Introduction
There are various market forces that affect the production of goods and services or the offering of services by an institution. These forces can originate from internal or external influence. The number of employees in a company is subject to change due to some leaving for other jobs, death, retirement, being fired or expansion of the company.
For the company to maintain or increase the returns, the outgoing workers need to be replaced by competent personnel. The replacement process should be undertaken with a lot of care to ensure that qualified and most productive workers are recruited. This recruitment exercise is mainly the responsibility carried out by top management and is specifically directed to the human resource department.
This paper seeks to critically analyze and evaluate recruitment of new employees in a company and make sound arguments why theories, models or concepts on recruitment are effective. Good analysis of comparing and contrasting views on recruitment will be given.
Recruitment
Recruitment is basically aimed at taking in new employees for specific roles which will assist in the achievement of the speculated goals and objectives of a company. The recruitment process can be faced with challenges especially when there is a shortage of people with the required skills and knowledge.
The managers should recruit the most efficient and productive candidates for the job because the recruitment of inefficient and unproductive personnel will most definitely affect the productivity of a company. Most managers do not undergo training on recruitment and the process is mainly based on past experiences and learning from other managers.
Sometimes training on how to carry out an interview process is undertaken and it should always be taken as this will ensure that the best employees are picked. Ensuring that those delegated the duty of carrying out the interview exercise does it well is important as it is one of the ways to ensuring that a company has the right staff.
Recruitment Process
The recruitment process starts from the moment a vacant position is declared in an institution. The management usually undertakes the role of outlining the qualification expected of the person to take up position. This is mainly done by the human resource department. The announcement for the position can be made internally, externally or both.
The prospective candidates should send their applications with relevant documents. After receiving the applications, the management usually critically analyses them, sorts them out and eventually shortlists the successful candidates for the interview. After under taking the interview, the management usually analyses the interview results and successful candidates are appointed.
These new employees usually undertake training in the company to inform and give guidelines to them on whatever is expected of them. This is usually aimed at improving their skills and knowledge on the field and thus improving productivity of the company in general.
Recruitment Techniques
There are various recruitment techniques that are used to evaluate various candidates. The evaluation techniques include verbal reasoning, numerical tests, personality test, presentation and technical tests. These techniques are used to access different strengths of the candidates and are used for different job categories although a number of these tests can be used together.
After getting a large number of applications, the management should retain the application in their database for future use. Candidates can be recruited through career fairs, internal recruitment or through employment agencies.
For the right appointment to be made, several steps must be undertaken. Qualified individuals should be attracted to apply for the vacant positions. To get these candidates, there should be specifications of the measures which would be used as a point of reference. In the advertisement for the post, most employers usually specify the required skills and qualification.
This should be the case so as to make it possible for the most flexible candidates to be appointed. Most new employees are attracted to checking for the previous employees work to act as a reference. There are usually plans to manage the human resource. This is usually because the success of an institution is dependent on the success of its management and all its employees in the performance of their duties.
The design of a job is usually found to be very necessary. Some jobs are quite challenging while others are not. When carrying out the design for a given job, it is necessary to take into consideration the challenging aspects of various jobs and give an allowance for the same.
There is much discrimination at work places; usually based on race and gender. Proper strategies need to be put in place to overcome workplace discrimination as it usually locks out some of the best applicants (Dale, 2004, p 17). The candidates should be evaluated without any form of discrimination.
This is likely to improve trust in the institution whereby the employee will develop trust in the company they are working for. The company’s reputation is very important and attempts should be made to uphold it in all the activities that the company engages in.
With the introduction of scientific management new aspects have been introduced at the work place. Specialization and division of labor among the employees has been proved to be very productive. In an attempt to enhance productivity of employees, motivational theories were developed. According to Dale (2004), Moslow suggested that human motives can be arranged in a hierarchy of priorities (p 20).
This means that when one thing is fully accomplished, it would work as a motivator and the person becomes ready to take another challenge. Hertzberg also stated in his theory that some aspects in one’s place of work can make him feel satisfied with the job while others have the converse effects and can act as demoralizers.
