Selection Process At Ministry Of Defence: A Comprehensive Guide

Development of Tests

• The ministry of Defence is liable for implementing the security policy.  Major objectives of M.O.D are to secure the United Kingdom of Great Britainand the comfort of it (Busachi et al. 2016). It is also essential to build up international amity and stability. A large number of people serve in ministry of defence (Gennaro et al. 2013). The British Ministry of Defence (MOD) protects the safety and welfare of the people and country. Ministry of defence adapt scheme flourish in the equipped forces. Several senior military personnel support the chief of staff.
• Ministry of Defence provides the nuclear prevention. It defends and contributes to the protection of United Kingdom and abroad territories (Ordonez and Carbajo 2014). One of their defence policies is to contribute to better considerate of the globe through planned intelligence and the universal defence network. They also try to strengthen international safety measures and the combined capacity of the allies, multilateral institutions and partners.
• The investigation has been done during February 2013. The information was collected through communicating with representative from MoD HR Recruitment policy directorate. The views of some MoD line managers will also be taken into considerations.
• This report will discuss on the assessment in Ministry of Defence in United Kingdom. Hence, the word, “assessment” has been defined to describe the systematic process that helps to evaluate the performances and behaviours of individuals within a particular job. Thus, assessments are methodical procedures of gathering records under identical conditions and drawing a conclusion regarding the potential of the worker.

• Four stages have been discussed here. The line manager has undertaken each stage. Hence, it will help to assess the individuals.

Stage 1:

Firstly, the job should be evaluated. The manager should be responsible to make sure that the post is assigned the right level of civil service grading. This is done through analysing the job. This analysis involves information gathered by managers. Evidence of maintaining the evaluation can be got through observing the jobholder and comparing with related jobs (Brummer and Thies 2015). Then, job specification should be compiled from the collected data. The guidance provides a variety of illustrations of post descriptions and their suitable civil service grades. Any ambiguous job description may be referred to the job evaluation and grading support system (Pelczarski 2017). It is to be noted that there is no policy to recommend how to decide proper competencies for the career and line managers are expected to implement judgement based on the similar competency with what they think about the job. Sometimes, other recruitments for the particular job may be stated. These special recruitments may be professional qualification, previous work experience etc.

Stage 2: 

The job description should be advertised through proper website. The application for the job is designed to permit the applicant to supply own details. Evidence of the applicant’s achievement against each of the competencies mentioned in the job description should be provided (Pannier and Schmitt 2014). It is also vital for the applicants to provide a short statement reflecting own self so that recruiter can find the talent of the applicant. The application for the job may be submitted through online. Applicants may be asked to submit their resume. Hence, advertisement of the job is very important.

Stage 3:

It is a very essential stage. Here, each of the applications should be reviewed properly. Then, it will be decided which applicants will be eligible to appear in an interview. The manager will employ the interviewer. It is expected that the interviewer must be enough qualified. The interviewer must be a civil servant. It is also hoped that he is of a grade higher than a lower or equivalent to the applicant (Obukhova and Lan 2013). The line manager and the interviewer should crosscheck the applications before inviting the applicants for the interview. It is also necessary to invite all applicants to appear in the interview if they are all suitable for the post. The date, venue and time for the interview should be informed through the official websites. It is necessary to inform the date and venue of the interview to the selected candidates at least 3 days before the interview. It is also important to inform the unsuccessful candidates the reason clearly why they have been rejected. It will help them to take better preparation.

Job Analysis and Evaluation

Stage 4:

It is the ultimate stage. The duration of the interview should be at least one hour. It is also essential to maintain the format of interview for all applicants. The applicants are asked either behavioural or situational questions or both. It is obvious that the candidates will reply confidently so that the interviewers can understand the ability and skills of the applicant (Ferguson et al. 2013). Applicants must have some qualities like the ability to fulfil the required competences, understanding of the job. Both of the interviewers should give score the applicants independently after the interview.  Finally, scores provided by them for each candidate should be added to publish the employment list. The candidate with better body language and appearance will get preference if tied occurs. Sometimes, it is difficult to choose one candidate among two or more candidates scoring same marks in the interview. It may depend on the decision of the line managers when tied happens among two or more candidates.

