Effective Personnel Integration: Recruitment and Selection
Personnel Integration Models
Integration involves filling and maintaining staff positions as defined by the organizational structure. This is accomplished by identifying workforce requirements, performing an inventory of available personnel, and conducting recruitment, selection, promotion, evaluation, career planning, compensation, and training (or some other form of development) for both candidates and current employees in order to achieve effective and efficient task realization.
I. Recruitment
Recruitment is a positive activity, as it involves inviting the community to join the company. This approach attracts a large number of applicants, providing more alternatives and increasing the possibility of making a better choice.
When the invitation is extended to the community in which the firm is embedded, i.e., its external environment, we are in the presence of external recruitment. To materialize this, the following techniques can be used:
a) Advertising
When using this technique, companies must pay attention to two fundamental aspects for its success.
The first has to do with the channel through which it will spread, i.e., the medium that is used to communicate the employment opportunity. The variety of channels available today is vast, and the choice will depend on the needs of the company, the urgency with which vacancies need to be filled, the resources available, the geographic scope, and the target audience. In the latter case, it matters whether you’re addressing a broad segment of the population (mass advertising) or a specific part of it (targeted advertising). Traditional media include:
- Newspapers
- Magazines
- Broadcasters
- Television
- Websites
In addition, we must consider the message, i.e., the content of the proposal. To be efficient, it should follow the golden rule of advertising: it should get attention, generate interest, provoke a desire, and induce action (AIDA).
b) Employment Agencies
These institutions specialize in the activity, conducting the search for human resources on behalf of companies. They identify candidates who meet the company’s requirements and propose those considered optimal to the client. In Chile, these institutions are known by various names, the most common being employment agencies, placement offices, consultants, or others.
c) Educational Institutions
This method essentially states that when human resource needs require a certain level of preparation, it is possible to use incubators and technical professionals to gather information on potential applicants. After pre-selecting those who appear appropriate, they are invited to participate in the process. The main sources are universities, professional institutes, technical training centers, and industrial, commercial, or agricultural schools, among others.
d) Nepotism
The use of influences from relatives or friends to recommend candidates is a very common practice in our country. It is also known in popular jargon as “pituto,” “wedges,” “cronyism,” and others. It aims to anticipate the behavior and possible outcomes of the applicant through prior knowledge of the recommended individual.
e) Current Employees
Asking for the assistance of active workers belonging to the company relies on their knowledge of both the institution and the work to be developed. This information can be adequately disseminated by officials to potential candidates for vacancies. The problem occurs when workers feel no commitment to the company, which may lead to distortion of the information they deliver.
f) Potential Applicants
This refers to those who choose to register in the labor market by sending their resumes to several companies, citing the possibility of a vacancy. Companies can use this background information to create a database that allows them to contact these applicants whenever necessary. It is an economical means of recruitment.
g) Business Competition
The specificity of this approach is that it involves searching for potential candidates in firms within the same industry as our organization. It has the advantage of accessing experienced workers and also allows leveraging the investment in training that competitors have made.
h) Other
There are other options to consider, such as part-time jobs, trainees, replacements, etc.
Companies also have the option of looking for candidates within the company. This method is called internal recruiting and is usually associated with career development policies and serves as an incentive and motivation for their workers. The techniques can be summarized as:
a) Job Ads
This consists of informing workers about the existence of vacancies as they are produced so that they can apply for the position. Line managers can communicate the situation to their subordinates, or it can be communicated through workers’ organizations (mainly the Union) by publishing the notice in places commonly frequented by employees, such as internal news panels, the cafeteria, salary payment offices, etc. It is important to provide all necessary information, such as the title of the position, its location within the structure, the associated pay, and the basic requirements to apply.
b) Personnel Records
Information available in company records can be used to identify workers who are potential candidates and offer them the nomination for the position. Relevant information to be sought in the records includes work history, training activities, results of performance evaluations, etc.
c) Skills Banks
This technique is more specialized, requiring the development of information systems that generate the necessary data to choose potential candidates. It is based primarily on the results of performance appraisal systems that provide data on evaluated factors and identify workers who have obtained the highest grades.
