Assignment Recruitment & Selection with Observed Skills. Management

Reflective Essay Assignment Recruitment & Selection with Observed Skills
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Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Abstract PAGEREF _Toc530306320 \h 2Introduction PAGEREF _Toc530306321 \h 2Recruitment process PAGEREF _Toc530306322 \h 3Applicant screening PAGEREF _Toc530306323 \h 4Long listing and Shortlisting PAGEREF _Toc530306324 \h 6Candidates Interviews PAGEREF _Toc530306325 \h 7Management and Development Programs PAGEREF _Toc530306326 \h 8Resourcing and Talent Management Skills PAGEREF _Toc530306327 \h 10Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc530306328 \h 11References PAGEREF _Toc530306329 \h 12
Abstract
This paper explains my experiences as a human resource official in the United Nations during the time when I would as a volunteer in the human resource department of United Nations Environment Programme. The experiences are based on the process of recruiting and selecting, here I will evaluate the strategies and the policies that are used by UN organizations, and I will also examine the training and development programs that UN organization provides to its employees as a way of enhancing their competencies. The paper will also outline the things I learned throughout these processes.
Introduction
Recruitment is the process of identifying, screening, shortlisting and hiring the best-qualified employees from within or outside the organization to fill up any vacant positions in the firm. This is the core function of the human resource department. The process of recruiting staff is complex and it involves many stages which may include conducting an analysis of the requirements of the given positions, attracting the potential candidate to a job position, screening the applicants and selecting the best applicant for the job. Later the organization helps in the training of the new employees.
In this reflection, paper am going to apply the Gibbs' reflective cycle. This model has six stages which include the description of what one is reflecting, one's feeling about the experiences, evaluation of how things happened, the analysis of the things that promoted the experiences, a conclusion about the things I learned and an action plan outlining the things I will do to improve next time (Gibbs, 1988).
Just like in many organizations, recruitment in the United Nations (UN) is mostly administered in-house with only a few chances of outsourcing. It is, however, important to note that recruitment outsourcing has grown over the years and many organizations are outsourcing some of the human resource functions. This trend is contributed by the benefits of outsourcing which include effective and faster recruitment process and the availability of data that may be used for pro-active planning in the organizations. I work at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which is a UN organ as a volunteer for six months. During this time I learned several activities related to how the HR departments in UN organizations recruit and select new employees.
Recruitment process
First I learned that the process of recruitment in the UN is divided into two phases which are Job opening and shortlisting (United Nations, 2018). Job opening phase involves two main activities which are vacancy declaration and the process of pre-screening. In the shortlisting phase, assessment of the candidates and selection of the best applicant is done. Additionally, I noticed that in the UN, the process of declaring a post as vacant is formally initiated by the hiring office or from the office holding the post.
I learned that the vacancy announcements process in UN organizations includes the criteria and the approach used in assessing the applicants. Here I noted that candidates are normally evaluated in terms of requirements of a given post, candidates' qualifications, experience, and their skills and the necessary competencies and languages (United Nations, 2015). Additionally, I found that the organization is required to describe and the roles and responsibilities of the employee, the application method and specify the deadline for submitting the applications. These observations reinforced that some of the theoretical concepts I have learned in class are vital in real life situations. Throughout the course, I have learned that during recruitment it is always important to state the responsibilities of the employees so that applicants may know what is expected of them. These observations made me decide that I will always take seriously all concepts I learn in class that are related to Human Resource Management (HRM).
Applicant screening
Another very important process in the recruitment process that I saw being implemented is the pre-screening of the applicants. I have learned in the course that this process helps in excluding individuals who fail to attain the minimum eligibility requirements. Also, it is an essential operation, particularly when a given post attracts a large number of applicants. In UNEP I found that Pre-screening may be done manually or automatically, manual pre-selection is mostly done by human resource individuals who make use of the set guidelines to determine candidates who have qualified and those who have not. For automatic pre-qualification checking, an e-recruitment system is used in filtering the applicants through the use of screening questions.
I also experienced that after all the candidates have undergone the pre-screening stage, only a manageable number of applicants is selected for further assessment. In UNEP, only about three candidates are given to the assessment panel for review and approval (United Nations, 2015). I also experienced that justifications must be provided to justify why certain decisions were adopted in these processes. My experiences in this area were promoted by the fact that I had studied the processes of screening that applicants are subjected to. Here I learned some approaches for selecting the applicants after they are screened. I assisted in recording the outcomes and the justifications that were employed in selecting the candidates. This gave me a real-life experience of what HR officials go through when hiring new members. These screening and justification processes also impacted me professionally since it provides me with essential skills of an effective HR professional for evaluating a group of job applicants and choosing among them.
The last and one of the most important process is the selection decision. In UN, I found that after the selection panel has evaluated all the applicants, the names of the shortlisted candidates are then submitted to a review body which evaluates if the whole process complied with the set guidelines and rules. The final decision is then taken by the authorized individual who may be the head of a given department (United Nations, 2015).
The observations I saw here made me realize that recruitment is not an easy process and only yields the expected results if there is cooperation between different players in the HR department. I also realized the importance of having clear and effective policies and procedures. These guidelines stipulate what exactly needs to be done when examining candidates and when selecting the most qualified individual to fill a vacant position. In future, I will help my organization develop and implement recruitment policies that will not only help in streamlining the selection process but also ensure accountability and fairness.
Additionally, I also found that some recruitment functions in HR departments in UN have been automated. For example, I found that UNEP uses several techniques and tools in the recruitment of new employees. One of the commonly used tools is Inspira, This is an information technology system that integrates several recruitment and selection processes. This tool is quite complex and applicants are always provided with a manual to guide them through the assessment process.
While working at UNEP learned how the Inspira system helps in screening the applicants using several factors such as individual experience, work experience, language fluency, and age limit. I found that if an individual fails to meet the minimum requirements needs to qualify for a given position, he or she is always screen out. This amused me learning how innovations and technology development has enhanced the recruitment processes in the organization. Future learning will help in evaluating what other impacts technology has had on the process of hiring new workers in an organization.
Long listing and Shortlisting
Also, I experienced how the long listing and shortlisting processes are conducted. I participated in the long listing where I helped in sorting and evaluating if the applicants hard fulfilled the minimum requirements. Here I mainly concentrated on whether the applicant had the required relevant work experience, educational qualifications and if their language capabilities were considerable (Sebastian, 2011). When short listing I witnessed how observant the HR professional concentrated on the applications to single out those who may be considered for the job. One thing that I was from this process is that the process may take a lot of time especially when the applicants are many. Professionally, I gained the skills needed by a HR offi...