Staffing

It is the process of searching, selecting, evaluating and developing current or

future employees of an organization with the objective to fill various vacancies
in an organization. It involves the following stages viz: recruitment,
screening/selection and induction, assessment and training.
Stage 1: Recruitment
The recruitment process in an organization is guided by the human resource
planning process during which the human resource needs of an organization are
identified and established.
Recruitment can be defined as the process of searching and hiring the best and
most qualified candidate for a job opening at the correct time in a cost effective
manner to fill vacant positions in organizations. It involves the process of
searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs
openings in an organizations and selecting the most suitable candidate(s)
Recruitment is one step in which organizations take in order to do staffing.
Staffing generally requires: recruitment, selection (choosing the most suitable)
and induction (familiarizing the new employee to the job and job environment.
The staffing process entails a job specification, which identifies the
qualifications (knowledge, skills and abilities) necessary for effective
performance of a particular job.
Also, the conduct of job analysis, in which information about the tasks, duties
and responsibilities of various jobs are provided. A job analysis ensures that the
hiring process is job-related.

Steps in the Recruitment Process

Step 1: Identification of the needs
Step 2: Analysis of the requirements of a specific job
Step 3: Attracting Candidates to apply for the Job
Step 4: Screening the applicants and selecting among them
Step 5: Hiring the Chosen Candidates to become new employees of the
organization and Integrating them to the Structure.

Sources of recruitment
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There are two main sources through which enterprises can search, locate and
inform candidates for job opening in order to select the best amongst them, they
include:
 Internal sources and
 External sources.
Once the definition of the candidates’ profile has been done, the human resource
department will check for the recruitment source that is most likely to produce
candidates that match the defined profile. Profile definition entails highlighting
the requirements that applicants should have that will guarantee effective job
performance.
Generally, current employees are the first priority. Organizations utilize their
skills inventories to identify existing workers eligible to hold new and
sometimes superior openings. When a higher post is given to a deserving
employee, it motivates all other employees of the organization to work hard. The
employees can be informed of such a vacancy by internal advertisement. The
second major source of internal recruitment is referrals from current employees.
Both sources give human resource more information about the applicant than the
external source. One disadvantage of this method is that the firm may not attract
a diverse pool of applicants, creating unequal employment opportunity.

Types of internal Sources of recruitment

 Transfers: Transfer involves shifting of persons from present jobs to
other similar jobs.
 Promotions: Promotions refer to shifting of persons to positions carrying
better prestige, higher responsibilities and more pay. Promotion will
motivate employees to improve their performance so that they can also
get promotion.
 Present employees: Once the present employees are informed of an
opening, they can recommend those familiar to them who have the
required skills to match the job.
 Internal advertisements: With this approach, the job is advertised just
for current employees.

Advantages of internal sources

 Improvement of morale;
 No error in selection;
 Promotion of loyalty;
 No hasty decision;
 Economy in Training Costs;

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  Self-development.

Disadvantages of Internal Sources

 The company may not attract a diverse pool of applicants, creating
potential equal employment opportunity problems.
 They prevent capable persons from outside to join the organization.
 Internal candidates may not possess the required qualifications for the
vacant posts in the organization.
 For posts requiring innovations and creative thinking, this method of
recruitment cannot be followed.
 If only seniority is the criterion for promotion, then the person filling the
vacant post may not be really capable.
In spite of the disadvantages, it is frequently used as a source of recruitment for
lower positions. It may lead to nepotism and favoritism. It might create a
situation in which employees get recruited on the basis of their recommendation
and not suitability.

External Sources
External sources refer to the practice of getting suitable persons from outside.
All organizations have to use external sources for recruitment to higher positions
when existing employees are not suitable. The following external sources of
recruitment are commonly used by enterprises:
 Direct Recruitment: It is done by placing a notice on the notice board of
the company specifying the details of the jobs available
 Unsolicited Applications: When applicants drop applications in to
organizations when a job vacancy has not been advertised.
 Media Advertisement: Advertisement in newspapers and professional
journals is generally used when qualified and experienced personnel are
not available from other sources.
 Employment Agencies: In Cameroon, we have National Employment
Fund. The employment agencies bring the jobs givers in contact with the
job seekers.
 Management Consultants: Management consultancy firms help the
organizations to recruit technical, professional and managerial personnel.
 Campus Recruitment: With this approach, some organizations maintain
a close liaison with the universities, vocational institutes and management
institutes for recruitment to various jobs. Reputed companies which

