Recruitment and Selection

I.  Recruitment And Selection Process

Hiring new employees is one of the duties a manager is asked to fulfil, and it is important to invest time and effort in finding the right person for a position. Any organisation should aspire to be an equal opportunity employer and should recruit individuals based on their suitability and future potential for the job for which they have applied, regardless of gender, sexual orientation or expression, age, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or social origins, including tribe and district, property, language, political or other opinion, disability, HIV status, marital or other status or family responsibilities, including pregnancy, and religious beliefs.

Normally, employee positions are filled through a competitive process.  Employee positions include those of fixed-term contracts, both long-term and short-term, including enumerators, and all will follow the recruitment procedures.

The procedures below outline how the organisation should identify and appoint candidates.

1. Identifying required positions

The employee responsible for the hiring (the “Hiring Manager”) is first required to confirm that:

• The appointment is in line with organisational and country strategy and

• The financial basis for the appointment has been considered and approved.

• The appointment is to follow the guidelines outlined below, unless there is a clear justification for departing from the guidelines in any respect.

In case of any departure from these guidelines, the institutional head, Director, must approve any such departure from the guidelines.

2. Preparing to advertise the position

The hiring manager is responsible for preparing a job pack. This should include at least:

• A summary of the organisation/context for the role.

• A Job Description explaining the details of the job. The JD will include who the person will report to; location of the position; what the major and specific responsibilities are; a person specification/profile to include experience, qualifications, and attributes, some of which will be listed as necessary, others desirable.

3. Advertising the position

To advertise the position internally, an email should be sent, and information can also be posted/ shared by other appropriate means. The advert should include:

• The contact of the person from whom to request a job pack.

• An outline of the position.

• A closing date for applications and a provisional interview date.

The position will be advertised externally (An internal recruitment process may be used where the organisation believes that the recruitment can be done internally).  To advertise the position externally, the advert should be placed in the two widely read newspapers. The advert will include:

• The position of the person to whom the applications shall be forwarded.

• A brief job description and other requirements of the position.

• A closing date for applications and a provisional interview date.

4. Shortlisting and preparing for interviews

Shortlisting of applications should be carried out as follows:

• HR and the hiring manager or any designee are responsible for shortlisting.

• Those assigned to shortlist will review the applications in the salesforce from all applicants independently to provide a short list of a given number of applicants.

• If one position needs to be filled, a shortlist of 3 to 5 people will suffice, and at least one additional candidate should be added to the shortlist for each additional position being advertised (e.g., if 3 facilitators are needed, 7 people can be shortlisted). Really, this can be determined from organisation to organisation.

• Compare marks and shortlists from each individual who is shortlisting.

• Agree on which applications should be called for an interview.

• Shortlisting will look favourable on female applicants with the aim to increase the gender balance at the organisation, and shortlists should always include female candidates, unless none applied, in which case a new advert will be placed.

Before the interviews:

Determine the Assessment Method

• Decide whether a written test will be required in addition to the oral interview. If both methods are used, the Hiring Manager, in collaboration with the HR Department, must:

• Develop the written test (normally not exceeding one hour).

• Determine whether the test will be conducted on the same day as the oral interview or as a separate stage of the recruitment process.

Prepare Interview Questions and Scoring Criteria

The Hiring Manager, in collaboration with HR, should:

• • Develop a standardized set of questions to be asked to all candidates.

  • Agree on a scoring system (typically 1–10, where 1 is the lowest score and 10 is the highest).
    
    

The scope and complexity of the questions should inform the length of the oral interview. As a guideline:

• • 30–45 minutes for positions below Programme Manager level.

  • Approximately 60 minutes for Programme Managers and other senior roles.

Establish the Interview Panel

• • • • • Select and formally notify the members of the interview panel.

        • An uneven number of panel members (e.g., three or five) is recommended to avoid tied decisions. Three members is the standard practice.

        • All panel members must complete and sign a conflict-of-interest declaration form before the interviews.

Assign Roles Within the Panel
The Hiring Manager, or if different, the Chair of the Interview Panel, should allocate questions among panel members. This allocation should ensure that interviewers cover both technical competencies and relevant managerial or cross-functional competencies appropriate to the position.

Plan Candidate Communication
In liaison with HR, the Chair of the Interview Panel should determine how and when candidates will be informed of the outcome.

• • • • • Candidates should normally not be informed on the same day as the interview.

        • Communication should be made either by phone or in writing within a reasonable timeframe, depending on the complexity of the process and the number of candidates interviewed.

The shortlisted candidates can then be called for an interview:

• HR will call the shortlisted candidates for an interview either by calling them or writing to them.

• Give date and time to each candidate (try to give 1 week of notice, but a minimum of 2 days to invite candidates).

• State that reasonable expenditure will be reimbursed (direct route using public transport) where applicable.

• Check whether any candidate is likely to require accommodation, where

• applicable.

• If candidates are emailed, they should be asked to submit certificates when confirming their attendance, or for all candidates, they can bring the certificates on the day of the interview.

II. Contract Administration

Every employee, after acceptance of an offer of employment, receives a written Contract of Employment. By signing the contract, an employee agrees to be bound by the particulars in the contract, this handbook, including all annexes and appendices, and to the details of the job as set out in the Job Description (JD). 

The contract will detail the following:

• The names of the employee and of the employer.

• The date of commencement of the contract.

• The remuneration of the employee.

• The intervals at which remuneration is paid.

• The nature of the work to be performed.

• Normal hours of work.

• Allowances that the employee will be entitled to (for example, settlement allowance)

• Notice period for termination of the contract.

• Probation period

• Disciplinary rules applicable to the employee.

• The organisation offers the following types of employment contract:

• Full-time contracts, normally on a fixed-term basis,

• Part-time contracts, normally on a fixed-term basis,

• Temporary or seasonal contracts, for specific tasks or a short period of time, as outlined in the contract.

Employees must sign and return a copy of their Contract of Employment to confirm receipt and acceptance, and will be given a copy to keep.

III.  Induction

The organisation should recognise the importance of ensuring that all new employees are introduced to the organisation as quickly and as effectively as possible. The Human Resources Department should coordinate and arrange for an appropriate induction for the newly hired employee. This induction should be organised in coordination with the department that hired the new employee.

Upon commencement of employment, the Human Resources (HR) department in conjunction with the relevant line manager should ensure induction takes place and covers the following at a minimum; review of employment contract, general overview of the employee handbook and associated annexes and appendices, completion of relevant forms for record keeping and payroll, overview of the organisation, project and departmental presentations, health and safety overview among others.

As part of induction, work objectives will be developed based on the job description for the probation period, and the process for reviewing progress against these objectives will be explained.

Termination of Employment Contract 

This section covers all circumstances in which employment with the organisation may end and applies to all employees; this includes:

• Expiration of an employee’s contract - for fixed-term, seasonal, or temporary contract,

• Resignation by the employee,

• Retirement of the employee,

• Death of an employee,

• Redundancy,

• Dismissal of an employee (including while on probation).

The purpose is to ensure that when someone’s employment with the organisation ends, all legal entitlements will be fully honoured and that all appropriate documentation will be completed so as to protect both the employee and the organisation from any future difficulties that may arise.