Additionally, a mixed mode of recruitment can be chosen, combining the advantages and benefits of internal and external recruitment.
Then, to get to the candidates, discrimination between applicants will begin through selection.
II. Selection
At this stage, the number of applicants is reduced to reach a very limited number of candidates from whom the person to be hired will be chosen. For this, the following can be used:
Personal history: Through record certificates, electoral registration, etc.
Educational Background: Through certificates of qualifications, training certificates, etc.
Work history: Through referrals or recommendations, contact with former employers, certificates issued by the AFP, etc.
b) Interviews
This selection technique primarily aims to predict the candidate’s future performance in the position through personal contact, determining preferred factors that applicants should possess for job performance. Interviews can take the following methodologies:
Structured interviews: These involve a previously designed questionnaire of questions to which all applicants will be subjected, thereby achieving homogeneity in the evaluation.
Unstructured interviews: In these, there is no previous questionnaire. Instead, candidates are given the opportunity to expound freely on the topics suggested by the interviewer, who will delve deeper into those deemed relevant. These interviews must be performed by technically trained people.
Mixed interviews: This type of interview combines the methodologies mentioned above in the search for adequate information to evaluate applicants.
c) Tests
Like interviews, these techniques are predictive of behavior and seek to evaluate aspects related to the skills, abilities, and aptitudes of applicants. Examples include:
- Psychological Testing
- Skills Tests
- Aptitude Tests
- Knowledge Tests
- Cultural Tests
- Physical Tests
- Medical Tests
- Other
The application of these instruments and their results will determine the most suitable candidate for the position, proceeding to formalize the relationship through recruitment.
III. Recruitment
CONCEPTS OF THE LABOR CODE:
a) Employer: A person or entity that uses the intellectual or material services of one or more persons under an employment contract.
b) Worker: Any natural person performing personal intellectual or material services, under dependence or subordination, and under an employment contract.
c) Self-employed: One who, in the performance of the activity in question, does not depend on an employer or have workers under their authority.
d) “Undertaking”: Any organization of personal, tangible, or intangible assets, managed under a direction for the achievement of economic, social, cultural, or charitable goals, endowed with a particular legal individuality.
The employer’s representative is the manager, captain, and, in general, the person who normally carries out management or administrative functions on behalf of or representing a person or entity.
The rights established by labor laws are waived as long as the employment contract exists.
Individual contracts and collective bargaining agreements may be amended by mutual consent in matters where the parties have failed to agree freely.
The employment contract may be individual or collective.
The contract is individual when it is between an employer and an employee.
The contract is collective when it is concluded by one or more employers with one or more trade unions or workers who join together to bargain collectively, or both, in order to establish common working conditions and wages for a specified time.
An individual employment contract is an agreement whereby the employer and employee are bound to each other, the latter to provide personal services under the dependence and subordination of the former, and the former to pay for these services a certain remuneration.
The employment contract is consensual; it shall be written and signed by both parties in two copies, one held by each contractor.
MINIMUM PROVISIONS OF THE CONTRACT OF WORK:
The employment contract must contain at least the following stipulations:
- Place and date of the contract;
- Identification of the parties with reference to the nationality and dates of birth and entry of the worker;
- Determination of the nature of the services and the place or city in which they will be provided;
- Amount, form, and period of payment of the agreed remuneration;
- Duration and distribution of working hours, unless a shift-work system exists, in which case it shall be as provided in the rules;
- Term of the contract; and
- Other agreements made by the parties.
Amendments to the employment contract shall be in writing and signed by the parties on the back of the copies of the contract or in an attached document.
Induction
One of the great difficulties that occur in the incorporation of new workers lies in the belief that once the agreement is formalized, the worker is able to perform their work immediately. This belief has led to the incorporation of workers becoming traumatic in some cases due to the ignorance of their new co-workers, the realities of each company, its organizational culture, policies, and objectives. This can lead to mistakes in their performance if not properly addressed.
To remedy this situation, it is necessary to implement induction processes for employees. These processes should consider basic aspects such as being received and presented to their team, being informed about the reality of their work through training, and instilling the company’s values, history, and objectives.