Selection Process

A. Can you tell me about the purpose and importance of selection for an organization?

B. Okay, let’s start with the purpose. So, you’ve got your pool of candidates gathered from your recruiting process, selection is the process of finding the best candidate who not only possesses the knowledge, skills, abilities, and personality for the job but also will perform well, embrace the company’s mission and values; and fit the company’s culture.

A. How does a company ensure that this criterion is met?

B. Well, there’s a process involved. You see, proper selection is important because employees affect the company’s performance and success. In addition, there are high costs associated with poor hiring; and legal implications related to human rights and employment equity legislation.

A. You mentioned about selection process. What are the steps involved?

B. The process can be broken down into six major steps:
(1) prescreening applicants,
(2) initial selection interview,
(3) selection testing,
(4) background investigation and reference checking,
(5) supervisory interview, and
(6) hiring decision and offering the job.

A. So by pre-screening you mean reviewing application forms and resumes?

B. That’s right, but pre-screening also includes contacting the candidates to verify information, confirm interest, and ensure salary requests are compatible. All these activities save the company time and money.

A. So, the next step is the initial selection interview?

B. Yes, also known as the preliminary interview.

A. Are there different types of selection interviews?

B. Yes, selection interview can be classified in three ways: according to structure: unstructured, structured, or mixed; the type of questions: situational or behavioural; and the way in which the interview is administered: serialized, panel, or computerized.

A. What is the difference between a situation interview and a behavioral interview?

B. Well, both interviews use ask situational questions, however; a situational interview focuses on how the candidate would behave, whereas; the behavioral interview focuses on how the candidate did behave.

A. Which of the structures would you say is more common?

B. The mixed or semi-structured interview format is extremely popular because it involves a combination of preset structured questions based on the job description and specifications and a series of preset candidate-specific, job-related questions based on information provided on the application form and resume.

A. I noticed you used the word preset for both types of questions.

B. Yes, pre-set questions help employers ensure legal compliance by treating all candidates equally and avoiding inappropriate questions.

A. Okay. Now are there other problems associated with the effectiveness of a selection interview?

B. Definitely, I mentioned earlier that meeting the criterion takes planning; therefore poor planning, including not knowing the job requirements or talking too much or too little, can undermine the effectiveness of the interview. Other problems include: making snap judgments, having a negative or positive bias, lowering standards under pressure to hire, being unduly influenced by non-verbal behaviour, telegraphing desired responses to the interviewee, or being influenced by the attractiveness or gender of the applicant.

A. So, how does an interviewer avoid such problems?

B. Well, it begins by designing an effective interview. There are five 5 key points:
(1) decide who will be involved in the selection process and developing selection criteria;
(2) specify musts and wants and weight the wants;
(3) determine assessment strategies and develop an evaluation form;
(4) develop interview questions to be asked of all candidates;
(5) develop candidate specific questions.

A. Can you give me some examples of assessment strategies?

B. For example, word processing skills are best assessed through hands-on testing rather than interview questions. The evaluation form is then used to compare and evaluate the candidates’ knowledge and skills.

A. Are there other types of testing?

B. For sure, there are different types of tests used for selection that measure cognitive (thinking) abilities, motor and physical abilities, personality and interests, or achievement.

A. What are some examples of cognitive ability testing?

B. Three types of cognitive ability testing are:
(1) intelligence quotient (IQ) tests, that measure general intellectual abilities, such as verbal comprehension, inductive reasoning, memory, numerical ability, speed of perception, spatial visualization, and word fluency;
(2) emotional intelligence (EI), that measure ability to monitor one’s own emotions and the emotions of others and use that knowledge to guide thoughts and actions; and
(3) aptitude tests, that measure an individual’s aptitude or potential to perform a job, provided he or she is given proper training.

A. Okay.

B. I want to go back to the topic of interviewing for a moment. We talked about the key points in designing an effective interview. Now let’s look at the delivery. Key points include: establishing a rapport, asking questions and taking notes, giving information, closing the interview, and reviewing the notes and evaluating the candidate.

