Selection And Recruitment Process At Live Wire Laboratories Ltd.

About Live Wire Laboratories Ltd.

Question:

1. Identify and select a small business (big/well known organisation is not allowed) as the subject for your project, and explain the task to the business manager to obtain approval.

2. Survey key stakeholders (relevant positions in the small business) and identify the HR needs of the business for the next 12 months.

3. Develop a human resources (HR) plan to address the HR needs of the organisation and have the plan approved by the business manager and your assessor before proceeding further.

4. Develop job descriptions.

5. Develop an advertising policy and procedure, including checklist, which complies with organisational, legal and policy requirements.

6. Develop a selection policy and procedure, including checklists, that complies with organisational, legal and policy requirements for:

a. external reference checking

b. providing offers of employment (including advice about salary, terms and conditions, probation).

7. Review the procedures with key stakeholders and your assessor before proceeding.

8. Facilitate and evaluate some training on at least two of the procedures developed using a training evaluation form.

Success of all business organization depends on its human resource. Every business organization has the same requirements i.e. finding the right person for the job & developing him or her into a valuable resource. Conducting the recruitment in the proper way helps the managers to work in most effective manner and achieve the vision & mission of the organization. It is expected from every human resource manager that they pay proper attention on the recruitment & selection activities happening in the organization, so that they can tackle the human energies in achieving the objectives of the organization. Therefore, personal functions selection & recruitment, when they are carried out in a proper manner, it would enable the business enterprise to hire & retain the best brains in the business industry. Behind all the world best companies it is its people which are the biggest strengths. The employees recognize themselves with the organization they are working for. The proper functions acted by human resource manager help the employees to build up their morale, proudness & spirit which in turn become the organizational strengths. Certain steps are required to be followed by all the business enterprises, which ensure that it has right number & right kind of people at right time & at right place, in order to achieve the planned goals of the organization. The report covers the a brief profile of Live Wire Laboratories Ltd., its existing human resource policies, survey report identifying of needs of manpower, current human resource status, develop the job description, developing- HR Plan, advertising policies, selection policies & training evaluation for two procedures.

The Live Wire Laboratories Ltd. is a young start up manufacturing and exporting human herbal. Live Wire Laboratories was founded by Mr. Abraham Stewart in the year 2001 and has its headquarters in Kallyanpur, Dhaka. Live Wire Laboratories produce ethical drugs, it started with manufacturing oral liquid products. It is private limited company registered with the registrar of Joint Stock Company & the firms of Government of People of Bangladesh. Initially the organization faced many challenges & problems, however, it successfully overcame with all the problems and is trying to become from a small unit to giant size. Live Wire Laboratories continuously tries to enlarge the facilities of production, increasing the employees and boosting its marketing & sales efforts.

Human Resource Policies

At present, Live Wire Laboratories product lines include two categories, i.e. herbal & allopathic. Both the products include various products. The major activity of Live Wire Laboratories is to contract manufacturing, distribution & sales. Live Wire Laboratories sells its products majorly in Bangladesh and also exports a small amount to Nepal & Sri Lanka. Live Wire Laboratories is a young growing exporter of human & herbal pharmaceuticals product in Bangladesh having 500 employees in total working in various departments within the organization.

The Vision Statement of Live Wire Laboratories is to ensure health & happiness for all. With their continuous efforts, improvements & innovation Live Wire Laboratories want to establish themselves as one of the best pharmaceutical organization.

The Mission statement of Live Wire Laboratories is to adopt holistic approach in order to ensure happiness and health for all by making medicines of superior quality at reasonable prices and reaching out even the smallest villages by proper sales & distribution channels. They view themselves as partners with doctors, their employees, their customers and the environment. (Ashwathapa, 2007)

The Goal of the organization is to stay committed to improve the state of the art manufacturing facilities in order to ensure superior quality products to the customers. The organization is continuously putting its efforts to increase the sales, revenue, & productivity & improve the image of the organization and the satisfaction level of customers.

1. The manpower planning procedure for a year starts with the Live Wire Laboratories’ budgeting activity. The managers or functional heads of respective department submit the requisition form to Board of Directors sating the requirement of manpower in their respective departments as part of their annual business plan. Detailed discussion is done with the Human Resource Manager with proper notes in details in support of the projected assumptions in regards to indirect & direct costs of salary for each position.

