Job Analysis: Right Person Right Job

Writing job descriptions is an art. A correct job description brings in the right employee. As today the focus is on multi-tasking or multiple skills, companies with good job descriptions have a shortened recruitment cycle. A good job description is well thought out but not written from boilerplates.

What is job description?

Job description specifies job requirements and acts as a screening tool. Therefore, manpower requirement and planning is dependent on job descriptions. Information about duties, responsibilities, Key Result Areas (KRA’s), qualifications and compensation information are detailed as part of job description.

Duties: Clearly outlining the duties is crucial for a good job description. Duties need to be specific to both short-term issues and long-term challenges of the position. Short-term priority issues need to be addressed during the first few days. Long-term challenges relate to where the hiring manager wants to be in months down the road.
Qualifications: Qualifications are the principal screening elements. These fall into two areas – must haves and nice to haves. Must haves are absolute requirements and without them the person is screened out. Nice to haves are like the icing on the cake.
Compensation information: Generally,this area is skipped in job descriptions. When stated, however, will attract a wider range of qualified individuals. The most important thing is, for the right person, compensation can always be adjusted, titles changed and duties expanded.

The why's of job description

It is essential to provide guidance to people as to what to do and how to do it. Job description enables people in organisations to know who does what and who knows what. Above all, it provides information about the technical skill requirements and “nature” of the person best suited for the job.

How to write a good job description?

Be crystal clear: The crucial question is, "What is the purpose of the job?" It highlights:

• Management’s expectations from the employee.
• Role of the job-holder.
• Employee's contribution towards the achievement of company goals.
• Relationships between different jobs and activities of the organisation.
  

Source of information: Best-written job descriptions are those written by or with the person in the job. He is the best person to know about the job and thus will be able to complete his own work profile. In case the employees are not articulate enough to write the details, help them with formal and informal interviews and questionnaires. Encourage them to choose the titles.

Assess the skills and abilities: It requires complete analysis of the work structure on the following lines:

Technical/professional aspects.

• Administration.
• Man management.
• Commercial activities.
• Written or spoken communication skills.
• Analytical skills.
  

List the tasks: They should be arranged in an order based on the importance, frequency and processes.

Analyse the job: Should be analysed on the following accounts:

• Decision-making authority.
• Time frame to make decisions.
• Number of units under control.
• Definition and distinction between the staff and line functions.
• Levels of authority.
• Whom to report to.

Write the job description: It should contain the title and department, location, responsibility and major functional relationships.

Current trends
E-recruitment is the in thing now. The workforce, too are looking for opportunities on the Net. Writing job descriptions for the Net is radically different from writing for the regular media. Here are few tips that will help you attract the best talent to your company. An effective job description format online includes:

Position heading: It is the text that catches the job-seeker’s attention. The text must goad them into going further and hence needs to have a punch in it.

Company statement: It is essential to create excitement and interest about your company.

Position summary: It enhances the interest level about the position along with providing additional information.

Salary and benefits summary: It provides the salary range associated with the position as well as a profile of company benefits.

Qualifications: Need to be stated clearly. If unclear, the job-seeker may think the position is below his expertise and may not apply.

Reference: TheManageMentor

Changing Role of Recruitment Intermediaries

Recruitment consultancies, agencies or intermediaries are witnessing a boom in the demand of their services, both by the employers and the job seekers. With an already saturated job market, the recruitment intermediaries have gained a vital position acting as a link between the job seekers and the employers.

But at the same time, one of the major threats faced by this industry is the growing popularity of e-recruitment. With the changing demand, technologies and the penetration and increasing use of internet, the recruitment consultancies or the intermediaries are facing tough competition. To retain and maintain their position in the recruitment market, the recruitment intermediaries or consultants (as they are commonly known) are witnessing and incorporating various changes in terms of their role, functions and the services.

According to a survey amongst top employers, most of them agree with the growing influence of technology and the Internet on the recruitment processes. 70 per cent of employers reported the use of application portal on their company’s official website. Apart from that, the emerging popularity of the job portals is also growing.

But the fact that the intermediaries or the consultants are able to provide their expert services, economies of scale, up to 40 percent savings in the recruitment costs, knowledge of the market, the candidates, understanding of the requirements, and most importantly, the assess to the suitable and talented candidates and the structured recruitment processes. The recruitment intermediaries save the organisations from the tedious of weeding out unsuitable resumes, co-coordinating interviews, posting vacancies etc. give them an edge over the other sources of recruitment.

