Effective Recruitment and Selection for Electronic Media Organization.

1.0 Introduction

An effective approach to recruitment and selection can help an organization to maximize the competitive advantages by choosing the best pool of candidates quickly and cost efficiently (Kleiman, 2005). As the growing challenges in entertainment business, consumers have various options flooded with different platforms. This had severely affected with growing challenges with technology developments. From conventional entertainments such as Radio, CD, DVD & Television to social media, you tube, music apps, live stream, online stores had taken over consumers in different modes with loads of convenience. This era had transformed where consumers can enjoy specific content where ever and whenever he/she wants to access. So specific time and place oriented entertainment had become irrelevant in 21^st century. It is identified as a challenging market for mature electronic business in Srilanka as a developing country with rising middle income population. On other hand growing older population and rural population penetration are few supporting factor for this industry.

2.0 Strategic Human resource management for electronic media business.

Strategic human resource management (SHRM) represents a relatively new transformation in the field of human resource management. SHRM is solicitous with the role human resource management systems play in firm execution, particularly focusing on the alignment of human resources as a means of gaining competitive advantage. (Armstrong 2009). The key aspect is to gain competencies to cater audiences through SHRM. The resource-based view suggests that human resource systems can contribute to continuous competitive advantage through facilitating the development of competencies that are firm specific (Porter 1985). On other hand, strategic human resource management is “the creation of linkage or integration between the overall strategic aims of business and the human resource strategy and implementation. In specific, the processes and people within the company to business strategy and create an integrated approach to managing the various human resource functions, such as selection, training and reward so that they complement each other” (Lynda et al., 1999). Strategic human resource management may bring a number of benefits to the organization such as creating and maintaining a competitive advantage for the company, Improving the responsiveness and innovation and Increasing the number of feasible strategic options available to the company(Chris et al., -2000). For instance, electronic media organization which identified had start focusing on recruiting popular social media personalities to gain competitive advantage.

3.0 Effective Recruitment and selections

Recruitment is the process by which organizations locate and attract individuals to fill job vacancies (Fisher, Schoenfeldt & Shaw, 2004; Kleiman, 2005). According to Khan (2008), recruitment means informing the market that new people are going to be appointed, which can be done through publicity and advertisement. The primary purpose of recruiting is identifying and attracting potential employees (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright, 2006). Recruitment and selection within an organization is an integral part of an organization’s overall human resource management and planning process. As such, it is related closely to other human resource management processes, for instance, job design, human resource development, performance appraisal and management, reward systems, career and succession planning, promotions and transfers. Two key concepts underlie modern human resource management (HRM) practice and are reflected in all activities concerned with the attraction, maintenance and separation of an organization’s employees. They are: a) employees as human resources, human capital or organizational assets, b) human resource management as a long-term, integrative and accountable strategic process (Compton, Morrissey, and Nankervis. 2014).

Selection follows the recruitment process and its aim is to select from a group of applicants the individual who are suited best for a particular position. Selection thus adequately matches the job applicant with the job requirements (e.g. job descriptions and job specifications) (Harris 2000; Ivancevich 2004; Amos et al. 2005). The selection process generally begins by reviewing the applications obtained through the recruitment efforts. As in the case of recruitment, the steps in the selection process are sequential in nature. Table 1 below lists the synopsis of the proposed steps obtained from a literature survey (Byars and Rue 1994; Harris 2000; Werther and Davis 2003; Ivancevich 2004). Again it should be noted that the application of these processes and steps may differ from one organization to the next depending on situational factors (Carrel et al. 1999; Mathis and Jackson 2008).

Table 1: Common sequential steps in the selection process

No of Steps	Process	Practical application on selected organization
Step 01	Reception and initial screening interview	HRD identifies Job vacancies to be fulfilled immediately to achieve Organizational goals and objectives consulting with each HOD( head of Departments). At this stage each HOD's Need to submit suitable candidate profiles and Job description along with suitable CV's received through referrals. Based on profiles identified, HRD will decide on medium to be advertised. Eg- If there is many vacancies to be filled with basic qualification- They will USE own Media Channels on TV and radio Platform in multilingual approach. CV's Received will be shared among line managers and HOD's for screening and interviewing.
Step 02	Application form	HOD's Line managers will short list potential candidates and call for interview at first Round interviewing. Then the selected candidates will be forwarded to HR for the second round shortlist.
Step 03	In-depth selection interview	After the second round interviewing, HR will short list further in to identify top three candidates and forward it to Group Directors for final selections.
Step 04	Background and reference checking	The secretary of group directors will do a background check and reference check before fixing an appointment with GD. At this stage GD will explain the organizational culture and expected commitments from the selected final three candidates. Here Job Analysis will be done if the selected candidates will suit any other vacant positions within the other group of companies.
Step 05	Medical examination and physical pre-employment testing	Selected candidates will submit relevant documents to the HR and HR will offer a letter of medical appointment at partnered leading hospital in Colombo to the candidates to check their medical history and suitability of job category.
Step 06	Assessment centers	after thorough check, Candidates will be interviewed by group CEO, Along with HR and GD.
Step 07	Make a final hiring decision	after the final interview, CEO, GD and HR will identify the suitable candidate for the vacancy available.
Step 08	Final decision and make a fair job offer	The selected candidate will be notified and will sign off the documents as per the terms and agreements discussed through out this selection process. Then appointment letter will be handed over considering an auspicious time date.

