Human Resources Mysteries: What Does a Recruitment and Selection Specialist Do?

As a recruitment and selection specialist you will be performing the following activities:

·           monitor open positions;

·          get involved in designing the recruitment plan for the following period together with the managers of each department in the company or the clients sometimes, plan which will include the number and type of positions to recruit;

·           help managers prepare job descriptions for the positions they have in their departments;

·           use the job descriptions to create and post ads on various recruitment channels;

·       select appropriate recruitment channel depending on positions open (skills needed, number of positions);

·           read the resumes received and compare to job requirements;

·           select candidates to be invited to interview;

·           invite and conduct a first interview with selected candidates;

·           prepare together with specialists and managers and set of practical tests to be given to candidates;

·           be part of the team assessing the candidates during these tests;

·           write down as much information as you can concerning candidate’s performance;

·           offer managers and initial list of best candidates for them to interview;

·         give feedback to selected and rejected candidates – type of feedback is chosen according to source of candidates – internal candidates will always receive face to face feedback, the external ones will receive phone or email feedback;

·         keep an updated database of all positions and feed-backs to use later during recruitment; this will help use previously rejected candidates on other positions or the same position after a while after skills have improved or most important of all, avoid embarrassing situations where the same candidate gets invited to a second interview, after being rejected after the first one the week before;

·         participate in public presentations at the University, conferences, student gatherings to introduce your company and recruit people;

·            participate in job fairs for students, fresh graduates or other skills workers;

·        get involved in the creation of promotional materials to be used for students and during official presentations, either alone or with the help of the marketing department;

·      manage relationships with recruiting partners like recruiting agencies, student organizations, University representatives, job portals contacts;

·         organize internal assessments either for an open position or for selecting candidates to be involved later on in development for a certain position – i.e. select internal candidates who have team leader potential, candidates who will be enrolled in leadership trainings;

·          prepare various recruiting reports;

·          prepare various recruiting estimations requested by managers – i.e. the total cost of recruitment for a team of 30 FTEs (FTE = full time employee), French speakers with Linux skills and the deadline for such a project;

·        prepare newsletters for candidates in database to keep them informed about new positions or changes in the organization that might interest them;

·             prepare recruitment policies and work instructions;

·             in some organizations contact the selected candidates for employment offers;

·           in some organizations conduct trainings of recruitment and selection with managers, internship students, other employees interested or required to participate (i.e. a technical agent who will be part of the final selection process for members of the IT team);

Recruitment and Selection Strategy: What Should a Resume/CV Include Mandatorily?

First of all, if you have no idea how a resume should look like, you can try this link:
http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/en/documents/curriculum-vitae

It's the link to the European Euro pass resume that most employers in Europe prefer. It's a clear, easy to use file that I personally recommend.

The main information to start a resume is:
- your name (full name, no nicknames);
- your address and contact information (be careful about emails - use a professional one, not foxylady21foryou@....com unless you are applying for video chat or something); recruiters check this;
- your nationality;
- your marital status;

The last two are not mandatory, but employers may ask about nationality to see if you need a work permit.
Marital status, children, religion, sexual orientation are not mandatory to offer and the employer is forbidden by law to reject you because of any of these. It's your choice to give them this information or not. Also, they are not allowed if you are female to ask if you are pregnant or if you plan to have any children in the near future. Pregnancy tests are also forbidden.

The next section of your resume should be the Professional experience. Some resumes have the section Professional objective before that and sometimes area in which you are interested to work in, but all those are not mandatory.

Coming back to the professional experience, you should specify the name of the employer, your position, the hiring date and ending of contract date. If you still work there, you should mention only hiring date. Besides all the above you should mention your responsibilities and achievements on the job. Try to be specific and adapt them to the specifications of the position you are applying for.

All your positions should be entered in reverse chronological order - meaning your current one first, not last.

If you don't have any experience, try to find something to put there - an internship, a volunteer campaign, a project you did in a team at the University. Try not to leave this section empty. Try to show that you tried to do something.

The next section is the studies section. Please enter all your studies in reverse chronological order mentioning the name of the studies provider, the time frames and the specialty/major you graduated or you are still following.

After long term studies, enter short term courses you had - all relevant courses in reverse chronological order. Don't offer too much detail and don't insert here courses that are not relevant to the position. An employer looking for a sales agent for example can't care less that you did a landscaping course unless you are selling landscaping products. Always think about how relevant the detail you are giving is for the position you are applying for.

A large CV is not ok. No recruiter will have the time to read. Keep it under 4 pages if you have a lot of experience and under 2 if you are fresh graduate or student. The largest CV I have ever received had 14 pages, it was for an Operations Manager position, it was relevant, but huge and I read below a quarter of it. I was desperately looking for CVs for such a position. Otherwise, I wouldn't have wasted my time. So be careful.

Additional skills: write here your technical skills - software you use, foreign languages that you speak (include only Advanced and Medium level not all languages that you know how to say "Hello" in), social skills, artistic skills only if relevant. Be careful that all you write here can be tested. If you say you speak advanced French and you don't, your CV will be rejected and you may never get another chance. Be honest and evaluate yourself correctly.

Other sections in the CV:
- prizes - keep it simple if you have to add it and write ONLY relevant information. Nobody cares that you had a first price in acting in kindergarten or in pottery class;
- Driver's license or other licenses - add only if relevant to the job;
- Hobbies - include in the CV. Some recruiters consider it relevant. However, keep it simple.

