Human Resource Planning, Recruitment & Selection

HR planning  HR planning was a major hr function when the world labour markets were characterised by greater stability and predictability  These days the mention of HR planning conveys images of bureaucracy, rigidity and lack of real awareness

HR planning Important for 4 reasons 1. It encourages employers to develop clear and explicit links between their business and human resource needs and so integrate the two more effectively 2. It allows for much better control over staffing costs and numbers employed 3. It enables employers to make more informed judgement about the skills and attitude mix in the organisation 4. It provides a profile of current staff which is necessary for moves towards equal opportunities organisation.

Assessing supply & demand  Forecasting future demand  Forecasting internal supply  Forecasting external supply

Job & role analysis  This is the second stage of the recruitment and selection process

Job descriptions, person specifications and competency frameworks  JD: descriptions of tasks to be under taken  PS: human characteristics and attributes necessary for the job  CF: focus on behaviours of job applicants and therefore no need to make inferences about the personal qualities that underpin behaviour

Recruitment methods Closed searches2001  Word of mouth58  Links with schools and colleges41  Head-hunters30 Responsive method  Speculative applications57 Open searches  Local newspaper adverts89  Adverts in specialist papers79  National news paper adverts77  Job centres73  Employment agencies70  The internet64  Local radio adverts11

Choice of selection methods TECHINQUES%  Application form86  Curriculum vitae68  Covering letter61  Interview100  Telephone screening18  Personality test41  Ability test  Assessment centre34  Biodata14  Graphology 4

Accuracy of selection methods 1.0perfect selection 0.65intelligence test and integrity tests 0.63intelligence test and integrity tests 0.60intelligence test and integrity tests 0.54work sample test 0.51intelligence test 0.51structured interviews 0.41integrity tests 0.40personality tests 0.37assessment centres 0.35biodata 0.26references 0.18years of job experience 0.10years of education 0.02graphology 0.0selection with a pin

Value of each method Criteria  Practicability  Sensitivity  Reliability  Validity

Selection testing Psychological tests A carefully chosen, systematic and standardised procedure for evoking a sample of responses from a candidate, which can be used to assess one or more of his or her psychological characteristics by comparing the results with those of a representative sample of an appropriate population.

Psychometric tests  First there are tests of achievement that purport to measure the degree of knowledge and or skill a person has acquired at the time of the test. Example – school examinations  Second, there are test that are designed to assess the capacity for abstract thinking and reasoning within a range of different contexts and medium. Ravens progressive matrices  Third, the set of tests for special aptitudes or abilities, such as the assessment of verbal, numerical or spatial

Psychometric questionnaires / personality tests  These are based on trait or type theories  The most common type are the  Occupational personality questionnaire  Myers Briggs Type Indicator  Californian Psychological Inventory

Differing paradigms of selection  Social exchange  Scientific rationality  Socialisation  Socially constructed reality, knowledge and power