LUT School of Business and Management Bachelor’s thesis, Business Administration International Marketing
How to create a successful recruitment process Case: Company X
21.6.2021 Author: Sara Sepponen Supervisors: Kirsi Snellman Terhi Tuominen
ABSTRACT
Author: Sara Sepponen
Title: How to create a successful recruitment process - Case: Company X School: School of Business and Management
Degree programme: Business Administration, International Marketing Supervisors: Kirsi Snellman, Terhi Tuominen
Keywords: Recruitment, recruitment process, recruitment practices, employer branding, employer image, process standardization, critical stages, communication
This bachelor’s thesis deals with the creation of a successful recruitment process. The thesis is done for a client company, and it focuses on the recruitment process of the said company. The goal is to find out find out the aspects and points that make a recruitment process successful, from both the applicants’ and employer’s perspectives. This study aims to find the weak and strong points of the recruitment processes in the Company X, the client company, in order to analyse them, find solutions and improve the process. This bachelor’s thesis aims to find and compare the differences that different teams in the company have in their recruitment practices and processes. This research was conducted as a qualitative study. The study uses internal material given by the client company, which is used to educate and train the recruiting managers. A thematic interview was held and four recruiting managers were interviewed on their insights concerning the recruitment in the client company. The literature review section introduces scientific articles, studies and literature around the theme.
The previous literature and studies suggest that a successful recruitment process is standardized and has clearly definable characteristics and critical points. The results of the research show that the recruitment processes in Company X are well defined and considered quite effective. The framework for the recruitment process that the client company has created for the recruiting managers is clear, professional and concise, and it is supported by precious scientific literature. The interviews show that the recruiting managers have differing recruitment practices, but they follow the framework created. The recruiting managers had similarities in their opinions and suggestions for developing the practices, but differences in their focus as well.
TIIVISTELMÄ
Tekijä: Sara Sepponen
Tutkielman nimi: Kuinka luoda onnistunut rekrytointiprosessi - Case: Yritys X Akateeminen yksikkö: LUT-kauppakorkeakoulu
Koulutusohjelma: Kauppatieteet, Kansainvälinen markkinointi Ohjaaja: Kirsi Snellman, Terhi Tuominen
Hakusanat: Rekrytointi, rekrytointiprosessi, rekrytointikäytännöt, työnantajabrändi, työnantajakuva, prosessien standardisointi, kriittiset kohdat, kommunikaatio
Tämä kandidaatintutkielma käsittelee onnistuneen rekrytointiprosessin luomista. Tutkielma on tehty asiakasyritykselle ja se keskittyy kyseisen yrityksen rekrytointiprosesseihin. Tavoite on löytää ne puolet ja kohdat, jotka tekevät rekrytointiprosessista onnistuneen, niin hakijan kuin työnantajan näkökulmista. Tämä tutkimus pyrkii löytämään Yritys X:än, eli asiakasyrityksen, rekrytointiprosessien heikot ja vahvat kohdat, jotta niitä voidaan analysoida, löytää niihin ratkaisuja ja täten kehittää prosessia. Tämä kandidaatintutkielma pyrkii löytämään ja vertailemaan yrityksen tiimien välisiä eroja niiden rekrytointiprosesseissa ja –tavoissa. Tämä tutkimus on tehty laadullisin menetelmin. Tutkimus hyödyntää asiakasyrityksen antamaa yrityksen sisäistä materiaalia, jota käytetään rekrytoivien johtohenkilöiden kouluttamiseen ja valmentamiseen. Neljälle eri tiimeihin rekrytoiville johtohenkilöille pidettiin temaattinen haastattelu, jossa kartoitettiin heidän näkemyksiään rekrytoinnista asiakasyrityksessä. Kirjallisuuskatsaus esittelee tieteellisiä artikkeleita, tutkimuksia ja kirjallisuutta aiheen ympäriltä.
Aiempi kirjallisuus ja tutkimukset viittaavat siihen, että onnistuneen rekrytointiprosessin tulisi olla standardisoitu ja sillä tulisi olla selkeästi määritellyt ominaisuudet ja piirteet, sekä kriittiset kohdat.
Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että Yritys X:än rekrytointiprosessit ovat selkeästi määritellyt ja niitä pidetään varsin tehokkaina. Asiakasyrityksen luoma rekrytoiville johtohenkilöille määritelty runko rekrytointiprosessista on selkeä, ammattimainen ja ytimekäs, sekä sitä tukee aiempi akateeminen kirjallisuus. Haastattelut osoittavat, että rekrytoivilla johtohenkilöillä on toisistaan poikkeavia rekrytointitapoja, mutta he seuraavat luotua raamia. Rekrytoivilla johtohenkilöillä oli yhteneväisyyksiä heidän mielipiteissään ja kehitysehdotuksissaan, mutta myös eroja painopisteissä.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1. Research problem, questions and objectives ... 2
1.2. Research methodology ... 2
1.3. Theoretical framework and literature review ... 3
1.4. Target of research (the client company) and limitations ... 5
1.5. Structure of the Thesis ... 5
2. LITERATURE REVIEW – RECRUITMENT PROCESSES ... 6
2.1. Recruitment processes ... 6
2.2. Internal vs external recruitment... 10
2.3. Interview ... 12
3. RESEARCH METHODS AND DATA ... 13
3.1. Recruitment in Company X ... 13
3.2. The goals and strategy of the recruiting in Company X ... 13
3.3. Recruitment process in Company X... 14
3.3.1. Defining the need... 15
3.3.2. Job advertisement & the channels ... 16
3.3.3. Screening the applicants ... 18
3.3.4. Interviews & tests ... 19
3.3.5. Summary ... 22
3.4. Interview for this Thesis ... 22
4. THE FINDINGS ... 24
4.1. Recruitment process ... 24
4.2. The interview ... 27
4.2.1. Describe the recruitment process in your team ... 28
4.2.2. How do you feel about the amount of resources allocated for recruitment? Is there something you would change about the resources and the division and allocation of them? ... 29
4.2.3. Talk about the importance of recruitment: what kind of contribution do you think it deserves? 30 4.2.4. What is the role of employer image/branding in the recruitment? ... 31
4.2.5. What are the possible strengths of the company’s recruitment? ... 31
4.2.6. What are the possible weaknesses or problems in the company’s recruitment? ... 32
4.2.7. Are there any areas in the recruitment that need developing? If so, what? ... 33
4.2.8. Do you have any suggestions for developing the recruitment? If so, what? ... 33
4.2.9. Do you have anything else on your mind when it comes to recruitment? ... 34
5. CONCLUSIONS ... 35 LIST OF REFERENCES ... 37 APPENDIXES ... 40
APPENDIXES
Appendix 1 The interview questions in English Appendix 2 The interview questions in Finnish Appendix 3 The transcript of the interviews in Finnish
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Common recruitment process (Chungyalpa & Karishma, 2016) ... 7
Figure 2 Critical aspects of the employee selection process (Rozario, et al. 2019A, p.19) ... 8
Figure 3 Systematic approach for effective interview (Ullah, 2010, p. 106-111) ... 12
Figure 4 The Recruitment Process in Company X ... 15
Figure 5 Summary of Company X's recruitment process and practices ... 22
LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Advantages and disadvantages of internal recruitment (O'Meara & Petzall, 2013, p.76-78) ... 11
Table 2 Advantages and disadvantages of external recruitment (O'Meara & Petzall, 2013, p.76-78) ... 11
1. INTRODUCTION
Recruitment, successful and efficient at that, is a vital part of a thriving company and its effective human resource management, as it is the way to draw an essential resource, the human capital, into the organization (Barber, 1998, p.1). The human capital is formed by the people who create value, run the business, develop, learn and form a culture. The workers are those who make the company. Recruitment is the key for getting the perfect people to build up success. Successful recruitment can be attained by moving on from viewing it only as a transactional process to fill positions, and shifting to seeing it as a strategic and an essential function of the business (Zeuch, 2016, p.5). Recruitment processes can be considered to be one of the most important functions of an organization, as it can be a source of competitive advantage as the business environment evolves to be more and more competitive (Chungyalpa & Karishma, 2016, p1).
This thesis is done for a client company that wishes to develop their recruitment, its processes and get an understanding of the strong and weak points of the processes. The client company wants a clearer view of the opinions and situations of the people doing recruiting, so that they can enhance the distribution of resources, for example. This can be achieved by including a thematic interview to this study.
This study will also compare and try to find differences in recruitment between different teams, which are the product development, marketing, customer care and sales teams. Each team is represented by one worker in a management position doing recruitment for their team, and they are interviewed. Themes surrounding this thesis are recruitment, recruitment processes, practices and employer branding.
Even though there are a lot of research done on recruitment that has as well been implemented to different industries, for example manufacturing in Aher and Giri’s study “A study of Recruitment and Selection process with Special reference to manufacturing industries” (2018) but also in Mohammed and Absar’s study ”Recruitment and Selection Practices in Manufacturing Firms in Bangladesh” (2012). However, there is not extensive research comparing the recruitment and its processes between different teams. It can be expected that these differences exist as the dynamics and required skillsets, for example, of teams and jobs differ.
1.1. Research problem, questions and objectives
The research problem and research questions have come from a client company. The questions have been negotiated and agreed upon with the company to best meet their interests and needs. The company wishes to have their recruitment processes analysed to find things to enhance and find possible problems in the recruitment, so that they could be solved. Especially the possible development targets in the eyes of the company’s recruiters are of interest.
The main research question is “How to create a successful recruitment process?”. There are two sub questions that divide the main research question into smaller pieces:
1. ”What are the critical stages of the recruitment process in different teams?”
2. “What aspects of the recruitment process work well and what could be improved and how?”
This thesis aims to make the recruitment of the company more effective. The goal is to do so by analysing their recruitment processes and by surveying the opinions of recruiters, from which the possible differences between teams, for example, can be found. Once the problems have been found, they will be analysed in order to give suggestions to fix them and therefore make the recruitment more successful. Possible problems in processes that might occur, can be for example the lack of resources, such as time.
This thesis will analyse in some ways the whole recruitment process. By finding differences and weak spots, the company gets a better chance at understanding them and fixing them. The recruiters’
voices will be heard on this subject specifically, and this makes the communication between the recruiters’ and the management better.
1.2. Research methodology
This study will be done using qualitative methods. The client company will provide the author with material that can be used to analyse the company’s recruitment and its processes extensively. This will be done with the help and support of theoretical framework, previous studies, and other
literature in the matter. This way the recruitment processes will become clear and ready for closer analysis.
The company has stated frames and a thread for the recruitment and the processes, but it is still elastic, and the recruiters still have freedom in the process. This again leads to the fact that there are differences in the style of recruitment inside the company. The company’s stated frames and the practises of the recruiters will be compared.
To find and examine the differencing opinions of the recruiters, data collection will be done by holding a thematic interview for a sample of four recruiting managers. The interview will be the means to find more new information, opinions, and insights to find the good and the bad points in the recruitment. The answers will be transcribed, compared and analysed, basing the analysis on academic literature.
It is expected that the recruiters will have varying opinions, points of interest and suggestions. For example, the whole importance of recruitment, and therefore the usage of resources, might raise differing opinions. It is clear that as the teams vary in many ways, the recruitment processes are naturally shaped to meet the team’s needs. Differences will rise from the underlying fact that every recruiter is a different person, than the other, and therefore they have their own preferences. The interview questions are introduced and discussed in ”3.2. The Interview”, and can be found attached in appendixes one and two.
1.3. Theoretical framework and literature review
Bigger themes such as recruiting, its processes, management and others have been under the interest of many previous studies and other literature, such as Rozario’s et al. research on the challenges and the dominant factors in selection processes (2019A, 2019B). The literature surrounding recruitment is wide and varies a lot. The theoretical framework and literature chosen therefore has to be specified to answer best to the kind of recruitment processes the client company has, and according to the questions asked in the thematic interview.
Theories and literature that will be reviewed in this thesis are for example about the recruitment process. Process standardization will be viewed from the angle of recruitment using studies and definitions done by Münstermann and others (2008, 2010), for example. Now some of the key terms will be shortly explained down below:
Recruitment: the ways an organization sources, finds and attracts applicants, in a cost effective manner, from whom they will make selections to match a person with work (Elearn, 2009, p.1; O’Meara & Petzall, 2013, p.6).
