0264 · 2.1.1Recruiting and selecting employees

Planning recruitment requirements

0:00A hotel needs a receptionist who can record bookings accurately and welcome guests calmly. One applicant has impressive qualifications, another has relevant experience, and a third performs well in a practical test. Choosing between them involves understanding the work and checking evidence. By the end of this video, you will understand how businesses attract applicants, compare candidates and justify who to employ. Human resource management is the function of a business that recruits, selects, trains and looks after its employees.

0:27Employees carry out work that helps the organisation achieve its objectives. A suitable appointment can improve customer service and reduce mistakes. Choosing someone whose abilities fit the role poorly can create extra costs, so the process begins with understanding what the business needs. A vacancy is a job in a business that needs to be filled. Recruitment is the process from identifying that a business needs to employ someone to the point where applications have arrived.

0:52Selection means choosing the most suitable applicant for a vacancy. Together, these processes connect the requirements of a role with evidence about candidates. Recruitment attracts possible employees, while selection establishes who best meets the requirements. An employee leaving can create a vacancy, or expansion can require additional employees. The recruitment stages are identifying the vacancy, preparing a job description, writing a person specification and arranging a job advertisement. Applications then arrive, ready for selection.

1:21Each stage provides information needed for the next decision. Before advertising, the business checks whether the work requires a new employee. For example, Cedar Farm produces vegetables and needs someone to operate additional harvesting equipment. Its manager establishes the duties and working hours required. This prevents the business from attracting applicants before it knows what they would actually be expected to do. A job description is a document describing the job title, duties and responsibilities, working conditions and who the job holder reports to.

1:50For a receptionist, duties could include recording reservations and answering guest enquiries. Working conditions might include evening shifts, with the reception manager identified as the supervisor. This document describes the work and establishes what the employee will be responsible for. A person specification is a document setting out the qualifications, skills, experience and qualities needed, essential and desirable. Essential requirements are necessary for the role, while desirable requirements help distinguish suitable applicants.

2:19Accurate typing might be essential for recording bookings, with experience using the hotel's particular software desirable. The business derives these requirements from the duties described earlier. Qualifications provide evidence of completed education or recognised study. Skills are abilities to perform tasks, such as entering booking details accurately. Experience concerns previous involvement in relevant work, while qualities include characteristics such as patience and reliability. Each requirement should connect to a real duty, so applicants are judged against the demands of the role.

Advertising vacancies and recruitment sources

2:51A job advertisement is a notice informing potential applicants about a vacancy and how to apply. It usually contains the job title, main duties, required qualifications and skills, location, pay and application deadline. Details about working hours help candidates decide whether they can accept the role. Clear information attracts suitable applicants and reduces enquiries from those whose availability does not fit. Advertisements can appear inside the business, in newspapers, in specialist magazines, through employment agencies, on recruitment websites and through social media.

3:22An internal notice reaches existing employees who may want a different role. Newspapers can attract applicants from the surrounding area. Specialist magazines help a business reach readers with relevant interests, such as technicians reading a manufacturing publication. An employment agency is an organisation that helps employers find suitable applicants for vacancies. It can search its records and check candidates against requirements, which saves the business time. The employer pays a fee for this service, so recruitment expenses rise.

3:49An agency specialising in hotel employment may already know applicants with relevant reception experience. Online recruitment means attracting applicants using internet services. Recruitment websites can reach a large audience and allow applications to arrive quickly. Social media helps a café advertise a vacancy to followers who know its location and opening hours. Wide reach can also produce many unsuitable applications, so managers need time to check them against the person specification.

4:15Internal recruitment means filling a vacancy with an existing employee. Filling a vacancy with someone from outside the business is called external recruitment. These alternatives determine where the business looks for candidates. The best choice depends on the skills required, the time available and whether current employees can meet the requirements.

Internal and external recruitment

4:33For the business, internal recruitment is usually cheaper because advertising and searching can be limited to existing employees. Managers already know each internal applicant's performance, so the appointment is often quicker. The selected employee knows the organisation's routines, which reduces adjustment time. Other employees gain the prospect of promotion, so visible career opportunities can encourage greater effort. Internal recruitment can limit the business's access to fresh ideas because candidates share its existing practices.

5:01Moving someone into another role creates a second vacancy if their previous position still needs filling. Unsuccessful employees may feel jealous or overlooked, which can weaken cooperation. For example, promoting a café assistant to supervisor may leave the counter without enough employees. External recruitment gives the business a wider choice of skills because applicants come from beyond its existing workforce. An experienced technician can introduce methods learned elsewhere, which may improve accuracy in a car parts factory.

5:28However, advertising and agency fees make the search more expensive. Reviewing a larger pool of applications can also delay the appointment. The business has less direct knowledge of an external applicant's performance, so a convincing application needs further checks. Induction is an introduction to the business and the job for a new employee. Someone joining from outside needs help understanding local procedures, which uses time. Selection gathers evidence before appointment, while induction helps the successful candidate settle into the organisation.

Selection methods and evidence

5:57Selection methods include a curriculum vitae or résumé, application forms, references, testing and assessment centres, and interviews. A curriculum vitae, or C V, is a document the applicant writes listing qualifications, experience and skills. In some countries the same document is called a résumé. The business compares this information with its person specification to decide which candidates deserve closer consideration. An application form is a document containing questions that applicants complete when applying for a job.

