Step 2: Conduct a job analysis

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1 Recruitment and Selection Guide to Recruitment and Selection Make recruiting and selecting new people simple and straightforward. This guide will take you from identifying the need to recruit all the way through to induction and evaluation. Identify your recruitment needs Conduct a job analysis Create a job description Select the right form of advertising Create an advertisement Avoid discrimination Shortlist candidates Take up references Selection methods Check eligibility to work Make an offer of employment Written statement of particulars Induction Evaluation and next steps Step 1: Identify your recruitment needs Employing the right number of people with the right skills is essential for the success of your business. To decide whether you need to take on an additional employee you need to understand what has caused the need. Common reasons include growth, redundancy, leavers and terminations. Job analysis technique Task analysis Competency analysis Critical incident analysis Use Step 2: Conduct a job analysis Once you ve identified the need for extra resources, a job analysis uses fact and evidence to help you clarify what you will need the resource to do. A list of key tasks for the job are drawn up and measured against required knowledge, skills, experience and attitude to complete them. This form of analysis works best with administrative roles, which perform a number of easily identifiable tasks. Competency analysis looks beyond the current role to be recruited and considers the potential for promotion to a range of jobs within the organisation. It might be part of a strategy for succession planning. Critical incidents are the significant events that occur which may determine whether a job was carried out successfully or not. The jobholders keep a log of the critical incidents experienced over time. This type of analysis is often used with jobs where immediate response is important (drivers, construction workers etc.). Step 3: Create a job description The job description states the purpose and responsibilities of the role and is created using data from the job analysis. Common areas covered in the job description include: Job title Job location and reporting lines Summary (outlining the aim or purpose of the role) Key responsibilities Conditions of employment including salary and benefits Any training and development requirements or opportunities Performance standards and initial objectives The job description forms the basis of the recruitment advertisement or brief, but is also useful for the jobholder and line manager to use for performance review.

2 Step 4: Select the right form of advertising The type of advertising you choose will depend entirely on the type of person you are looking for. Recruitment method Advantages Disadvantages Employment agencies Specialist recruitment consultancies Head-hunters Outplacement consultants National and trade press advertising Recruitment fairs and university milk rounds Online advertising Many specialise in filling temporary vacancies. Access to a wide pool of candidates. Speedy staffing solutions. Some offer tailored solutions including CV and skills testing. Many specialise in senior management and specialist positions. Some offer a whole suite of services including advertising, initial screening and applicant filtering. Work to a brief and approach candidates who may already be employed. Good research facilities/ contact database. Works well for senior positions such as Chief Executive roles. Specialise in finding work for employees who have been made redundant. A source of good quality candidates available for work immediately. Costs can be less than traditional recruitment agencies. National papers often target specific job types, which can make it easier to target particular candidates. Exposure to a large candidate pool from a broad geographical area. Trade press can work well for those requiring specialist skills and experience such as IT, catering, personnel. An added benefit is additional marketing and promotion. An excellent way of gaining access to students. Fairs help organisations promote themselves to the student market. May not be suitable for smaller businesses or those wanting to recruit only one or two graduates. Many European and international candidates use the internet to source new employers. 98% of graduates, 93% of IT specialists and 95% of scientists use the internet daily. For employers trying to recruit these types of workers it s the obvious choice. Can be costly. Quality may vary from agency to agency. Many consultancies charge between 15 and 30% of starting salary. Candidate mismatching may result in dissatisfaction. Can be expensive and slow. Their approach may conflict with your equal opportunities ethics and policies. Access to these candidate pools often occur only during economic recession, in climates of downsizing and mass lay-offs. Employers must ensure candidates really want the job rather than taking it for want of work of any kind. One-off appearances can be hit and miss. Costs can be high and can escalate according to advert size and colour requirements. Direct press advertising cuts out the middle man, which means the business must accept responsibility for filtering applications and responses. Can be expensive in terms of opportunity costs, travel and hotel bills. Can be hit and miss in terms of candidates. Not suitable for hiring people who don t necessarily look online for jobs (eg. manual workers). Quality of candidates is not assured. You still have to filter a large number of potential candidates yourself.

3 Word-of-mouth recommendations Job Centre Local Press Reduces cost. Can be tied into a staff benefit plan (eg. as an internal referral reward scheme). May reduce lead-times. Access to a wide range of candidates across all sectors. No cost to the employer. Caters for both temporary and permanent vacancies. Cheaper than advertising in national press. Accesses people who live in a specific area. May go against equal opportunities policies and ethics. May reduce opportunities for diversity and produce a company of clones. Applicants may not have specialist skills required for some roles. May not be read by more senior people/ specialists who aren t based in the local area, but who would relocate for the right role. Step 5: Create an advert Most forms of recruitment will require you to create an advert of some kind and this will need to be tailored to the specific medium you have chosen. Basic considerations you need to make include: Size: paid-for adverts such as in newspapers charge by size. Layout: overly wordy adverts often get ignored. Ask for a border to be placed around the advert or use a white background to draw attention to it Typography: follow any house style guidelines, to keep consistency of brand and ensure you avoid fonts that are difficult to read Visuals: graphics can be costly, especially for print adverts, though they do tend to catch people s eyes Colour: Mono-colour adverts are typically cheaper than colour. Step 6: Avoid discrimination Recruitment is a common source of discrimination and it s important those involved in the recruitment process have a sound understanding of direct and indirect discrimination. It s unlawful to discriminate on grounds of race, sex, disability or transsexuality. Discrimination can occur at the preliminary stages of recruitment and selection. It s crucial employers check any advertisements to ensure they don t contain anything that may be perceived as an intention to discriminate. It is unlawful under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to indicate exclusion to disabled persons in any recruitment advert. A common mistake is to ask for someone energetic. Employers should not specify a specific gender or physical ability and should avoid any discriminatory references that may be indirect, such as requiring xx years experience, which would rule out some candidates based on their age. Specific gender, colour, religion or ethnicity can be referenced in a job advert where there is a Genuine Occupational Qualification (GOQ). This is likely to occur when employers look for actors or actresses that need to play a specific role for example. Some employers may wish to ensure certain groups who are under-represented in their workforce are encouraged to apply for vacancies. Positive action in this way is permitted, where there has been underrepresentation of a group for 12 months or more. Step 7: Shortlisting Shortlisting is the process of whittling down your pool of candidates to a more manageable size. Employers must be careful to be fair and clear when shortlisting. This can be difficult when CVs are the only tool for selection. Using standard application forms can help avoid discrimination in this way. Recording information on why candidates were rejected as well as accepted will provide evidence in any Employment Tribunal should a claim of discrimination be made. Candidates may have spent time researching the position and writing the application, so they should get a response in good time, informing them of the outcome. It s also a chance for the employer to give some positive feedback.

