Employee selection procedure is a process through which the employer reviews a pool of applications for a given position and decides to hire one or more candidates and not to hire others.
In other words, the selection process is the procedure through which the employer decides which candidate in the applicant pool possesses the best qualification to be successful in the job (Gitman and McDaniel 209). The traditional selection process involved a detailed job analysis of a given position and that leads to understanding the psychological attributes that are necessary in a candidate deemed fit for the position.
Further, the selection process should also undergo a validation process that would allow for understanding the performative outcome of the candidate in terms of absenteeism and turnover. However, the contemporary procedure that is followed by recruiters today is described below:
- Screening. The first process entailed in the section process is the initial screening process. This is done right after the candidate submits her application for the job. This initial screening process entails a brief interview, often over the phone to gauge the initial suitability of the candidate for the position. In this step, information regarding the candidate’s educational background, past experiences, and background are gathered.
- Tests. Following the initial screening, the candidate may be asked to undertake a test to gauge her aptitude for the job. The tests usually entail understanding the candidate’s special job skills for example proficiency in English for a copywriting or technical writers’ job.
- Interview. Interview is the process wherein the recruiter has an in-depth discussion with the candidate to understand the candidate’s psychological and experiential fit for the job. It is considered the most important selection step and is widely used in all forms of selection process. Interviews are generally conducted to understand the skills and abilities of the candidate, previous work experience, education, and career goals. This is a popular process of selection, and often at managerial or above levels a personal is interviewed by many people at the same or different times. During the interview, the candidate may be asked to analyze and interpret job related situations or problems or to demonstrate their specific skills directly related to the job. For example, in case of teacher’s recruitment at a management institute, candidates may be asked to demonstrate their class delivery skills. The interviews aim to understand the candidate’s communication skills and motivation.
- Reference Checking. Background or reference checking is the process through which candidates’ credentials are checked. This is a process wherein the references of the candidates are checked. The recruiter speaks to the referrals, who are the candidate’s immediate supervisor and/or colleagues. The reference is done to understand the perception of superior and peer regarding the candidate’s performance, credits, and issues. Further, this also allows the company to understand the reason for leaving previous job.
- Medical exam. This step entails understanding the medical situation of the candidate. This is usually done in jobs that require high physical labor as in case of military recruitment. This is done to understand if the candidate can take the physical pressure required for the completion of the job. Further, these medical tests may also entail drug testing.
- Hiring decision. The decision to hire the candidate is done if the candidate satisfactorily passes through all the selection procedures. On making the decision, a job offer is made to the candidate.
Preliminary interview is an important step in understanding the basic fit of the candidate in the required job role. The main aim of a preliminary interview is to make sure the physical and psychological fit of the candidate for the job.
In this interview process, candidates are asked questions related to their background, taste, interests, reason for applying for the job, experience, education, etc. this interview process is important to the selection procedure because this interview process provides a valid glimpse of the behavioral fit of the candidate and the interviewer can evaluate from the candidate’s answers why she likes certain jobs and dislike others.
The reason for conducting the preliminary interview is to deselect those candidates who do not fit the job role. Preliminary interviews are conducted over the telephone or through videotaping or conferencing.
Another importance of preliminary interview is that if a candidate is found not fit for a certain position, a skilled interviewer having knowledge of other vacant positions in the organization will know if the candidate is fit for other positions and can divert her resume to the concerned department. This initial interview process is also believed to increase the goodwill of the firm and optimizes the effectiveness of the selection process (Mondy 124).
Applicant pool is defined as the number of applicants who are found qualified for the job that are recruited (Mondy 122). The advantages of calculating the applicant pool is to understand the expansion or contraction in the labor market and in availability of qualified candidates fit for the job. The ratio of applicant pool to the number of people hired for the job, called the selection ratio is an important indicator.
When the selection ratio is 1, it implies that there was only 1 qualified candidate for the given vacant position. Moreover, if the ratio was 0.1 this indicates that there were 10 candidates for 1 vacant position. Clearly, the lower the selection ratio, the higher are the number of choices available to the recruiter.
Another advantage is that this provides the attractiveness of the vacant job. The disadvantage of understanding the applicant pool is that this may provide a deceptive number of analyses of the attractiveness of the job.
Assume there is a position for an Architect for a retail company. The job description for the position is as follows:
- The candidate is required to design and render architectural layouts in Autocad 3.
- The candidate has to visit onsite projects for looking at the completion and rendition of the designed projects.
- The candidate has to lead a team of 3 to 4 draftsmen and see.
- The candidate will be responsible for competition of the designing of a project and applying them to the project site.
- The candidate is responsible to handling offshore clients and convincing them of the architectural design made by the company.
Desired candidate profile derived from the above job description:
- Applicant must hold a qualified B.Arch degree
- Must have 2 to 3 years of experience in architectural firm
- Must have exposure to commercial architectural work.
- Should have excellent knowledge of Autocad
- Good presentation and communication skills
- Willing to travel to onsite projects
Based on this job analysis the preliminary interview will have the following questions:
- What is your educational background?
- What is your experience in commercial architectural designing field?
- What is your current role?
- How long have you been working in the current company?
- Why are you looking for a change in job?
- What software do you use or have used for designing?
- Do you have on-site supervision experience?
- How many people are working under you presently?
The above preliminary interview question will help understand the basic fit of the candidate for the position of an architect.
Works Cited
Gitman, Lawrence J. and Carl McDaniel. The Future of Business: The Essentials. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.
Mondy, Wayne. Human Resource Management . London: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.