Contents

1. Synopsis 3

1.1 Introduction 3

1.2 Research 3

1.3 Discussion 3

1.4 Conclusion 3

1.5 Recommendation 3

2. Introduction 4

3.1 Part A: Recruitment 5

3.2 Part B: Selection 7

Here should be research!

4. Discussion 8

4.1 Part A: Recruiting 8

4.2 Part B: Selection 10

5. Conclusion 11

6. Recommendations 12

6.1 The interviewee must know who is interviewing them: 12

6.2 The interview must be conducted as a panel interview: 12

6.3 Potential employees must write about a time they were powerful: 12

6.4 The potential employee is informed about the recruitment and selection process of the company: 13

7. References 14

Part A – research is missing!

Make sure your Report is divided into two parts: a) is your research references go here THIS tells the reader what you have found! and b) is your discussion this is where to tell the reader what does all this mean!. This was discussed in Week 1, is shown in the sample report that was frequently mention, and is in the sample report that was send to you via email!

1. Synopsis

1.1 Introduction

The purpose of this report is to show the impact of the asymmetrical power between recruiters and potential employees in both the recruitment process and the selection process.

1.2 Research

Through multiple sources of academic journals, books and published articles, the power in the recruitment process and the power in the selection process were explored. The research for recruitment is to see whether recruiters have more power over potential employees. The research for selection is to see whether potential employees can affect the recruiter’s decision on what employee to select.

1.3 Discussion

The recruitment discussion will discuss the powers of interviewers and potential employees. The selection discussion will also discuss the powers of interviewers and potential candidates.

1.4 Conclusion

To conclude, from the research that was conducted both parties, the interviewer and the interviewee, have power.

1.5 Recommendation

To address the asymmetrical power between recruiters and potential employees, four key recommendations have been made. They are, the interviewee must know who is interviewing them, the interview must be conducted as a panel interview, potential employees must write about a time they were powerful, and the candidate is informed about the recruitment and selection process of the company.

2. Introduction

The recruitment process in any enterprise is a sensitive and dynamic human resource management application. The department of human resources must manage and handle the process of recruitment and selection with total care and the laws of the selection process must carefully consider that the interviewed individuals are the potential employees of the company. The mind-set of the recruiter is expected to be subjective and fair and they are expected to apply their minds to avoid prejudice or bias during the process. The previous literature suggested that there are many conflicts that may limit the effectiveness of the recruitment process such as conflict of interest, racist tendencies, and prejudice (Odeku, 2015). On the other hand, the asymmetric power between the recruiter and the potential employee is another important aspect that may rise conflict leading to ineffective recruitment process/ the paper will discuss the asymmetry in power between the recruiter and the candidate to find the best recommendations for the potential arising conflict.

3. Research

3.1 Part A: Recruitment

Social power has been defined by many researchers. According to Goodwin (1993), social power is defined by when person A has control over the outcome of person B then we can conclude that person A has power over person B. She goes on to define symmetrical power when person A and person B have equal control over the outcomes of each other. On the contrary, she defines asymmetrical power when person A has complete power over person B outcomes, but person B does not have any control over the outcomes of person A.

In the workforce, recruiters are often depicted as more powerful than potential employees. This is because the outcome of whether the potential employee is going to get the job or not, is based on the decision of the recruiter. However, recent studies have proved that the opposite is correct. Saks (2005) states that there is a high percentage of employers that are struggling to attract and retain employees with the desired skills, which could be because of the power that potential employees have.

There are many definitions for recruitment. Klikauer (2019) defines recruitment as “the process of finding and attracting suitably qualified people to apply for employment.”. He further discusses how the recruitment process balances the desired staffing positions with the current staffing positions. Saks (2005) describes desirable candidates as employees with skills that can help the organisation achieve its objectives, which is linked to the definition of recruitment.

