Role of HR Planning in facilitating Recruitment and Selection Process
HR planning has an important role in facilitating the entire recruitment and selection process particularly: (i) Facilitating the Pre-Recruitment Review: The facilitating of the Pre-recruitment review involves providing advice on whether any internal staff should be considered for filling the new staffing need and if so, what process should be used in considering them; or providing advice on whether the new staffing need should involve giving opportunity to both internal and external applicants. (ii) Providing Expert Advice and Guidance: This focuses on providing expert advice and guidance in the early stages of the recruitment particularly with defining the position, drafting the advertisement, identifying and advising on suitable channels for advertisement, arranging for the announcement to be placed through the agreed channels, and advising on the composition of the selection committee and allied matters. (iii) Functioning as an Expert Adviser to the Selection Committee: The HR planner functions as an expert adviser to the selection committee throughout the entire selection process particularly, by briefing the committee members on interview techniques and providing expert advice on the modalities, screening, shortlisting, and making final decision. (iv) Ensuring That Short-Listed Candidates Have Briefing Materials: The focus is on providing materials prior to the interview about the venue, employment conditions and when appropriate, lifestyle issues, and ensuring that all their questions on these issues are resolved after the interview for successful candidates. (v) Pre-Interview Briefing Materials: HR planners should ensure that all shortlisted candidates are provided with an appropriate briefing package prior to their interview. The contents of the briefing package will depend on the nature of the position. All briefing packages should include information about the salary range for the position and a summary of key employment conditions and benefits. Candidates will need to make decisions and trade-offs regarding the relative importance of these factors if they are offered the position. HR planners must ensure that interviewees have the required information so that the candidate who is offered the position is able to make a fully informed decision whether to accept the offer or otherwise. (vii) Ensuring that all Post-Interview Procedures Are Managed Effectively: The HR planner manages post-interview process effectively including those that affect the appointee’s transition into her/his new role, workplace and duty station, and those that will sustain unsuccessful candidates’ interest for future employment opportunities with the organisation. HR planner adds value to the hiring process by taping from the experience of other recruiters of consultants providing interview training on recruitment and selection process, and also looking at perceptions on the needs of the organisation or department from the perspective of other experts outside the department or organisation. (viii) Post Interview Issues: Addressing candidates’ personal issues are critical to successful recruitment. Some candidates may wish to raise some of the issues already discussed during the interview and other issues after the interview. HR planners should also ensure that all post-selection formalities are conducted effectively for unsuccessful candidates to guarantee future interest in the organisation’s recruitment and selection process. (ix) Future Practice in the organisation’s Recruitment and Selection Process: HR planners need to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of each selection process, develop necessary procedural changes for future recruitments (including pre-recruitment action), and provide suggestions to the selection committee to make their task more objective and rewarding. Process of Human Resource Planning 1. Analysing the Corporate Level Strategies: Human Resource Planning should start with analysing corporate level strategies which include expansion, diversification, mergers, acquisitions, reduction in operations, technology to be used, method of production etc. Therefore Human Resource Planning should begin with analysing the corporate plans of the organisation before setting out on fulfilling its tasks. 2. Demand forecasting: Forecasting the overall human resource requirement in accordance with the organisational plans is one of the key aspects of demand forecasting. Forecasting of quality of human resources like skills, knowledge, values and capabilities needed in addition to quantity of human resources is done through the following methods: - a. Executive or Managerial Judgement: Here the managers decide the number of employees in the future. They adopt one of the three approaches mentioned below: -
b. Statistical Techniques: These methods use statistical methods and mathematical techniques to forecast and predict the supply and demand of Human Resources in the future. Ratio-Trend analysis: – In this method depending on the past data regarding number of employees in each department, like production department, sales department, marketing department and workload level, etc. ratios for manpower are estimated. Past values are plotted and extrapolated to get fairly accurate future projections. c. Work Study method: This technique is suitable to study the correlation between volume of work and labour i.e. demand for human resources is estimated based on the workload. Work study method is more appropriate for repetitive and manual jobs when it is possible to measure work and set standards. d. Delphi Technique: ‘Delphi’ Technique is named after the Greek Oracle at the city of Delphi. In this method, the views of different experts related to the industry are taken into consideration and then a consensus about the Human Resource requirement is arrived at. Delphi technique is used primarily to assess long-term needs of human resource. 3. Analysing Human Resource Supply: Every organisation has two sources of supply of Human Resources: Internal & External. Internally, human resources can be obtained for certain posts through promotions and transfers. In order to judge the internal supply of human resources in future human resource inventory or human resource audit is necessary. Human resource inventory helps in determining and evaluating the quantity of internal human resources available. Once the future internal supply is estimated, supply of external human resources is analysed. 4. Estimating manpower gaps: Manpower gaps can be identified by comparing demand and supply forecasts. Such comparison will reveal either deficit or surplus of Human Resources in the future. Deficit suggests the number of persons to be recruited from outside, whereas surplus implies redundant employees to be re-deployed or terminated. Employees estimated to be deficient can be trained while employees with higher, better skills may be given more enriched jobs. 5. Action Planning: Once the manpower gaps are identified, plans are prepared to bridge these gaps. Plans to meet the surplus manpower may be redeployment in other departments and retrenchment. People may be persuaded to quit voluntarily through a golden handshake. Deficit can be met through recruitment, selection, transfer and promotion. In view of shortage of certain skilled employees, the organisation has to take care not only of recruitment but also retention of existing employees. Hence, the organisation has to plan for retaining of existing employees. 6. Modify the Organisational plans: If future supply of human resources form all the external sources is estimated to be inadequate or less than the requirement, the manpower planner has to suggest to the management regarding the alterations or modifications in the organisational plans. 7. Controlling and Review: After the action plans are implemented, human resource structure and the processes should be controlled and reviewed with a view to keep them in accordance with action plans. |