.
Introduction/Background/Context
Open Campus project refers to a collaborative programme that helps in delivering sport as well as physical activity opportunities to various school children in Cardiff. These opportunities are in Cyncoed campus or in schools in addition to communities across the city that offer world-class facilities. The respective sport and physical activities usually take place either after school or during the curricular time. Consequently, Open Campus uses Cardiff Met students and enhances their degree programme by offering opportunities for getting involved in various real-life aspects in society. These include education, coaching, management, or performance support roles, among others. In this sense, it introduces children to sports and activities in a supported. Additionally, it exposes them to a safe environment by providing opportunities for all the children to get involved. Additionally, Open Campus also offers progression opportunities for individuals who have an interest in continuing to participate in the Cardiff Met Academy programme.
According to Mondy (2008, p. 2), recruitment refers to the process of attracting people in sufficient numbers, on a timely basis as well as those with required qualifications to make applications for jobs within an organization. Walker (2009, p. 95) adds that these individuals attracted maybe from an organization or outside an organization. On the other hand, Mondy (2008, p. 3) describes selection as the process of making a choice of the individuals that is best suited for a given position for the organization from a group of applicants.
Recruitment and selection are significant to organizations, and therefore, it is important to conduct these processes in an effective manner. Ekwaoba, Ikeije, and Ufoma (2015, p. 23) assert that successful appointment of individuals in an organization can produce positive results that impact wider aspects of the life of an organization in a favourable manner. Ofori and Aryeetey (2011, p.45) support this position by stating that the right number and quality are crucial in satisfying the various strategic objectives of a given organization at a reduced cost. On the other hand, poor appointments of individuals would have adverse effects on the organization. The reason for this is that the performance as well as the success of an organization, is directly related to the people who work in the organization. In this sense, workplace failures lead to under-achievement hence the need for conscious efforts put in human resource planning (Djabety, 2012, p. 5).
Teixeira (2002, p. 7) states that the Human Capital Theory advanced by Adam Smith, conceives people as fixed capitals just like machines. In this sense, people have skills and abilities that are useful, which have genuine cost as well as yield profits. Therefore choosing people that are the requisite skills, experience, as well as abilities and are ready to deploy them in the interest of an employing organization provides a significant contribution to the success of an organization. Moreover, they offer a crucial competitive advantage to the organization (Armstrong, 2006, p. 3). Therefore there is a significant and positive relationship that exists between recruitment and selection and an organization’s performance, as stated by Gamage (2014, p. 42). Subsequently, the implementation of a recruitment and selection process that is effective is positively related to the performance of an organization as advanced by Syed and Jama in 2012 (p. 46).
Therefore the purpose of recruitment of students would be to ensure the success and efficiency of the Open Campus project, which is a multi-disciplinary sports community-based programme. As a result, it would lead to effective management as well as leadership of the Open Campus programme. The delivery of efficient services of the programme would depend on the quality of the workforce that recruited and selected into the programme. Consequently, effective recruitment and selection of students from across all sport disciplines would be vital to ensure that the programme succeeds.
There are various roles that would form part of the comprehensive work-related placement scheme. In this sense, it will underpin the academic studies of the students. In addition to this, it will permit them to engage in experiential learning opportunities in various settings that are appropriate. These roles include the following; Open Campus Sport and Physical Activity Lead, which are seven positions available, Schools Sports Association Placement having four available positions, Primary Schools Officer with five available positions, Secondary Schools Officer having two positions available, and On the Move activator with four available positions. Furthermore, thirteen positions are available for Assistant Academy Marketing and Support, three available positions for Student Union Sports Marketing Student Assistant, six open positions for Communications and Fitness Class Coordinator, as well as six available positions for Facilities, Marketing, and Events Assistant among others. All these positions have specific roles and duties that would ensure the success of the project.
I choose the role of the Facilities, Marketing, and Events Assistant in the Open Campus project. The role of this position is to enhance, support as well as deliver the daily operations of a leisure facility at Cardiff Met. Additionally, ensure that under the direction of the Facility Duty Manager, ensure that the sports facilities and the areas associated are getting maintenance in a proper manner. Moreover, ensure that there are high standards of sports programme and the delivery of services at all hours. Furthermore, to provide support for the running and marketing of all major events at Cardiff Met.
