Public Administration

Recruitment in the Public Sector
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Introduction
The uniqueness of jobs in the public sector has elicited the need for the recruitment process to focus on selective hiring to ensure the hiring of competent employees (Cania, 2014). Employees in the public sector need to possess the required knowledge and skills that would enable them to carry out their roles effectively as well keeping an eye on changes in the political scene. Therefore, it is imperative that the hiring process should focus on competencies to enable the employees to offer proper services properly to the public. The successful recruitment process starts with the planning and identification of the specific job requirements in reference to the requirements of the organization. The paper examines the general set of knowledge and skills that candidates in the public sector should possess. To that effect, the essay also develops a suitable recruitment process that would enable the public-sector organizations to recruit the best talent.
At the onset of the recruitment process, the recruiting agency should understand that hiring employees is a two way process. In the process, the firm should identify means of attracting and searching for potential employees that have the required skills and knowledge. On the other hand, the potential employees should strive to attract employers by having the right skills and knowledge (Osoian & Zaharie, 2014). The successful recruitment of employees requires the consideration of the qualifications, expectations, and size of the applicants, as well as work motivation.

In order to hire the right talent that is versatile to work in the public sector, employers in the public sector should adopt four main strategies. Gaining access to a large pool of applicants is one of the prerequisites to successful recruitment of employees as observed by Osoian and Zaharie (2014). It allows the organization to select the best employees out of a large number of applicants. The selection should also focus on the cultural fit of the employees since organizations do not direct significant attention to offering cultural training.
Thirdly, the recruiting agency should identify and advertise the required skills to ensure that only qualified applicants submit applications for the position as observed by Osoian and Zaharie (2014). The agency should also adopt a complex screening process to convey the seriousness of the recruitment process. Finally, the agency should evaluate the results of the hiring process following its completion. In reference to the essential elements necessary for the recruitment of employees in the public sector, the organization should start with establishing the specifications of the job as well as the job description in regards to the assigned budget and the hiring policy. In the second step, the organization should decide on the sources and methods of recruitment that would be appropriate for the hiring process. Thereafter, the organization should announce the vacancy at least thirty days before the date selected for the screening process. The firm should advertise or announce the vacancy on its web pages and other media to ensure that as many potential applicants as possible view the advert.
The vacancy announcement should meet minimum requirements of a job advert by mentioning the type and number of jobs that are available, the name of the department and position, and the main requirements of the job. The organization should also include information concerning the job application process to enable qualified job seekers to apply for the position. In addition, the vacancy announcement should contain the required records, application deadlines, contesting methods that the firm intends to use in selecting the employees, as well as the dates and places of the screening process. The information should also include the bibliography and topics for the written contest as well as the contact information (Brown, 2017). The inclusion of the above information is necessary since the legislation of public servants in matters associated with hiring and recruitment is more demanding than that of private employees.
Identifying the recruitment sources is the other important aspect in the hiring of civil servants as noted by Brown (2017). The recruitment source could be internal or external. Regardless of the recruitment source that the organization selects, the defining aspect of the effectiveness of the source if its ability to make decisions according to a number of factors. The factors include the size, budget, and image of the corporation, organizational needs, attributes of the vacancies, and the available labor force. In the event that the organization resorts to internal sources, it would depend on internal advertisement, as well as recommendations from employee qualification databases and internal managers. The transparency of the recruitment process is an important virtue for public organizations that intend to recruit civil servants. As a result, internal advertising would be appropriate for such firms. The option allows the recruitment team to invite applicants even though the corporation could face the risk of too many applicants submitting their applications thus resulting in discontent and conflicts.
With the help of the employee qualifications databases, recruiters are in a favorable position to identify candidates that are ideal and appropriate for the position. Recommendations from managers and supervisors are also important even though they present the subjectivity risk and doubt as to whether the employee’s performance in the new department or role would match the current performance. Itika (2011) identified career fairs, referrals, direct applications, consultants, employment agencies, word of mouth, company websites, college recruitment, and other forms of electronic recruitment as some of the external recruitment methods that organizations could use in the hiring of civil servants.
Concerning the actual recruitment process, managers should have a clear understanding of the specific type of employees that the organization wants (Itika, 2011). The failure of the recruiting managers to understand the type of workers that the firm needs could result in the poor selection and recruitment of employees. The attitude and motivation of the employee towards the role as well as the technical skills to handle the tasks of the position are the fundamental elements to consider when selecting civil servants. Demotivated employees end up producing poor quality work as compared to motivated employees that possess the right attitude towards their role in the organization. The corporation should also grant equal opportunities to internal and external applicants for the position. The recruitment team should then weight and rank all applicants based on the points that they score in the interview. Keeping in mind the formal nature of the interviews and the need to eliminate superficial biases, the recruiting team should use selection boards to conduct the interviews.
Conclusion
The recruitment of civil servants is an involving task that necessitates the selection of employees having the right combination of skills, knowledge, attitude, and motivation to carry out the tasks of the position. The organization should announce the position on its website and other media such as newspapers. In addition, the firm should decide on whether to use internal or external recruitment sources to hire its employees. The recruiting team should have a prior understanding of the specific type of employees that the corporation requires to carry out the assigned tasks. Finally, the recruitment team should use a selection board to interview the applicants.
References
Brown, C. F. (2017). Strategies Used by Manufacturing Hiring Managers to Recruit Skilled Workers (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).
Cania, L. (2014). The impact of strategic human resource management on organizational performance. Economia. Seria Management, 17(2), 373-383.
Itika, J. (2011). Fundamentals of human resource management: Emerging experiences from Africa (p. 232). African Studies Centre [etc.], Leiden [etc.].
Osoian, C., & Zaharie, M. (2014). Recruitment for competencies in public and private sectors. Transylvanian review of administrative sciences, 10(41), 129-145.