Recruitment and Selection - Essay Example

Human Resources QUESTION Recruitment and selection are two separate terms that are sometimes confused by the line managers. The terms seem to be quite similar and nature and sound as if both are one and the same thing but the fact of the matter is that they are completely different from each other and they cannot be used synonymously. In fact, using them synonymously leads to confusion and misconception specially when talking about the hiring of the employees and working as a line manager. One must avoid all such mistakes so that there is no ambiguity left in the decisions and the statements of the administration. Here, some of the differences between the terms recruitment and selection are being enumerated which are very basic and initial in nature, for the purpose of the betterment and the clear understanding of the line managers. One of the foremost differences between the recruitment and selection is that of the nature of the processes. The former is a positive process which includes the calling of all the applicants or candidates for the job opening or employment and the latter is a negative process which includes the choosing of the suitable or appropriate candidate or applicant for the job opening. But some further light should be shed on the differences between recruitment and selection. The term recruiting means the process of finding the suitable candidates for a specific job. The criteria are given in the advert or the recruiting agency or the HR office or any other place. All the persons that meet the criteria of the respective advert are able to recruit themselves with the employment agency or what ever the source may be. There is no discretion of the administration of the respective agency or the source, in terms of hiring or not hiring the person who meets the criteria defined for the recruitment. Therefore, if a person meets the criteria of recruitment then, the manager or even the high administration cannot stop him from being hired. The condition is that he meets the criteria perfectly and is not disqualified otherwise. The most common example of the recruitments is the Army of any country. Let us take the example of U.S military. Once a person has cleared all the tests and the physical training programs, which are criteria for the recruitment of military, no one can stop him from being a part of the U.S military. It is hoped that the concept of recruitment is clear to some extent. Some light is now shed on the other term, known as selection. Selection is referred to as the opposite of recruitment in some cases. Most of the organizations and companies in the private sector are based on the process of selection when hiring. Selection can be simply explained as the process of choosing a suitable or the best candidate. It may be done by the virtue of interviews or some other mode of selection. The most used and the most common mode is by interviews and some tests. The criteria is the discretion of the administration of the organization and they have complete discretion on the selection as to whether to choose the person or not. QUESTION 2 Most of the inexperienced personnel in the management of an organization do not know of the fact that an intern could be a source of trouble apart from being a symbol of help too. Similarly, the organizations which have in efficient and less informed administrations sometimes say that interns can not be considered to be a helping hand in the profession. For the sake of the understanding of the professionals as well as the laymen, here some of the pros and cons of the apprenticeship programs are enumerated. But first of all one must understand completely what actually an apprentice is. An apprentice is a person who is hired for the sole purpose of training him so that he can further progress in his profession. Some times, some apprenticeship schemes are introduced where the apprentices are paid along with the preparation or there is some other incentive behind the apprenticeship. That is why the students and the youngsters are always in the race to capture apprenticeship. It is totally up to the companies what criteria they adopt but regarding the current situation of data entry, the usual systems of qualification criteria like NVQs should be adopted. With the perspective of the employer, some of the pros and cons, advantage and disadvantages of the said apprenticeship are being mentioned: Advantages: The first and the foremost advantage of the apprenticeship from the perspective of the employer is the cheap labour and the work force. Since the company we are talking about here is based on data entry and information entry, the apprentices are eager to learn, and in that learning they complete the tasks that have been assigned to them. So there you go, your office work is being done. by the help of the apprentices. Therefore as the most of the employment which is in consideration right now is that of data entry or of the like sort then the apprentices are more likely to help. It is not really necessary that a scheme of payment or of a formal salary be introduced for the apprenticeship program. And even if it is introduced, the apprenticeship scheme would be considered to be providing what is called in the open market as cheap labor. The second advantage is that as the strength of the company or an organization increases with the recruitment or selection of the apprentices, the loyalties of the companies increase. These loyalties are directed from the apprentices to the company. Apart from the loyalty factor, the strength of a business as a whole in terms of the public relations and the showmanship increases when there are apprentices working. An additional and a very vital advantage is that