Recruitment and Selection

There are several ways in which staff can be obtained on the recommendation of a reliable employee or trustworthy person, from Jobcentres, through employment agencies, through executive employment agencies, or head hunters and by advertising.

Advertisements are one of the most common methods of obtaining staff. To attract suitable people, an advertisement should state clearly what is being offered by the firm and what is required from the applicant. The right branch of the media must be used. Classified advertisements often produce just as good results as large display advertisements and are much cheaper.

People applying for a job may be asked to fill in an application form. Usually this requests the following information: title of job applied for, applicant’s name in full, address and telephone number, age/date of birth, nationality, sex, if married or single, if registered as disabled, schools attended (with dates), further education (with dates) qualifications and training, previous employment (names and addresses of employers, jobs held, wages or salary, reasons for leaving), any other information, references.

Having every applicant's details listed in the same order helps firms to check and compare their abilities more easily. The forms also provide a formal record of each applicant's qualifications and experience, which is useful if there are any later disputes.

When all the application forms have come in, the firm may sort them into three groups of hopeful, doubtful and hopeless. A decision has to be made about the doubtful cases. The most suitable applications are invited to come for an interview on a stated date and time.

All applicants are given a job description, which gives an accurate picture of the work they will have to do. Although job descriptions vary from one firm to another, most of them give the following information in this order:

• Title of the job (e.g. secretary, waiter).

• Department of the firm in which the person will work (e.g. finance department, restaurant).

• Function: a summary of the job.

• Responsible to: the person who will be in charge of the new employee.

• Responsible for. any person who will be in the charge of the new employee (e.g. an office junior).

• Duties: a numbered list of duties that the employee is required to perform.

  1. What is a job centre? How does it differ from an employment agency?

  2. State three ways in which staff can be recruited. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each (e.g. costs, time, quality of applicant, etc.)?

  3. What hints would you give to someone writing a job advertise­ment?

Text 5

Read the text and define the problems discussed in it. Be ready to answer the questions given below.

Training

Attitudes to training vary. All progressive firms agree that much more business training is needed. Then main arguments are about what kind of training is needed, what methods should be used and who should do the training.

If training is to be effective, a firm must have clear objectives. It may want to introduce a new equipment, improve efficiency and performance, train unskilled workers, to avoid a labour shortage, reduce the supervision needed, provide greater chances for international promotion.

Trainees also need clear objectives. These might be:

• to increase their pay

• to obtain promotion

• to reduce the chance of accidents.

Unless trainees see some personal benefit in the training, they will not be highly motivated and the course will fail.

Once the objectives are clear, a suitable program can be planned. The three main purposes of training are to instil knowledge, change attitudes, increase skills.

The importance given to these purposes will help decide what training methods are used. Look at Figure 1. The first two training methods are concerned mainly with increasing knowledge,. Methods 3 to 5 also develop knowledge, but they are more concerned with changing attitudes. The last three methods are mainly concerned with increasing skills.

• A lecture is often used for the induction of new employees. However, if the quality of the lec­ture is poor, the audience's atten­tion will soon wander.

• Visits to other parts of the firm may be part of the induction process, to increase knowledge of other stages in the production process and to establish good relations between departments.

• Case studies present trainees with a business problem which they have to solve as a group. Attitudes and emotions may be involved here.

• In role-play, where trainees act out a real-life business situation to gain confidence and experience, emotion­al involvement is often fairly high. In group therapy, trainees come together to explore their attitudes to one another by speaking their minds freely. Emotional involvement is very high.

• Personal skill instruction - the tradi­tional method of watching an older, experienced worker - is still widely used for training unskilled or semi­skilled workers.

Training methods

Fig.1

METHOD 1 LECTURE 2 VISITS 3 CASE STUDY 4ROLE-PLAY 5 GROUP THERAPY 6 PERSONAL SKILL 7 SKILLS ANALYSIS 8 DISCOVERY

LEVEL General General Managerial White-collar General General instruction Manual and white-collar workers General

ADVANTAGES Economical in recourses Realistic Stimulating Increases confidence Increases self-awareness Immediate Very effective High degree of involvement

DISADVANTAGES Little audience participation Difficulties in comprehension May be unrealistic May not transfer to work situation May cause resentment Depends on quality of trainer Expensive Time-consuming

Training may be done internally, within a firm itself, or externally at college or school. Internal training provides constant work experience and can be more easily controlled by the firm itself. External training may be more professional and give a broader view.

Training is provided for all people of 16 or 17 who are not in full-time educa­tion or a job. Youth training (YT) leads to National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) Level 2 and Modern Apprentice­ships to NVQ Level 3. Training is main­ly in local firms, though specialist train­ers and colleges are also used.

1. Give four reasons why a firm might set up a training programme.

2. Why is it important for trainees to be motivated?

3. Choose four methods of training. Describe when and for whom they might be used and their advantages and disadvantages.

4. Explain, with examples, why it is sometimes important to change the attitudes of employees. What training methods can be used?

Text 6

Read and translate the terms. Read the text and be ready to explain what each of them means.