6:28Asking everyone the same questions makes relevant information easier for the business to compare. For example, a hospital supplier can ask each candidate about experience checking orders accurately. A C V gives applicants more freedom over what they emphasise, so managers may need to request missing information. References are statements about an applicant's reliability and honesty from a previous employer or teacher. They provide evidence from someone who already knows the candidate.

6:53A previous employer might confirm dependable attendance and careful handling of customer information. However, a reference reflects that person's knowledge and judgement, so the business combines it with other evidence. Selection testing measures abilities or characteristics relevant to a role. A practical booking test shows whether an applicant can enter guest details correctly. Aptitude tests assess potential ability, while personality tests provide information about personal characteristics. These results help the business judge suitability, but each test needs a clear connection to the work required.

7:24An assessment centre is a selection process using several exercises to judge candidates' suitability. Activities may include individual tests, role plays and group tasks. A bank could use a group exercise to observe cooperation and a role play to assess responses to customers. Several exercises provide broader evidence, although organising them takes time and money. An interview is a meeting in which an employer asks an applicant questions to assess suitability for a job.

7:50It allows managers to explore experience and observe communication. Candidates can also clarify duties and working conditions before accepting employment. Interviews depend partly on judgement, so consistent questions and supporting evidence help the business make a fair comparison. Businesses often create a shortlist, which is a smaller group of applicants selected for further consideration. The person specification guides this decision, with essential requirements checked first. Tests and interviews then provide more detailed evidence about those candidates.

8:18The appropriate combination depends on the role, because a specialist technician needs different evidence from a customer service assistant.

Choosing Harbour Inn's receptionist

8:25Harbour Inn is a hotel that provides accommodation and has eighteen employees. It needs a receptionist as it introduces a computerised reservation system. Its monthly salary budget is twenty-five hundred dollars, and the advertised salary is two thousand dollars. The business aims to reduce booking errors while maintaining dependable guest service. All three applicants accept the advertised salary, so pay does not distinguish them. The essential requirements are a customer service qualification, accurate booking skills and reliable references.

8:53Hotel experience and familiarity with computerised reservations are desirable. Managers need someone who can handle guest information correctly from the beginning. The practical test therefore measures booking accuracy, and references provide additional evidence about dependable behaviour. Maya is an internal applicant who has worked for two years as a booking assistant at Harbour Inn, using its manual paper records. She holds a customer service certificate, and her booking test score is eighty-six out of one hundred.

9:20Her manager at Harbour Inn describes her as reliable and honest. She already understands the hotel's routines, which supports a quick adjustment to the reception role. Ravi applies externally with a customer service certificate and three years of computerised hotel reservation experience. He scores ninety-two out of one hundred in the booking test. His previous employer confirms reliability and honesty. These details provide evidence directly connected to the system Harbour Inn is introducing.

9:45Ella has a customer service diploma and one year of retail experience, but has never worked in a hotel. In the booking test, she scores seventy out of one hundred. Her reference comes from a teacher, who confirms that she is reliable and honest. Her qualification supports customer service ability, while the test and experience suggest a greater need for help with reservations. Begin by checking the essential requirements and then compare evidence about the hotel's particular aim.

10:11All three have customer service qualifications and favourable references. Ravi provides the strongest practical evidence of booking accuracy and experience with computerised reservations. Maya is the closest alternative because she combines hotel experience with a strong result and knowledge of existing routines. Both Paper One Short Answer and Data Response and Paper Two Case Study use stimulus material. An exam-style instruction could ask you to consider the applicant information and justify who Harbour Inn should employ.

10:37Consider means review and respond to given information, while justify means support a case with evidence or argument. Your answer needs a choice supported by details from this business. I recommend Ravi because his computerised reservation experience directly supports Harbour Inn's move to its new system. His score of ninety-two provides the strongest evidence of booking accuracy, which supports the aim of reducing errors. Maya offers familiarity with existing routines, but her manual experience fits the planned system less closely.

11:05Moving her would also leave her booking assistant post empty. Employing Ravi should therefore mean fewer booking errors from the start, so guests receive more dependable service.

Recruitment and selection recap

11:15Keep the documents connected to their purposes: the job description explains the work, while the person specification establishes candidate requirements. Treat qualifications, experience, tests and references as different types of evidence. Compare each applicant against the same criteria, then connect your judgement to the business's aim. This produces a stronger recommendation than choosing solely from one impressive detail. Recruitment is the process from identifying that a business needs to employ someone to the point where applications have arrived.

11:43Choosing the most suitable applicant for a vacancy is selection. When a business fills a vacancy with an existing employee, it uses internal recruitment. For candidates beyond the organisation, external recruitment means filling a vacancy with someone from outside the business. The whole process follows a clear connection from work to requirements, from requirements to advertising, and from applicant evidence to appointment. Businesses balance recruitment costs and speed against access to suitable skills and fresh ideas.

12:10Selection methods reveal different aspects of suitability, so their evidence works best together. A justified choice explains why one candidate fits the particular role and business better than the closest alternative.