CHAPTER 9
Recruitment and Selection
Learning outcomes of this chapter
•
•
•
•
•
To comprehend the potential importance of
recruitment and selection in successful people
management and leadership
To identify aspects of recruitment and selection
that are needed to avoid critical failure factors
To understand recruitment and selection
policies and procedures that are said to
characterise the high-performance organisation
To evaluate selection methods according to
criteria of reliability, validity and fairness
To recognise the role of rhetoric in recruitment
and selection literature
Recruitment and selection: the
importance of getting it right
•
•
•
•
To gain competitive advantage
To play a pivotally important role in shaping
organisational effectiveness and performance
To attract and retain high-calibre employees
with the potential to develop
To reduce undesirable costs such as those
associated with high turnover, poor
performance and customer dissatisfaction
Definitions:
‘Recruitment is the process of generating a
pool of people to apply for employment to
an organisation. Selection is the process
by which managers and others use
specific instruments to choose from a pool
of applicants a person or persons more
likely to succeed in the job(s), given
management goals and legal
requirements.’
Bratton and Gold (2007)
Approaches to recruitment and
selection
Traditional
Competency-based
Matching the
characteristics of an
‘ideal’ person to fill a
defined job
•
•
Use of job descriptions
and person specifications
•
•
Selection based on
knowledge skills and
personal qualities
•
•
•
Focus on identifying
abilities needed to do the
job well
Recruit ‘flexible’ workers
Look at potential as well
as actual skills or
competencies
Recruit to team
requirements rather than
specific job
The resourcing cycle
Review the need and establish the requirements
Attract suitable candidates
Select
The offer and the acceptance
Induction
Full competence in the role
Attracting applicants
Contingency approach – no single best way
Analysis of what might be effective in particular
circumstances such as:
•
Availability of candidates – ie supply and
demand
•
Desired response rates
•
Confidentiality – eg senior roles
•
Time-scales
•
Costs/budget
The validity of selection methods
Validity
• Face validity
• Content validity
• Predictive validity
Reliability
• Temporal or ‘re-test’ stability
• Consistency
Predictive validity of selection methods
(Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2006; p.173)
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
Certain prediction
Assessment centres for development
Skilful and structured interviews
Work sampling, Ability tests
Assessment centres for job performance,
Biodata, Personality assessments
Unstructured interviews
References
Graphology, Astrology
Fairness in recruitment and selection
Procedural justice
How far the selection
methods were seen
by candidates to be
related to the job and
the extent to which
procedures were
explained to them
Distributive justice
How equitably
candidates felt they
were treated and
whether the outcome
of the selection was
perceived to be fair
Fairness Continued
Fairness extends to the area of discrimination and
equal opportunities
Two approaches:
1. Compliance with legislation
2. Managing diversity
High-performance organisations are more
likely to have a strategy of diversity
management
Contextual issues in recruitment
and selection
Theory v practice
 Lack of formal HR procedures in SMEs
Costs
 Apparent or direct costs of recruitment £4,333 for
average UK worker
 Implicit or indirect costs, such as poor performance,
customer dissatisfaction
Cultural differences and approach
 Organisational – ‘person-organisation fit’
 National – eg the USA and the UK use selection
methods that emphasise individual differences
A note of caution
Research indicates that small and mediumsized employers are less likely to have
sophisticated practices in place – see Cully
et al (2002).
Distinctive processes and practices faced by
particular organisations will frame their
approaches to recruitment and selection.
The usefulness of a contingency model
Successful policies and practices are those
which apply principles faced by the
particular context of a unique
organisation.
Note also possible cultural differences – eg
‘In individualistic cultures such as the UK
or the USA, selection methods may seek
to emphasise individual differences
between applicants.’