CIMSPA refers to the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity. In ensuring that the Open Campus project or programme succeeds it will adhere to the CIMSPA professional standards. CIMSPA professional standards as a framework present jobs and occupations roles found in the sector of sport and physical activity. It achieves this through the definition of the skills and knowledge that a person ought to comprehend as well as demonstrate to undertake a given role. Therefore there are various skills and knowledge that the various sports professionals should have to effectively carry out their roles. As a consequence, to ensure that the Open Campus project succeeds, recruitment and selection of students to various posts would depend on the skills and knowledge that they possess with reference to sports.
Recruitment and selection processes form a vital aspect of the central activities that underlie the management and leadership of an organization. Recruitment and selection, therefore, influence worker performance as well as positive outcomes for an organization. According to Dessler (2000, p.3), the selection of people to fill various positions in an organization does not take place just to make replacements of the departing employees or increase the existing workforce. On the contrary, the process of selection has the objective of putting in place people who can perform at levels that are high as well as make a demonstration of commitment. Therefore right people are needed for the position of Facilities, Marketing, and Events Assistant to ensure the roles of this position are performed effectively to the success of the project. The quality of new people for the various positions in an organization depends on the recruitment and selection process and practices. In this sense, the relative effectiveness of the recruitment and selection process would lead to the right people for the given roles in an organization. To ensure that there are effective recruitment and selection of individuals fill the six positions of Facilities, Marketing, and Events Assistant, will follow the process below;
Advertisement and promotion of the position.
Advertising and promoting the position of Facilities, Marketing, and Events Assistant is crucial in creating awareness of the existence of this position. To ensure that the right people are attracted to this position and apply, advertisement and promotion would take place on both media and electronic print. The information in the advertisement would use communication as its basic underlying principle and have wordings that trigger responses from individuals seeking to fill this position (Nel et al., 2009, p. 226). The advertisement will not have any form of discrimination. The job description, role and responsibilities, knowledge, skills and competencies, and the qualifications of the position will also be included in the advertisement and promotion as well as when the applications are due. The advertisement and promotion, therefore, will take place in various schools in Cardiff in addition to campuses. Moreover, the communities across the city will be another area where advertisement and promotion will take place. Various posters, brochures, pamphlets, among other print media, will be distributed to these areas. Media will also play a role in advertising and promoting the position like the local television channel, social media, among others. The advertisement and promotion will take place for a month to ensure that the information reaches as many people as possible and attracts the best people suited for the position. Various project coordinators will carry out the advertisement and promotion of the positions, and they will do this for about four hours a day. The potential cost for the advertisement and promotion of the positions will be about £750.
Selecting the candidates
The second stage will involve going through all the applications that various individuals sent during the application process. The process would sieve the applicants that do not meet the qualifications of the role of Facilities, Marketing, and Events Assistant. In this sense, those that do not meet the CIMSPA professional standards, a minimum of at least one year experience in the relevant field, among other qualifications, will not proceed to the next level. The process will involve the project managers in the Facilities, Marketing, and Events department. It will take place for about two weeks, and the associated potential cost will be about £250. The process will ensure that the most qualified applicants progress to the next level.
Calling candidates for interview
After the process of determining the most suitable applicants, the next phase will be contacting the successful candidates to come for an interview. This process will be in two phases, that is sending an email telling the candidate of their successful application and inviting them for an interview. The time, place, venue, and date of the interview will also be included in the email together with the documentation that the candidate should carry to the interview. In addition, all the candidates will be contacted through phone calls to ensure all the successful candidates that meet the qualifications are aware of the interview. The process of contacting the candidates for the interview will be reserved for the two secretaries of the project and will take three days. The potential cost associated with this process will be £100.
Undertaking the interviews
Saviour et al. (2017, p. 28) stated that interviewing is the most widely used single method that various organizations usually use in selection. The interviews will take place in two faces. The first one will involve a psychological test where the candidates will go through the process of answering various questions online. The psychological test will seek to get the right attitude and motivation for the position. The test will take about fifteen minutes before one goes to the next interview stage. The results of the psychological test will be crucial in selecting the best candidates and will be used together with the face to face interview that follows.