2. After this detailed discussion a copy of approved human resource plan goes to the HR department for their actions which are further required during the year. The yearly budget would show the required manpower in the entire organization, at various levels in different departments, at different office location and timing when the manpower is required. The budget also depicts the requirement budget, which is the cost assigned towards the replacement of existing employees & recruitment of the budgeted staff. The manpower plan will also clearly specify the exact time at which the incumbent should be on board in such a way that the regional HR has plenty notice for the time lapses included in sourcing another activities.

3. The Regional HR department needs to accept the planning activity and perform required preparations in advance of the forecasted requirements, as quarterly & monthly activities on the foundation of the approved budget, replacements & separations therefore. 4. The openings sought to be filled or being filled will always be within the annual manpower budget which has been approved by the board of directors and no recruitment process will be initiated without the formal notice or meetings with the regional HR Head under any situation.

The HR Department of Live Wire Laboratories adopt various channels for attaining the right candidate. The HR manager uses multiple sources of recruiting the employees depending upon the position, volume of recruitment, etc. Some of these sources include:

1. Employee referrals

2. Existing database of potential candidates

3. Advertisement in Internet/magazine/newspaper/ job sites/company’s website or any other media.

Job Descriptions and Responsibilities

4. Placement agencies

The choice of sourcing mechanism depends upon number of positions, urgency & criticality of the position & cost consideration. However, the norms of using any of the above sources are not water tight. 

1. All the advertisements related to recruitment in any medium or in any form should always conform to the KLI compliance norm & cannot be advertised by any department without having the VP-HR approval depending on the specifics of each vacancy for which recruitment advertisement needs to be acted, the HR Manager has the right to get help from the marketing department of the organization or any external advertising agency for the preparation of the advertisement. Primary characteristics of the vacancies as informed by the department heads would normally be the part of the advertisement text.

2. The media for delivering the advertisement will depend on the level of position being considered & on the basis of the urgency of the vacancy.

3. The mode of advertisement can be broadly classified as internet websites, newspapers & business magazines. (Robins, 2000)

For the Live Wire Laboratories, Sales & Promotional Representative (SPR) and Medical Representative (MR) are the most important positions. Every quarter, the Live Wire laboratories recruit 20-30 employees for this position.

Below is the process of recruiting and selecting MR and SPR:

1. Requisition form: As a process, the marketing division raises the request demanding employees by filling the requisition form. HR department will justify the requirement & will take approval from Board of Directors.

2. Attract & Invite applicants: Every quarter Live Wire Laboratories recruit MR and SPR in a big quantity. Being this as the main reason they try to reach the maximum number of applicants. HR Department publishes the recruitment advertisement in the newspapers. Mostly the advertisements are published on the last working day of the week. The major points that are included in advertisements are:

Job Responsibilities of Sales & Promotional Representative:

Ensuring prompt & timely delivery of medicine to the chemist as per their requirements. Managing cash collections received after the delivery of medicines. Safely depositing the cash received to the concerned department. Promoting the Live Wire products in potential market. 

Job Specification of Sales & Promotional Representative:

Applicants should have a minimum completed graduation from a certified and recognized university.

1. Should have scored 60% throughout academics.

2. Should be less than 30 years of age

3. Should be comfortable speaking local language

4. Should have fluent English

5. Should be honest and smart working person.

6. Workplace can be anywhere in Bangladesh.

Job Responsibilities of Medical Representative:

1. Able to maintain constant liaison with health care professional & doctors.

2. Promoting the products of Live Wire & create maximum awareness about the brand.

3. Achieving sales target given by the organization.

4. Providing chemists & doctors with updated information about the product on regular basis.

Job Specification of Medical: Representative:

Applicant must have done masters in general management or have marketing specialization.

Should be capable of working under immense pressure to meet targets in given deadlines.

Applicant should have his own transportation vehicle and knows driving.

Applicant should be comfortable travelling.

Applicants under 30 years are eligible to apply.

Workplace can be anywhere in Bangladesh.