Internal recruitment: recruitment from inside the company, from the internal labour market. In 1992 Creedy & Whitfield defined four traits for internal labour markets, that include employment stability, ports of entry, constrained wage adjustment and attachment of wages to jobs. (O’Meara & Petzall, 2013, p.76)
External recruitment: recruitment from outside of the company, from external labour markets. (O’Meara & Petzall, 2013, p.76)
Recruitment processes: The processes and functions in order to staff and recruit.
Commonly involves job analysis, manpower planning, recruitment and selection (Chungyalpa & Karishma, 2016, p.1)
Recruitment strategies: the strategies of selling and branding of the organization as an employer and the efforts to reach the best applicants (Elearn, 2009, p.1).
Process standardization: sum of a business process and an archetype process.
Homogenizing a process against an archetype process setting standards to the parts of processes and making the processes standardized. (Münstermann & Weitzel, 2008, p.8)
Selection: post recruitment phase, which includes choosing from the job candidates.
Assessing the strengths and qualities of the applicants to make the choice where the
chosen applicant will perform well in the given job. (Elearn, 2009, p.1; O’Meara &
Petzall, 2013, p.10)
1.4. Target of research (the client company) and limitations
The client company is a SaaS software company, which employs almost 300 people working with several different products. The company has approximately 170 000 customers and the products are mostly subscription based. They recruit people to work with different products and on different levels, for example they recruit students to work part-time. The company is growing and an active recruiter, which is why it is utmost important to have a working and a successful recruitment process.
Therefore, there are many people recruiting and in various teams inside the company. The teams have differences, as they touch different industries. As the teams, dynamics and jobs differ, the recruitment between the teams differs as well. For example, recruitment for coders varies from recruitment for salespeople.
As the subject for this thesis comes from a client company, and is made to meet their needs, the study will be limited to the client company in particular. The theory and literature used will be aimed to answer best to the company’s recruitment processes, and therefore the subject of recruitment will rather be more targeted, than general. However, despite the limitations, this thesis can be useful for others as well, especially if they have the same type of recruitment, or same kind of questions, to which the solutions might answer. As these limitations are acknowledged and they pave a way for future research.
1.5. Structure of the Thesis
This thesis will start with “Theory and Literature Review”, which will introduce and explain the theories and literature used in the analysing of the client company’s recruitment. They surround
themes such as recruitment processes and their performance and development, process standardization and employer branding.
Next, the research material and the methodology will be introduced. This section is divided in two:
the explanation of the recruitment processes in the case company and followed by the viewing of the questions asked in the interview. After this, the results will be looked upon and the deeper analysis of them will begin. This will include the analysis of the reasons behind the answers or problems, and the suggestions for fixing the weak points in the recruitment. Then the thesis will be concluded, and the work discussed.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW – RECRUITMENT PROCESSES
In this section there will be a literature review around the themes, recruiting and recruitment processes. The contents of this section have been chosen to best answer the research problem. This includes the analyzation tools for recruitment, its processes, practices and standardization. Subjects that are included in the interviews, such as employer branding, are discussed as well. These topics best support the empirical part of this study. A comprehensive view into the previous research will give a better understanding of the subject in general, and the literature can be, in a way, mirrored to this case and the company’s recruitment.
2.1. Recruitment processes
The paper “Best Practices and Emerging Trends in Recruitment and Selection” by Chungyalpa and Karishma (2016) defines the recruitment processes and its common phases and functions, moving on to discussing the best practices in recruitment and selection. The recruitment or selection process involves job analysis, manpower planning, and recruitment and selection. The basic and common recruitment and selection process is pictured in the figure below. (Chungyalpa & Karishma, 2016, p.1-5)
Chungyalpa and Karishma define that job analysis is used to determine and identify in detail the open vacancy, its requirements, tasks related and the procedures surrounding the vacancy and the need for it and reasons behind it. Manpower planning aims to forecast the manpower, or workers and resources, that a job or task requires, ensuring there are no shortages or surplus in them.
(Chungyalpa & Karishma, 2016, p.1-5)
In the paper “Best Practices and Emerging Trends in Recruitment and Selection” recruitment and selection is the phase with the functions that select and employ the applicants. The phase includes application form, preliminary interview, employment tests, employment interview, physical examination and final selection. Each of these may or may not be included in a recruitment process, depending on the vacancy, its needs and company policies. (Chungyalpa & Karishma, 2016, p.1-5)
Application form is used to get details, which are often transformed or categorized to data, from applicants. Preliminary interview is used to filter suitable applicants with a brief interview saving resources and time. Employment tests are varying sets of tests that map the qualities and characteristics of applicants, to understand the individuals fit for the job better. Employment interviews are the most common and are used to find the suitable candidates by getting to know the applicants better. Physical examination is mandatory for some jobs that require a certain amount of physical abilities. Final selection of the candidate is based on the previous functions and the selected receive job offers. (Chungyalpa & Karishma, 2016, p.1-5)
The study “Challenges in Recruitment and Selection Process: An Empirical Study” by Rozario et al.
(2019) discusses the critical aspects of the selection process in recruitment. Both the applicant’s perspective and the hiring member’s perspective are considered in finding the critical aspects of the
Figure 1 Common recruitment process (Chungyalpa & Karishma, 2016)
employee selection process. The empirical study was conducted on Australian education sector.
(Rozario, et al. 2019A, p.1-21)
From the applicants’ perspective, the study found seven critical aspects in the selection process that were found to have statistically significant values. There were five when it comes to the hiring member’s perspective. These findings hold significant importance in the improvement of a process and they help to understand the key points, from both perspectives, so that informed decisions for improvement can be made. (Rozario, et al. 2019A, p.1-21)
The findings of the study, the critical aspects, are listed according to the study paper in the figure below. (Rozario, et al. 2019A, p.1-21)
Article “Dominant Factors for an Effective Selection System: An Australian Education Sector Perspective” by Rozario et al. (2019) discusses and seeks the most critical factors that improve and help create an effective selection system. The empirical study conducted utilizes both qualitative and quantitative methods. Both a qualitative survey of 74 samples as well as a quantitative survey of 204 participants were used. The study found five dominant factors that should be considered in order to enhance the interview process. (Rozario, et al. 2019B. p.1-20)
Figure 2 Critical aspects of the employee selection process (Rozario, et al. 2019A, p.19)
To summarize Rozario et al’s findings, attention should be paid to training the recruiters for the interview process as well as planning and preparing for the process. The recruiters’ biases should be avoided and removed. Applicants should be provided feedback to make sure the process is transparent. It should be made sure that the selection decisions are process driven and not affected by the recruiter’s personality. This study supports the other study, discussed earlier, conducted by Rozario. (Rozario, et al. 2019B. p.1-20)
Standardization of processes and its benefits can be applied to recruitment, in particular, by standardizing the recruitment processes. Münstermann (et al, 2010) have studied the effects of process standardization on performance in the paper “The performance impact of business process standardization: An empirical evaluation of the recruitment process”. The paper has an empirical analysis of recruitment processes based on 156 firms in order to find out if enabling process standardization can give benefits in process times, costs and quality. (Münstermann et al, 2010, p.
