SELECTION PROCESS
Selection is a variety of techniques that help to choose one or more suitable candidates out of more contenders for one or more jobs or roles (Edenborough, 2005).
There are two stages in the selection process: shortlisting and assessment. The primary condition in the selection process is to treat the potential candidates equally without bias. It should only be based on their capability to perform the task, contribution to the company and possible development (Selection Methods | Factsheet | CIPD, 2021).
- Shortlisting: find who has the essential skills to move to the assessment stage.
- Assessing: find who is most suitable for the role.
Companies widely used interviews for the selection process after short-listed suitable candidates (Resourcing and Talent Planning Survey | Reports | CIPD, 2021).
INTERVIEWS
The primary purpose of the interview is to reveal information about the candidates and predict how they will perform the job in the future (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). The employer can provide a positive impression about the company, and its value proposition, including learning prospects and benefits to the candidate. On the other hand, the candidate has an opportunity to understand more about the organization, job, responsibility and benefits (Selection Methods | Factsheet | CIPD, 2021).
As described by Armstrong (2006), there are several interview methods;
Individual interviews: face-to-face discussion.
For example, the company I work for, referred to as A-consulting PVT Ltd hereafter, does face-to-face HR interviews with the candidate to obtain personal information and to evaluate soft skills.
Interviewing panels: Two or more people gathered together to interview one candidate.
For example, A-consulting PVT Ltd held primary interviews with the candidate using a technical lead and a line manager as the interview panel.
Selection boards: Selection boards are more formal and, usually, larger interviewing panels. For example, A-consulting PVT Ltd uses selection boards to recruit senior manager positions.
SELECTION TESTING
Selection tests check a candidate's ability, intelligence, personality, aptitudes and achievements. A psychometric test is a measuring instrument that tests a candidate's intelligence or personality ability (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).
Intelligence Tests
This will test the candidate's mental capability to perform various intellectual tasks of the desired job by checking his abstract thinking and reasoning.
EG: Raven's Progressive Matrices (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).
Personality Tests
This test helps to check the candidate's suitability for the job based on his attitude and behavior (Armstrong,2006).
EG: For example, a friendly person is more suitable for a receptionist post than a hard abrasive one because the receptionist is generally the first contact a client or visitor has with a company (Arthur, 2006).
Another example from IT Industry would be that an extrovert personality is more suitable for an ERP technical consultant post and an introvert personality is acceptable for a backend developer.
Ability Tests
In this test, candidate's abilities are tested which is required to perform the job. These tests consist of arithmetic, verbal, and abstract thinking assignments (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).
EG: motor ability or hand-eye coordination is necessary for certain jobs such as packing (Arthur,2006).
Aptitude Tests
Aptitude tests are occupational or job-related tests that evaluate an individual's ability to do the work (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).
EG: Network troubleshooting or Computer troubleshooting task to check the capability of the IT assistant.
In addition, the applicant needs to show competence in the general job field. For example, an electrician or a mechanic expects to demonstrate a complete understanding of the safety procedures related to their job (Karan Charles and Mercy Florah, 2021).
Attainment Tests
Attainment tests check current skills, knowledge, and accomplishment (Arthur, 2006).
EG: A typing test.
ASSESSMENT CENTERS
Assessment centers gather a group of candidates for a concentrated period and have to complete several tasks to check their behavioral, cognitive and personality skills (Edenborough, 2005).
EG: British Armed forces use assessment centers to recruit fresh candidates.
REFERENCES, QUALIFICATIONS CHECK AND OFFERS
Obtaining References
After the interviewing and testing procedure is complete, references should be obtained to get confidence about the factual information (Armstrong, 2006). References should contain factual information such as length of past employment, job title, brief details of responsibilities, overall performance, time-keeping and reason for leaving (Selection Methods | Factsheet | CIPD, 2021).
Offering Employment
After a satisfactory reference is available, a confirmation letter can issue to the candidate offering the employment (Armstrong, 2006).
