Recruitment

Difference between Recruitment &

Selection
 Recruitment is a set of activities designed to
attract a qualified pool of job applicants to an
organization.

 Three steps in a typical recruitment process:

 Advertisement of a job vacancy

 Preliminary contact with potential job candidates
 Initial screening to create a pool of qualified applicants.
Difference between Recruitment &
Selection [Contd.]
 Selection is choosing whom to hire from a
pool of qualified job applicants.

 Steps in a typical selection process:

 Completion of a formal application form
 Interviewing
 Testing
 Reference Checks
 Physical examination
 Final Analysis and decision to hire or reject.
 Right Candidate Wrong Candidate

Reject
Type I Error

Accept Type II Error

Two approaches
 In traditional recruitment the emphasis is
on selling the organization to job
applicants.

 In Realistic Job Preview job candidates are

provided all pertinent information about a
job and organization.
In considering value of providing
realistic job information…
 The degree to which the information is
actually perceived as being negative

 The time during recruitment at which it is

conveyed.
Positive & Negative Examples of few
Job Attributes
Job Attributes Positive Example Negative Example

Time Pressures There is ample time Many tasks you will

to complete tasks be asked to perform
before they are due have time deadlines
that are difficult but
necessary to meet
Closeness of Your supervisor Your supervisor
supervision stays out of your way frequently looks over
and lets you do your your shoulder to
job. make sure you are
on top of things.
Positive & Negative Examples of few
Job Attributes
Job Attributes Positive Example Negative Example

Supportiveness of Expectations are Expectations are

the culture high but will be high and you can
recognized when expect to be
these expectations criticized for poor
are met. performance but
seldom praised for
good performance.

Interaction with The job requires The job requires

others frequent interaction frequent interaction
with friendly and with employees and
courteous people. customers who have
not had their earlier
concerns handled to
their satisfaction.
 External & Internal Recruitment
 What are the potential advantages and
disadvantages?
Mistakes managers can make are:
 Looking at the role in isolation, without considering
any organizational needs for flexibility and change

 Leaving the process to chance – your gut instinct will

tell you who’s the best person to appoint at the time

 Believing everything a candidate writes on their

application and believing everything a candidate tells
you at interview

 Making sure the person you choose has a similar

background, education and interests as you do,
particularly football and fine wines !!
Mistakes managers can make are:
 Assuming that high academic achievement equals high
work performance

 Appointing the most highly qualified person on the job,

rather than the most suitably qualified one

 Believing that candidates must impress you – that the

image you portray is immaterial

 Ignoring the need to take up references – It will just delay

the process

 Throwing them in at the deep end on day one to let them

find their feet – it’s a good test of character
The legal framework
 Law covering discrimination on grounds of
caste, gender and disability
 External & Internal Recruitment
 What are the potential advantages and
disadvantages?
Advertising as a Recruiting Tool
 Select the best medium for the specific
position, i.e. local newspaper vs. trade journal
 Experienced advertisers construct ads based
on a four-point guide labeled AIDA (attention,
interest, desire, action)
Measuring Recruiting Effectiveness
 What to measure?
 How many applicants did we
generate through each of our
recruitment sources?
Measuring Recruiting Effectiveness
 How to measure?
 Work sample tests
 Job knowledge tests
 Structured interviews
 Biographical data
 Grade point average
 Ratings of training and experience
 Recruiting yield pyramid
50
New
Hire

100 Offers made

(2:1)

150
Candidates
Interviewed (3:2)

200 Candidates
Invited (4:3)

1200 Leads generated (6:1)

Employee Testing &
Selection
 Negligent Hiring –
- Hiring workers with questionable backgrounds
without proper safeguards
Basic Testing Concepts
 Reliability
 Consistency of scores obtained by the same
person when retested with the identical tests
or with alternate forms of the same test.

 Validity
- Whether the test (or yardstick) is measuring
what you think it’s supposed to be measuring.
Basic Testing Concepts [Contd.]
 Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT) –
Psychologist asks the person to explain
how s/he interprets an ambiguous picture.

 In such tests it would be difficult to prove

whether the tests are measuring what
they are said to measure (personality).
 Basic Testing Concepts [Contd.]
Test Validity

Criterion Validity Content Validity

A type of validity based on A test that is content valid

showing that scores on test is one that contains a fair
(predictors) are related to sample of the tasks and skills
job performance (criterion) actually needed for the
job in question.

Concurrent Validity Predictive Validity

Basic Testing Concepts [Contd.]
 Test takers’ individual rights and test
security
 Confidentiality of test results
 Fairness
 Right to informed consent regarding use of the
results
 Only people qualified will interpret the test
results
Basic Testing Concepts [Contd.]
 Generally industrial psychologist develop
the tests.
Types of Tests
 Online and off-line computerized tests or
aptitude tests could be used to measure a
wide range of candidate attributes
including:
 Cognitive abilities
 Motor and physical abilities
 Personality and interests
 Achievement
Tests of Cognitive Abilities
 Employers often assess a candidate’s
cognitive or mental abilities, for example:
Is the bookkeeping candidate good with
numbers?
 Intelligence or IQ tests look at general
intellectual abilities including memory,
vocabulary, verbal fluency and numeric
ability
 Aptitude tests measure specific mental
abilities
Tests of Motor and Physical Abilities
 Motor or physical abilities might need to be
measured for specific jobs
 Finger dexterity
 Strength
 Manual dexterity
 Reaction time
 Speed of finger, hand or arm movements
Personality Test
 Agreeableness
 Conscientiousness
 Openness to experience
 Assessment Validity Adverse Impact Costs (to Applicant E
Method Develop/Ad Reactions V
minister) A
L
Cognitive Ability H H (against minorities) L/L Somewhat U
Test favorable A
Job Knowledge Test H H (against minorities) L/L More favorable T
I
O
Personality Tests L/M L H/L Less favorable N
Biographical data M L to H H/L Less favorable
inventories OF