29-44)
(Münstermann et al, 2010, p. 29-44) The results of the study show that process performance is significantly positively affected by the standardization of processes. In other words, process time, costs and quality were impacted in such a way, that these results should be taken into consideration in managerial implications, for example. This suggests that the standardization of recruitment processes has such benefits, that it should be considered in the planning, structuring and implementation of recruitment.
The study “The impact of technology on recruitment process” by Abdul et al. (2020) discusses and measures the impact using technology as a tool can have on the recruitment process. The research surveyed human resources professionals on several industries to find out their insights and opinions on how technology has affected their recruitment processes. The current practices are also compared to practices that have applied technology. The researchers assumed that using technology as a tool in recruiting could simplify and make different parts of the recruitment process such as the screening of applicants, for example, more efficient. (Abdul et al. 2020. p.9-11)
The research questions of the study “The impact of technology on recruitment process” resolve around these themes: what tools have been used, what has been the impact and benefits, easiness of use and what is the point where artificial intelligence impacts recruiting. The research uses both quantitative and qualitative methods as it analyses data from the study’s own survey and a Harvey Nash survey (2018), but as well uses information collected through interviews. (Abdul et al. 2020.
p.9-11)
The research conducted by Abdul et al. found that human resources professionals use various technologies for recruiting across industries. Out of all participants, nobody thought that using technology has a negative impact on recruitment processes, and only 6% thought there is no impact.
94% thought that there has been an improving and positive impact from the use of technology.
Therefore overall, human resources professionals perceive using technology to have a positive impact in recruiting. Most positive impact was perceived to happen in the sourcing of the candidates (28% of responders) and the screening of candidates (38%). Other processes being interview scheduling (10%), interviewing applicants (6%), engaging with applicants (6%) and on boarding (12%) of applicants. (Abdul et al. 2020. p.9-11)
“The impact of technology on recruitment process” found the ease of use of the technology tools to be quite easy, as only 6% of responders found it to be hard and 2% very hard. 30% of responders chose normal, 36% easy and 26% very easy. When it comes to the expectation when artificial intelligence will impact recruiting, most (46%) responded that it will happen in the next 2-5 years, and 26% perceive it to be already happening. This research can be applied to different industries due to the variation of the responders, but the timeliness of the research should be considered as they limit the implementation in the future. (Abdul et al. 2020. p.9-16)
2.2. Internal vs external recruitment
In “The handbook of strategic recruitment and selection : a systems approach” by O’Meara and Petzall (2013), it is explained that the internal recruitment relies on the labour market inside the organization, whereas the external recruitment focuses on the labour market outside of the organization. Organizations often use the combination of both, depending on the job available and
the applicants. Recruitment strategy should follow the business and organizational strategies alongside with the cultural aspects of the company. (O’Meara & Petzall, 2013, p.76)
Internal and external recruitment strategies have both advantages as well disadvantages, which should be taken into consideration when choosing the best strategy in any situation. The advantages and disadvantages of both internal and external recruitment, defined by O’Meara and Petzall (2013, p.76-78), have been gathered in the following tables 1 and 2:
Table 1 Advantages and disadvantages of internal recruitment (O'Meara & Petzall, 2013, p.76-78)
Table 2 Advantages and disadvantages of external recruitment (O'Meara & Petzall, 2013, p.76-78)
2.3. Interview
According to “The Structured Employment Interview: Narrative and Quantitative Review of the Research Literature” by Levashina et al. (2014) argues that there is consistent and strong evidence in research that the structured interviews are superior compared to a non-structured interview. The structured interviews are found to provide validity over different tests conducted for the applicant.
Systematic interviews can measure different constructs and work as a tool for predicting different criteria, such as maximum performance. (Levashina et al. 2014, p. 241-243)
The paper “A Systematic Approach of Conducting Employee Selection Interview” by Ullah (2010) studies and develops a systematic approach model for applicant selection interview. The model is a three step model that aims to improve the chances of selecting the most fitting applicant by making the interview process more valid and systematic. The study was done in qualitative methods basing on secondary data analysis. (Ullah, 2010, p. 106-108)
The model developed by Ullah is called 3D-model, as the three steps are development, discussion and decision. The development phase includes the activities before the interview. The discussion phase includes everything during the interview session. Last stage, the decision, consists of the activities after the interview. The suggested actions in each of the stages are summarized in the figure below. (Ullah, 2010, p. 106-111)
Figure 3 Systematic approach for effective interview (Ullah, 2010, p. 106-111)
3. RESEARCH METHODS AND DATA
This section of the thesis will introduce the research material and the thematic interview. Research material is mostly based on the material given by the client company for analysing their recruitment.
Moreover, the recruitment processes and practices of said company will be discussed here. Then, the interview conducted is given a description and the questions are introduced. The interview questions are attached in appendix 1 in English, and in appendix 2 in Finnish. The transcript of the interviews, in Finnish, are attached in appendix 3.
3.1.
Recruitment in Company XThe case company provided material on their recruitment processes and practices, and this section is based on the given material. The material is the company’s internal education material that is used to train managers regarding recruitment, because the managers hold a key role in recruiting, as they recruit for their teams. The processes and practises are introduced in this section, based on the given material, in order to get an understanding of the current processes and practises so that they can be analysed more in depth to find new solutions and suggestions for improvement. The improvements are done by finding the possible weak and strong points and reflecting the current state to the interview answers, previous literature and research. The introduction of the Company X’s recruiting methods starts with insight into the goals and strategy to attain these goals of recruiting, that the company has defined. Then the recruitment processes and the defined practises are explained.
