Assignment 83

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3: Recruitment and Selection

Dr. Mirna Safi

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Employee resourcing is a fundamental component of effective HR practice, and refers to the process of finding the ‘right’ person for a particular role, in a specific organization.

One of the most important issues for any employer, regardless of organization size.

Selecting the ‘right’ employee during the employee resourcing process is critical, as not doing so can be costly for employers.

Introduction

Learning outcomes

Distinguish between the recruitment and selection processes.

Explain the advantages and disadvantages of different recruitment methods.

Identify how the shortlisting process forms a fundamental part of the employee selection decision.

Discuss the range of employee selection methods available and outline how they operate.

Describe the limitations associated with using the interview as a selection tool.

Outline how employment legislation affects the employee selection process.

Strategic recruitment and selection

In order to achieve the competitive advantage that can accrue from having a superior workforce, selection has been identified as one of the key elements of the ‘best practice’ approach.

Using a competency-based approach to recruitment and selection allows the development of more objective selection criteria, which are focused less on applicants’ qualifications and more on their ability to perform in the role.

Competencies are often developed by organizations to represent a set of factors that can assist in achieving success at an organizational level.

Strategic recruitment and selection

The recruitment process

The first stage of the process is a job analysis:

It is just like an audit of a job, detailing the different tasks the job entails as well as the particular skills and competencies needed to do that job.

This information can be gathered from the person doing the job, either through observation, interview or questionnaire. The employee’s manager can also be asked to indicate the key aspects of the role.

The key outputs of the job analysis are a job description and a person specification.

The recruitment process

Job description

Detailed inventory of what a particular job entails

Duties, responsibilities and expectations.

Person specification

What kind of candidate is being sought to match specific to the job?

Qualifications, knowledge, skills, personal attributes and experience.

Competency based criteria

May be used in conjunction with or instead of person specification.

Formal and informal recruitment methods

Formal methods of recruitment take place through official advertising e.g. an advert in a local and national newspaper.

Informal recruitment occurs where a candidate finds out about a potential position becoming available within an organisation and applying for it for example through word of mouth, referrals or simply from sending an unsolicited application/CV.

Internal recruitment

Job advertised within the organization where current employees of the organization can apply for the position.

Advantages include:

Cost effective

Ask candidates to apply directly

Familiar with the culture and processes in the organization

Important for staff development and morale.

Disadvantages include:

Limits pool of applicants

Restrict innovation and diversity

Internal applicants may feel demoted if application is unsuccessful.

External recruitment

Job vacancy is advertised publicly outside of the organization to the wider labour force.

Advantages include:

Widen pool of applicants

Fresh skills and ideas.

Disadvantages include:

Costs associated with external recruitment.

External recruitment

Recruitment consultancies find candidates on behalf of their client companies.

Employee referrals involve inviting existing employees to recommend someone from outside the organization for the vacant position.

Graduate recruitment specifically targets graduates to join the organization.

E-recruitment

The use of the internet to help attract candidates to apply for vacancies in the organization.

Can be used as part of both internal and external recruitment.

Job adverts can be placed on the organization’s intranet page (internal recruitment) or webpage (external recruitment).

Social networking sites are also used both by employers and candidates. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are the three most used sites.

International recruitment

This method is used where the vacant position requires skills and/or competencies which are not readily available in the national context.

Organizations engage with international recruitment in order to widen the pool of potential applicants.

The main advantage of overseas recruitment is that it increases the probability of finding the specific candidates required for the position.

The costs associated with overseas recruitment can be high.

Role of employer brand in recruitment

It is helpful for an organization to have a positive employer brand which refers to their reputation as an employer (Knox and Freeman, 2006; Mosley, 2007).

referred to describe the company's reputation and popularity from a potential employer's perspective and describes the values the company gives to its employees.

Being considered an ‘employer of choice’ is positive for organizations, as it increases labour retention and attracts strong, talented applicants who want to work in such a positive environment.

Organizations such as Google or Microsoft would be considered as having positive employer brands.

The job advert

Must contain relevant information concerning the position, such as:

name of organisation

job title

duties

essential skills/competencies required,

desirable skills/competencies

the application details (if the candidate needs to send a CV, cover letter, or if he/she needs to complete an online application)

the closing date for applications

the address/contact details where the application should be sent.

Use ‘AIDA’ criteria to draft the job advert – attention, interest, desire and action.

Application forms and CVs/résumés

Application forms are designed to target specific information required by the organization, and focus on criteria required to fit the job specification.

This speeds up the shortlisting process.

It gives employers the opportunity to ask competency based questions.

Curricula vitae are put together by the potential employee and are designed to sell their skills and achievements.

More often used for more senior roles.

Shortlisting stage

Reduces the number of initial applicants to those who most closely meet the criteria.

Narrows the field by a process of elimination.

Shortlisting can only take place once closing date has passed.

Shortlisting matrix is used and must tie in with the job requirements and person specification used in advertising

Creating consistency in the process

Improves quality of applicants.

Online screening

A software package, referred to as an applicant tracking system (ATS), which identifies specific keywords on submitted CVs/résumés and application forms, based on the selection criteria, can be used to screen initial applications.

If your CV/résumé contains the keywords the employer wants, then the ATS will rank you higher in the search results. This is a useful way for organizations to reduce the number of applicants.

One potential disadvantage is it may eliminate suitable candidates who actually meet the criteria but have not used the specific words searched for by the ATS.

