Cogent Social Sciences

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Examining the public sector recruitment and

selection, in relation to job analysis in Pakistan

Junaid Ashraf |

To cite this article: Junaid Ashraf | (2017) Examining the public sector recruitment and selection,
in relation to job analysis in Pakistan, Cogent Social Sciences, 3:1, 1309134

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2017.1309134

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Ashraf, Cogent Social Sciences (2017), 3: 1309134
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2017.1309134

SOCIOLOGY | RESEARCH ARTICLE

Examining the public sector recruitment and
selection, in relation to job analysis in Pakistan
Junaid Ashraf1*†

Received: 13 September 2016 Abstract: The purpose of this research was to study the recruitment and selection
Accepted: 17 March 2017
practices in public sector of Pakistan with respect to job analysis. Job analysis is
Published: 31 March 2017
the most essential part of human resource activities. This research tries to study
*Corresponding author: Junaid
Ashraf, Government and Public whether job analysis practices are followed or not. The research obtained informa-
Policy Department, National Defence tion from 144 respondents, through questionnaires and some brief interviews. The
University, Islamabad, Pakistan
E-mail: [email protected] primary and secondary data collected for the research concludes that the hiring
Reviewing editor:
process of public sector is flawed mainly because of poor job analysis. They do not
Elizabeth Caldwell, University of make proper job descriptions and employees tasks do not match with the given job
Huddersfield, UK
description, which ultimately effects the performance of the public sector organiza-
Additional information is available at tions in Pakistan.
the end of the article

Subjects: Government; Organizational Communication; Business, Management and

Accounting

Keywords: recruitment; selection; job analysis; job description; public sector

1. Introduction
Human resource management has become an integral part in today’s competitive world. Efficient
and effective management of human capital leads to progress and development of an organization,
without proper human resource planning, progress of an organization is indeed difficult.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

I chose to study Business Administration for my This research paper is taken out of my research
undergraduate, and joined Bahria University, dissertation (Recruitment and selection practices
Islamabad, for BBA. After completing my degree, I and performance in public sector of Pakistan: A
then went on to join Government and Public Policy descriptive study) of M.Phil. in Government and
MPhil program at the very well reputed National Public policy. For research paper I have chosen the
Defense University, Islamabad. area of job analysis as it is the most integral part
I have worked in Mirpur University of Science of recruitment and selection and in Pakistan hardly
and Technology as a Research Associate in order any research is done on this aspect. The data for
to enhance my Research abilities. I also taught the research was collected mainly through survey
subjects such as Moral & Ethics, English and Human and some interviews from nine public sector
Resource Management at this institution. Currently, organizations. The findings show that the hiring
I am working in institute of Strategic Studies process of public sector is flawed as they do not
Islamabad, under their Young Professional Corner. make proper descriptions; they do not give their
Junaid Ashraf I have keen interest in research and I am employees direction to work on. It is important
looking to make a career in research. Currently I for the productivity of any organization that their
am working on some independent researches to employees are given specific duties to perform.
enhance my portfolio. This research paper which I Furthermore, it is essential that right person for the
have submitted would help to highlight the issue right job is hired which can only be done through
of job analysis in public sector of Pakistan and lay job analysis.
foundation for further research on this area as
not much research is conducted in this field with
respect to Pakistan.

© 2017 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution
(CC-BY) 4.0 license.

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Progressing through the 21st century, globalized workforce is the basis of competition, this has
raised the importance of human resource management to another level as without strong consid-
eration to workplace, it is impossible for any organization to excel. The progress, development, and
success of any business or an organization are directly linked to the performance of those who work
for that business.

Employees are the greatest asset of any organization, for an organization to shine; the organiza-
tions depend on the competence and professional attitude of the employees. So, it is imperative that
right person for the right job is working whether private or public organization, thus recruitment and
selection process becomes most integral, if done in an organized way it leads to selection of right
candidates.

