9.3: The Recruitment and Selection Process

The recruitment and selection process is a strategic approach to finding, attracting, and hiring the right talent for an organization. It begins with workforce planning and job analysis to identify staffing needs and create detailed job descriptions and specifications. The recruitment phase involves sourcing candidates through various channels like job boards, social media, internal promotions, and networking. Once applications are received, the selection process evaluates candidates through resume screening, interviews, assessments, and reference checks to determine their suitability for the role. The process concludes with extending a job offer to the chosen candidate, followed by onboarding to integrate them into the organization. This streamlined approach ensures that the best-fit candidates are hired efficiently while aligning with organizational goals.

The recruitment and selection process typically involves the following stages:

Recruitment Process:

• Job analysis and planning
• Sourcing candidates

Selection Process:

• Screening and shortlisting
• Interviews
• Reference and background checks
• Job offer and negotiation
• Onboarding

Recruitment Process

Armed with information on the number of new employees to be hired and the types of positions to be filled, the HR manager then develops a strategy for recruiting potential employees. Recruiting is the process of identifying suitable candidates and encouraging them to apply for openings in the organization. When the organization seeks to hire talent, recruiters within the HR department assume this responsibility by creating job postings, screening candidates, and setting up interviews. While recruiting refers to the broader effort of attracting and sourcing candidates, selection specifically focuses on evaluating and choosing the best candidate for the job.

Job Analysis and Planning

Job analysis and planning is the foundational step in the recruitment process, focusing on understanding the specific requirements of a role and preparing for effective talent acquisition. Job analysis involves examining the tasks, responsibilities, skills, and qualifications (knowledge and abilities) needed for a position, resulting in a clear and detailed job description and specification. Planning complements this by aligning recruitment efforts with organizational goals, determining the number and type of positions to be filled, and setting timelines and budgets for the hiring process. This stage ensures clarity about the role and provides a strategic framework to attract the most suitable candidates, aligning workforce capabilities with business objectives.

To develop an HR plan, HR managers must be knowledgeable about the jobs that the organization needs their employees to perform. HR managers gather information about a given job by performing a job analysis and use the information collected to prepare two documents:

• A job description, which lists the duties and responsibilities of a position
• A job specification, which lists the qualifications—skills, knowledge, and abilities— needed to perform the job

Sourcing Candidates

Sourcing candidates is a critical step in the recruitment process that involves identifying and attracting potential candidates who meet the qualifications and requirements of a job opening. This process can include internal sourcing, such as promoting or transferring current employees, and external sourcing, which involves advertising on job boards, leveraging social media platforms, using recruitment agencies, attending career fairs, and tapping into employee referrals or professional networks. The goal is to reach a diverse and qualified talent pool while optimizing the methods used to align with the organization’s needs. Effective sourcing ensures that the recruitment process begins with a strong foundation of capable and suitable candidates, increasing the chances of finding the right fit for the role.

Internal Versus External Recruiting

The first step in recruiting is to find qualified candidates. Where do you look for them, and how do you decide whether they’re qualified? Companies must assess not only the ability of a candidate to perform the duties of a job, but also whether he or she is a good “fit” for the company, i.e., how well the candidate’s values and interpersonal style match the company’s values and culture.

Where do you find people who satisfy so many criteria? Basically, you can look in two places: inside and outside your own organization. Both options have pluses and minuses. Hiring internally sends a positive signal to employees that they can move up in the company—a strong motivation tool and a reward for good performance. In addition, because an internal candidate is a known quantity, it’s easier to predict his or her success in a new position. Finally, it’s cheaper to recruit internally. On the other hand, you’ll probably have to fill the promoted employee’s position. Hiring externally gives you an opportunity to bring fresh ideas and skills into the company. In any case, it’s often the only alternative, especially if no one inside the company has just the right combination of skills and experience. Entry-level jobs are usually filled from the outside.

Publicize the Job

Whether you search inside or outside the organization, you need to publicize the opening. If you’re looking internally in a small organization, you can alert employees informally. In larger organizations, HR managers generally post openings on bulletin boards (often online) or announce them in newsletters. They can also seek direct recommendations from various supervisors.

Recruiting people from outside is more complicated. It’s a lot like marketing a product to buyers: in effect, you’re marketing the virtues of working for your company. Starbucks uses the following outlets to advertise openings:^[1]

• A dedicated section of the corporate website (“Job Centre,” which lists openings, provides information about the Starbucks experience, and facilitates the submission of online applications)
• College and university campus recruiting (holding on-campus interviews and information sessions, and participating in career fairs)
• Internships designed to identify future talent among college students
• Announcements on employment websites like LinkedIn, Workopolis, Indeed, LeapOut, JobBank, and Eluta
• Social media
• Local job fairs
• In-store recruiting posters
• Informative “business cards” for distribution to customers

When asked what it takes to attract the best people, Starbucks’s senior executive Dave Olsen replied, “Everything matters.” Everything Starbucks does as a company bears on its ability to attract talent. Accordingly, everyone is responsible for recruiting, not just HR specialists. In fact, the best source of quality applicants is often the company’s own labour force.^[2]

Contingent Workers

Though most people prefer to hold permanent, full-time positions, there’s a growing number of individuals who work at temporary or part-time jobs, either by choice or as the only available option. Many of these are contingent workers hired to supplement a company’s permanent workforce. Most of them are independent contractors, consultants, or freelancers who are paid by the firms that hire them. Others are on-call workers who work only when needed, such as substitute teachers. Still others are temporary workers (or “temps”) who are employed and paid by outside agencies or contract firms that charge fees to client companies.