3.2. The goals and strategy of the recruiting in Company X
The material that is used for educating and coaching managers for recruiting introduces the defined goals, so that the reason behind the effort put into recruitment is clear. In short, the goal is explained with “Attract and hire the right people”. They want to identify who is the right candidate and attract them in a way that they must want the job in Company X more than a job elsewhere. The impression of the company therefore must be successful. The material defines two things to make it happen:
targeted branding of the company and using employees as ambassadors. These things are to “create a good and memorable experience” about the employees as well as “to create identification between good experiences with Company X’s employees and the Company X’s brand.” The impact of a brand is stressed with “a brand is of little value if it doesn't arouse a good feeling or a memory for the person who sees it.”
In other words, the goal is to reduce the risk of recruiting the wrong person, which can be achieved by “providing consistent, valid proof of key competencies, through a structured selection process”.
With proper evidence and proof, the risk of hiring the wrong person becomes lesser. The proving can be done with conducting structured interviews, tests and work cases, for example. Another goal is to sell the position and Company X, by increasing the candidate’s motivation to work at the company with proper introductory sales. The strategy to achieving these goals is divided into three key points:
- Having a common best practice
- Securing professionalism, continuity and fairness in the process - Training of the representatives
The possible consequences of a weak recruitment process have been listed: cost of wrong recruitment, reputation and lawsuits. “The cost of hiring the wrong person is estimated to be between 500.000 and 1 million NOK”, which is only the direct financial cost. The hiring of a wrong person affects in many ways, such as creating frustration within the workplace, which reflects to other functions. The reputation can become damaged not only by possible bad experiences and word of mouth, but in the worst case scenario there might be a lawsuit, which again costs and damages the brand.
3.3. Recruitment process in Company X
The company has developed a “best practice” for the selection process. This is to provide the recruiters with a framework that guides them, keeps the process clear and makes it possible to improve the recruiters’ own practises. Some parts of the process and procedures are kept as optional, while some are mandatory to make sure the most important parts are conducted properly,
such as structured interviews with tests. The company therefore allows and acknowledges that recruiters have differing processes on some level. The figure 4 below summarizes the selection process and its main features:
3.3.1. Defining the need
The first part of the recruitment process, the defining of the need, is defining the responsibilities, goals and the skill. The goal is to have the new worker bring something new to the team and support the company and the team’s goals for the future. The new worker must fit the organization’s culture.
There is a guide phrase for the recruiter: “Recruit people who are smarter than you”, which supports the goal of hiring a person who will bring something new and fresh to the company and the team, and therefore offers something that is currently missing from the team with their knowledge, skills or personality, for example. The recruiters must get approval for the recruitment decision and the budget.
The material introduces a tool for the first steps in the recruitment, which is job analysis. It aims to clarify what is the starting point for the recruitment, why do they recruit a new person, what kind of needs the situation sets on the recruitment and are there other options than recruiting externally.
The job analysis works as the base for the job interview and the selection decision. The job analysis’
makes the recruiter think about the following parts:
1. Functions / responsibilities
Figure 4 The Recruitment Process in Company X
2. Goals / OKRs
3. Competencies / education a. Education, courses b. Job experience, results 4. Personality / attributes
The OKRs are the objectives and key results that are set in order to achieve a certain goal, and it is used to set challenging goals and results that can be measured. The competencies part requires the recruiter to define and select the technical skills and soft skills that are critical for the position.
According to the material, when choosing the relevant competences and when creating a skill profile, you should focus on certain criteria, there should be 3 to 6 altogether. The criteria needs to be seen in creating the job advertisement. The criteria are used to justify and rationalize the selection and the decision, in other words: why someone was or was not selected for the job. The criteria should:
- Fit the culture - Be observable
- Be forth sighted (follow the goals of the company) - Not be overlapping or have gaps
- Consider that quantity is not the same as quality
3.3.2. Job advertisement & the channels
In the second part of the recruitment process, making the job advertisement and choosing the channels, the decision of having the recruitment proceed as internal and/or external search is made.
All of the positions must be at least as internal search. This guarantees that the workers feel like the workplace is just as everyone has the same opportunity to apply. The goal is to make it so that the selected person will feel like they deserve the place, and was not just picked. They want to address internal opportunities to local talents. The approach to the advertisement depends on the fact that is it an external or internal candidate that they are looking for.
In the external and internal recruitment, the job advertisement often initially done by the manager is checked, edited and published by the People Operations team with the request of the publishing channels, if they differ from the normal. The People Operations and marketing teams might also take part in the writing process from the start. Often the managers include their team in the creation of the job advertisement. The defined best practices for the job advertisement are to invest into the text while considering the employer branding and distinctiveness. The target group should be taken into consideration in each part and when defining the channels. Managers should consider and scan their own network for possible candidates. The reaching of the target group is challenging as most of the people are passive work seekers and advertising is not enough.
The input to the recruitment channels should be 70% into the channels that are known to work, such as LinkedIn, 20% to the raising channels, such as Instagram, and 10% on a wild card. The marketing team will publish on the social media sites, whilst the People Operations team will publish on sites that revolve around work seeking and recruitment, on the website of Company X and they practice headhunting.
In the internal recruitment, the current manager of the worker must be included in the transfer process from the start. The current manager must be contacted before the potential applicant. If a worker applies to a different position in the company or otherwise considers a transfer, the worker needs to be referred to discuss this with the current manager before the transfer process is started.
Before any contracts are made, the evaluation and the references of the worker are inspected. After the transfer to a new position is agreed upon, the normal transfer time is to follow the workers term of notice. This can be different only if both managers agree upon a different transfer time. The current and future managers will discuss the salary.
The best practices discuss that it is a great thing if the worker decides to stay within the company, and wanting a new position is not a sign of not being motivated about the current job. The goal is to have transparency even on the mother company’s level. If the decision is denying, it requires special attention to the reasons why. At least the People Operations team will interview each internal applicant.