The duties of public organization are to maintain social order and provide a system of law and
justice to the people. Public organizations provide public goods to its people and thus need efficient
and effective human capital to provide the services in an efficient manner. The public sector needs
competent workforce to provide services adeptly, so it is of utmost importance that right candidate
is there for the right job. Thus the importance of recruitment and selection is indeed great with refer-
ence to government organizations. For effective and efficient delivery of services, it is essential that
they engage a balance number of skilled human resource strength. Furthermore, the most impor-
tant aspect of recruitment and selection is Job analysis.

Job analysis is an organized assessment, study and recording the responsibilities, duties, skills,
accountabilities, work environment and ability requirements of a specific job. It also involves deter-
mining the relative importance of the duties, responsibilities and physical and emotional skills for a
given job. All these factors identify what a job demands and what an employee must possess to
perform a job productively.

Job analysis is said to be a foundation for human resource management by McCormick (1976).
Furthermore, it was found by Sanchez and Levine (2000) that role of job analysis in human resources
planning was vital. Other human resource activities can get affected by some human resource prac-
tices including recruitment process, performance appraisal, compensation and training & develop-
ment established on incorrect job analysis.

In 1900’s, Job analysis was established as a management technique in the West. Over the years,
Job analysis became one of the many tools, which enabled managers to understand and focus on
the organization. However, this significant advancement in human resource practice could not be
kept in practice in Pakistan till 2000 (one hundred years gap).

2. Research problem/objectives

• The research paper wants to analyze job analysis in Public sector firms because to have effi-
ciency and effectiveness, it is essential that organizations have right people at the right job,
which can only be achieved through proper job analysis However, Pakistan’s public sector lacks
efficiency and effectiveness and this paper wants to gauge that whether right people for the
right job are working and are the employees given proper job descriptions and job description to
carry out their duties.
• Furthermore, this paper wants to lay foundation for future research with respect to job analysis
in Public Sector of Pakistan as hardly any research is conducted on this area in Pakistan.

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3. Literature review
Brannick and Levine (2002) described Job Analysis as “a systematic process whereby one can discover
the nature of a job.” Job was divided into smaller units and one or more results were recorded. Over
the years, other researchers such as Bowin and Harvey (2001) have discussed the significance of job
analysis to human resource management but they found job analysis as a strategic human resource
(HR) management practice having a prospective contribution in the organizational performance.
Newman and Lyon (2009) pointed the typical needs for generating relevant pool for selection of the
employees is Job Analysis. Jon Analysis includes developing relevant job description and job specifica-
tions with respect to knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA) for the specific job. In addition to this employ-
ers also look for suitable personality qualities, attitudes, and values, so that the selected employee is
in accordance with organizations need and best fit for the organization and the job. Barber (1998) took
note of three decisions related to recruitment which are target population; determine the applicant
source, and deciding how to attract applicants to the organization. Recruitment requires effective
planning and to collaborate closely with the management, which can only be done by job analysis.

For recruitment process job analysis is the first step. According to Miyake (2002) giving ads for
vacant jobs is a usual process to find the right pool of candidates. Jobs analysis is done to create job
description and job specifications so that right pool of candidates are attracted and short-listed for
further process. Furthermore, he elaborated the selection tools such as conducting interviews, ap-
plication blanks and reference. In addition to these different tests are used to select the perfect
match for the job. These tests are aptitude tests, assessment tests, personality tests and psychologi-
cal tests. All the criteria used for selection have its own benefits and issues and used in balance to
have better reliability and validity.

Davidson, Lepeak, and Newman (2007) discussed the challenges that effect the hiring in govern-
ment sector, it was a research directed by Equa Terra and surveyed above 150 public sector profes-
sionals from United States to study their employment practices. Amongst many hindrances strategic
planning (which includes job analysis) for recruitment and selection stood tall. Strategic planning is
done in accordance with the current and future needs of human the resource of an organization.
Poor strategic planning pointed scattered HR policies in many organizations, which led to ineffective
performance. Furthermore, this research identified poor long-term planning for the management of
the employees. In addition to this the researchers pin pointed that whether an organization is public
or private both struggle to find staff that has pertinent experience, it was concluded that finding the
perfect match for the job is a difficult task, so finding specialist for vacant place is an uphill task es-
pecially for public organization.