These theories are found to stress on the importance of good relationships at the work place for effective growth. These theories have found a lot of application in the current world and are usually used as points of references.
To maintain continuity and improve a company’s growth, workers need to be motivated. The monetary return is seen as the main type of motivator. Some workers require different types of motivation which may include respect and acknowledgement of the duties undertaken. Business organizations should make attempts to ensure that their workers are well motivated.
This has led to research being undertaken for the best ways of motivating new and old employees of an institution. For good production to be realized, the job requirement and the extent to which the workers are settled should be considered.
Shortlisting is usually aimed at selecting the best candidates from the large amount of application letters obtained. This is usually achieved by first eliminating candidates who did not meet the stipulated skills and qualification. To the people who succeed the first test, it is usually good to take an overview of their cover letters and curriculum vitae so as to get the best qualified candidates.
According to Elearn limited and Pergamon flexible learning (2005), it may be a tedious job but making a mistake could cost the company much. The people undertaking the shortlisting should be holding senior positions than the position being shortlisted for and should have all the information about the job and person requirements (Elearn limited and Pergamon flexible learning, 2005).
This is obtained by specifying the shortlisting guidelines before shortlisting starts. They should give basis on which other applications did not qualify for shortlisting. Successful candidates should be contacted and provided with information on interview dates and venues (Chapman, 2006).
Interview is one of the stages of recruitment process undertaken after shortlisting has been done. This is a chance for the interviewer to interact with the interviewee and obtain more information he may need apart from the academic qualification.
There are many types of interviews which can be undertaken and they include exit interview, video interview, telephone interview, panel interview, unstructured interview, structured interview, group interview, informational interview, behavioral interview and lunch/dinner interviews. These interviews are intended to collect different types of information about the candidates depending on the type of job he is to undertake.
This being a chance for the interviewee to sell himself, he should be well equipped with the necessary information that may be required (Loewy and Guffey, 2010). This information is usually by conducting research on the company and the job (Billsberry, 2007).
After the new employees are appointed, they are usually oriented to the new workplace. This is usually the last part of the recruitment process. The employees are familiarized with other employees, their duties and the overall operation of the institution. This usually makes the new employees feel welcomed. If conducted well, the induction is found to have both short-term and long-term benefits.
Some of the benefits include the new employees are able to build up confidence faster, adapt to the institution environment easily, avoids the loss of the employees and improved morale. The induction can be conducted in different ways depending on the job or other operations and culture of the company.
The new employees should be clarified to on anything that may appear unclear to them. Proper planning on the induction process is necessary as the first impression employees get is likely to last forever (Morrissey, Compton and Nankervis, 2004).
Conclusion
It has been observed that recruitment is a long and tedious activity that has to be undertaken by a company or any other business organization. It has been seen that it can be undertaken effectively with good cooperation between the employer and the employees. The process demands a lot of resources and takes a lot of time. To effectively undertake it, the process requires proper planning and preparation in all the phases undertaken.
The recruiting team should be conversant with the necessary knowledge and skills to avoid mistakes. Any mistake committed may cost the company a lot considering the repercussions that are bound to be met afterwards. The new members of staff should be motivated so as to boost their morale which is very important as they undertake their duties.
References
Billsberry, J. (2007) Experiencing Recruitment and Selection. New York: John Willy and Sons.
Chapman, R. J. (2006) Simple tools and techniques of enterprise risk management. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons.
Dale, M. (2004) Manager’s guide to recruitment and selection. London : Kogan Page Publishers.
Loewy, D and Guffey, M. E. (2010) Business Communication: Process and Product. Boston: Cengage Learning.
Morrissey, B., Compton, R. and Nankervis, A. (2004) Effective Recruitement and Selection Practices 5e. Sydney: CCH Australia Limited.
Pergamon flexible learning and Elearn limited. (2005) Recruitment and selection. Toronto: Elsevier.