Effective Recruitment and Selection Strategies
Headhunting
Headhunting is a process for recruiting senior managers. The best candidates are not those who are actively looking for a job, but those who are successful in their current positions.
Advantages of Headhunting
- Headhunters should possess expert knowledge of the salary levels and benefits needed to attract good candidates.
- Top managers already employed will not bother reading job advertisements, so they cannot be reached by those means.
- Recruitment firms assume that candidates presented to them will almost certainly be well-equipped for the vacant position.
- The anonymity of the recruiting organization is preserved until the final stages of the procedure.
Criticisms of Headhunting
- It can be used to avoid equal opportunities laws on recruitment and selection.
- Headhunters rely too much on existing networks and trade contacts, creating a glorified “old boy system” that ignores good people from other sources.
- Fees are far higher than those of conventional employment agencies.
Equal Opportunities Policies
Many organizations have equal opportunities policies.
Advantages of Equal Opportunities Policies
- It sets an example to follow at lower levels.
- The organization might critically examine the sex, ethnic, age, etc., composition of all areas to discover unfair employment practices.
- The best candidates for jobs will be recruited or promoted regardless of their sex or ethnic origin.
- Discontent among existing minority group employees may be avoided.
- It is less likely that the organization will break the law.
Selection
Selection is the assessment of candidates for vacant jobs and the choice of the most suitable people. Selection is based on:
- Physical aspects of the work
- Need to communicate
- Formal qualifications
- Experience needed
- Specific competencies
- Personal ambition
Training
The purpose of training is to improve employees’ performance in their current jobs and/or equip them for more demanding roles or a change in their role in the future.
Learning Organization
A learning organization is “an organization that facilitates the learning of all its members and is continually expanding its capacity to create its future.”
Evaluation of Training
The following procedures should be adopted when evaluating the effectiveness of training:
- What difference would it make to the organization’s overall performance if the training did not take place?
- Interview people on completion of a course and ask them about its relevance to their work, training program, etc.
Promotion, Transfer, Demotion, and Dismissal
Unfair discrimination in promotion will upset and demotivate staff. Organizations that operate in sensitive multicultural or multiethnic environments sometimes monitor the consequences of their promotion policies by checking if certain groups are over-represented among those who do not achieve promotion.
Key Questions to Consider
- What are the characteristics of non-promoted groups?
- What contributions have non-promoted groups made, and have they been rewarded?
- Why do non-promoted individuals remain with the organization?
- What help can be given to non-promoted groups to help them qualify for promotion?
- What can management do to improve its knowledge of these difficulties?