Recruitment, Selection and Competencies

Managing PeopleOctober 2014

Session Objectives

• To introduce the activities associated with recruitment and selection

• To outline alternative approaches to recruitment and selection

• To identify key processes and activities associated with recruitment and selection

• To critically discuss the use of competencies in contemporary employee resourcing

• To highlight the importance of competencies in recruitment processes

Recruitment and selection

• Employee recruitment required under strategies for organisational growth, diversification or development, or where organisations seek to replace leavers

• R&S represents two sequential but separate processes• Recruitment: The initial activity undertaken to attract a

pool of suitable applicants for a vacancy• Selection: The process of selecting the most competent

individual from this pool.

• Considerations in one process ultimately shape activity in the other

The systematic approach to recruitment and selection

• ‘Systematic’ approach often believer to ensure both effectiveness and procedural fairness in recruitment and selection

• Rational assessment and comparison of candidates to meet pre-established criteria based on prior job evaluation and person specification.

• ‘Open’ to all qualified candidates

• ‘Formal’ to ensure it is auditable, transparent and eliminates unlawful personal bias.

• Process of:• Job or Role Analysis• Job descriptions• Person specification

Potential sources and channels of recruitment

• Advertising

• E-recruitment (internet/company intranet)

• ‘Word of mouth’ recommendation – Friends, relatives or associates

• Succession planning

• Job centres

• Employment agencies

• Recruitment consultants - ‘Head-hunting’/executive search agencies

• Walk-ins/casual callers/unsolicited approaches/waiting lists

• University ‘milk round’

• Schools or university careers services

• Student placements/internships

• Government training schemes

• Open days and recruitment fairs

Key considerations in recruitment

• Cost-effectiveness

• Fairness

• Adequately conveys the nature of work and the terms and conditions on offer

• Appropriate ‘accomplish’

• Employer branding

Employee Selection

• Employee Selection is the process of putting right men on right job. It is a procedure of matching organizational requirements with the skills and qualifications of people. Effective selection can be done only when there is effective matching. By selecting best candidate for the required job, the organization will get quality performance of employees

Selection Methods

• Application forms/Curriculum Vitae (CV) – Biodata

• Self-assessment

• Interviews• Psychometric testing (Aptitude testing to assess physical or

mental ability• Analogous tests• Personality tests

• Assessment centres

• Work sampling/portfolios with relevance to job analysis (e.g. typing sample, hypothetical case studies, presentations, in-tray exercise)

• References

Interviewing

• Main means of assessing applicant suitability for a job

• Variety of forms

• Useful for assessing personal characteristics, practical intelligence and conduct.

• Means by which to: • Explore the information contained in the CV or application form• Assess the fit between the person and the organisation.• Negotiate the terms and condition of employment• Answering applicants’ questions• ‘Sell’ the organisation.

• BUT, can lead to highly personal decision-making

Competencies and Competences

• Competency• A competency can be regarded as the characteristic

and capabilities of an individual which leads directly to superior job performance… (Martin 2010)

• Related to the behavioral dimension of job performance

• Competencies reflect the range of behavioural and technical attributes required for proficiency within a particular organisational context.

• (Organizational) competences created where individual activities are executed through application of a range of individual competencies

Competency Frameworks

A competency framework defines the knowledge, skills, and attributes needed for people within an organization. Each individual role will have its own set of competencies needed to perform the job effectively. To develop this framework, you need to have an in-depth understanding of the roles within your business. To do this, you can take a few different approaches:

• Use a pre-set list of common, standard competencies, and then customize it to the specific needs of your organization.

• Use outside consultants to develop the framework for you.

• Create a general organizational framework, and use it as the basis for other frameworks as needed.

Competency Frameworks

Working with People

Managing Relationships

Builds relationships

internally

Builds relationships

externally

Takes account of the impact of own role on the needs of external contacts

Identifies and nurtures external contacts who can contribute to the business

… and so on

Maintains external

relationships

Teamworking Influencing

Competency Cluster

Levels

Competencies

Behavioural Indicators

Competency Frameworkat Tesco

1. Customer Focus - Maximises personal contribution to the business to deliver "Every Little Helps".

2. Analysis and Decision Making - Analyses problems thoroughly and makes good and timely decisions.

3. Managing Change - Champions, supports and delivers changes to improve things. Helps others by overcoming barriers.

4. Developing Self/Others - Creates or contributes to an environment in which self and others are motivated to learn and develop.

