Recruitment and selection
People are a business's most important resource. Human resource management begins with attracting and choosing the right employees.
What HRM does
Human resource management (HRM) covers planning workforce needs, recruiting, selecting, training, appraising, rewarding, and retaining employees, and ensuring compliance with employment law. Strategic HRM aligns people practices with business goals.
Workforce planning
Workforce planning forecasts how many and what kinds of employees the business will need, compares this with current staff, and plans to fill gaps through hiring, training, or restructuring. Job analysis identifies each job's tasks and requirements, producing a job description (duties) and person specification (required skills and qualifications).
Recruitment
Recruitment attracts candidates. Internal recruitment, such as promotions and transfers, motivates staff and is cheaper, but limits new ideas. External recruitment, through job boards, recruitment agencies, social media, and referrals, brings fresh skills but costs more. Employer branding shapes how attractive a company is to job seekers.
Selection methods
Selection chooses among candidates. Methods include application screening, interviews, skills tests, work samples, assessment centres, and reference checks. Structured interviews, with the same job-related questions for every candidate scored against criteria, predict job performance much better than unstructured conversations.
Avoiding bias in hiring
Unconscious bias can affect hiring, such as favouring candidates similar to the interviewer. Studies sending identical CVs with different names have found callback gaps by perceived race and gender. Structured interviews, diverse interview panels, clear criteria, and anonymised screening can reduce bias.
Legal requirements
Employment laws prohibit discrimination in hiring. In the US, it is illegal to discriminate based on race, colour, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, age (40 and over), disability, or genetic information. Interviewers should avoid questions about these characteristics.
Onboarding
Onboarding integrates new employees through orientation, training, mentoring, and clear early goals. Effective onboarding improves productivity and retention; many employees decide in their first months whether to stay. A buddy system pairs newcomers with experienced colleagues.
Worked example
A retailer needs a store manager. HR writes a job description (managing staff, sales targets, inventory) and person specification (retail experience, leadership). It advertises internally and externally, screens applications, uses a structured interview asking each candidate how they handled specific situations, and checks references, choosing the candidate who scores highest against the criteria.
Key takeaways
HRM covers planning, recruiting, selecting, developing, rewarding, and retaining staff. Workforce planning and job analysis produce job descriptions and person specifications. Internal recruitment motivates; external recruitment brings new skills. Structured interviews predict performance best. Bias in hiring can be reduced with clear criteria and diverse panels. Laws prohibit discrimination. Onboarding improves retention.
Flashcard
Managing people in an organisation
Check your understanding
Which selection method generally predicts job performance best?