Attracting and Recruiting Talent free essay sample

This brief report will cover aspects of attracting, recruiting and selection of talent, identify and explain the benefits and attractions of a diverse workforce and describe methods of recruitment and selection. Factors that affect an organisation’s approach to both attracting talent and recruitment and selection. There are external and internal factors that will affect an organisation’s approach and they can be inter-related: †¢ External factors can include Economic – recession and the general climate being poor, companies will be wary of spending and expanding their business and as such will not recruit any additional staff o Political – an increase in the retirement age will mean that turnover will slow down as staff stay in their roles for longer o Legal – legislation such as minimum wage, impacting on business when there is an increase. Some organisations may be unable to recruit further staff due increase in wage bill †¢ Internal factors can include Staff turnover – promotions, retirement or even redundancy will impact on turnover and therefore create or remove positions o Business objectives/company strategy – if the business is planning on expanding it will need to factor in any recruitment needs at all levels o Wastage rates will decrease when unemployment is high, this will mean that there will be less need to recruit as staff tend to stay in their existing role due to the fear of joining those unemployed Organisational Benefits to a Diverse Workforce There are many benefits to a diverse workforce aside from the legal compliance: Enhances the organisation’s reputation and image with external stakeholders making them an employer of choice ? Assists in the development of new products, services and marketing strategies due the input of ideas. ? Builds employee commitment and morale. Employees feel valued and fairly treated ? Recruiting and retaining people from a wide talent base as the organisation has a good reputation ? Reduces the costs of turnover and absenteeism, due to high employee engagement. Different Recruitment Methods and when to use them Hook and Foot (2002) define recruitment as All activities directed towards locating potential employees ? Attracting applications from suitable candidates They go on to state that the aims are: ? To obtain a pool of suitable candidates for vacant posts ? To use a fair process and be able to demonstrate that the process is fair ? To ensure that all recruitment activities contribute to organisational goals and a desirable organisational image There are various methods we can use for recruitment depending on the position being recruiting for and whether recruiting internally or externally. There is also significant cost to recruitment so it is vital that the right method for the right position is used. Methods include: †¢ Printed media – covers all aspects of printed publications including newspapers, magazines and niche print publications. Can reach a wide audience particularly if recruiting nationally, for specialist roles or high end roles. It is expensive to advertise in many national newspapers and can have a short life span. †¢ Online recruitment – becoming ever more popular with most people having access to the internet. Has a wide audience and can be very cost effective. Due to the large number of applicants that an on-line ad is likely to receive it can become quite onerous in sifting through the applications. Very useful when looking for lower paid unskilled workers. †¢ Internal recruitment – transferring or promoting existing staff can be very motivational and good for morale. It has a narrow audience and therefore might not always result in a wide range of suitable talent for the position. It can also cause lack of diversity with fewer new ideas being generated. It can be extremely cost effective as there is very little cost involved. Different Selection Methods and when to use them As found on Tata McGraw-Hill Education Selection is the process of differentiating between applicants in order to identify and hire those with a greater likelihood of success in a job In order to make our selection we need first to collect data on our candidates and we do this by a variety of methods, application forms, CVs , interviews, tests, references and possibly an assessment centre. The most popular of these is known as ‘The Classic Trio’ Mark Cook (1988) . Application Form 2. Interview 3. References Application forms still used by majority of organisations in the UK, useful for gaining basic information on a candidate and checking if they meet the person specification essential criteria. Interviews are still a popular form of collecting data on candidates and will either be structured or un-structured. Structured interviews generally follow a set of predetermined questions, useful for ensuring consistency. The questions will have a rating attributed to them for fairness and they are usually specific to the role requirements. They can however make the candidate feel uncomfortable and may inhibit the asking of questions. Unstructured interviews tend to be more relaxed, the conversation tends to ebb and flow as a natural process. The interviewee is encouraged to lead the conversation and talk freely. This enables the interviewer to listen and assess the responses. There is little preparation required for this process and it can result in inconsistency. It becomes difficult to compare candidates as they will have been asked different questions. In general they are less successful than structured interviews. In conclusion there are many factors to take into consideration when looking at why and how we recruit. We need to ensure our processes are fair and robust in order to attract the best talent into our organisation and resulting and developing a diverse and talented workforce.