Employee Selection Selection is increasingly important as more attention is paid to the costs of poor selection, and as reduced job mobility means that selection errors are likely to stay with the organization for longer. (Torrington and Hall, 1998, p221) The selection decision has always been important as the way for a company to obtain the human resource that is appropriate for the job and company. There are many methods for selection such as: testing, advertising, completing application form, screening, corresponding with the prospective employee.
Among these, the two principal selection methods, which most are used, are application forms, and interviews. In fact, it is not just one selection method used in practice. Generally, two or more methods are often used in combination. Comparison Of Strengths Selection is two-way process. The interview is a necessarily medium of two-way communication. It supplements the information in the pre-procedures such as application form and reference.
It also provides the further particulars respectively to help both ends take decisions. On one side, the interviewer usually has some basic information from the application form or test, and these may require further face-to-face communication to clarify. For the selector, the interview can provide some further evidence and clues concerning the applicant’s personal data, circumstances, career pattern and attainments, powers of self-expression, range and depth of interests, intelligence and special aptitudes, behavioural patterns and preferences which selectors are interest in. On the other side, because interview has a broad range of topics, the employer has the opportunity to introduce the company and explain job details in depth. Applicant also has a chance to ask questions about the job and the company.
Therefore, he/she can collect the information he/she required for his/her own selection decision. For the applicant, the main purpose of the selection interview is to get the information, which can help he/she to make an informed decision of whether to accept the job. Selection interview enhances the reliability of pre-process (such as application form and reference test). As above, the reliabilities of application form and reference need to be proved.
Actions speak louder than words, a skilled interviewer can find some attestations form the feedback and behaviour of the applicant. It is also an opportunity for both ends to clarify misunderstands between them. Some functions that other methods cannot instead. In an interview, some assessment like the potential compatibility of two people who will have to work together cannot be approached by any other way. The interview, therefore, is valuable in that the way to both potential employee and potential employer.
Application form on the other hand provides preliminary information about candidates that will help further selections especially for interview. It makes the selection procedure easier and encourages interviewer to use those forms as the basic information for their interview. It saves the time spent in the interview, and makes it more pertinent. As employers pay more attention to the validity of interviews for employment purposes, the application forms are increasing used as one of the ways of improving the quality of decision-making. They provide sufficient amount of data for selectors to analyse. Therefore, the selectors will have enough time to prepare the further questions and topics before the face-to-face discussion comes in.
It makes it easy to compare and contrast the candidates. Generally, application forms provide standardised synopsis of the applicant’s history and abilities. It is easy for the selector to assess education and experiences between candidates. Because application form provides standard information, it is less likely to be influenced by the subjective of the selectors. Compared with the interview where the judgement of the selector is influenced by individual characteristics such as dress and appearance, the application form is a databased method.
It is more objective. It is save time. It can filter out the distinctly unsuitable candidates and make the further selection focus on the most promising candidates. Therefore, it will save the time of further selection. It provides human resource backup. Even if some applicants are not selected, they may more suitable for another job that is not recruited this time.
Therefore the organization can set up a Human Resource Bank to keep and sort those forms for a period. When that job needs recruit, the Human Resource Bank can provide suitable candidates immediately, especially in the case of emergency recruitment. Comparison Of Weaknesses Selection interview is a subjective selection method: Early information from application form or reference has a disproportionate influence on the final outcome. Some interviewers make their decisions very quickly. Occasionally interviewer only needs few minutes to make the decision on whether accept or reject a candidate.
The remainder time of the interview they will use to seek some evidences to confirm that their first impression was right. Interviewer seldom changes his/her tentative opinion formed from the application form and reference or the appearance of the candidate. Interviewer places more weight on evidence that is unfavourable than favourable for the candidates. When interviewer has made up his/her mind very early, his/her behaviour betrays the decision to the candidate. That will influence the candidate’s confidence. It always has an ideal applicant stereotype in the interviewer’s mind to compare with candidates.
That will heavily influence the search for information and decision-making. The stereotype and the related concept of implicit personality theory will substitute to seek specific information from the candidates. Generally, the applicant’s non-verbal behaviour will has a significant impact on interviewer. However, some applicants feel nervous during the interview. Their behaviours therefore, may give a bad impress to the interviewer.
Although the behaviour may not their original character, at last, that bad impress may lead to the fatal decision. Age, disability, appearance, gender, race, physical attractiveness, interviewer’s ratings may influence the interviewer’s decision. This maybe is the fatal weakness of interview, because the interviewer picks people whom he/she likes. He/she likes people who are similar in some way to himself/herself. Interview has low validity and reliability when used on its own. Interview is limited to find answers to questions such as what is the motivation for work of the candidate, his/her potential compatibility for adjusting to the social context of the job.
It takes time. There is only one candidate to be interviewed in a time. The more candidates the more time it taken. However, in order to find more suitable person, it always as many candidates as possible.
Interview therefore is taking the most time of whole selection procedures. Different candidate has different advantages and shortages. It is difficult to compare. Application Form on the other hand is incomprehensive.
The recruiter always tries to make the application form brief and standard. The form, therefore, only provides limited information. Further more, this kind of selection method is based on the certification and work experience. The logic of an application form is that because the candidate has been taught or trained to do something (or has done it already), he/she must be good at it. However, the logic is faulty – even if someone has been trained or has done the same job before, it is not to say he/she must be better than other candidates. Some jobs, like designer, need not only knowledge but also inspiration.
This sill is hard to judge by this kind of sel …