HRM and organizational performance

Hiring a diverse workforce has become a key recruitment and selection strategy for many organizations.

Employees from different backgrounds and cultures bring different perspectives and ideas to the organization.

If an organization utilizes the different skills and abilities of its workforce it will result in higher levels of productivity as each employee plays off of the strengths and weaknesses of others.

A diverse workforce gives you a competitive edge over those competitors that might not value diversity as you do.

Making the selection decision

The overall aim of the selection process is to predict an applicant’s job performance capability specifically related to the role.

Person-organization fit refers to the extent to which a person and an organization share similar characteristics and/or meet each other’s needs (Kristof, 1996).

Person-job fit is the degree to which there is a match between the abilities of the person and the demands of the job, or the desires of a person and the attributes of the job (Edwards, 1991).

Range of employee selection methods

The selection method chosen should score high in both reliability and validity.

Selection methods include:

Application Forms

Interviews

Psychometric Tests (also known as Aptitude Tests) are a common part of the job interview process at many companies across the world. They generally consist of a series of timed questions, that are most often numerical (maths questions), verbal (reading comprehension questions) or logical (diagrammatic questions).

Assessment Centres Job Simulations are used to evaluate candidates on behaviors relevant to the most critical aspects (or competencies) of the job.

Work Sample Tests

Graphology is the analysis of the physical characteristics and patterns of handwriting claiming to be able to identify the writer

Selection interviews

Interviews are the most popular selection method used, however, research has shown that interviews score low on reliability and predictability.

There are different types of selection interview:

Telephone Interview

Video Interview

One-to-One Interview

Panel Interview.

Structured and unstructured interviews

Structured interviews

Ensure that interview questions are based on the job criteria.

All candidates are asked essentially the same questions

Can noticeably improve its validity.

Unstructured interviews

More like an informal chat between the interviewer and interviewee.

There is no consistency and cannot be rated against other applicants.

Competency-based interviews

Competency-based interviews are conducted by using a series of structured questions designed to gather information on specific behaviours or competencies that have been identified in the job analysis phase.

They are often referred to as behavioural based interviews.

Questions are based on how the candidate behaved in a particular situation in the past relating to a specific key competency area:

‘Can you describe an occasion when you were able to persuade your fellow team members to do something which at first they didn’t really want to do?’

Situational-based interview

Situational interviews are focused on asking hypothetical, future-based questions:

‘What would you do if you were presented by your manager with two conflicting deadlines?’

These type of questions are commonly used in situations where it is unlikely that the candidate has any previous experience of a particular situation.

Strength-based interviews

Strength-based interviews aim to uncover what you enjoy working at. The principle is that if you enjoy doing something then it is more likely that you are also good at it.

Companies using this type of approach will look for those who have a natural strength in certain areas as a result of their enjoyment of that task, rather than someone who will simply do the task because it is part of the role

E.g. ‘Tell me about an achievement you were particularly proud of’.

Problems with the selection interview

Confirmatory bias or the first impression error

Horns/Halo Effect

Stereotypes

Contrast error

Projection error.

Psychometric testing

Encompassing all forms of psychological assessment, measuring aptitude, ability, attainment and intelligence.

Types of tests include:

General Intelligence Tests

Attainment Tests (current skills)

Cognitive Ability Tests

Verbal Comprehension

Numerical Ability

Reasoning Ability.

Personality profiling

Used as employers search for predictors of success in a role.

Should be used in combination with other methods.

Personality tests are often based on the Trait-factor analytic model of personality (Arnold, Randall et al, 2010).

Commonly used profiles include:

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator#/media/File:MyersBriggsTypes.png

Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ)

The Big Five (Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Openness, Extraversion and Neuroticism).

Assessment centres

A series of exercises and tests are conducted over one or two days and candidates are assessed by a group of assessors.

An assessment centre is not a physical place, rather a term to describe the process.

Techniques used include:

Work sample tests

Leaderless group discussions

Psychometric tests,

In-tray simulations

One-to-one Interviews.

Work sample tests

Work sample tests are used to test applicants in simulated situations similar to the work involved in the actual job.

This type of assessment has high predictive validity.

Common in the service sectors, for example where measurement of a candidate’s customer service provision can immediately be recorded.

Graphology

Graphology is the study of a person’s handwriting and it is believed to reveal a behavioural profile of the individual.

It has a zero predictive validity score, yet it is still used by companies in Europe in making the selection decision.

Employment legislation and the selection process

The selection process is expected to operate within a legal framework of fairness and consistency, which removes discrimination and ensures equality of opportunity in the employment process.

Discrimination occurs where one person is treated less favourably than another, either directly or indirectly.

In many countries data protection and freedom of information have become important areas in relation to the retention of material generated by the selection process.

Making the final selection decision

Decisions need to be made in advance of the selection process on how to weigh each selection method and how to score the candidates to ensure consistency.

The shortlisting matrix is a useful method of recording information from each selection method as it has identified the key job-related criteria.

Post-offer stage

For positive employer branding it is important all candidates be contacted, be they successful or not in their application.

Keeping previously mentioned scoring matrices as part of data protection also ensures feedback, if requested, is available to unsuccessful candidates.

Successful candidates who accept the offer must now be monitored in their progress to ensure validity of the selection process and selection decision.

Data should be collected continuously to assess performance of selection methods and of those hired. This allows an evaluation of the relationship between selection methods, selectors and successful role performance.