The document discusses recruitment policy and procedures. It begins by explaining the importance of having a written recruitment policy with three key parts: aims, procedures, and review process. It then describes elements that should be covered in a recruitment policy, including who carries out recruitment, what the priorities are, and why certain procedures are used. Finally, it provides an overview of the typical recruitment cycle and various assessment methods that can be used during the selection process, such as interviews, tests, and assessment centers.

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Recruitment Policy and Procedure
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RECRUITMENT AND
SELECTION
Recruitment Policy and Procedure

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Recruitment Policy and Procedure
Recruitment and Selection
MTL Course Topics
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ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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INTRODUCTION
Few organisational processes are as uncertain and
unpredictable as the recruitment and selection process.
Despite every effort we make to attract the right candidate,
there is no guarantee that the methods we use will work.
We may devise a spot-on person specification but find
nobody in our market who meets the specification. We may
place a wrongly worded advertisement and get no response.
We may design a selection procedure that overlooks a key
requirement and find we have chosen the wrong person.
One way to minimise the chances of error is to develop a
policy and procedure for recruitment. This can become the
standard around which everyone in the organisation works
and the basis for continually seeking better and better ways
to select.

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RECRUITMENT POLICY
There are three key parts to a written recruitment policy in
an organisation.
Aims. The aims of any one organisational policy should
dovetail with those of the overall business aims. Thus the
aims of a recruitment policy should be to find the best
people that the organisation can afford in a fair, efficient and
cost-effective method.
Procedures. The recruitment policy should spell out the
particular procedures, systems and methods that will reach
the desired aims. These are principally the who? what?
how? where? and when? of recruitment.
Review. A recruitment policy should be kept under regular
review. Reviews should measure the results of recruitment,
such as how well new staff perform and levels of turnover.

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WHO? WHAT? WHY?
Whether your recruitment policy is in writing or just custom
and practice, it should cover the Who? What? Why? of your
procedure.
Who? You need to consider who carries out your
recruitment, eg specialists, line managers or an outside
agency. You can even use the team. Sandwich makers Prêt-
a-manger ask potential recruits to spend a morning working
with staff before the team help decide who to appoint.
What? The what? of recruitment should list your priorities
in selecting: are you wanting to be fair or effective?
Why? You should decide under Why?: do we recruit on a
regular basis or only when we need new people?
How? What recruiting method do you use?
Where and when? Do you go to them or do they come to
you?

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THE RECRUITMENT CYCLE
The recruitment cycle shows the twelve stages in the
process of recruitment. Each stage is a sub-system of the
main system and may have sub-systems itself.
1. vacancy, which may include an exit interview
2. decision to recruit, which may include other options
3. job description, which may include a job analysis
4. person specification
5. advertisement, which may include other means of
marketing the vacancy
6. response, which may include various filtering systems
7. shortlisting
8. interviews, which may include various types of tests
9. selection
10. references
11. appointment
12. start.

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RECRUITMENT SYSTEMS
Each stage in the recruitment process can be regarded as a
system which spawns sub-systems and even sub-sub-
systems.
For example, in the "Advertisement" system, there could be
sub-systems comprising: production of an advertisement
and insertion of an advertisement in appropriate media. The
Production sub-system could itself comprise the following
sub-sub-systems: drafting of an advert; checking of an
advert; design of an advert; decision where to place the
advert.
The aim of all systems and sub-systems is to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of the process. The Berkely
Scott recruitment consultancy found that firms with quicker
processes and responses are at a competitive advantage
over firms with complicated systems.

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ADMINISTRATION
The systems and sub-systems of recruitment are best
managed through attention to good administration. There
are some simple rules:
1. appoint one person in the team to have responsibility
for each vacancy. This person should know the stage
that the vacancy has reached (the hour on the
recruitment clock).
2. open a new file on each vacancy. Ideally use computer
programmes to handle large numbers or popular
vacancies.
3. acknowledge letters the same day they arrive
4. set deadlines on each stage (eg closure of applications,
dates of interviews) and allow no changes
5. whittle lists down promptly
6. keep people informed if there are delays
7. review the list of applicants regularly.

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THE HUMAN TOUCH
Including the human touch in your administrative
procedures shows your best public face and reduces the
stress of the recruitment process.
1. Contact people directly, for example by phone or in
person, rather than in a formal letter. Avoid "regret"
notices in newspapers.
2. use clear jargon-free English in every contact you make
3. brief everyone who meets applicants to know who is
coming and when. Train everyone to use a friendly tone
and the person's name.
4. give applicants the name of someone to contact for
information
5. don't keep people waiting
6. assign someone to look after visiting applicants; make
sure they have excellent interpersonal skills.
7. be prompt and courteous.

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RECRUITMENT METHODS
A key feature of your recruitment procedures is the method
you use to assess candidates.
Assessment methods may be a matter of personal taste or
may be laid down by the organisation. It is not unusual to
have different methods in the same organisation.
The face-to-face interview is the most widely used method
of recruiting although it is widely accepted that it can be an
unreliable guide to a person's future performance potential.
Other methods such as biodata, assessment centres, tests
and graphology can only give unscientific predictions.
In truth, there is no cast-iron method that can guarantee the
selection of the best candidate or the selection of the
candidate who will turn out to be the star performer we all
want. In every recruitment exercise, there will always be an
element of guesswork and intuition.

