Discuss the

Strategic
Roles of HR
specialist in
effective
recruitment
and selection
Introduction

The responsibilities of human resources specialists revolve around the recruitment and
placement of employees; therefore, their job duties may range from screening job candidates
and conducting interviews to performing background checks and providing orientation to
new employees.

In some organizations, HR specialists may also have other duties related to benefits
administration, employee retention, and the like. HR specialists who specialize may do so in
areas such as recruitment, job placement, and interviewing.
Because the title of human resources specialist is a rather broad one, it often means different
things to different organizations. However, what remains constant throughout is that these
HR professionals provide the link between employer and employee and their overall goal is
to ensure that the best employees are hired for specific positions.
Specific job titles for HR specialists (often found in larger organizations) may include:
recruitment specialist:

 Personnel coordinator
 Technical recruiter
 Employee interviewer
 Job placement specialist

Job Duties and Responsibilities of Human Resources Specialists

The work of human resources specialists begins when a position with the organization needs
to be filled. These HR specialists, at this time, may do every from creating and placing job
posts to visiting job fairs to find the right candidate. Once a pool of potential candidates has
been assembled, HR specialists then sort through them, scheduling and conducting
interviews. In larger organizations, senior HR members may be responsible for the
interviewing process, although HR specialists in smaller companies are often responsible for
this step in the hiring process.

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When not hiring, placing, and orienting new employees, HR specialists often oversee current
employee satisfaction and productivity, ensuring that the workplace is always running
efficiently.
Human resources specialists work under HR directors and managers. During the hiring
process, they generally consult with members of the management team to ensure that the
right candidates are being placed into the right position. Thus, their job duties frequently
involve consulting with the appropriate HR managers.
Daily job duties of human resources specialists include:

 Preparing or updating employment records related to hiring, transferring, promoting,

and terminating
 Explaining human resources policies, procedures, laws, and standards to new and
existing employees
 Ensuring new hire paperwork is completed and processed
 Informing job applicants of job duties, responsibilities, benefits, schedules, working
conditions, promotion opportunities, etc.
 Addressing any employment relations issues, such as work complaints and
harassment allegations
 Processing all personnel action forms and ensuring proper approval
 Overseeing hiring process, which includes coordinating job posts, reviewing resumes,
and performing reference checks

HR Specialist Roles

HR specialists may also be called upon to focus their efforts on one of the following areas of
HR:

 Workforce Planning and Employment

o Implementing the organization’s recruiting strategy
o Interviewing applicants
o Administering pre-employment tests
o Assisting with completing background investigations
o Processing transfers, promotions, and terminations

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HR Development
 Conducting training sessions
 Administering on-the-job training programs
 Evaluating the effectiveness of training programs
 Maintaining records of employee participation in all training and development
programs

 Total Rewards
o Analyzing job duties
o Writing job descriptions
o Performing job evaluations and job analyses
o Conducting and analyzing compensation surveys

 Employee and Labor Relations (union environments)

o Interpreting union contracts
o Helping to negotiate collective bargaining agreements
o Resolving grievances
o Advising supervisors on union contract interpretation
 Employee and Labor Relations (non-union environments)
o Assisting with processing employee grievances
o Overseeing engagement programs and other employee relations work
 Risk Management
o Developing and administering health and safety programs
o Conducting safety inspections
o Maintaining accident records
o Preparing government reports as to remain in compliance

How to Become an HR Specialist: Education and Certification Requirements

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Although considered to be an early career profession, HR specialists are still educated and
qualified HR professionals who must generally possess, at a minimum, a bachelor’s degree in
human resources, business management, or a related field.
The most logical career step for HR specialists seeking managerial roles involves acquiring
experience in the field of human resources and, often, pursuing a master’s degree in an HR
specialization. Areas of HR specialization available to students in a master’s degree in human
resources (Master of Arts/Master of Science in Human Resource Management) often include
human resource management, organizational development, and human resource performance.
Another popular graduate degree for HR specialists is the Master of Business Administration
(MBA) in Human Resource Management. An MBA in Human Resource Management
prepares human resources specialists to work effectively in a number of HR disciplines, as it
focuses on the key aspects of leadership, interpersonal and organizational behaviors, and
approaches for managing and motivating employees.
Graduates of MBA in HR Management programs are prepared to lead their organization’s
HR activities and help achieve organizational goals and objectives. A foundation in business
prepares graduates to address new procedures, solve conflicts, and oversee employee
benefits, compensation, training, and more.