To attract the right type of applicants and enough applicants, a recruitment activity should be designed around the target applicants (Kilkauer, 2019). Hubschmid (2012) discusses the importance of a clear strategy for the target group. She recommends that the recruitment activities are designed around the target group. The designed activities can be around the target group’s needs, and expectations.

Applicants want justice and fairness during the recruitment process, which is discussed by Hausknecht, Day and Thomas (2004). Applicants look for opportunities during the recruitment process to showcase their knowledge and skills. Applicants around the world see that interviews and work samples are a lot fairer than personality tests and personal contacts.

3.2 Part B: Selection

Selection has been defined by many researchers. Klikauer (2019) defines selection as “the process of making a choice of the most appropriate person from the pool of the job applicants recruited to fill the relevant job vacancy.”. He further goes on to describe the four types of interviews that the human resource managers use for the selection process.

As stated earlier, potential employees usually see themselves as being weaker than the recruiter because the decision of them getting the job is up to the recruiter. The fear potential employees experience before and during an interview can lead them to performing poorly in an interview, which in turn will give the recruiter power (Rynes, Bretz & Gerhart, 1991).

However, in the selection process, recruiters are the ones that are powerless and potential employees are the ones that have the power. Gordon, Rozelle, and Baxter (1988) discuss how the recruiter is pressured during the selection process. The recruiter is pressurised because he/she will be held accountable for the performance of the selected employee.

4. Discussion

4.1 Part A: Recruiting

In the recruiting process, usually, the employers are expected to be the more powerful side when compared to the potential employees. That may be true because it is clear that the decision of recruiting the potential candidate for a certain position is controlled by the employer. However, when it comes to choosing the right candidate, the employer may struggle in two cases. The first case is when they cannot find an employee with the proper skill, and the second case is when they face many candidates that may be potentials for the same position. During the recruiting process, a symmetrical relation can be experienced between the employer and the potential employee since both parties can be reviewing each other.

One of the responsibilities in an organisation is to develop a reputation that attracts skilled people to apply for jobs in the organisation. One of the main factors for a good reputation is fairness and justice during the recruiting process. If skilled people are not experiencing fairness and justice, they may not be interested in applying to work for the organisation. This can be achieved by promoting the good qualities of the organisation and what the organisation can offer to the potential employees when the organisation is advertising for the job. Another way this can be achieved is to inform the candidates about the recruitment process as well as the selection process that way the candidates know what to expect when they apply for the job.

One of the main aspects that may lead to an asymmetrical relation is that the candidates consider themselves weaker than the employer. This may lead clearly to low performance during the interview. One of the solutions for this can be driven by the recruiter by being friendly and making the interviewed person comfortable. The recruiter can make the interviewee feel more powerful by boosting their confidence, by helping them to recall a past moment where they felt powerful. This may lead to a better outcome from the potential employee. Furthermore, to maintain a symmetrical relation with the potential employee, it is good to clarify any misunderstanding and confirm the information before the final decision either by a phone call or by a short email.

4.2 Part B: Selection

After the interview process and during the selection process, another type of asymmetrical relation may develop where the recruiter may become powerless, especially when they are pressured during this process to choose the right candidate. This can be avoided by attracting the most suitable candidates for each position by developing proper communication channels by many social media platforms such as LinkedIn or other recruiting websites.

5. Conclusion

To conclude, during the recruitment process, the power between the recruiter and the potential employee is asymmetric. The recruiter has more power over the candidate, which may lead to bias in the assessment of the potential employee. For a more effective recruitment process, it is recommended that the candidate acquire more power. Enhancing the position of the candidate is recommended through increased comfortability, increasing number of interviewers, enhancing their confidence, and clear recruitment process.

6. Recommendations

Based on the research that was conducted and the discussions made, four recommendations have been provided to overcome the asymmetrical power in relationships during the recruiting and selection process can be overcome:

6.1 The interviewee must know who is interviewing them:

When a person is invited to interview, they must be told who will interview them and the position of the interviewer. It is up to the candidate to research the interviewer. When the candidate knows facts about the interviewer, they are more likely to feel comfortable during the interview and show the recruiter that they have done their “homework”, they might have common interests.

