Selection Procedures In Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL)

Criteria Establishment for Selection Procedure

In order to enhance the level of efficiency in staffing and further to ascertain the fulfilment of the recruitment as well as selection procedure, HLL must adhere to certain selection procedures. The term ‘selection process’ generally refers to the steps involved in selecting candidates with suitable credentials appropriate to fill up the vacant position of the organization. The task of candidate selection is primarily dependent on the ones holding managerial positions but the department of Human Resource Management accomplishes the fundamental role (Cascio 2018). The HR department of HLL must adhere to certain distinctive aspects of while selecting candidates. Criteria establishment can be regarded as the first characteristic of selection procedure where the individuals involved in recruitment process of HLL must be effectively trained in areas of interviewing, setting position description, evaluation of candidatures, developing interview questionnaires and assessing the applicants. HR department of HLL must concentrate on resume evaluation that is referred as another major aspect of selection procedure (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). The HR of Hindustan Lever locates the expertise of the right candidate and further shares the best-chosen applicants for the desired position. The HR must consolidate the interpretations of co-workers in varied departments of the organization.

HLL, being one of the leading consumer goods company, receives an influx of applications for various vacancies annually. The company also recruits from campus placements of several colleges and universities. Eventually, the applications are further evaluated and reviewed by the HR department of the company following a preliminary candidate selection. The forms, which are eventually filled up by the applicants, are then scrutinized thoroughly based on the detailed information provided by the chosen ones (Alfes et al.2013). However, it must be noted that in order to gather attractive candidates HLL must consider certain aspects during application screening. Being one of the leading companies, HLL facilitates a large entry of applicants every year. As a result, the HR will come across several applications that look casual and do not match the required criteria. The HR must look for well organized and composed in a professional manner, which will not only reflect the expertise of the applicants but also highlight his or her interest for the job. Another aspect, which should be considered while application screening is search for relevant expertise (Schiemann 2014). Several job candidates share the similar resume and cover letters irrespective to all job requirements. HR of the company must give significance to the candidatures, which are well planned and underlines the skills and expertise in accordance to the job requirements posted by HLL. Excellent writing and communication skill is another major criteria which the HR must take into account while application evaluation. Since HLL operates in various nations and seven business segments, the HR should pay thorough attention to the written as well as inter personal skills of the applicants. The HR must possess the knowledge of executing PeopleSoft System to understand the criteria of the company (Momin 2015). Running a screening level will assist the HR to evaluate and further assign applicants with an overall score.

Resume Evaluation Process

Preliminary interview generally comprises of a face-to-face round of discussion between the interviewer and the interviewee. It is conducted to reveal the accurate information of the candidate along with his or her inter personal communication skills (Brinkmann 2014). There are certain objectives of preliminary round of interview. Firstly, it verifies the information obtained through the resume or application form and practical tests. It further assists an interviewer to attain additional data of the applicant if it was not mentioned on the candidature. One of the primary purposes of preliminary interview is to establish necessary facts and information about the job and the organization (Feiler 2014). However, preliminary interview aims to comprehend the physical appearance and how much motivation and enthusiasm of the candidate.

The HR department of HLL must conduct a skill gap analysis in order to analyse the staff expertise level of the organization and to recognize the skills in future. The skill gap analysis offers a generalized idea of the number of recruits the company needs in order to envelop the gaps. HLL Human Resource Management teams can implement quantitative methods to estimate the future hires in their recruitment plan (Kavanagh and Johnson 2017). They should focus on hiring individuals possessing advanced expertise, knowledge and relevant experience. The company through Hindustan Lever Trainee Programme must attract students who can accomplish the target goals of the company within the estimated timeframe. However, the current trend in data analytics technology helps in facilitating the advanced level of shortlist tools which is known as ‘intelligent short listing’ (Dalkir and Beaulieu 2017). The intelligent short listing procedure is an added advantage to an existing ATS that permits HR to rank, rate and short list candidates without keyword matching.

The final selection procedure of HLL consists of two characteristics namely group discussions and final round of interview. While the first round comprises of candidates who are provided with a list of subjects related to economic, political, and social that the candidates are eligible to choose. The second level involves a case study that is provided in advance to the candidates which is further evaluated by the respective panel members. A case study involves various situational events related to business or business problems. The case is provided in advance to the candidates so that it can help them to assess the aptitude to synthesize varied situations into the concept of cohesive understanding of the case. The panel members evaluate the analytical expertise, knowledge and the capacity for deductive reasoning. Candidates must use frameworks as well as conceptions to organize their answers. The case given to the candidates can usually be of two kinds (Bratton and Gold 2017). The former involves groups in decision making while the former relies on existing decision making. While the former is considered as norm, the latter is referred as an exception. The panel of HLL must focus on the way the candidates are approaching and further analyzing the given case study. However, the panel members of the organization looks for candidates who use theoretical frameworks such as situational analysis, problem solving skills, statement objectives, examining alternatives and lastly recommendations.

Preliminary Selection Round

The second phase of final round of HLL comprises of group discussion, which is a platform to evaluate the skills of the candidates, which might not be known during the previous interview rounds. The board with the help of the second round of group discussion assesses the candidates by the style of their self-introduction, transparency of their expressions-the way they analyse the given situation, tolerance level of opinions of others and last but not the least his or her leadership qualities (Millar, Crute and Hargie 2017). Based on these criterions, the panel member in particular the personnel director would conduct a personal round of interview to further comprehend the skills represented by the candidates throughout these past interview rounds. Interviewers primarily try to observe the body language and behaviour of the candidates. During the preliminary as well as group discussion, a candidate might perform well but during a personal interview, he or she might fail to respond to the questions raised by the panel member about the job requirement. Understanding the job criteria is one of the vital aspects an interviewer looks for. The candidate must shed light on the relevant skills and expertise he or she possesses for the desired job. HLL, being one of the leading companies across the globe comprises of multi-cultural dimensions. Thus, the interviewer must evaluate the behavioural patterns and cultural as well as ethnic ideologies of the candidate. A candidate with organizational culture and beliefs can only fit into an organization such as Hindustan Lever.

References

Alfes, K., Shantz, A.D., Truss, C. and Soane, E.C., 2013. The link between perceived human resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated mediation model. The international journal of human resource management, 24(2), pp.330-351. 

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.

Brinkmann, S., 2014. Interview. In Encyclopedia of critical psychology (pp. 1008-1010). Springer New York.

Cascio, W., 2018. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.

Dalkir, K. and Beaulieu, M., 2017. Knowledge management in theory and practice. MIT press.

Feiler, A.R., 2014. A Self-Regulation Perspective of Applicant Behavior in the Employment Interview (Doctoral dissertation).

Kavanagh, M.J. and Johnson, R.D. eds., 2017. Human resource information systems: Basics, applications, and future directions. Sage Publications.

Millar, R., Crute, V. and Hargie, O., 2017. Professional interviewing. Taylor & Francis.

Momin, W.Y.M., 2015. HR analytics transforming human resource management. IJAR, 1(9), pp.688-692.

Schiemann, W.A., 2014. From talent management to talent optimization. Journal of World Business, 49(2), pp.281-288.