Bank of Ceylon HRM: Recruitment and Selection Challenges and Solutions

This report delves into the critical HRM activity of recruitment and selection, focusing on the Bank of Ceylon in Sri Lanka. It identifies three major challenges: retaining millennial talent, the inadequacy of experienced candidates, and the power of job seekers. The report reviews relevant academic literature on recruitment and selection, exploring best practices to address these challenges. It then provides specific recommendations for the Bank of Ceylon, including implementing e-recruitment, broadening hiring criteria beyond age, and offering monetary and non-monetary incentives to retain employees. The report emphasizes the importance of strategic HRM to improve the recruitment and selection process, ultimately aiming to enhance the bank's ability to attract, retain, and select qualified employees.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The major objective of the given report is to analyse the critical activity of the HRM context
stated as the recruitment and selection process. In consideration, the given report considers
the recruitment activities of the banking industry of Sri Lanka named Bank of Ceylon. With
the help of the study, the report analyses that the company is suffering from major challenges
in consideration of managing its recruitment and selection process. The report analysed that
the three major challenges faced by the concerned banking industry are retaining the
millennial talent, the inadequate experience of the candidates and more choices as well as
power in the hands of the job seekers. The report hereafter analyses the literature concerned
with the process of recruitment and selection in connection with the challenges faced by the
banking firm. Finally, the report ends with providing the recommendations that would help
the business organisation to implement effective recruitment and selection process.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Major Challenges faced by the Human Resource Management................................................3
Review of the HRM Activity – Recruitment and Selection.......................................................6
Literature Gap............................................................................................................................9
Recommendations......................................................................................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
As opined by Tyagi (2016), the process of recruitment and selection is referred as the
overall process that is taken into consideration by any effective business organisation in
consideration of enticing, shortlisting, selecting as recruiting the required number of suitable
and talented candidates to carry up the job processes of the same. In the concern of recruiting
and selecting the companies requires that several numbers of candidates fills in the job
vacancies so that the company have options of candidates to be recruited from (Schultz &
Schultz, 2015). Thus, the sourcing of the candidates involves the synergy of internal as well
as external recruitment advertisings, use of the appropriate form of media such as effective
job portals, local and national newspapers as well as social and business media (Quesenberry,
2018). In addition to this, business organisations can also make use of varieties of social
media platform available through the internet. Concerning to this ideology of recruitment and
selection, the given report is based on investigating and discussing the different aspects of
recruitment and selection in the organisation of Bank of Ceylon, situated in Colombo, Sri
Lanka.
Major Challenges faced by the Human Resource Management
As analysed with the help of the studies, the organisation named Bank of Ceylon is
considered to be one of the leading commercial banks in the region of Sri Lanka (Haleem &
Kevin, 2018). The bank is known to operate its branches in the area of Bangladesh as well as
the Maldives as well as Myanmar also. The Bank has been ranked as the best bank in the
nation of Sri Lanka for fourteen consecutive years by the Global Finance (Fakir, 2018).
However, it was undermined that the banking industry at the recent times has been facing
major challenges in the concern of its recruitment and selection process. The same are
specified as below.

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Retaining the Millennial Talent
According to the viewpoint of Stewart, Oliver, Cravens & Oishi, (2017), retention of
the employees is one of the most important scenarios for a business organisation, mostly the
millennial group of employees. Based on the studies, it is investigated that only 10% of the
millennial group of employees are in a plan to work in one particular organisation for a
longer period of time (Ertas, 2015). They are always into the search for better opportunities
into some other organisations where they can get a better amount of salary. In consideration
of this factor, the concerned banking industry of Sri Lanka has been known to work with a
large number of employees who belongs to the millennial group. Therefore, it was also
recognised that this millennial group of employees are not sustained in the organisation for a
longer period of time as they frequently shift resign and choose to shift to other companies
for their work purpose. This has been known to cost a significant amount of around $4,129 to
the Bank of Ceylon in consideration of hiring a replacement for the employee and even this
keeps a fear in the mind of the specialists of the banking organisation that the newly recruited
millennial would soon leave the organisation (Lane, Armin & Gordon, 2015). The studies
clearly put this synergy into a clear perspective that 90% of the millennial working in the
concerned banking industry of Bank of Ceylon are not sticking around the company for even
a year. This clearly means that the figures connected to the cost-per-hire for the company are
continuously stacking up.
In light of this, it can be stated that this has turned out to be a matter of big challenge
for the Human Resource Managers as well as the other specialists of the banking firm being
discussed here in the report. This is because the concerned financial service firm needs to
employ varieties of organisational strategies that would help them retain the best employees
they have in their firm.