Kaplan and Norton (2004) identified some issues that lead to bad employment decisions; most of
them were ignorance in planning, resulting in poor selection of employees due to poor job analysis.
One of the most important aspects of recruitment and selection is choosing the best fit candidate for
the job, but poor planning and job analysis effects this aspect badly. Furthermore, it is essential that
HR specialist manage to enhance the quality of the candidates. Moreover, to choose the most ap-
propriate employee for the job it is essential that the human resource team do its work with great
zeal and zest.

Nyangaresi, Nejeru, Mutavi, and Waithaka (2013) stressed on the point that in this competitive
world, organizations need to select competent and skillful persons in order to develop and grow as
an organization. Public sector organizations need to achieve their objects by providing effective and
efficient services to the people and this requires skillful workers. Moreover, the research pointed that
job advertisements should contain proper job specifications and job descriptions and employees
should be selected on bases of match with job specifications and job descriptions. In addition that,
when employees are finally selected in an organization, they should be given extensive overview of
the organization which in technical terms means the process of socialization. This gives the selected
employee know how of the culture and goals and objectives of the organization and employee can
adopt accordingly.

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Khan, Ahmed, and Neogy (2011) did research on public sector of Bangladesh and identified that in
the public sector the HR departments are weak especially the department of recruitment and selec-
tion. It is also referred as an administrative department which takes care of the employees of the
government organizations. The HR department does not do proper job analysis, which leads to poor
job description and thus the problem of hiring the right candidate for the job as proper job analysis
is not done so leads to issue of recruitment and selection in the public sector organizations.

Rehman (2009) researched on HR practices in public sector of Pakistan, which is very rare. He
identified the importance of HR practices and selecting the right person for the job. The research
shed light on accurate job analysis for selecting the right candidate for the right job, which was com-
pletely ignored in public sector of Pakistan according to his findings. He further said that selection of
the employees should be done in accordance with the requirement of the job.

4. Methodology
The research study covers the public sector’s “Job Analysis” and the after effect of the public sector’s
recruitment and selection process on the overall performance of the organization. It is an endeavor
to assess the thinking patterns of the individuals working in the public sector organizations and the
various ideas of the workforce with the help of a questionnaire specifically engineered for this pur-
pose. Many aspects of the study can be applied to the real life work environment in order to better
understand the logic to workforce’s behaviors in the public sector organizations. The data was pro-
cessed using SPSS. SPSS was only used for processing the questionnaire and making tables. The re-
search is purely descriptive and it does not require any statistical tests.

4.1. Research design

The foundation of this research was laid on the assessment of job analysis of the public sector of
Pakistan. The research used a questionnaire which was distributed nine public sector organization.
Some brief interviews were also conducted from the sample. The researcher asked questions from
the questionnaire when people were filling the surveys, it made the survey more reliable. So this re-
search relied on both primary and secondary data techniques. The primary data was mainly col-
lected through the close ended questionnaire, while some brief interviews were also taken to get
some further details and opinions. Furthermore, the secondary data was mainly the literature from
journals that is given in the literature and also formal hiring policies were studies to understand the
basic hiring process. These approaches were used with intention to find dependable data and that
dependable data could only be collected through satisfactory data collection tools for the sample of
the population which needed to be investigated for the topic under this research.

4.2. Sources of data

In order to successfully conducting this research, both the types of data sources were used i.e. pri-
mary and the secondary.

4.2.1. Primary sources

There are several techniques available to gather the primary data. The researcher used the tech-
nique of questionnaire and few brief interviews in order to collect dependable and valid data for the
research.

