Effective Recruitment, Selection and Motivation Strategies at Unilever

This report discusses the recruitment policies and strategies used by Unilever, a public limited company dealing in consumer goods. It also covers the selection procedures and motivation strategies used by the company. The challenges faced by the company in recruitment, selection and motivation are identified and recommendations for improvements are provided. The report is relevant for students studying human resource management and related courses.

HRM Project
Cover Page

ABSTRACT
Human resource department plays a vital role within the organisation as they are the
one who selects the most suitable candidates for the organisation. Motivation is the most
important factor which should be present within the organisation to make the work done by
others and productivity of work keeps on improving. The challenges faced by management at
the time of recruitment and for keeping employees motivated could be overcome by
implementing some effective strategies which is being discussed within the report.

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................................................2
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................4
Discussion and Analysis.........................................................................................................................4
Company’s Existing Recruitment Strategy...................................................................................4
Company’s Selection Procedures.................................................................................................7
Company’s Existing motivation....................................................................................................8
Challenges Identified Within the Recruitment, Selection and Motivation Strategies..................9
Recommended Improvements and Justifications......................................................................11
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................12
References...........................................................................................................................................13

Introduction
Resource management refers to performing certain functions such as planning,
allocating of resources as well as people in order to achieve objectives of organisation. The
human resource department have to make efforts to do easy for hiring employees (Abbasi and
Et. AL., 2022). With this, the recruitment process is considered as the positive process as
number of employees are being selected but the process of hiring is considered as negative
because few candidates are only selected and rest are eliminated (Agarwal and Teotia, 2021).
The chosen organisation for preparing this report is Unilever which is a Public Limited
Company dealing in consumer goods. The organisation was founded in 1929 by Willian
Hesketh Lever. There headquarter is in England, United kingdom and use to serve across
world. This report comprises of recruitment polices and well as strategies used by
organisations currently. The procedure used by chosen organisation at the time of selection as
well the methods used by them in order to keep its employees motivated. The challenges
faced by the organisation at the time of framing recruitment, selection and motivation
strategies. Lastly, the methods used by organisations in order to overcome from the
challenges faced by them.
Discussion and Analysis
Company’s Existing Recruitment Strategy
The recruitment polices clearly states the methods that an organisation is going to
follow at the time of recruitment and selection of candidates. In order to keep employees
satisfied with the aim of producing better and effective output from them human resource
professionals have to frame an effective recruitment polices (Akash, 2019). To keep healthy
and positive environment culture within the organisation it is required to have and perform an
effective recruitment policies.
The effective recruitment policies implemented by Unilever within it's organisation are as
follows -
 Frame effective employer brand – The employer brand is being prepared by
management in order to deliver information to that what are the benefits they will
attain by joining organisation. With this, it includes the whole working culture of the
organisation. The Unilever is being involved in creating employer brand though

which they are able to inform candidates why they should take initiation to work with
these organisation.
 Developing Job post – The advertisement which is being released by company in
order to seek attention of candidates is considered as Job posting (Ansari, Farrukh and
Raza, 2021). When the candidate is about to apply for the vacant position the first
thing which they notice is the job posting. The management of Unilever believes in
first impression is the last impression so they are use to develop an effective and
attractive Job posting which influence candidates to join their organisation.
 Use of social media – The social media is the most trending tool that is being used by
each and every organisation now a days. The team of Unilever creates post for job
advertisement and post it on every social media platforms (Xiang, Li, Khan and
Khalaf, 2021). The frequency to deliver the message is high as compare to other
modes. In this way Unilever is able to find out candidates for the vacant positions
available within their organisation.
 Use of application tracking software – The application tracing system is the
software used by Unilever in order to track applications of the candidates. This
software reduces unnecessary time as it automatically identifies the potential
candidates for the vacant positions. With this, Unilever is the large organisation so
they required large workforce this is why they keeps the buglet for hiring high and
hence selects the best software for them.
 Make use of appropriate job boards – The job boards are the websites where
organisation publishes its job from where candidates can apply (Anwar and Et. AL.,
2020). There are large number of Job boards available worldwide, so it is difficult for
organisations to find out the most suitable job boards for performing its functions. The
Unilever is involved in using certain Job boards where large amount of candidates
have make registration.
 Campus placement – The young as well as fresh talent could be acquired from
campus placements from colleges. At the time of studying in colleges, students wants
to do internship this is why Unilever provide opportunities to students. When the
management found that students are productive enough and can provide benefit to
organisation they recruit them permanently (Williams, Suler and Vrbka, 2020). With

