Screening and selecting internal candidates

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ASSESSMENT 6 CONTEXT

Employee Onboarding

Organizations need an internal promotion policy that should include specific guidelines for posting internal jobs. Recruiting of internal candidates usually occurs when promotional opportunities are offered within organizations and involves policies and processes for posting internal jobs, the need for maintaining performance records for internal employees, and a refined selection process for these candidates. The policy must cover the guidelines for applying for promotions and a statement of how the process works. One of the concerns about promoting internally is the question of whether the promotion is based on objective criteria that are clear to all employees or if the promotion is based on subjective criteria (whom somebody knows, for example). This leads to the process of developing an effective succession plan for key positions within the organization.

After a pool of qualified internal and outside applicants has been established, finalists are selected for in-depth screenings and interviews. The final step is deciding which candidate is best suited for the job. Several methods exist for making that decision. Consider the nature of the employment contract and how a job offer is made. Employment contracts vary from full-time permanent to limited-term contract, with options in between. To avoid any future issues, it is important that any offer be made in writing and that it spells out employment details.

Onboarding

If someone is new to an organization, onboarding occurs. Onboarding is a more current term for what was once called orientation or socialization. Onboarding is the process through which the new employee learns the values, customs, and expected behaviors of the organization. This process is in addition to the more specific job-and department-related training that the new hire needs to complete in daily and weekly work.

Research has demonstrated that effective onboarding leads to better employee retention and a faster learning curve for employees because they become more productive in a shorter period of time. Onboarding is not finished during the first day or week on the job; it is a long-term process and may last for six or more months on the job. 

If an organization does utilize the onboarding process, it is the first training and development experience the new hire will have in the new position. For most of us joining an organization, the culture is already set, and the new employee is oriented to that culture. The culture is maintained by the company's recruitment and selection processes (which ensure that the new employees are an organizational fit) and by the onboarding process used to orient new employees. Onboarding instills the organization's culture and transforms an outsider into a fully functioning insider. The more complex the position, the longer the onboarding process will take.

First impressions are really important. The new employee's experience on the first day can range from arriving at the organization to find that the receptionist does not know her or she is starting to finding new business cards are already printed, meetings for the first week are scheduled, and the agendas for those meetings have already been created.

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is the extent to which workers are committed to an organization. It is the amount of extra effort they will invest to ensure they complete their work and achieve organizational goals. Companies want to retain engaged employees and terminate disengaged workers.

Employee Development

From the perspective of the organization, the purpose of employee development is to increase organizational effectiveness. When we talk about employee development, training usually springs to mind. It is true that a large part of employee development happens through the training process. However, training is usually employed for skill or competency deficits specific to the employee's performance on the current job. Training usually focuses on current needs.

Development, in contrast, focuses on the future growth of the employee and the organization. It encompasses learning in all activities that ensure the employee is prepared to function effectively, not only in the current position but also in the future.

One method an organization might use for employee, career, or leadership development programs is mentoring. Mentoring sometimes occurs very informally, such as when two people connect with each other and the more experienced person coaches the inexperienced person. Informal mentorships may develop spontaneously, usually due to admiration, mutual interests, or shared job demands. In formal mentoring programs, mentees are assigned to mentors.

Mentors usually provide two kinds of support: support for the individual's career and psychological support. Career support includes helping the mentee prepare for advancement through coaching and feedback, protection from political maneuvering, being given challenging assignments to help develop and demonstrate competence, exposure to influential decision-makers in the organization, and direct forms of sponsorship such as recommendations for promotions, transfers, or projects.

Psychological support involves the mentor being a role model, friend, and counselor and providing positive regard and acceptance to enhance the mentee's identity and self-esteem. This aspect of support is critical, especially with a diverse labor force. The benefits of effective mentoring to the mentor, mentee, and the organization are numerous. As you complete this assessment, reflect on the following questions:

· What experiences have you had with formal or informal mentors?

· What about other developmental opporties?

· Has your manager been an effective coach?

This assessment also addresses employee and career development over a longer time frame and in broader scope. In addition to coaching and mentoring, these strategies may include corporate universities, e-learning, job rotation, job enrichment, and specific training and development programs.

Performance Management

There is a distinction between performance management and a performance appraisal. The latter is frequently seen as simply an annual meeting that both manager and employee dislike intensely. A performance management system has a longer-term, overarching perspective. Performance management begins the first day an employee joins a department. The manager sets goals in collaboration with the employee. The performance management relationship is an ongoing one in which the annual or semi-annual meeting is merely a review.

A performance management system's primary purpose is to ensure that organizational goals are met. Other goals include supporting employees' professional development; measuring their performance and evaluation, including the types of assessments that are used; and making managerial decisions about pay, promotion, demotion, and termination. Performance goals are achieved through the use of many management tools: reward systems, job design, leadership, and training and development. All organizational systems should support, not undermine, the performance management system.

According to Rogers, Miller, and Worklan (1994), "Although setting objectives and reviewing performance are important because they establish direction and encourage improvement, people increase their chance of meeting individual and organizational goals if they receive regular coaching and feedback" (p. 73). Involving employees in the performance management process, and senior management modeling and reinforcing the process, increases participation in and support of the system (Rogers, Miller, & Worklan, 1994).

Reference

Rogers, R. W., Miller, L. P., & Worklan, J. (1994). Performance management: What's hot—What's not. Compensation & Benefits Review, 26(3), 71–75.