Recruitment and Selection Process of Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Introduction:

Human Resource plays the vital role to get maximum contribution from its workforce. It is the nerve centre of the company as it is to deal with man who is the vital and most sensitive factor in any organization. Without the support of human beings machine remain idle, raw materials lie stacked and money gets tied up. To get the best output the potential individual has to be recruited.

Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is a leading pharmaceuticals company in Bangladesh, established in 1999. The company has a very big manufacturing facility located at Savar, 35 kilometer away from the center of the capital city Dhaka. The company produce various types of dosages forms which include tablets, capsules, oral liquids, ampoules, dry powder vials, powder for suspension, nasal spray etc. This is a very fast growing company. This growth is depends on the quality of the products and the better marketing system, which is also depends on the efficiency of the working force.

Background of the Study:

Through internship program, a student can observe and evaluate the use and applicability of the theoretical concepts which were taught in the classrooms. This report is prepared as a requirement for the fulfillment of BBA Program, which is to be submitted to my honorable faculty supervisor Associate Professor Sarwar R Chowdhury. The proposal of the project is “Recruitment & Selection Process of Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd.”

Importance of the study:

Human resource is the main force to achieve organization goals and objectives. In order to achieve these goals and objectives, the organization needs productive human resources. An organization has to give importance to undertake measures in order to equip staff with sound knowledge and skills so that they can contribute in achieving the organizational, departmental as well as the individual objectives. Through a sound recruitment policy, we can discover the efficient employees for Incepta and they can be polished to drizzling brilliance. Sound recruitment policy will provide for Incepta to strike a workable balance between the company need and qualified human resources.

Objectives of the Study:

General objective:

• To fulfill the requirement for completion of the Master of Business Administration in Human Resources Management.
• To analyze and evaluate the present recruitment & Selection process of Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Specific objectives:

  To determine the problem areas which influence the recruitment & selection process.

  To determine the acceptability and reliability of the recruitment system.

  To determine the causes of turnover.

  To recommend and suggest in improving the existing system.

  To relate the theoretical knowledge and the practical knowledge.

Methodology of the study:

The methodology that has been adopted in the study is basing on mainly primary data as well as secondary data.

 Collection of Data:

Scope of the study:

• Target group includes top-level management.
• Personnel training and development planning.
• Perception of top-level management regarding recruitment.

 Limitations of the study:

• Time allocation to complete the whole study is too limited.
• Unavailability of relevant records and information in the organization is a major constrains.
• Unintentional non-cooperation of the target group/respondents in providing necessary information, as they were busy is also a remarkable limitation of the study.
• Some of the respondents were afraid of in providing confidential information and some of them showed less interest on such assignment and in a few of the target group willingly avoided of providing information.

PART TWO

Overview of Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Brief Profile of the Organization:

Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is a leading pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh established in the year 1999. The company has a very big manufacturing facility located at Savar, 35 kilometer away from the center of the capital city Dhaka. The company produces various types of dosage forms which include tablets, capsules, oral liquids, ampoules, dry powder vials, powder for suspension, nasal sprays, eye drops, creams, ointments, lotions, gels, prefilled syringes, liquid filled hard gelatin capsules, lyophilized injections etc. Since its inception, Incepta has been launching new and innovative products in order to fulfill unmet demand of the medical community. The focus has always been to bring new, more technologically advanced molecules and innovative dosage forms to this country.

VISION AND MISSION

Vision:

To become a research based global pharmaceutical company in addition to being a highly efficient generic manufacturer. To discover and develop innovative, value-added products that improves the quality of life of people around the world and significantly contributes towards the growth of Bangladesh.

Mission:

Provide people globally with high quality health care products at affordable prices in order to improve access to medicine and to improve employees an enabling environment that facilities realization of their full potential.

COMPANY PROFILE

Date of Incorporation

Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. started its business in the year of 1999.

Address

Corporate Headquarters

40 Shahid Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani

Tejgaon I /A, Dhaka-1208. Bangladesh

Phone: +880-2-8837811-26

Fax: +880-2-8837952

E-mail:info@inceptapharma.com

Operational Headquarters

40 Shahid Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani

Tejgaon I /A, Dhaka-1208. Bangladesh

Phone: +880-2-8837811-26

Fax: +880-2-8837952

E-mail:info@inceptapharma.com

Factory

Dewan Idris Road, Jirabo, Savar, Dhaka. Bangladesh

Phone: +880-2-7708502

Fax: +880-2-7708507

E mail: factory@inceptapharma.com

Ownership pattern

Incepta Pharmaceuticals Limited is the sister concern of the renowned Impress Group and the business is running as fully private limited company. Directors of Incepta Pharmaceuticals Limited own the majority shares. Incepta is not DSE listed in capital market yet, so it is controlled by the internal board of director’s. So any kind of significant decision is taken by the management.

Number of Employees

 Brief History of the Organization

Incepta began its operation with a handful of highly skilled and dedicated professionals guided by an able leadership. Proper strategic planning, technical excellence, swift and timely decisions helped them achieve their objectives leading to much faster growth. Incepta was able to anticipate the need of the market and provide the right product at the right time. High focus on R&D investment from the very beginning made possible the introduction of quality products ahead of its competitors in most cases.

Incepta is a fast growing pharmaceutical dosage form manufacturing company established in 1999 with the slogan of “Innovative concept into practice”. The company has a very big manufacturing facility located at Savar, 35 k.m. away from the center of the capital city Dhaka. Incepta develops, manufactures and markets medicines to address the unmet medical needs of Bangladesh Market. Now Incepta has gone beyond the boundaries of Bangladesh. Currently it is exporting medicines to 26 countries which are expected to be doubled in this year (March 2008). Around 3000 individuals from diverse disciplines including pharmacy, microbiology, MBA, accounting, engineering and medicine are working nationwide under the umbrella of Incepta. Over 1200 highly professional science graduate and post-graduate people are representing the sales team of Incepta. It has its own large distribution network having 14 depots all over the country. Incepta always gives emphasis to its practice of Corporate Social Responsibility. Company CSR activity includes its finances because the company pays tax and VAT to the Government and also settles bank and suppliers liabilities in a timely fashion. Incepta provides its employees a full range of staff facilities including life insurance and disbursement of 5% of the company profit to them. The company donates medicine to the Government Relief Fund during natural disaster. It also provides financial assistance for expensive treatment including heart and cancer and disburses its corporate Zakat for relief of distressed people every year. The history of Incepta is as follows.

1998

In December 16, 1998, the construction of the factory began.

1999

At the last month of this year first batch of product was produced.

2000

In April 2000, Osartil the first CVS product of Incepta came to the market. By the end of this year Incepta became 31st company of the country.

2001

18 new generics with 37 presentations were launched in this year. 11 of these generics were first ever in Bangladesh. By the end of this year Incepta was ranked 12th company of the country.

2002

32 new generics with 49 presentations were launched in this year, of those 14 generics were first ever in Bangladesh. New office for the sales and distribution operation was also taking place. At the end of this year Incepta was ranked 10th company of the country. Incepta received two awards in this year – Arthakantha, Business Awards and The Financial Mirror, Business Awards

 2003

In this year 32 new generics with 48 presentations were launched, of which 18 generics were first ever in Bangladesh. By the end of this year Incepta was ranked 8th company of the country.

2004

A total of 17 new generics with 32 presentations were launched in this year. 6 of these generics were first ever in Bangladesh. The company was ranked 5th largest company of the country with the highest growth rate among the top five. Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. received the Enterprise of the Year 2004 Award for outstanding performance.

2005

Incepta started to provide life saving drugs to UNICEF from March, 2005. A total of 27 generics were launched, of which 12 generics were first ever in Bangladesh. The company was ranked 3rd largest company of the country with the highest growth rate among the top five.

2006

Incepta successfully started overseas marketing in May 2006. A total of 25 generics with 82 presentations were launched in this year. 9 of these generics were first ever in Bangladesh.

2007

Incepta introduced the era of biotech and lyophilized products in Bangladesh. Insulin was manufactured and launched for the first time in Bangladesh by a local company. A total of 32 new generics with 82 presentations were launched. 4 of these generics were first ever in Bangladesh. Marketing, sales, distribution and administration departments shifted to fully owned new office premises.

2008

This is a remarkable and memorable year for Incepta. Its manufacturing plant attained European “Certificate of GMP Compliance” on January 11, 2008. Incepta has been able to bring, for the first time ever, such recognition for a Bangladeshi pharmaceutical company. As a result of this certificate Incepta will be able to start export of non-patent infringing products to European Union and many other regulated markets.