Professional Certification Options for HR Specialists

HR specialists with their eye on advancement in the profession are always well served by
considering professional certification in human resources. The two most widely recognized
certifying bodies in HR include:

 Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM)

o SHRM-CP (certified professional)
o SHRM-SCP (senior certified professional)
 HR certification Institute (HRCI)
o Professional in Human Resources (PHR)
o Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR)
o Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR)
o Human Resource Management Professional (HRMP)

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 o Human Resource Business Professional (HRBP)
o California Certification for PHR and SPHR certified professionals

Salary Statistics for HR Specialists: What to Expect

Human resources specialists, reports the U.S. Department of Labor, earned a mean, annual
salary of $62,590, as of May 2014, with the top 10 percent earning more than $98,130.
The Department of Labor reported that the top-paying industries for HR specialists, as of
May 2014, were:
 Pipeline transportation of crude oil: $108,300
 Software publishers: $88,180
 Securities and commodity contract intermediation and brokerage: $84,600
 Oil and gas extraction: $84,130
It comes as no surprise that the above industries are some of the swiftest growing; therefore,
they are likely to require HR specialists who can keep up with their hiring demands.

Training and Development

Once we have spent the time to hire new employees, we want to make sure they not only are
trained to do the job but also continue to grow and develop new skills in their job. This
results in higher productivity for the organization. Training is also a key component in
employee motivation. Employees who feel they are developing their skills tend to be happier
in their jobs, which results in increased employee retention. Examples of training programs
might include the following:
 Job skills training, such as how to run a particular computer program
 Training on communication
 Team-building activities
 Policy and legal training, such as sexual harassment training and ethics training

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Dealing with Laws Affecting Employment

Human resource people must be aware of all the laws that affect the workplace. An HRM
professional might work with some of these laws:
 Discrimination laws
 Health-care requirements
 Compensation requirements such as the minimum wage
 Worker safety laws
 Labor laws
The legal environment of HRM is always changing, so HRM must always be aware of
changes taking place and then communicate those changes to the entire management
organization. Rather than presenting a chapter focused on HRM laws, we will address these
laws in each relevant chapter.

Awareness of External Factors

In addition to managing internal factors, the HR manager needs to consider the outside forces
at play that may affect the organization. Outside forces, or external factors, are those things
the company has no direct control over; however, they may be things that could positively or
negatively impact human resources. External factors might include the following:
1. Globalization and offshoring
2. Changes to employment law
3. Health-care costs
4. Employee expectations
5. Diversity of the workforce
6. Changing demographics of the workforce
7. A more highly educated workforce
8. Layoffs and downsizing
9. Technology used, such as HR databases
10. Increased use of social networking to distribute information to employees

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For example, the recent trend in flexible work schedules (allowing employees to set their own
schedules) and telecommuting (allowing employees to work from home or a remote location
for a specified period of time, such as one day per week) are external factors that have
affected HR. HRM has to be aware of these outside issues, so they can develop policies that
meet not only the needs of the company but also the needs of the individuals. Another
example is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010.
Compliance with this bill has huge implications for HR. For example, a company with more
than fifty employees must provide health-care coverage or pay a penalty. Currently, it is
estimated that 60 percent of employers offer health-care insurance to their employees. Peter
Cappelli, “HR Implications of Healthcare Reform,” Human Resource Executive
Online, March 29, 2010, accessed August 18, 2011, because health-care insurance will be
mandatory, cost concerns as well as using health benefits as a recruitment strategy are big
external challenges. Any manager operating without considering outside forces will likely
alienate employees, resulting in unmotivated, unhappy workers. Not understanding the
external factors can also mean breaking the law, which has a concerning set of implications
as well.

Approaches to Recruitment:

Internal Recruitment: Most of the private sector employers, attempt to fill vacancies
internally before they consider looking for people outside the organization (Newell and
Shackleton 2000, p. 116, CIPD 2003b, p. 11). Public sector is open to advertising both
internally and externally. Fuller and Huber (1998, p. 621) have identified four different forms
of internal recruitment activities namely, internal promotions, lateral transfers, job rotation,
re-hiring former employees. This is profitable for both the employees and the organizations.
Internal recruitment is cost effective and firms do not have to advertise jobs, it can be done by
using intranet services, newsletters and staff notice boards. It helps in boosting the morale of
the employee, building a strong internal labor force. The organization also maximizes its
return on investment in staff training, by bringing in increased motivation, deepened skills
and high level of commitment, providing the organization with a competitive edge leading to
organizational effectiveness. Selection is done on the basis of the individual’s merit and