Guidance notes are provided to them warning about unfair discrimination. The line manager takes ultimate decision at each stage. No third body involves there. Training will be provided to the selected candidates so that they can be aware about their job role.

• The purpose of the study is to see whether key skills and competences for Ministry of Defence in United Kingdom are clear or not. Most vital skills are required in the areas like low observably, mission systems, complex weapons, land weapon system and electronic warfare (Hodgson 2017). A priority should be given to low observably because it is vital to defence. It has been acknowledged across different domains within the taxonomy. Electronic warfare is considered imperative for defence because it is the field that underpins others. Complex weapons are essential for the land, air and marine domains. Appropriate selections criteria are the key determinant of prosper of an organization. Hence, it is important to implement appropriate procedures.  
• The pressure of work at Ministry of Defence has a downbeat impact on staff confidence. “Interviewing training” technique is introduced. MoD guidelines provide good instructions to conduct successful interviews. Tools are undertaken for ensuring training. It is to be noted that there is nothing substantive that address appraisal techniques training.  
• It is important to analyze job. Hence, the data should be collected properly. Employees who recognize their career may be at menace will be not as much of cooperative.  Further, the person in the job might not be premium role model upon which to stand the post description. There is additional basic question of whether it is accurate to support job evaluation for the most part, on how it is perfectly executed. Hence, focus should be given on the progression relatively higher than the outcomes.
• Training Issue

Identifying training issues needs in profundity analysis of the circumstances. Employees may not understand the approach taken in the training. Hence, training should be developed (Smith et al. 2014). Training the workers concerning the purpose of the scheme will effect in better success. It is difficult to understand the process of training before understanding the purpose of the widget. Hence, the proper training should be adopted to improve the performance of the workers. It is also necessary to identify the skill is required for the performance. There may arise some other issues (Saks, Salas and Lewis 2014). Sometimes expert trainer may not be found. Sometimes, the cost of training is so expensive. Sometimes, they suppose that the training is unexciting. Self-centred attitude among employees during training is another issue. A common issue is how to handle the training.

• Equal Opportunity

Equal opportunity is a stipulation that all candidates will be treated equally. It is expected that the possible disasters should be avoided. It should be unhampered by artificial barriers, prejudices, or preferences. It is to be noted that important jobs will be offered to the most qualified persons (Reinhart and Rogoff 2013). The job should be offered to the candidate who will be able to perform in a given task. It should not be offered to the inappropriate persons for arbitrary reasons such as circumstances of birth, sex, race, background, caste, ethnicity, religion etc. or spontaneous personal attributes such as age, disability, or sexual preferences.

• “Contracting, Purchasing and Finance” will provide a single end-to-end capability that will allow important improvements for Ministry of Defence. They have claimed that it would improve numerous of processes such as the management of catalogue data, the on boarding of new suppliers, changes to overseeing suppliers and customers and changes to the dealing out of invoices. This would make a new regular way of working. Hence, one should never take too lightly the complexity of making machinery changes in the surroundings like MoD.
• Approximately every technology and equipment supporting the security capabilities of UK in cooperation with growing levels of support and other services, are acquired through constricting with the superior developed companies and expert service providers. The major are corporation enterprises with the skill to plan, construct, and then carry difficult systems. The least are alcove firms with specific skills that are frequently a basis of inventive facts. Particular issues may occur in cases where the necessity includes an essential nationalized defence section and the possible suppliers are situated offshore, or are aground but focus to foreign possession or control. The technologies that are often needed at the most important edge of what is likely. The tool that uses them usually requires costly advance engineering techniques to expand and incorporate complex coding. Therefore, it is believed that MoD has both an overarching strategy and precise policies in relation to key tools, technology and support issues.
• Advantages of the Techniques used by Ministry of Defence during Recruitment

Job Advertisement

Ministry of defence use the personal interviews to select employees. It is one of the vital steps in the selection procedure of staffs (Baur, Damian and Gebhard 2013). It connects both employers and the job seeker. It helps the manager to select a right person for the right job (Kwon, Powell and Chalmers 2013). There are so many advantages of interview process. It is expected that any confusion and mistake may be remedied straightforwardly in an interview. A good relationship can be built between the interviewer and the interviewee. It helps to obtain detailed information about the opinions, feelings and perceptions of the candidate. It allows interviewers to ask questions that are more detailed. Therefore, sufficient information will be gathered through the interview process. Most importantly, interview methods achieve the high response rate.

