Introduction
Being accepted in a job is a great accomplishment for a person. It entails the combination of a good personality and a well established recruitment practice. People have different kinds of jobs; it may be office based, people based or more on field duty. Hong Kong Polytechnic University is a well known University with a rich heritage and history. The University offers a wide range of courses. These courses make sure that it meets industrial, commercial and community needs. Aside from education, the University offers consultancy, professional training and research services. This is done to make sure that the firm has a good relationship with the business and industrial sectors. The school aims to make sure that its students will have professional competency. Through competency the students wile learn to be independent minded and be good communicators. As part of being competent the school wants to make sure that the students will have a global outlook. In teaching the students, the University makes use of credit based system. In such system, the students are allowed to alter the pace of their study through choosing the subjects they believe are appropriate for them at the moment. Graduates of the university have created their own niche in different private and public institutions. The graduates have learned much from the university and have promised to share their expertise so that Hong Kong’s economy will continue to thrive. This paper describes the job position and the roles of the writer in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. This paper will also reflect on the successful recruitment and selection process the writer has experienced.
The job position and role
Over the years, the term job design has been used interchangeably with terms such as task design and work design. In general, this usage is usually meant to convey an approach to structuring the individuals’ jobs so as to optimize such organizational outcomes as efficiency, quality, and productivity with such individual outcomes as satisfaction, motivation, and personal growth. Job design includes job enrichment, job enlargement, job characteristics models, and social information processing perspective (Sternberg & Zhang 2001). A job is regarded as a formal set of task elements influenced by an organization’s prime beneficiaries. Roles include both formal and emergent task elements. An emergent task element may eventually evolve into a formal task element if there is consensus among members of a role set that the element is necessary or if the prime beneficiaries decide that the task should be formally established for all job incumbents. It is the motivational basis of job design that gives the topic its essential identity and focus. The goal of some approaches has been to learn how to design jobs so as to improve motivation. Regardless of how it is cloaked, the basic thrust of most job design theory and research has rested on the premise that job design and motivation are linked. The implicit belief that has guided this work has been that the design of jobs can be altered so as to motivate job incumbents to work harder, do higher quality work, do more work, and be more satisfied as a result of having worked. The task demands and pressures of a job shape a person’s adaptive orientation. Personal jobs, such as counseling and personnel administration that require the establishment of personal relationships and effective communication with other people demand a diverging learning style (Greenberg 1994). My position is Assistant Officer in The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. My roles include providing administrative support to postgraduate programs offered by the school whether such program is in Hong Kong or in the Chinese mainland. With the role of providing administrative support I can reach out to related student activities, research matters and central exercises. In connection with this role is my role of assisting in general office administration. My other role is to provide secretarial service to committees and meetings. Another role is to engage in the planning, coordination and implementation of promotional and marketing activities. Moreover a role of mine is to assist in the planning and co-ordination of visits and events permitted by the school. A role that I play is to serve as a bridge between the University’s internal departments and external organizations. Lastly my role is to perform other duties that will be given to me by the Director, the School Secretary or any of their delegates. The roles that I have contribute to my personal and professional growth. The roles that I have contribute well to the goals of the school. It makes sure that the school will run effectively and efficiently. My roles also help in increasing the skills that I had. The roles hone my skills and knowledge about the schools. The roles give me the opportunity to understand how the school works and how I fit in the whole school system. Furthermore the roles that I have make sure that I can have a better relationship with people. In my roles I am able to communicate with various people. In communicating with them I get to understand them better and thus have a better relationship with them.
Key elements in the selection and recruitment process
Recruitment process
Perhaps because descriptive recruitment research has been very limited in recent years, there has been little discussion of why recruitment practices so often fall short of applicant expectations. Nevertheless, it is important to examine this question so that appropriate remedies might be constructed. One reason experiences fall short of expectations lies in the sometimes naive nature of those expectations. For example, the typical applicant wants organizations to make early contact, but not at the expense of meaningful feedback about employment chances or detailed information about what vacancies will look like 6 months down the road (Farr, Schuler & Smith 1993). Similarly, the ideal recruitment program should be quick in reaching its own decisions, but slow in demanding the applicant’s. One of the more obvious sources of divergence between applicants’ expectations and organizational behaviors is that applicant and organizational objectives do not always coincide. For example, although applicants may want feedback that permits early elimination of low-probability alternatives, organizations may not want to discourage second choices before receiving answers from their firsts (Farr, Schuler & Smith 1993).
Similarly, although applicants may want maximal time to feel comfortable with their job choices, organizations may need to press for decisions so as not to lose other candidates. Nevertheless, conflicting objectives seem inadequate to explain the substantial number of cases where applicants are kept dangling for months with no feedback, or those where recruiters come off not just as ineffective but as hostile, arrogant, embarrassing, or worse. Despite a considerable literature on how recruitment might be improved, actual recruitment practices have been rather impervious to recommendations arising from research and theory: no surveys, experiments, or utility models have had a noticeable impact on practice. In a world of scarce resources and competing demands, it seems unlikely that most recruitment programs will make significant strides toward greater effectiveness until applicants become increasingly scarce and recruiting base rates plunge below a satisfactory level. Many of the attraction and public relations failures of recruitment result from inadequate attention to program administration (Arthur 2001). Successful recruiting efforts require effective participation from many individuals, not just from recruitment support staff. And yet the vast majority of individuals who are counted on to impress applicants have never been trained to do so, have never been consulted about how to sell jobs or generate applicants, and receive no feedback on how well they do at any of the tasks surrounding recruitment and selection. A well-managed recruitment process would commence at a carefully chosen time that takes into account the organizations unique costs and benefits of early versus late entry into the market (Pollitt 2004).