5. Team Working - Builds and maintains positive relationships within and across teams.

6. Managing Performance - Supports and challenges individuals to achieve their full potential. Sets stretching objectives and measures progress against them. Manages resources effectively.

7. Gaining Commitment - Energises and influences others to get the job done and uses relationships to deliver great results.

8. Drive - Strives to achieve results through determination and commitment. Keeps going when things are difficult.

9. Personal Integrity - Matches words with actions to build trust and respect.

‘High Performance Behaviours’ at Jaguar Land Rover

• Our High Performance Behaviours describe things everyone at Jaguar Land Rover can do to help us reach our goals. They will also feature in our selection process…

• MY BUSINESS - We need people who will ensure our current successes are continued and act with the interests of the whole business at heart. To achieve this, you'll be able to demonstrate accountability in your role, and identify and then balance business needs and customer priorities.

• EFFECTIVE RELATIONSHIPS - No matter who you are, you cannot deliver things in a large organisation on your own. The building of relationships, both internal and external, are key to this.  

• CLEAR DIRECTION - This is closely linked to 'My Business'. You need to consider if you're passionate and willing to drive the business forward to meet business needs and customer priorities.  

• STRONG TEAMS - You'll be part of a team in your immediate department, but we are all part of the bigger Jaguar Land Rover team.  

‘High Performance Behaviours’ at Jaguar Land Rover

• EFFICIENT DELIVERY - It's essential to be able to use a cost-efficient, quality-focused approach to deliver our business plan on time, within budget and to expected standards of quality.  

• AGILITY & FLEXIBILITY - In Business, as in life, nothing is guaranteed. We all have to be able to embrace and react to change quickly and strive to continually improve how we think and operate.  

• POSITIVE IMPACT - Whilst much of the time we operate as part of a team, do not under-estimate the impact you can have as an individual in terms of positively influencing others.  

• HIGH PERFORMANCE - We need to strive to always improve, otherwise the competition will catch us. We're looking for people who will take responsibility for high performance, while encouraging others to do the same.

Benefits and criticisms of competency-based systems

• Benefits• Communicate a well-defined set of behaviours required in their

work

• Lead to greater employee effectiveness

• Clearly communicates performance expectations

• PM, appraisal and recruitment systems, and career management are fairer, more open and more effective.

• Improved training needs analysis

• Recruiters are able to assess transferable skills and identify required behaviours regardless of career background.

• There is a link between effective individual inputs to work and organisational performance.

• Processes are measurable and standardised across organisational and geographical boundaries

Benefits and criticisms of competency-based systems

• Criticisms• Focus on the past - Keep pace with rapidly-changing

environments?• Over-stresses important of behaviour on organisational

performance• Problem of reflecting whole job performance in single set of

competencies (e.g. management jobs)• Focus on individual competency undermines the strength of

teams where specific mix might be critical• Problems of equating personality traits with competency• Problem of ensuring understood by employees• Create organisational clones based on previous high-fliers• Problem for organisational diversity and renewal

• Create over-emphasis on job inputs, rather outputs

Summary Points

• Systematic approach to R&S often regarded as inflexible and unresponsive to change

• Increasing use of competencies as unifying approach to HRM (including R&S)• Contribution to vertical and horizontal integration

• Range of benefits and drawbacks associated with competencies and competency frameworks

• R&S critical area of ethical decision-making

References

Armstrong, M. (2000) Performance Management: Key Strategies and Practical Guidelines (2nd Edition), London: Kogan Page

Boyatzis, R. E. (1982) The Competent Manager: A Model for Effective Performance, London: Wiley

Forrester, G. (2011) Performance management in education: milestone or millstone? Management in Education, 25:1, 5-9

Holton, E. F. (2002) Defining HRD: Too much of a good thing? Human Resource Development Review, 1:3, 275-276

Martin, J. (2010) Key Concepts in Human Resource Management, London: Sage

Neal, A. and Griffin, M. A. (1999) Developing a Model of Individual Performance for Human Resource Management, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 37:2, 44-59