3. Collecting resumes, conducting examination, interview and publishing results: After the advertisements are published and have received enough number of applicants, the candidates are invited to appear in the written examination and after the examination candidates are shortlisted. Shortlisted candidates appear for the personal interview and then the selected candidates’ names are published.

4. Acceptance of offer letter: Finally the shortlisted candidates are offered with joining letters and HR Department takes the required papers and performs the reference check. (Kothari, 208)

1. First level screening

The Candidates would be screened by the HR Manager/Branch Manager for the respective locations. Screening would be on the basis of the profile of the     candidate and the departmental requirements. This assessment will be with respect to:

The general profile of the candidate,

Personality fit of the candidate into the profile,

Aptitude/attitude of the candidate,

Motives of the person to join the company and whether focus is in the short term or is a long term player,

Basic skill level on our set of requirements, say numerically ability, networking ability, etc.

Establish the annual guaranteed cash compensation of the individual and check whether the person would fit into the system.

Explain the role of Sales manager to the applicant and check the acceptance of the candidate for the same.

In case of need, the Regional HR may take a Tele interview of the candidate for further assessment process.

2. Second Level Screening

If the first assessment is positive, the candidates will give the aptitude test, once such test is selected approved by the company. The scoring, interpretation and the generation of interview probes from that test will also be done at this time. People who qualify the minimum criteria on this test will be put up on to the Functional Head (VP’s in case of HO) for functional assessment and suitability into the role.

General Norms regarding interview Process:

Interviews should consider the entire data provided by the candidate either through the formal CV or otherwise before coming to a conclusion about the candidate. They may insist on seeing the proof of the claims made by the candidate regarding qualifications, experience and other achievements. They may, at their discretion, decide to meet the candidate on more than one occasion or to refer the candidate to another panel.

Ratings on various attributes of the candidates shall be recorded in the interview evaluation sheet, soon after the interview is over. Along with these numerical ratings, qualitative observations about the candidate and overall decision regarding selection or otherwise (including a decision to defer the induction, referral to another panel, considering for another position) shall be forwarded to the associated Recruitment Manager/ Head of Regional HR. Individual panel members have the option of appending their additional remarks/observations. No selection will be treated as final unless the IES form is filled comprehensively. Suitably appropriate IES formats may be created for specific positions.

Any discrepancies noticed by the panel members regarding the authenticity of the data provided by the candidate should be specifically and formally recorded on the IES form and suitably high lightened.

Specific points to be probed during the reference check process, if any, must also be clearly recorded and high lightened on the IES forms.

Scheduling and the venue of the interviews would be handled by the recruitment team in consultation with the short listed candidate and the selection panel members, after taking mutual convenience into account. For field positions, respective branch/regional heads would undertake this co-ordination.

After the final round, if the candidate is selected, the complete set of papers Personal Data Form, CV, job requisition no., Interview evaluation sheet, reference check details, educational details, along with the interviewer’s recommendations and Reference check form should be forwarded by the recruitment managers to recruitment head. Fitment of the candidate into a grade and compensation fitment shall be on the assumption of authenticity of the information provided in the CV/application form.

Recruiting and Selecting Medical Representatives

An appropriate formal communication shall be sent to the candidate whose candidature is not being taken forward, or details of the verbal/telephonic communications provided to the candidate shall be recorded on the candidates papers, by the recruitment team/associated line managers. In the case of interviews taking place at the branch/regional levels, similar noting should be recorded on the individual candidate’s papers. (Gupta, 2011)

In the case of sales-Tied Agency functions, the branch managers will be allowed to fix the salary and grade of the incoming sales manager provided the compensation does not exceed 20% of the candidate’s current cash salary. Any fitment beyond these norms will need the approval of Head-HR. HR will forward a worksheet to support the BM’s to evaluate the appropriate cash CTC of the incumbent. For all other functions, the compensation and grade would be fixed post a discussion between the Head of the Regional HR and the associated AVP/VP. Any candidate being offered a CTC of more than 4lacs will need the sign off from HEAD-HR. In appropriate cases, at the discretion of the VP-HR, a deviation may be referred to the Managing Director, for the MD’s formal approval.