Performance would be evaluated on substantive as well as procedural bases through monitoring of applicant impressions; line manager opinions, job offer and acceptance rates, and post hire success of a recruiter’s referrals. Hiring managers and administrative staff would also be trained to appreciate the applicant’s perspective to understand the importance of providing timely information, exercising flexibility in scheduling, and ensuring prompt follow-up. Where applicant expectations cannot be met prompt explanations would be offered and compensatory actions taken to minimize negative fallout. All organizational representatives throughout the process would be mindful of the fact that even rejected applicants can have an impact on the company through their roles as future consumers, and as storytellers to other applicants and consumers (Denton 1992). I came to know of the job through referral from my previous job. The qualifications for the job includes a recognized degree from the applicant; several years of relevant post-qualification experience; an excellent command of written and spoken English and Chinese; good computer literacy and good communication and interpersonal skills After analyzing the qualifications for the position, I then applied to the University’s HR department. After the qualifications and other information have been analyzed by the university’s HR group, I was then contacted by the HR group of the University for the Initial Interview. The initial interview focused on knowing me at an initial level. The interview was done in a small room. It was one on one interview with the HR group of the University. A member of the HR group first read my Resume and asked questions about my credentials. She asked about my former occupation, my former school and why would I want to join the University. She also asked situational questions. This type of questions focused on giving difficult situation and what would I do to surpass such situation. The next part of the recruitment process includes the selection of probable employees.
Selection process
The traditional selection process often doesn’t do the job because it is based on emotional attraction rather than an assessment of the traits and characteristics that actually predict performance. One of the problems with the traditional hiring process is that while interviewing candidates, technical managers typically focus their questions and conversations on the areas in which they are most comfortable, which is technical expertise. So they focus on assessing technical skills, and if candidates are technically strong they will think that they are excellent candidates (Zwell 2000). Unfortunately, it isn’t necessarily so. Another common problem with the selection process is that hiring managers often begin the hiring process saying that a particular technical skill, background, or work experience is a requirement for the job. They are steadfast in their insistence on the importance of the skill, background, or experience, and rule out candidates who do not have it. Then one of two things frequently happens: Either someone is hired who has the skill or background but lacks the competency to do the job well, or at some point the hiring managers hire someone they were referred to who fits none of the technical and experience criteria but who they believe is a really good guy (Zwell 2000).
In other words, they abandon the technical criteria and hire a seemingly competent person, dumbfounding all the HR resources that have been dedicated to finding a highly competent person in the first place. To hire the best person for each and every job in the organization, one needs a comprehensive program to attract, select, hire, and retain top quality employees (Barrett 1998). Managers need to be educated and influenced so that they understand the need for and the benefits of a rigorous selection process. They need to be educated and trained so that they understand the process and can use it to improve the quality of their hiring decisions. They need to become advocates for the process so that they will obtain the cooperation of their interview teams to put in the time and effort to contribute their talents to the assessment process. Orienting hiring managers includes explaining the importance of behavioral competencies; the nature and benefits of competency-based selection; the proposed steps in the hiring process; the role of the interview team; and the options and choices available to hiring managers in each step of the process (Barrett 1998). The selection process of Hong Kong Polytechnic University used interactive means wherein I was put in varying degrees of interview with the members of the organization. The hr team of the university asked various types of questions and I was given considerable time to provide answer to the questions. The hr team made sure that there would be minimal pressure for me and the other applicants. The questions of the HR team of PCCW aimed on understanding further my background particularly my educational achievements, my former employers, and other personal information. The other questions of the HR team focused on determining how do I work, my work ethic, how will I relate with all kinds of individuals in the organization, how will I survive a stressful event and how will I handle various situations in the company. The hr team adjusted to every type of answer I gave.
Steps in the selection process
In the selection process four steps are used by university. The first step includes comparing the similar traits the current company’s employees have. In doing this the organization gains knowledge of which trait they will deem as the most important requirement for the applicants. The company gathered data about their productive employees and they singled out the trait that unifies them, the company then checked if the applicants have such trait. The university had a tally of all traits of their best employees and then they cross referenced of the applicant. The second step includes the use of proven handwritten or computerized tests to determine which among the applicants have the best chance to perform well in the organization. The handwritten or computerized tests concentrated on determining the human skills of the participants and it determined the best traits of the participants. The third step includes the interview with high ranking members of the university. This is done to determine how the applicant would maintain their composure amidst the pressure from high ranking members of the organization. The questions in the third step are harder than the other interviews since this is the final interview and it is a factor in making hiring decisions. The last step is the analysis of all data acquired. In this step the members of the hr group of the university is on the process of determining which applicant fits the position. In this step the applicants were analyzed to see which fits well the available position and which applicant have the trait needed by the university. I was able to pass all parts of the selection process and was able to impress the interviewers.