Please write to me if you have any questions. I am open for discussion.
Geo

HR Skills: If I work in HR, How Advanced Need My IT Skills to Be?

You need medium level IT - word processors, spreadsheets processors, presentations software, email software. Also, you may participate sometimes in conference calls and may need to set up your own equipment or you may do presentations and may need to set up your laptop and video equipment by yourself. Anything additional is useful. If you know some database software for example you can create your databases and reports easier. So IT advanced level is not required, but may prove useful.

Human Resources Mysteries: Why is HR Seen as a Useless and Inefficient Department?

This depends on how dedicated HR employees really are. If they are motivated and love their job, they will find a way to show people they are not useless and inefficient. If they are not motivated and don't really love their job, they normally avoid interacting too much with people and that's why their work is not understood. 

As I told you before, HR is not the best paid career ever, budgets are low, volume of work is huge; sometimes HR is seen as a parasite by management and that's why HR people are last when salaries, trainings and benefits are discussed. All this can get an HR employee really demotivated.

Human Resources Mysteries: What Does an HR Manager Do on a Daily Basis?

Strategic planning and control. 
Prepares the recruitment plan, budgets for training and salaries. An HR manager sometimes gets involved in specialist work if the company is small and doesn't have enough specialists. An HR manager should be a former specialist able to support the specialists when they don't know how to act in a certain situation. Sometimes the HR manager needs to prepare presentations to be delivered to the client, prepare recruitment costs estimations, prepare employee satisfaction surveys and action plans to improve employee satisfaction, coordinates the performance reviews. Also, an HR manager's role is to offer support to the other managers concerning HR matters. So he/she more or less needs to be aware of all things that go on in HR and in the company HR-wise.

Human Resources Mysteries: Do People in HR Travel?

Most of the times no. Only if you are on a higher position coordinating people in more countries or if yo have colleagues in another location and you need to go there for training or to support them. However, since costs need to be cut as much as possible, HR uses conference call and IT equipment to communicate remotely rather than travel.

Human Resources Mysteries: Why are HR People Stressed and Angry Sometimes?

Being a support department (department which doesn't bring profit to the company) most of the times, HR department has less people than needed. The budgets are low, volume of work is huge (especially if you live in a country with high bureaucracy and tons of legal paperwork to prepare), fines for not preparing all the paperwork are high...

An HR person most of the times can't handle the volume of work and gets stressed and annoyed when an employee comes with a silly request like...I lost my badge AGAIN!!!or I don't like the picture that I gave you last month to put on my badge and I want it changed! Get the idea?

Do I need a Certain Degree to Work in HR?

It depends on the county you are in. I am in Romania and I got in HR after graduating Computer Science and a master's degree in Business and communication. I got an entry level position while still a student and now after several years on specialist positions, I am HR manager. In the US I think you need a certain degree to get to a certain level in HR. You can ask this on LinkedIn - HR groups.

SPHR certification helps a lot - so try to pursue that. However, getting it depends on the number of years of experience that you have in HR - the more, the easier it is to get.

Human Resources Mysteries: How Do HR Really Help People?

Very good question.

    HR can give advice on procedures and labor law when employees are in a certain situation like: they want to quit their job, they want a raise, they want to leave on maternity leave, they want to attend a certain training, they want to go on vacation or they are sick and need to stay home.

    HR gets involved in employee conflicts and disciplinary actions as mediator.

    HR explains unclear matters to employees like how was the salary calculated, what do I need to do to benefit of training costs for a certification subsidizing, what benefits do I have from the medical provider, how to apply for a promotion, etc.

    HR prepares paperwork for bank loans that employees need for the bank file.

    HR can offer useful feedback after a promotion session to rejected employees.

    HR can recommend external trainings that are not organized by the company and that might interest the employees.

    HR sends periodical newsletters to employees with useful information about the company, open positions, rules and regulations to follow.

and many more...

Human Resources Mysteries: What is the Purpose of HR in a Company?

Very common question.
1. HR deals with recruiting and selection of employees for new positions or for positions left open after someone has left the company;
2. HR monitors training needs within the organization, prepares training plans, registers people to trainings, conducts trainings, assesses people for skills to see what trainings they need to develop to get promoted or to perform better;
3. HR prepares payroll (calculates salaries) and additional benefits of employees, monitoring all these at the same time;
4. HR prepares salary increase proposals and calculates scenarios to check if all these fit the given budget;
5. HR coordinates the performance evaluation process of all employees;
6. HR prepares satisfaction surveys within a company;
7. HR prepares reports containing various indicators that monitor the company's status like value of attrition (employees leaving the company), sickness rate, training hours/employee, employee satisfaction, etc;
8. HR creates work procedures for all employees to follow in order to have a standardized flow of information in the company;
9. HR prepares all employment documents like contracts, contract changes, job descriptions, etc.
10. HR monitors medical checks and employee health.

and many more...

HR Job Tips: How to Get in HR With No Experience?

1. Try an internship in HR first. A lot of multinational companies need students to help with paperwork or with simple tasks that the specialists don't have time to handle. They offer training and you will learn a lot if you are really interested. 

2. Try courses in HR - instructor led courses in class are better, but online courses go too.
 
3. Register to HR groups on social networks (LinkedIn for example). You fill find there people who can give you lots of advice and also HR jobs for entry, middle or senior level.

4. Get an entry-level job in a multinational company. This will get you closer to their internal job board. A lot of multinational companies prefer to promote from the inside. Applying to a position advertised internally may help you get the job you hope for.

Good luck,
Geo