Recruitment Strategy in the Aviation Industry

With advanced technologies and creativity on the horizon, the aviation industry is one of the fastest developing markets. It faces several problems, such as strong competition, a growing number of emerging entrants, health risks, rising oil prices, extremism, and seasonal fluctuations in the industry. Despite these obstacles, Singapore Airlines has stood the test of time. According to Fortune (2013), Singapore Airlines has outperformed its rivals by steadily its rate of return, winning the most awards in the airline industry, and been named to Fortune’s list of most admired firms. One key area that has been crucial in ensuring the success of Singapore airline is its human resource. Performance of the company is closely related to its human resource since human interact directly with its clientele. According to Schuler and Jackson (1996), job analysis is a crucial part of human resource which provides guidance and support to all the activities performed. All the information gathered from job analysis is used in coming up with job descriptions, specifications, human resource decision making, human resource policy development, training, setting performance standards and appraisal. In light of this, job analysis is important to Singapore airline since provides a solid background and direction for its personnel. Having a proper job specification and job description is the perfect combination to be used to achieve the best performance and results from the human resource team. It ensures that qualified persons are hired and their duties are specified. Therefore job analysis is the cumulative process of searching for data and utilization of data using job descriptions and job specification (Bratton and Gold, 2007).

Job description

In order for the cabin crew staff to perform best, there is need to have a clear and concise definition of the duties and responsibilities that is expected of each and every person. It helps to ensure that all the tasks to be performed are specifically assigned to each staff so as to increase accountability and reduce instances of two or more people performing the same task twice. Job description therefore informs interested job applicants what the job entails, its title, the activities involved and the working environment. This goes a long way in getting qualified staff who satisfactorily meets the requirements of the job.

Job Specification

Job specification on the other hand is a crucial part of the recruitment process as it provides information to prospective applicants about the qualifications required. This includes the skills that the prospective applicant is required to possess. This ensures that before applications are submitted, prospective applications are able to evaluate if they are able to perform. Also to ensure that the applicants have a strong academic background, the job specification can be designed to evaluate the level of education. Once the applicants have submitted their application, job specification will help in selection of the candidate who is qualified and can perform. Therefore job specification translates and converts job description to qualifications.

Job Design

Job design is the process which ensures that the employees are able to meet organizational requirements, satisfy technological needs and relationships by clearly defining the job content, methodology and relationships existing (Buchanan, 1979). Poor job design leads to discouraged employees, disorganized workflows and poor performance. This is an area which should be highlighted so as to improve on team work and improve on maximization of individual capabilities. This also ensures that resources are fully utilized. It aims at simplifying tasks, compiling tasks, enriching the tasks to be performed and switching tasks between various employees. Job design is therefore a never ending continuous process which goes a long way in ensuring that the cabin crew staff at Singapore Airlines are always motivated, satisfied and with good interpersonal relationships.

Job design has four approaches which form the building blocks and determining factors. The four are design for efficiency, design for motivation, design for safety and health and design for mental capacity. The four approaches aim at improving performance and working conditions so as to create an enabling environment.

Design for efficiency

This approach aims at achieving the easiest way possible to perform a task. This ensures that the employees utilize minimal effort and the organization saves on cost. The employee is then motivated to work and produces a higher output at lower cost and effort.

Design for motivation

With the increase in employee turnover due to increase in competitors, there is need to design jobs which motivate employees and utilize their expertise. The jobs needs to be designed in such a way that they are satisfying and requires skilled personnel. Job performance is much higher because the employees are skilled and they enjoy what they do.

Design for safety and health

In the Airline industry, the cabin crew staff is a key resource. This is because the directly interact with clients. Cabin crew jobs should be designed in such a way that the physical abilities and strength of the personnel is not exceeded. To achieve this there has been an increasing reliance and development of technology; equipment and machinery which will help reduce physical effort and fatigue.

Design for mental capacity

Working in the aviation industry can be taxing both mentally and physically. Jobs should be designed in such a way that the mental abilities is not exceeded so as to reduce level of stress , amount of training required and increase the performance ability.

Recruitment Strategy And Implementation

With the volume of operations at Singapore airlines, there is need for constant growth of personnel. This is done so as to be able to meet the demand, grow its business and reputation. In this regard for the organization to achieve the best performance, attract the best candidates and retain its resourceful employees it has to employ well planned and managed strategies. It has to develop and implement a well structured recruitment process. To achieve this, a three aspect of personnel recruitment is utilized. The three aspects are personnel policies, recruitment traits and behaviors and recruitment sources. This aims at matching the vacancy characteristics and applicant characteristics.