A. Taking notes?

B. Definitely! Taking notes increases the utility of the interview process by:
(1) reducing the likelihood of forgetting job-relevant information and subsequently reconstructing forgotten information in accordance with biases and stereotypes;
(2) reducing the likelihood of making a snap judgment and helps prevent the halo effect, negative emphasis, and candidate-order errors; and
(3) helping ensure that all candidates are assessed on the same criteria. Detailed interview notes also provide documentation in the case of a human rights challenge.

A. Okay, that’s makes sense. You also mentioned giving information.

B. That’s right. Candidates also need to make a decision as to whether or not this position and organization meets their professional and career goals, it is important to ensure that all relevant information is given regarding the position, the organization, and career prospects.

A. Let’s move on to step four now, background investigation and reference checking.

B. Sure, Background investigation and reference checking serve two key purposes:
(1) verifying the accuracy of the information pertaining to job-related educational qualifications and experience provided by candidates on their application forms and résumés; and
(2) validating the information obtained during the other steps in the selection process.

A. Okay, so what strategies can make reference checking effective?

B. Reference checking can be made more effective by using a structured form to ensure that important questions are not overlooked, using the references offered by the applicant as a source for other references, and being persistent.

A. What do you mean by using the references as a source for other references?

B. For example, for a company reference, the applicant can identify individual co-workers which can verify information. It is important to mention that failure to check references can lead to negligent or wrongful hiring suits that may involve significant damages.

A. So how does the supervisor fit into this process?

B. Actually, that’s the next step. There are five key reasons why the supervisor should be involved in the selection process:
(1) the supervisor tends to know the technical aspects of the job best and is the most qualified to assess the applicants’ job knowledge and skills;
(2) the supervisor is typically best equipped to answer any job-specific questions;
(3) the immediate supervisor generally has to work closely with the selected individual and must feel comfortable with that person;
(4) if the supervisor is not committed to the selected individual, he or she can easily set the new hire up for failure; and
(5) the selected individual must fit with the current members of the department or team, something that the supervisor is often best able to assess.

A. Well, great. I guess that leaves us with one more step; the hiring decision and job offer.

B. That’s correct. Two common strategies used to make the final decision are clinical strategy, which involves making a subjective evaluation of all of the information gleaned about each candidate and arriving at an overall judgment, and statistical strategy, which involves combining all of the pieces of information according to a formula and giving the job to the candidate with the highest score.

A. So, how is the job offer usually made?

B. First by telephone, followed up with an official letter. I would like to one more additional step. And that’s evaluation.

A. You mean evaluation of the newly hired employee?

B. Yes. The contribution value of the individual selected should be compared with the cost of selection.

A. Alright. So let’ just review the main points of the selection process:
(1) prescreening applicants,
(2) initial selection interview,
(3) selection testing,
(4) background investigation and reference checking,
(5) supervisory interview, and
(6) hiring decision and offering the job.

Key Terms
This week’s HR terminology includes:
- structured interview
- unstructured interview
- intelligence tests
- statistical strategy
- aptitude tests
- halo effect

References
Organizational culture. (n.d). Sharing the organizational vision. Retrieved from http://www.bensilver.ca/OB_Disc/chapters/ch09.pdf

Multiple-choice quiz
*Answer found at the end of the post.

1. The clinical strategy used to make the final decision involves:
A. combining all of the pieces of information according to a formula and giving the job to the candidate with the highest score.
B. forming a group, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate, and the ranking the individuals from mostly likely to least likely.
C. making a subjective evaluation of all of the information gleaned about each candidate and arriving at an overall judgment
D. None of the above

2. A common interview mistake is:
A. Halo effect
B. Contrast (candidate-order) error
C. Snap judgments
D. Poor planning
E. All of the above

3. Which is not one of the major steps in the selection process?
A. creating and posting job advertisement
B. background investigation and reference checking
C. supervisory interview
D. prescreening applicants



Answers: 1) c, 2) e, 3) a