Job analysis,

recruitment and
selection
C2 - AHA
Intro
- Job analysis is the basis for:
1. job description (job requirements: tasks, duties, responsibilities, the reporting relationships and the
working conditions)
2. job specification (worker requirements: knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience)
- job analysis is an essential first step for many HR functions:
1. performance evaluation
2. training
3. career planning
4. job enrichment and redesign
5. health and safety
Job functions
What is an essential and non-essential job function?
- essential job function – duty/responsibility that is fundamental to the job, or a critical and basic component of
that job
- non-essential job function – any other job task that is relatively incidental to the job
- an applicant or employee who cannot perform all the essential functions of the job is not qualified for the
position
- 3 factors to consider in determining essential job functions:
1. whether the reason the position exists is to perform that function
2. the number of other employees available to perform that function or among whom the function can be
redistributed
3. the degree of expertise or skill required to perform the function
- what to look for: 1) the relationship of the function to other tasks of the job; 2)how redesigning the function
would affect other employees at their job and 3)the significance of the function and the conditions under which
it is performed.
New organizational trends and
job analysis
- traditional organizations – specialization, departmentalization, chain of command,
centralization, and formalization
- virtual organizations – geographically distributed, functionally and culturally diverse people
linked by electronic forms of communication – a small core organization outsources major
business functions, including HR
- team structure organizations – worker teams are used as a central coordination device – teams
determine what needs to be done and which team member will do what
Personality traits
- a person is qualified for a position if he/she has the knowledge, skills and abilities to do the job
- in team-based work environments, working effectively in teams is an important part of the job
- personality characteristics are used as selection criteria:
◦ Honesty and integrity in jobs that imply handling large amounts of money
◦ Extraversion and conscientiousness in sales
◦ Conscientiousness and emotional stability for supervisory jobs
◦ Agreeableness and conscientiousness for team members

- BIG FIVE personality traits: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability,

