Recruitment and Selection as Brezina (2011, P.240)

Recruitment and Selection

As Brezina (2011, p.240) cites if the Human Resource department is to remain efficient and intact, the levels of teams must be consistent and allow co-operation and consultation between the line managers and the Human Resource Manager. However, this is rather different in the case of Recruitment and selection as HR managers, or even the external specialists can play a significant role of applying modern knowledge and expertise, for instance in making significant legal decisions about the organizations. In the perception of the organization, recruitment and selection functions as a planned coherent activity, that includes certain sequentially connected segments within a series of employee resourcing.

In broader terms, Antoniou & Cooper (2005, p. 273) provides a distinction between two words prior to establishing an apparent connection between them in the following ways; Recruitment is the procedure that managers use in generating a team of capable people expected to apply for jobs to within the organization. On the other hand, selection is the procedure used by the managers and other recruiting staffs and they use specific tools to select from a team of job applicants those that are likely to succeed in their applications based on management objectives and legal requirements. In providing a similar peculiarity in which recruitment activities offer a team of people appropriate for selection, (Linn, 2013) proposes that; even though the two terms have a close connection, each needs a separate range of knowledge and skills, and this function is achievable by two different individuals. The recruitment activity is rather different from selection, in that, it is essential to outsource the latter for the better good of the organization. For that reason, it makes sense to treat each function as a separate activity.

Recruitment and selection, as discussed plays a significant role in shaping organizational efficiency and performance. If organizations are capable of acquiring employees with pertinent knowledge, relevant skills, abilities, and those that are capable of making precise predictions concerning their future capabilities, then, the recruitment and selection staffs must blend well with Human Resource Management. If we understand this premise, recruiting and selecting employees in an efficient manner can eliminate some undesirable overhead costs associated with high employee turnover, poor performance and dissatisfied customers - and create a jointly beneficial employment affiliation featured, by high devotion on either sides.

In essence, recruitment and selection are part of the Human resource management system. Therefore, the HR plays a significant role in ensuring that hiring and screening out of employees follows the appropriate protocols. This literature shall discuss the issue on Recruitment and selection functions and show its relationship with Human resource management. Human Resource Management shall include various factors that include social characteristics and cultural issues related to employment, for instance, job analysis and unemployment issue respectively.

Relevance

Recruitment and selection is a relevant aspect in organizational operations. While it plays a larger role in the process of management and directing the various activities within the organization, it also ascertains the welfare of the employees and regards them as a good source of competitive advantage. The latter is the role of a Human Resource Manager. Even though, there should be validity and transparency in the manner that recruitment and selection takes place, not every person that agrees with this proposition because the recruitment process is on merit basis thus eliminating some individuals.

Some employees want to obtain job opportunities without any hassles, and, therefore, they use malpractices options in alluring the HR. The latter has an option of either taking in incompetent personnel or competent individuals in determining the lifespan of the organization. It is essential to realize the role that employees plays in the success of any organization. They are part of the organization, and that is why they take part in decision making process as well as being most active stakeholders. If the HR considers the above roles played by the employees, then, the system used in selecting the best candidates ought to be valid, reliable and legal.

Most importantly is that it should be free from biasness and recruitment and selection should be on competence, qualification and devotion, and not on appearance or HR's perception. For that reason, there is an evidence of elevated interest in the use of employee selection techniques, which are legitimate, reliable and justified. For instance, it is apparent that in the past few years, people relied on work psychology when carrying out the recruitment process through developmental and evaluation of employee's selection processes. In that context, this discussion shall also provide a reflection on what is human as part of human proficiency technique in recruitment and selection.

The Relationship Between Recruitment, Selection, Hr, And Other Factors

Discussion

Recruitment and Selection is a function that operates in collaboration with other organizational functions in determining the future and performance of the organization. Prior to discussing the close relation that exists between recruitment and selection and HR, it is imperative to identify the other factors that influence the hiring process. Looking at other factors that plays a larger role in determining the success of the job applicant is very vital because it helps harmonize the procedures applied in choosing the right people for the job (Brezina, 2011, p.4-6).

Furthermore, it is also essential to take into consideration the varying marketing forces and trends. The organization, particularly, the HR should be knowledgeable about the external factors that compel applicants to search for employment. Emphasizing only on the internal issues might attract biasness. An applicant might appear disorganized based on hostile unemployment issues but he/she has the required knowledge and skills to undertake the task. The HR should have a deeper insight on such issues and base their selection on diverse perspectives but not conduct the hiring process on a defined system. Organizational activities are very dynamic and so is recruitment and section. For this reason, Line managers and HR should be very alert in embracing contemporary social trends that blends well with the current research. The following is an example that shows the close link between hiring process and HR system (Brezina, 2011, p.4-6).

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, (2002) indicates the way financial crisis negatively affected the field of H.RM. From the survey findings, most of the companies reported that during the recession, there was a negative impact on the employees resourcing budgets and activities. Approximately 56% of the companies focused on retaining rather than recruiting new employees, while as 4/10 pledged to recruit few employees in the next period. The reason why the companies settled on retaining their employees is to maintain their productivity. Hiring new employees might have a negative impact on productivity because the new employees might waste time prior to adapting to the new strategies and new working environments (Brezina, 2011, p.4-6).

