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The importance of Recruitment and Selection and Communication Management

It is known that Human Resource Management’s role is to contribute in developing a business or organization, using the essential resource every industry has: people. There are two aspects of HRM which play a significant role as they directly stimulate performance improvement within the organization: Recruitment and Selection and Communication Management. Recruitment and selection represent a vast process that can lead to massive changes in a company. If the right people are selected, then the organization is likely to thrive. If the job is given to the wrong person, then there might be unpleasant consequences. However, thinking that the person matches the role, the organization is more than prepared to achieve its goals both internally and externally. Nevertheless, if the managers are not willing to communicate with the subordinates and to make sure they are satisfied and aware of everything that is happening, then having clever employees is not enough. There must be a strong connection between managers and staff and this is why Communication Management plays such an important role, too.

“Organizations serious about obtaining profits through people will expand the effort needed to ensure that they recruit the right people in the first place” (Pfeffer, 1998). It is important to the organization that many people apply for the same job, so the employer has many options to choose from when it comes to recruiting a candidate. Employer branding makes it possible to attract a large number of applicants. During this time, communication is the key to the strategy used by the organisation to ensure that they create a positive image about what it means to work for them. “Strong employer brands are believed to attract, engage and retain high-quality people to build innovation” (Martin, Gollan & Grigg, 2011), therefore it is essential to be careful about what information is transmitted.  The purpose of publicity, events and advertisements is to get high caliber candidates’ attention and to convince them that the right choice is to send their resumes and do their best to get the job, which must be presented in the best way possible to attract talent. In this respect, Christian (2002) has argued that talent is what makes a business successful and this is what an employer should look for in a candidate in the first place. Talented people will be able to make good decisions and will perform their work in the most efficient way possible.  Apparently, there is no other aspect that plays a more important role in a business than capable people. On the other hand, skills necessary for the job are not the only ones that must be taken into consideration. “Lack of honesty or an inability to get along with people may serve to eliminate candidates for some jobs, regardless of their other abilities” (Kleiman, 2010). A person may be really talented for a job while they lack understanding or kindness. Even though these traits have nothing to do with the requirements for the job, they can trigger conflicts between employees and this will cause trouble within the organization. “The job interview is often the first opportunity for applicants and organizational representatives to meet in person and have a meaningful dialogue about characteristics of the applicants, the job, the organization and so forth” (Klotz, Veiga, Buckley, Gavin, 2013). The first meeting is usually crucial for the candidate and is also an occasion to look closely at “the perceptions of the organization’s trustworthiness that job applicants might have acquired before or during earlier pre-entry activities” (Klotz et al., 2013).

‘Mirroring’ is another issue that can appear in the selection process (Roberts, 2005). Many a time, the selectors become interested in a candidate just because they have things in common, such as aptitudes and beliefs. In consequence, they overlook the fact that the candidate will not completely meet the company’s needs, making decisions based on irrelevant information. To avoid things like these it is convenient to prepare a clear list with the requirements needed for entering the job and eliminate subjectivity.  The list must be very detailed and should include specifications such as previous experience, qualities and acceptable weaknesses, qualifications, skills and aspirations. All these aspects must correspond to the job and the successful candidate has to be chosen in accordance with the description. For example, Southwest Airlines is very specific about the attributes that a prospective flight attendant should possess. During the interview, applicants for the job have to answer different questions that are meant to reveal their determination, ability to learn and assess things independently and adaptability (Pfeffer, 1998). Such a procedure is definitely beneficial to the organisation because it maximizes the chances to choose a competent employee and leaves no room for subjective opinions.

 After hiring the right people, the next stage is to keep them, which means that they need to be satisfied and up to date with all the changes within the workplace. They should also have the right to express their opinions and make suggestions. Thus, Communication Management plays an important role as it is designed to enable the exchange of information between staff and managers.

There are two types of communication: ‘downward’-from management to employees and ‘upward’-from employees to management (Muller-Camen, Croucher & Leigh, 2008). In the first case, the manager gives information to employees regarding financial aspects, business strategies and more. In the second case, the employees have the opportunity to ask questions and share their opinions. It is convenient that information and opinions come from both sides so as to create a constant connection. Nevertheless, Kersley et al. (2006) noted that employees rarely ask questions to senior managers in large companies. Such being the case, employees’ concerns remain unexplained and this can aggravate problematic situations. Very frequently, executives are inapproachable because of different reasons, including geographical distance. In order to improve upward communication some managers introduced suggestion boxes for employees to tell their point of view without mentioning their names (Kersley et al., 2006).

 Still, there are difficulties in downward communication, too, especially in the hotel industry where part-time workers are needed in order to maintain the business open 24 hours/day and most of time these workers are outside the process of communication. Lower level staff does not always understand the exact meaning of the message or give feedback. In consequence, the message sent from managers can be misunderstood and this can have adverse effects in the organisation. Brownell (1992) noted that top managers have the impression that they communicate enough and effectively with other employees, when in fact the latter have a different opinion. Seeing that, some solutions are needed in order to ensure that everyone can get help if they seek clarifications and can speak their minds. Therefore, some managers implemented creative solutions. Some of them arrived really early in the morning to be able to talk to each employee and others organised breakfast meetings. To some extent, these measures can be beneficial as they create a harmonious environment which is conducive to business-related discussions.

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