With the increasing number of employees, there needs to be a policy which will provide guidance and direction. Therefore the personnel policy is a commitment by all staff towards the adherence to the vision of Singapore airline and commitment towards success of the company (Legge, 2006). The personnel policy clearly highlights on issues to do with best practices, human resource capacity, and compliance to the various laws, social responsibility and recruitment and retention of employees. Also the policy helps in standardization of the processes and uniformity so as to avoid the various individual preferences. In addition, personnel policies enable each employee to know exactly what is expected of her and what she expects from the airline company. This also helps in defining the disciplinary measures available in case of non compliance of the set policies.

The next step is looking for suitable candidates to join Singapore airlines. This requires that the source to be identified. This is a crucial stage because the performance of the airline is highly dependent on performance of employees. Recruitment sources may be internal or external. Internal sourcing is considered an easier process because the employees’ abilities have been tested and proven. An employee in one role is transferred to another role as a promotion. This tends to encourage the existing employees and shows room for career growth. Other examples of internal recruitment are job rotation, employee references and employee database. Internal sourcing is the most cost effective method of acquisition of new employees however it discourages new ideas and creativity which could have been gained from new employees. External sourcing is the process of recruitment by acquisition of someone who has not been in the organization before. They can be sourced from career fairs, schools, recruitment agencies and mass media. In the recent past there has been a growth in the staff for hire or outsourced employees. This method has gained praise because of the fact that it encourages new pool of employees who bring in new energy and new ideas. It also allows and encourages acquisition of competent expertise which is going to steer the organization forward. This is however faced by the challenge that this is costly, consumes more time and lack of proven working experience. On establishing that the policies match recruitment sources, the recruiter traits and characteristics will be fit for the position. It will result to a perfect match for recruitment.

Selection

After the recruitment process has been completed, the selection process is then activated. This process ensures that the best candidate is given an opportunity to serve at Singapore airlines (Ofori & Aryeetey, 2011). According to Gamage (2014), the main purpose of the selection process is to achieve the best candidate who suits the requirements of the job at the most cost effective way possible. The effectiveness of the selection process will ensure that the candidate is able to perform the task. It is important that the candidate is able to comprehend his/her roles. Selection is based on five stages namely, screening applications, getting candidates to take tests, mix and match, checking references and documentation and finally selection of the candidate. The first step of selection is to screen applications. This involves comparison of the job analysis and the applications. At is at this stage that a record is created containing the names, selection criteria and short list criteria. This is done to check if the candidates who have applied for the position are qualified and are able to meet the specifications and be able to keep track of all applicants. The next step is getting candidates to take tests. There are different types of tests being administered but that is purely based on the task. The tests include cognitive ability which tests reasoning skills, personality which tests ability of the client to meet expectations, and physical ability which tests the physical requirements of the task and job knowledge which tests the level at which the candidate can understand. The main aim of this test is to compare the various candidates’ abilities. The tests differ from one job to another based on each jobs’ specifications. Thirdly is mix and match. At this stage the candidates’ performance in the first two selection stages is checked and compared to see if it matches the job specification and description. The candidate proceeds to the next stage of the checking the references. Checking references and documentation involves establishing if the documentations are copies of the original documents. Also it involves seeking for verification from third parties to confirm the candidates’ ability and past experience. Once all this has been verified and confirmed the best and most suitable candidate is then selected. Selecting the best candidate can be one of the best decisions that can be made. It is at this stage that an offer is given to the successful candidate. The offer will provide details which will advise on the date to start the contract, terms of employment and the expectations are then communicated. It is based on this that the candidate considers if he/she would like to be part of the team. The unsuccessful candidates are then communicated to thanking them for taking time to apply and should there be vacant positions in future they will be considered. Poor selection will lead to an additional cost which will be incurred by the airline.

Conclusion

Singapore airline has been a key player in the aviation industry with good prospects of growth. With implementation of the strategies on this report Singapore airlines will be able to grow in leaps and bounds. With acquisition of qualified personnel, retaining of qualified and performing personnel, development of sound human resource policies, it is without doubt that Singapore airline will continue to win awards. Also this will act as a motivating factor to employees so as to yield better results and achieve the goals of the company.

References

Buchanan, D. (1979). The Development of Job Design Theories and Techniques. New York: Praeger Publishers.

Fortune (2013). World’s most admired companies. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/most-admired/2013/list/?iid=wma_sp_full

Gamage, A. S. (2014). Recruitment and selection practices in manufacturing SMEs in Japan: An analysis of the link with business performance. Ruhuna Journal of Management and Finance, 1(1), 37-52

John Bratton and Jeff Gold G. (2007), Human resource management theory and practice, fourth edition. 661 pages

Legge, K. (2006). Human resource management. In S. Ackroyd, R. Batt, P. Thompson, & P. S. Tolbert (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of work and organization (pp. 220-241). New York: Oxford University Press

Ofori, D., & Aryeetey, M. (2011). Recruitment and selection practices in small and medium enterprises. International Journal of Business Administration, 2(3):45-60.

Schuler, R.S. and Jackson, S.E. (1996) Human Resource Management: Positioning for the 21st Century, 6th edn. St Paul, MN: West Publishing.