According to the recent survey done by CIPD;
'Competency-based interviews remain the most popular, although fewer report using them in 2021 (60%, down from 76% in 2020). Similarly, fewer report using interviews following the contents of a CV/application form (49%, down from 57% in 2020), continuing the decline noted last year. In contrast, the use of strengths-based interviews (while less common overall) has increased (38%, up from 31% in 2020). Around two-thirds of organizations use some form of test, assessment or exercise in their selection process' (RESOURCING AND TALENT PLANNING SURVEY | REPORTS | CIPD, 2021).
Source: (RESOURCING AND TALENT PLANNING SURVEY | REPORTS | CIPD, 2021).
REFERENCES
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice, 13th edition. 13th ed. London: Kogan Page.
Armstrong, M., 2006. A Handbook of HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE. 10th ed. Kogan Page Limited.
Arthur, D., 2006. RECRUITING, INTERVIEWING, SELECTING & ORIENTING NEW EMPLOYEES. 4th ed. Arthur Associates Management Consultants, Ltd.
CIPD. 2021. Resourcing and Talent Planning Survey | Reports | CIPD. [online] Available at: <https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/resourcing/surveys> [Accessed 15 August 2022].
CIPD. 2021. Selection Methods | Factsheets | CIPD. [online] Available at: <https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/people/recruitment/selection-factsheet> [Accessed 15 August 2022].
Edenborough, R., 2005. Assessment methods in recruitment, selection & performance. 1st ed. London: Kogan Page Ltd.
Karan Charles, B. and Mercy Florah, O., 2021. A Critical Review of Literature on Employment Selection Tests. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 09(03), pp.451-469.
I must emphasise that the importance of psychometric tests as a selection tool has not been identified within the post. As per Healy (2008), psychometric tests will give the benefit of choosing the best possible person in a quantitative manner. Other than that, the post is a much informative one for the reader.
ReplyDeleteHi Isham, Thanks for the feedback. In this blog, I focused only provide an overall idea about the selection process. I wrote another blog about SMEs and in that blog, I analyzed it. Agree with your point; as per Chipana-Castillo, Miranda-Roca and Vicente-Ramos(2021), a psychometric test for personnel selection involves a series of standardized questions. It is necessary to eleminate potential favor towards any candidate or avoid discrimination at the time of selection and at the same time standardize the process.
DeleteHi Asitha,
ReplyDeleteOverall fairness perception in selection process is proposed in Gilliland's (1993) model. The outcome determines;
(a) reactions during hiring (Decisions in job acceptance and application for the job)
(b) reactions after hiring (job satisfaction)
(c) self-perceptions (self-esteem, self-efficacy).
(Ababneh, Hackett and Schat, 2014)
According to the research done by Madera(2012); How applicants react to using social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter as a selection tool. The results showed that applicants' view of fairness and job search intentions was lower for an organization that used social networking websites as a selection tool than an organization that did not use social networking websites as a selection tool.
DeleteWell written Asitha, As Addon Willer, Truesdell and Kelly (2017) discussed attracting candidates to the selection process, technology is playing an increasingly important role in recruiting. Electronic technology has also been used to reduce the number of potential candidates. In particular, using online recruiting can mean that employers receive a large number of applications from inappropriate candidates, so using technology to help manage the application form can also be helpful.
ReplyDeleteAn Applicant Tracking System (or ATS) can collect, scan and sort thousands of resumes and help filter out applicants who do not meet certain conditions set by an employer. If Organizations invest in ATS it allows recruiters to save time working directly with potential candidates who meet the required criteria without wasting time reading resumes of unqualified candidates (Durai and Keetticka, 2017).
DeleteGood article Asitha, adding to that A decision needs to be made whether to recruit internally or source candidates externally. Within any of these cases, defining requirements for candidates according to a job description is crucial and to be objective. After this step, managers have to decide HOW to attract candidates (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014; Koubek, 2012).
ReplyDelete