4.2.1.1. Questionnaires. The researcher used questionnaire because they have proved to be a relia-
ble method for data collection. The main purpose of the research questionnaire is to obtain informa-
tion that cannot be easily observed or that is not already available in written or computerized form.
Evidence from the questionnaire survey can then be used mainly for description, explanation or hy-
pothesis testing. Bulmer (2004) concluded that the questionnaire is a well established technique in
the social sciences for collecting information. The research used closed ended questionnaire and the
questionnaire for this research was taken from the study of Ruwan Abeysekera in 2007.

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4.2.1.2. Interviews. Few data gathering unstructured interviews were also conducted by the re-
searcher besides the questionnaires. The questions were the same as asked in the questionnaire, it
was done to make the research more reliable and also get some further details. The details which
are not possible to gather in the close ended questionnaire.

4.3. Sample size and organizations

Most of the data was collected via the three following means:

(1) Survey for analysis (Questionnaire)

(2) Interviews
(3) Study of formal policies of few public sector organizations

Two hundred fifty questionnaires were distributed to 9 organizations and 144 responses were re-
ceived. The names of the organizations are kept confidential.

5. Discussion and results

The research examines the public sector of recruitment and selection, in relation to job analysis in
Pakistan’s public sector regulatory authorities of Pakistan. It is essential for organizations that they
are in the quest to continue to be competitive to precisely recognize and estimate their employment
needs. It is important that they weigh the past trends, analyze the present situation, and estimate
the human resources they will require to meet the requisites of their strategic plans. Data must be
gathered and analyzed, before making decisions on recruitment and selection needs. The process
used to collect the data necessary for making informed decisions is called job analysis.

The methodical way for conducting job analysis includes gathering data that determines the
knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOCs), required for accomplishing the job in
a successful manner and it also leads to developing job specification. Job analysis gives way for
making judgments on job related actions, tasks, behaviors and performance standards. Furthermore,
it also enlightens the organization to pin point the context of the job. In addition to this, job analysis
leads to identification of the personal requirements imperative to perform the required job such as
aptitudes, physical characteristics, personality, aptitudes, and most importantly job-related knowl-
edge and skills.

Recruitment and selection: Job analysis determines the KSAOCs vital and required for each posi-
tion. Job analysis sets the qualifications required for a job including minimum education, certifica-
tion, or licensing. The fundamental responsibilities of the job are also determined by job analysis.
This information is processed by the organizations and further used to hire and recruit future em-
ployees. Job analysis plays a crucial part during the pre-employment examinations for selection and
promotion. The examinations held must associated with the job. The characteristics for which the
people are tested for include knowledge, skill, different abilities, and character (personality) varia-
bles. An organization only discovers what knowledge, skills, and abilities to test for when it knows
what competencies are required to execute a job successfully.

Developing compensation systems: The requirements of the jobs determine the compensation
provided to employees. The requirements include educations, skills and experience needed to per-
form the job effectively. Salary and other benefits can be now determined by the procedure of job
analysis throughout the organization. It provides the foundation for attaining understanding of the
value of each job, its relationship to other jobs, and the requirements essential to carry it out for all
employees.

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Human resources: Employers can make use of the technique of job analysis and recognize the
skills required to carry out various jobs. This set of information can be used to design training and
career development programs for the employees. Identifying these set of skills is what enables em-
ployers to train and evolve employees for promotional activities. The information discovered by job
analysis provides all the employees with an understanding of promotion, transferring requirements
and recognizing career opportunities.

Performance evaluation: The standard performance level that is set should be derived from how
the employees are actually performing at the given job. Job analysis would contribute to identifying
the tasks and responsibilities the employees currently have as a part of their jobs. Job analysis can
also be used to develop evaluation standards and to determine areas of accountability.

Risk management: A key characteristic of job analysis is to identity job hazards. This includes
handling complicated machinery and flammable materials. This information can be further used by
the employers to establish programs that inform their employees of the possible hazards a specific
job has. This covers the aspects of health, safety and security issues that an employee may be con-
cerned with.

Job design: In order to enable the organization to accomplish its mission, jobs are designed
around a set of works activities. Organizations often have to change the structure of work tasks due
to external and internal changes carried out. The standardized tasks which are associated with a
specific job tend to change over the years. Thus the importance of job analysis can be derived from
this which serves to identify and accommodate these changes.

