Level 1
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90841: Investigate aspects of human resource processes in a business
Updated December 2016. This document has been updated in its entirety to address new issues that have arisen from moderation.
Students need to investigate how a firm applies the eight aspects of the recruitment process: job analysis, job description, person specification, methods of advertising, screening and short-listing, interview and testing, offer and acceptance, and induction and pōwhiri.
Context
The context for learning and assessing this standard is a suitable small business (or school). This should be negotiated by the teacher and the student prior to the commencement of the assessment. Choosing a firm that is not fit for purpose limits the opportunity for students to achieve the standard, as they need to ‘collect relevant information about the aspects of human resource processes’.
An investigation needs to be undertaken by individual students, groups or the class. This would involve interviewing the manager or another appropriate person involved in the HR function in the selected firm. The intention is that students engage with the firm to learn what recruitment practices occur and why.
All aspects of the HR process must be covered. Where the firm does not practise an aspect, the student should provide reasons for this.
Awarding grades
Students are expected to interpret or explain the HR processes that occur in the firm rather than describing them or simply stating what happens. For example, ‘Central School advertises for teachers in the online Education Gazette’ is a description or statement of what the school does to advertise for new staff, and is therefore insufficient evidence for Achieved.
Explanations and interpretations are reasoned judgement statements, based on business knowledge, about why elements of the recruitment process are undertaken. ‘Central School advertises in the online Education Gazette because it knows teachers search for jobs in the Gazette’ is a justification for the advertising method, specific to the context of the school. This is sufficient for Achieved level.
An in-depth interpretation (Merit) justifies why the businesses uses the process, rather than another. For example: ‘Firms advertise in media that they know are used by suitable job candidates. Central School uses the Education Gazette if it wants to hire a teacher because the Gazette is known to be the most effective place as NZ teachers search for jobs in the Gazette’.
A comprehensive interpretation (Excellence) might, for example, add the sentence ‘This will be the most efficient medium because it allows the school the greatest exposure for the smallest expense’. This sentence takes the justification a step further and begins to explain the impacts, effects or consequences on the business.