Recruitment Documents (Edexcel IGCSE Business)

An introduction to recruitment

Spec point — 2.2.2 · Recruitment and selection process

• Recruitment is the process of attracting and identifying potential job candidates who are suitable for a particular role

  • Recruitment activities include job advertising, job fairs, social media outreach and referrals from current employees
  • The goal of recruitment is to create a pool of qualified candidates who can be considered for the role

• Selection is the process of choosing the best candidate

  • Selection activities often involve reviewing CVs and conducting interviews or assessment tasks
  • The goal of selection is to hire the most suitable candidate for the job

Stages in the recruitment process

The process of employing a worker, from identifying the vacancy to selecting the right candidate for the role

• The specific details of the recruitment process may vary slightly between businesses due to different factors, including

  • The urgency of the role needing to be filled
  • The budget involved in advertising the vacancy
  • The nature of the role and the skills required, e.g. some roles require very specific skill assessments
  • Preferences of management, e.g. preference of using CV's rather than application forms
  • The time available for the process to occur, e.g. Google's recruitment process, usually takes 6–8 weeks

Comparing recruitment documents

Spec point — 2.2.2 · Recruitment documents: • job description • person specification • application form • curriculum vitae (CV)/résumé.

Comparing recruitment documents

• The recruitment process must first identify the job roles that are needed and define the characteristics of the ideal candidates to fill vacancies
• Businesses use a range of documents in the recruitment process

The job description, person specification and application form is written by the employer. The CV is written by the prospective employee

• The recruitment documents are used throughout the process and play a very important part in helping the business choose the right candidate for the role

  • Without detailed recruitment documentation, prospective candidates may lack the appropriate skills or qualifications needed for the role, or be misinformed about what the role consists of

Job description and person specification

• Before a business starts to look for new employees, it writes a person specification and a job description to determine the job role and ideal candidate to fill that role

Comparison of the person specification and job description

Application forms and CVs

• Once a job is advertised, the business accepts applications from candidates via application form or Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Comparing application forms and CVs

Exam Hint You do not need to have an in-depth understanding of recruitment documentation for the exam, however you do need to know what they are and the differences between them