Recruitment and Selection Acquiring Staff for the Flexible Firm

1. Recruitment and Selection Acquiring Staff for the Flexible Firm

2. Sample Examination Question A large business wants its HRM recruitment staff to specify the quality of the recruitment service they will deliver to departments and to establish service level agreements for recruitment. • How will you specify the quality of recruitment services. • What issues, procedures and practices will you research? • What problems will you encounter in specifying recruitment service quality? • How can service quality be defined in terms of • functions and activities to be carried out • and • the potential strategic contribution of recruitment to organisational success and changing culture?

3. Descriptive-Functional View • standardisation, risk reduction when filling vacancies • maintaining and delivering a quality service? • strategic, proactive? • prescriptive - model best practice • systematic analysis of requirements: organisational + job levels • transaction processing system: - advertising, applications and engagement - internal and external markets • ethics and equal opps policies - large + small firms • who does it? • selection methods - reliability, validity and utility (cost effective) • legal constraints and contracts of employment • what could go wrong?

4. “I'm from recruitment ....... Here’s what I can do for you” Specifying the Quality of these Services • vacancy • authorisation to recruit • job/role analysis and specification • agree terms and conditions • sourcing/attracting (target groups) in-house vs. external recruitment, • design and administrate communications (boundary transactions) • recommend and use recruitment methods/techniques • process applications and responses • organisation the "programme" • selection: apply the methods (incidental techniques, questionable cohesion?) • make the decisions and administer the offer • finalise the contract • receive/induct

5. How we recruit and select reflects organisational culture? Presentation of organisational FACE orientation to competitive forces hire and fire versus “we value our staff” the lean, flexible firm - out-sourcing and sub-contracting our “core staff” and our core competencies Normative view?

6. Descriptive-Behavioural • Focus on • actual recruitment experience/behaviour of personnel specialists and line managers • Behaviour in front of audiences - on-stage, back stage, off stage • Critical Evaluative • How does behaviour compare with textbook normative rhetoric? • Are the techniques reliable, valid, cost effective? • Is the process objective or prone to subjective bias? • Why? • Decision-making processes • Psychometric-objective versus • Subjective, social action process

7. Vacancy Processing • involves • intra-organisational bargaining • Job/role and competence analysis • observation, interviews, knowledge of roles, skills, imperatives • Title, reports to, tenure, compensation package, scope of responsibilities and duties, authority, priorities, budget, staff team, location, conditions, knowledge, skills, experience, values, performance standards, problems/objectives, results/priorities, ideal candidate profile. • copy writing and internal/external advertising

8. Recruitment assumptions • …based on a psychometric-objective model. • define job requirements • ascertain personal qualities – traits and competencies • match job requirements to person's profile. • Use techniques to • Routinise and objectivise the process • Reduce the risks • Maximise predictive power

9. Job description - what use? • how can the manager operate effectively if he/she does not understand & cannot define the jobs of their staff? • shared understanding about what the job is • reliable, factual definition of scope of job and responsibilities?? • useful for organisational design and analysis of change? • it helps to minimise conflicts??? • reference point for induction, performance assessment & grading • a basis for the job advert & recruitment literature • indicates competencies required - generic + job specific Dull, boring Over-bureaucratic Out-of-date Written by??? Contractual? "Burn the lot of 'em" Robert Townsend, "Up the Organisation"

10. Job analysis products • Job description • Title, reporting relationships (up, down, sideways, external) • job summary, responsibilities, duties, MbO/R: key result areas, scope of authority. Position of “organisation chart”. Career/promotion path. • working conditions • Competencies specification • levels, range of situations, performance indicators, knowledge/wisdom, experience, skills (psycho-motor, technical, analytical, literary, spoken, numeric, social and emotional), personal orientations and motivators. • Personnel specification (person profile) • characteristics of ideal candidate. Essentials - desireables - disqualifiers • Applicant profiles • built up from evidence/data from forms, interviews, other tests, references

11. Job Analysis Orange: Label the Key Result Area segments KT1 Now define the key tasks of KRA 5 KT5 KT2 KT3 KT4 KRA 4 KRA 2 KRA 5 KRA 3 • role demands • choices, constraints • ambiguities • possible overload • pressures/conflicts • organisational change KRA 1