and openness to experience
Selecting for the job or the
organization
- organizations hire the whole person, not just their knowledge, skills and abilities
- job requirements should include fitting in with the characteristics of the organization
- organizations should hire people who already fit in with the culture (values and beliefs) (e.g.
autonomy, flexibility and diversity for virtual organizations)
- a certain personality will make for a more effective performer
◦ Applicants will give answers that they think will improve their chances of getting the job
◦ Right kind of person = someone who looks just like us = employees can work effectively only when they
are similar to each other
Job titles
What is a job title?
- label for a job
- should be as precise as possible
A TQM approach to writing job
descriptions
Organizations using TQM methods focus on 3 basic principles:
1. customer focus – meeting and exceeding customer needs
2. continuous improvement – attempting to create gains in performance from incremental
innovations in organizational processes
3. teamwork – collaborating with all organizational members, customers and suppliers
A key aspect of TQM would be to ensure that job descriptions emphasize customer focus,
continuous improvement, and teamwork.
Job description key elements
- job title
- location, work schedule, department
- reporting relationship
- salary range
- summary of duties and responsibilities
- primary duties and responsibilities (essential and non-essential)
- percentage of time devoted o each task
- education, prior work experience, specialized skills and knowledge
- physical environment and work conditions
- IT equipment and software used
- other factors such as access to confidential information or contact with the public
Job specification key elements
- key results (outputs and clear consequences of fulfilling this role)
- knowledge (techniques, processes, procedures, systems, and general business knowledge)
- skills
1. basic skills: content skills (active listening, reading comprehension, writing, speaking, math, science);
process skills (active learning, learning strategies, monitoring, critical thinking)
2. cross-functional skills: problem solving, social, technical, systems, resource management
- education
- worker characteristics:
1. abilities: cognitive, psychomotor, physical, sensory
2. interests: occupational values, beliefs
Recruitment
What is recruitment?
- the process of recruitment entails seeking and attracting a pool of applicants from which
qualified candidates for job vacancies can be chosen
- HR information system can be used for internal recruitment to match the job specification with
current employees and notify qualified employees of job openings
- the attraction stage of recruitment is important – generates a large pool of qualified applicants
Recruitment
What are the factors that affect potential applicants’ decision to become actual applicants?
- recruitment message
- recruiter behaviors and characteristics
- job characteristics
- flexible work arrangements
- organizational reputation
- corporate image
- corporate social performance
- being “green”
- product/service
- product awareness
Recruitment
How do we measure the success of the recruitment process?
- retention of satisfactory employees – turnover is costly
PROS & CONS of internet recruitment?
- less time and effort
- better targeting of specific audience
- widespread distribution
- too many applications
Recruitment
How do you conduct executive searches?
- in house – promoting inside talent, less costly
- executive search consultants/agencies – more impartial, more discreet, bigger pool of
candidates (even those who are not actively searching)
- it is important to select the best payment method for executive search agencies: when the
position is filled vs. paid whether or not the position is filled
Recruitment
- accommodation and food services is an industry that has a consistently high turnover rate
Why?
- few skills and training
- people use it to gain work experience rather than a long-term career
- students find it attractive
- cost pressures to keep labor costs down
What other options are there?
- volunteer employees – outsource to a charitable organization
=> more motivated employees, more committed, less chances to withdraw or be absent
Job hunting
What kind of methods do organizations use to attract potential applicants for job vacancies?
- display a sign in the storefront
- place an advertisement in a newspaper
- post the job on the corporate web site
- rely on employee referrals
- use current employees as recruiters
How do applicants find out about job vacancies?
- newspaper advertisements
- campus recruitment
- employment agencies
- job fairs
- self initiated contact
- recommendations from friends and family
Realistic job previews
What is Realistic Job Preview?
- a recruitment tool in which applicants are given realistic information about both positives and
negatives of the job before they are given the job offer
- it includes: work itself, pay, coworkers, workload, working conditions, climate
- advantages: less likely to quit, lowers initial job expectations, increases self-selection,
organizational commitment, job satisfaction, performance and job survival, lower turnover,
Recruitment
messages/announcements
What should a recruitment advertisement contain?
- job description + job specification
- 4 steps:
1. attract attention to the advertisement
2. develop interest in the job (job description & specification)
3. create desire by building on the interest factors (career, challenge, organization, location,
opportunities)
4. tell what action should be taken
Measuring recruitment
effectiveness
How can we measure recruitment effectiveness?
- number of applicants and the number of qualified applicants
- number of job offers accepted
- timeliness of the source in providing applicants
- cost effectiveness
- job performance of employees
Sources of recruitment
What are the internal sources of recruitment?
- promotion (upgrading) & demotion
- Transfers
- Retired employees
- Past employees
- Employee referrals
- Dependents and relatives of alive or deceased employees
 Sources of recruitment
What are the external sources of recruitment?
- Advertisements
- Campus recruitment
- Placement agencies
- Outsourcing/ consultancies
- Employment exchanges
- Labor contractors (for large numbers of employees)
- Unsolicited applicants
- Online recruitment (social media, specialized websites)
- Walk in candidates
 Selection
How to hire and select top employees?
- Skill fit (history + resume)
- Company fit (presentation + interview)
- Job fit (predictability + assessment): thinking style, personality, interests, behaviors (iceberg
effect)
- Raw intelligence & alignment with the culture (Facebook recipe)
Selection
What is the strategic objective of selection?
- fill available job openings with qualified applicants and avoid discriminating on the basis of race, color,
religion, sex, national origin, age or disability
- 2 primary methods of selection: interviews (weak or modest predictor of job performance) & tests
(better predictability, but never perfect)
- equal opportunity models for selection as a basis for Affirmative Action:
1. passive nondiscrimination (no active recruiting of minorities, but no discrimination)
2. pure affirmative action (the goal is to actively recruit minority applicants, and the organization increases
the number of minority applicants)
3. affirmative action with preferential hiring (give minority applicants preference in hiring and promotion)
4. hard quotas (hire according to a strict percentage of minorities for each job)
- the 80% rule
Selection
How is the selection done?
- tests
- interviews (structured or unstructured?)
- in-basket – indicate the action you would take on each item
- assessment centers – realistic tasks and situations – great predictability of job performance
Selection
When will we make an offer?
- after verifying the resume, the references and the candidate in general (e.g. criminal record)
- the offer is the end of the selection process
- the offer contains all the details discussed with the candidate
- it may become active only after a trial period