A Recruitment Classic - Job Interviewing the David Brent Way

A timeless six minute clip from The Office provides a rich source of business studies insights into how not to conduct a recruitment and selection process…

Rated: (3/5), based on 3 reviews

The gentle touch in city finance

Far be it from me to criticise male dominance of the City of London but it seems that, ever since the start of the financial crisis that led to the recession, there has been a series of reports suggesting that if there were more women in positions of power in the city institutions that lost control of their lending, this would never have happened. A committee of MP’s (which includes only one woman) which is currently studying the role of women in the City has been told by a (male) professor from the London School of Economics that a more cautious approach, rather than an “alpha male” one, would be beneficial. Professor Charles Goodhart explained that the more cautious and long-term outlook of women could prove to be a more positive trait than the more aggressive risk-taking stance of men. However, another LSE professor told the committee of MPs that there is a need for a change of culture in the City before this can happen - too many deals have been sealed in lap-dancing clubs for female employees to feel that the working environment will suit them. It seems that women are well-represented on the boards of the FTSE top 250 companies, but very under-represented on the boards of the FTSE 100. How is this best solved? In Norway there is a quota system; 40% of board members must be female. Clare Dobie, of the City Women’s Network told the committee that recruiters could do much to help the problem which her organisation sees as an issue of too little demand rather than a shortage of supply of women who are good enough for the job. A report last month from the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that women working in the city are paid on average 39% less than men doing the same job. Women start on a lower salary and never make up the difference. They also earn bonuses which are up to five times smaller than those earned by their male colleagues - on average, women get bonuses of £2,875 compared with £14,554 for men. The message must be very clear: that men are valued more highly.

However the gender pay gap should be addressed there does remain a practical difficulty though: John Cridland, deputy director general of business group the CBI, said “As in many other areas of business, women applying for the top jobs need more flexibility with hours and childcare responsibilities” .  How long will it remain the case that it is the women who need this flexibility, and not the men? 

Picking from a growing pool of job hunters

Despite evidence that the worst of the current global recession may be behind us, unemployment will continue to ratchet up for some time to come. It remains a lagging indicator of the economic cycle. The economic and social costs of mass unemployment are impossible to deny although hard to measure accurately. For some employers looking to recruit new workers, the growing pool of unemployed workers does provide - on the surface - an opportunity to hire well-skilled and motivated people often desperate for a fresh chance in work. Chris Tighe focused on employers in the North East in this revealing article in the Financial Times.

“More than 9,000 people in the North East are seeking work as sales assistants, it said, but only 191 such jobs have been advertised. Morrisons, the supermarket operator, has just reported an “amazing response” at its new Wallsend store in north Tyneside: more than 900 people applied for 35 posts............At Manchester Airport, where an advertisement posted online for just two weeks in February for four places on its graduate training scheme produced almost 2,000 applications.”

The high and rising ratio of applicants to unfilled vacancies should give businesses the scope to find the right people and perhaps unearth some gems who might rise through the business in the years to come. But although the pool of workers is high, businesses must also face the challenge and considerable cost of screening each application. Few smaller businesses have the luxury of being able to employ human resources personnel. Hiring recruitment companies can be expensive. Often the best new employees fall into your lap because of their vigorous approach to job hunting and an ability to keep their nose to the ground to spot what might be the right job for them.

Recruitment & selection gets scary

Hundreds of applicants are expected for a job where the main criteria for the job will be the ability of the job applicant to scare the living-daylights out of the interviewer…

Job applications please - but no more than 160 letters long…

Here’s an interesting twist on the recruitment and selection process. The standard business studies textbook waxes lyrical about the traditional job application form + advantages / disadvantages compared with a traditional CV.  But the business featured in this news story is using the job application process to find out in a very practical way whether applicants can demonstrate they have the required attributes...Read on here

Planning for a winning team

The Times ‘Ideas at Work’ section has a feature today about how to build a winning team in business. The first point questions whether you actually need a team, or simply a group of individuals working on separate tasks but reporting to the same supervisor. On the assumption that the business needs something a bit more than that, much of the advice centres on long term strategic planning, which should be a central part of human resource management – allowing time for team dynamics and bonding to evolve, having a team which is small enough to be co-ordinated and setting clearly defined roles with a decisive leader. There are two vital aspects of recruitment that reflect points made by Mike Southon, the Beermat Entrepreneur, at last week’s Business Studies National Teacher Conference; getting a mix of people and talents rather than several matching talents, and bringing in a ‘deviant’ – someone who is prepared to take a different view and question the normal status quo, but without acting as a ‘team destroyer’. To quote Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice at London Business School, “You want people to challenge each other, but you don’t want winners and losers — people stop talking to each other.”

Situations Vacant - Apprentice Supervisor

Margaret Mountford’s announcement that she will not be part of the next series of The Apprentice is getting a far higher profile than Siralan’s choice of Yasmina rather than Katie on Sunday night. Some of Margaret’s memorable lines from this series:
“Never before in the history of car washing have so few cars been washed by so many people in such a long time”
“Alex, you stepped so far back from it you were practically out of the room”
“One’s enough, thank you” on tasting one team’s chocolates

What would be the main features of a person specification and job description for her successor?

Motivation in Action - Is this the Worlds Best Job?

A classic piece of public relations from the tourist authorities in Queensland provides us with some rich material with which to teach motivation at work.

It is described as “the world’s best job” - looking after a beautiful island on the Great Barrier Reef, being paid well, with a wonderful house and a host of other non-financial benefits.  So what is it about that job that attracts over 34,000 applicants?  Could it also have been the reality TV show that accompanied the recruitment and selection process?

Take a look at this BBC vide which tells us about the “Pom” who won the competition.

Students might also want to compare and contrast the Australian “Best job in the world” with this job...described in the same glowing way. Which would you choose - given the chance?

Q&A - Why are job descriptions and specifications important?

The job description and specification are important parts of planning the workforce needs of any business.  So what are they?

Q&A - What is the recruitment process?

Recruitment and selection is the process of identifying the need for a job, defining the requirements of the position and the job holder, advertising the position and choosing the most appropriate person for the job.