Analysis of Staff Recruitment Practices and Organisational Performance in Access Bank Nigeria, Benue State

Recruitment practices are foundational to building organisational capability, and analysing their relationship with performance in Access Bank Nigeria's Benue State operations, North Central Nigeria, provides evidence for HR practice improvement in the banking sector. This study analysed recruitment practices and their effect on organisational performance at Access Bank branches in Makurdi, Gboko, and Otukpo in Benue State. Data were collected from 130 employees and 10 branch managers through structured questionnaires. Recruitment practices assessed included internal promotion, external recruitment, psychometric testing, assessment centres, and interview quality. Performance was measured by branch key performance indicators including deposit mobilisation, loan disbursement, customer complaint resolution, and staff productivity ratios. Pearson correlation and regression analysis were employed. Results showed that structured recruitment processes (psychometric testing and structured interviews) were significantly positively correlated with employee performance metrics (r = 0.64, p < 0.001). Branches that used competency-based recruitment showed 29% higher deposit mobilisation performance. Internal promotion for senior roles was associated with stronger team performance (r = 0.51, p < 0.01), attributed to organisational culture retention. Unstructured interview-based hiring (the most common practice in 62% of cases) showed significantly weaker performance correlations. The study concludes that Access Bank Benue State branches would benefit significantly from standardising competency-based recruitment across all hiring categories and recommends a regional recruitment quality standardisation programme. Keywords: recruitment practices, organisational performance, Access Bank Nigeria, Benue State, competency-based hiring