The main utility of job analysis is to develop job description and job specifications. In job descrip-
tion the responsibilities, duties, and tasks related to the job are clearly mentioned. On the other
hand, job specification informs the employee about the KSAOCs that are needed to perform the job
adeptly.

5.1. Findings of the survey

The results show that public sector organization spends less of their resources, including time, money,
and skill on job analysis. The respondents agreed to the fact that the job description does not match
with the actual work they are expected to do. Also job specification/person specification also does
not match. In many cases those skills cannot be acquired resulting in burden on the organization
keeping in view the cost. It is detrimental for the organizations to not conduct just analysis, which is
also supported by the literature of the paper. Nyangaresi et al. (2013) emphasized on the point that
in this 21st century, organizations need to have competent workforce in order to be effective and
efficient as an organization. To have effective and efficient workforce it is important that proper job
analysis is conducted and duties should match with the provided job description, which is ignored in
government organizations in Pakistan.

According to Table 1 a major portion of the survey depicts that only 39 percent of the employees
are clear about their job descriptions. Moreover, the result of the Table 1 also shows that almost 61

Table 1. Results of the survey: Management has given me clear job description ( job description
is a document that specifies job purposes, duties and responsibilities, working conditions etc.)
Frequency Percent
Strongly agree 16 11.1
Agree 40 27.8
Neutral 31 21.5
Disagree 43 29.9
Strongly disagree 14 9.7
Total 144 100.0

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Table 2. Results of the survey: Duties which I perform actually match with the duties indicated
in the job description
Frequency Percent
Strongly agree 16 11.1
Agree 47 32.6
Neutral 36 25.0
Disagree 36 25.0
Strongly disagree 9 6.3
Total 144 100.0

Table 3. Results of the survey: My job description reflects clear tasks and skills needed to
perform the job
Frequency Percent
Strongly agree 17 11.8
Agree 49 34.0
Neutral 34 23.6
Disagree 35 24.3
Strongly disagree 9 6.3
Total 144 100.0

percent of the employees are on the other side of the bridge when it comes to clear job responsibili-
ties, including job purposes, duties, responsibilities and working conditions. Davidson et al. (2007)
concluded that public sector hiring is an uphill tasks and job analysis is very important part of making
job description. It can be deduced from the sample that public sector of Pakistan has issues when it
comes to conducting proper job analysis as 61 percent of the employees are not clear on their job
description. This in turn impacts the performance of the employees as well as the organizations, thus
decreasing efficiency and effectiveness.

In addition to that Table 2 shows that 56 percent of the employees were of the opinion that duties
which they perform are not according to the duties mentioned in the job description. According to the
Table 3 around 31 percent of the employees were of the opinion that their job description does not
reflect clear tasks and skills needed to perform the job, while around 24 percent were neutral about
it, which again depicts that they are not clear about job description. On the other hand, 45 percent
believed that, job description reflects clear tasks and skills needed to perform the job. So it is evident
from the research that proper job description is not provided to the employees working in the public
sector organizations and employees are not given clear directions towards the work they are doing.
Rehman (2009) conducted research on HR practices in public sector of Pakistan with respect to job
analysis, which is very rare. He recognized the significance of HR practices and selecting the right
person for the job. The research further emphasized on importance of accurate job analysis for se-
lecting the right candidate for the right job, which is completely ignored in public sector of Pakistan
according to his findings. Moreover, the research also shed light on importance of giving proper job
descriptions and job specifications to the employees as it increases productivity of the organization.

A realistic approach of Job Analysis ensures maximum congruency between job content and job
context that is supportive of the recruitment process. The flaws in public sector’s recruitment system
occur when they independently deal with job content and job context. The preference is given to job
content as it is taken as a benchmark for organization during recruitment and selection while human
resource management based recruitment requires interdependent criteria both for job content and
context. The job content and context together determine the functions and functionality of a job.
They are best understood as intermingled evolving process rather than a linear progression of steps.
Many organizations therefore carry a job re-design as a component of the ongoing process of Job

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Analysis. An effective Job analysis can be conducted after the job has been designed, the employees
have been trained and the work has been performed.