2009

Incepta launched 51 new products in 2009. 4 of these were first ever in Bangladesh pharmaceutical market.

2010

Incepta was awarded GMP certificate from Uganda, National Drug Authority on 5th August 2010 (Sterile Products, Non-sterile products and Cephalosporin).

2011

Up to June 2011 the company has launched 30 products, 7 of which are first ever in Bangladesh market.

Beginning in 2000, Incepta has been launching new and innovative products at a faster pace than its competitors. Up to June 2011 it has already launched more than 317 generics with a total of 625 presentations. The company produces a wide variety of dosage forms covering nearly all the major therapeutic classes. During the last 11 years of operation Incepta launched as many as 118 new generics for the first time ever in Bangladesh. High focus on quality and timely introduction of much needed essential medications previously unavailable in the country has enabled Incepta to become the second largest pharmaceutical company of the country.

 According to IMS health survey which is a US-based and the world’s number one market research organization and has been providing pharmaceuticals market intelligence to more than 100 countries over the past 50 years, the market position of the top ten pharmaceuticals companies in Bangladesh in 2011.

Sales of Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd., established in 1999, stood at Tk. 4.52 billion in last year and it grabbed a market share of 8.24 per cent during the period. In 2011, IPL stood 2^nd position in terms of market share n the pharmaceuticals industry in Bangladesh.

Type of Organization: Essential Medicine Manufacturing Company.

Types of product: Antibiotics, Antiulcerants, Antihypertensives, Diuretics, Antihistamines, Antiperkinsonism, Calcium supplement, Iron supplement, Antifungals, Anxiolytics, Skin depigmenting agent, Antirheumatic, Antiarthritic, Pain killer, Antiflatulent, Antiplatelet, Nasal Spray and Drop for asthma and allergy, Antiasthmatics, Antiepileptic, Cough Expectorant, Sedative, Antidiabetic, Ovulation inducing agent, Prokinetic and Antiemetic, Drug for BPH, Cholesterol reducing agent, Anticoagulant, and Antidepressant.

Organization Structure:

IPL has a board of Directors headed by a Chairman and Managing Director (MD). There are eight directors. The MD directly reports to the board of directors.

Departments:

• Marketing Strategy Department
• Medical Service Department
• Human Resource Department.
• Administrative Department
• Commercial Department
• Sales Department
• Distribution Department
• Regulatory Affairs Department
• Finance & Accounts Department
• Financial System Department
• Management Information Department
• Production Department
• Quality Control Department
• Product Development Department
• International Marketing Department

Human Resource Department:

With the increase in size and complexity of business organization, human has become the most important factor in business. Human being plays a dual role-as resources as well as motive force for all other resources by manipulating them, by way of developing, utilizing, commanding and controlling. HR department in Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. concentrates on-

• Securing and attracting appropriate people.
• Generating maximum individual development
• Recognizing and satisfying individual needs.
• Maintaining high morale
• Developing leadership quality

Recruitment Process

Recruitment:

Recruitment is the process by which organizations locate and attract individuals to fill job vacancies. Most organizations have a continuing need to recruit new employees to replace those who leave or are promoted, and to permit organizational growth. It can be quite expensive in terms of time effort and money. The success of the recruitment process mostly depends on effective HR planning. Without accurate planning, an organization may recruit the wrong number of or type of employees.

Recruitment Goals:

A good recruitment program may serve many conflicting goals. A mentioned goal is to attract a large pool of applicants but applicant pools can be too large and thus very costly to process. Recruiting must also attract a high proportion of well-qualified candidates who are seriously interested in accepting a job offer. Post-hiring goals must also be considered the recruiting process those workers who are good performers and who will stay with the organization for a reasonable length of time. An additional goal is that recruiting efforts should have beneficial “spillover” effects: that is the organization’s general image should be enhanced and even unsuccessful applicants should develop a positive attitude towards the company and its products. Further, all the above goals should be reached with the greatest speed and at the least possible cost to the organization.

Recruitment Philosophy:

As a part of the process of prioritizing goals, the organization may develop its recruitment philosophy. One of the key issues in recruitment philosophy is whether to promote largely form within the organization or to hire from the outside vacancies at all levels.

A second aspect of recruitment philosophy concerns where the emphasis is: on merely filling vacancies or on hiring for long-term careers. A short-term view may emphasize filling vacancies quickly. While a longer term view may tolerate delay in the interests of finding just the right people to bring in for the long haul.

A third aspect of recruitment philosophy concerns depth of commitment to seeking and hiring a diverse range of employees.

A fourth aspect of recruitment philosophy is whether applicants are viewed as commodities to be purchased or as customers to be wooed.

A fifth aspect of the recruitment policy has ethical overtones, in terms of fairness and honesty in the recruitment process. Both parties may be motivated to present their best sides while concealing their weakness and this may lead to a temptation to lie or mislead be omission or commission.

Sources of recruiting:

Deciding whether the position is to he filled internally or external is often an early task in recruitment planning for a specific vacancy. In some cases, there is no decision to be made. For instance, entry-level jobs must be filled externally and for other position the company’s policy or union contract may require that internal sources be utilized first. Most organization use a mixture of internal and external sources: promoting from within when qualified employees are available and recruiting from external sources when new skills are needed or growth is rapid.

Internal recruiting:

Most companies fill vacancies internally whenever possible. A variety of internal recruiting methods are used for different levels of jobs. Lower level jobs such as clerical and manual jobs are often called nonexempt jobs because their incumbents are not exempt from the minimum wage and overtime provisions of standard labor act. These people are typically paid an hourly wage. In contrast higher-level administrative managerial and professional employees are paid on a salary basis and are exempt from the overtime provisions. The following section discusses the internal recruitment methods used for each category of job in turn.

Internal recruiting for Nonexempt positions:

Some small and non-unionized companies have an informal system of locating promotable employees. When openings occur, the hiring manager may rely on memory to suggest candidates or may ask supervisors to recommend employees who appear qualified. The obvious drawbacks of such a system are:

 1) Good candidates may be overlooked.

2) Favoritism may be displayed.

3) Qualified candidates may be hoarded by a supervisor who prefers to keep them in department rather than recommend them for deserved promotions elsewhere.

The most commonly used system for internal recruiting is job posting and bidding, in which employees nominate they are interested in being considered for an opening. The HR Manager posts openings on the bulletin boards or publishes them in an in-house newspaper. More recently, some larger firms developed job posting system by electronic mail. The system allows the employees to view internal job opportunities in each of the regions in the country. They can even submit applications via e-mail. Job posting describes positions, locations, pay rates and qualifications and encourage all interested employees to apply. The hiring manager and a HR representative evaluate the candidates and make the selection decision.

Internal recruiting for Exempt positions:

Posting and bidding are quite rare as a method of internal recruiting for professional and managerial positions in the private sector. Organizations trying to fill vacant managerial slots might identify candidates by consulting replacement charts or by forming a nominating committee of higher managers who would pool their information to generate a slate of candidates. Larger organizations however, have found that they need a more systematic method of identify candidates, particularly if they wish to encourage transfers across divisional lines. These firms are developing managerial succession plans and computerized information systems on manager’s education, skills, Performance, and experience and job and location preferences. When vacancies occur, the information system can quickly search and produce a list of potential candidates.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Internal Recruiting:

When an internal source is used, there are much advantages as well as disadvantages. The advantages of internal recruiting are stated below:

Advantages:

• The vacancy is filled by a person with known ability. Since the employer has observed the employee in one position, there is less guesswork involved in assessing his or her suitability for a second position. In contrast, assessments of external recruits are based on less reliable source, such as references and on relatively brief encounters, such as interviews,

• Another advantage of promoting from within is that doing so motivates current employees. Skilled and ambitious employees are less likely to quit and more likely to become involved in development activities if they believe that promotion is likely.
• Training and socialization time is reduced when openings are filled internally because a current employee has less to learn about the organization and its idiosyncratic procedures than a newcomer.
• Recruitment may also be faster, and less expensive if an internal candidate can he found.
• In times of impending retrenchment, filling as many jobs as possible internally maximized job security for present employees.

Disadvantages:

• If the organization rapidly, there may be an insufficient internal supply of qualified individuals above the entry level. This situation may result in people’s being promoted before they are not ready or being allowed to stay in a position long enough to learn how to do a job well.
• Again, when a vacancy is filled internally, a second vacancy is created- the position of the individual who was promoted or transferred to fill the first vacancy. If this slot is also filled internally then another vacancy occurs. This is called the ripple effect.
• An organization may become inbred and lose flexibility if all its managers are homegrown.