To retain their position as the service providers in the recruitment market, the recruitment intermediaries are providing vale added services to the organisations. They are incorporating the use of internet and job portals, making their services more efficient. Despite of the growing use of the internet, the recruitment intermediaries are predicted to continue dominating the recruitment market in the anticipated future.

Evolving face of recruitment - E- Recruitment

The buzzword and the latest trends in recruitment is the “E-Recruitment”. Also known as “Online recruitment”, it is the use of technology or the web based tools to assist the recruitment process. The tool can be either a job website like naukri.com, the organisation’s corporate web site or its own intranet. Many big and small organizations are using Internet as a source of recruitment. They advertise job vacancies through worldwide web. The job seekers send their applications or curriculum vitae (CV) through an e-mail using the Internet. Alternatively job seekers place their CV’s in worldwide web, which can be drawn by prospective employees depending upon their requirements.

The internet penetration in India is increasing and has tremendous potential. According to a study by NASSCOM – “Jobs is among the top reasons why new users will come on to the internet, besides e-mail.” There are more than 18 million resume’s floating online across the world.

The two kinds of e- recruitment that an organisation can use is –

Job portals – i.e. posting the position with the job description and the job specification on the job portal and also searching for the suitable resumes posted on the site corresponding to the opening in the organisation.

Creating a complete online recruitment/application section in the companies own website. - Companies have added an application system to its website, where the ‘passive’ job seekers can submit their resumes into the database of the organisation for consideration in future, as and when the roles become available.

Resume Scanners: Resume scanner is one major benefit provided by the job portals to the organisations. It enables the employees to screen and filter the resumes through pre-defined criteria’s and requirements (skills, qualifications, experience, payroll etc.) of the job.

Job sites provide a 24*7 access to the database of the resumes to the employees facilitating the just-in-time hiring by the organisations. Also, the jobs can be posted on the site almost immediately and is also cheaper than advertising in the employment newspapers. Sometimes companies can get valuable references through the “passers-by” applicants. Online recruitment helps the organisations to automate the recruitment process, save their time and costs on recruitments.

Online recruitment techniques

• Giving a detailed job description and job specifications in the job postings to attract candidates with the right skill sets and qualifications at the first stage.
• E-recruitment should be incorporated into the overall recruitment strategy of the organisation.
• A well defined and structured applicant tracking system should be integrated and the system should have a back-end support.
• Along with the back-office support a comprehensive website to receive and process job applications (through direct or online advertising) should be developed.
  

Therefore, to conclude, it can be said that e-recruitment is the “Evolving face of recruitment.”

Changing Trends in Recruitments

The increasing globalization of the marketplace combined with an ever increasing shortage of skilled staff and advances in technology have resulted in large scale changes to recruitment practices throughout the world. The recruitment industry is gearing up for these changes by developing strategic alliances and global partnering to ensure access to the best candidates world wide. Talking of the Indian scenario, the following trends are being seen in recruitment:

Outsourcing: In India, the HR processes are being outsourced from more than a decade now. A company may draw required personnel from outsourcing firms. The outsourcing firms help the organisation by the initial screening of the candidates according to the needs of the organisation and creating a suitable pool of talent for the final selection by the organisation. Outsourcing firms develop their human resource pool by employing people for them and make available personnel to various companies as per their needs. In turn, the outsourcing firms or the intermediaries charge a service fees to the client organization.

Talent Poaching: “Buying talent” (rather than developing it) is the latest mantra being followed by the organisations today. Poaching means employing a competent and experienced person already working with another reputed company in the same or different industry; the organisation might be a competitor in the industry. A company can attract talent from another firm by offering attractive pay packages and other terms and conditions, better than the current employer of the candidate. It has become a challenge for human resource managers to face and tackle poaching, as it weakens the competitive strength of the firm.

E-Recruitment: Many big organizations use Internet as a source of recruitment. E- Recruitment is the use of technology to assist the recruitment process. Organizations advertise job vacancies through internet and job seekers send their applications or curriculum vitae i.e. CV through e mail using the Internet. Alternatively job seekers place their CV’s on the various job portals, which can be drawn by prospective employees depending upon their requirements. This reduces the time and cost investment in the recruitment process for the organizations.