Week 20 - Selection

Week 20 – Selection

There are various selection methods used by businesses in order to select the right candidate for the job, my step dads company Collaborate London is a company that I am particularly familiar with. I have experienced the selection process and have been told about it by my step dad. Selection is extremely important and has to be done properly, to be done successfully a company will have to gather as much information about the candidates as possible, organise and evaluate this information and compare and contrast this information between candidates. Collaborate London is a growing business, it is only three years old and has over 10 employees and some part time staff. Because it’s a relatively small business every employee has to be able to perform well and do the job assigned to them. The selection process they use is to first short list from the information on CV’s and application forms, then carry out interviews on the candidates that have the best suited skills for the job based on the information from the CV’s. The final process is work simulation, the tasks the candidates will be asked to perform on a day to day basis are explained to them and the Collaborate interviewer overlooks them carrying out this task and judges how well they do. 

Shortlisting information from CV’s and application forms is often most businesses first step of the selection process, it is crucial to examine all CV’s and application forms and wean out the ones that don’t meet the company’s expectations and shortlist the ones that stick out from the rest. There are massive advantages of carrying out this process as it is the first step to choosing a possible candidate.

The next step is to interview the candidates left from the first stage of the selection process. There are many advantages and disadvantages of interviewing. These are –

Advantages:

The interviewer can obtain detailed information about the candidate, including feelings towards the company, perceptions and opinions. Detailed questions can be asked to clarify ambiguities and pressing on for full answers and following up on incomplete answers. Questions can be created by the interviewer to suit each candidate, blank spots on the cv or application form can be filled in. Face to face interviews mean that the interviewer can observe the candidates facial expressions and body language which will give the interviewer an indication of the candidate’s honest feelings. 

Disadvantages:

Interviews give only the interviewer the chance to assess the candidate, other employees at the company may prefer other candidates, but it’s only the choice of one employee of the company to make the choice. So no other members of the company have a say in which candidate they think is the best suited to the role. Some possible candidates may not excel in one to one situations, shyer candidates may not put their skills and experience forward, and although they might perform best at the job required of them, they might find it hard to convince the interviewer.  Interviews are also very time consuming, and time costs money. The interviewer will have to put aside projects and work that they are currently working on to interview potential candidates.

Work simulations, realistic job simulations is the last part of the selection process that Collaborate use. The advantages of this process are that if two or three possible candidates from the interview process it can help a company to decide. Putting the remaining candidates into realistic job simulations is the best way to separate the candidates, if one of the candidates excels and completes the task well before the others then it can be clear that he or she is the person to hire. A disadvantage of this could be that the candidates could crumble under the pressure, a pressure that on a normal day to day basis at work they wouldn’t be under, so it can be a bit biased if one of the candidates struggles under pressure. 

During my A-levels at sixth form I entered an extra-curricular activity called business enterprise, in which business studies students were given the opportunity to create a product and sell it at various craft fairs. In order to get into the project each student had to go through an interview to be selected. As the project was over-subscribed there was no guaranteed place for any of the students. During the interview I was asked various questions regarding my interest in the subject and why I felt I would be good for the project. I felt the interview was particularly effective, the interviewer had a good set of questions lined up regarding the project and I felt comfortable whilst in the interview.  

As the blog said earlier I am familiar with Collaborates selection process, although I feel it is a good process there are one or two areas which could be improved. One of which, during the interview process more employees could get involved with the interviewing, although it would take up time and the employees would have to put their current work and projects on hold, it would be a worthwhile process so that all employees, or at least the management and higher level employees can make a decision together.

Conclusion – This blog has looked mainly at Collaborates selection process, and through looking at it and analysing it I have learnt that the process is good, the business is going well which is also a sign that the process is working. The blog has looked at different types of selection and which processes are good.

Week 18 - Recruitment

Week 18 – Recruitment

Monster.com – This employment website is one of the largest of its kind in the world. In 2006 Monster was one of the 20 most visited websites out of 100 million worldwide. Monster is the largest job search engine in the world, is has over a million job postings at any time, and over 63 million job seekers every month. It even employs 5,000 people in 36 countries to maintain the company. As the businesses main asset is its website allowing employers to list jobs and people to search for jobs it is extremely important that the website is effective.

The website itself doesn’t look overly appealing, it’s not as slick and innovative as other websites. And from a company of its size you would expect better. However the website itself is actually very useful, it’s straight forward to upload your cv, search for jobs in various areas and apply for them. And from the other point of view it seems relatively straight forward to advertise a job position on Monster so the accessibility is very good. It’s also straight forward to sign up to the site. So overall the website definitely serves its purpose, and more. It also has features that allow you to look at other peoples CV’s and explains how to write a good CV, there are even tips for job interviews. 