External recruiting:

A successful external recruiting effort requires careful planning an coordination. In most medium and large organizations, the HR professionals do most of the recruiting. These people may be personnel generalists who spend some of their time performing recruitment activities or full-time recruiters who specialize in seeking and screening potential new employees. A separate recruiting function with at least on full-time recruiter tends to exist in organizations that have a continuing need to recruit a minimum of fifty to one hundred exempt employees each year. Recruiters may make hiring decisions for some lower level jobs, but ordinarily they locate, evaluate and refer the most qualified candidates to the manager (or sometimes the team) for the unit in which the vacancy has occurred. This manager, called the hiring manager, makes the final hiring decision, often in consultation which other managers. In order to find the right kind of candidates, recruiters must work closely with hiring managers throughout the recruitment process.

The recruiters first step after receiving an assignment to meet with the hiring manager to find out more about the position to be filled. The two of the must workout specifications in terms of what education, skills, and experience are needed and desired. Besides obtaining the needed information about the job’s requirement, the recruiter must also identify what might attract candidates to the job. With this information, the recruiter can begin to plan where to look for applicants, how many to look for, and how to screen them.

Throughout the recruiting process, the hiring manager should stay in dose touch with the recruiter. The hiring manager should examine resumes or applications that have passed initial screening by the recruiter and should review some of the applications that the recruiter rejected during the first step. Such involvement on the part of the hiring manager allows feedback as to whether or not the recruiter’s decision is consistent with the hiring manager’s preferences.

Informal methods:

External recruiting methods are often grouped into two classes: informal and formal. Informal recruiting methods tap a narrower labor market than formal methods. Informal methods include rehiring former employees or former cooperative education students and hiring from among those apply without being solicited (such applicants are called “walk-ins” or gate hires”). Another informal method is having present employees refer others or encourage their friends to apply (“word-of-moth” recruiting). Formal recruiting methods search the labor market more widely for candidates with no previous connection to the company.

Informal methods, because they can be implemented quickly, are by far the most commonly used methods for hiring clerical and blue-collar personnel. Most organizations maintain a file of recent unsolicited applications that can be searched when a vacancy occurs. Also, employees can easily spread the word when a firm is hiring. Informal methods tend to be inexpensive, with rare exceptions. One drawback of rehiring former employee and word-of ­mouth advertising is that these methods may reduce the likelihood of a firm’s meeting its affirmative action goals. If a firm’s work force is primarily non-minority, then the friends referred by the present employees are likely to be nun-minority. Thus, companies should supplement informal methods with formal methods that reach a wider audience.

University cooperative education programs or internships are excellent informal methods of recruiting that provide companies with the opportunity to asses the ability of the new professionals and get an inside track on hiring the best ones. Young profession also can be very impressed by a properly structured internship experience and may strongly desire to return to the same company full-time after graduation.

Formal Methods:

Formal methods of external recruiting entail searching the labor market for candidates who have no previous connection to the firm. These methods traditionally have included newspaper advertising, uses of employment agencies and executive search firms, and campus recruiting.

Newspaper recruitment advertising: The most common formal recruitment method is advertising. Recruitment advertising has an obvious target-people who are seeking work-and an obvious goal-attracting these job seekers to apply for a job at a particular company. Recruitment ads, however, reach a much wider audience. Estimates are that only ten to twenty percent of the readers of help wanted ads are currently seeking work. About 70 to 75 percent of the readers are happily employed but skim the ads regularly to see what is available. These readers are unlikely to apply immediately but are developing images of the employers whose ads they see. A well-designed, informative advertisement may help convince these people to consider the company at some later date when they are interested in a new job. Another audience for the ads is the company’s own employees. When one company discontinued its recruiting advertising, it found that its employees were suddenly nervous and that rumors of layoffs were circulating. A final audience is made up of clients, stockholders, brokers, activists, and regulators all of whom may have some interest in an organization’s activities.

The main purpose of the recruitment ad is to generate a qualified response -that is, to produce applications from candidates who are at least minimally qualified for the job. A good ad should also make screening of applications easy by clearly telling the applicants what sort of information to provide in their application package. To elicit a qualified response, the ad must contain enough information about the job, necessary qualifications, and pay rate to allow uninterested or unqualified people to make the decision not to apply. At the same time, the ad must attract qualified candidates by conveying a good impression of the company or divisions by emphasizing the advantages of the particular job. To achieve its objective, an ad must not misrepresent the job and raise unrealistic expectations in candidates. Rather, it should clearly describe the legitimate attractions of the job. One form of advertisement is a blind ad, in which the company docs not identify it but rather asks candidates to reply to an anonymous post office box. A company may use blind ads when it does not want its own employees to know that one of them may be replaced or when the company has a poor reputation as an employer. Blind ads typically yield a significantly lower response rate than non-blind ads and should not he use unless there is a very good reason.

Employment Agencies: An agency finds and prescreens applicants, referring those who seem qualified to the organization for further assessment and final selection. An agency can screen effectively only it has a clear understanding of the position it is trying to fill. Thus it is very important that an employer be as specific and accurate as possible when describing a position and its requirement to an employment agency. Agencies that provide employment services can be publicly funded or for-profit agencies. On occasions, unions provide employment services as well.

 Innovative recruiting methods: as employers have had to contend with labor shortages in some regions and occupations they have used additional recruitment methods. Some of these include job fairs, 1V or radio ads, direct mail, point-of-sale recruitment advertising (on the assumption those who buy your product may be interested in making or selling it), and employment hotlines to provide job information twenty four hours a day. Another increasingly common method is tele recruiting in which potential candidates who are already employed are phoned in an effort to build their interest to change employers.

Campus Recruiting: Campus recruiting is wider used by large and medium sized firms that need highly educated entry-level employees. This can be highly productive for an organization, as many good candidates can be interviewed in a short period of time and at a single location. Furthermore, it is convenient because the college/university recruitment center provides both space and administrative support. This type of recruiting is moderate in cost though it is more expensive than word-of-mouth recruiting, gate hiring, or limited advertising, but it is less expensive than using employment agencies (when the company pays the fee). Some organizations are dropping the term “campus recruiting”, which implies a, one-dimensional activity conducted a few weeks a year, in favor of the concept of a “university relations program”. The latter brings home the importance of maintaining year-round visibility on selected campuses, using variety of methods.

–       Reference

–       Head Hunting

Advantage and Disadvantages of External Recruiting:

However, the advantages that an organization can get by recruiting externally are:

• Recruiting from external source can bring in new ideas and viewpoints, avoid confusion that accompanies ripple effect, meet affirmative action goal, and cope with the demands of rapid growth without overusing inexperienced personnel.
• External recruitment may save training cost. Hiring experienced workers away from other companies may cut down on the need for a comprehensive training and development program in-house.
• There may be instances that require a severe shake-up or turnaround. Particularly at the upper management level, an outsider with no prior commitment to present employees or ongoing projects may be the only individual with enough objectivity (and even ruthlessness) to bring about needed changes and enunciate a new vision for the organization.

The disadvantages that may occur while recruiting externally can be stated the followings:

• Since the external human resource market is much larger and harder to reach than the internal one, recruiting externally may usually takes longer time and costs more.
• With the external recruiting, there is also a risk of hiring candidate who does not live up to the apparent high potential displayed during selection process.
• Too much external recruiting is discouraging to the current employees because it reduces their chance to move up in the organization.

Planning for External Recruiting:

Before starting the recruiting effort, the recruiter must plan which method to use how intensively to use them and when to begin recruiting to produce the required number of candidates at the time they are needed.

As a rule, higher-level positions take longer to fill. Several other factors, including the followings may make recruiting more difficult or time consuming:

• The need for a confidential search and/or the requirement that no advertisement be done.
• A technically complex position for which qualified individuals are hard to find.
• Competition in the marketplace for the type of candidates needed.
• A poor industry, company or division reputation.
• Low pay relative to what the other firms are offering to similarly qualified individuals.
• An unclear job description or confusing reporting relationship.
• No housing assistance or relocation costs paid by the company.
• An undesirable location.

These factors either make it difficult to locate candidates or make candidates less willing to entertain offers. Under any of these conditions, recruiters should begin the search early, consider using a wider than usual range of recruiting methods and perhaps target non­traditional segments of the labor market.