In the course of recruitment and selection, it was very interesting that 72% of respondents thought that the company would apply the downturn' as strategy to eliminate poor performing employees and embrace the culture change. However, this was not the case, the company chooses a different strategy of maintaining its employees until the recession was over. As discussed, there are diverse reasons why an organization might settle on retaining its workforce.

This example shows close connection between recruitment and selection and the wider social and economic context, especially, human resource planning, work analysis, job design, and human resource development. This is because after the HR evaluated the performance of the employees, and based on the economic downtowns, there was a need to retain the labor force and continue with the everyday activities (Brezina, 2011, p.4-6).

In a different perspective, Loseke (2003) explains the roles that HR plays in contributing towards the social problems during the hiring process. He defines the social context as "those troublesome conditions that affect a significant number of people. Social problem is a name, we give to conditions that we think are wrong and can be changed by humans" (2003, p.6). This explains that social problems are extensively happening phenomenon; social issues not just create trying, testing, and sometimes discouraging social environment for the inhabitants of a particular region or dominion, but if not instantaneously resolved, then it can produce severe effects on their future too (Trading Economics, 2013)

United State of America faced a stern economic crisis during the fall of 2007, and this occurred due to the booming of its House Market in 2006. This has greatly affected not just on American nation and economy, but the entire world's financial scenario as well, and it is in record as the most fatal financial recession after the Great Depression (Brezina, 2011, p 4-6).

This has turned out to be an immense challenge for USA's economy, and has given way for the biggest employment predicament that most Americans are facing. From the onset of 2008, the rate of jobless people began to increase significantly, and reached and even elevated in the subsequent years. It has created adverse effects on the social, emotional, and domestic well-being of ordinary citizens irrespective of the status or ethnicity. This happened because of the credit crisis initiated by the rising rates of foreclosure after homeowners were unable pay their debts promptly. Employment is now as scarce commodity where the nuclear family system dominates and all adult members in a family need to work to make both ends meet (Brezina, 2011, p.4-6).

In another survey conducted by Gallup, around 35% Americans consider unemployment as the biggest social issue they are facing currently (Linn, 2013). "Although the unemployment rate has improved, it still remains at 9%, well above historical norms, with about 14 million Americans looking for work" (Linn, 2013). Unemployment has an all-round impact since it affects not a person, but the whole family correspondingly. American nation is suffering psychologically, financially, as well as socially (Brezina, 2011, p.4-6).

According to American Psychological Association (APA), "the current state of the economy continues to be an enormous stressor for Americans, with 78% reporting money as a significant source of stress." (2009) Financial crisis is just an initial stage of unemployment; it further leads to a stressful domestic and social scenario since, as the time elapses, it instigates "a decline in the mental and physical well-being of individuals" (Antoniou & Cooper, 2005, p.273). From the perception s and the findings conducted based on the above examples on social context, Human resource management plays a larger role in causing such a menace in employment (Trading Economics, 2013)

Recruitment and selection procedures are no longer applicable and employment positions are applicable on other factors, rather than knowledge and skills. The above example is very relevant to the issue on recruitment and selection because, the statistics indicate that most of the unemployment lot consists of competent and qualified personnel yet unemployed. Most interestingly is that various organizations are still offering employment opportunities, yet unemployment rate is increasing rapidly and consist of qualified individuals.

This means that a high number of people holding employment positions are incompetent and unskilled and this explains the biasness or the failure of the Human Management system (Brezina, 2011, p.4-6).

There are various potential challenges that affects employee resourcing, or rather, some of the methods used in recruitment and selection are unrealizable and biased. For instance, use of interview is erratic as a predictor of employees' performance in certainty. For that reason, it is critically significant to have a realistic assessment of the procedure from all the participants, comprising both successful and unsuccessful applicants. There are ethical factors that revolve around selecting qualified applicants and rejecting unsuccessful candidates for employment. Many firms seek to provide work for those candidates who will blend well with firms culture (Linn, 2013). This is understandable. However, it may carry with it some other significant ethical implications -- for instance, whether it is the responsibility of the organization to shape an employee's identity (Trading Economics, 2013).

This is an aspect embraced in this discussion, in spite of the ethical issues and practical challenges highlighted here, recruitment and selection is one crucial area that helps in distinguishing policies and practices linked with decisive success aspects and performance differentiators, which, in turn, impact on organizational efficacy in large ways. Having mentioned the potential significance of recruitment and selection as a process, Society for Human Resource Management, (2002) gives a valuable impression of the likely positive and negative aspects asserting that: "The recruitment and selection of workers is essential to the performance of an organization, and involves convincing reasons for doing it perfectly.

Improper selection decisions decreases organizational effectiveness, nullify reward and development processes, is often iniquitous on the new employee, and can be stressful for managers who have to embrace the challenges from incongruous employees. Furthermore, there is a link between people's perception and recruitment and selection. Perception is as the procedure used by humans to receive, manage and evaluate most of the information received from the external sources. The value or precision of peoples' perceptions will have a huge influence on the response of people on various situations. There is much statistics proposing that when people perceive others -- especially in very artificial and time-controlled atmosphere like a job interview -- there is a high chance of committing mistakes, sometimes unconsciously (Brezina, 2011, p.4-6).