Investing in People

What Investing in People covers

Investing in people is examined in Unit AS 1, Introduction to Business. It covers succession planning, skills audits and the factors behind people investment, the benefits and drawbacks of investing in people, methods of recruitment and selection, training and appraisal methods, online recruitment and selection, online training and appraisal, induction training: content, benefits and drawbacks, on-the-job training: methods, advantages and drawbacks, off-the-job training: methods, advantages and drawbacks, continuing professional development, choosing a training method, internal and external methods of recruitment, internal versus external recruitment weighed, the stages of selection, and the methods used, psychometric testing: what it measures and what it misses, psychometric testing, the purpose of appraisal, and its benefits and drawbacks, technology in the appraisal process, online recruitment and selection technology, online training and appraisal technology and the benefits and drawbacks of online HR processes.

The 21 subtopics

Each one has its own page. CCEA AS Business students sit this topic in the first year.

• Succession planning, skills audits and the factors behind people investmentSuccession planning in a business context, skills audit and future organisational needs that influence people investment planning.Open →
• The benefits and drawbacks of investing in peopleWhat people investment planning is, what it does for performance, motivation, staffing costs and recruitment, and the financial risk a business takes on by doing it.Open →
• Methods of recruitment and selectionHeadhunting as a recruitment method, employee referrals in recruitment and graduate recruitment programmes.Open →
• Training and appraisal methodsTraining in a business context, on-the-job training and off-the-job training.Open →
• Online recruitment and selectionRole of company career websites in recruitment, applicant tracking systems and three advantages of online recruitment.Open →
• Online training and appraisalE-learning platforms, virtual reality simulations in training and mobile learning applications.Open →
• Induction training: content, benefits and drawbacksWhat a new employee is given at induction, from health and safety to job responsibilities, and what induction gains a business against the time and cost it takes.Open →
• On-the-job training: methods, advantages and drawbacksShadowing, coaching, mentoring, job rotation and demonstration as ways of training in post, and why training this way is cheap but uneven.Open →
• Off-the-job training: methods, advantages and drawbacksExternal courses, conferences, workshops, college programmes and online learning, and what a business gains and loses by sending staff away to train.Open →
• Continuing professional developmentContinuing Professional Development and reflective practice as a CPD activity.Open →
• Choosing a training methodHow cost, time, relevance, quality, employee motivation and business objectives decide whether training happens in post or away from it.Open →
• Internal and external methods of recruitmentInternal recruitment, external recruitment and online job boards and how are they used in recruitment.Open →
• Internal versus external recruitment weighedWhy recruiting from inside is cheaper and faster and what it does for motivation, set against the narrower field, the resentment it can cause and the ideas it fails to bring in.Open →
• The stages of selection, and the methods usedSelection process, purpose of checking references in selection and CV and how is it used in selection.Open →
• Psychometric testing: what it measures and what it missesWhat aptitude, personality and ability tests each measure, how testing makes candidates comparable and reduces bias, and what it cannot tell an employer.Open →
• Psychometric testingPsychometric testing and candidates giving socially desirable responses in psychometric tests.Open →
• The purpose of appraisal, and its benefits and drawbacksWhat appraisal is and how it is run, what it does for development, targets, communication and reward, and where the process goes wrong.Open →
• Technology in the appraisal processPerformance monitoring systems, continuous feedback, remote meetings and digital records, and what a business gains and loses by appraising this way.Open →
• Online recruitment and selection technologyPurpose of conducting online psychometric testing before face-to-face selection stages and applicant tracking system.Open →
• Online training and appraisal technologyWebinars and virtual classrooms used for in employee training, learning management system used for in online training and benefit of storing appraisal information in a centralised online system.Open →
• The benefits and drawbacks of online HR processesWhat running recruitment, training and appraisal online saves in cost, reach, speed, consistency and record-keeping, against technical failure, impersonality, digital exclusion and data security.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Investing in People further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Internal recruitment vs External recruitment

  Internal recruitment: filling vacancies from the existing workforce. External recruitment: attracting candidates from outside the business.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Define succession planning in a business context.

   Model answer

   The process of identifying and developing employees to fill key leadership or critical positions when they become vacant.

2. 2

   What is a skills audit?

   Model answer

   A systematic assessment of the current skills, knowledge and competencies held by employees within an organisation.

3. 3

   How do skills audits support workforce planning?

   Model answer

   They help identify gaps between existing workforce capabilities and those required to achieve organisational objectives.

4. 4

   What two dimensions must staff training requirements address?

   Model answer

   The development needs of existing employees and the anticipated future needs of the organisation.

5. 5

   Name one of the four key factors that determine people investment planning decisions.

   Model answer

   Succession planning.

6. 6

   Apart from succession planning, identify another key factor influencing people investment planning decisions.

   Model answer

   Skills audits.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Investing in People revision questions

Is Investing in People examined at AS in CCEA Business?

Yes. It sits in Unit AS 1, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.

What does Investing in People cover in CCEA AS-Level Business?

21 subtopics: succession planning, skills audits and the factors behind people investment, the benefits and drawbacks of investing in people, methods of recruitment and selection, training and appraisal methods, online recruitment and selection, online training and appraisal, induction training: content, benefits and drawbacks, on-the-job training: methods, advantages and drawbacks, off-the-job training: methods, advantages and drawbacks, continuing professional development, choosing a training method, internal and external methods of recruitment, internal versus external recruitment weighed, the stages of selection, and the methods used, psychometric testing: what it measures and what it misses, psychometric testing, the purpose of appraisal, and its benefits and drawbacks, technology in the appraisal process, online recruitment and selection technology, online training and appraisal technology and the benefits and drawbacks of online hr processes. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Investing in People organised?

By the CCEA 3210 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.