Experiments show that in public sector, if job is evaluated after the job is allocated and the job
continues with specific practices for prolonged periods then the Human Resource’s best practice
gives a detailed overview of different extensions of Job Analysis. Cherrington (1995) pointed out
three general cases where Job Analysis is carried out: (1) when the organization launches, (2) when
a new job is created, and (3) when a job is changed due to introduction of new methods, procedures
and technology in the organization. If third point is specifically taken into consideration, then re-
cruitment needs to be held on the grounds that knowledge, skill and abilities are constantly chang-
ing and hence need of new procedures or technology arises and for potential employees to handle
them effectively. The results of the current study supported the view that the role of job analysis is
important for both enhancing employee’s job performance through job satisfaction and turnover.
Furthermore, it was found that the employees that had high level of knowledge, skill and ability were
better at performing their jobs. Extensive job analysis must be held on each job to classify the main
responsibilities of the respective job

It can be said that the trend of job analysis in hope of carrying out a successful recruitment pro-
cess has found little success. Thus, other factors such as like job design, job evaluation, job security
and job succession planning, job satisfaction and job retention need to be observed as well.

5.2. Discussion of the interview

Apart from surveys, there were some brief unstructured interviews conducted from the same em-
ployees who completed the surveys. The purpose of brief interviews was to complement the ques-
tionnaire so that the researcher can correlate the answers of the survey with some more details.

The findings of the interviews were matching with the survey conducting. The interviewees were
of the opinion that there are hardly any job descriptions made in public sector. Furthermore, on ask-
ing question directly to some employees on job description, it was found from the employees that,
they even have to write letters which is job of cleric level. Moreover, it was also found that employees
have to do personal work of their directors who is a 19th grade officer, under him are, deputy to di-
rector (18th grade) and assistant to director (17th grade). The employees do the personal works of
their seniors because director has to write Annual Confidential Report (ACR) of the employees and
promotion is dependent on this, so employees helpless for the sake of growth have to do work irrel-
evant to their job description. Furthermore, it was also found out that there is hardly any job descrip-
tion in public sector, which is ultimately, impacts the performance of public sector. The results of the
survey and interviews are harmonizing to each other; both clearly indicate the problem of job analy-
sis in public sector organizations in Pakistan.

6. Conclusion
Job analysis is pillar of recruitment and selection practices in any organization, the literature sup-
ports the point that selecting right candidate for the job is very important and job analysis greatly
impetus the process. The primary and secondary data collected for the research concludes that the
hiring process of public sector is flawed despite good formal polices, mainly because of poor job
analysis. The employees are not given proper job descriptions to follow and employees tasks do not
match in accordance with the given job description. Recruitment and selection of employees to a
greater extent determines the performance of an institution and it is of great importance if institu-
tions want to achieve their goals. Furthermore, in order to enhance effectiveness and efficiency of
their employees, it is essential that they are given clear directions towards their work, so that the
employees know what is expected out of them. Moreover, job descriptions also lay foundation for
key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs are essential for measuring performance of the employees,
so if an organization does not have job description for their employees, how will it measure perfor-
mance. This further raises questions on promotions in public sector of Pakistan.

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This research has its limitations because there is not enough research conducted in Pakistan’s
public sector with reference to job analysis. There was only one paper published which had refer-
ences to job analysis. This topic needs to be further studied and investigated.