If data from the past recruiting efforts are available, recruiters should calculate, for different type of positions, the average time between the first contact with an applicant and the first day of the job. Such data can help in determining how far in advance to begin the recruiting process. More commonly, recruitment planning uses somewhat less sophisticated method. Recruiting goals are usually expressed in terms of the number of positions to be filled. However, knowing that the firm needs to hire fifteen engineers does not immediately tell a recruiter how extensively to search. What the recruiter really need to know is how many applications or initial interviews will be needed to locate fifteen engineers who are not only able to pass all the selection hurdles but also willing to accept a job offer. Based on past experience in similar situations, the recruiter may be able to calculate yield ratios for different job or recruiting methods. A yield ratio is the number of candidates who pass each stage of the selection process and enter the next stage compared to the number who created each stage to begin with. On the basis of the yield ratios for the past recruiting, the HR professional could calculate that the firm has to attract 700 candidates to apply to produce 4 eventual hires. Previous experience data also could help the recruiter to plan how many campuses to visit or how many ads to place to produce 700 applicants. Of course, dramatic changes in the unemployment rate may make projections based on the previous recruitment data inaccurate.

Before beginning to recruit candidates, the HR professionals must have a system for tracking applicants as they move through the recruitment and selection process. The system may be manual or computerized depending on the number of candidate to be handled. An efficient Recruitment Information system must ensure that candidates do not get lost but instead move through the process and stay informed of their status. In applicant who is deemed unsuitable should receive a polite letter to that effect as soon as possible after the decision. Good candidates who are pending should receive encouraging letters to keep them interested in the organization. Such conscientious communication enhances an organization’s image even among candidates, who are eventually rejected.

RECRUITMENT & SELECTION PROCESS IN INCEPTA PHARMACEUTICALS LTD.

Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. provides equal employment opportunity for all Bangladeshi citizens. It is the policy of the Company to attract, retain and motivate qua1ified and skilled employees within the Company. To do this, the Company offers competitive compensation package and provides an equal opportunity for career development to all employees. It is believed that in order to achieve the company’s goal, there must have efficient and high caliber human resources. Therefore, the Company pays maximum attention and efforts in recruiting highly qualified and competent employees who are willing to face challenges in achieving Company’s goals. The role of HR in respect to attracting, retaining and motivating qualified and skilled employees is enormous. The formulation and implementation of a sound employment policy have great importance in the fulfillment of desired objectives.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. employment policies are based on the following guiding principles:

1)         Fairness: Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. tries to utilize available human resources at its best. The Company does not discriminate against any job seeker and employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin or any other factor that does not pertain to the individual’s ability to do the job. Each employee is entitled to fair wages and job opportunity in return for their job, skills, commitment, loyalty, personal interest and best efforts. The Company applies each employment policy in a fair, uniform and consistent manner. Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. employment policies are strict in the sense that they do not allow any favor, nepotism or preferential treatment to anyone. Any short of interference or attempt of interference during the implementation of any step of the hiring process by any quarter is seriously dealt with according to the Company policy.

2)         Right person at the right place: The Company tries hard to ensure best match of skills and thus recruit right and competent persons at the right job at the right time.

3)         Efficient and effective: At all stages of recruitment process, all-out efforts are given to ensure that the steps are efficient and effective.

4)         Realistic planning: With the rapid expansion of Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd., in the operation of customer durable products manufacturing & selling appropriate HR planning is given due importance.

5)         Standard Method: The steps and procedures being followed during the course of recruitment, selection and placement conform to the standards of the Company.

6)         Development Focus: Where qualified human resources are not readily available, and even their hiring is subject to cost, therefore, Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. attempts to develop employees from within the company. The company is committed to develop its Human Resources to achieve the Company’s goals and will explore and use the available development opportunities.

HIRING PROCESS

RECRUITMENT

HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING:

Human Resource planning is the process of getting the right number of qualified and competent people in to the right job at the right time. Putting another way, HR Planning is the system of matching the supply of people internally and externally with the openings the Company expects to have over a given time frame. The quality of the candidate and his/her expertise are deciding factor how Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. will succeed in achieving its visions, objectives and tasks.

Human resource planning in Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (IPL) is the part of the Company’s overall plan. The main objective of HR Planning in IPL is to project future human resources need. As the core job of IPL is to render consumer durable products service to the people, the respective divisions and department project the human resources need in the following process.

• Analyze the future volume of work of the organization and calculate the future stuff demand.
• Assess current human resources inventory.
• Assess the future human resources inventory based on extrapolation. For this purpose the department consults employee turnover rate / leave trend, promotion retirement etc.
• Considering above facts human resource department projects stuff deficiency in future and take necessary planning to fill-up the expected vacancies.

Following the above procedure the departments prepare a list of expected vacancies up to forthcoming year. Every year in August Finance department makes a yearly budget plan & they send a letter to each department regarding the expected human resource for that year. Human resources are recruited according to the Quarterly need. All the directors of the different divisions sit together and take decision whether the requested manpower is necessary to be recruited or not. The recruitment of certain number of manpower has to be justified. Than they include the justified number of manpower in the annual budget plan. Not necessary that the number of projected manpower has to be recruited according to the budget plan. It can be altered as necessary. Recruitment occurs without budget plan also depending on the need of the situation.

MANPOWER NEEDS AND REQUISITION:

While requesting for filling the replacement of existing vacant position or new position, the concerned office will fill up a Recruitment Requisition form and send it to the HR department with the approval from M.D. or sometimes HR department take approval from MD. The use of Recruitment Requisition Form was practiced before. Now the concerned department sends a letter in the form of memo to HR department requesting manpower.

Existing position: Respecting department will inform the HR of any vacant position so that HR can co-ordinates/notify the other offices of the vacant position. Whenever needed, the Head of HR review the available records if there is any Qualified and suitable candidate available from Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Internal sources or prospective external candidates already identified earlier. The Director of HR should be informed in the event; his/her approval is required. In special circumstances and to make a Quick decision the Head of HR may propose any suitable staff within the Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. for the position to respective Department Head.

New position: For a new position each Department follows the following procedures:

1.   i.   New employee position has to be discussed with Head of HR well in advance. In case a new position needs to be created, then the Department Head will submit a request to Head of HR for approval with proper justification attached with a detailed job description.

1. Upon the approval of Head of HR, HR recruitment process will begin or whenever possible internal transferor promotion will be made to fill up the vacant position.

1. All new appointments must be in accordance with the approved department budget and must be approved by Head of HR and the Managing Director of Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

1. It is the function of HR to ensure consistency throughout the company in regard to the creation of any new position. HR reviews and ensures that a position with similar responsibility is placed in the same grade level.

JOB ANALYSIS:

A job analysis is a systematic exploration of the activities within a job. This is used to define the duties responsibilities and accountabilities of a job. IPL has a systematic job analysis, which consists of job specification, job description and job evaluation. Recruitment process ideally begins with the analysis of job description and person specification for that job. A job description and analysis of person specification provide the foundation for stipulating the job title and salary scale of the position.

JOB SPECIFICATION:

Job specification defines the education, training, experience, skills and competencies required by the jobholder. The job specification is vital, because the key part of the job specification, established at the beginning, is used in structured selection interview. HR department with the help of the concerned department mainly prepares the job specification.

The following information’s are specified in the job specification:

• The age of the applicant in the case of direct recruitment (other than promotion), for example the age ceiling for the post of manager is 40. The recruitment source is also specified internal or external. If the source is external than applications are called either from fresh or from any other references.
• Title of the position.
• Division, Department or Section.
• There are minimum educational as well as experience qualification for every post from managing director to assistant. For example for lateral entry an applicant for the post of manager should be master degree holder and should have 7 years of experience in similar positions.
• There are also required qualifications for promotion in a certain post.

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Job description is the basis of IPL’s recruitment, selection, placement, performance appraisal, salary administration, promotion, training and other personnel actions for its employees. IPL has structured job description, which includes the job title, the duties to be performed, the authority and responsibilities of the jobholder. For example the duties of the personnel manager (Human Resource) are looking after recruiting, joining of the new employees, management of leave, management of local and overseas training of the employees, promotion, transfer, assist in processing in executive hospitalization and house furnishing benefit and also in processing foreign travel and performs related tasks and works under the Director of HR.

Job description is prepared by respective Head of the HR with the help of concerned department and it is kept with HR. In case there is any change in the duties and responsibilities, then job description must be revised. A copy of the latest job description is kept in employee’s personal file.

