Competency-based Recruitment

Competency-based Recruitment is a process of recruitment that focuses on

identifying what is necessary for a job according to the strategy of the company and
hire employees that will help the organization to achieve its goals. In Competencybased Recruitment, potential candidates are asked to talk about their previous
experiences in order to prove that they have the requested competency. The
difference between the traditional recruitment and competency-based recruitment
is that the latter focuses more on formal, measurable competencies. (Dargai, 2010).
In order to use Competency-based Recruitment there should be a clear distinction
between employees personality traits (prefers to do), motivation (wants to do) and
cognitive abilities (is able to do).
A competency is defined as the combination of observable and measurable
knowledge, skills, abilities and personal attributes that contribute to enhanced
employee performance and ultimately result in organizational success. (The
Definition of Competencies and Their Application at NU, n.d.). A competency has
four characteristics: skill (practical experience), Knowledge (which is obtained by
learning), Personal attributes (derived from the personality of the employee) and
behavior (observed manifestations of the previous mentioned characteristics)
In order to fully understand competencies, they can be grouped in two ways:
According to their nature, competencies can be either hard competencies, which are
related to knowledge, skills and educational background and are used in performing
tasks for the organization, or soft competencies used in interpersonal relationships
and are derived from the personality of the employees but they are still rooted in
the knowledge.
The second way to classify the competencies is according to the area of application:

Employee core competencies: abilities and skills that are used by the
employees while carrying out activities and task to fulfill the objectives of the
organization. These competencies are also aligned with the values, mission,
vision and the strategic objectives of the company.
Managerial competencies: skills used to perform managerial activities and
are used in interpersonal interactions. Further on, managerial competencies
can be split in 2 subcategories:
o Human competencies: related to team work and leadership
o Conceptual competencies: related to problem solving and
reduce the complexity of a given situation.
Technical/Functional Competencies: specific knowledge and skill used in a
narrow field.
Personal attribute: competencies that are prone to have an effect on the work
attitude and performance.

In the following illustration it will be presented the steps of Competencybased Recruitment. It shows the definition of the vacancy and the steps
needed to fulfil in order to carry on the recruitment (steps 1 to 4), while the
remaining steps follow the development of the selection.

Figure 1 Competency-Based Recruitment and Selection (Dubois D., 2004)

The advantages of Competency-based Recruitment are:

results-oriented design, which will have a positive effect on the results of the
organization,
it eliminates discrimination because the interviewer has little room for
interpretation since the requirement for the job are specifically defined, thus

reducing drastically the risk of employing a candidate that will not rise to the
expectations,
it is efficient and effective, therefore economical
Since the candidates that will be selected for the jobs already have skills in
the required fields, the training time and costs are reduced.

However, Competency-based Recruitment has disadvantages too:

The analysis of the job requirements is time consuming

It is not applicable when hiring unskilled or semiskilled employees.

Concerning the Competency-based Selection, there are a various number of tools

that an organization may use to assess the competencies of the candidates. These
tools are (A Handbook for Manangers, 2010):

Psychometric test and questionnaires- which include aptitude tests,

personality tests and skill tests. These are test that are assessing the soft
skills of the employees are time consuming and expensive. They are
commonly used for employing top managers and have to be closely related
to the job at hand.
Assessment centers- use a various number of tests in order to obtain a
complete and clearer view of the candidates abilities. Usually, the
assessment centers will last a day, while the online ones might be shorter.
The candidate will have tests that take one hour and the tests are either
individual or group tests. Assessment centers are typically expensive and
require detailed planning.
Competency-based interviews- in interviews each question targets a specific
competency or skill. The interviewer will ask the candidate to talk about a
specific skill and after that the interviewer will ask for more details regarding
some narrower details that need clarifications or development. Since the goal
of the interview is to assess the candidate, the interviewee will talk for about
75% to 80% of the time.

It should be mentioned that while the questions are answered the interviewer
should take notes. Also, in the case of more than one interviewer, they should not
talk with each other. At the end of the screenings all the information about the
candidates will be revised by the panel and the most suitable candidate or
candidates will be chosen.
As a final step, the whole process should be evaluated, in order to find areas
that might request fine tunings, starting with the competencies (were they
suitable?), the ads (was the placement right?), the recruitment process, the
selection process and finally, what did the candidates (both successful and
unsuccessful) think about the process.

http://ontohr.eu/root/web/ontohrweb.nsf/(files)/en-pub-t24/$FILE/Theoretical
%20Background.pdf
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/cpld/document_uploads/98694.pdf la recomandari
http://hr.unl.edu/compensation/nuvalues/corecompetencies.shtml/
http://newsletter.cut-e.com/What_is_competency_based_recruitment_a509.html

4. Taking into consideration the introduction, where the Competency-based

Recruitment and selection was presented and chapter 3, where the recruitment and
selection process of Avangate was discussed, we will proceed to compare the
practical approach of Avangate to the theoretical one.
Avangate follows closely the model of Dubois regarding Competency-based
Recruitment. First, the department that has a job opening works closely with the HR

department to establish the job requirements and the profile of the employee. Thus,
by having a good communication and working together, the HR department obtains
a good 360 degree image of the ideal candidate.
Second, Avangate has a wide range of tools used to recruit candidates and it uses
them in a specific pattern in order to ensure that the existing employees are aware
of the new job opening. Internal recruitment is less costly, considering that the
employees are already familiar with the company and how it operates, and it also
increases the satisfaction of the employees which will benefit from a change in the
task that they undertake. Also, Avangate uses a system called referral program
which encourages employees to recommend a friend or an acquaintance for a
position. The benefits of this system is first, the fact that the employees will
recommend only acquaintances that they consider that are qualified for the job,
thus the employees act like an additional filter of the company. The second benefit
of the system is getting a bigger audience using the word of mouth.
Third, in the CV screening, by using predefined criteria, Avangate eliminates the
discrimination and ensures that all the CVs are rated in the same way. This is also
valid concerning the interviews since all the interviewers are asked the same
question by using a structured interview and are evaluated based on the same
grades from 1 to 5. The interview is not only focused on the skills or hard
competencies, but also on the soft competencies, as the interviewer follows closely
the behavior of the candidate during the interview, thus obtaining information about
his/her personality.