Funding Davidson, G., Lepeak, S., & Newman, E. (2007). Recruiting and
The author received no direct funding for this research. Staffing in the Public Sector. Results from the IPMA-HR
Research Series. Alexandria, VA: International Public
Author details Management Association for Human Resources. Retrieved
Junaid Ashraf1 from www.ipma-hr.org
E-mail: [email protected] Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2004). Measuring the strategic
1
Government and Public Policy Department, National Defence readiness of intangible assets. Harvard Business Review,
University, Islamabad, Pakistan. 82, 52–64.
†
Junaid Ashraf is currently working in Institute of Strategic Khan, W., Ahmed, A. A. A., & Neogy, K. T. (2011). Recruitment,
Studies Islamabad (ISSI), under the Young Professional selection issues and challenges in public sector:
Corner. Research Paper taken from my thesis work. Bangladesh case study.
McCormick, E. J. (1976). Job and task analysis. In M. D.
Citation information Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational
Cite this article as: Examining the public sector recruitment Psychology (pp. 651–696). Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.
and selection, in relation to job analysis in Pakistan, Junaid Miyake, D. (2002, October). Implementing strategy with the
Ashraf, Cogent Social Sciences (2017), 3: 1309134. balanced scorecard: An introduction to the strategy-
focused organization. DM Review. Retrieved from http://
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Bulmer, M. (2004). Questionnaires, Sage benchmarks in social respect to recruitment, job satisfaction and retention.
science research methods. London: Sage Publications. Sanchez, J. I., & Levine, E. L. (2000). Accuracy or consequential
Cherrington, D. (1995). The management of human resources validity: Which is the better standard for job analysis
(4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. data? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21, 809–818.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1379

Appendix A

Recruitment and selection practices and performance in public sector of Pakistan—

a descriptive study

You are?

(a) Civil servant/Cadre officer

(b) Public servant/Ex Cadre officer

What is your grade?

(a) Grade 15
(b) Grade 16
(c) Grade 17
(d) Grade 18
(e) Grade 19
(f) Grade 20
(g) Grade 21
(h) Grade 22

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Since how many years have you been working with this organization?

(a) 0–3 years

(b) 3–6 years
(c) 6–10 years
(d) 10–15 years
(e) Above 15 years

What is your age?

(a) 20–25
(b) 25–30
(c) 30–35
(d) 35–45
(e) Above 45

What is your gender?

(a) Male
(b) Female

What is your education level?

(a) GCEA/L/FSC/FA
(b) Degree/Bachelors/BA
(c) Diplomas
(d) Professional qualifications (CIMA, etc.)
(e) Postgraduate

Organization …………………………

Part 1

Recruitment and selection practices

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

agree disagree
1 Organization clearly defines the position objectives, requirements and candidates
specification in the recruitment
2 I received a large amount of information about my job before being employed during
the hiring process
3 All of the information I received at interviews about my job before being employed
was relevant
4 I feel I am the right fit for my current Job
5 I have clear targets for each of my objectives
6 Organization has formal policy for recruitment and selection of employees
7 There are equal opportunities for all (potential) employees when it comes to hiring
8 Management has given me clear job description (job description is a document that
specifies job purposes, duties and responsibilities, working conditions etc.)
9 Duties which I perform actually match with the duties indicated in the job description

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Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

agree disagree
10 My job description reflects clear tasks and skills needed to perform the Job
11 There is horizontal mobility in this organization
12 Political interference influence the hiring in my organization

Part 2

Recruitment and selection and performance

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

agree disagree
13 Recruitment and selection practices used in organizations influence personal behavior
14 I know very well what is expected from me on my job
15 I know how my job impacts on the mission of our company
16 I have opportunities to learn and grow
17 My last performance appraisal accurately reflected my performance
18 The performance appraisal system is fair
19 I feel I am valued at the company
20 If I do good work I can count on making more money (incentives for performance,
achieving targets)
21 If I do good work I can count on being promoted
22 This organization’s recruitment and selection really inspires the very best in me towards
the job performance
23 Recruitment and selection, transfer, demotion, suspension and dismissal are based on
performance
24 Company is lacking consistency in employment opportunities, having an impact on
performance
25 Performance is determined from Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) mentioned in job
description
26 Turnover rate is linked with poor Recruitment and selection practices
27 Political hiring influence the performance negatively in my organization
28 Political interference influence the Recruitment and selection, transfer, demotion,
suspension and dismissal in my organization

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