Responsibility for negotiations and finalization of the terms shall rest with the best Branch Manager/Associated Manager. They may seek the assistance of the recruitment managers, whenever required. Reference checks process should not normally be initiated unless the candidate has indicated his firm acceptance of the offer being made by us.

Reference Checks

Normal, reference checks should be undertaken with at least one reference. A second reference check will be done if considered necessary. Responsible officials from the former employers, academic institutes and/or any other eminent personalities can be considered as appropriate references. Close relatives and friends cannot be considered as references. Wherever feasible and considered appropriate, a reference should be made with a senior official of the candidate’s current employer. In case the candidate is currently un-employed, reference should be made with the latest employer.

The format of reference check is to be used as a framework for conducting the process Where the minimum two reference checks are not possible (particularly with the current employer) or where there is a mixed response from different sources, the matter may be to the VP-HR for a final decision. Depending on the seniority and any other considerations about the positions, VP-HR would normally consult the functional head concerned, before coming to conclusions. Any candidate whose credentials are doubtful shall not be recruited.

In case of recruitment of Management trainees, fresher and life advisors as sales Managers no reference checks will be required. (Abraham, Jose, 1998)

When a recruitment Manager is fully satisfied about the selection of the right candidate and about completion of all the formalities connected with the appointment of candidate including requisite documentation, satisfactory reference check reports and medical fitness, he/she would forward the relevant papers listed below to the head of recruitment.

Personal Data form

Employee requisition form duly filled by the regional Head/Branch Manager

Interview evaluation sheet filled by the regional head/Branch manager/interviewer with his/her comments.

Latest and updated resume of the candidate

Photocopy of the appointment letter of the last employer or latest salary slip.

Employment details.

Two Professional references.

Language Proficiency.

Document check list for every grade is as follows:

Authorization Release Form.

Background checks Form.

Highest Education certificate.

Highest Education mark sheet.

1 Month Salary Slip of Current Employer.

1 Month Salary Slip of Last Employer.

Relieving Letter of last Employment.

Proof of Residence.

2 Passport Size Photograph.

Regional HR manager will take the signature of Head-HR on the employee requisition form and forward the papers to the employee service team for issuance of the offer letter.

Employee services team will issue offer letter, to be signed by the National Recruitment Manager or Chief Manager-HR, and send the same to the concerned Branch Manager/ HR Manager.

It would be the responsibility of the Branch Manager/HR Manager to ensure that the accepted copy of the offer letter is forwarded to the employee service team within a week of receipt of the offer letter. Till this letter is issued, the ‘offer’ has not taken place in formal sense. A copy of the offer letter shall be duly signed and returned to the candidate. Candidate would be expected to fulfil various joining formalities, which are also formally communicated to him/her in the form of a checklist that is attached to the letter of offer. The Regional HR head shall have the overall responsibility and accountability to maintain the templates of the offer letters and also for drafting of suitable non-standard terms to any specific candidate.

The employee service team will follow up Branch Manager/Regional HR Manager for the joining of the candidate and will collect all relevant documents from the candidate including the joining report, before issuing the appointment letter. The employee service team may enlist the help of the Branch Manager to ensure that all necessary documents within ten days o the person joining. After all of the necessary documents, the employee service team will send the appointment letter to the new joiner.

Once the documentation is complete for the new joiner (including the accepted appointment letter), people who may have joined before 20th of the month but have not been included in the payroll for the month because of delay in receipt of papers will be given ad-hoc salary advance (up to maximum of 65% of the prorated salary). This advance will be adjusted once the person gets included in the subsequent month’s payroll.

If the person does not submit the relieving letter from the previous organization, where required to be submitted as per the table given above, within three months of joining, the employee service manager can put their salary on hold till such time as the said documents are received. (Rao, 1998)

References

Robins, D (2000): Human Resource Management, Publisher-Prentice Hall, New York.

Abraham, Jose P, (1998), "To Grapple With Attrition" , Publisher- Human Capital

Rao, J.M., (1998), "Scouting for Talent ", Publisher- Human Capital

Ashwathapa, K, (2007) Human Resource and personnel Management, Tata McGraw Hill 131-176.

Gupta, C.B. (2011) Human Resource Management, Sultan Chand & Sons.

Kothari, C.R, (2008) Research Methodology, Publishers- New Age International