Applicant Flow Documentation Employers must collect applicant data on race, sex, and other

demographics to fulfi ll EEO reporting requirements. Many employers ask applicants to provide EEOC
reporting data in a fl ow form that may be attached to the application form. It is important that
employers review this fl ow form separately and not use it in any other selection efforts to avoid claims
of impropriety. Because completing the form is voluntary, employers can demonstrate that they tried to
obtain the data. SUMMARY • Selection is the process that matches individuals and their qualifi cations
to jobs in an organization. • Placement of people should consider both person/job fi t and
person/organization fi t. • Predictors linked to criteria are used to identify the applicants who are most
likely to perform jobs successfully. • The selection process— from applicant interest through pre-
employment screening, application, testing, interviewing, and background investigation— must be
handled by trained, knowledgeable individuals. • A growing number of employers are using electronic
pre-employment screening. • Application forms must meet EEO guidelines and must ask only for job-
related information. • Selection tests include ability tests, assessment centers, personality tests,
honesty/integrity tests, and other more controversial types of tests. • Structured interviews, including
behavioral and situational ones, are more effective and face fewer EEO compliance concerns than do
unstructured interviews and non-directive interviews. • Interviews can be conducted individually, by
multiple individuals, or by video technology. Regardless of the method, effective interviewing
questioning techniques should be used. • Background investigation can be conducted in a variety of
areas. When either requesting or giving reference information, employers must take care to avoid
potential legal concerns such as negligent hiring and negligent retention. • Global organizations can be
staffed by individuals who are expatriates, host-country nationals, or third-country nationals. • Selection
factors for global employees include cultural adjustment, personal characteristics, communication skills,
personal/family concerns, and organizational requirements. • Selection decisions must be based on job-
related criteria in order to comply with various legal requirements. • HR professionals must be careful to
properly identify, track, and document applicants. Chapter 8 Selecting Human Resources 253 REVIEW
AND APPLICATION QUESTIONS 1. Develop a structured interview for hiring assistant managers at a large
retail store. 2. How would you do a complete background investigation on applicants to minimize
concerns about negligent hiring? 3. Your Accounting Manager has decided that a behavioral interview to
select accountants will solve many hiring problems. What can you tell him? Check www.job-
interview.net and other sources to gather information. CASE Strategic Selection: A Review of Two
Companies Managers are proactively improving the employee selection process with various strategies
that will ideally enhance corporate success. Some of these strategies focus on improving the quality of
the individuals who apply for work, as well as those individuals who are actually hired into the
organization. Other strategies target the selection process itself and seek to improve the various
activities involved in proper hiring. The overriding theme of these efforts is that the staffi ng/selection
function is a key component of an organization’s strategy because the process ideally provides highly
motivated and qualifi ed employees who can ultimately impact the fi nancial and operational well-being
of a company. Hallmark Cards is one company that emphasizes selection. It recently developed a
recruiting metric called a “staffi ng index” that enables management to track the degree to which newly
hired employees are performing as expected on the job. A series of evaluations are conducted over
time, and scores are compared to obtain a longitudinal perspective on the quality of the hiring
decisions.66 UnitedHealth Group is another organization that has improved its selection activities with
proper strategic planning and execution. The company’s Vice President of Recruitment Services decided
to modify hiring procedures within the organization by splitting job