The line manager and the HR department ensure that each employee has an appropriate and updated job description stating dearly the context, purpose, duties & responsibilities of the employees and person specification.

A copy of the job description is provided to the employee when he/she is appointed, promoted, newly assigned or when deemed necessary.

After assessing the need of an additional employee in a particular department if the functions in that vacant position can be successfully performed by co-worker in the same department or other department then he/she is upgraded in the job scale, no recruitment of new personnel is done .In other cases concerned department send a letter in the form of memo with job specification and analysis. The position is defined, justified and authorized. He/she has to present a job specification for that certain position along with the range of period with which the recruitment is done. In other cases, a letter in the form of memorandum is to be sent to the HR by the concerned department specifying the job description and job specification. The position is defined, justified and authorized.

Table 1

Factors considered before preparing the position description.

• Is there any consequence of not filling the position?

YES                NO

• Is there an alternative to putting on more staff?

YES                NO

• Are these alternatives cost effective?

YES                NO

• Is this an on going recruitment?

YES                NO

DEFINING THE POSITION DESCRIPTION:

Before checking the recruitment option, the skills, qualifications, experience and competencies the ideal candidates needs to have, should be identified:

Steps in building the candidate’s profile

  Describe the typical day in the role or what the person would do on typical day.

  Is the position one of other similar .position (production operator, district manage).

  Think about the best performers. What are the attributes common to the people who in those positions?

  Think about an average/less than average performer. What is it that they lack that makes them average/less than average?

  If there is/was somebody in the role:

  What is/was that person’s strengths in that role?

  What is/was that person’s weakness?

  If there were something that would have made that person performs at a higher level, what it would have been?

  Why did the previous incumbent leave?

  What will be their biggest challenges?

  What type of .people will be the person deal with and on what level?

  What are the technical and behavioral competencies required?

  Are there any special requirements for the role, such as: location, equipment, physical aspect etc?

Having viewed the position description and above question being asked, the selection criteria for the position are identified .This act as a useful source of information when the advertisement as well as determining appropriate questions to ask in an interview.

JOB EVALUATION:

The compensation package of IPL is based on the job evaluation. At the time of establishment analyzing all the characteristics of every post the compensation package has been developed. In this process the job with common demands in terms of skill, education other personal characteristics are placed in the common compensation Group according to the service rule of IPL.

RECRUITMENT SOURCES:

An effective recruitment always starts with the correct selection of sources of human resources. A recruited employee who has not the right skill cannot perform effectively. As a result an overall performance level Is sure to deteriorate which has significant effect on the company performance. Therefore IPL has been on continuous search of effective recruitment sources.

“The environment in which the organization operates has a great influence on its recruitment process. The factor that regulates IPL’s recruiting sources determines the future Recruiting.

Sources are:

• Ø The supply of workforce in our economy has impact upon the recruitment source of IPL.
• The effectiveness of the past recruiting sources determines the future recruiting sources of IPL.

SOME OF THE RECRUITING SOURCES USED BY IPL ARE DISCUSSED BELOW:

INTERNAL SOURCES:

It is the IPL’s policy to give preference to appoint internal candidates provided that the employee is suitably qualified for the vacant or new position and also meet the existing and future requirements. Appointments may be made by the way of promotion, up gradation or transfer with the approval of the authority. Promoting internal employees on the basis of succession planning may also be looked into” Any change of job will not compromise on IPL’s commitment to the need for professional competence and standards for excellence”. As a usual procedure, job vacancies in IPL have to be advertised through internal notices to the concerned offices.

Sometimes they are called for interview that applied for any position previously and failed to pass the final selection but he was a competitive applicant and if the quality of a person matches with the requirement mentioned in the position description. These applications are stored in the data bank and consulted.

EXTERNAL SOURCES:

Website:

Modern information technology such as web site http://www.bdjob.com has also been utilized for advertising job vacancy for different positions. Since Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is one of the most attractive employer of the country which uses an elaborate search of talent through website. Before introduction of talent search program Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. used advertisement in newspaper heavily but now IPL can reach to the potential employees through website.

Newspaper advertisement:

Vacancy announced is circulated by publishing advertisement in the national newspapers, if there is no existing manpower to place the selected person in the new post. The newspapers that are widely circulated are chosen for publishing advertisement, one in English and one in Bangla. Advertisements to be published in the national dailies are attractive. It includes the position, nature of appointment, location, major areas of responsibility, terms & conditions age limit, minimum education level, work experience, job requirements, special requirements and the dead line of the application to be sent. The concerned department sends a job description to HR with manpower requisition letter in a form of memorandum. HR drafts the advertisement based on job specifications of the position and send the same to manager for their inputs, if any and confirmation of the advertisement. HR is responsible for designing and layouts of any recruitment advertisement before sending to advertising and sales promotion section then they send it to ad agency for publishing in the newspaper. It always keeps the Identity concealed in the ads, mentioning GPO BOX number only. The purpose of concealed identity is to avoid the unwanted pressure of the employment. Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and a candidate cannot appear for more than two tests I interview at a time.

Employee referrals:

Employees of the company may refer prospective job seekers to HR Department. There are professional and technical jobs, which are frequently harder to fill. Employees of IPL may refer prospective job seekers. It especially occurs at staff level or for the shop manager post who deals with hard cash. So that In future if anything wrong happens, the company could charge the employee who referred the shop manager.

Walk-ins and Write-ins:

Often job seekers arrive at IPL in search of a job and drop their curriculum resume for suitable position. Write-ins are those who send their curriculum resume by post. Their relevant information may be kept in a file for any suitable position in future. Based on their suitability; they may be called for interview against any vacant position.

Senior executive search:

This one is a unique case when people with special expertise are searched. In this case, candidate already employed in other organization is attracted to switch the organization. This has a relatively low rate of success, because the targeted candidate may not consider the change in job.

Other:

Depending on the circumstances, other professional/employment agencies, educational institute, technical institutes may be chosen to give wider coverage of job opening. For example, to hire a chartered accountant IPL ask C.A firm often. The role of HR personnel is very important in dealing with external job seekers because the outsider’s individuals draw an impression about the company on the manner their candidature has been dealt with. HR department usually greet the candidates in a pleasant manner, provide with pertinent information about job openings, and treat them with dignity and respect. If so the applicants are expected to develop a lasting positive impression about the company.

SELECTION PROCESS:

Selection process includes a series of steps used to decide who should be hired. Selection process begins when recruitment ends subject to sufficient number of applicants obtained who are willing and able to do hold the job. The purpose of the selection interview is to collect the information about a candidate and assess how far she/he can perform in the job.

Selection process involves screening and appraising the applicants in a systematic manner. Those who are found not suitable for the jobs are excluded from selection tests. During selection, IPL focuses on performance-related issues whether the applicant can fulfill the job requirement and can do the job. The company uses the multiple cutoff techniques including series of screening devices.

Usually the recruiting and selection process in IPL is done in two ways depending on the nature of the job of the vacant position. Therefore, the recruiting process of IPL can be classified into 2 types:

• One type require written test.
• Other type don’t require written test, only 2/3 interview after short listing based on advertisement.

Usually entry level management (product officer, public relation officer), credit inspector, shop trainee manager, secretary etc. requires written test. Mid level or senior level and graded staff don’t require written test.

Recruitment:

Discovering and attracting potential candidates for actual and anticipated organizational vacancies.

• Need assessment
• Defining the position description
• Checking the recruiting option
• Advertising

Selection:

Assess the applicant against criteria established in job analysis in order to predict which job applicant will be successful, if hired.

• Primary screening based on advertisement
• Written test that evaluate basic Job knowledge/ Communication/ Analytical
• Structured or semi structured interviews that focuses on required Management
• Selection decision
• Medical test
• Appointment

APPLICATION RECEIVING:

The responses to the advertisement are collected by HR department and give all the applications to the concerned department for short listing. After the short listing, the concerned department tells the HR to arrange for a written test or an interview (based on level of position) for identified short listed applicants. During short listing the OJ and the covering letters are judged. In the covering letters the style and language of writing, the emphasis put on the areas asked for in the advertisement and the quality of letter (whether it is specially tailored to the advertisement or just a standard response are the aspects) that are judged. Usually applications are not accepted after the deadlines of receiving but if the applicants are very much suitable and if IPL don’t start the procedure of sending interview letters to the short listed applicants then they accept those applications. It is IPL’s policy to attract as many applicants to apply, provided they meet the pre-requisites of the job. Even those who have been regretted once are allowed to apply for whatsoever position in IPL.