Red bull flight school – This e-recruitment campaign has been featured on websites like youtube and social network sights, the videos are all innovative in the way that they grab your attention. The videos are very light hearted and make you want to learn more about them. One of the videos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=te2XnI6MWq0 shows all of the existing members of the flight school singing and dancing along to a song, which shows the job has an obvious fun aspect to it. I think the campaign caught my interest because the videos funny and at the start intriguing. The video has an external link to the red bull website showing more details about the jobs, there are two types of jobs for students. One of them is to join the ‘wings team’ which involves driving around a mini covered in red bull embroidery with a huge red bull can attached to the back. The job involves driving around to various places and handing out red bull. The other job available is to become a student brands manager. http://www.redbull.co.uk/cs/Satellite/en_UK/Red-Bull-Jobs---Flight-School/001243018889772

 Aptitude tests are used to determine what kinds of careers they are suited too. They are a bit like exams and require you to answer questions designed around a specific area. I have carried out some aptitude tests in order to determine whether they would be useful in recruitment as a tool before gaining an interview. Hiring new candidates for positions is a difficult job, if the business hires someone who isn’t suited for the job it can lead to them being fired and then the company will need a replacement. Finding this replacement will be costly and take up some time, so aptitude testing could potentially wean out potential candidates if they don’t meet the mark. People lie about their qualifications and work history and an aptitude test would eliminate some of these people. Other benefits of including an aptitude test to the interview are that they can help the interviewer compare and contrast different potential candidates. If the aptitude test is standardised the test will be valid and reliable, and will meet the equal opportunity legislations. They can help pick out strong, desirable areas in candidates that they feel is suited to the role, if the job role is for something in finance and the test comes back showing they are good numerically then this can help the interviewer. The tests are also relatively easy to mark and give out.

The main disadvantage of aptitude tests is that there’s not a perfect connection between aptitude and performance. Having an aptitude for a certain skill doesn’t guarantee that a person will perform well in that area. There are more things to performance than aptitude, like different interests, a person’s motivation and their training.

Week 17 - Equal Opportunities

Week 17 – Equal opportunities

Equality and diversity. Equality is all about equal rights for everybody, but focusing on things like race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and age etc. It basically means that in the workplace all people should be treated the same and given the same opportunities regardless of any of these factors. Diversity is all about peoples differing characteristics and personality traits, although it can sometimes overlap with things like age (as older people are likely to show different characteristics to younger people for example). Diversity in a business means that every employee needs to be treated as a different person, as all people are different. 

Age legislation – Age legislation was bought in in October 2006 which is the final strand of equality legislation to be put into practice, along with existing legislation on race, sex, disability, sexual orientation and belief. The legislation was put into place to stop businesses discriminating against age, which means that if the business is hiring employees they can’t reflect on the persons age. Another example would be that when promotions become available the person in charge or filling this role can’t discriminate on age, so the person can’t think ‘oh he’s too young, I’ll go for someone older with more life experience’ because that’s not fair on the younger person. This new legislation would have had some big effects on employers, some would have had to have changed company policy in order to comply with these new legislations. Some changes could be that if a company is hiring it now can’t specify that an applicant must be a particular age, unless the age restriction can be justified or is imposed by law. The business will have to recruit people solely based on the skills and ability as opposed to the age. Even the phrases used when thinking about hiring someone or writing a job advert have to be thought about, it is seen as ageism if you use phrases like ‘’energetic and keen to learn’’ or ‘’experienced and accomplished’’ as both of these could suggest age bias. Businesses will have to make all their employees familiar with this new legislation to make sure that they comply with them, this can take time and time equals money. 

There are some stereotypes when talking about older and younger people, these are –

Older –

• ·         Slower to respond to change
• ·         Not very good with technology
• ·         Slow to process anything
• ·         Not as good as young people at physical things
• ·         Set in their ways

Younger –

• ·         Lazy
• ·         Not as reliable
• ·         Good with technology
• ·         Good with change
• ·         Rude
• ·         Un-motivated
• ·         No-respect

There are a lot of stereotypes when looking at younger and older people, although more often than not the majority aren’t true. Now that organisations aren’t allowed to discriminate against age these stereotypes may begin to die out. If organisations give older people the chance to try jobs involving new technology, whereas in the past they may have preferred younger people to use computers. Then this stereotype may die out, as older people will get the chance to use computers. Senior roles In companies are more often than not populated by older people, if younger people get the chance to take on this roles, and they should because organisations can’t discriminate against age, then they may lose the reputation for being lazy and may also become more reliable. 

