Selection Function Of Human Resource

Discuss about the Recruitment And Selection Function Of Human Resource Management.

 

 

Introduction

Recruitment and selection function of human resource management is extremely important as it helps in finding the right candidate for a job (Armstrong, 2011). It is difficult to find candidates for high skilled jobs because supply of skilled workforce is less than its demand. This issue can be resolved by directly contacting skilled candidates (Brown, 2011). Directly contacting candidates or head hunting is a special form of recruitment where an individual is directly contacted by an organisation for recruitment purpose.

Recruitment Plan

Recruitment plan helps in making proper recruitment strategies (Dhamija, 2012). Following is a recruitment plan for hiring wind turbine engineer to lead an energy project.

Recruitment Plan   Recruitment Objectives- ·         Attracting candidates with high level of expertise and skills in project management, communication, legal systems and leadership abilities. ·         Filling the skill deficit in the organisation by hiring a suitable candidate for the requirement of wind turbine engineer through directly contacting candidates. Recruitment Budget- $10000 Job Description •         Title: Senior Wind Turbine Engineer •         Location - Tasmania •         Reporting to- CEO •         Job purpose summary Leading the project Supervising construction Negotiating with Government planners Managing labour issues ·         Salary- $350 000 per annum plus housing, a car and relocation allowance of $25 000. Hiring strategy ·         Directly contacting candidates to take part in the recruitment process ·         Shortlisting of companies from which the head hunting is to be done ·         Procuring details and contact numbers of employees of various companies suiting the job description ·         Hosting of expert centric conferences and seminars to generate a database of suitable candidates who are working for other companies. Use of social media to contact candidates ·         Contacting the candidates and offering them a chance to take part in the recruitment process ·         Fixing an appointment for interview if possible. ·         Finalization of the candidates based on interview

Table 1: Source: Made by Author (2017) Based on (Kurtzberg & Naquin, 2011)

The above recruitment plan will help Aurecon in hiring skilled candidates for the job.

Person Specification

Person specification enlists all the skills and other attributes which are needed for a specific job (Gummadi, 2015). Following is the person specification for wind turbine engineer

Person Specification Job Role – Senior Wind Turbine Engineer Education Qualification- Wind Turbine Engineering from a reputed and recognised national or international institution. Required Skills ·         Good interpersonal and Communication skills ·         Leadership abilities ·         Analytical skills ·         Decision making abilities ·         Team management skills ·         Negotiation skills ·         Conflict management skills Knowledge Requirement The candidate should have knowledge in the field of constructing energy infrastructure. The candidate should be able to manage the project from inception to implementation stage. The candidate should be having good knowledge of legislations Experience Required Minimum  5 years of experience in managing a project Attributes ·         Must be honest ·         Must be dedicated and goal oriented ·         Must be a team person ·         Must be respectful towards subordinates, colleagues and seniors ·         Must be organised ·         Must appear professional in both attire and mannerism Age Specification- 30-45 Years Gender specification- Both Male and Female

Table 2: Source: Made by Author (2017) Adapted from (Nikolaou, 2016)

The above person specification will help in getting a clear idea about the type of candidate needed for the recruitment of an engineer for Aurecon.

Ethical issues in recruitment and section of the successful candidate

There are certain jobs in every organisation which are highly skill and expertise oriented (Wilson, 2012). Additionally, such jobs require lot of experience. Therefore, it is difficult to find suitable candidates for such jobs through traditional recruitment and selection strategies (Kusluvan, et al., 2010). Hence, many companies use Head hunting or directly contacting suitable candidates as a recruitment strategy.

Head hunting is becoming extremely common in the area of high skills jobs (Brown, 2012). While recruiting an engineer for Aurecon, recruiters may face certain ethical issues while recruiting through the head hunting method (Punnett, 2015). Many thinkers of management believe that it is unethical to try and disintegrate the workforce of another company by offering a better pay package. However, some experts also believe that a firm has the right to try and find new and skilled candidates (Gummadi, 2015). Therefore, there is nothing wrong in directly contacting a candidate. However, repeated calls should not be made. Additionally, the candidate should not be contacted at the workplace.

Sometimes recruiters tend to oversell a position by offering too high a pay package (Boxall, 2015). This is unethical in the sense that it amounts to luring a candidate. Recruiter should only speak about the offer he actually intends to make at the final selection stage.

Another ethical issue facing the recruiter while recruiting for Aurecon is if the candidate refuses to accept the offer (Brown, 2012). Many recruiters keep on calling the candidates to convince them. However, this should not be done (Boxall, 2015). Therefore, while recruiting for wind turbine engineer, all these ethical issues should be keept in mind.

Approaching the candidate for direct recruitment

Direct candidate contact for recruitment or head hunting can only be successful if the recruiter approaches the candidate in the correct manner (Brown, 2011). Many head hunting attempts fail because the recruiters use a wrong approach.

For the purpose of recruiting of turbine engineer at Aurecon, the recruitment process should be clear, concise and to the point (Brown, 2011). As these candidates are working for other companies, the recruitment agency should try to locate their personal contact number, email ids and social networking handles.