The use of contingent workers provides companies with a number of benefits. Because they can be hired and fired easily, employers can better control labour costs. When things are busy, they can add temps, and when business is slow, they can release unneeded workers. Temps are often cheaper than permanent workers, particularly because they rarely receive costly benefits. Employers can also bring in people with specialized skills and talents to work on special projects without entering into long-term employment relationships. Finally, companies can “try out” temps: if someone does well, the company can offer permanent employment; if the fit is less than perfect, the employer can easily terminate the relationship. There are downsides to the use of contingent workers, including increased training costs and decreased loyalty to the company. Also, many employers believe that because temps are usually less committed to company goals than permanent workers, productivity suffers.

Social Networking and Employee Recruitment

Referrals and professional networking are commonly used methods of identifying job prospects, particularly for managerial, professional, and technical positions. Several software applications and social networks facilitate employee referrals, reference checking, and hiring based on networks of personal relationships. ExecuNet is just one of the many career sites that allows members to search for contacts and network with other professionals in their fields.

LinkedIn is the most popular social network for professionals. It is a giant database of contacts with profiles that provide an overview of a person’s past and present professional experience, skills, professional referrals, and affiliations with business and professional associations. A member can search through an extended network of contacts based on his or her professional acquaintances. The basis for a search can be job, job title, company, geography, zip code, or membership in a professional organization. LinkedIn uses the concept that there are no more than six degrees of separation between two people, or one person can be linked to any other individual through no more than six other people. With 1 billion members in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, LinkedIn’s extensive platform is an ideal network for both recruiters and those looking to make their next career move.^[3]

Nearly 90% of recruiters report hiring someone from LinkedIn. ^[4] That’s the power of social media recruiting; it offers a host of advantages, such as broader reach, cost-effectiveness, and real-time engagement!

Recruiters utilize various social media platforms because they provide unparalleled reach to potential candidates. By utilizing these platforms, recruiters can access a vast pool of talent and increase the visibility of job opportunities. Social media recruiting is also more cost-effective than traditional recruitment methods. Posting job ads, sharing content, and engaging with candidates on social media platforms are generally more affordable than other advertising channels. Moreover, with the rise of remote work and digital nomadism, job seekers increasingly use their mobile devices for job hunting. Social media platforms are easily accessible via mobile devices, making them convenient for job seekers to browse job postings anytime, anywhere.^[5]

Selection Process

After a firm has attracted enough job applicants, employment specialists begin the selection process. Selection is the process of determining which people in the applicant pool possess the qualifications necessary to be successful on the job. An applicant who can jump over each step, or hurdle, will very likely receive a job offer; thus, this is known as the successive hurdles approach to applicant screening. Alternatively, an applicant can be rejected at any step or hurdle. The steps in the employee selection process and the accompanying hurdles at each step are shown in Figure 9.1.

Initial Screening

During the initial screening phase, applicants typically complete an application form and/or submit a résumé and participate in a brief interview lasting 30 minutes or less. The job application generally includes details about the applicant’s educational background, prior work experience, and specific job responsibilities performed. For some positions, applicants may be asked to provide additional materials such as work samples, certificates, credentials, or other supporting documents, either along with the résumé or shortly after advancing past the selection interview.

Initial screenings can vary in format—they may take place over the phone, through online conferencing, or occasionally be bypassed altogether, with candidates proceeding directly to the interview stage. These variations depend on factors such as the position’s seniority, the hiring company’s practices, industry norms, and specific job requirements.

Will There Be Employment Testing?

Following initial screening, the applicant may be asked to take one or more tests, such as the Wonderlic Personnel Tests. Wonderlic offers a suite of pre-employment tests for each phase of the hiring process. Used individually or together, the tests can assess cognitive ability (ability to learn, adapt, and solve problems), motivation potential (attitude, behaviour, performance, and productivity), and knowledge and skills (math, verbal, data entry, software proficiency).^[6] Job candidates are scored on how well they complete the employment tests.