(Source: Harris 2000; Werther and Davis 2003; Ivancevich 2004)

Therefore, employee recruitment and selection involve those organizational activities that influence the number or types of applicants who apply for a position and affect whether a job offer is accepted. Emphasizing the strategic importance of these functions, Kundu (2007) defined the concept as actions and activities taken by an organization in order to identify and attract individuals to the organization who have the capabilities to help the organization realize its strategic objectives. There is a fairly extensive body of research focused on explaining the success of individual recruits selected based on factors such as the choice of recruiting techniques (Dessler, 2007; Arsad, 2012). Employee recruitment and selection are hence part of the overall staffing process of the organization, which also includes human resource (HR) planning, recruitment, and retention activities. By doing human resource planning, the organization projects its likely demand for personnel with particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), and compares that to the anticipated availability of such personnel in the internal or external labor markets (Vlachos, 2009). This concludes a brief orientation and theoretical exposition of the recruitment and selection process. The main purposes of this section were to illustrate the intricate link between the paradigmatic development of HRM and recruitment and selection. In this sense, theoretical approaches and models were considered, as well as common sequential steps identified that form part of the recruitment and selection process.

4.0 Strategic Integration

Millmore (2003) argues that in order for recruitment and selection to be categorized as strategic, it must display three separate features. These include strategic integration, long-term focus, and a method for interpreting strategic demands into a suitable recruitment and selection design. Strategic integration is viewed as a key feature in human resource management. In the strategic alignment it is important to match resources to a developing and ever changing environment. Adding to this, Sparrow and Hiltrop (1994), in Millmore, (2003), states how important the recruitment and selection process is in an organization, and that this process aligns the performance of employees with the corporate strategy. Strategic integration aligns the business strategies with the constantly changing business environment. Monks (1993) in Vernon and Brewster, (2013), suggests that those who have more experience in human resources tend to encourage a more strategic approach. Therefore, human resource management plays a key role in the formation of strategic integration (Millmore, 2003). Figure 1. Illustrates the integration of recruitment and selection strategic integration is shown below. It is important to note that recruitment and selection in HRM plays a significant role in an organization as it aligns the workforce to the organizations objectives’.

Figure 1: framework of recruitment and selection strategic integration

(Source- Chanda and Bansal, 2010).

Recruitment and selection form a major part of an organization’s overall resourcing strategies, which identifies and secures people needed for an organization to survive and succeed in the short to medium-term (Elwood & James, 1996). In fact, the basic purpose of recruitment is to create a pool of suitably qualified candidates to enable the selection of the best candidates for the organization, by attracting more and more employees to apply in the organization whereas the basic purpose of selection process is to choose the right candidate to fill the various positions in the organization (Gamage, 2014). According to the figure 1, selected Organization of electronic media have implemented C4C (sap cloud for customer) systems to synchronize work flow, in-line with business objectives to efficiently optimize human resource as to gain competitive advantages. This approach significantly contribute SHRM practice as C4C process is helping the organization to reduce duplication for serving consumer needs.

5.0 Challenges of Recruitment and Selection

The success of recruitment depends upon finding the people with the right skills, qualification and expertise to deliver organization objectives and the ability to make a positive contribution to the values and aims of the organization (CIPD, 2009). Briggs (2007), identified some of the problem affecting recruitment and selection as, the increasing pressure for employment, utilization of informal sources of recruitment and delegation of recruitment function. These problems have resulted to inadequate use of job description and standard employee requirement in the process of recruitment. Kaplan and Norton (2004), indicates that a common problem in recruitment and selection is poor Human Resource Planning (HRM). This is particularly so with recruitment and selection policies and practices. The key goal of HR planning is to get the right number of people with the right skills, experience and competencies in the right jobs at the right time at the right cost. Detailed and robust recruitment and selection policies, such as recruitment and selection procedures, assessing criteria, talents auditing and processing the information about the labour market are important in recruiting and deploying appropriate employees at the right time. Organization that are less selective or hire lower-skilled employees are likely to experience significant effects on productivity, while hiring a mismatched employee can result in poor performance and higher turnover rates (Batt, 2002). Scholars have argued that other key issues and controversies run through analyses of human resource management and recruitment and selection: efficiency, control, and the difficulty of orienting practice towards social justice are often cited. The first two problematic, as (Burton, 2001) notes, have been central to the management of people for as long as managers have been present in organizations. The latter is also common across all organizations, but is a particular academic and policy concern for smaller or growing organizations (Burton, 2001).

6.0 Conclusion

Recruitment and selection in any organization is a serious business as the success of any organization or efficiency in service delivery depends on the quality of its workforce who was recruited into the organization through recruitment and selection exercises (Ezeali and Esiagu, 2010). Bohlander, Snell & Sherman (2001) reported that it is important for managers to understand the objectives, policies and practices used for selection. More importantly, those responsible for making selection decisions should have adequate information upon which to base their decisions. As Robbins (2005) observed, organization’s human resource policies and practices represent important forces for shaping employee behavior and attitudes. In view of the findings, the study suggests that in designing and instituting recruitment and selection criteria quality should not be compromised. This is more so as the right type of labour is hard to come by. Furthermore, given that organizational environment is ever changing, the media business management is implored to constantly evaluate the selection methods on the basis of innovation & creativity to gain competitive advantages.

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