spot.

Casual Caller
Many organizations maintains a
database of unsolicited applicants
that can be valuable source of
manpower to them. These
organizations prepare a list of such
job seekers and screen the same to
fill the vacancies as they arise. This
source of recruitment minimizes the
cost of recruiting workforce in
comparison to other sources.

Advertisement
Advertisements in newspapers, journals, television
and internet is the most popular method of inviting
applications and is generally used when a wider
choice is required. The advertisement contains
details about the job, its nature, the qualification
required to do the job, etc
The advantage of advertising vacancies is that more
information about the organization and the job can
be given in the advertisement, its advantage is that
it may bring in a flood of response, and many
times, from quite unsuitable candidates.

Employment Exchange
Employment Exchange is an organization that
helps business enterprises recruit employees
and aids individuals in their attempt to locate
jobs.
Employment exchanges run by the government
are regarded as a good source of recruitment
for unskilled and skilled operative jobs.
The individuals who are in search of
employment need to get themselves registered
with the local employment exchanges that
keep a record of all such persons in detail.

Employment
Exchange(Continue.)
Organizations, on the other hand,
inform the exchanges about the
vacancies.
The exchange in turn, identifies the
names of the qualified employment
seekers registered with it, and
forwards them to the employer for
consideration.

Placement Agencies and

Management Consultants
Placement Agencies and
Management Consultants provide a
nationwide service in matching
personnel demand and supply. These
agencies register with them the
names of the individuals who are
seeking employment and try to
arrange job interviews for such
candidates. Such Agencies charge
fee for their services and they are

Campus Recruitment
Colleges and institutes of management and
technology have become a popular source
of recruitment for technical, professional
and managerial jobs. The recruitment done
through educational institutions is known as
Campus Recruitment.
Many big organizations maintain a close
liaison with Universities, Vocational schools
and Management institutions to recruit
qualified personnel for various jobs

Recommendations of Employees
An organization may also consider
applicants introduced by present
employees, or their friends and
relatives to fill vacant jobs. Such
applicants are likely to be good
employees as their background is
sufficiently known.
The disadvantage of this source is
that the organization has to rely
totally on such people which can

Labour Contractors
Labour Contractors are the
specialists who maintain close
contacts with labourers and supply
manpower to factories or
manufacturing plants.
Business organizations appoint
workers on contract basis through
these contractors

Merit of External Source of

recruitment
Qualified Personnel - By using external
sources of recruitment an organization may
attract qualified and trained people from
outside
Wider choice with the large pool of
applicants, an organization has a wider
choice while selecting the people for
employment. This increases prospects for
the selection of the best candidates.
Introduce new blood to the organization

Merit of External Source of

recruitment(Continue.)
Competitive spirit If an organization
taps external sources, the existing
staff will have to compete with the
outsiders. They will work harder to
show better performance.

Demerits/Limitations of External
Source of recruitment
Dissatisfaction among existing staff External
recruitment may lead to dissatisfaction and
frustration among existing employees. With the
external recruitment the existing staff may feel that
their chances of promotions are reduced, this
discourage them to do the hard work and leads to
poor productivity of the organization.
Time consuming process Recruitment from
external source is a time consuming process as an
organization has to notify the vacancies and wait for
applications to initiate the selection process
Unfamiliar with the organization -

Demerits/Limitations of External
Source of recruitment(Continue.)
Costly process External recruitment
is an expensive process as an
organization needs to spend a lot of
money on advertisement and
processing applications.
Unfamiliar with the organization The
candidates selected through external
recruitment are not familiar with
tasks, job nature and the international
scenario of the organization.

SELECTION
Selection is the process of
identifying and choosing the best
person out of a number of
prospective candidates for a job.

Selection Process

Preliminary Screening
Selection tests
Employment interview
Reference and Background check
Selection Decision
Medical Examination
Job offer
Contract of employment

1. Preliminary Screening

Screening is the process of

checking the contents of the
applications by an organization to
ensure that the minimum eligibility
conditions in respect of age,
experience, necessary qualifications
and skills are fulfilled by the
candidates. The purpose of Screening
is to prepare a list of eligible
candidates who will be considered for
interview and eliminate unqualified
or unfit job seekers.

