Recruitment and selection: finding the right people

Recruitment is finding candidates for a role; selection is choosing the best one. The cost of getting it wrong is huge — wrong hires waste time, money and team morale. AQA expects you to know the steps and the trade-offs between internal and external recruitment.

Why recruit?

• Replace a leaver.
• New role from business growth.
• New skills (e.g. AI, digital marketing).
• Restructure or expansion.

The recruitment and selection process

1. Identify the need — vacancy or new role.
2. Job analysis — what does the role involve?
3. Job description — written summary of duties.
4. Person specification — skills, experience, qualifications, attitude.
5. Advertise — internal noticeboard, website, LinkedIn, recruitment agency.
6. Receive applications — CVs and covering letters, or online forms.
7. Shortlist — review against person specification.
8. Selection — interviews, tests, assessment centres.
9. References — check claims.
10. Offer and contract — written terms.
11. Onboarding — induction to role and culture.

Job description vs person specification

	Job description	Person specification
Focus	The role	The person
Contents	Title, duties, hours, salary, reports to	Essential and desirable skills, experience, qualifications, attributes
Use	Advertising the role	Shortlisting candidates

Internal vs external recruitment

Internal recruitment

Filling the role from existing staff (promotion or transfer).

Advantages:

• Cheaper — no agency fees, lower advertising.
• Faster — known candidate, no induction.
• Knowledge of culture — already understands the business.
• Motivating — staff see promotion path.
• Lower risk — known performance.

Disadvantages:

• Smaller pool — best candidate may be outside.
• Creates a vacancy below — chain hire problem.
• Limits new ideas — no fresh perspective.
• Possible jealousy — colleagues passed over.

External recruitment

Hiring from outside.

Advantages:

• Wider pool — more choice.
• Fresh ideas and perspectives.
• Specialist skills unavailable internally.
• No internal politics.

Disadvantages:

• More expensive — agency fees (15–25 % of salary), advertising.
• Slower — full process.
• Higher risk — interview-only assessment.
• Induction time — months to be productive.
• Demotivates internal staff — passed over.

Selection methods

CV and application form

First filter — must be tailored to the role.

Interviews

• One-to-one — quick, informal but biased.
• Panel — multiple interviewers reduce bias.
• Telephone / video — quick first round.
• Competency-based — "Tell me about a time when…" structured questions.

Assessment centres

1–2 day intensive sessions with multiple exercises:

• Group exercises.
• Presentations.
• Role plays.
• Tests (numerical, verbal, situational judgement).
• Interviews.

Used for graduate and senior roles. Reveal soft skills not visible in interview alone.

Tests

• Aptitude tests — numerical, verbal, abstract reasoning.
• Personality tests — Myers-Briggs, Big Five.
• Skills tests — typing, coding challenges, language proficiency.

References

Check claims — previous employer confirms dates, role and (sometimes) performance.

Probation

3–6 month trial after hire — easier to dismiss if poor fit.

Costs of recruitment

• Advertising — LinkedIn premium, Indeed, recruitment agencies.
• Agency fees — 15–25 % of first-year salary for executive search.
• Time — managers spend hours interviewing.
• Onboarding — training, equipment, mentor time.
• Productivity loss — vacancy + ramp-up of new hire.

UK estimate: cost of replacing an employee = ~30 % of annual salary (£10–25 k for a £30–80 k role).

Why hiring well matters

• Productivity — A high performers can be 2–3× more productive than B players.
• Culture — wrong fit drags down team.
• Retention — bad hires leave (or are dismissed) within 12–18 months.
• Reputation — poor recruitment processes deter future candidates.
• Risk — Equality Act compliance; reference and right-to-work checks.

Examiner tips

For 6+ mark questions on recruitment, link the type of role (entry-level vs specialist; manager vs frontline) to the appropriate method. Always trade off cost, speed and risk.