ABSTRACT

 This study set out to establish the effect the recruitment and selection practices in Sheraton Hotel and how they affect performance of Pont Desk Officers. The study was carried out along a number of objectives, which included; to identify the methods used in the recruitment and selection processes, to evaluate the role of effective communication in the success of an interview exercise in selection of front desk staff and to examine the challenges affecting the recruitment and selection process of front desk staff at Sheraton. The study was carried out using a self-administered questionnaire to the staff and an interview guide. The data collected was entered in the Computer and analyzed using the Special Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) to generate frequencies and percentages for comparison. The findings of the study indicated that, a number of methods are used in the recruitment process. Theses methods include, advertising in the Newspapers, radios and head hunting among others. There are also internal recruitment methods which included; talking to colleagues during meetings, using notice boards, memos, bulletins; to mention but a few. The results also indicated a significant relationship between effective communication and the results of an interview exercise. It was also found out that, a number of challenges affect the communication process in recruitment. These included; failure of prospective applicants to get information about the job, failure to become aware of the shortlist, poor attitude of people about Hotels; to mention but a few. From the study results, the researcher made a number of recommendations, which include the following; there is need to improve the way basic salary is provided. The researcher also recommended ~ the need to make additional payments part of the reward package for all the employees. Finally, the researcher recommended that during Staff recruitment exercise, there is need to use Communication methods that can adequately attract the required staff. This is because, it was found, that some of the methods were more effective because they helped to reach many people especially the news papers and that they can help in attracting good candidates from a far, that some of the methods are easy to use especially the internal methods which can lead to getting good candidate without having to spend any money on informing the candidate. There is need for the hotel management to improve the ways in which the Interview exercises are managed. This is because, It was revealed from the study that there are a number of issues which affect the interview exercise and which unless they are taken care of, there is a likelihood of getting poor results. The interviews exercise can be improved by making sure that skilled people are contracted to do the job of conducting the interviews. Finally, There is also need for the hotel to consider ensuring that the challenges to the recruitment process are minimized. This is because from the study, a number of challenges were found to affect the process of recruitment.