6.2 The interview must be conducted as a panel interview:

Rather than having one person conducting the interview there should be more to avoid any possible bias towards the candidate.

6.3 Potential employees must write about a time they were powerful:

It is recommended that applicants are asked to write a paragraph about a time where they were in control and they felt powerful as discussed by Fast, et al. (2009). Lammers et al. (2013) explain that by saying that it helps the potential employees to be more commanding, self-assured, and confident during their interview. Thus, it can be beneficial for potential employees to write a paragraph about a time they were powerful.

6.4 The potential employee is informed about the recruitment and selection process of the company:

It is highly recommended that the candidate is informed about the recruitment process as well as the selection process prior to applying for the job. This will make both the recruiter and the interviewee comfortable because the interviewee will know what to expect and the recruiter will not take full responsibility if the candidate does not get offered the job.

Recommendations are the core of a report. This is “why” people write a report! Your recommendations need to be 4 short action statements on what to do! Each recommendation needs to be linked back to your research part and your discussion part. That means each recommendation needs two references (ref.1 research & ref.2 discussion part) at the end of each recommendation so that the reader can see where the research is for this recommendation and where the discussion is. Recommendations are short actions statements outlining “what to do!” And: They need to be linked back to your research (part A) and discussion (part B). By doing that a reader can see where the research (paet A) for this particular recommendation is and where you have discussed (part B) the issue that leads to this recommendation. You need to show the link between:

“reseaech  discussion  recommendation”

For that each recommendation should have two references (p. XX; p. YY)!

7. References

Goodwin, S 1993, Impression Formation in Asymmetrical Power Relationships: Does Power Corrupt Absolutely?, thesis, University of Massachusetts Amherst,viewed 1 November 2020, Scholar works @UMass Amherst <https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3371&context=theses>

Klikauer, T 2019, Managing People in Organisations, Macmillan Higher Education, Red Globe Press, London.

Saks, AM 2005, “The Impracticality of Recruitment Research”, The Blackwell Handbook of Personnel Selection, viewed 3 November 2020, Wiley Online Library, DOI: 10.1002/9781405164221.ch3.

Gordon, RA, Rozelle, RM, & Baxter, JC 1988, ‘The Effect of Applicant Age, Job Level and Accountability on the Evaluation of Job Applicants’, Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Process, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 20-33, viewed 3 November 2020, Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals Complete, DOI: 10.1016/0749-5978(88)90044-1.

Rynes, SL, Bretz JR, RD, Gerhart, B 1991, ‘The Importance of Recruitment in Job Choice: A Different Way of Looking’, Personnel Psychology, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 487-521, viewed 5 November 2020, Wiley Online Library, DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-6570.1991.tb02402.x.

Hausknecht, JP, Day, DV, & Thomas, SC 2004, ‘Applicant Reactions to Selection Procedures: An Updated Model and Meta‐Analysis’, Personnel Psychology, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 639-683, viewed 7 November 2020, Wiley Online Library, DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-6570.2004.00003.x.

Fast, NJ, Gruenfeld, DH, Sivanathan, N & Galinsky, AD 2009, ‘Illusory Control: A Generative Force Behind Power’s Far-Reaching Effects’, Psychological Science, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 502-508, viewed 7 November 2020, Sage Journals, DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02311.x.

Lammers, J, Dubois, D, Rucker, DD & Galinsky, AD 2013, ‘Power gets the job: Priming power improves interview outcomes’, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 776-779, viewed 12 November 2020, Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals Complete, DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2013.02.008.

Odeku, K. 2015, ‘The role of Interviewers in job effective recruitment and selection processes’, Journal of Governance and Regulation, vol. 4, no. 1, viewed 12 November 2020, Research Gate, DOI: 10.22495/jgr_v4_i1_c2_p5.

Overall, this is a good report – some minor problems but overall good:

Report 15 / 12