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knowledge. The organizations express their models of employee characteristics and the
behavior required of potential employees through competency frameworks (Roberts, 1997).
These frameworks help the organizations to recruit and select the suitable people through
sophisticated techniques. There are certain negative aspects of internal recruitment as well; if
all the recruitment to all the positions is done internally, it would lead to stagnation, there
would be lack of originality and a fall in the organization’s knowledge base. It might so
happen that the best suited candidate for the job is not currently working for the organization.
Internal recruitment adds to the long-term imbalances of the workforce, the ethnic minorities
who are not well represented will be subjected to inequality. IRS (2002d) highlights a
problematic feature of internal recruitment; it includes the need of managing of situations in
which candidates are unsuccessful. Turning down external candidates would not cause a
problem instead turning down internal candidates would create a difficult situation which
then needs careful management. Exclusive use of internal recruitment is less common in the
public sector organizations, as they believe in advertising all vacancies externally. They do so
because they at all levels want to reflect that their staffs reflect the make-up of the whole
society. For example, NHS and local governments advertise their jobs in newspapers. (Story,
2007).

External Recruitment: there are lots of different approaches used to attract prospective
candidates, more conventional than the other. There are five formal methods used for most of
the jobs, these are, Printed media which includes national newspapers, local newspapers,
trade and professional journals, magazines. External agencies which includes job centers,
outplacement consultants, head-hunters, employment agencies, Forces Resettlement Agency,
Recruitment consultants. Education Liaison consists of careers service, career fairs, college
tutors, career advisors, student societies. Other media includes direct mail, local radio,
teletext, billboards, internet, TV and cinema. Professional contacts consist of conferences,
trade union referrals, suppliers, industry contacts.

There are some other methods that can be used such as word of mouth or ‘grapevine’. These
are cost effective as well. A lot of considerations must be taken into mind before deciding
which method to use. For example, it would be inappropriate to advertise for an engineer in a
medical journal. Another consideration is the number of applicants each method can yield
and the ability of the personnel specialists to administer them effectively. For example,
opening a new store would lead in creation of hundreds of new jobs. There is a new method

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of external recruitment known as E- recruitment or Internet Recruitment. In the first few
years of the 21st century it has been noticed that there is an expansion to include vacancies in
all work areas over the internet. Over 70 percent of employers were advertising some jobs on
the internet in 2003 (CIPD 2003b, p15). The web-based recruitment has changed the way the
recruitment industry operates, it is a revolutionary development. Internet Recruitment is of
four different forms, namely,

Employer websites it involves maintaining pages of vacancy as a part of their organization’s

websites. They are cheap to operate for the employee and provide numerous options to the
organization in choosing its employee. This method has drawbacks as well, this approach this
viable for large- sized employers within defined labor markets, medium or small-scale
employers will not benefit from this approach.
Cyber agencies involve making use of specialist employment agencies that operates on the
web, well known examples are Monster.com. They advertise the jobs as well as undertake
short listing on behalf of employers depending on the CV’s sent by candidates. Schreyer and
McCarter (1998, p. 222) stated that in time a handful of highly sophisticated, international
operations will emerge and carry general job vacancies on behalf of the industrialized world.

Conclusion

Smith (1994) differentiated between three forms of individual characteristics that relate to job
performance: ‘universals’ which refers to characteristics relevant to all jobs; ‘occupational’
which refers to characteristics preferable to a particular job or occupation; and lastly
‘relational’ it refers to characteristics relevant in a particular work setting. This structure
suggests that it is necessary to match characteristics of individuals with the characteristics of
the particular work setting. Research has shown that people who fit in the work setting are
more committed and satisfied compared to people who do not fit. (O’Reilly et al.1991). Thus,
recruitment and selection process is of utmost importance. Organizations have now got the
ability to construct appropriate models for recruitment and selection by using reliable and
valid techniques. Recruitment and selection are the first stage of interaction between
organizations and applicants, which forms the employment relationship. (Bratton and
Gold,1999, p.207). Recruitment and selection are a part of the broader process of
socialization. Selectors should be aware of how well particular methods predict future

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performance (their validity) and of different methods cost, accuracy of tests. Growing
awareness of the potential contribution of HR practices to business strategy (Guest and King,
2004) may increase organizational receptiveness to HR involvement (Wolf and Jenkins,
2006). Finally, I would like to conclude by saying that both the methods of recruitment,
internal and external are important for the functioning of the organization and also depends
upon the size of the organization. From the above argument we get a clear picture that
managers should be very strategic. They should look at the validity and reliability of every
method of selection. For example: we cannot use only CV’s to recruit a middle manager.

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