The candidates should be contacted by phone or through social media networks like Linkedin or Twitter. Appropriate time to speak with them should be sought.  The process should go further only if they are ready to speak and /or provide an appropriate time to speak (Dhamija, 2012).  Whenever the candidate is ready to speak, the job  position should be pitched at the candidate in a clear and concise manner (Boxall, 2015) If the candidate asks for further details an email should be sent and another follow up call should be made (Brown, 2012). The agency should try to determine the candidate’s interest and only after determining this, interview should be scheduled. Additionally, confidentiality of the candidate should be maintained.

Therefore, the candidate shoals be approached in the most ethical and efficient way possible.

Behavioural traits required in the candidate

As per human resource management theory, certain important behavioural traits are required in the workforce (Armstrong, 2011). As the candidate for the job at Aurecon will be handling a project independently, certain leadership and team behavioural traits are required in the candidates. The candidate should have the ability to lead and take decisions (Bryman, 2013). He should be responsible and active in making important changes (Bryman, 2013). This will inculcate trust and respect in the workforce for the project engineer.

The candidate should be friendly, interactive and approachable so that workforce can confide in him (Armstrong, 2011). He should behave in an unbiased way with regards to work and co-workers (Bach & Edwards, 2012).  Cooperation, coordination and enthusiasm are also important traits to be sought in a person who is supposed to lead a project.

The potential candidate for project engineer should exhibit behavioural traits that increase team morale and productivity of the members of the project workforce (Brown, 2011). Candidate should be a positive thinker and should be able to involve all the team members in idea generation and decision making.

These traits can be tested through behaviour and psychometric testing. Certain questions will be asked to the candidates and their answers will be judged to ascertain whether they have the needed traits (Karim, 2013) . Additionally, certain situation and roles will be given to them and their reaction and behaviour in these situations will be judged (Armstrong, 2011). Therefore, through effective understanding of the traits needed for the job, right candidate can be selected.

Determining the candidate with the right fit

Recruitment and selection is a long drawn process where resumes of various suitable candidates are sourced and interviews and tests are conducted to determine the right candidate for the job (Armstrong, 2011). To determine the right candidate who best fits the job of turbine engineer at Aurecon, process of filtering out the candidates should be used (Brown, 2011). At the onset the CVs which do not match the job description should be rejected. Only those candidates should be called for interview who best match the qualification and experience requirement.

After the interview, those candidates should be filtered out who do not match the skills and abilities criteria (Brown, 2011). Further, only those candidates should be shortlisted who have the desired behavioural traits like leadership, interactive behaviour, friendliness etc.

If after this process there is more than one candidate who matches the criteria, the firm should test their ability to take decision in a difficult situation so that the firm can get a person who can handle tough situation (Boxall, 2015). The recruiter should also try to identify unique skills like degree of enthusiasm and dedication level in order to arrive at a final selection decision.

Therefore, best and the most suitable candidate should be selected after deep assessment of skills, abilities, traits and qualification of candidates.

Conclusion

Direct recruitment or head hunting is a need of the business for jobs with high skills specification. However, the head hunting should be done after planning the job requirements and ascertaining the required traits of the job. Additionally, all the ethical issues should also be taken into account before undertaking this activity.

References

Armstrong, M., 2011. Armstrong's Essential Human Resource Management Practice: A Guide to People Management. London: Kogan Page Publishers.

Bach, S. & Edwards, M., 2012. Managing Human Resources: Human Resource Management in TransitionStephen Bach, Martin Edwards. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Boxall, P., 2015. Strategy and Human Resource Management. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Brown, J., 2011. The Complete Guide to Recruitment: A Step-by-step Approach to Selecting, Assessing and Hiring the Right People. London: Kogan Page Publishers.

Brown, J. N., 2012. The Professional Recruiter's Handbook: Delivering Excellence in Recruitment Practice. London: Kogan Page Publishers.

Bryman, A., 2013. Leadership and organizations. New York: Routledge.

Dhamija, P., 2012. E-recruitment: a roadmap towards e-human resource management. Researchers World,, 3(3), p. 33.

Gummadi, R., 2015. Recruitment and selection practices of it companies in andhra pradesh – a study of select units. Hydrabad: Zenon Academic Publishing.

Karim, M. R., 2013. Recruitment & Selection: ‘Psychometric’ and ‘Social perspective’ model. Norderstedt: GRIN Verlag.

Kurtzberg, T. R. & Naquin, C. E., 2011. The Essentials of Job Negotiations: Proven Strategies for Getting What You Want. Westport: ABC-CLIO.

Kusluvan, et al., 2010. The human dimension: A review of human resources management issues in the tourism and hospitality industry. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 51(2), pp. 171-214.

Nikolaou, I., 2016. Employee Recruitment, Selection, and Assessment: Contemporary Issues for Theory and Practice. New York: Psychology Press.

Punnett, B. J., 2015. International Perspectives on Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management. NewYork: M.E. Sharpe.

Wilson, J. P., 2012. International Human Resource Development: Learning, Education and Training for Individuals and Organizations. London: Kogan Page.