SHORT LISTING:

Short listing is done on the basis of appraising information on the application in the light of job specification of a job being advertised. How far a candidate meets the job criteria is critically reviewed. The short listing methods are usually qualitative one where managerial judgment plays an important role.

Short listing depends on the nature of the job. Before short listing of candidates for tests job criteria are set by HR and line manager. There are technical and general job criteria that a candidate has to meet for consideration of next step of selection. HR determines the general criteria while line manager determines the technical criteria. Although both the criteria are important, however it is the nature of the job that determines which type of criteria should give more weight than the others .Usually based on the presence of this factors to the desired extent (experience, educational degree, computer literacy etc) the cumulative weight for all the applicants are counted and short list of a sizeable number of the top most candidates are generated.

Short listing is done by evaluating the followings:

• Educational qualification: Whether the candidate has the required educational qualification or not.
• Relevant job experience and required skills: how far candidate’s most recent job experience and skill matches the job requirements of the position in question.

The candidate may have irrelevant job experiences and skills which are not considered during short listing.

The following situation may provide some guidelines during short listing:

Situation

Highly relevant job experience                                   Short listing decision

And meets all or most job criteria and                        should be considered

Length of past job experience fully or

Fairly satisfactory

IPL does not follow any standard set rules of short listing of candidates that for one position the number of short listed candidates for written/oral test should be a certain number; rather they call all the quality of a candidate matches with the requirements mentioned in the advertised position, whatever the number is.

During short listing the following criteria must be taken into account:

• Urgency of the personnel
• Ø Importance of other related skills for that position.
• Ø Career development of the position.
• Ø Type of the position.

ADMINISTERING TEST AND INTERVIEW:

Following short-listing of prospective candidates, external and internal, appropriate employment tests such as written tests, oral tests or any other tests as deemed fit are arranged to assess candidate’s suitability for the position. Through the tests the candidate’s selected psychological factors such as intelligence, aptitude, temperament and attitudes are measured or observed.

THE MAIN FOCUS OF EMPLOYMENT TEST IS ON:

• Ø Job related question to asses in depth knowledge of the candidate
• Ø Assessment of mental ability, memory etc
• Ø Assessment of potentiality and ability to learn
• Ø Proficiency in performing tasks
• Ø Assessment in line with job analysis

The selection is made on the basis of successive hurdle approach. The candidate will be rejected following each of the stage or test being administered. Performance in one test will not be considered in the succeeding tests rather the performance in the next stage will be decisive factor for selection.

WRITTEN TEST:

Written test is not a regular part of normal process. It is conducted as and when required. Usually executives go through the interviews except the entry level and also depending on the nature of the job. The written test before the interview process has proved to be effective and a useful toot to select the desirable candidates. The candidates are called for the interview based on their performance in the written test.

Usually written test questions are drafted by the HR. A set of question of technical nature are drafted by line manager and send it to HR confidentially from which few will be included by HR. While finalizing the questions, HR sticks to the job requirements of the position and maintain relevance, consistency and standard on the pattern of questions. The type of question depends on the nature of position. Usually narrative types of questions are set in the written test. A representative of concerned department and HR are in the examine room. Examines papers are checked by the concerned department (technical part) and HR (non­- technical part).

The minimum acceptable/qualifying score in the written test varies. For example the number of candidate for identified position in the written test is 50 & minimum acceptable number is 25, out of 50 and if 6 persons get between 23 to 26 then those 6 persons would be called for 1st interview & the standard minimum qualifying score become different. Usually the time for written test is 1 hour. The completion of score obtained in the written test is done by HR. It is the responsibility of HR to call the candidate for subsequent tests based on the performance of the written tests.

Usually the written tests are conducted on off days. For example the position of TRAINEE SHOP MANAGER the written test should be based on sales related and general questions and English proficiency.

Testing Tools:

The purpose of a test, its design & its direction for administration should be review before a test is used. Each type of test has a deferent type of purpose. A single test may not be implemented for all positions. The following tests tools are considered before administering any tests.

Performance Test: Such test measures the ability of applicants to do some parts of the work for which they are to be hired. For example, module preparation test & presentation skill tests are required for officers, communication skills & English proficiency test is required for public relation officer.

Knowledge Test: Such tests are used measure the job related knowledge of an applicant. For example a math test for an accountant or knowledge about law for an law administrative officer position is required.

Aptitude test: This type of test is used to measure a person’s capacity or latent ability to learn and perform a job.

There are other testing tools is available. Such as general knowledge, basic computer knowledge, analytical ability, stress taking ability, personality test that may be administered depending of the nature of the job.

SELECTION INTERVIEW STEPS:

The interviews process usually a two-tire-one. A preliminary interview is conducted which follows the “elimination method”. The selection interview is in-depth discussion between interviewer and interviewee. It is a planned activity does not just happen. Planning and structuring interviews particularly defining the criteria to be used are very important steps in selection.

There are several distinct stages of selection interviews:

Interview preparation: Before interview begins the interviewer must be fully prepare. They should select method be familiar with the job requirements skills are sought in a candidate, applicant’s background.

Established Rapport: When the candidate has just arrived, interviewer creates a comfortable situation making the interviewee easy and relaxed by means of all task, smiles & relaxed posture.

CONDUCTION OF INTERVIEW:

This is the main part of the interview session. At least 80% of time should be allocated for conduction of interview. At these steps the interviewers asked several job related, behavior oriented, structured or unstructured and probing questions to asses suitability of the candidate. A minimum of 15 to 30 minutes time is spent for each interview, although for many positions it varies and it anybody performs good then interview time continues depends on the approach of the candidate.

Usually in average 50% applicants are called 1st interview. Approximate time between written test and first interview is 2 to 5 weeks although. When there are urgent to fill up position the time takes less. The aim of the 1st interview is to further shorten the list of candidates for the 2nd interview by eliminating apparently ineligible candidates. An interview board I selection committee is formed comprising of the following personnel:

• Line managers
• Head of HR
• Head of concerned department

The interview board members usually ask the questions that are related to the performance of the job including questions regarding required skills. There are some key words to begin with questioning such as tell, how, why, have you, when, are you etc. The type of questions may be mixed of open minded, behavior oriented; competency based & stress type questions. The nature of questions will vary according to the nature and level of position at the end, the interview board members try to get the answers to some key questions:

a)      Can the candidate do the job?

b)      Will the individual do the job? And,

c)      How will the individual fit with the company?

After the completion of the 1st interviewers another shortlist is prepared for the 2nd interview has to go through the final interview that facilitates the employment decision. The 2nd interview is called usually 2 week after completion of 1^st Interview. Usually the number of candidate at the stage is kept within the approximate ratio of 1:3 of people to be recruited because of it anybody refuses to accept employment. After there the candidate is informed about responsibilities of jobs, challenges he/she has to face, compensation package etc.

In addition the expectation of candidate his/her personal problems related to the family, locations etc. are consulted. This is a notable fact that the selected person by the 1st board in not selected finally. In the 2nd interview emphasis in mostly given on the choice & preference of the selected person. If these don’t match with requirement of the organization, h/she is free to reject the offer.

Sometimes in the managerial level candidate has to pass through 3 interviews (oral) with no written test where the 3rd interview or in the final interview the candidate is offered for the job. Interviews are made during business hours between 9:00 to 5:00, if the numbers of candidates are in between 10-20. Otherwise interview continues after business hour or in the off days. IPL maintain an assessment sheet/form/interview sheet. It is attached in the appendix – 1. It contains the position to be recruited, the date, and the names of interviewees. The candidates are ranked on the basis of interviewer’s comment like excellent good and poor or any other comments. But there is no weight for each comment.

CLOSING AND EVALUATION:

At this stage an indication is given that the interviews is about to be closed. The interviewers evaluate the performance of the candidate by using an assessment form /sheet and record their overall impression based on notes taken during the interview session. The interview board members rank all candidates and recommend candidate who is best suited to them. The basis of preliminary selection is marks obtained in the written and oral test and their judgment about the candidate’s suitability. A consensual recommendation is made and forward to HR along with all papers for next course of action. To get the written approval after that HR send a memo to top management with all the information that had been processed during the selection steps. Employment approval later is signed by the top management.

EMPLOYMENT OF RELATIVES:

Hiring close relatives of employees is discouraged. But in some cases the employment of relatives occurs. For example an employee after along service in IPL may be is going to retire or after that employee’s death, relatives of that employee may be hired by the company but not usually in the same department or in the same post.