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 require management trainees send their officials to campuses of various
management institutes for picking up talented candidates.
 Recommendation: Applicants introduced by friends and relatives may
prove to be a good source of recruitment. In fact, many employers prefer
to take such persons because something about their background is known
by their recommendator.
 Labour Contractors: Workers are recruited through labour contractors
who are themselves employees of the organization.
 Telecasting: It is a practice by which special programmes over the TV are
used to present vacant posts. The detailed requirements of the job and the
qualities required to do it are publicized along with the profile of the
organization where vacancy exists.
 Raiding: It is situation where employees working elsewhere are attracted
to join an organization. Organizations are always on the lookout for
qualified professionals, and are willing to offer them a better deal if they
make the switch.
 Internet: Recruitment over the internet is becoming more prevalent and
occurs at broad job search engines.
Advantages and disadvantages of external sources
Advantages:
 Qualified Personnel: By using external sources of recruitment the
management can make qualified and trained people to apply for vacant
jobs in the organization.
 Wider choice: When vacancies are advertised widely a large number of
applicants from outside the organization apply. The management has a
wider choice while selecting the people for employment.
 Fresh Talent: The insiders may have limited talents. External sources
facilitate infusion of fresh talents with new ideas into the enterprise. This
will improve the overall working of the enterprise.
 Competitive Spirit: If a company can tap external sources, the existing
staff will have to compete with the outsiders. They will work harder to
show better performance.

Disadvantages:

 Dissatisfaction among Existing Staff: External recruitment may lead to

dissatisfaction and frustration among existing employees. They may feel
that their chances of promotion are reduced.
 Lengthy Process: Recruitment from outside takes a long time. The
business has to notify the vacancies and wait for applications to initiate
the selection process.

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  Costly Process: It is very costly to recruit staff from external sources. A
lot of money has to be spent on advertisement and processing of
applications.
 Uncertain Response: The candidates from outside may not be suitable
for the enterprise. There is no guarantee that the enterprise will be able to
attract right kinds of people from external sources.
 Lack of co-operation: The old staff may not co-operate with the new
employees because they feel that their right has been snatched away by
them. This problem will be acute especially when persons for higher
positions are recruited from outside.

Stage 2: Selection
Selection is the screening process used to decide which job applicant to hire. It
is the process of choosing people by obtaining and assessing information about
the applicants (age, qualification, experience and qualities) with a view of
matching these with the job requirements and picking up the most suitable
candidates. The choices are made by elimination of the unsuitable at successive
stages of the selection process.
The major objective of selection is to pick up the most suitable persons who
would match the requirements of the job. The emphasis in selection is, therefore,
on the optimal match between the person and the job. A secondary objective in
selection could be to choose the best person available however, there could be a
real problem with such an objective if the job is not appropriate for the person
concerned.

Selection Process
The selection process covers the period from the job specification and initial
contact with the applicant to his/her final acceptance or rejection. The successive
stages in the selection process are referred to as hurdles that the applicants
should cross. However, not all selection processes include all these stages and
no selection process is foolproof. The complexity of the selection process
usually increases with the increase in the skill level and job level (responsibility
and accountability) of the position for which selection is being made. The
sequencing also may vary from job to job and organization to organization.
The following stages can be considered in selection process (apart from initial
screening, other elements are also considered as selection tools in addition to
letters of recommendation):

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 Initial Screening:
The initial screening is done to limit the costs of selection by letting only
suitable candidates go through the further stages in selection. At this
stage, screening is done in accordance to specified norms (in terms of age,
qualifications and experience). It can be done through CVs Analysis or
through Preliminary Interview where information is exchanged about the
job, the applicant and the mutual expectations of the individual and the
organization. If the organization finds the candidate suitable, an
application form prescribed for the purpose is given to these candidates to
fill in and submit.
* The preliminary interview is to solicit necessary information from the
prospective applicants and to assess the applicant’s suitability to the job. The
information thus provided by the candidate may be related to the job or
personal specifications regarding education, experience, salary expected,
aptitude towards the job, age, physical appearance and other physical
requirements, etc. Thus, preliminary interview is useful as a process of
eliminating the undesirable and unsuitable candidates. Care should be taken
to ensure that the desirable workers are not eliminated.