Conclusion – This blog has looked at equality and diversity in a different ways, from different people’s point of views. It has helped me to understand the difference between the two, that equality is more physical attributes that you’re born with, whereas diversity is more focused on a person’s characteristics and personality. The blog has also looked at the problems that businesses faced when the new age legislation came in, problems like job adverts having to be re-written to take the focus off age and more onto the skills a person has.

Week 16 - Flexible Working

Week 16 – Flexible Working

Flexible working is definitely a part of modern day business. A definition of flexible working is - ‘The ability of an organisation to adapt the size, composition, responsiveness and cost of the people inputs required to achieve organisational objectives’

(Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2010)

Part time work – Many people can’t work full time for a number of different reasons from disability to having family commitments. Marks & Spencer know this and they offer a very flexible working schedule to fit the vast majority of people’s needs. They can adjust the working schedule for single mothers for example, and enable them to work hours which allows them to be available to pick their kids up from school.

Working from home – Working from home is a great example of flexible working, it enables someone to earn money by not even leaving the house. This is great it you have to take care of someone, either an elderly relative or disabled friend for example. If they constantly need someone to keep an eye on them then working from home is a great way of earning money. Parents may also choose to do this as it means they can nip out for 20 minutes and pick the kids up form school or run them to football games or even cook meals. A lot of companies enable people to work as call centre representatives from home. An American company called Alpine Access are doing exactly this and they plan to hire 600 new, home-based call centre representatives in the next three months. The jobs have good salaries with healthcare benefits and flexible working schedules.

Zero Hour Contracts – These contracts were designed to create ‘on call’ arrangements between employers and employees. These contracts are suitable for anyone who needs flexible working hours, the employer is under no obligation to offer employees work. The advantages to businesses are that they can keep a lot of workers in case they need to fill the spots in case staff call in sick etc. A good example of this is some self-employed personal trainers who already have a good client base may choose to get a zero-hour contract at a gym taking classes every week. This would enable the personal trainer to attend to existing work commitments with the added bonus of more work from taking classes at the gym.

The different types of flexible working -

Part time working – Workers are contracted to work less than full time hours. Advantages for the employees include flexible working hours scheduled around important things the worker has to do. Advantages to the business are that part-time workers with expertise can be bought in if the businesses budget isn’t enough to hire more full time employees. Part-time workers can reduce the work load and thus stress of other full time employees. 

Home Working – Working from home has a number of benefits for both employees and employers, improved employee retention is a benefit for the businesses who offer home working, parents with childcare responsibilities can keep their jobs when they enter parenthood, which is obviously a bonus to them as well. It gives businesses a broader choice of employees, as they can employ disabled people who prefer to work at home. Commuting time isn’t a factor so employees will have fewer disruptions which should lead to better productivity, and not commuting is obviously a bonus for employees as well. Fewer premises is needed so it can often be cheaper for businesses. A disadvantage of home working is if the employee gets stuck with a task it could be harder to get hold of managers if they don’t have their phones on them or in case they lose numbers, where as if the employee was in the office they could just go and ask face to face.

Annual Hours Contract – This type of contract is a system that works out how many hours an employee must work over a year. Once the hours are worked out they’re put into a schedule. This system could be put into place to reduce the working week, to reduce over time, to maximise productivity or to help the business cope with peak holiday times, for example school holidays, parents might want to take the kids on holiday, and chances are more employees will want to as well. But they all obviously can’t go at the same time. Some disadvantages are that some employees can still be asked to work extra hours at short notice, this can be beneficial to employers but can reduce the freedom of employees. 

Term-Time working – This employment contract does what it says on the tin, it enables parents or just mums or dads to work during term time and get school holidays off so that they can spend that time with their kids. Obvious jobs related with this are teachers, as they get the same holidays as the pupils. The leave is normally unpaid and the contract must be discussed with the employer. Not all companies allow employees to get this contract, as it would mean finding someone to cover for up to 13 weeks a year. This would obviously be a big disadvantage to the company. Managers can refuse term-time working, however if the employee is valuable to the company they may agree to their conditions. 

Job-Sharing – This is when two, or sometimes more people share a job. They share the pay, responsibility and the benefits of a full-time job. They share the pay in proportion to the hours shared each week. They can work split days, weeks or even alternate weeks. Their hours can even overlap. The benefits of job sharing from an employer’s point of view is it can retain valued workers who can no longer commit to a full time contract by themselves, who would otherwise leave if they couldn’t job share. Increased flexibility means they can meet demand in peak times, as the two employees sharing the full time contract can work together. The employees who job share have the added bonus of working less so they can fit in other commitments, this can reduce stress and productivity.