2. Selection Tests
After screening the applications, the
organization calls the eligible candidates for
selection tests, the purpose of these tests is
to measure skills and abilities of the
candidates in terms of the job requirements.
Some of the tests used by managers are
i. Intelligence tests
ii. Aptitude tests
iii. Personality tests
iv. Trade Tests
v. Interest Tests

Some of the selection tests used by

managers are
i. Intelligence tests- This is one of
the important psychological tests
and an organization uses
intelligence tests to measure the
level of intelligence of individual.
This test indicates the learning
ability or the ability to make
decisions and judgments of a
person.

Aptitude tests

ii. Aptitude tests: An organization

uses aptitude test to measure
individuals potential for learning new
skills.
This test is the indicator of
individuals capacity to develop and
is a good index of a persons future
success score.

Personality tests
iii. Personality tests provide clues
to a persons emotions, reactions,
maturity and value system etc.
These tests examine the overall
personality of individuals and hence,
are difficult to design and implement.

Trade Tests

iv.Trade tests: An organization may

measure the existing skills of
individuals through trade tests.
These tests measure the level of
knowledge and proficiency in the
area of professions or technical
training

Interest Tests

V.Interest tests: Managers may

use interest tests to know the pattern
of interests or involvement of the
potential candidates.

3.Employment Interview
Interview is a formal, face to face
and in-depth conversation conducted
to evaluate applicants suitability for
the job.

4. Reference and Background

Checks
In addition to the required education
qualifications, skills and experience an
organization expects the potential
candidates must have qualities like
balanced temperament, honesty,
loyalty etc.
Managers can not judge these
qualities on the basis of any test.

4. Reference and Background

Checks(Continue.)

Hence, many employers request

names,addresses
and
telephone
numbers of references for the purpose
of verifying information and gaining
additional information on an applicant.
Previous employers, teachers and
university professors can act as
references.

5.Selection Decision
An organization takes the final
decision among the candidates who
pass tests, interviews and reference
checks. In the final selection the
views of consulting managers is
genuine considered as he/she will
responsible for the performance of
the new employee.

6.Medical Examination
After the selection decision, the
candidates are required to undergo a
medical
examination
and
get
certificates of medical fitness. The
medical
examination
indicates
whether the selected candidates are
physically fit for the job. Such steps in
selection process is essential for the
jobs such as police and the army
where physical fitness is very
important.

7. Job Offer
Job offer for those candidates who
have
cleared
for
medical
examination
A job offer by an organization
generally contains a date by which
the appointee must report on duty,
details regarding salary, terms of
employment, employment bond if
any etc.
The candidate is given sometime to

8. Contract of Employment
If the candidates accept the job offer, certain
documents need to be executed by the employer and
the candidates. Once such document is the
attestation form which contains certain vital details
about the candidate, which are authenticated and
attested by him or her.
A written contract of employment may contain the
following headings: job title,duties,responsibilities,
date when continuous employment starts and basis
for calculating service, rates of pay, allowances,
hours of work, leave rules, sickness, grievance
procedure, disciplinary procedure, work rules,
termination of employment

Training and
Development
Training is the process of improving the skills,
capabilities and knowledge of the current or
future employees for doing a particular job.
Through training and development an
organization increases an employees ability to
perform to learning usually by changing the
employees attitude or increasing his/her skills
and knowledge. Training is good to both
employers and employees in the organization.
An employee will become more efficient and
productive if is trained well.

Benefits of training and

development to an organization
Training is a systematic learning. It reduces the
wastage of efforts and money
Training leads to higher profits as it enhances
employee productivity both in terms of quantity and
quality.
Training equips the future manager who can take
over in case of emergency
T&D help organizations to improve the quality of
work done by their employees. Training programme
concentrate on specific areas. There by improving the
quality of work in that area.
Training helps in obtaining effective response to fast
changing environment, technological and economic.

Benefits of training and

development to Employees
Training improves skills and knowledge of employees which
lead to better career
Adaptation : T&D programme greatly help new employees to
get accustomed to new methods of working, new technology,
the work culture of the company, to name a few,
Performance Level: Training increases the level of
performance by an individual and helps him to earn more.
Efficiency: Training makes the employee more efficient to
handle machines. This helps to improve the health and safety
measures in the organization
Satisfaction and Morale: Training increases the satisfaction
and morale of employees and reduces absenteeism and
employee turnover.
Through T&D the employees remain up to date with new
technology and the fear being thrown out of the job is reduced