Integrity Tests M to H L L/L Less favorable A

S
Structured H L H/H More favorable S
interviews E
S
Physical fitness tests M to H H (against females H/H More favorable S
and older workers) M
E
N
Situational M M (against minorities) H/L More favorable T
judgment tests
Work samples H L H/H More favorable M
E
Assessment Centers M to H L to M , depending on H/H More favorable T
exercise H
Physical Ability Test M to H H (against females H/H More favorable O
and older workers) D
S
Management Assessment Centre
 In a Management Assessment Center
management candidates take tests and
make decisions in simulated situations
while observers score their performance
 Average time at center is usually 2 or 3
days and involves 10 to 12 candidates
Management Assessment Centre [contd.]
Examples of simulated realistic exercises include:
 The in-basket creates a situation where the
candidate is faced with an accumulation of
reports, memos, phone messages, letters, etc.,
of the simulated job he or she is to take over
while being evaluated on what action he or she
takes for each of these materials
Management Assessment Centre [contd.]
 The leaderless group discussion occurs
when a leaderless group is given a discussion
question and told to arrive at a group decision
while observers evaluate leadership ability,
acceptance by group, etc.
 Individual presentations used to evaluate a
participant’s communication skills and his or
her persuasiveness by orally presenting on an
assigned topic
Interviewing
Candidates
Interview
 Interviewing is an indispensible
management tool
 An Interview is a procedure designed to
solicit information from a person’s oral
responses to oral inquiries
 A Selection Interview is designed to
predict future job performance based on
candidate’s answers
Types of Selection Interview
 Non-structured (questions are asked as
you think of them) versus structured
interviews (questions are known and the
order specified in advance)
Types of Selection Interview [Contd.]
 There are different types of questions for
different types of interviews
 Situational interviews ask what would the
candidate’s behavior be in a given situation
 Behavioral interviews ask how the candidate
has reacted in a similar situation in the past
Types of Selection Interview [Contd.]
 Interviews are also classified by how they are
administered
 One-on-one interviews were two people meet
alone and one interviews the other
 Sequential interviews occur when several
people interview the applicant in sequence
before a decision is made
Types of Selection Interview [Contd.]
 Panel interviews are when the candidate is
interviewed simultaneously by a group
 Interviews can also occur via video or phone
How Useful Are Interviews?
 Statistical evidence regarding validity is mixed
indicating that the key to usefulness depends on
type of interview employed
 When predicting job performance the
situational interview yields more accurate
results
 Structured interviews, regardless of content,
are more valid for predicting job performance
 One-on-one interviews tend to be more
valid than panel interviews
Avoiding Common Interview Mistakes
 Do not make snap judgments
 Do not emphasize the negative
 Make sure you know the job for which you
are interviewing the candidate
 Do not let the pressure to hire color your
opinions
Avoiding Common Interview Mistakes
[Contd.]
 Do not allow candidate order (contrast)
error to influence the interview
 Take into consideration the influence of
nonverbal behavior and guard against bias
 Remember to look beyond the candidate’s
physical attractiveness
 Be wary of ingratiating and self-promoting
behaviors
Avoiding Common Interview Mistakes
 Prepare and plan for the interview
 Establish rapport with the candidate
 Ask appropriate questions
The Do’s and Don'ts of Interview
Questions
 Don’t ask questions that can be answered
“yes” or “no”
 Don’t put words in the applicant’s mouth
or telegraph the desired answer by
nodding or smiling when the right answer
is given
 Don’t interrogate the applicant as if the
person is a criminal
The Do’s and Don'ts of Interview
Questions [Contd.]
 Don’t be patronizing, sarcastic or
inattentive
 Don’t monopolize the interview by
rambling nor let the applicant dominate
the interview so you can’t ask all your
questions
 Do ask open-ended questions
 Do listen to the candidate to encourage
him or her to express thoughts fully
The Do’s and Don'ts of Interview
Questions [Contd.]
 Do draw out the applicant’s opinions and
feelings by repeating the person’s last
comment as a question
 Do ask for examples
Closing the Interview
 Leave time to answer any questions the
candidate may have
 If appropriate advocate your firm to the
candidate
 Try to end the interview on a positive note
 Tell the applicant whether there’s interest
and what the next step will be
 Make rejections diplomatically
Using Other Selection Techniques
 Conduct background investigations
 Check social networking sites
 Talk to current and previous supervisors to
discover more about person’s motivation,
competence and ability to work with others
 Perform credit check or use employment
screening services
Using Other Selection Techniques [Contd.]
 Perform reference checks
 Make sure the candidate has signed a release
 Always get two forms of identification and
make applicants fill out job applications
 Use a structured reference checking form
 Ask the right questions and judge whether the
reference’s answers are evasive
Using Other Selection Techniques [Contd.]
 Ask open-ended questions and listen carefully
 Make sure checking references is done by
authorized managers
 Can be ineffective because current supervisor
might give a bad employee a good reference to
get rid of him/her