12. physique, health and appearance height, build, hearing, eyesight, health, looks, grooming, voice, disability? attainments education/qualifications (school, HE), job training, experience & learning conceptual and reasoning ability knowledge-base, perception, intellectual & conceptual capacities, wisdom special aptitudes physical, verbal (speech/writing), technical, figures, art, music, social? interests intellectual, cultural, practical, physically active, international, aesthetic disposition acceptability, relationships, leadership/initiative, motivation and drive, reliability, stability/adjustment, proactivity, influencing circumstances age, plans, domestic ties, mobility, domicile, other Personnel Specification: Rodger's 7 Point Plan Essential? Desireable? Disqualifier?

13. Core Competencies (example from major software house) • People relationships • Customer relationships management • Communication and persuasiveness • Business and financial judgement • Knowledge sharing/management • Vision, change and accountability • Drive, motivation, planning and organising • Problem-solving and decision-making • People management capabilities • Role specific technical and specialist capabilities • Professional standards and values We sell our skills and abilities!

14. Finding and attracting candidates • Sources • internal: word of mouth, internal vacancy notifications, staff newsletters. Staff analysis. Career planning • external: where are the candidates located, in what type of job? Local, national, overseas. Do they want to move? Schools, colleges, careers centres, job shops, employment fairs. • Agencies • recruitment consultants/agencies, head hunters, • media: newspapers, journals, radio, WWW/Internet • advertising • advertising accounts, writing & designing the copy, targeting the advert, proof reading, publishing deadlines, costs • The emergence of on-line recruitment - suitable for all jobs?

15. Attract Candidates - Internal vs. external sources • Nature of vacancy and open access? • Internal • known qualities, locals vs. cosmopolitans • fluid internal market and contribution to culture, rewards/expectations • staff database, career support planning - quicker/cheaper, incestuous? • External - time consuming, uncertain, new blood, socialisation • inexpensive, limited choice approaches? • staff recommendation, on-spec applications, school-college links etc. • expensive, wider access approaches • head-hunters, general/specialist recruitment agencies, local/national press, professional & trade journals • poaching/fishing • Come and live/work in our house - forming, fight/flight, norming & performing

16. Recruitment Information System • data in/out flows • inquiries, application packs (out/in +CVs), requests for references, security vetting, invitations for interview + joining instructions, offer letters, rejections, contract documentation • sources and sinks • candidates, dept. managers, receptionist, security, referees, clients • data capture/storage? Find/collate, candidates in progress. Printing • volume, handling, copying & distribution, short-listing, briefing. • use of IT - PC networks,word processing, databases, Intranet/Internet, • Data Protection Act, Asylum & Immigration Act • filtering & co-ordination of selection decision-makers? • expenses, agency fees, costing the whole process

17. Skeletons in cupboards: References & testimonials • Obligation at law to provide a reference? • Importance/value of references? • Reciprocity, validation and reliability. Security • Costs? • Consequences for employee (job, mortgage, bank loan). • Legal issues? Where could it go wrong? • defamation (false statement & reputation), deceit (intention that receiver will act on the reference) • negligence - duty of reasonable care in compiling the reference, accuracy (sue for damages/loss) • Organisational policy on giving references? • Right to see what is written about you?

18. Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 • Sex Discrimination Act 1975 • Race Relations Act 1976, 2000 • Employment Rights Act 1996 • Disability Discrim. Act 1997 • Asylum and Immigration Act Selection - Statutory rights and requirements • discrimination in advertising, selection methods (direct or indirect), TU. membership and activities, pregnant women • in employment + failing to offer job • Remedy èto EOC or CRE or ET, • GOQsSex: physiology, decency/privacy, living in, single-sex establishments, personal services, working outside UK (culture) • GOQs Race: dramatic performance, authenticity, restaurants, personal services CRE/EOC Codes of Practice for advertising and selection (RRA and SDA)

19. Selection Tests • reliability • validity • utility • acceptability • Application form • Biodata analysis • Interviews • one-to-one, panel • formal and informal settings • References/security screening • Ability tests • paper-based, practical/trade, social • Aptitude, intelligence and personality • Group methods & assessment centres • Work experience/short term contracts • Medical