 Application Form:
The application form is usually designed to obtain information on various
aspects of the candidate’s background, experiences and preferences. It
provides information that shows whether the candidate meets minimum
qualification requirements as identified in the job analysis.
 Tests:
A test is a sample of an aspect of an individual‘s behavior, performance
or attitude. It also provides a systematic basis for comparing the behavior,
performance or attitude of two or more persons. Tests serve as a screening
device and provide supplementary inputs in selection decisions. Their
importance is that they provide additional input to make the selection
process more accurate
 Interview:
Interview is an oral examination of candidates for employment. No
selection process is complete without one or more interviews. The
objective of the interview is to get information from applicants so that the
company can choose the applicant who is best qualified to perform the
tasks the job requires. Interviews usually take place at two crucial stages
in the selection process: at the beginning and in the end. Interviews can
differ in terms of their focus and format. Sometimes, several individuals
interview one applicant, this is called panel interview.
The interviews can be structured or unstructured, general or in-depth.
Sometimes where the job requires the job holder to remain calm and
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 composed under pressure, the candidates are intentionally objected to
stress and strains in the interview by asking some annoying or
embarrassing questions. This type of interview called the stress interview.
NB: Organizations may seek to make their selection process as objective as
possible. But interview which is an essential element of the process although
subjective.

selection tools
An organization may use a variety of selection tools to screen out unsuitable
applicants. The tools provide information that shows whether the candidate
meets minimum qualification requirements as identified in the job analysis and
include the following:
 Letter of Motivation
 Letters of recommendation
 Business Games: Business games are widely used as a selection
technique for selecting top positions. Participants are placed in a
hypothetical work situation and are required to play the role situations in
the game. The hypothesis is that the most successful candidate in the
game will be the most successful one on the job.

 Group Discussion:
Group discussion is a method where groups of the successful applicants
are brought around a conference table and are asked to discuss either a
case study or a subject-matter. The candidates in the group are required
to: analyze, discuss, find alternative solutions and select the sound
solution. A selection panel then observes the candidates in the areas of
initiating the discussion, explaining the problem, soliciting unrevealing
information based on the given information and using common sense,
keenly observing the discussion of others, clarifying controversial issues,
influencing others, speaking effectively, concealing and mediating
arguments among the participants and summarizing or concluding apply.
The selection panel, based on its observation, judges the candidates’ skills
and abilities and ranks them according to their merit. In some cases, the
selection panel may also ask the candidates to write the summary of the
group discussion in order to know the candidates’ writing ability as well.

validity and reliability of selection techniques

Valid and reliable selection techniques help reduce the proportion of errors and
increase the proportion of correct hiring decision.

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Validity
It is how well a technique used to assess candidates is related to performance in
the job. Validity can be demonstrated in two ways:
1) Content validity:
Implies that the selection process represents the actual activities or
knowledge required to successfully perform the job (many firms require
applicants to perform tasks similar to those they will carry out on the job
if hired).
2) Empirical validity:
Implies that there are statistical evidence that the selection method
distinguishes between higher and lower performing employees.

Reliability.
It is important to measure the consistency or reliability of results of the
selection method. For example, if multiple interviewers reach entirely
different conclusions about each job applicant, the method is not reliable. Or
if test scores for the same applicant vary dramatically from one day to the
next, the test is not reliable. In other words, reliability is an indicator of how
much random error there is in the measure being used.

Step3 Induction
Induction is the process by which new employees are introduced to the
practices, policies and purposes of the organization. After an employee is
assigned his job, it is necessary to introduce him to his job situation, his
associates in the job and the overall policies of the company. The induction stage
demands great care because the first impression made on the mind of the
employee is very critical in the employment life and the treatment received
during the early days on the new job helps him to form an opinion about his
employer and the company.
An induction process properly designed should serve the following purposes: (a)
help the newcomer to overcome his natural shyness, any nervousness he may
experience in meeting new people in the new environment; (b) integrate the new
employee into the organization and develop a sense of belonging which is a
strong motivational force; (c) supply information about the working conditions,
conditions of service and welfare facilities.

Assignment
Letter of recommendation and letter of motivation