Employee Selection Processes in Apple Inc - Case Study Example

Heading: Recruitment, selection and training Your name: Course name: Professors’ name: Date Introduction of Recruitment, Selection and Training Recruitment is the first process of the employee selection process. Recruitment generally involves a number of stages, the first step is the identification of the position in the company, and this is then followed by clearly outlining the job description of the applicant. After the job description process is successfully completed, the vacancy can then be advertised through the most reliable channel such as a newspaper or online platform. Once the advert is placed with the key academic qualifications and the experience needed for the vacancy are published. Individuals who qualify for the vacancy can then apply for the post. Once the application deadline is reached, the human resource department can then preview the curriculum vitae and the cover letter presented by the applicants. The HR can then enlist candidates that closely match the job description for the interview process (Gallo, 2012). This stage marks the beginning of the filtering process, the HR needs to invite the most qualified candidates to the interview, the academic performance and the experience of the candidates are normally the key aspects that determine if the candidate will be invited to the interview or not. Notably, once the candidates are invited to the job interview, depending on the nature of the job advertised, the interview process can vary with this consideration. The company involved is also another factor; most of the leading companies have more stages of the interview process, some range from 3 to 4 interview sessions. Technical department normally consider the first step of elimination to include either oral technical questions or written technical questions. According to Williams & Curtis (2012, p.69) the selection process begins once the involved candidates have successfully completed the initial stage of the interview. At the selection stage, the candidate needs to agree with the terms of employment in order to be selected. The time of reporting as well as signing of contract forms can be initiated at this stage. This is may also vary depending on the company, some companies require additional medical certificates while others do not require, generally for technical duties that are demanding, medical clarification is necessary in order to avoid health related complications later. The candidate needs to agree with the terms of employment before assuming the position. Once the candidate has been successfully selected into the organization, the training process can then begin. This is also subject to the experience of the candidate on the same duty, however introduction of the organization is necessary, this is a process called induction, it is partly training and integration into the culture of the organization as well as the expectations in the organization. In instances where the recruit is limited in knowledge or he/she is a first time employee, training of the job normally takes some time; this can range from three months to one year depending on the company. Training is however a continuous process in the company, this is because of the varying nature of the business environment and technology, training is inevitable in such a case. Introduction of the organization The organization to be analyzed in this study is Apple Inc. Apple Inc was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Wozniak and Wayne and its headquarters is located in Cupertino, California, USA. Today, it is one leading multinationals designer, developer and seller of electronics. It is known for its super designed phones and PDAs like iPhone, iPad, iPod among others. Apple also deals with consumer software and computers such as Mac. The company has enjoyed huge profits as a result of its innovations inspired by the cofounder the late Steve Jobs. It is second to Samsung Electronics in size in the world and third biggest mobile phone manufacture. Apple Inc has been inspired by its creative, sharp and reliable engineers and marketing team. The company’s products are customer focused. Analysis of Recruitment, Selection and Training for the organization Apple Inc follows the recruitment and selection process just like other major companies in the world. If for instance the company needs an engineer, the job description of the position is well outlined before being posted to the public media. More so the expected academic qualifications are also outlined in order for candidates of meet the expectations of the company to make applications. The company is known to conduct many interviews mainly depending on the position in the company. The normal interview phases range from 3 to 4, some are however as many as 10 include peers and even department VPs in some cases. This basically demonstrates how Apply Inc is serious about its recruitment process (Williams & Curtis 2012, p.73). If the applicant is applying for an engineering post, some tough technical questions are normally asked, Apple Inc clearly looks for uniqueness of an individual in its recruitment process, some questions such as, “tell me what I don’t know about Apple?” are some of the commonly reported questions in many interviews. Other technical questions includes how to develop a given program using the basic known way, the interviewee is then subject to design the same program in using as many as possible design methods. This question aims to check on the creativity of the candidate, this is in line with the company’s goal of uniqueness and quality products. More so, the candidate is also expected to know how Apple equipments and chips are designed, this is a major challenge considering the fact that most of the applicants have never worked for apple (Williams & Curtis 2012, p.73). The Apple selection process includes agreement to a contract at an agreed remuneration package and bonuses. This normally varies depending on the position that the candidate has applied for as well as the experience of the candidate. It has been noted that Apple only gives the candidates what they bargain for, if the candidates fails to bargain for a higher reward scheme, his/her reward scheme will be relatively lower (Williams & Curtis 2012, p.73). Once the candidate is selected to join the company, the induction process is initiated and training programs created where necessary, again depending on the experience of the candidate as well as the position that the candidate has applied for. Findings of the study Apple is known for its strict interview process, the interviewees’ are subject to an exhausting interview sessions that may last from 30 minutes to 2 hours. This is a major concern because despite the wasting the candidate’s time, the candidate may not be selected and hence a frustrating experience. More so, the long session is tiresome and hence affecting the performance of a candidate in the interview process. In some instances, the interview sessions are more than 4, depending on the post, some can be as many as 10. This is a major concern because despite the many interview sessions, there is no guarantee of being selected and integrated into the company. As also noted, some of the questions asked during the recruitment and selection process in Apple are complex in nature; this is a major issue because it means that if the candidate is not familiar about a particular question, it simply does not mean that he/she cannot handle other problems within the scope of the field applied for. There are a number of notable concerns about Apple Inc recruitment process, remuneration package for new employees is surprisingly low, this is especially in circumstances where the new candidate does not negotiate for a higher pay considering the amount of work expected from him or her. Apple is also known for its continuous training programs, employees training is potentially beneficial as it enhances what is known of Apple, creativity (Williams & Curtis 2012, p.73). Recommendations for the improvement Apple Inc needs to improve on a number of areas. First, the company needs to make its sessions relatively smaller, not more than 30 minutes, in order to achieve this, the interview questions should be well formatted and creatively designed in order to easily identify uniqueness in every candidate without necessarily subjecting them to a long session of about 2 hours. An online process for the first phase of the interview process can also be captured in order to ensure that the total time for the interview is saved. The numbers of sessions also need to be decreased with the aim of saving the candidate’s time. This can be made possible by always having the interview panel armed with all the necessary tools and questions at the beginning of the first session (Gallo, 2012). Apple should also create programs that aim at University students, most students are potential employees and hence tapping on their potential while they are still at the college level is important. Such a program will be helpful in identifying new talents that can be important for the company in the future; it will also reduce its recruitment expense while ensuring that the company gets the best brains it needs to remain competitive in the world. Another notable issue in its recruitment and selection process is the reward scheme. A standardized reward scheme needs to be established, this basically implies that the remuneration package needs to match post and the job description very well (Gallo, 2012). References Gallo, C. (2012). Steve Jobs and the Apple Experience (EBOOK BUNDLE). McGraw-Hill New York, NY: Professional. Williams, J.,& Curtis, T.(2012). CIM Coursebook 06/07 Marketing Management in Practice. Michigan: Routledge. PP.69-80. Read More