Effectiveness of such recruitment and selection process
Research indicates that recruitment and selection practices influence applicant reactions and recruitment outcomes. For example, recruiters who are perceived by job applicants to be informative and knowledgeable, as well as warm, personable, and friendly, have been found to elicit more positive reaction. Emotions have an important role to play in understanding how recruitment and selection practices influence job applicants’ attitudes and behavior (Williams 1995). Recruitment and selection procedures can be designed to elicit certain emotions, and these emotions may at least partially mediate the impact of recruitment and selection on pre- and post entry attitudes and behavior. This also means that emotions can be stimulated during anticipatory socialization, thereby paving the way for post entry socialization. Strategies for personnel, recruitment and selection, compensation and classification, labor relations, training, health benefits, and health promotion must begin to focus on the issue of balance rather than focus on specific requests from within the organizations. This is not a statement of indifference or insubordination; rather, it is a statement that strongly suggests that HR professionals stop discounting their own gifts and their own focus as they hear requests from organizations for strategies to respond to issues from within the organization (Garcia & Kleiner 2001).
Currently the area of recruitment and selection focuses on getting employees on board in an organization to meet the specific needs of the organization in a specified job. Where organizations are heavily regulated, rules of fairness and equity are frameworks that structure how the organization recruits and selects individuals for the position through some selection criteria. These has the earmarks of being successful unless the organizational leadership is more focused on getting the person that matches their own style, thereby potentially thwarting a fair and equitable process in the recruitment and selection cycle (Sisson & Storey 2000). Often, organizational leaders need a strong, committed HR director to tell it realistically that it should be fair and equitable. Each and every time a director or staff member violates tenets of the discipline, the effectual empowerment of the field of human resources and the employees dissipates. Recruitment and selection also encompass testing and validation as critical to the appearance of equity. Unfortunately, all tests focus on balancing the tasks of the position with the creation of items for assessing an applicant’s ability to perform the tasks. Issues of adverse impact, fairness, and closeness of the item on the test to the actual issues of the job are always at question. HR departments continually look for strategies to make the tests fairer, focusing on even tighter closeness of the item to the work performed. In virtually every area, the question of reality is challenged. Organizations make decisions around the tests based on the compliance and litigation success of the firms offering excellent tests (Sisson & Storey 2000).
The blended-skills process for recruitment and selection suggests that recruitment and selection become a value-laden process focusing on blending individuals with skills that mirror the values of organizations rather than specific skills that meet jobs. Most managers will state that they can train an employee to perform specific roles; what they cannot instill in employees are the values that drive the organization and the heart that dictates congruence with those organizational values (Kanfer, Klimoski & Lord 2002). Often, HR professionals state that they are generalists when, in actuality, they have prepared themselves to become specialists in compensation, recruitment and selection, training and organizational development, employee relations, and labor relations. Central to this change has been a two tiered process of creating generalists: HR professionals with skills in all the areas and experts who serve as collaborators to the staff of human resources with specialties in each area. The team managers were selected because they were experts in the disciplines of human resources with the skills to function effectively as team leaders with a generalist mind-set (Kanfer, Klimoski & Lord 2002). Referral type of recruitment helped well in my case and application for the job. Referral gave me an edge over the other applicants. This type of recruitment makes sure that the applicant has been tried and tested by other firms. The selection procedure of the university focused on knowing me thoroughly and identifying desirable attitude that I have. The selection procedure carefully dissected me as an applicant and then analyzed my qualities that set me apart from the others. The selection procedure was aligned with the purpose of the selection process. The selection procedure used communication techniques ranging from personal communication to the use of advanced selection technologies such as interactive and automated communication systems.
Conclusion
My position is Assistant Officer in The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. My roles include providing administrative support to postgraduate programs offered by the school whether such program is in Hong Kong or in the Chinese mainland. Another role is to engage in the planning, coordination and implementation of promotional and marketing activities. I came to know of the job through referral from my previous job. After the qualifications and other information have been analyzed by the university’s HR group, I was then contacted by the HR group of the University for the Initial Interview. Referral type of recruitment helped well in my case and application for the job. Referral gave me an edge over the other applicants. The hr team of the university gave various types of questions and I was given considerable time to provide answer to the questions. The hr team made sure that there was minimal pressure given me. The questions of the HR team of PCCW focused on knowing my background particularly on my educational achievements, my former employers, and other personal information. The selection procedure of the university focused on knowing me thoroughly and identifying desirable attitude that I have. The selection procedure carefully dissected me as an applicant and then analyzed my qualities that set me apart from the others. Being in an Assistant officer is not an easy position, having that position requires a lot of responsibility. I have to make sure that the University operates well and someone can coordinate with internal and external forces. In this job I have to make sure that I meet the standards set by my superiors.
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