Week 15 - Corporate Social Responsibility

Week 15 – Corporate Social Responsibility 

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a businesses impact on the wider world, and how you can help your business to make an impact in a positive way ‘’It means taking a responsible attitude, going beyond the minimum legal requirements and following straightforward principles that apply whatever the size of your business’’ Business link, [online].

CSR involves almost everything a business does and everyone that it deals with. All businesses would need to take into account the following factors –

• ·         Suppliers – Even if the business itself is environmentally friendly it doesn’t mean its suppliers are, businesses should be careful when deciding their suppliers. They shouldn’t trade with people who pollute the environment, as that’s basically polluting yourself. 
• ·         The business should think about how they affect the local community, if a business wants to open a big store in a heavily populated area they should take into consideration the pros and cons of the inhabitants of the areas.
• ·         A business should treat their employees with respect, and make sure that its employees are happy in the workplace.
• ·         Being environmentally friendly has one of the biggest impacts on a company’s CSR. They need to learn how to use resources more effectively and do anything they can to help the environment, even little things like fitting timers to light switches.

A common misperception is that having a good CSR policy can be costly, in some cases it can. However it can also boost a company’s profit, if big companies fit light switch timers to all of their lights in offices and stores worldwide it can make a huge impact by cutting down electricity bills. This benefits both the company and the environment. Customers also tend to want to deal with companies who have a solid, trustworthy CSR. 

The FTSE4GOOD index was launched in 2002 and only features socially responsible companies. 277 UK based companies are on the index, which can be very beneficial to businesses, it can attract investors and can be used as proof that the company is trustworthy. One of these companies is J Sainsbury. They demonstrate a sound CSR and everyone involved in the business has benefited from it. Some examples of Sainsbury’s CSR are –

• ·         Sainsbury’s employ 150,000 people to work in there stores, offices and depots. Sainsbury’s know that their employees are crucial and that they are the face of the business. So for Sainsbury’s creating an environment that’s a great place to work is of obvious importance. Sainsbury’s make sure they do this by hiring the best people and treating them in the right way. They make sure that they stay true to their principle of equality, diversity and fairness, communicating regularly and listening genuinely. They give everyone of their employees a chance to develop their own skills and job title. They also believe that recognition is key, and they are quick to reward employees who make any extra effort. Sainsbury’s know that if they treat the employees well they will give all they’ve got and enjoy working for Sainsbury’s. This will reduce staff turnover and in turn save Sainsbury’s money. They have even received a gold accreditation from ‘investors in people’ for their commitment to improve in business by investing in their colleagues.
• ·         ‘Sourcing with integrity’ – It is obviously in the businesses best interest to provide its customers with quality products at a competitive price. But its also just as important to provide the products in a fair way that’s better for animals, farmers, growers and workers involved. Sainsbury’s do this by forming partnerships with their suppliers in order to help them raise environmental and social standards, and move towards real sustainability. They are working closely with farmers and growers in order to work towards a better business ethic. Although sourcing their products in an ethical way is a difficult task, especially when Sainsbury’s stock over 30,000 different products, they do their best to make sure their suppliers aren’t harmful to the environment. They run a series of development group initiatives which were created to help farmers and produce more sustainably. They also employ specialists in agriculture, sustainability and health experts that set out to solve sourcing and sustainability issues. British farming is also heavily supported by Sainsbury’s; they aim to offer a range of British products when they are in season even if the profit margins aren’t as good as products shipped in from overseas. As well as all of these factors they are also the largest retailer of Fairtrade products, and by paying these Fairtrade premiums to farmers they can improve local schools, hospitals and general infrastructure. All of these factors have contributed towards the company’s reputation for helping the environment, which has attracted customers, which is obviously beneficial for the company.
• ·         Making a positive difference in the community – Retailing is about more than quality products and great service. Any reputable business who takes their CSR seriously needs to support and help the communities where it operates. Sainsbury’s say that they aim for their stores to be at the heart of the communities they serve. They do this through a range of different things, charitable aspects come into play with practical and economic considerations too. They provide jobs for local people and try to buy from local suppliers, which in turn supports local businesses and farms. They run ‘Local Charity of the Year’ and ‘Local Heroes’ schemes to help support good causes. They are the official supermarket partner of the London 2012 Paralympic games and they have a longstanding relationship with Comic Relief. From doing all of this it adds to Sainsbury’s reputation and gets local people involved with the various projects they run, as the local community gets more involved the likelihood of them changing their preferred supermarket to Sainsbury’s is more likely. This will help boost sales.