Unit 8 Recruitment and Selection
Assignment 1: Learning Aim A
P1, P2, M1, D1
P1 - Explain how a large business recruits and selects, giving reasons for their
processes
ASDA:
Introduction:
In this report I will be explaining and analysing how ASDA, a large business recruits and
selects applicants to fill a job vacancy and stating the crucial reasons for their processes.
ASDA is a Private Limited Company (Ltd) and was founded on the 19th February 1949 in
Leeds and they operate in the supermarket industry, holding a 15.1% market share. ASDA
has 631 supermarket stores in the UK with over 165,000 employees, categorising them as a
large enterprise because they have 250+ employees. On top of this the staff turnover is less
than 20% which means that each year less than 20% of ASDA’s workforce (33,000 staff)
leave the company. It is crucial that ASDA has effective recruitment and selection processes
to ensure that they fill these job vacancies to make sure that they have enough staff to keep
operating effectively. ASDA does not operate internationally and are only operating in the
UK, however their parent company, WALMART has owned and subsidised ASDA since 1999
lasting until October 2020 when ASDA was bought by UK ‘billionaire brothers’ for £6.8
billion. Not much has changed as the headquarters of ASDA remained in Leeds and
WALMART still has a large equity investment in ASDA with their chief executive officer still
leading the company. On top of this the billionaire brothers also pledged to invest a further
billion pounds into ASDA over the next three years which could see the integration of newer
technologies. Furthermore in the UK ASDA is known as one of the ‘BIG FOUR’. The ‘BIG
FOUR’ includes supermarket businesses such as Morrissions, Tesco, Sainsburys and ASDA
as they hold a combined concentration ratio of 71% (market share). This is important
because it shows that there is an oligopolistic market and means that the level of competition
is high in both selling goods and services but also recruiting the best employees to ensure
their success.
Recruitment:
The purpose of recruitment processes is to attract and obtain as many applications as
possible from eligible job seekers. Typically the recruitment process is as follows: a job
vacancy is identified through workforce planning, then a job analysis is created from
collecting and analysing data to see if the content of the job has changed since the last time
the job vacancy was advertised, then a job description and person specification is written
which details the content, duties, responsibilities and requirements of the job, after this the
job is then advertised using various different methods including in-store, online and notice
boards. After this is the application stage where the eligible job seekers make their
applications which leads into the selection process.
,How ASDA advertises their job vacancies:
Advertising a job vacancy is one of the most important processes in the recruitment process
because it makes would-be applicants aware of the job vacancy which gains their interest
and attention to make an application. An effective job advertisement will include a wide
range of advertising methods that makes sense for the job vacancy and any relevant
information about the job including the added benefits to give an incentive to the viewer.
ASDA does just that, the main way that ASDA advertises job vacancies is through their ‘job
search’ website which lists all of the job vacancies in alphabetical order. On top of this the
job vacancies can also be filtered by type, employment contract, hours per week, salary and
location to give the applicant more relevant results. This makes it easier for the applicant to
locate the job that they are looking for and speeds the recruitment process. Another way
ASDA advertises job vacancies is in-store posters. Almost in every store at the entrance and
exit there is a poster with the text ‘JOIN US’ or ‘HIRING NOW’ with the necessary contact
details to make an application. This is also an effective way of attracting applicants because
ASDA has over 18 million customers that visit their stores every week so not only is this
method of advertising a job vacancy cost effective it is also seen by a large number of
people, maximising the amount of applications. A third method that ASDA heavily uses to
advertise a job vacancy is on the online recruitment agency ‘LinkedIn’. LinkedIn is a social
platform that allows anyone to create a free account. Users on this app can search for jobs
in their area and follow businesses to get notified or contacted if there is a job vacancy.
ASDA currently has over 200,000 followers on this platform and they make frequent posts to
attract more applicants. Possible applicants can browse current job vacancies at ASDA and
make applications through the website. This is a highly effective method of advertising
because as it is through an online platform, more people can access it from anywhere and at
any time of the day. ASDA advertise their internal job vacancies by advertising on notice
boards, information on intranet and sending emails to employees about the job opportunities.
Where ASDA places these job vacancies including internal and external recruitment:
Internal recruitment is when a job vacancy is filled by an applicant that is already in the
businesses workforce, this is also known as intra-firm. External recruitment is the exact
opposite, where a job vacancy is filled by an applicant that is not currently in the businesses
workforce and is also known as inter-firm. The main benefits of internal recruitment is that it
encourages career development and progression and is cheap, however a drawback is that
it can demotivate other employees and cause conflicts. Some benefits of external
recruitment is that it brings new ideas to the business and the applicants will already have
the necessary skills to perform the job successfully, however a drawback is that it is much
more expensive than internal recruitment (advertising wise) and the process can take a lot
longer. When ASDA is looking to fill a job vacancy by using internal recruitment, the job
vacancy will be placed on notice boards which is usually situated in the staff break room. Job
vacancies are also placed on ASDA’s intranet which is a private communications network
designed for internal communications that only authorised users of ASDA (its employees)
can login to and access. Furthermore emails are also sent out to employees, detailing the
job vacancy and making them aware of it and giving them instructions on how to make an
application. For where ASDA places their external recruitment job vacancies is a lot more
broader, typically they place them on their website with a list of absolutely every job vacancy
there is currently. ASDA aslo places posters or screens just outside the entrance of their
,stores to inform the local community about a job vacancy. They also place their job
vacancies on recruitment agencies such as LinkedIn and Remploy. The locations of where
ASDA places their job vacancies depending if they are for internal or external recruitment
does vary because typically when ASDA wants to fill a job vacancy internally, the process is
much more informal as the applicant is well-known to the business whereas when external
recruitment is occurring, the process is much more professional and formal and the
advertising techniques used to attract applicants and the placement of the vacancy is much
more structured and expensive.
