Recruitment And Selection

Background

Perth Convention Centre is WA's largest and only purpose-built convention, exhibition and meeting centre. This multi-million dollar Convention Centre includes facilities such as six exhibition pavilions, a 2,500-seat tiered auditorium, 19 specialist meeting rooms, and also grand ballrooms with spectacular views of Perth's sparkling Swan River (Perth Convention Exhibition Centre 2005). Spotless, a service provider company, signed a contract with the Convention Centre "to mobilise construction (with builder, Multiplex), market the various conference and exhibition facilities and provide ongoing management services for the entire centre" ('It's set to be Perth's Centre of Excellence' 2004).

Introduction

As the Perth Convention Centre has already conferences and exhibitions worth of $100 million booked through 2010 and expected to inject $2.2 billion into the WA economy, indeed the organisation would need a reliable and outstanding human resource to promote this new icon in Western Australia ('It's set to be Perth's Centre of Excellence' 2004). The recent job vacancy of the position Banquet Sales Manager for the Convention Centre shows the vitality of the recruitment and selection process for this position in turn for the organisation to achieve its ultimate goal (Appendix 1). This assignment will cover the analysis of what approach to be used to ensure that a large number of appropriately qualified external applicants apply for this position and why; and also what approach to be used to identify the best candidate from among these external applicants and why.

Job analysis

Job analysis is basically "a systematic way to gather and analyse information about the content, context, and human requirements of jobs" (Mathis & Jackson 2005, pp.55). It is one of the crucial factors when determining a job especially in recruitment and selection. "Job analysis information aids the recruitment process by establishing the job requirements to be met and thus identifying who to recruit (and how and where to recruit them), helping the HR manager to attract better qualified candidates. In addition, job analysis identifies the irrelevant and distorted job information, thus permitting the HR manager to provide realistic job previews," (Stone 2002, pp. 144). Job analysis information also "assists the selection process by identifying what the job is by defining its duties and responsibilities. This facilitates the development of job-related selection techniques, helps ensure that equal employment opportunities requirements are met and increases the likelihood of a proper matching of an applicant with the job" (Stone 2002, pp. 144).

As described in the position description (provided by Spotless - Appendix 2), the position Banquet Sales Manager, "is responsible for an effective sales activity programme to generate local function businesses in line with corporate objectives, as well as the booking, contracting and efficient co-ordination of the events to ensure that client requirements and expectations are met". The job dimension for this position consists of the ability of sales development, capability of good events management, upholding the policies and procedures of both the company, having the aptitude of resource management, and most importantly good communication (Appendix 2).

In terms of the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA), appendix 3 illustrates the KSAs in the pre-requisite personal qualities and capabilities table of the position Banquet Sales Manager. This includes experience, customer service orientation, quality orientation, plans and coordinates work, interpersonal conduct, achievement orientation, team orientation, communication, business acumen, market knowledge, sales knowledge, and also other desirable experience/knowledge.

Part A:

Recruitment

With the aim of "attraction and retention of the interest of suitable applicants, and the projection of a positive image of the organisation to those who come in contact with" (ed. Beardwell & Holden 1994, pp. 192), recruitment is defined as "the process of seeking and attracting a pool of qualified applicants from which candidates for job vacancies can be selected" (Stone 2002, pp. 187). The purpose of recruitment includes increasing the pool of job applicants with reasonable cost, meeting the organisation's legal and social obligations regarding the demographic composition of its workforce, and also helping increase the success rate of the selection process by reducing the percentage of applicants who are either poorly qualified or have the wrong skills" (Gatewood & Feild 2001, pp. 10). Here, we will be looking at the recruitment of the external sources. There are four elements of recruitment that would ensure a large number of appropriately qualified external applicants to apply for this position; recruitment sources, recruiter personnel, the administration of the recruitment process, and the content of the message (Gatewood & Feild 2001).

The Source

The sources of the external recruitment includes advertising, associations and unions, colleges (universities) and secondary schools, employee referral programs, employment agencies, walk-ins, and internet (Gatewood & Feild 2001). Before making a decision on which sources to apply in terms of recruitment, it is important to first consider the nature of the job being recruited, the image of the company in the external labour market, the attitudes of current employees, and the demographic mix of applicants being sought (Gatewood & Feild 2001). In the next few pages are the few sources that would make a good match with the recruitment of the position, Banquet Sales Manager.

Advertising:

Advertising is a message containing general information about the job and the organisation placed in various media including newspapers, radio and television, magazines, directories, direct mail, and outdoor (roadside billboards) and transit (posters on busses and subways) (Stone 2002). Appendix 4 illustrates a table defining the advantages and disadvantages of the major types of advertising media. As explained in appendix 4, advertising the job vacancy would best fit in magazines especially in the specialized magazines (Managers' Magazine, HR magazine) would reach pinpointed occupation categories (Stone 2002). Despite the fact that