The second part of the interview will involve a face to face interview. Here the various candidates will face a panel of three interviewers for an interview. The interview session will take about thirty minutes. The questions will range from experience, knowledge of the roles and responsibilities of the position, sporting activities, events, marketing as well as other perceptions that the candidate has concerning some issues in society. For each question asked, there will be marks allocated for the responses from the candidates, which will total up to 100%. The responses will consequently be evaluated objectively and subjectively. The interviews will take place for one week, and all the staff in the Facilities, Marketing, and Events department will be involved, divided into groups of three interviewers. The interviews will take place for six hours each day. Three interview rooms will be required; one waiting room, one room for the psychological tests with all the necessary equipment. These resources will be hired for this purpose. The interview phase that is both the first stage of the interview and the second stage of the interview, would consequently require a potential cost of about £900.
Notifying successful candidates
After the two stages of interviewing the candidates, evaluation of their responses will follow. Each of the members of the interviewing panel will make an evaluation with reference to each candidate that was interviewed and present the evaluation of the candidates. The total score will be 100% at the same time; the scores from the psychological test will also be 100%. In this sense, the score that a candidate gets in the first interview (psychological test) and the second interview (face to face interview) will be added and divided by 2 to get the final mark that each candidate will get. The process of evaluating the scores that candidates get from the two interviews will take a week to achieve a thorough evaluation of the process. After evaluation, the ranking of the candidates will be according to their scores, starting with the candidate with the highest marks to the one with the least marks. Therefore this process will involve all the staff in the Facilities, Marketing, and Events department to ensure that the project gets the best candidates for the role of Facilities, Marketing, and Events Assistant. The potential cost related to this evaluation process will be about £375.
Afterward, the candidates selected for the position will be the first six candidates with the highest scores from the evaluation. Due to the fact that there are six positions of the role of Facilities, Marketing, and Events Assistant, only six candidates will be selected by the project. The first six candidates in this sense are the most qualified for the position as they possess all the qualities and competencies required for the role. Additionally, they meet the CIMSPA professional standards that are relevant in carrying out the roles of a Facilities, Marketing, and Events Assistant. All the candidates will be notified concerning the outcome of the interviews through their emails within two weeks after their interviews. The unsuccessful candidates will be notified that they did not succeed in the interview, and in case of future vacant positions, they are welcome to make applications. The six successful candidates will be told of their success of the interviews and offered a position in the project which they may accept within a stipulated time of two weeks. The notification to the successful candidates will be both through emails and phone calls to ensure they all get the information efficiently. The terms and conditions of enrollment will reach the candidates through their emails, as well as when they should report to the project offices. It will take a week to notify the candidates that took part in the interviews about their success. The two secretaries of the project will carry out this process. The potential costs will be about £150.
Orientation/induction
Peloyahae (2005, p. 1) states that starting new roles in life is sometimes stressful. For this reason, there is a need for induction and or orientation process to ensure a seamless transition into a new role. Induction involves a period where newly appointed individuals to take up positions or roles in an organization become more familiar with the responsibilities of the role/position (Bartell, 2005, p. 6). In addition, the individuals become more familiar with professional norms, work settings, among others, in an organization. Therefore the individuals get support and guidance in the course of transitioning into their new roles/positions. Orientation, on the other hand, entails various activities that familiarize an employee with an organization’s policy (Dragomiroiu, Hurloiu, and Mihai, 2014, p.369). The policy of an organization includes its vision, mission, plans, and strategy, as well as the expectations that the organization has with reference to the individual. Induction and orientation processes are important for a number of reasons. To start with, the processes reduce start-up costs where the individuals get up to speed hence reducing the cost of learning a new role. Secondly, it reduces the anxiety that is associated with new experiences or environments hence negatively impacting the ability to learn the job. Undertaking induction and orientation will reduce anxiety as it provides guidance and support hence improve the experience of an individual. Furthermore, induction and orientation reduce employee turnover. The reason is that it shows that the organization values the employees as well as helps them in the provision of the necessary tools for ensuring success at the job. Additionally, induction and orientation save time for the various supervisors. The reason for this is that the supervisors will have less time to teach the new individuals in the organization because of covering most things in the induction and orientation process. Therefore, the induction and orientation process helps newly appointed individuals to integrate into the organization’s process of work with minimum difficulty, as stated by Grobler et al. (2002, p. 206). Therefore proper management of the induction and orientation process is vital to the effective integration of new individuals in an organization.