In order to get more out of the networks of the workers, a recruitment reward is implemented. A worker has a possibility to get a monetary reward, amount depending on the recruitable position, if they have referenced an applicant that gets selected from external recruitment. The People Operations representative will ask an applicant where they have heard or got the information about the open vacancy. The recruitment reward is paid, if the information has come from a worker directly or indirectly, which is for example when the applicant has seen a job advertisement from a workers social media. Because the employer market is tough when it comes to hiring exceeding developers, the recruitment reward is much higher for referencing a developer applicant.
3.3.3. Screening the applicants
In the third part of the recruitment process, the owner of the vacancy, in other words the manager or the recruiter, screens and goes through the applicants. The owner of the vacancy has most likely the best information on the job and the requirements for the applicant. It is preferred that in addition to the owner of the vacancy someone who knows the position best partakes in the screening. If the manager is not able to make the decision by themselves, the People Operations team can help with it. The goal is to contact each applicant in two days from the ending of the application period. As this is not always achievable, the final goal is to have made contact with the applicants in a week.
In the screening process, the competences that were decided upon in the work analysis need to be emphasized. Only the comparable and objective criteria should be used. Especially the comparable objective criteria, so that there is data that can be used in comparing the applicants to find the best suited one for the position. Application letters and work certificates are classified as not objective and therefore should not be emphasized significantly, and the focus should be on being objective and fair as possible.
In the end, the manager is responsible for the screening of the applications and the communication towards the applicants. The goal is to have made contact with all of the applicants within a week from the ending of the applying period. There are ready layouts for messages in the recruitment
system used, and the messages can be tailored. Again, the People Operations team offers to help in these stages. The recruitment system used has tools to help sort and categorize the applicants in each stage.
3.3.4. Interviews & tests
In the fourth part of the recruitment process, the interviews and tests are held. The methods for this are structured interviews, ability tests and work cases, as they together predict the future best and create a clearer picture of the applicant and their possibilities. Work cases have the highest prediction of job success as the perfect correlation score for best job success prediction is 1, and the combination of ability test and a personality test scored the highest being 0,65, according to a study conducted by Schmidt and Hunter (1998).
It is recommended that tests are held before the interviews when it comes to the external applicants. This way the applicants can be screened again and there will be data that can be used in the interviews. The tests and cases are the same for the applicants. This is so that unified, measurable and comparable data can be collected for the selection decision. The work case has to be relevant for the vacancy they are applying to and the job they will perform.
Personal assessment and test are mandatory for all of the people who get a job offer. In internal recruitment, the tests can be held again even though the applicant already works in the company.
The tests are justified to be conducted again if the new position is significantly more challenging or differs a lot from the current position of the applicant. The company has a corporate agreement with Cut-e, which offers a broad spectrum of rests in several languages. The tests measure the performance level. The company recommends testing general mental abilities (GMA) of the applicant. They represent the level of which the applicant learns, understands instructions and solves problems. The general mental abilities are used to predict job performance across all organizations and positions. The better the applicant’s abilities are, the more complex work tasks and problems the person is able to solve. The results are comparable and reviewed closely when screening the applicants. It is taken into consideration that the environment and situation affect the results of the tests.
The main methods for employing and the personal assessment are the interviews. The main goal of interviews is to conduct as proper and professional personal assessment as possible. As it is an evaluation, it is known that it can contain inaccuracy, flaws and interpretation on both the interviewers and the applicant’s side. The factors that can impact the assessment negatively from the interviewer’s side are the experience, sense of duty, goals, expectations, skills, the situation, personal problems and competition, for example.
In addition, the interviewer must be aware of these factors and their possible impact, in addition to the halo effect, desirability, identification and self-replenishment effect. The reliability can be improved with having more than one person evaluating the applicant or several interviews. Notes should be made and the interviews and assessments should be well-thought and structured.
There are two interviews that the applicant has to go through. The interviews are divided in half in a way that the first interview focuses on the personality of the applicant, the introduction of the company, the team-fit and sometimes the substance. In the first interview, the interviewers are most likely the manager accompanied by a representative from the team that the applicant is looking to work with. If the applicant is from internal recruitment, People Operations representative is present as well. The goal of the first interview is to briefly get to know the candidate and evaluate the fit and the skills required for the job. The workplace is introduced and close attention to the creation of employer branding is kept.
The second interview will map the competence, the organization-fit and motivation and personality of the applicant more in depth. The second interview will likely have the manager’s or team’s manager and the People Operations representative. The goal is to only interview applicants that are at least 90% suitable for the company and job. The second interview is more challenging and requires more. It will analyse the personality deeper and see how the competencies are reflected in the person’s actions. The test results are discussed and analysed together with the applicants own behaviour. The recommendation is to interview only one person at a time, so that the applicant is more open and more likely less stressed. The interviews will as well introduce the workplace and go through the job and the tests.
Importance on the well-structured interview is paid. This is because it enables the possibility to compare the applicants. There are ready templates for the interviews, which include some ready interview questions to help the interview be more structured. Both interviews are structured and have the same questions and topics presented to the candidates. Each candidate should be offered the same amount of time and the process should be as professional and fair as possible.
The material maps out the structure of the interviews in a simple way dividing it to the start, the interviewing itself and the ending. The start of the interview pays a lot of weight on the first impressions, introductions, small talk, presenting the company and what kind of a person the applicant seems to be. There should be notes right from the start in order to compare and avoid false judgements, for example because of the first impressions. Time management is important and time should be discussed with the applicant as well. The applicant is given an opportunity to ask questions and lastly the practicalities and description of the assignments.
In the interview itself the flow is important and that the time is well used and managed without forcing the structure. It is recommended that open questions are preferred and closed and leading questions are avoided. The candidate should talk most of the time so that there will be as good a picture of the applicant as possible. The STAR-model can be used, if comfortable. The STAR-model stands for situation, task, action and result or review, it is a technique or a tool used by interviewers in order to understand the interview situation better and make improvements in behaviour (Cook, 2009, p. 37-38)
The ending to the interview includes a look into other processes and references, for example. The salary is discussed with the manager and the People Operations representative. The potential start date is agreed upon and the original documents are checked. The applicant has a chance to ask questions and attention is paid to the closure so that a professional ending to the interview is made.