when one has a few apprentices who are working under one, one can easily shortlist a number of apprentices who are going to be assets for one’s company or organization once they have gained the experience. They already have loyalties with the company, all they need to do is work hard. Disadvantages: The apprentices are after all a liability and there are no closing eyes on that one. There is no backing out of an apprenticeship agreement as the employer cannot deny the apprentice any training even if it is being done at the cost of his own work. Other than these simple disadvantages and cons of hiring the apprentices or running a apprenticeship scheme, there are some disadvantages which are from the perspective of the apprentices and not their employers. One of them is that due to the fact that most of the firms that hire apprentices usually use them as an instrument to clear their back logs and pending problematic works. This is not only wasting the time of the apprentice but it is also damaging the initial stages of his career where he is supposed to learn how to opt the profession practically. QUESTION 3 Before moving towards the main answer of the question one must first explain what performance related pay is. It can be easily explained as the method or the system of salary payment where the performance of the individual or a group of individuals specified is directly related to the salary they receive. It has a number of advantages and disadvantages. As an HR manager at the university, I am inclined to mention the advantages and disadvantages of the performance related pay system. This will help the administration to view the salary system with different aspects and also to calculate and profess what the effect of a different system would be on the performance and the attitude of those subjected to it. Advantages: The system of performance related pay is a good system in terms of the result generation. The reason behind this fact is that the performance related pay system serves as an incentive towards the employees and it inclines them to work hard and generate the results even before the due time. In short, the productivity increases on a daily basis. Another very basic advantage is that when an employee serves the purpose and generates positive results very quickly and very efficiently, the employee is rewarded. This is the sole reason why that employee will work even harder the next time and the others would also be working hard as it creates a sense of competition amongst them. This reward is a tangible token of appreciation which is substantial in value and is considered to be an incentive for the hard work. This is the best way that deals with the poor performance of the employees as if the poor performers would not get reward, the company would not suffer any loss. This is because the poor performance is not affecting the company as they are not investing in the employee who poorly performed. This process has a couple of other advantages too. It wipes out the entire incompetent and all the unnecessary staff and therefore creates a more professional environment in the organization. Similarly, it helps the employees who are performing good in the company or the organization and in our case, the university in identifying their errors and adapting a channelized approach towards their correction so that their performance and role in the university can be improved. Disadvantages The foremost disadvantage of the performance related pay system is that there is no equity in the payment modes and schedules and therefore this method is easier to exploit in some circumstances. Secondly there is a large chance of undue favor and all other evils. Similarly, if some person has some genuine issue, for instance a family emergency, and he is unable to perform, the all of his prior performance and employment will have no use and will not be beneficial to him as his payment or salary would be merely based upon the performance of that respective month. Another one of the most terrible disadvantages of the performance related payment system is that it could destroy the workplace peace and the workplace ethics because sometimes the competition to such an extent would not yield good results and office relationships. Apart from the office relationships, maintaining a healthy environment in the office is a very necessary task that needs to e looked after and when there is an undue sense of a competition in the workplace where the best will get the benefits, the law of the jungle will prevail and evils like back biting and leg pulling will make their way in the profession. Bibliography Top of Form DESSLER, G. (2000). Human resource management. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall. Bottom of Form UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, MICHIGAN ROSS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, & SOCIETY FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (U.S.). (1972). Human resource management. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley Periodicals, Inc. TORRINGTON, D., HALL, L., & TORRINGTON, D. (1998). Human resource management. London, Prentice Hall Europe. Top of Form HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING SOCIETY, & EBSCO PUBLISHING (FIRM). (1978).Human resource planning HR. Tempe, Ariz, Human Resource Planning Society. Bottom of Form Top of Form DODSLEY, R., & HILL, J. (1789). The economy of human life. In two parts. London, Printed for W. Darton and Co. Booksellers, No. 55, Gracechurch Street. http://find.galegroup.com/ecco/infomark.do?contentSet=ECCOArticles&docType=ECCOArticles&bookId=1152600500&type=getFullCitation&tabID=T001&prodId=ECCO&docLevel=TEXT_GRAPHICS&version=1.0&source=library. Bottom of Form Read More