this, they also directly hiring of students form top colleges who are capable enough to
manage operations of organisation.
 Find out passive candidates – The candidates who are not looking for a new job
opportunity currently and are employed is considered as passive candidates. They are
considered as the perfect candidates for the job and will help organisation in achieve
their aims. The Unilever tries to find out all the passive candidates through social
media platforms and delivers them message that they want those candidates to be part
of their organisation as they are important for them.
 Proving impressive interview experience – The candidates feels stressful at the time
of giving interviews, this is why most of time they are not able to showcase all their
skills (Barry and Wilkinson, 2022). Thus, human resource professionals of Unilever
make sure to have an two way interview and tries to makes employees feel calm so
that they can showcase all skills. In case the candidates are not able to give answers
human resource professional make sure that the candidate does not feel demotivated
and does not loose hope.
 Employee refer – The refer strategies used by organisation opens a door for new
opportunity for hiring of talented candidates (Webber-Ritchey and Et. AL., 2021).
The existing employees are the only one who will refer for any candidates who they
found talented. The Unilever provides additional sum of money as well as some gift
cards or bonuses in form of cash for referring a talented candidate who is productive
for them.
The stages involved in recruitment by Unilever are as follows -
 Identify job vacancy – The first and important task that an human resource
professional has to fulfil is to find out the available vacant positions in the
organisation (Emmanuel, 2020). This process should be done by the Unilever with the
help of collaborating with other departments of organisation.
 Perform job analysis – The skills as well as capabilities required by employees in
order to retain at that position, it is required to perform job analysis. The human
resource specialist of Unilever perform a deep analysis and identify skills and
capabilities required in order to sustain for that vacant position.

 Frame Job description – Job description is a written statement which signifies all the
roles and responsibilities which an employee have to perform within organisation.
The job description of Unilever clearly states roles, duties, responsibilities, salary,
working conditions, working hours, as well as location of job so that candidates might
now have any queries.
 Job advertisement – Job advertisement is of two types that is internally or externally
(Endrejat and Kauffeld, 2018). The internal recruitment is performed with the help of
employees working within the organisation and the external recruitment is performed
outside the organisation. The recruitment method used by Unilever is both internal as
well as external. Both recruitment source help management in finding out the best
candidate for the vacant position.
 Requesting CV of candidates – The candidates who are interested to work with the
organisation can sent their CV to it's candidates. As per the requirement Unilever use
to do screening process of those candidates and continued to recruit them.
Company’s Selection Procedures
Selection is a procedures under which the organisation selects the most appropriate
candidate among large applications in order to fulfil the vacant position within organisation.
The section procedures followed by Unilever is stated below -
 Job Design – The work or set of activities or actions are to be performed by
organisation is considered as job design (Ghobaei-Arani, Souri and Rahmanian,
2020). All the task what the organisation has to perform is being explained in job
design which helps employees of Unilever to understand the working of organisation.
 Position description – The position description elaborates the description of job that
an employee is going to accomplish. The human resource professionals of Unilever
use to keep it updated to make them everything clear.
 Forming selection authorities – The selection authorities are those who are
specialised and can test employees. The committee member comprises of supervisors,
customers, peers or stakeholder present within the organisation (Stetz, 2022).
 Recruiting – A large number of candidates are involved in applying for the vacant
positions which is termed as recruiting. The human resource professionals of Unilever
get a wide range of applications from large number of areas.

 Performing Screening process – The screening process is the selection of
appropriate candidate out of those bulk of applications (Ilter, Deniz and Kocadagli,
2021). As per the requirements the human resource professional of Unilever perform
screening process.
 Proving pre- interview options – There are certain ways which can be used by
Unilever in order to perform pre- interview process such as telephonic, video round or
any other round, as per the candidates suitability they can opt it.
 Face to face interview – The candidate have to appear for the face to face interview
in order to make the final selection. The interested candidates applying for Unilever
have to appear in interview at the time of selection process.
 Recommendation for hire – When the employees is performing an effective work
then they can make recommendation to management for Hike. With this, the aim
motive of employees behind switching is that they are getting good Hike from other
organisation. This is why the management of Unilever provide good Hike to new
employees.
 Offer and notices – The candidate can negotiate with the human resource
professionals at the time of interview for salary, location as well as for change in
recruitment date. The management of Unilever considers all the valid points of
candidates and they issues the offer letter according to those terms and conditions.
Company’s Existing motivation
The employees need to be kept motivated in order retain them for longer duration of
time (Jehanzeb and Mohanty, 2018). The motivated employee contributes towards the
success of organisation and provides a supporting hand to the organisation. There are
basically two types of motivation which can be followed by organisation to keep employees
motivate, which are mentioned below -
 Intrinsic Motivation – The intrinsic motivation is the kind of motivation which come
from within and employees independently make efforts to perform well in order to
make self development (Kelley and Et. AL., 2020).
 Extrinsic Motivation – The Extrinsic motivation is the kind of motivation which
arises when the organisation promise to provide something in return. The employees