After the interview, the interviewer often makes more notes on the candidate and the candidate is evaluated as well in order to increase professionalism. The purpose is to document the evidence as to whether the candidate is relevant for further process or not. It also secures and objective and comparable evaluation of each candidate. The company also wishes for the candidate to give feedback on the recruitment, and it is a suggested part of the process to send a feedback form to the applicant after the interviews.
3.3.5. Summary
Lastly, the decision and selection will be made. The manager is responsible for the selection and they are also responsible for the communication. When it comes to communication, the goal is to preserve and build a great employer branding. The “no thank you” –messages should be proper, considerate and on time. The people interviewed should be contacted by phone. The figure 5 attached below summarizes the recruitment process of Company X and includes the key practices of each section and process.
3.4. Interview for this Thesis
The questions of the interview are attached in appendixes 1 and 2. The questions for the thematic interview map the opinions, experience and views of the people in leadership positions doing recruiting in the client company. Also, they were asked to talk about their way of recruiting and give direct suggestions for improving recruitment, for example. The main goal is to find out the problems, weaknesses and strengths of the recruitment so they can then be analysed in order to develop the recruitment as a whole.
Figure 5 Summary of Company X's recruitment process and practices
The interview was held online via a video meeting, due to the current COVID-19 crisis. The interviewees were given the opportunity to look at the questions beforehand, as they also were sent the privacy notice and the form of consent. The participation was optional, and they were informed about the processing of the data collected and their anonymity. The interviews were held in Finnish, as it is the main language of the participants’ and their work.
The interview was recorded in order to use the recordings to transcribe the meetings. The transcriptions are therefore also in Finnish. When referring to some parts of the interviews, they are translated to English. After transcribing the interviews, the recordings were deleted. Transcribing was done so that the anonymity of the participants and the client company could be preserved, and therefore some parts had to be censured and replaced with a description.
Four recruiting managers were interviewed, and each represented their own team, which were product development (1), marketing (2), customer care (3) and sales (4). This way, the recruitment is viewed upon and analysed more broadly and company-wide, rather than focusing on one team.
The teams’ answers will also be analysed in the sense where comparisons between teams are made, in order to find differences between the teams: their needs, procedures and views. All of the recruiting managers interviewed have good and varying amounts of experience as three answered to have participated in over or a few hundred interviews or recruitments and one answered to have participated in at least a dozen. Experience has been gathered from recruiting in the current company as well as in other parts of career. The representatives from customer care team and product development have experience of recruiting to other teams as well as their own.
The questions were developed together with the help of the contact from the client company as well as the supervisor of this thesis. Altogether, there are ten questions divided into four themes:
the background, importance of recruitment, the strengths and weaknesses of the recruitment, and lastly the development of the recruitment.
The background –theme revolves around the recruiters, the interviewees, experience in recruiting and the team they recruit for. The importance of recruitment has the most questions, as the topic is wide and is of importance so that the amount of stakes they are willing to put into the recruitment and its success. In addition to the description of their recruitment processes, the theme revolves around the resources, their opinions of the importance and the role of employer branding. The theme “The strengths and weaknesses of the recruitment” asks directly the recruiters opinion about what they think are the weak and strong points. Last theme, the development of recruitment, gives the interviewee a chance to give their suggestions for improving the recruitment and to point out parts of the recruitment that need attention.
4. THE FINDINGS
This part of the study introduces the findings. The analysis will result in suggestions for developing the recruitment processes to be more effective. The critical stages of Company X’s recruitment processes are dissected and the differences between the different teams are compared. This is done by examining and comparing the answers by the participants of the interview. The interview answers are gone through each question, and all of the recruiters’ answers, at a time. The recruitment processes of Company X introduced earlier and earlier literature are utilized.
4.1. Recruitment process
The recruitment process in Company X is clear, structured and defined. It follows approximately the common recruitment processes that for example Chungyalpa & Karishma defined in 2016. The process is presented and summarized with some differences, but in the end both mostly include the same sections and parts, under different names.
Rozario et al researched and found critical aspects of the recruitment process, from both hiring member and applicant perspectives (2019A), which can be seen in figure 2. Both of these perspectives are important in creating a successful recruitment process, and need to be taken into
consideration. Rozario’s five dominant factors for an effective selection system are checked off, as the recruiting managers go through an extensive training, for example, that enhances the probability that the recruiting they undergo is successful. Each of the dominant factors were discussed in the educating material. Some comments on the critical aspects, on both perspectives, rose in the answers in the interview.
Each of these critical aspects are in a way or another discussed in the managers’ education material, and their importance is weighted. The critical aspects have been considered thoroughly in the designing of the Company X’s recruitment processes. From applicant’s perspective, the equal panel participation has been thought as the education material for recruiters has several mentions of the importance of the flow, mutual discussion and chances to ask questions, for example.
There are also relevant interview questions, as the company has created an optional set of fundamental questions, which can be used in the interview. Nonetheless, the company gives the recruiters room for adapting according to the needs of the job, for example. The interview process has a ready frame that makes them more standardized and planned. A representative of People Operations also takes part in one of the two interviews, so they help recruiters and make sure that the interview has a good and structured fluency and adds professionalism. In addition, the importance of these factors, and time management and flow, for example, are given weight in the educating material.
When it comes to the hiring member’s perspective, the interview training is a strength. The material and the resources invested in the education of the recruiting manager, in addition to the help they receive from the other participant in interviewing, make the interview process go smoother. The managers receive technological assistance, as they have tools that help make the recruitment process less overwhelming. The technology helps to make the processing more effective and fast, and it takes care of some of the manual work, saving resources such as time.
It was mentioned in the interview’s answers that a new and more modern system for recruiting is going to come into use. Some participants also mentioned that the tools used should be updated. It needs to be taken into consideration that technology has been found to have a positive impact on the recruitment processes, and they can make the process more effective (Abdul et al. 2020).
Therefore it is suggested that the tools used receive enough consideration and that the market for recruiting technology is followed for modern solutions.
The interviews are structured and have a good framework, and the benefits of a structured interview, according to Levashina (2014) for example, are gained. The company’s framework for interviews also follows the systematic approach for effective interview that is defined by Ullah (2010), in different forms however, with its multiple-part explanations of the steps included in the interview. As each recruiter has more and more experience, the interviews become more structured whilst being fitting to the recruiter’s style and team. It needs to be considered again, if a more structured process could be useful, or would it sacrifice too much of the chance of adaption each recruiter have in different situations.