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Inadequate Experience of the Candidates
The business organisations concerned to the financial services at present date does not
only faces problems in retaining its millennial group of employees, but the same also faces
the issues concerning to the shortage and inadequacy to gain the number of candidates who
are well-experienced for working in the banking industries (Bendell, 2017). This is because
the company searches for young talent to handle its business transactions, and thus, these
young candidates are known to be the fresher's and not the experienced people. This turns up
to be a challenge for the business organisation of Bank of Ceylon as they have to recruit the
employees who do not have an adequate amount of knowledge the same is demanding for
(Barak, 2016). Thus, the desired performance level in the banking industry is known to be
affected because of the inadequacy of experienced employees. In addition to this, it was
recorded in the concern of the banking firm of Ceylon that the financial crisis that took place
in the nation, as well as the prevailing low economic conditions in the recent years of the
financial services industry, has led to higher problems in the attainment of adequate
experienced employees for the company.
More choices as well as power in the hands of the jobseekers
Based on the viewpoint of Peters (2018), the tech talent, which includes the
professional, as well as the qualified synergy of financial services, has turned to be highly
difficult to be searched for. This is because in the current business market, the job seekers
have the pick of the litter in their hands. Specifically, the power of choice lies in the hands of
the candidates who are seeking the job rather than the organisations who are providing the
job (Kahn, 2018). The business world has expanded and grown itself in such a manner that
they are recruiting the required number of employees on an international base as well. Thus,
the job seekers get offers concerned to the better financial job services leading to high market

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pay. This, in turn, becomes a vast challenge for the organisation of Bank of Ceylon to keep its
employees sustained in their working organisation for a longer period of time. The employees
get information about the newly available job vacancies, and they apply for the same to shift
their job opportunities.
Review of the HRM Activity – Recruitment and Selection
As stated by Holm and Haahr (2018), the recent increased use of the aspect of
information technology as well as communication technology has significantly revolutionised
the process concerned to the aspects of e-recruitment and selection process in a diversified
number of business organisations. Especially, during the time period when the same is to be
transformed into real time as well as space independent process with the regards of sourcing
the required candidates and then evaluating them in terms of selecting them for working in
the firm. In this sourcing process, prior to the recruitment of the employees, the business
organisations are known to profoundly rely on internet websites as well as traditional means
of advertising about the job vacancies.
Concerning to this, the online means of advertising available for the companies are
the social media platforms as well as the job portals where the company can state about their
available vacancy and the candidates can apply for the same (Holm and Haahr, 2018). The
traditional means of advertisement can be taken over by the business entities with the help of
newspapers, magazines, as well as television, where they can spread the awareness about the
job vacancy and the applicants, can call or message as the availability for the application of
the job allows them to.
In consideration of this ideology, the concerned Bank of Ceylon can adopt the process
of e-recruitment in the concern of evaluating and hiring the employees from a global
perspective. This will help the financial industry to have opportunities for hiring clients on an

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international basis, and, therefore, gain a better number of skilled and talented employees.
This is because when a business organisation focused on implementing its strategic human
resource management with regards to the international form of staffing, they can gain better
as well as experienced employees for carrying up the business transactions (Holm and Haahr,
2018). Following this stated strategy, the financial organisation concerned here in the paper
will be able to resolve the recruitment and selection issue concerned with the inadequate
experience of the individuals recruited in the firm.
Moreover, it was also stated by King, Horrocks and Brooks, (2018) an organisation
can carry up its recruitment process in an effective way when the same does not bound its
hiring criteria to a certain demographics connected to the age of the candidates. In this
concern, the financial business organisations should not only focus on hiring the millennial
employees but also the candidates who have a high level of experience in the work field of
finance and are healthy to continue their working in the organisation. Thus, the financial
business firm discussed here in the paper should also try to keep its focus on hiring the
employees who are not just of the millennial age group but keeping their criteria more
focused on the experienced employees. This will help the organisation to solve the issue
related to the retention of the millennial age group employees who do not sustain in the
business organisation for a longer period of time.
In addition to this, it was also discussed by Collins (2019), a productive business
organisation should always focusing on retaining their old employees, then frequently
recruiting the newer ones. This is because of the frequent process of recruitment and selection
increases the cost of operations for the companies and thereby decreases their profit and
revenue volume. In this connection, it was suggested that the business organisations should
positively motivate their employees so that they do not lose their interest to work in one
particular organisation for a longer period of time. The positive kinds of motivation include

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the synergy of providing the employees with different monetary as well as non-monetary
incentive schemes. The monetary schemes include the benefit of providing the aspect of
variable payout and incentive schemes to the employees out of their basic salary which would
motivate the employees not only to work with greater zeal to achieve their target but also
keep them focused and interested in their work. When the employees understand that they
can easily earn better in one organisation, they will not shift to another. Concerning the non-
monetary benefits, the employees should be provided with the healthy and unbiased working
environment so that they can gain the mental satisfaction of working in the business firm.
Thus, the Bank of Ceylon should also focus on providing its millennial employees with
different monetary as well as non-monetary benefits that will help them to remain motivated
to work in the same organisation and build their individual as well as organisational goals.
This will also turn helpful for the organisation to retain its millennial employees and reduce
the cost of repeated recruitment and selection process.
According to the perspective of Cunningham, Dahl & Fruge (2017), the candidates
who are seeking their choice of the job have diversified number of choices in the number of
organisations to select from. Therefore, every productive business organisation should
concentrate on providing the best amount of salary packages to both the old as well as new
employees to be recruited in the company. This will help the business firm attract new
employees and retain the old employees. Moreover, the old employees should also be
provided with effective performance appraisal programs. Thus, the banking firm of Ceylon
should also focus on attracting the new individuals with an attractive salary package as
compared to its peer competitors and provide effective performance appraisals to the old
employees so that they can be retained in the organisations, and the focus of the employees
stays in that particular organisation rather than the same being shifted to other new as well as
business companies. This will help the banking firm to meet the challenges concerned with

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the employees shifting to other new and old companies in the concern of finding an effective
job and choosing the concerned company over other available choices.
As also stated by Zhao, Fisher, Lounsbury and Miller, (2017), the business
organisations should also focus on improving the research and development strategies of the
firm in the concern of understanding the significant and effective strategies of other peer
competitors who are recognisable in attracting the new as well as the old working individuals
to work in their business firm. This will help the concerned banking firm discussed here in
the report to adopt and implement the necessary changes to be made in the organisation in the
concern of gaining better and skilled level of employees attracted to their working firm rather
than the other competitive ones. This will also help the concerned banking industry to meet
the challenge of new employees choosing their company rather than the other potential ones.
Literature Gap
The given report analyses the different aspects of recruitment and selection process in
the concern of understanding the challenges that come up in the organisation of Bank of
Ceylon with regards to managing the same. The study undermined the three major challenges
that the company faces. However, there lies a gap in the study because of the biased views of
different theorists and experts, and therefore, the study cannot be determined to be a
completely fulfilled one.
Recommendations
It is analysed with the help of the presented report that the banking industry of Bank
of Ceylon has been recorded to face several challenges in the concern of managing its
recruitment and selection process (Andaleeb & Hasan, 2016). In this concern, the given
report tends to suggest some strategic suggestions that would help the concerned banking

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firm to effectively recruit and select its required number of employees and stay ahead of its
competitors.
 Implementing the policy of recruiting the international working staff with the process
of e-recruitment (Afolabi, Oyeyipo, Ojelabi & Amusan, 2018).
 Fostering effective research and development team in the concern of understanding
the significant strategies of the competitors and implementing necessary changes into
one's business organisation (Bryson, 2018). This will help the business organisation to
attract the skilled level of employees to their business organisation rather than the
other potential business firms.
 Not bounding the criteria policies into some demographics of age, gender and
religion. Rather than the company should focus on skills, talent and experience
(Urciuoli, 2016).
 Providing the employees with different monetary and non-monetary benefits that will
help the company to retain its millennial as well as another group of employees and
reduce the cost of business operations that is related to the frequent recruitment
process.
Conclusion
Hence, to bring to a significant end, it can be stated, based on the above-presented
report that the process of recruitment and selection is more of a complex process than as easy
as it seems to be. It was also undermined that the human resource department connected to
any business organisation has to face several and diversified numbers of challenges in the
concern of maintaining and processing its hiring process. Thus, the banking industry named
Bank of Ceylon had also been suffering from the challenges concerned to the recruitment

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process and the same ha been recorded to affect the profit earnings ratio of the largest
banking industry in Sri Lanka.

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