Recruitment and

Selection
Human Resource Management
At the end of the chapter learners should be able to:

• Develop appropriate job descriptions and

specifications for specific jobs,
• Develop an appropriate strategy for
recruitment and selection,
• Conduct effective employment interviews,
and
• Establish an effective induction program.
The basis for recruitment and selection
Recruitment and selection is the process of getting
human resources into organizations‘ departments,
sections and jobs (McKenna & Beach 2008). Venkatesh
& Jyothi (2009:83) use what might be an even more
useful definition of recruitment that is about the art of
discovering and procuring potential applicants for actual
and anticipated vacancies in the organization.
This definition has introduced the concept of ‘art’ which
is about the soft skills of management, some of which
might be a natural talent of some managers or acquired
through specialized training. The use of the word
‘discover’ emphasizes that effective recruitment is a
process that involves exploration and that will require
specialized methods and techniques, short of which no
‘discovery’ of potential people for the job can be made.
The basis for recruitment and selection
Usually, recruitment and selection depends on the
organization's policy guiding recruitment and selection as
already noted in chapter 3. Noe et al. (2007) have added
important policy issues that have to be considered during the
planning of recruitment and selection that are linked to the
organization's position in terms of a number of factors. These
are for example, recruiting internal staff as opposed to
external, the possibility of recruiting somebody who will be
paid above the market rate, issues of job security and
termination as well as the extent to which the organization's
image should be portrayed in advertisements because this
will influence the quality of job applicants and ultimately
recruitment. There cannot be any recruitment and selection of
employees without going through a process of exploring the
organization, the job to be filled, and the required person.
The recruitment and selection processes starts
with organizational analysis. This is the process of
evaluating the total organization, its objectives,
human resources, effectiveness and internal
environment. The most useful data and
information is obtained from the corporate
strategic plan or human resource strategy if
available. Other sources are monthly or quarterly
reports, management meetings decisions,
government policies and laws, market trends and
global patterns.
The next step is job analysis. This is the process of
analyzing and listing the tasks that are included in the job,
all the steps taken to perform the different tasks and all
the requirements the respective tasks put upon the
jobholder. The data on the nature of the job and
requirements can be obtained from the available human
resource manuals, job descriptions, making enquiries from
departmental and section managers or supervisors, the
person doing the job and moving around to observe how
the job is done.
The final step is individual analysis. This involves
performance appraisal of individuals doing the job in order
to compare individual knowledge, skills and competence
requirements in relation to the job objectives and possible
potential for development.
However, searching for a combination of various attributes from job
applicants is what should be the focus of employers.
Assessment Centers
O Developing assessment tools
O Training assessors
O Principles of effective assessment in
assessment centers