How ASDA uses workforce planning:
Workforce planning is when a large business, such as ASDA, reviews the skills and quantity
of their workforce and tries to forecast how this will change in the future, and how many extra
employees will be needed to keep up with demand and keep operating. Workforce planning
is crucial to ASDA’s success because it has many advantages such as it allows ASDA to
estimate how many employees will be needed in the future to deal with the workload, helps
to identify what skills will be needed in the future and training programmes can be created
beforehand. Another crucial benefit of workforce planning is that it allows ASDA to calculate
their attrition rate, also known as a churn rate or staff turnover. This is calculated by using
the formula; Number of employees that have left ASDA during a period of time divided by the
average number of employees during that period of time multiplied by one hundred. Staff
turnover shows how many employees have left the business in comparison to the average
number of employees in the business, typically a business will want a low staff turnover as
the average benchmark is 15% in the UK. ASDA has to do workforce planning for the main
reason that they are growing. The combined net sales increase for ASDA is 72% year on
year, this means that every year ASDA is selling more goods to consumers. To be able to do
this and keep up with the future demand ASDA conducts workforce planning to predict how
many employees will have to be recruited in the next few years. ASDA’s workforce planning
also identifies new skills that the employees will need in order to do their job successfully.
One example of this is IT skills, as ASDA is selling more products through their website, they
would have identified through workforce planning that it is crucial for employees to have
experience and knowledge of using computers. With these new skills identified through
conducting workforce planning ASDA then designs and implements new assessments in the
selection process and new training programs for their employees.
Types of recruitment documents that ASDA uses:
A job description is a document that describes the responsibilities and duties to be carried
out by the job holder and the person specification which details the requirements,
qualifications, experience and skills needed for the job are both standard documents used in
the recruitment process of any business. These documents are derived from the job analysis
which is conducted at the start of the recruitment process and are put together by managers
or even recruitment agencies. ASDA uses both of these documents to clearly convey to the
applicant what the job entails and what is required of them. However, the way ASDA
structures these documents is very different from other employers. This is because ASDA
does not explicitly use the headings ‘Job Description’ or ‘Person Specification’, instead these
are replaced by headings like ‘Your Role’ and ‘About You’. The reason why ASDA does this
is to differentiate themselves from other employers and by using inclusive words like ‘we’, it
, convinces the applicant that ASDA cares about them. By using this terminology and
structure it maximises the amount of applications that are received because it makes the
process more appealing and attractive.
How candidates apply for a job at ASDA:
Candidates apply for a job at ASDA through online applications. Underneath the job
description on the ASDA careers website, for every job, there is a large green button that
has the text ‘Apply Now’. After the button is clicked the candidates are redirected and are
expected to fill out the online application forms which require their personal information such
as contact details and their CV which stands for curriculum vitae and it lists their
qualifications, experience and skills. After the candidates have filled out their online
application they are then redirected to two aptitude and one personality tests which must be
completed (the results from these tests helps recruitment managers to shortlist candidates in
the selection process). By using online applications instead of paper/letter or phone
applications it saves a lot of time and money. This is because when the online application is
made it is instantaneous, avoiding waiting times which is a major disadvantage to
letter/paper applications. On top of this the online application is automatically uploaded to a
secure database and as it is not-physical and intangible, the application cannot get lost. In
the application process ASDA has also implemented a software that disregards the online
applications of candidates which do not meet the requirements detailed in the person
specification, this is very efficient because it means that the recruitment managers do not
have to waste time checking these applications that do not meet the requirements for the job
which saves a lot of money and speeds up the recruitment and selection process.
Reasons for each recruitment processes:
Why ASDA conducts job analysis:
Job analysis is the process of collecting and analysing data to determine the content of the
job and who it is best suited for. Job analysis is conducted every time a job vacancy arises to
see if the responsibilities and duties to be carried out by the job holder have changed since
the last time the job vacancy was advertised. There are two main reasons why ASDA
conducts job analysis. The first reason is because as it identifies the content, responsibilities
and requirements needed for the job it helps human resources to create job descriptions and
person specifications. This is crucial because without job descriptions or person
specifications no candidates would apply for the job as they would not be able to find out
what the job actually entails and what is required from them and so by conducting job
analysis, recruitment documents can be derived from it. Similarly if job analysis is not
conducted regularly then job descriptions and person specifications would not be up-to-date
which would then mean the most suitable candidates for the job would not be hired, causing
them to not carry out the job successfully and the recruitment and selection process would
be ineffective. And so as ASDA frequently conducts job analysis it allows them to create and
update recruitment documents to ensure that the process is effective. Another reason why
ASDA conducts job analysis is because as it identifies the new and changing skills and
qualifications needed to perform the job successfully, HR can create new and improved
training programmes that will equip the candidates with the skills needed for the job. For
