Unit 2: Recruitment, training and career development
Human Resource Management notes · PTU syllabus (MCOP205-18)
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Unit summary
Hiring the right people and growing them through training and careers is the core of HRM. This unit covers recruitment and selection, induction and placement, training and development methods and their evaluation, HRM vs HRD, career planning and development, and internal mobility — promotion, transfer, demotion, separation, downsizing and outplacement.
After this unit you can
- Explain the recruitment and selection process
- Explain training methods and evaluation, and distinguish HRM and HRD
- Explain career planning and development
- Explain promotion, transfer, demotion, separation, downsizing and outplacement
PTU syllabus topics
- Recruitment and selection process and methods
- induction and placement
- training and development methods and evaluating effectiveness
- HRM vs HRD
- career planning and development process
- internal mobility — promotion
- transfer
- demotion
- separation
- downsizing and outplacement
Sources
Promotion, transfer, referrals
Ads, portals, campuses, agencies
Cost and time
Lower, faster
Higher, slower
Morale
Motivates existing staff
May disappoint insiders
New ideas
Fewer
Fresh talent and ideas
Topic 1
Recruitment
Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply.
Examples
Promotions, transfers, employee referrals, former employees
Advertisements, campus recruitment, job portals, consultants, walk-ins
Advantages
Cheaper, motivates staff, known candidates
Wider choice, fresh ideas
Disadvantages
Limited choice, inbreeding
Costly, time-consuming
A recruitment policy sets principles: reservation norms, preference for internal candidates, use of referrals and ethical practices.
Topic 2
Selection, placement and induction
- 1
Preliminary screening
- 2
Application blank
- 3
Selection tests
Aptitude, intelligence, personality, skill
- 4
Interviews
Structured, unstructured, panel, stress
- 5
Reference and background checks
- 6
Medical examination
- 7
Final selection and job offer
Placement puts the selected person in the job for which they are best suited. Induction (orientation) introduces new employees to the organisation, its people, policies and culture so they settle in quickly.
Exam tip
Recruitment is positive (it attracts applicants); selection is negative (it rejects unsuitable ones) — a classic short answer.
Topic 3
Methods of training and development
On-the-job
Job instruction, coaching, apprenticeship, job rotation, understudy
Practical skills at the workplace
Off-the-job
Lectures, case studies, role play, simulations, vestibule training, e-learning
Concepts, behaviour, safety
Development prepares employees, especially managers, for future roles: management games, sensitivity training, conferences, mentoring, executive education.
Focus
Current job skills
Future growth
For
Non-managers mostly
Managers mostly
Duration
Short term
Long term
Initiated by
Management
Often the individual too
Kirkpatrick's four levels of evaluation: reaction, learning, behaviour and results.
Evaluating training effectiveness
- Results
Business outcomes — productivity, quality, sales
- Behaviour
Transfer of learning to the job
- Learning
Knowledge and skills gained (tests)
- Reaction
Trainee satisfaction
- Phillips adds ROI as a fifth level.
Topic 4
HRM vs HRD
Scope
All people management functions
Sub-system focused on learning and growth
Focus
Efficiency, administration, compliance
Development of competencies and potential
Nature
Maintenance and control
Proactive, developmental
Tools
Recruitment, pay, IR
Training, coaching, career planning, OD
- HRD mechanisms (T.V. Rao): performance appraisal, potential appraisal, feedback and counselling, career planning, training, OD, rewards, employee welfare.
Topic 5
Career planning and development
Career planning is the process by which an employee identifies career goals and the path to reach them; the organisation helps through career paths, counselling and opportunities.
- 1Self-assessment
Skills, interests, values
- 2Explore opportunities
- 3Set career goals
- 4Plan actions
Training, experience
- 5Implement and review
Benefits: better retention, motivation and a ready pool of talent for succession.
Topic 6
Internal mobility and separation
- Promotion: upward movement to a higher position with more responsibility and pay — bases: merit, seniority, merit-cum-seniority; dry promotion (title without pay).
- Transfer: lateral movement with similar pay and status — production, replacement, rotation, remedial, versatility transfers.
- Demotion: downward movement — for poor performance, disciplinary reasons, or organisational restructuring; should follow due process.
- Separation: resignation (voluntary), retirement (superannuation, VRS), termination/dismissal, retrenchment, death.
- Downsizing: planned reduction of workforce to improve efficiency; methods — hiring freeze, VRS, layoffs; risks — survivor syndrome, loss of knowledge.
- Outplacement: employer-sponsored support for exiting employees — counselling, resume help, job search assistance — protects goodwill.
- Exit interviews reveal reasons for attrition.
Key terms
- Recruitment
- Searching for prospective employees and encouraging them to apply
- Induction
- Introducing new employees to the organisation
- HRD
- Developing employees' competencies and potential
- Promotion
- Upward movement with increased responsibility and pay
- Outplacement
- Support services for employees leaving the organisation
Quick revision
- Recruitment sources: internal and external; selection steps.
- Training methods: on-the-job and off-the-job; Kirkpatrick evaluation.
- HRM vs HRD; HRD mechanisms.
- Career planning: stages, process, mentoring.
- Mobility: promotion (merit vs seniority), transfer, demotion; separation, downsizing, outplacement.
Important exam questions
Practice questions written to the PTU exam pattern for this unit's syllabus: short answers (Section A style) and long answers (Sections B and C style).
Short-answer questions
- Q1.Distinguish recruitment and selection.
- Q2.What is induction?
- Q3.Name Kirkpatrick's levels of training evaluation.
- Q4.Distinguish HRM and HRD.
- Q5.What is a dry promotion?
- Q6.What is outplacement?
Long-answer questions
- Q1.Explain the recruitment and selection process.
- Q2.Explain training methods and the evaluation of training effectiveness.
- Q3.Explain career planning and development.
- Q4.Explain promotion, transfer, demotion, separation and downsizing.
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