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TESTS
Tests are now widely used as a means of objectively
assessing candidates' skills in addition to other methods
such as application forms and interviews.
There are five different kinds of tests:
1. intelligence tests which assess numerical, verbal and
spatial ability
2. psychometric tests which produce a profile of an
individual's character and motivation
3. tests of key job skills (eg typing, computer skills)
4. applied intelligence tests which ask candidates to make
decisions or show creativity
5. aptitude tests (for example mechanical or clerical skill).
There is considerable debate over the relevance of tests to
predicting future work performance. Their design may also
be inherently biased.

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DATA AND BIODATA
D.B.Goldsmith was the pioneer of selection techniques
based on statistical information and known as biodata.
Goldsmith first applied the technique to insurance
companies in the 1930's. When asked to find people who
would become good salesmen (sic), Goldsmith found out
which people in the organisation were already performing
well and listed every relevant factor about them. He gave
every factor a weighting. For example, the ideal age range
might be 30 to 40 so would score high, whereas an age
range of 20 to 30 would score less. In this way an ideal
prototype could be drawn up against which every candidate
could be measured.
Biodata can have a high success rate where work is
predictable and you want more of the same. It is, of course,
completely biased towards existing types of employees.

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IDEAL CANDIDATES
Biodata was used in the Green Giant food organisation in
the United States to find the best, or most weighted,
applicants.
Using data on existing employees, it was found that the
common characteristics of all high performers were that
they...
1. lived close by
2. were married but had no children
3. had a phone
4. were not ex-services
5. were aged between 25 -55
6. weighed 150-175 lbs;
7. had worked for Green Giant before
8. liked outside work.
Green Giant therefore used these characteristics to select
their future employees.

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THE INTERVIEW
The interview has traditionally been the overwhelmingly
favoured method of selecting staff. Few people get a job
without one.
However, research shows that assessing people by means of
a face-to-face discussion can be a poor way to assess skill.
This is because...
1. we are subjectively influenced by whether we like
someone or not
2. some people learn how to perform at interview in order
to make a good impression
3. we may admire things at interview - for example, a
bubbly personality - that are not necessary for the job
4. we play amateur psychologist guessing from a 30-
minute chat what people are like.
Interviews need to be structured to work well and to focus
on information needed in the job.

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SHE SEEMS INTELLIGENT
Intelligence is a highly-prized quality in today's
organisations, particularly those that make use of
information. But it is notoriously difficult to measure
intelligence, particularly in an interview.
When asked to observe different people and rate their level
of intelligence, most people give preference to the following
features which they believe indicate intelligence:
1. people who are extrovert or talk a lot
2. people who wear glasses
3. people who have a high degree of formal education
4. people who are interested in intellectual pursuits such
as chess and crosswords.
In fact, none of these is a guaranteed indicator of
"intelligence" and can be quite misleading.

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ASSESSMENT CENTRES
Assessment centres are put together by combining a range
of assessment techniques in one half day or whole day
session for groups of up to 12 candidates.
The techniques need to be carefully prepared and may
include:
1. an in-tray exercise to simulate a job problem
2. leaderless discussions
3. observed groupwork
4. an autobiographical essay
5. formal panel interview
6. tests and games in which the team may be primed to
act in certain testing ways
7. an assessment of social skills.
Assessment centres are often used by large organisations
such as the Armed forces or Civil Service for senior
appointments. They have a high level of success.

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PERSONALITY
Personality is defined by J.Kagan and E.Havemann as "the
total pattern of characteristic ways of thinking, feeling and
behaving that constitutes the individual's distinctive method
of relating to their environment.“
Much of the work of selection, including the way an
assessment centre is put together, is aimed at discovering a
person's personality. This is so that we can predict the ways
people are likely to behave in the job.
The difficulty with seeking easy answers to what makes a
person tick is that there are no easy answers.
Personality theories fall into two categories: the nature
theory, which suggests that personality is determined by
birth and the nurture theory which suggests it is constantly
changing in response to the environment.

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REAL WORK PRACTICE
In one research company seeking to appoint a senior
manager, two outstanding candidates were running neck
and neck. To choose between them, they were each asked
to spend a whole day on a real management problem
working with members of the company.
Five skills were sought:
1. a persuasive not coercive management style
2. high-energy leadership
3. action through partnership
4. an ability to abstract
5. excellent presentation skills.
The early front-runner soon came unstuck when it was
found that she pressurised staff for information. The second
candidate revealed traits that hadn't been noticed until
then. She was appointed and proved a success.

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GRAPHOLOGY
Graphology, or the study of handwriting, has practically no
credence as a serious assessment method in the UK.
This is in contrast to Europe where it is widely included as
one of the battery of selection methods. While there are
just 10 graphologists in London, there are 68 in Paris.
Although assessments using handwriting are not formally
used, many organisations insist that applicants write to
apply and subconsciously, if not too consciously, get
impressions of people from the appearance of their writing.

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SELECTION TECHNIQUES
Energy recruitment company, Hunter and Hunter, carried
out research into what selection techniques were the most
effective in predicting future job performance.
The following is a list of their findings in order of
effectiveness:
1. a sample of work eg a written report, a presentation
2. tests of job skills
3. the ratings of colleagues
4. test of job knowledge
5. a trial period on the job
6. assessment centres
7. biodata
8. references
9. interviews
10. academic record
11. education
12. self-assessment.

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THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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THANK YOU
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