McDonald’s, for example, employs over 1.7 million people across the globe, and the company uses personality tests to assess whether a candidate is a good fit to become a part of the McDonald’s family. Personality questionnaires are tools to gauge a candidate’s behavioural preferences, and the company uses these tools to assess a wide range of applicants. By gleaning the results of such standardized questionnaires, the company quickly determines the most suitable candidates for particular roles.^[7]

Another example is the Ford Motor Company. The multinational automaker employs over 190,000 people across the globe, with a widespread presence in 73 countries. Building and managing such a diverse workforce requires an exceptional hiring strategy. The company uses a two-part psychometric test that includes numerical and verbal reasoning tests. These tests enable recruiters to objectively assess a wide range of candidates with diverse qualifications and experience. As a result, Ford Motor can quickly identify suitable applicants for a given role by analyzing the tests’ outcomes. Gathering such granular insights into candidates’ skills from just interviews and resumes seems rather unlikely, so the company uses professional psychometric tests at various stages of the hiring process, the company quickly determines the most suitable candidates for particular roles.^[8]

Selection Interview

The tool most widely used in making hiring decisions is the selection interview, an in-depth discussion of an applicant’s work experience, skills and abilities, education, and career interests. For managerial and professional positions, an applicant may be interviewed by several people, including the line manager, for the position to be filled. This interview is designed to determine a person’s communication skills and motivation. During the interview, the applicant may be presented with realistic job situations, such as dealing with a disgruntled customer, and asked to describe how they would handle the problem. Some organizations have multiple interviews with candidates at various levels of management. When designing interviews, the HR department will provide the interviewer(s) with score sheets.  The candidates are scored on how well they answer the questions during the interview. In Canada, it’s illegal for job applications to ask questions about race-related grounds, such as physical characteristics like eye colour, hair, height, and weight. When you take a course in career planning, you will learn how to complete a successful interview.

Do I Need Physical Exams and Drug Testing?

A firm may require an applicant to have a medical checkup to ensure they are physically able to perform job tasks. In the U.S., drug testing is common in the transportation and health care industries. Southwest Airlines, BNSF Railway, Texas Health Resources, and the U.S. Postal Service use drug testing for reasons of workplace safety, productivity, and employee health. In Canada, pre-employment drug testing could be considered discriminatory (Canadian human rights law). This is because drug and alcohol testing could reveal a person’s substance dependency and addiction, and poses a risk of discrimination against the candidate if a job offer is rescinded. Unless an employer can prove that there is a bona fide occupational requirement (BFOR) for testing, it is best practice for employers not to conduct pre-employment drug testing for non-safety positions. If an employer is recruiting for a safety-sensitive position, then pre-employment drug testing could be justifiable as a policy for the promotion of workplace safety.^[9] Generally, you do not need a physical exam to get a job, but certain jobs that require physical strength or endurance or jobs in the public health sector, may require a physical exam. A few of these job examples include firefighter, police officer, lifeguard, truck driver, bus driver, and military personnel.

Background and Reference Check

If applicants pass the selection interview, most firms examine their background and check their references. References are people who will attest to your skills and abilities because they have observed you in action. The most valuable references are those from former or current employers, as they carry the most weight with potential employers. While friends and family may offer positive feedback, hiring managers are more interested in learning about your past performance in a professional setting. In recent years, an increasing number of employers, such as American Airlines, Disney, and Microsoft, are carefully researching applicants’ backgrounds, particularly their legal history, reasons for leaving previous jobs, and even creditworthiness. If the company has not already collected supporting evidence of your credentials (e.g., educational credentials, industry certifications, etc.), then they will most likely do so at this stage. Not all job positions require that you have supporting evidence, but higher-level jobs usually do.  If a candidate were to, for example, submit fraudulent credential documents and then the company were to discover this after hiring, the company would most probably terminate employment.

Decision to Hire

If an applicant successfully completes all stages of the selection process, a decision to hire is made. For higher-level positions or roles within unionized environments, this decision is often based on a combination of test results (if applicable) and interview scores. However, not all jobs require testing or a formal scoring process for interview questions. To ensure fairness and objectivity, many companies adopt scoring methods to evaluate candidates systematically. Ultimately, the job offer is extended to the candidate who best aligns with the role’s requirements and organizational needs.

Media Attributions

“Female Candidate doing Hand Shakes” by Tima Miroshnichenko, used under the Pexels license.

“Hire, Hiring, Recruitment image” by HelloVector, used under the Pixabay license.

“Linkedin, Online, Success royalty-free stock illustration” by tiffanytlcbm, used under the Pixabay license.

“Figure 9.1: Steps in the Selection Process” is reused from Chapter 11: Human Resources Management in Business Fundamentals, 1st Edition, © Kerri Sheilds, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.

Eye test, Ophthalmology, Man image by newarta, used under the Pixabay license.

Image descriptions

Figure 9.1

A diagram illustrating a four-step hiring process, depicted as a series of interconnected, ascending steps. Each step is a different colour and numbered and corresponds to a step in the process. Above each step, there is text outlining each step, linked to the step by a black line. The steps are as follows:

Step 01 (red): Initial Screening of Applicants (may include supporting documents and testing)

Step 02 (yellow): Selection Interview (may be multiple interviews)

Step 03 (cyan): Background and Reference Checks (may include testing)

Step 04 (purple): Decision to Hire (review candidate scores and best-fit for job)

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