The objective measures that can be gained from using a scoring matrix is an important part, as it helps to keep the selection objective and the scores comparable. The material suggests filling a form after interviews, for example. As testing of the applicants has been made mandatory in the recruitment process, the tests provide comparable results and objective measuring of the applicant’s attributes, skillsets and ways of working. However, the situation in which the applicant does the tests, is taken into consideration as it can affect the results. Providing applicant feedback happens naturally in communication and it is reminded that this is an important part. However, it could have a stronger position in the framework, as feedback giving is quite an easily forgettable part if the recruiter is under a tight schedule, for example, even though it has a lot of impact on the successfulness of the interview and the experience.
There are some critical parts, defined by Rozario et al. that would require some extra attention, so that the recruitment can be improved further. These critical aspects should be considered applying directly to the best practices and made mandatory, especially as the applicant’s perspective is essential in building a good impression and stronger employer branding. The frame created for recruitment has previously not included mandatory feedback that would be sent to the applicant, though it is advised, nor the duration of the interview, which however naturally depends on the type of the interview. The feedback questionnaire has required manual work, but as the company is introducing a new system for recruitment, the sending of the feedback form will be automatized and sent to all the applicants who do not get chosen. The asking for feedback could be automatized
and standardized into a process in a way that in each stage and after every touchpoint the applicant has the option to give feedback easily, fast and in a simple way, though the sending of forms could be done on the most critical stages. This is so that both giving and getting feedback does not get overwhelming to either parties but still the whole process, from the eyes of the applicant, can be mapped and analyzed better in order to get a better employer branding, for example.
As Company X has invested in defining the process and creating a clear frame on the way the recruitments proceed, whilst educating the recruiting people on it, the process has become quite standardized. Münstermann et al introduced the benefits of standardizing a process in 2010. The study also applied and tested the theory of standardizing processes successfully on recruitment processes in particular. By having a standardized process, Company X gets benefits in enhanced process times, costs and quality.
However, as there is only a frame for the process and there are differences in the way teams and recruiters recruit, it could be standardized even further to gain even stronger benefits from a standardized process. The process could be standardized further by setting the different functions more clearly into the process. A more detailed process could be achieved by setting Ullah’s (2010) systematic approach models different stages in the framework more clearly, for example.
It needs to be taken into consideration, however, that the recruiters should not be limited too much, as each team has some different needs in recruiting, and they should be left room for necessary adaptation. The recruiting managers are also individuals, which have their own preferences and ways of doing things that are more comfortable and fitting than a detailed general frame could offer.
Also, each situation, such as lack of resources, affects the recruitment, limiting the amount of standardization that can be done without sacrificing too much elasticity.
4.2. The interview
This section discusses the findings of the interview. The answers of the interviewed recruiting managers’ are introduced and compared. This section is divided according to each question asked
in the interview. Each section has the summarized answers of the recruiting managers’, in order to make the subject and the comparison more clear.
4.2.1. Describe the recruitment process in your team
The recruiting manager from the product development team explained that they have two types of
“tracks”. In the first one, the applicants are searched by the recruiter by making a job advertisement by themselves. The results of own advertisements have been repeatedly bad, and not a lot of recruitments for developer-team have been successful this way. The manager mentions that the people that are actively searching for a job are not necessarily the people that they want to recruit.
In “track two” the development-team’s recruiter uses headhunter-firms that they have tested over the years and they have more positive experiences from them. They describe the job, requirements, salary, technologies and experience-level to the headhunter-firms, which then take care of the screening process. The manager evaluates that the headhunters have to go through 150 or 200 candidates, so that they can suggest six people. The difference between the tracks is that the suggestions of the headhunters are nor actively seeking the job, so they have to be tempted and the occupation has to be “sold” to them. This changes the dynamic. The recruiter mentions that this is not easy either and takes a lot of time, and needs at least three people to commit, and then the tests and others take time as well. The headhunter firm takes a fee, but this track ensures that the beginning of the process and the screening is taken care of. The development-team’s manager mentions that because there is so much competition for good product developers, it is hard to hire and attract candidates.
The recruiting manager from the marketing team describes the process to start from the detection of a need for recruitment: a role or such has been found, that needs a new expert, and they have gained the budget authorization. They define what kind of a role the candidate would get, and then the persons working closely with the person in said role will take part in the process. After, the future manager makes the recruitment advertisement, which defines the job, requirements and such. Then the advertisement goes through a process where the marketing team can comment on it. The workers of the marketing team participate actively in the marketing of the job advertisement
by sharing it in different social media networks, such as LinkedIn and Facebook. The marketing team has also made “Instagram-weeks”, where the team members show what it is like to work there. The responsible person for the recruitments, often the manager, goes through the applications. There have been different practices in interviews, but lately they have ranked the applications based on curriculum vitals, and then chosen a certain number of persons to undergo so-called “lightning- interviews”. These are short discussions on the phone or virtually. Based on them, the candidates for the first interviews and tests are chosen. At the latest, the function leader participates in the second interview.
In the customer care team, “the candidate can come from anywhere”, from the recruitment system, LinkedIn, references, and sometimes they have used a headhunting firm. There are a lot of channels, but first the potential candidates undergo the tests. Based on the tests, the candidates are chosen for the first interview, and then the second. There have been experiments in which the candidates have participated in the team’s meetings, such as coffee breaks. The basic process is that the candidate “enrolls” some way, then there are the tests, the first interview and the second interview.
The sales team’s recruiter describes that either the employer approaches the candidate, or the candidate approaches the employer. The first interview follows, and the manager explains that it goes both ways: not only does the applicant sell their value to the company, but the company sells its value to the applicant. After that, the tests are done, so they can get an even better picture of the applicant. In the second interview, more people participate, often a representative from People Operations and another person from the sales team, who is in a decisive position. Next, the decision is made, if the vacancy is offered or not.
4.2.2. How do you feel about the amount of resources allocated for recruitment? Is there something you would change about the resources and the division and allocation of them?
The development team manager mentions that even though recruiting is interesting and nice, it takes a lot of time as it is not their “main thing”, and one thing among other tasks. The recruiter says
