Chapter 3:

Recruitment and Selection of Employees

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OutlineI
1

Recruitment and Selection Practices

Introduction
Is Recruitment Exercise Really Necessary?

Job Analysis
Conducting Job Analysis
Job Description

Person Specification
3

Recruitment
Introduction
Attracting Internal Applicants
Attracting External Applicants

Selection

Equal Opportunity Laws

References
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Introduction
Recruitment is the process of attracting suitable people to apply for job
vacancies [1].
Selection involves choosing the most suitable candidate from amongst a
group of applicants [1].
Employers need to ensure that only competent workers are employed as
recruitment mistakes cannot be easily corrected.
The costs of a bad hiring decision may include [1]:
Cost of mistakes, accidents and loss of customers, caused by employees
who cannot cope with the job.
Cost of lowered moraleamongst the employees supervisor and his or her
co-workers who have to rework his mistakes or take over his tasks.
Cost of defending a claim of dismissal without just cause or excuse, once
the employee has been dismissed.
Cost ofrecruiting a replacement.
Cost oftraining a replacement.

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The General Process

Steps involved in the recruitment and selection process include [1]:

1

Make decision to recruit new employee

Conduct job analysis

Source for applicants

Collect information on applicants

Select most suitable applicant

Offer employment to successful applicant Conduct

induction once employee reports for duty

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Is Recruitment Exercise Really Necessary?

When a worker leaves, an opportunity arises for reorganizing. It may

prove possible to distribute the workload amongst the remaining workers
and thus avoid recruiting at all.
Systematic human resource planninghelps to reduce crisis situation
whereby the organization has either insufficient or too many workers.
Some considerations when there is a need for work to be done [1]:
Can the work be outsourced?
Can the work be reorganized and carried out by existing employees?
Can the work be automated?
Can the work be carried out by existing employees working overtime?
Should the employee be hired on a part-time or full-time basis?
...

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Conducting Job AnalysisI

Job analysis is a technique of studying a job to identify the skills,

knowledge, experience and other requirements necessary to perform the
job.
It is also possible to hire a consultant to conduct job analysis exercise
given the organization has insufficient staff and many jobs to be analyzed.
Job analysis can be conducted through a combination ofinterviews,
questionnaires and observation.

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Conducting Job AnalysisII

Typical interview questions asked during job analysis, include[1]:
1
What are your main duties/tasks?
2
3
4
5
6

7
8
9

10

How much time per day/week/month do you spend on each?

What machines/computers/tools/other equipment do you use?
If you are required to use a computer, what software do you use?
What decisions are you required to make?
Does your work require you to work together with staff from any other
departments?
If you work with other departments, name them and your contact.
Are you required to work/interact with any persons who are not employees?
If you are required to work/interact with non-employees, describe these
parties.
...

The outcome of this data collection process will be the writing of a

job description and a person specification.

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Job DescriptionI
A job description is a written profile of a job. The process of preparing
job description helps to identify unnecessary tasks, overlapping
responsibilities and even the existence of functions for which no one has
responsibility.
Typical headings include[1]:
Job title, location and grading: Job title is important as social status is
related to the type of job they hold. Pride in ones job can improve when
one is given a fancy-sounding title. For instance:
Sales Executive (a.k.a. salesman)
Customer Support Executives (a.k.a. call-center personnel)
Sanitation engineer (a.k.a. rubbish collector),

...

Relationships: Refers to stating the to whom the job-holder will report to

and if it is a managerial job, who are his/her subordinates. In some jobs,
the job-holder is also expected to handle customers, suppliers and other
persons outside the organization.
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Job DescriptionII
Brief statement on the purpose of the job: A brief summary of what the
job is all about.
List of duties and responsibilities:
This is the key part as employee will know what he/she is responsible for and
what is expected of him/her.
Some managers believe that the duties should be stated in a very general
manner as managers are concerned that employees may refuse to take on
any duties not stated in the list.
Clause: "The job holder will be expected to carry out any other duties as
required by his/her supervisor."

Terms and conditions of employment to be given to the job-holder:

A brief statement on the main terms and conditions of service provided to the
job-holder is helpful in the recruitment process as it gives the recruitment
officer a clear idea of the wages and other perks that go with the job. This
topic may be discussed during the employment interview.
If there is anything unusual about the job, it is important to include an item in
the job description outlining these constraints as any negative aspects will be
a key factor to be considered when choosing a suitable candidate.

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Person SpecificationI

Person specifications are also known as job specifications, which

describes the profile of a person who should be able to succeed in the job
and will guide the recruitment officer to the best candidate.
Person specifications list details of the ideal recruit by using headings
such as (can be listed as essential or desirable)[1]:
Knowledge, skills and abilities required to do the job
Educational qualifications and work experience required
Physical requirements of the job, if any
Personality requirements, where relevant
Career path

In the case of lower level jobs, the job description ought to describe with
some accuracy the daily duties of the job-holder. For managerial and
professional positions, a precise job description is more difficult to
achieve.

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Person SpecificationII
Thus, many employers today use a competency-based approach to
define managerial work.
Competencies are the attributes which make one person more or less
successful than another in the same job. Some examples [1]:
Oral communication
Problem-solving skills
Written communication abilities
Leadership
Self-motivation
Working with a team
...

Discriminatory specifications are not illegal in Malaysia, but they are

old-fashioned and bad for business. Stereotype example includes: a
receptionist should be female, sales executive should be younger, etc.