4 Step 8: Take up references Employers tend to err on the side of giving positive rather than negative references and the reliability of references has often been questioned. However, they can encourage candidates to be more truthful in applications if they know facts will be double-checked. Often within small businesses, references are taken up at the point of offer. In this instance it s important to make any verbal or written offer subject to satisfactory references. Best practice dictates references should ideally be taken for all shortlisted candidates. In reality this is often not practical, as candidates may not wish their current employers to know they are looking for work. A compromise is to run a character check at shortlisting and a factual check at appointment stage. Step 9: Selection methods Research suggests interviewing remains the UK s most popular method of selection. Unfortunately, it s not the most reliable or accurate way of getting the right person for the job. Using a mixture of interviewing and testing can help you achieve the best results. Interviewing Employers need to consider when interviews will take place, whether to have a selection panel or one-to-one interviews, who ll conduct the interviews and what the structure will be, as well as how the interview will be recorded. Competency testing is a way of exploring a candidate s key skills and allows them to demonstrate how they would behave, or have behaved in different situations. The competencies you test against are those identified as crucial for the role, as well as for employees across the whole organisation. The more specific you can be when defining these, the more effective your interview is likely to be. Testing There are many types of tests that can be used to help with the selection process. Attainment tests measure a person s knowledge or skills Aptitude tests measure a candidate s ability for abstract thinking and reasoning (eg. numeracy and spatial awareness) Personality questionnaires measure some form of personality characteristics such as emotional adjustment, social relations, attitudes and motivation Work samples used by small businesses and involve the candidate demonstrating their abilities in a real work situation. This method can also help self-selection, giving the candidate a taste for the job on offer, and the culture of the organisation. Step 10: Check eligibility to work Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 makes it a criminal offence to employ anyone who is not entitled to work or live in the UK. Prospective employees are asked to provide documents showing they are entitled to live or work in the UK. Approved documents may include: Documents stating the person s National Insurance Number Passport or birth certificate Certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British Citizen Letters issued by the Home Office A UK residence permit issued to a member of the EU or valid work permit To avoid claims of racial discrimination employers should ask all prospective employees for proof of eligibility to work, as cherry picking by appearance may leave you open to claims to discrimination. Copies of these documents should be taken, especially as fines of up to 10,000 can be imposed on employers found to be in breach of the Act. Step 11: Make an offer Once a candidate has been selected the employer must offer the position. A contract is legally formed when and offer is made, verbally or in writing. Once the candidate has accepted, either verbally or in writing, this is legally binding. If the offer is made subject to a condition, for example satisfactory references the offer of employment is conditional.

5 Step 12: Written statement of particulars There s no legal requirement to provide a written contract. There is however, a requirement to provide a written statement of particulars within two months of the employee starting work. This typically includes: Name of employer and name of employee The date employment began Remuneration (including the regularity with which it s paid) Hours of work Holiday entitlements, sickness and injury and associated sick pay levels Pensions and pension schemes Job title and place of work Disciplinary rules and grievance procedures Termination procedures including length of notice Any collective agreements relevant to the contract It s a good idea to include these terms and other conditions in a written contract. The terms of the contract, agreed between the parties are subject to statutory limitations including the rights to a minimum notice, minimum wage, statutory working hours, annual paid leave and parental leave and payments. These are just some of the basic rights in place and of course employers can and do offer benefits above the basics and these rules should be set out in writing. In addition to statutory obligations, implied terms of the contract exist, for example the employee s obligation to obey the employer s lawful and reasonable orders. Step 13: Induction Of course the process doesn t stop as soon as the offer has been accepted. Businesses that offer a planned induction see an increase in productivity and engagement. A good induction will include, orientation, introduction to key members of staff, health and safety briefing, training on internal systems, objective setting and exploring any additional training requirements. Step 14: Evaluation and next steps When evaluating the effectiveness of recruitment and selection practice, employers should consider: Cost-effectiveness consider advertisement costs and opportunity costs, including time taken to filter applicants and interview, testing and administration (including reference checking) Meeting legislative requirements consider the number of complaints and grievances, the number of discrimination claims and progress in equal opportunities (application forms, selection criteria etc.) Monitoring performance consider line manager reports, employee feedback, one-to-one review, customer feedback and promotion Once you ve evaluated the process, you can identify where you need to improve for next time. Once you ve recruited the right person, make sure you support them to grow. Find more resources to support your organisation s Culture and Communication at interactive.