MEDICAL EXAMINATION:

The purpose for a medical examination is to obtain information of the health status of the applicant being considered for employment and to determine whether the applicant is physically and mentally capable of performing the job. In IPL medical checkup is a part of formality before join in the organization previously the job offer is contingent on passing medical examination conducted by the company registered medical physician I diagnostic centre. Now employee does the medical examination by their own medical physician. The cost of medical examination is borne by the individual.

HIRING

APPOINTMENT LETTER:

An appointment letter is sent to the finally selected person or he is asked to pick up his appointment letter if possible from the Head Office. IPL sends two copies of appointment letter where in the 2nd copy two extra lines are written mentioning whether the applicant has accepted the job offer or not. After accepting the job offer the candidate send the 2nd copy to the IPL and the other copy is kept with him. In the 2nd copy of appointment letter he put the joining date.

Appointment letter includes:

• Job title (according the job title matrix), grade/step and Remuneration.
• Place of posting
• Name of section of department
• Effective date of appointment
• Probationary period, condition of confirmation and notice period
• IPL standard terms and conditions.

A current job description, duly signed by the supervisor, is attached with the appointment letter. The appointment letter and job description will became valid only after signing by the respective signing authority and the employee, in the space provided for the purpose.

Even at this stage the selected candidate has the chance to withdraw her/himself from the job offer. He /she is always free to discuss whatever difficulty may arise regarding anything. The door of HR is always kept open for any sort of relevant discussion.

At least one week before the person commencing in their new position, an appointment notice will be placed on notice boards or in the IPL Barta.

It is expected that at the time of handing over appointment letter, HR will let the employee know about the company, it’s polices, compensation, terms and condition, professional standards of conduct and pertinent information in brief.

APPOINTMENT AUTHORITY:

Appointment authority is defined as the right and Responsibility to make decisions with respect to recruitment, and the issuance and signing all relevant correspondence with employs during hiring.

The appointment endorsement for different level of employment must be made as per the following authority level:

Position level                                                              Approval needed

Director level                                                              MD

Manager, Assistant Manager                                      MD

Deputy Manage                                                         MD

Officers (through dept head)                                      MD

Findings, Recommendation & Conclusion

The issues that are to be emphasized in the whole recruitment and selection procedure are summarized below along with some recommendations that identify avenue for improvement.

Findings:

• HR Division is very alert for selecting candidates and also the process is very transparent so that they can choose the best candidates among applicants.
• In this process there is no nepotism so there are higher possibilities to be selected without having any back up.
• When they search for any experienced people they give more concentration on Previous experienced, Educational background, length of services etc so that they can select the most suitable experienced people.
• When they select entry level candidates than they concentrate more on pro-activeness, creativeness, ideas which related with the post.
• HR selects candidates from a pull of application so that they can choose most suitable candidates.
• The working condition or environment is excellent in IPL, which is very rare in other organizations in Bangladesh.
• It is noticeable that turnover rate is pretty high in entry-level management positions.
• IPL is introducing new products every day, diversifying their business into different sectors, and opening new departments. As a result, the number of employees is increasing rapidly.
• To assess the HR need of the organization IPL also depends on the qualitative statistics based on some indications regarding future requirement. The probable vacancy also can be determined by forecasting a number of employees who approach their retirement age, who leave or will leave the job, the past recruitment trend analysis, etc.
• The HR department ensures that each employee has an updated and appropriate job description stating clearly purpose, duties, responsibilities etc.
• The organization considers the options in a step by step manner. Primarily the options internal search is considered. If the desired candidate is not found, then the second step is judged and so on.
• The reference checking procedure of IPL is very much impractical and unprofessional. IPL does not have any kind of Reference Checking Form.
• The medical check up is done by any medical practitioner. Here the reliability on the result is very important factor because the hired person may have any type of disease that can affect others that he/she does not want to disclose it.
• The appointment letter confirms the employment of the candidate in IPL and the candidate is given a month time to join or ask them when they are available to join if they are already working in somewhere else. But sometime it creates gap between human resource department and concern department as they think HRD do not do negotiate properly regarding joining when they are in urgency.
• Once the recruitment and selection process is done then the employees are
  appointed base on their job description.
• The organization fills the position by promoting the present employees.
  But most of the times it recruits from outside.
• Interns are recruited based on their performance. Employee leasing is an
  option.
• There are only 13 employees in the HR department. So they have to struggle more and high competition.
• There is a limited scope for human resource department.

But there are some problems also like, they are not taking written test in every department. They take only in the production and control department.

Recommendation:

Incepta can improve there their recruitment and selection process several ways. And they can also reduce their weakness by following steps. These are:

• Written test should be taken to the all departments.
• Original qualifications should be checked by the HR recruitment team.
• Should establish of the position of the advisor.
• Should be developed a training program for their managers in screening and interviewing techniques.
• Inter personal skills, communication skills should be checked by taking presentation.
• Incepta should increase their scope of human departments by recruiting more skilled people.
• Funds need to be allocated professional development for each divisions and professional development program needs to be formulated.
• The scope of phone interview and e-recruitment process should be increase.
• Incepta needs to develop a strategy for where, when and how to implement and referral bonus program.
• A working environment that encourage a positive atmosphere, community and forward thinking- this should be included in professional team.
• The company can also go for campus recruiting that could bring a yield of highly educated fresh starters for the entry-level position. IPL could start using its existing website as a major recruiting source. Major advantages of online job application system are:

1. It is cost effective
2. It is flexible in terms of time
3. Very modern concept
4. It is pretty convenient- in terms of receiving and maintaining applications.

• Through compensation survey, the management should redesign attractive compensation package.
• IPL should be more futuristic in terms of offering career development programs to its employee. More training programs should be arranged to motivate employees.
• Performance evaluation system should be improved.
• During the time of interview some probing questions should be asked to determine the motivation of potential recruit. It is necessary to know beforehand if the candidate has any immediate plan for higher studies or any personal problems or why he/she has left the previous job and so forth.
• A vacant position should be filled or the recruitment process should be started as soon the employee leaves the job or the decision for his leaving is announced.

HIGH EMPLOYEE TURNOVER

IPL’s expansion and diversification Programmes made the number of employees go up more than before. The employee turnover rate is significant noticeable in IPL especially in Marketing Department. The major factors underlying the high turnover rate have been identified and summarized below:

• Employees leaving for outside the country
• Better job opportunity/higher
• Compensation Over working pressure
• Family problem
• Professional problem
• Lack of career development
• Better job position
• Utter dissatisfaction

It is noticeable that turn over rate is pretty high in entry-level management positions. The working condition or environment is excellent in IPL, which is very rare in other organizations in Bangladesh. The other factors have a big impact on the employee turnover issue. It has also been noticed that few positions are vacant for a long time due to non-availability of proper and excellent people for those positions. As a result others employee working at the same level or at the same department takes the pressure of the vacant positions job responsibilities.

To combat the high employee turnover IPL needs to consider the following steps:

  A newly designed exit Interview from should be prepared with close -ended questionnaire should be introduced.

  A suggested Exit Questionnaire is attached in Appendix – A Proper effort should be given to collect the exit interview from the separated employees.

  During the process of new recruitment, a screening mechanism should be introduced to select the best candidate who will work with IPL for a longer period.

  Through compensation survey, the management should redesign attractive compensation package.

  IPL should be more futuristic in terms of offering career development programs to its employee. More training programs should be arranged to motivate employees.

  Performance evaluation system should be improved.

  During the time of interview some probing questions should be asked to determine the motivation of potential recruit. It is necessary to know beforehand if the candidate has any immediate plan for higher studies or any personal problems or why he/she has left the previous job and so forth.

  A vacant position should be filled or the recruitment process should be started as soon the employee leaves the job or the decision for his leaving is announced.

  The organization should perform thorough and accurate HR planning and follow useful forecasting techniques to make the recruitment and selection process more effective. The in -house circulars within the group also act as a useful device to find the right person for right job. The HR department in IPL should be more proactive instead of being reactive to the occurrence of job vacancy.

RECRUITMENT:

FACTORS INFLUENCING FUTURE HUMAN RESOURCE REQUIREMENT:

IPL is in the growth stage both in terms of Business and Investment size and number of employees. IPL is introducing new products everyday, diversifying their business into different sectors, and opening new departments. As a result, the number of employees is increasing rapidly. The number of IPL employees will depend heavily on the expansion of network, size of investment, number of customer base, and level of operating revenue. With the expansion of network the company will require the service of more people in the technical and other divisions to sustain the network coverage effectively.