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Example of a Job Advertisement

Figure 1 :A sample job advertisement from jobstreet.com[3]

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Example of a Job Advertisement

Figure 2 :A sample job advertisement from internet [3]

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Recruitment Process
The aim at this stage is to attract a group of applicants, all of whom are at
least minimally qualified.
Potential applicants can be found both inside and outside the
organization.
Among the factors that influence the ability of an organization to attract
suitable employees are [1]:
The location of the organization
The public image of the organization
The physical working conditions in the organization
The relationships between people in the organization or the phycho-social
environment
The remuneration package being offered to new recruits
The internal policies of the organization, including fair disciplinary practices
and whether training opportunities are made available to employees.

Can be done in two ways: Internal Applicants and External Applicants.

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Attracting Internal Applicants

In large organizations, it makes good sense to allow existing employees

to apply for any vacant position.
Advantages [1]:
Employment record of applicants are available. Thus accurate assessment
is possible.
No induction needed.
Little or no cost involved.
Employees morale and motivation increased.

Disadvantages [1]:
Filling a vacancy in one department may lead to a more serious gap in
another.
No suitable candidates may be available.
Supervisors may be reluctant to release key employees.

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Attracting External Applicants

A number of different methods for attracting people to apply for vacancies
in an organization are [1]:
Employment agencies and consultants (e.g. recruitment agency, head
hunters,etc.)
Campus recruitment exercise (e.g. career and job fair)
Employee referrals
Unsolicited applicant files
Advertising in the mass media (e.g. newspaper advertisement)
Through the Internet (e.g. jobstreet.com, jobsdb.com)

Advantages [1]:
Avoid inbreeding
Possible to widen choice of applicants by having a pool of candidates

Disadvantages [1]:
High cost of recruitment process
Frustration amongst existing employees

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Selection ProcessI

Employers spend a lot of time and energy before choosing which piece of
industrial machinery (costing millions) should be purchased. The same
care should be made also when choosing a new recruit.
To increase the accuracy of the selection process, a variety of selection
tools should be used.
Among the sources of information which can be used to compare
applicants and see whether they match the position specification are
application forms, curriculum vitae (CV) or resum, reference checks,
standardaized tests and interviews[1].
Employers should use a number of ways to verify the information received.
If there are many candidates for a position, ashort-listing procedure will be
used whereby a candidate undergo a series of activities designed to find
out about their abilities.

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Selection ProcessII

Resumes are often incomplete, wordy and inaccurate. They may provide
very little useful information about a job applicant that is important to the
employers.
Application forms To ensure information received from applicants is
standardized and comparable, it is preferable to have applicants fill out an
application form. It should be customized for different jobs and include
only questions relevant to determine whether the applicant is suitable for
the job.
Reference checks are used by employers to check on the truthfulness of
a candidates statement about themselves. Background of applicants
should be thoroughly checked when they are applying for sensitive jobs.

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Selection ProcessIII

Selection test is an attempt to introduce some objectivity in the selection

process. For instance[1]:
Performance tests are used to test candidates ability to perform certain
jobs (e.g., welding test)
Aptitude tests attempt to discover a persons potential abilities and talents
(e.g. spatial abilities of designers)
Personality tests are to discover a persons personality characteristics
e.g. friendly, cooperative, etc.
Intelligence tests are to measure a persons intelligence level (e.g. IQ)
Medical tests are to determine whether a person is physically fit for a
particular job.

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Selection ProcessIV

Selection interviews are conducted to gather further information from the

candidates. The aim of interview is not to obtain factual data about the
candidate but rather to assess his/her communication skills, to explore
his/her background, to see if he/she has the experience and knowledge
necessary to do a good job, and to look for hints of personality traits which
may be important for success on the job.
Before conducting a selection interview, the interviewers should be very
clear what they expect to achieve from the interview. Care should be
taken with the physical environment of the interview room so that the
applicant will be able to best display his talents.

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Equal Opportunity LawsI

Many companies in the Asia-Pacific have expanded their business to
other countries, including the United States and Europe. Many of these
countries have equal employment opportunity laws.
Enforcement of these laws are very strict, especially in the US. It is
therefore important for managers in non-US companies to take note of
the major equal employment opportunity laws in the US and in countries
where they do business.
Equal Employment Opportunity in the United States[2]:
1

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (as amended by the 1972 Equal
Employment Opportunity Act) states that an employer cannot discriminate
based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is empowered to
investigate job discrimination complaints and sue on behalf of
complainants.
Equal Pay Act of 1963 requires equal pay for equal work, regardless of
sex.
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Equal Opportunity LawsII

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) prohibits

discrimination against employees or applicants who are between 40 and 65
years of age.
Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires federal contractors to take
affirmative action for disabled persons.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) prohibits using pregnancy,
childbirth or related medical conditions to discriminate in hiring, promotion,
suspension or discharge, or any term or condition of employment.
Sexual harrassments include unwelcomed sexual advances, request for
sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of sexual nature towards
employee. This is a violation withTitle VIIwhen such conduct affects or
interferes with a persons work.

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ReferencesI
[1]A MINUDDIN , M. Human Resource Management: Principles and Practices, first ed.
Oxford University Press, Malaysia, 2008.
[2]D ESSLER , G., AND TAN , C. H. Human Resource Management: An Asian
Perspective, 10th ed. Pearson Prentice Hall, Singapore, 2005.
[3]

JOBSTREET. COM.

Sales & marketing executive - gruvcrete asia sdn bhd, 2013.

Online:
http://www.jobstreet.com.my/jobs/2013/3/default/10/1895330.htm?fr=J&src=2.

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The End

Thank You.

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