20. The Psychometric-Objective Model Characterised by • Eternal optimism • Smoothly administered/programmable • Measured, controlled, predictable, systematic search often using psychometric techniques • Match evidence of competences & stable qualities to job demands Compare with "social process" approach • Interplay between selection events • Candidate & selector feelings/responses • organisational negotiations and mutual adjustments

21. Why an Interview? • Exchange sufficient & necessary information to decide suitability • Social and ritual aspects. Audition. Group/power vetting • Candidate asserts abilities & presents experience. • Communicate relevant information about job/organisation - objective & subjective • Seduce candidate to become an organisational member • Satisfy candidate - give fair opportunity • Importance of not over-selling

22. Interview Strategies • Frank and friendly • Problem-solving - “imaging yourself in the job...what would you do if...? • Behavioural event - critical experiences - what, why, how, options, plans, outcomes • Simulate stress. Put on the spot? Validity? Spurious appeal? • Strengths and weaknesses of • individual interviews • sequential interviews • panel interviews

23. Reception • Schedule for the day • candidates, Cooks Tour, guides & interviewers, domestics & catering • receiving applicants • site security, car parks • travel and subsistence arrangements • waiting place

24. The GASP Interview Interviewer Preparation • Greeting • Acquiring Information • Supplying Information • Parting

25. GASP Interview - Greeting • Move towards • genuine welcome, positive regard • Calm, neutral, with no interruptions • Put at ease, build and maintain rapport • seating voice, eye contact, warmth and body posture.....NVC • Preparation and “contract of interest and expectation” • Opening conversation • CHANGING GEAR - Moving smoothly into main substance of the interview.

26. GASP - Acquiring Information • Listen more - talk less. Ratio % interviewer/interviewee. • Objectivity vs. personal preference, stereotyping & early judgement • Not adversarial. Halo, horns and doppleganger effects • Taking notes (on application form or interview plan) • Question strategy (preparation) • Structured conversation • open-ended questions, probe and link • direct, leading, trick and taboo questions • Emphasise biography and experience, explanation and analysis • Mental agility and hypothetical questions • Let interview flow but control it: - use space/time • Non-verbal signals and skills. • Cover key points (interview plan) • Summarise periodically and conclude

27. GASP - Acquiring Information - the Journey • Recent and significant past jobs/projects • contributions, events/phases, initiatives, products, achievements and decisions. Evaluation of strengths and gaps • Competence embedded in REAL experience • knowledge/understanding, analytical skill, written/numeric, specialist • attitudes and values, drives and motivation • Interpersonal relations - the candidate as a person with others • Education, training, learning and development • Personal and domestic topics - relevance/irrelevant • Applicant’s questions about • the organisation and job - current + prospects • the terms of employment

28. GASP - The Good Interviewer • ….at times • well-prepared, sharp & in focus, specific & rational • at other times intuitive, picking up nuances and rationalisations • at others stepping back to see the whole interaction, fitting things together and noting the time left and areas to cover.... • Interviewer "genuine regard for the other" helps to relax the candidate • clear perception • allows productive silences & easy asking of questions. • counteracts habituated boredom in interviews • intuitive processes as well as the usual thinking, evaluating ones. • Legge - descriptive behavioural research interest

29. GASP Interview: Supplying Information • cutting it short (horns/halo, premature judgement) • equal opportunity to all candidates • intimation of success/rejection (verbals and non-verbals)? • beware misunderstandings over contractual terms. No promises. • Communicating a decision • hints to attractive candidates (in a competitive situation) • intra-organisational bargaining • the decision in writing • subject to references • giving career advice to rejected candidates?

30. GASP Interview: Parting • Signal closure - NVC plus statement • requires as much skill as opening the interview • clarify future steps - the remaining interview schedule • verify • dates - holidays and availabilities • phone, post • stand up, move, exchange parting courtesies

31. Anderson and Shackleton, Successful Selection Interviewing, Blackwell, 1993 pp 69 “Utilised properly; depending on its exact purpose, the interview emerges as a valid reliable tool in candidate assessment. Moreover its flexibility to act as a medium for mutual preview or as a final stage forum for negotiation between the parties, renders the interview more useful in selection than narrowly focused definitions of validity and reliability can convey”

32. GASP Interview Issues • premature decision • Tentative, pre-determined views seldom altered at interview • accept/reject within 3-4 min. Gather evidence to confirm first impression • Weak candidates make average candidates look good • Unstructured interviews vs impression management and random selection • propositions • interview practice does not improve performance • training does • dramatic performance may not reflect job. Interviewee actors. • panel interviews - defer to most influential member. Poor correlation of views when choice is confidential • psychometric tests - weak evidence but belief and practice strong. • psychometric-objective model vs. social process?

