Personnel selection and Placement
Definition
 Recruitment
 This is the process of searching for and obtaining sufficient
number and quality of potential job seekers or applicants to
enable the organization to select the most appropriate people
to fill its job needs.
 It is pertinent to note that the process of recruitment must
begin with a clear specification or understanding of
manpower needs.
 Personnel selection is the process used to identify and
hire individuals or groups of individuals to fill vacancies
within an organization.
 Often based on an initial job analysis, the ultimate goal of
personnel selection is to ensure an adequate return
on investment
 Personnel
Selection is the methodical placement of
individuals into jobs. Its impact on the organization is
realized when employees achieve years or decades of service
to the employer.
 The process of selection follows a methodology to collect
information about an individual in order to determine if that
individual should be employed. The methodology used should
not violate any laws regarding personnel selection.
Selection and Placement
Selection is the process of gathering legally
defensible information about job applicants in order
to determine who should be hired for long- or shortterm positions.
Placement is concerned with matching individual
skills, knowledge, abilities, preferences, interests,
and personality to a job.
The importance of selection and placement
To fairly and without any element of discrimination evaluate job
applicants in view of individual differences and capabilities .
To employ qualified and competent hands that can meet the job
requirements of the organization.
To place job applicants in the best interest of the organization
and the individual.
To help in human resources manpower planning purposes in
organization.
To reduce recruitment cost that may arise as a result of poor
selection and placement exercises.
Problems in Recruitment & Selection
 Recruitment
and
selection
doesn't
happen
without
challenges.
 The quality of employees you hire depends on an effective
recruitment and selection strategy. However, the process isn't
always smooth sailing.
 Employers face tangible problems such as the cost of
advertising job openings and intangible obstacles such as
improving communication between recruiters and hiring
managers.
 Recruitment Strategy
 Before you compose the first job posting, you must
determine whether hiring employees actually is in the best
interest of the company.
 Bringing on new employees can be costly, when you combine
the costs to recruit, orient and train them.
 Labor costs for full-time employees can be high, especially if
your company offers employee benefits.
 Small businesses might look at alternatives to bringing on
full-time staff, such as temporary workers, outsourcing or
giving additional responsibilities to current employees.
 Also, hiring contract labor or independent contractors
relieves you of the responsibility to manage a full-time staff,
assume liability for payroll taxes and offer employee benefits.
 Selecting talent that's already in the company can save money.
However, unless your company has an objective selection
method for internal candidates, subjectivity could be
problematic.
 Job Analysis
 One of the most serious problems in recruitment is not
knowing the nature of the position for which you are hiring.
Your company should routinely conduct a job analysis for
each position and create a complete, accurate description of
the function and tasks.
 Misalignment
 Even with an awareness of a job's purpose, you can have
misalignment in the job description and selection tools used
for recruitment and selection.
 Hiring managers or committees need to take time, often in
conjunction with human resources specialists, to develop job
descriptions and interview questions in tune with the
position.
 Narrow Focus
 During the selection process, a hiring manager might become
too enamored with a singular quality or talent he expects of a
candidate.
 This can limit his focus when looking over applications and
resumes, and conducting interviews
 Poor Culture Fit
 Screening tools usually offer more insight into a candidate's
skills and experiences to perform the job.
 The indirect qualities, such as friendliness, communication
skills and interpersonal skills, require some interviewer
observation.
 Someone with loads of talent might negatively affect your
work culture if he doesn't have the attitude and personal
qualities to blend well with other employees.
Hiring Process
Planning and Recruitment
 Planning: Anticipating needs for human resources
 Expansion vs. replacements
 Labor markets
 Recruitment
 Advertising
 Employee referral
 Employment agencies
 School recruiters
 Walk-ins
 Web
 STEPS IN THE SELECTION PROCESS
STEPS IN THE SELECTION PROCESS
1. Initial Screening
2. Application Blank
3. Pre-employment Testing
General Intelligence Tests
Aptitude Tests
 Personality and Interest Tests
Achievement Tests
Honesty Tests
4. Interview
 • Structured Interview
 • Unstructured Interview
 • Mixed Interview
5. Background Checks
6. Conditional job offer
7. Medical Exam/Drug Tests
8. Final Selection Decision
 1. Initial Screening
 The selection process often begins with an initial screening of
applicants to remove individuals who obviously do not meet
the position requirements. At this stage, a few straight
forward questions are asked. An applicant may obviously be
disqualified to fill the advertised position, but be well
qualified to work in other open positions.
 The Purpose of Screening is to decrease the number of
applicants being considered for selection.
 Advantages of Successful Screening:
 If the screening effort is successful, those applicants that do
not meet minimum required qualifications will not move to
the next stage in the selection process.
 Companies utilizing expensive selection procedures put more
effort in screening to reduce costs.
 Sources utilized in the screening effort:
 Personal Resume presented with the job application is considered
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as source of information that can be used for the initial screening
process. It mainly includes information in the following areas:
• Employment & education history
• Evaluation of character
• Evaluation of job performance
Screening Interviews:
Screening interviews are used to:
• To verify information provided on resume or application blank.