• Disadvantages of the Techniques used by Ministry of Defence during Recruitment

One of the several restrictions on the scope and scale of early operations is the accessibility and capability of carry helicopter force (Roberts 2013). The lack of industrial capacity to convey defence products severally confines the ability of the nation to organize and employ the armed forces of it. The selection process through interview is very time-consuming (Levashina, Hartwell and Morgeson 2014). It takes more time in setting up, interviewing, analysing and making report of it. The interview methods may be expansive. Candidates, who are suitable for the post, cannot be selected by interviews only. Much attention is necessary in the time of interview (Fisher and Schreiber 2017). Interviewee might be disappointed when the interviewee faces the unrelated questions. Sometimes, personal matters might not be exposed by the method of interviewing.

• Psychometrics is not included in the current process. According to the author of the report, psychometrics should be included in the current recruitment process. The ordinary form of psychometric appraisal is available in online that involve answering questions (Jones et al.2013). It focuses on testing both character and emotional aptitude. Psychometrics also includes the clinical constructs, personality disorders, developmental variations, values and intelligence. It is a way to explore differences between individuals.
• The behavioural conduct can be affected by different biasness during the interview. This may mislead the outcome of interview. This type of biasness may be arising from the unconsciousness of the interviewers. Interviewers may be in good or bad mood during the interview. It will also affect the interview.
• Ethical Issues Arises during Interviews

The candidates should be very conscious during filling up the form. They should avoid misrepresent background and skills. It is also advisable to not misrepresent job-seeking status (Brinkmann 2014). They should not cancel pre-arranged interviews unless they have accepted another offer. It is also expected from the candidates that they will not exhibit any unprofessional behaviour (Ford and Richardson 2013). They should not make any disparaging comments about other organizations or applicants. There is no basis for appeal when mistakes occurred with the interview questions. Unethical behaviour from the candidate like decline a job offer after firstly accepting it should not be expected.

This report recommends the following recommendations to develop successful evaluation and assortment of individuals within Ministry of Defence.

• It is seen that interview process is important. The interviewer should be impartial to all the applicants. The line manager should employ expert interviewer.
• A mandatory training should be provided to the line managers and other staffs. This will help to assessment process. The efficiencies will be achieved by placing right people into the right jobs.
• Limitations of interviews should be recognised. The competency framework should be used as a device for assessing appropriateness. Business units within the Ministry of Defence should be authorized to carry out other forms of measurement in those required areas.
• Psychometric testing should also be introduced. It will help to select candidates more appropriately. Hence, the line managers and those engaged in the assessment should be trained appropriately.
• The Ministry of Defence should be clear about the competences they are choosing.
• The Ministry of Defence should motivate all the employees. Employees should be rewarded with benefits. It is also necessary to improve the employee retention. It is also important to improve motivation and productivity. Thus, it will help to develop loyalty of staffs. Thus, it will attract better employees.
• The activities for record keeping should be reviewed to make sure that it can evidence how selection panels reach at their judgment on the qualities and can obey with the recruitments of the recruitment values for keeping records for at least two years.
• The arrangements should be reviewed for criticism management to certify that they reveal best practice and are completely objective.

References:

Busachi, A., Erkoyuncu, J., Colegrove, P., Drake, R., Watts, C. and Martina, F., 2016. Defining next-generation additive manufacturing applications for the ministry of defence (MoD). Procedia CIRP, 55, pp.302-307.

Application Review

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