Groundwork for Hiring
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The document outlines the groundwork necessary for effective recruitment and selection, emphasizing the importance of job analysis and detailed job descriptions. It provides practical guidance on developing person specifications, including essential and desirable criteria, weighting job responsibilities, and the necessity for fair and justifiable qualifications. The resource is part of a training course by Manage Train Learn designed to equip trainers and learners with essential recruitment skills.
Groundwork for Hiring
- 1. 1 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION Groundwork for Hiring
- 2. 2 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner to quickly and easily master a range of skills in your everyday working life and life outside work. If you are a trainer, they are perfect for adding to your classroom courses and online learning plans. COURSE TOPICS FROM MTL The written content in this Slide Topic belongs exclusively to Manage Train Learn and may only be reprinted either by attribution to Manage Train Learn or with the express written permission of Manage Train Learn. They are designed as a series of numbered slides. As with all programmes on Slide Topics, these slides are fully editable and can be used in your own programmes, royalty-free. Your only limitation is that you may not re-publish or sell these slides as your own. Copyright Manage Train Learn 2020 onwards. Attribution: All images are from sources which do not require attribution and may be used for commercial uses. Sources include pixabay, unsplash, and freepik. These images may also be those which are in the public domain, out of copyright, for fair use, or allowed under a Creative Commons license.
- 3. 3 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics ARE YOU READY? OK, LET’S START!
- 4. 4 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics INTRODUCTION All good projects, like good buildings and structures, need good groundwork. In the case of buildings, these are solid foundations. In the case of a recruitment and selection project, it is the work that goes into establishing, before the recruitment begins, what job, if any, needs to be done, to what level of performance and outcomes, and what skills and attainments the person doing it will need. It is unlikely that such information can be obtained without the use of some kind of analysis, based on observation and study. That is why the groundwork for effective recruitment requires the detailed study of a job analysis, a job description and the laying down of a person specification.
- 5. 5 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics THE EXIT INTERVIEW Every person who leaves a position either to move on elsewhere within the organisation, or to move on outside the organisation, should receive some form of an exit interview. It is an excellent opportunity to... 1. say a formal thank you and goodbye to the employee 2. catch up on the job, bearing in mind that some people will talk up what they've done while others will talk the job down 3. think about what changes may be needed if the job is to continue. You often get straight and honest answers from people leaving which you wouldn't necessarily get if they were staying!
- 6. 6 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics DO WE HAVE A VACANCY? It is highly wasteful to instigate an automatic job search when someone leaves and only then ask the question "do we really need to fill this job?" There should be a presumption against filling a job until a clear case can be made out in its favour. It is wise to check out the alternatives. These could be: 1. do nothing. You might be able to cover the job, re- organise or use new technology. 2. re-allocate tasks to others in the team 3. recruit but at a different level 4. re-organise by using, say, job sharers or temporary staff 5. use internal transfers, secondments, development spells, internal promotion. Only when it is clear that there is no alternative but to recruit should you go to the next stage.
- 7. 7 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics THE JOB ANALYSIS The Job Analysis is the first step in compiling or re-compiling a Job Description. A Job Analysis can be put together by the job-holder, by a trained specialist or by job-holder and expert together. It involves analysis of the duties in a job, their frequency and importance. The job analysis can be put together by a combination of observation, recording and questioning of the job-holder. A thorough job analysis is the best way to put together a Job Description and a Person Specification.
- 8. 8 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics WRITING A JOB DESCRIPTION A job description is a list of duties which a person performs in a job. These duties can be observed at first hand as part of a Job Analysis exercise or they may be the duties agreed on paper with individuals and groups. Nothing important should be left out of the job description. Where duties might change, some covering phrase such as "duties as agreed from time to time with the team leader", should be included. Job descriptions are often designed to show the background to the job, reporting relationships and the purpose of the job. Skills can be grouped together under separate headings, for example, "communications", or listed in order of frequency, for example, daily duties, weekly duties, monthly duties. The job description can be included in the send-outs which applicants receive.
- 9. 9 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics WEIGHTING CRITERIA A list of duties in a job description on their own is of limited value to a recruiter who is not totally familiar with a job or an applicant who wants a more detailed picture of the job. Two techniques can help: 1. Weightings. Weightings can be given to each duty to show the relative importance of the task to the overall job performance. This could be done by prioritising tasks, eg as "essential", or giving them a frequency rating, eg 80%. 2. Reasons. Reasons are useful additions to the description of each task. Not: "Carries out induction." But: "Carries out induction so that new employees are fully integrated into the organisation in the shortest possible time."
- 10. 10 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics THE PERSON SPECIFICATION The person specification should not be confused with the job description. The job description describes the job; the person specification describes the person you want to fill it. The specification should not describe a particular person, the last postholder, similar postholders or the perfect person but someone who can do the job to the required standard. When completed, the person specification becomes your principal recruitment tool. It is central to... 1. writing the advertisement 2. shortlisting candidates 3. writing relevant interview questions 4. making assessments of applicants 5. giving interview panels an idea of what is required 6. forming the basis of training new starters.
- 11. 11 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics LISTING ATTRIBUTES To write your job specification, you need to decide what attributes are needed to perform the job to an acceptable minimum standard. To do this, you need to be familiar with how the job needs to be carried out and familiar with the skills people possess in the labour market. The attributes you select are aimed at finding the right people to perform the job. Attributes include: 1. personal characteristics (eg a height or weight) 2. a status (eg currently earning no less than £30,000) 3. a set of skills and expertise (eg the ability to programme a computer; the ability to lead others) 4. an IQ level 5. experience (eg overseas work; work with children) 6. qualifications (eg a degree, an apprenticeship).
