Recruitment and selection process

You look at the business as a whole and seeing if there is a need for a new employee. This could be because a member of staff has left, the business expands, maternity time, expulsion of an employee or becuase a memebr of staff has been promoted. When doing this step, the business should ask themselves...

• Who do you need?
• Why do you need them?
• Who is leaving soon?
• What jobs would need to be done
• etc.

The job description is a document containing the title of the job, details of responsabilities and duties of what the job entails. This would also include the salary and any extra responabilities or jobs they need to do. This should give any possible applicants all the information they need about the job before they apply.

This is a document stating all of the skills, experience, knowledge and qualifications required for the job. There are two sets of skills in this section, desirable - it would be great to have and essential - you must have . A person specification is a great way to reduce the number of unsuitable candidates at an early stage as peopl will know that ifthey do not have the required qualifications then they should not apply for the job.

This is for the potential applicants to find out about the vacancy. This could be done in various different ways but first the business will need to decide whether they will recruit internally - within the busniess or externally - outside the business. If they were to advertise internally it could be done by putting up notice boards, making a bulletin/newsletter and on the intranet. Externally you could post it in newspapers, job centres, websites and more.

To shortlist applicants, a business would compare their CV and/or application form to the person specification and those who meet all of the essential criteria will most likely be interviewed. They can also look at references, past experiences and even take tests out on the applicants to see what they like/dislike.

Once the shortlisted applicants have been chosen, the employer will interview them. This can be done in several different ways like role play, demonstrations, tests and a panel interview. When interviewing the candidates, the Human Resources department undertakes this and the managers are involved in filling vacancies in their own area. In smaller firms, recruitment is overseen by a manager or supervisor to ensure that the candidate will fit in.

This step is about selecting the most appropraite candidate to have the job. Through all of the tests, interviews and documents the rejection letters would be sent out within the week and the acceptance letters most probably sooner to ensure that the candidate does not apply for another job. 

A good process wil result in appropriate job descriptions, person specifications and advertisng. Also a straight forward process for candidates with n depth interviews all treated fairly. The best person is selected and the tohers are treated courteosly.