• They are usually very short (approximately 30 minutes or so).
2. APPLICATION BLANK /REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS
 APPLICATION BLANK: is a formal record of an individual’s
application for employment
Staffing Model in Recruitment and Selection
 The process of recruitment and selection of staff occurs
within a student affairs culture shaped by many external and
internal forces as described in the integrated staffing
model.
 Following are 12 steps that every effective search
process should include:
 1. Assess the Need For and Establish the Purpose of
the Position
 The institution's goals and mission statement should be
clearly defined and understood prior to conducting a search
for qualified individuals. It should also emphasize the people
oriented nature of the organization.
 2. Perform a Position Analysis
 Every
student affairs division should identify the
characteristics and requirements of the vacant position and
the personality traits that would most benefit the individual
who assumes the position. It is important to create a profile
that best fits the position in the context of the institution's
culture.
 3. Prepare the Position Description
 The division should first establish a hiring profile, consistent
with the idea of choosing the person who would best fit the
position.
 It is imperative that a position description clearly defines the
institution's goals, including the definition of student
services, and that employees are selected based on
personality and chemistry that fit the defined services and
goals.
 4. Appoint and Empower the Search Committee
 The integrated staffing model suggests the use of a search
committee to recruit and select staff.
 Search committees are most frequently the mechanism used
to carry out recruitment and selection processes. Search
committee members should be selected either from the unit
or units most affected by the search, or selected from diverse
units within and sometimes outside the division and the
institution or a combination.
 This choice should be related to the level of the vacant
position. As the level of responsibilities of the vacant position
increases, the search committee members should be more
widely representative of the entire campus and outside
community.
 5. Prepare the Position Announcement
 This crucial step informs all who are interested in the position
precisely what the search committee is looking for in clear and
unambiguous language. The announcement should include such
information as:
 Title Location and demographics of the institution Supervisor
Mission of institution and division Contributions expected by the
staff member toward the accomplishment of these missions Goals
and work requirements of the position Minimum education,
Experience and knowledge, requirements Conditions of
employment ,Date for beginning of review process .
 Individual and office to contact for further information
 6. Advertise the Position
 The student affairs division should evaluate all possible
avenues for advertising a position vacancy. Limited budgets
may determine the means by which a position vacancy is
advertised. Therefore, it is important to consider carefully
which advertising medium is most likely to target the
audience most important to reach. Possibilities to consider
are
 Campus resources such as publications, offices, employee
referrals, web-sites, or electronic bulletin boards, Local
newspapers, Word-of-mouth, Employment agencies, Mass
media advertising (radio, television, etc.)
 7. Conduct the Search
 The individual and office listed in the position announcement
should receive all applications from candidates.
Acknowledgment of the application should be sent to both
the applicant and the search committee. All correspondence
and activity should be recorded in a log to ensure careful
tracking of the candidates' materials and status.
 8. Screen the Applicants
 Screening of applications should be conducted from the
beginning of the search process.
 9. Arrange the Candidate Interviews
 Once the applicant pool has been screened and individuals to
be considered are identified, interviews should be arranged
with those candidates.
 Develop an evaluation tool for all interviewers to use upon
completion of the interview, including the following:
 Title of Position
 Interview Note
 Candidate Name
 Evaluator Name
 Strengths
 Weaknesses
 Rating (using a pre-defined scale)
 Other Comments
 Instructions for completion
 10. Interview the Finalists
 Interviews should be consistent from candidate to candidate
and should evaluate a candidate's interpersonal and
communication skills. Interviews should involve multiple
interviewers.
 11. Conduct Reference Checks
 One of the most crucial but often neglected steps in the
hiring process is reference checking. Reference checking is
often forfeited when a student affairs division is pressured to
hire in a hurry.
 12. Make the Offer
 After the search committee has completed all of the
interviews and has evaluated the candidacy of the finalists,
the committee will submit a recommendation to the hiring
authority and then the hiring authority give the offer letter to
the candidate.
Cost of wrong selection
 If you were to stop and add up what your company lost
during the search process, and while your new person is
getting a to hold in the organization, you’d be lucky to break
even.
 There are many hidden costs attendant to the termination
and hiring cycle, including revenue losses, outlays of extra
cash, and man-hours spent in various recruiting duties by all
levels of staff – especially for small businesses.
 Losses of revenue:
 Lost knowledge, experience, customers, and network of
person leaving
 Lost productivity for each week the position is vacant
 Lost productivity during learning curve of new hire and
those helping them
 Added outlay costs:
 Paycheck of the person filling in
 Investment in training the leaving employee
 Severance pay, continuing benefits, and unemployment
compensation for the leaving employee
 Advertising for the new position in classifieds and on job
boards
 Background checks, drug testing, and assessments for shortlisted candidates
 Man-hours expended on extra recruiting tasks:
 Exit interview and payroll processing for the leaving
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employee
Sorting through resumes by administrative staff and
management
Sourcing candidates through networks
Responding to job inquiries
Interviewing by multiple managers
Orientation and training including time and materials
Training tasks by the new hire’s immediate supervisor
Processing new hire for payroll and benefits