The induction/orientation program for the newly selected candidates for the position of Facilities, Marketing, and Events Assistant will encompass three stages. These include general orientation, specific orientation, and follow-up orientation. In the general orientation, the candidates that will confirm the roles will be guided around the various department of the organization. The purpose of this is to present an overview of the project and the various departments involved. In this sense, it will build a sense of pride as well as create interest in them concerning the project for purposes of ensuring its success.
The second stage will involve specific orientation, which entails orientation to the Facilities, Marketing, and Events department. They will get a chance to meet their supervisor and the Facility Duty Manager, where they will get information on what they should to do. During the specific orientation, the selected candidates will undergo a one-week training program that will ensure that they acquaint themselves with the role. They selected candidates will also learn more about the CIMSPA professional standards and its importance in the course of carrying out their roles in Open Campus. CIMSPA professional standards define skills and knowledge that a person ought to comprehend as well as demonstrate to undertake a given role hence is important during the induction/orientation process. The induction/orientation will emphasize on the best ways for the selected candidates to achieve their roles to enhance. Moreover, it will support as well as deliver the daily operations of a leisure facility at Cardiff Met. Additionally, ensure that under the direction of the Facility Duty Manager, ensure that the sports facilities and the areas associated are maintained in a proper manner. Moreover, ensure that there are high standards of sports programme and the delivery of services at all hours. Furthermore, to provide support for the running and marketing of all major events at Cardiff Met. Therefore all clarifications of any information concerning the conduct, role, and responsibilities of the selected candidates will be addressed during this one week program.
Afterward, a follow-up orientation will take place after a week into their roles. The purpose of this induction process will ensure that any challenges and issues that skipped the notice of the process in the initial inductions are properly looked into by the organization. In this sense, satisfy the various Facilities, Marketing, and Events Assistants in the course of carrying out their roles in the project. These stages of induction/orientation are vital for the success of the project because the candidates will be well acquainted with their roles hence enhance their performance. The total potential cost associated with the process of induction and orientation will be about £700. All the members of the project will be involved in the process.
Summary/Conclusion
Recruitment and selection of individuals for various positions are vital for the performance of any organization. In this sense, Open Campus as the project endeavors to use effective criteria for recruitment and selection to enhance its performance and success. An important aspect of the recruitment and selection criteria for the Open Campus project is attracting a large pool of qualified applicants. It is vital to attract the right people for a given role because if it attracts the wrong applicants, all the other processes are futile; however, effective they are conducted. Therefore considerable resources allocated at attracting the right candidates to apply for the position of Facilities, Marketing, and Events Assistant. On the other hand, the selection process will ensure that the applicants with the right attitude, qualifications, behavior, and commitment are selected and match them accurately to the position of Facilities, Marketing and Events Assistant. Open Campus project will achieve this through a two-phased interview process that would thoroughly evaluate the candidates for the positions. As a consequence, the Open Campus project will recruit and select the best people who are best suited to carry out the roles of Facilities, Marketing, and Events Assistant. Subsequently, this will lead to the success of the project because the right workforce in an organization is important to attain its objectives.
Consequently, the following are the recommendations for future practice in recruitment and selection processes. The various people responsible for the process of selection should comprehend the policies, objectives, and practices of the organization to help in the selection. More importantly, they should undergo a training program before the interview processes to ensure that they understand what the organization is looking for in the candidates. In this sense, they have adequate information on which they will base their decisions. Therefore the recruitment and selection criteria for organizations that seek to have qualified people for a given job should be watertight without any compromises. Additionally, it is important for various organizations to review and evaluate the recruitment and selection criteria on the basis of impartiality, validity, cost, and scope of usage to ensure its effectiveness. Moreover, with the advent of technology, organizations should incorporate the use of technology in their recruitment and selection processes. Technology will ensure that it attracts a large pool of competent applicants because of the wider scope of audience commanded by technology. This includes the use of social media, for example, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, websites, among other forms of new technology. In addition to that, during interviews, technology should be used to correct the various interview sessions that the various interviewers can review in the event that they missed something during the interview. In this sense, it can increase the efficiency of the evaluation process to ensure the right candidates get the positions in question. Moreover, the interview process should be at least in two stages; that is the psychological test interview and the face to face interview. The reason for this is that in some cases, one aspect of an interviewer may be misleading and therefore need more than one session of an interview to gauge the capabilities of a candidate rightly. Resultantly, more qualified, competent, and right persons of the various roles will be selected.
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