Taslim Ahammad :
The recruitment and selection practice is one of the most important aspects of running new and established businesses. The right employees can take your business to new heights, however, wrong ones can hurt business by missing sales, turning customers off and creating a toxic workplace environment. Hence, this employee recruitment and selection code of practice outline presenting to be tailored to your business’s needs and should be considered as a starting point for setting or resetting up your recruiting strategies.
Terms that refer to the process of attracting, choosing and identifying right candidates for the employment that the organisation needs to employ up to the standard. The human resources (HR) department of a business organisation should have detailed recruitment and selection code of practice that need to be followed by those responsible for hiring new employees, are given below: Specifying the vacancy – Each vacancy should be supported by a written description of the purpose and responsibilities of the post. This will usually be in the form of a job description.
Such specifications should be written to ensure that they are free from discrimination. Also, consideration should be given to make reasonable adjustments to the work-place in order to accommodate disabilities. Each job description should be accompanied by a detailed person specification which will form the basis of any selection decision. Care should be taken, therefore, in the specification of requirements to ensure that statements of length and type of experience and educational and training requirements are justified.
Job evaluation – All posts must have a job evaluation score attached to them to ensure equality of pay between jobs in the business. Evaluation of a job will be undertaken by the relevant HR Manager and prior to the vacancy being considered by staff vacancy review group (SVRG).Vacancy approval – All posts, whether externally or internally funded need to follow a certain process in order to be advertised. For a posts these are subject to approval from SVRG and the HR department.
Advertising the job – All posts should be open for any candidate to apply who meets the basic requirements of the job. This means that all posts, where it is reasonable to do so, should be advertised in the public domain and consideration should be given to advertising in specialist journals/ locations where they will come to the attention of members of under-represented groups. Application – A format for applications should be specified, which would usually be in the form of a standard application form designed to draw information relevant to the job.
Applicants should be invited to take part in equality and diversity monitoring, the responses to which will be handled separately from the application and short-listing process through HR.
To ensure compliance with the disability (tick/s) interview promise, applicants should be asked to declare if they have a disability to meet the essential person specification criteria. Selection panel – The selection decision should ultimately be made by more than one person who has a detailed knowledge of the work required. A Selection Panel is, therefore, required which should include persons trained in selection techniques and equality and diversity.The composition of the panel may requires members with appropriate training.Short-listing – All members of the selection panel should be involved in the short-listing process. The person specification will form the basis of the selection decision. Records should be kept on the extent to which each candidate meets the requirements of each aspect of the person specification. These records should be held after the appointment has been made.
Disabled applicants in particular should be invited for interview where they meet the basic requirements. Redeployment candidates – In line with the business’s guidance on redeployment procedures, recruiting departments should give preferential consideration, in respect of shortlisting for vacancies, to organisation employees under notice of redundancy or approaching the end of a fixed term appointment who are seeking redeployment. Employees seeking redeployment in these circumstances should be interviewed before any other candidates. Interviews – The code covers interviews irrespective of whether they are conducted face to face, on the telephone or by video link.
It addresses the data collected at the interview. It recommends that only data which is relevant to and necessary for the recruitment process should be recorded and retained. Selection – A range of selection methods should be established, closely based on the person specification for the post, which might include work-related tests or assessments. Care should be taken when selecting or designing tests and analysing their results to ensure that they are free from bias.Outcome – When the selection process is complete, each candidate should, in turn, be discussed and a decision need to reach. Human Resources will formally notify candidates of the outcome of their interview once the interview outcome documentation has been completed.Offer of employment – Offers of employment should be made by Human Resources for vacancies in in line with the organisation’s guidance. All offers of employment are subject to Human Resources receiving: (i) satisfactory medical clearance (ii) proof of right to work in the country (ii) evidence of qualifications (iv) if any other according to the business policy. Induction – Induction of new staff into their role in the business is an important aspect in staff recruitment.
It is the responsibility of the authority, recruiting/HR manager, or a suitable nominee, to ensure that the new member of staff is introduced to the department and understands their job. Human Resources should provide advice and support to recruiting managers about induction. Implementation – The organization will organise a rolling programme of in-service training and development to provide support to those staff required to implement the code. Retention of record – All employers should develop a policy on retention of records and keep a note on each recruitment round. Employers must ensure they can properly defend themselves in any claim, particularly one for discrimination, arising from the process.
Revoked offers – In case when a formal has to be revoked, the hiring manager and human resources department should draft and sign an official document. This document should include a legitimate reason for revoking the offer. Legitimate reasons include: (a) Candidate is proved to not be legally allowed to work for our company at a specific location (b) Candidate has falsified references or otherwise lied about a serious issue (c) Candidate doesn’t accept the offer within the specified deadline (deadline must have been included in the offer letter)
The field of recruitment and selection has a long history and necessity which associated with several fields of research, implication and application, adjustment, follow-up, including human resources and industrial psychology, discussed above for your reference point.
(Taslim Ahammad, Assistant Professor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University)