33. Stereotyping • What is it? What form does it take? • How and why does it occur? • Common stereotypes • Positive and negative value? • Problems of signs, signifiers, interpretation. • Body language. • Presentation of self - "Front" - stage and audience • What dangers for fairness and equity?

34. Assessment Centre Methods • Group work: • Problem-solving in team situations, interpersonal skills, listening, thinking on feet, influencing and coordinating. Realistic/unrealistic scenarios. Organising/prioritising. Emotional resilience. • Competence of observer-testers • Presentations: • verbal/non-verbal skills, use of media, presentation content. Analysis - differentiation of higher/lower order issues, ability to construct a case. Influencing and argument. Awareness of wider issues and implications. • Work Demo or Simulation - news reader, drivers, brick-layers, chair meetings, computer programming, counselling, typing/shorthand, • Portfolio • Psycho-tests • reliability • validity • utility • acceptability

35. Assessment Centre Programmes • Programme (battery) of different tests • Systematic job analysis: performance criteria, skills & behaviours • Select valid, reliable, cost effective exercises • Validate the exercises on a sample of subjects • Train tester-assessors to observe and rate • Feedback to candidates • Evaluate the techniques and process outcomes External & internal candidates? Psychometric-objective model vs social process

36. Assessment Centres - identifying promotion potential • Superior assessments? • High degree of validity? • Recognising formal & informal qualities - not all job-related - required for organisational success • Post-assessment centre judgments coloured by knowledge of individual's performance in the assessment centre • Assessment centres define and construct potential > discover it.

37. Competitive advantage and core competencies • Skill, capability, competence as "keys" to competitive advantage • Job demands arising from performance oriented organisational change, TQM & IT initiatives • Emphasis on managerial competences for performance • Boyatzis (1982), Bethell-Fox (1992), MCI (1990) • Communication, leadership, group and decision skills, project management, entrepreneurship • Outward-looking, market-focused, team-oriented • Psychometric assessment techniques e.g. tests of cognitive ability to identify potential

38. Intelligence and Aptitude Testing • verbal fluency & comprehension • logical & numerical • spatial & mechanical • memory What is IQ? • Tests for • clerical, apprentice & general staff selection • health, fitness, mental agility • verbal & numerical problems • IT skills • honesty, neurosis, tolerance, ethics? GMAT Graduate Management Admissions Test What employability tests would you use for airline cabin crew?

39. Cattell 16 PF warmth intelligence emotional stability dominance impulsiveness conformity boldness sensitivity Myers-Briggs (Type Indicator) Introvert Extrovert Intuitive Sensing Feeling Thinking Perceptive Judging Personality Tests • suspiciousness • imagination • shrewdness • insecurity • radicalism • self-sufficiency • self-discipline • tension TYPES • Testing industry - sales + training the testers • Administration? interpretation? • Supplementary information for decision-making? • Predictive value?

40. The Decision and Follow-up • Job criteria & information on candidates • Reaching a consensus, taking a risk? • Zombie theory of recruitment • Letters of • hold • rejection • the offer (risks and uncertainties) • Contract finalisation & documentation • Commencement & induction plan • Organisational communications & reassurances

41. Evaluation of the Recruitment Process • costs/methods/effort involved by stage • DROP-OUT: inquirers èapplications è seen candidates • “quality” of short-list per post • service indicators & client satisfaction/dissatisfaction • in-house process vs. out-sourcing and agencies • quality of Equal Opps provision • job criteria vs. criteria used in action (actor behaviour) • added PR value - image projected • SURVIVAL: number retained after 6 months • recommendations for improvement Evaluate reliability, validity and utility of methods used Psychometric-objective model versus social process

42. Evaluation of Selection Process • candidate feedback on selection methods & experience • observation and incident analysis e.g. re-equal opportunities • selector “self-evaluation”? • relevance, reliability, validity and utility of selection methods/tests • recommendations for improvement