LESSON 4:

SELECTION PROCESS
 Learning objectives
• Explain employee selection and environmental
factors that affect the selection process.
• Explain the importance of preliminary
screening as well as reviewing applications
and résumés.
• Describe the use of tests in the selection
process.
• Explain the use of the employment interview.
• Describe the use of pre-employment screening
and background checks.
• Explain the selection decision.
 Selection
• Process of choosing the individual
best suited for particular position and
organization from a group of
applicants
• Goal is to properly match people with
jobs and organization
• Selecting wrong person for any job
can be costly
 The Environment of
Selection
• Other H R functions
• Legal considerations (legislation, executive orders, court
decisions &maintain nondiscriminatory practices)
• Decision-making speed (time available to make the selection
decision)
• Organizational hierarchy (take different approaches to filling
positions at varying levels)
• Applicant pool (process can only be truly selective if there are
several qualified applicants)
• Probationary period (the suitability of a new employee for the
role and to resolve any issues about the new employee’s
performance over the first three months or so)
 The Environment of
•
Selection
Type of organization
-Private-sector businesses tend to be profit oriented and hire
people from the labor market with a private-sector background.
-Government civil service systems typically identify qualified
applicants through competitive examinations.
• Organizational fit (refers to management’s perception of the
degree to which the prospective employee will fit in with the
firm’s culture or value system)
• Selection technology
-Applicant tracking system (ATS), also called a talent management
system, is a software application designed to help an enterprise
select employees more efficient
-Candidate relationship management (CRM) is to help manage
potential and actual applicants in an organized manner
The Selection Process
 Preliminary Screening and
Review of Applications and
•
Resumes
Preliminary screening: removes obviously unqualified individuals
• Review of applications: Essential information in a standardized
format
• Résumé: Goal-directed summary of a person’s experience,
education, and training
• Applicant-tracking systems scan or save résumés into
databases, search the databases, and rank the résumés according
to the number of resulting “hits” they receive.
• Keywords are the job-related words or phrases that are used to
search databases for résumés that match. The keywords are often
job titles, skills, or areas of expertise related to the position.
• A keyword résumé contains an adequate description of the job
seeker’s characteristics and industry-specific experience in order to
accommodate the computer search process.
 Selection Tests

• Reliable and accurate means of selecting

qualified candidates
• Advantages:
– Cost is small in comparison
– Identify attitudes and job-related skills that
interviews cannot recognize
• Disadvantages/Potential problems:
– Can do versus will do
– Test anxiety
– Legal liabilities
 Characteristics of
Properly Designed
•
Selection
Standardization: Uniformity
Tests
• Objectivity: Everyone scoring a test obtains same
results
• Norms: Frame of reference for comparing
applicant's performance with that of others
• Reliability: Provides consistent results
• Validity: Measures what it is supposed to measure
• Requirement for job relatedness: Must not
have adverse impact on minorities, women, and
individuals with backgrounds or characteristics
protected under law
 Employment Tests
• Achievement test: A test of current knowledge
and skills (these are measurable, relate to
cognitive abilities, psychomotor abilities, job
knowledge, work samples, and personality)
• Cognitive Ability test: A test that determines
general reasoning ability, memory, vocabulary,
verbal fluency, and numerical ability
• Aptitude test: A test of how well a person can
learn or acquire skills or abilities
Employment Interview (1 of
2)
• Goal-oriented conversation where interviewer and
applicant exchange information
• Continues to be primary method used to evaluate
applicants
• Interview planning
 The physical location of the interview should be both pleasant and
private
 The interviewer should possess a pleasant personality, empathy,
and the ability to listen and communicate effectively
 Familiar with the applicant’s qualifications by reviewing the data
collected from other selection tools
 The interviewer should develop a job profile based on the job
description/specification
 Interview checklist-involves comparing an applicant’s application
and résumé with the job description.
 Employment Interview (2 of
2)
• Content of the interview
– Seek additional job-related information and
examples of past job-related behaviors:
• Occupational experience (indicates relevant
knowledge, skills, abilities, and willingness to
handle responsibility)
• Academic achievement
• Interpersonal skills (indicator of whether a
person can work well with others or on a team)
• Personal qualities (appearance, speaking ability,
adaptability, assertiveness, and
cooperativeness)
 Types of Interviews
• unstructured interview is one in which the interviewer asks probing,
open-ended questions.
-One common question used is “Tell me about yourself.”
• structured interview, the interviewer asks each applicant for a job the
same series of job-related questions.
-to increases reliability and accuracy by reducing the subjectivity and inconsistency
of unstructured interviews.
• behavioral interview is a structured interview in which applicants are
asked to relate actual incidents from their past relevant to the target job.
-For example, when probing for technical knowledge, the candidate might be
asked: “Describe a situation in which your expertise made a significant
difference.
• situational interview creates hypothetical situations candidates would
be likely to encounter on the job and ask how they would handle them.
• For example, “One of your employees has shown a significant decline in
productivity. How would you handle it?”
Methods of Interviewing
• One-on-one interview: Applicant meets one-on-
one with interviewer
• Group interview: Several applicants interact in
presence of one or more interviewers
• Board interview: Several firm representatives
interview candidate at same time
• Multiple interviews: Applicants typically
interviewed by peers, subordinates, and
supervisors
Concluding the Interview
• When interviewer has obtained necessary
information and answered applicant’s questions,
he or she should conclude the interview
• Tell applicant he or she will be notified of the
selection decision shortly
• Management must then determine whether
candidate is suitable for the open position and
organization
 Pre-Employment
Screening and
Background Checks
• Determine accuracy of information submitted or
determine if vital information was not submitted
• Principal reason is to hire better workers
• Background investigations involve obtaining data
from various sources
• Intensity of background investigations depends
on the nature of the open position
 Continuous Background
Investigation
• Some employers are screening their employees
on an ongoing basis
• Financial devastation, marital collapse, or a
medical crisis can send a person with a clean
record over the edge
• Background investigations with social networking:
increasingly being used
– Use an applicant’s Facebook, LinkedIn, and
postings made on an industry blog to find out
about individuals they are considering hiring
 Negligent Hiring
• Liability company incurs when it fails to conduct
reasonable investigation of applicant’s
background, and then assigns potentially
dangerous person to position where he or she can
inflict harm
 Selection Decision and
Evaluating the Effectiveness of
Selection Decisions
• Most critical step
• Person whose qualifications most closely conform
to requirements of open position and organization
should be selected
• Making the selection decision
• Medical examination
• Notification of candidates
 Offering A Contract
Of Employment
A contract of employment is an
agreement
whereby an employer agrees to
remunerate an employee for
services or work performed and the
employee agrees to work for the
employer.
 Terms And Conditions
Of Employment
The terms and conditions of employment
offered to an employee must:
 comply with the employment laws,
where relevant,
 be clear and easy to understand, and
 be attractive.