can get anything additional for the extra efforts made by them this is why they feels
motivated to perform well.
The human resource professional of Unilever make use of Maslow Need Hierarchy theory in
order to keep it's workforce motivated (Macke and Genari, 2019). There are five stages which
defines the changes of satisfaction level of employees which are mentioned below -
 Basic need – The basic needs of employee to that they get food and water to eat &
drink, shelter to live and clothes to wear. The management of Unilever is involved in
paying fair salaries to employees as well as they provide free food facilities to them.
 Safety and security needs – The employees expects to get safety and security where
they are working, this is why Unilever take care of full safety of employees to keep
them motivated (Steinbauer and Et. AL., 2018).
 Social need – The friendly and positive environment is being created in Unilever so
that each and every employee can freely interact with each other and fulfil it's social
need.
 Self- Esteem need – The employees of Unilever are being provided with the position
as per their capabilities and further they feel motivated by getting the desired position.
 Self actualisation need - The employees are self satisfied after fulfilling all it's needs
and they reaches to this stages. The employees of Unilever help each other and make
efforts to make them grow.
Challenges Identified Within the Recruitment, Selection and
Motivation Strategies
The recruiter have to face certain challenges at the time of recruitment and selection
which are mentioned below -
 Attracting appropriate candidates – The recruiter of Unilever faces difficulty in
finding out the right candidate for the vacant position (Maurya and Agarwal, 2018). It
is difficult to pre determine the deserving candidate for the vacant position.
 Engaging candidates – The candidate will not be reedy to work with the organisation
when they find something attractive. So this, is the difficulty that the Unilever have to
face to enhance employee engagement.

 Fast Hiring – The Unilever wants candidate who are reedy to join them immediately,
but the candidates use to put certain terms and conditions which affects the hiring
process and recruiter get frustrated.
 Ineffective employer brand – The candidates only get involved when they find out
they are getting benefit in joining Unilever. So, sometime due to ineffective employer
brand they losses the correct candidates.
 Recruiting fairly – The candidates left it's previous job only when the other
organisation is ready to pay them a good sum of hike (Nam, Lee and Lee, 2019). The
qualified candidate sometimes demand hire which cross the budget of Unilever this is
who they lose that candidate along with it the fund invested at the recruitment process
also get wasted.
 Employee retention – The Unilever have to face challenge regarding employee
retention rate. As the employees left the companies frequently when they get good
opportunities as well as when they are not satisfied with the working of organisation.
The challenges faced by recruiter to keep employees motivated are as follows -
 Low self confidence – The employee most of the time feels lack of self confidence
(O’Brien and Et. AL., 2021). There could be certain reasons why the employee is
facing this issue but this effects the working of employees they become less
productive. This is why they recruiter of Unilever have to make efforts to keep
employees motivated.
 Low success expectation – The employees who are less productive have less
expectation with their futures that they will be less successful in future this is why
they feels demotivated and generates a feeling that they will not be able to do
anything good in future.
 Lack of interest – The employees sometime take recruitment for the field in which
they are least interested due to the high pay they are getting. This is how they are not
proving any benefit to Unilever and leads in increasing cost along with being
ineffective.
 Fear of Failure – The employee do not make efforts in the appropriate direction
because they feels that if they will make changes they they will fail and they could not

achieve anything. The changes made by them could be in positive direction also but
they do not take inanition to make the change and continued to perform work with
older techniques. So the recruiter of Unilever have to push them to become creative
and produce well.
Recommended Improvements and Justifications
The measures that could be undertaken by Unilever in order to overcome from the
challenges faced by them in recruitment process are as follows -
 Changing recruitment process - The Unilever can conduct immediate test after
candidate have fill the application form. The test should comprises of questions which
are essential for the job post they are applying (Oehlhorn, Maier, Laumer and Weitzel,
2020). The candidates who are able to clear that test will be immediately shortlisted
for the next round. The candidate having proper knowledge about that field will be
automatically disqualified immediately.
 Group discussion – The group discussion conducted by Unilever would be the best
medium to check the communication as well as level of knowledge on distinguish
topics of candidates appearing for recruitment (Ragavendran and Shree, 2022). The
employees who are able to perform well could be shortlisted for the next round. This
will save lot of time and efforts of organisation.
The measures that could be undertaken by Unilever in order to overcome from the challenges
faced by them in keeping employees motivated are as follows -
 Reward polices – The employees feel motivated when they are when they are
provided with good sum of rewards (Salas‐Vallina, Alegre and López‐Cabrales,
2021). The management of Unilever should make changes within its reward polices to
keep employees motivated. They can provide addition sum of money to keep them
motivated.
 Recognition – The employees will also feel motivated when they are being
recognised in fount of all the workforce (Steffensen and Et. AL., 2019). The
management of Unilever can make use of this strategy in order to keep employees
motivated.

Conclusion
From the above file it can be concluded that, the resource management leads to
performing certain functions which are necessary to achieve goals of organisation. The
human resource professionals have to perform effective recruitment procedure in order to get
applications of large number of candidates. Out of those applications the selection process is
performed and then hiring of appropriate candidate for the vacant position takes place. The
management have to put certain efforts to keep the employees get motivated. The Unilever is
involved in using Maslow Need Hierarchy motivational theory in order to keep it's workforce
motivated. Each stage of this theory implies changes that is taking place within the
employees behaviour. The management have to face certain challenges at the time of
recruitment of employees as well as to keep the workforce motivated. The Unilever can make
use of reward as well as recognition polices to keep its workforce motivated and can make
necessary changes within it's recruitment process to make hiring process easy.

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