- 12. 12 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics THE OVERALL PLAN A Person Specification is usually designed around a specification plan. This plan lists the criteria which applicants must meet if they are to be able to perform the job well. The criteria usually fall into obvious groups such as "Skills", "Experience", "Education" and so on. An organisation can use one type of plan for all its vacancies. However, each recruiting panel may produce different criteria depending on how they see the job and how they see their ability to attract suitable candidates in the market place. For example, one panel might believe two years' experience is necessary for a job while another panel might believe no experience is necessary as training will be given if the right person has the skills. It is important that once criteria have been decided, no changes should be made to them.
- 13. 13 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics CORE SKILLS Booksellers and stationers W H Smith use nine core skills as the basis of their person specification for recruiting graduate trainees. These skills are: 1. clear, precise and structured written communication 2. spoken communication that is logical, clear and well- expressed 3. natural authoritative leadership 4. good team member sharing ideas with others and willing to seek help from others 5. thoughtful organizer and planner 6. flexible thinker, firm decision-taker 7. personally motivated, enthusiastic, ambitious 8. self-confident, handles pressure well, willing to learn 9. quick to understand verbal and numerical arguments; able to analyse information.
- 14. 14 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics SPECIFIC & MEASURABLE The value of a person specification is that it allows recruiters to compare evidence from each candidate against the requirements of the job. It is important therefore for information to be specific and measurable. Verbs like "to know how to... ", "to grasp...", "to understand...", "to appreciate..." are not specific and should be avoided. It is much better to describe specific requirements such as "the ability to bring conflict to positive outcomes", "at least one year's experience of leading teams". These can be measured. Criteria such as "sense of humour" or "must fit in" are equally unspecific and should be replaced with actual job requirements, such as "an ability to meet deadlines"; "a detailed knowledge of programming". In these cases, applicants' abilities can be measured.
- 15. 15 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics FIGHTER PILOTS In the Second World War, psychologist John Flanagan was commissioned to increase the number of suitable fighter pilots joining the Royal Air Force. When he asked what qualities were needed in fighter pilots he was told they had to be "daring", "courageous" and "quick-thinking". Flanagan realised this didn't help in the process of selection; we can all be daring and quick thinking if we want to be. Instead Flanagan carried out a detailed job analysis of the duties of fighter pilots which led to effective performance. These included a detailed knowledge of Spitfires, map-reading ability and the ability to follow instructions to the letter. Flanagan was, in fact, devising a person specification and thus able to make better selections.
- 16. 16 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics FAIR, RELEVANT... The person specification you use to recruit must contain fair, relevant, and justifiable criteria. 1. don't ask for qualifications unless they are essential as an entry requirement for the job (eg a doctor, an architect) or desirable to do the job well 2. don't equate a qualification with a skill 3. don't confine yourself to looking only at work experience if you want a skill: it could have been acquired outside work 4. don't talk in terms of minimum time periods for experience since we all learn skills at different rates. "Around three years' experience" is better than "a minimum of three years' experience" 5. avoid unnecessary qualifications just because "we've always asked for two "A" grades for that job" 6. add the phrase "or equivalent" when specifying qualifications, just in case similar qualifications were obtained abroad or by a different method.
- 17. 17 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics MINIMUM CRITERIA There is a temptation in drawing up a person specification to ask for more than you need. This, it is argued, gives you more flexibility to move the person later on into other jobs. For example, specifying "A" levels when you want manual labourers may suit your future development needs but is likely to be both unfair and unfruitful. If you specify that applicants need two "O" level passes, this should be the minimum needed to do the job to a satisfactory standard. Or if you specify, as they do in certain firefighting units, a minimum height of 5' 6" then that should be enough for people to be suitable. It is tantamount to unfairness to give unjustified preference to someone who possesses qualifications above the minimum purely on those grounds alone.
- 18. 18 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics DISQUALIFIERS It is useful to have a section in the Person Specification on disqualifiers or "contra-indicators". Just as the other sections of the specification outline the experiences, skills and characteristics an applicant needs, so the disqualifiers indicate the things they don't need. Like all other criteria, disqualifiers should be fair, reasonable and justifiable. Disqualifiers include: 1. a legal requirement, for example, a clean driving licence 2. hours of work, anyone unable to work a rota, for example, being disqualified 3. fitness, for example, someone who is a carrier of a food poisoning organism would be disqualified from working in food production. In these cases, the disqualifier would rule a person out, even if they met all the other job requirements.
- 19. 19 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics PRIORITISED CRITERIA Not all the criteria you list in a person specification will have equal weight with other criteria. To present a more balanced picture of what you need, you must therefore prioritise criteria. There are two ways to do this: 1. give each job requirement a weighting eg 20 points for communication skills, 5 points for report writing, 30 points for customer handling skills, and so on, adding up to a total score of 100 points. Score candidates accordingly. 2. define each job requirement as "essential" or "desirable". If a requirement is "essential", the job cannot be properly performed without someone having it. If the requirement is "desirable", it is not absolutely critical but the performance of the job is enhanced if it is possessed.
- 20. 20 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics ESSENTIALS AND DESIRABLES The essential criteria in a person specification are the requirements which all applicants need to possess if they are to be considered for the job. The desirable criteria are the extras which make the difference between the candidates and allow you to select. Essential criteria = minimum requirements; the basis for rejection. Desirable criteria = optional extras; the basis for selection. Since nobody can be considered for the job unless they possess all the essential criteria, you shouldn't make things too hard by listing a large number of essentials (eg perhaps more than ten) or too few essentials (eg say under five). A norm of seven to ten criteria in total is about right.
- 21. 21 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics THAT’S IT! WELL DONE!
- 22. 22 | Groundwork for Hiring Recruitment and Selection MTL Course Topics THANK YOU This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn