Recruitment and Selection Practices Adopted by the Insurance Firms Quoted in the Nairobi Stock Exchange

Abstract

In today's rapidly changing environment, a well defined recruitment and selection practice is necessary for organizations to respond to its human resource requirements in time, it is therefore important to have a clear and concise policies and practices in place The purpose of this study was to identify recruitment and selection practices adopted by the insurance firms quoted in the Nairobi Stock. The study made use of cross-sectional survey. A census was carried out, primary data was collected using interview guides. The head of human resources departments of the five insurance companies were interviewed and content analysis used to analyze the information collected. The recruitment practices that were found to be dominant in these organizations are both the internal and external. Internal include; transfers, promotions and job rotations. External include; advertising, college graduates, walk in applicants, employee referrals, recruitment agencies and head hunting. The selection practices commonly adopted by the firms under the study are; interviews, tests and reference checks. It was concluded that the use of some practices like referrals could greatly impact on objectiveness of the processes. It was also clearly revealed that the traditional practices of recruitment and selection are still being appreciated and used, though organizations are now using more advanced practices It's recommended that the human resources managers should embrace modern sources of communication to contact the prospective employee.