NEED ASSESSMENT:

To assess the HR need of the organization IPL also depends on the qualitative statistics based on some indications regarding future requirement. The probable vacancy also can be determined by forecasting a number of employees who approach their retirement age, who leave or will leave the job, the past recruitment trend analysis, etc. So dependence on the qualitative guesswork should be aided by accurate HR planning.

IPL should maintain Human Resource Information System to quickly and accurately assess the current or imminent HR need. IPL should maintain HR-MIS that should involve the following functions:

• To maintain and update employee database
• Maintain employee related statistics

After the recruitment, a separate employee file is opened comprising all the relevant information of the particular employee. Then IPL prepares, maintains all the employees file in hard copy. But this file should be maintained by HR information system because

• It is very flexible in terms of time
• It is very modern
• It involves less hassle and space in terms of sorting and updating all the files.

As an equal opportunity employer IPL does not discriminate a candidate against religion, gender, marital status and some other factors. However this is a very positive feature of the recruitment and selection procedure of IPL. But while recruiting in the factory, where an employee has to work in the night shift if the situation demands, recruitment of a female candidate is hardly considered. Even in the management level a negligible number of female employees are working. The title vv1 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination because of the sex of a person. When the sex of a job applicant becomes one of the factor on which employment decision is based on, the decision is most likely unlawful. A willing female should be welcome after making the entire job requirement (including working late and any unfavorable situation that may occur) very clear to her. The female candidate should be given the opportunity to prove that she can be equally productive as the male in spite of all the disadvantageous circumstances. In a country like ours this is a very common practice occurring in other organization, and where IPL is no different.

JOB ANALYSIS:

IPL has a systematic job analysis which consists of job specification, job description, and job evaluation. After assessing the HR need properly, the organization prepares the job position/job description of the candidate to be recruited and person specification for that job. In this stage, the procedure followed by IPL’s in building the profile of the candidate is not very precise. The determination of selection criteria distinguishing the essential and desirable factors is a notable system followed by the organization that makes the selection procedure easy but for some technical positions it creates problems.

The HR department ensures that each employee has an updated and appropriate job description stating clearly purpose, duties, responsibilities etc.

CHECKING THE RECRUITING OPTIONS:

The organization considers the options in a step by step manner. Primarily the options internal search is considered. If the desired candidate is not found, then the second step is judged and so on. Once a candidate is found in the initial stage(s), the next ones are not regarded anymore. This has been proved to bring the desired outcome. But if all options are considered not simultaneously, a significant number and quality of applicants may be missed.

RECRUITMENT SOURCE:

Recruiting is the discovering of potential candidate for actual and anticipated organizational vacancies. From another’s perspective, it is a linking activity- bringing together those with jobs to fill and those seeking jobs. Recruitment is more likely to achieve its objective if recruiting sources reflect the type of position to be filled. In IPL, both internal and external sources of recruitment are used. Among different external sources the use of national daily newspaper are popular and they also put career opportunity advertisement on internet (bd jobs.com, the largest job site of the country). IPL could participate in the job fairs for their recruitment. The considerable volume of application is dropped in the organization as a result of the exposure created in the job fairs. IPL can promote its image as a potential recruiter through its successful participation in the job fairs. The company can also go for campus recruiting that could bring a yield of highly educated fresh starters for the entry-level position. IPL could start using its existing website as a major recruiting source. Major advantages of online job application system are:

• It is cost effective
• It is flexible in terms of time
• Very modern concept
• It is pretty convenient- in terms of receiving and maintaining applications.

This online job application system minimizes the effort to record data related to the applicants in the CV-Bank. The applicants would fill the structured form online so that only the relevant information about the applicant is recorded.

IPL can also install very modem software to update and maintain recruitment database. By using a user friendly software HR can easily retrieve any information regarding any particular recruitment in the past or any other particular applicant. The help of employment Agency is sometimes taken to recruit top/mid level management staff. For the recruitment at this level, the previous options should also be taken into consideration, practically.

ADVERTISEMENT AND RECRUITMENT:

An ideal employment ad should make the man/job specification absolutely clear to the readers so that only the persons actually fit for the post could apply. For example, some applicants with 3 years pharmacy graduation had applied who were not considered up to the desired standard for that position. In that case, the ad should discourage those applicants by stating “Pharmacy graduates with 3 year’s graduation need not to apply” or “the term pharmacy graduates applies for only those having four years bachelor degree” or the term business graduates refers to only the BBA/MBA from any world wide recognized university, etc. This would minimize the applicant pool and receive appropriate candidate for that position, leading to minimizing screening effort since the finally selected person match with the desired man specification.

The view of IPL in this type of recruitment practice is unprofessional and some point unethical. From their point of view why a master degree holder wouldn’t be hired if shows his interest for that post and the candidate have no other option but to go along with the job and if INCEPTA get a higher degree holder without asking it is the benefit for organization opportunity because of the unfavorable situation of the current job market. But it creates injustice and inequality. Incepta should give a second thought in hiring a master’s degree holder for low level position like store coordinator While IPL claims itself as one of the leading multinational organization in the country; it should share its view to that of the other such organization takes lessons from their values and practices.

SELECTION PROCESS:

Selection activity in IPL follows a standard pattern beginning with an initial screening of applications and concluding with the final employment decision. After receiving the applications for a particular position, applications are screened out and only a number of short listed candidates are selected for written test (depends on the nature of the job, where written test is required)otherwise for 1^st  interview on the basis of some predetermined criteria. For example out of 200 applications 50% are called for the 1st interview or written test. And those who will pass the 1st step will be called for the 2nd step even if 100% applicants perform good all will be called for the next step. The panel or board of interviewers usually consists of line managers of different department at the initial stage, Head of concerned department, Head of HR and sometimes MD in the 2nd and 3rd interview. In the final stage usually the number of candidate is kept within the ratio of 1:3, because of if anybody refuses to accept the job offer. Eventually the final selection decision is made and the finally selected person has to go through the medical check up.

In IPL there is no certain cut off point in any test. Even in written test. Depending on the situation they set the pass number or sometimes when they see no one obtained even the pass marks then they call those for interview who get near the pass marks. But in the oral interviews there is no rated point scale. It has limitation like if the candidates number is 10 and 6 persons get almost same comment by the interviewers then it becomes pretty hard to assess individual suitability, how good she/he is from the other candidate. It requires mathematical score for fair justice. The assessment form of IPL is not a complete and standard one. The selection criteria on what basis the interviewer will select the candidates are absent.

EMPLOYMENT DECISION:

The employment decision is made after all the final selection procedure is done except the physical examination. At this stage the candidates are offered an application bank where the desired the decisive factors for the organization are to be filled. This stage is very typical and no change seems to be needed in the way it is being handled. In the Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd.’s Application Form the candidates provide all the information.

REFERENCE CHECK:

The reference checking procedure of IPL is very much impractical and unprofessional. IPL does not have any kind of Reference Checking Form.

In this competitive, changing and complex business world managers have to be proactive rather than reactive. May be IPL never faced any problem with hiring without maintaining any Reference Checking Form but that does not mean in future they will not face any problem. The information should be very confidential, so the reliability of the organizational representative or relatives or others can create uncertainty, since information is taken over phone and also he can’t show any papers from his organization.

MEDICAL CHECK-UP:

The medical check up is done by any medical practitioner. Here the reliability on the result is very important factor because the hired person may have any type of disease that can affect others that he/she does not want to disclose it. For example if anybody is drug addicted, he may influence his colleagues in taking drug and/or will not be able to perform his job efficiently like before, his productivity will be declined. At the end result he will be fired from the organization. Firing looks like an easy task but it’s a long procedure.

APPOINTMENT LETTER/JOB OFFER:

The appointment letter confirms the employment of the candidate in IPL and the candidate is given a month time to join or ask them when they are available to join if they are already working in somewhere else. But when it is urgent to join then the personnel is told to join as soon as possible or mention a date. Sometimes both negotiate and fix a date. But sometime it creates gap between human resource department and concern department as they think HRD do not do negotiate properly regarding joining when they are in urgency. They need to ensure and clarify specific details of the system to give the appointment letter.

Conclusion

Human Resource plays the vital role to get maximum contribution from 00its workforce. It is the nerve centre of the company as it is to deal with man who is the vital and most sensitive factor in any organization. Without the support of human beings machine remain idle, raw materials lie stacked and money gets tied up. To get the best output the potential individual has to be recruited.