When the recruitment process is over, the employer will have a group of candidates who have applied for the job. The employer cannot choose everyone to work for them and therefore they must select the suitable candidates for the job. There are many different selection methods which organisations tend to use depending on which one suits them the best and allows them to select the correct candidates. But before going to the selecting process, the employer will create a shortlist of all the candidates who they believe will have a chance of getting the job. The way the employer will create the shortlist is by viewing people's CV's and making judgements and assumptions of whether the candidate has the right skill and knowledge to do the job.
Interviewing
The most common selection method is to interview the candidates. After the shortlist has been created the employer can interview the candidates who made it to the shortlist and the interview can either be done face to face or via telephone. Interviewing face to face tend to be a good method because it allows the employer to take in more about the candidate. The reason why employers normally tend to interview the candidates is because they want to meet them in person and also make judgements by themselves of whether the candidate is capable of the job. The interview gives the candidate an opportunity to sell themselves and give reasons to why the employer should select them from the others (Careers 1999).
The employer can see the first impression of the employee, meaning to see how well they represent themselves and how they greet when they meet a new person in reality. The employer will get the opportunity to ask a set of questions related to work and this is beneficial for the employer as it allows them to judge how well the candidate can answer question under pressure as well as judging how well the candidate knows about the organisation. Interviewing face to face is also beneficial for the employee because they can also ask any questions if they are concerned with anything in particular. However even though interviews tend to be the frequently used method to select candidates, it also has its down side to it. If interviews are not well planned out, it could affect the organisation in the long run due to hiring the wrong set of people who have no real skill for the job. During the interviewing process, it will be a lot easier for the candidate to make up their answers to a standard to what the employer wants to hear and therefore when it comes to getting on with the practical work, the employee will be no use as they don't have the right skill for the job (M.Farmer, W.Yellowley 2008)
Assessment Centres
An assessment centres is another selecting method which organisations also tend to use for more accurate results. The way an assessment centre works is normally by having two or more professional judges who have specialised skills in a certain area. For example one judge might concentrate and monitor the candidates body language and the other judge might monitor the way the candidate represents themselves as well as viewing how well the candidates are managing to work and answer questions when put on the spot light. Assessment centres are used when an employer of a certain organisation wants professional help to select the correct candidate. There will be a small group of candidates who the employer has selected due to the confidence of believing that they will have a chance of getting selected. The reason why this method of selecting tends to be more accurate than any of the other methods is because the group of candidates will perform in different activities so the judges as well as the employer, can judge and keep a closer look at the candidates as they go along. At the end of the whole process, the employer will receive a detailed analysis by the professional judges to help them select the correct candidate.
There are many benefits of assessment centres and one of them are that it allows the the employer to make and accurate selection of an employee who will also be there in the long run. As the candidates have to go through a various of exercises such as the interview, group exercise, presentation and then the final interview, the panel of judges will have chance to assess them in the different activities as well as seeing how well they will work under pressure. For example the 60 second interview puts the candidate under pressure as the judges will throw different straight forward questions at them which they have to answer within a time limit. However the drawback of that activity is that more people might be more nervous during that stage and therefore their true personality will not come out. These centres can also save organisations money as well as time because the process will be completed in one day which is better than going through interviewing different people throughout a week or more (Capitaresourcing 2010) The group exercise will give an idea to the candidates of how it will be like to work for the organisation and what sort of daily skills is required by them. However even though it is less expensive for the organisation in the long run, it is still expensive in the short term. The organisation has to pay all the different judges involved depending on how much they charge. A lot of planning is needed in order to run an assessment centre and this is also down to the sort of business the organisation is running.
References
Referencing is a simple method for selecting candidates to work for their organisation because all this method does is gather some information about the candidate and then the employer decides from there who they think would be more suitable for the job. The employer normally gets the references from previous jobs that the candidate has worked at or even from the school. The reason why references are used is because the employer wants to get more detail about the candidate and get some personal opinions from other employers who the candidate has worked with. It is important that the employer doesn't get the references after he/she has employed the candidate in case of bad comments such as not hard working or rude to other staff members. If the employer has employed someone who is not hard working and doesn't get along with other staff members, than it will lead to a situation where the employee will have to get fired and the organisation will have to go through another cost-effective recruiting process.
The benefits of the referencing selecting method is that it is straight forward and it is also less cost-effective. If the references are good, the candidate will have a better chance of getting the job as the employer might only be depending on the reference and nothing else. But there are also some drawbacks of using referencing as the only selecting method. If the candidate had a good relationship with the previous employer, a good reference could be written on purpose even though the candidate has not got the right skills to do the new job. If the manager only uses referencing as one method to select the candidates, he/she could be hiring the wrong set of people who has no experience for the job or any sort of wanted skills. This could be very expensive for the employer because they will have to provide extra training for the employees and educate them until they are familiar with what they are doing at work.
If the employer decides to use referencing as a method, it is important that they don't use it on its own. An interview or tests should also be carried out so the employer can select the right person for the job.
School Interview
When I finished my GCSE's I went straight ahead to do my A-Levels at my school. But before I could get selected to study at the school, my teacher put me through an interview where she gave me the chance to talk about my opinion on why I wanted to study at this school. The interview took place in her office for about ten minutes. The first question she asked me was all the subjects that I wanted to do if I got a place there and I told them what they were and then she checked if there were any spaces left and luckily there was. The next question she asked me was why I chose this school to do my A-Levels and not the other schools. My obvious response was that Ive been studying there since year 7 and it was also closer to my house. She gave me the place straight away due to the fact that I have been studying there previously and she also got some references from my head of year which were also good. I didn't find the interview very effective because she didn't go through much. Other applicants from other schools told me that they found it effective as she went through all the subjects available and the kind of things that students tend to study within those subjects. However when she done the interview with me she didn't give me much information about the subjects which meant that I had to do my own research and find out about the subjects. There was also another topic that she was supposed to go through with me which was about Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). She didn't even bring it up and therefore I had to ask her about it my self and even after I asked her about it she only briefly talked about it which was not useful at all.
Overall even though I got a place at the school, I still didn't find the interview very useful as it felt like she was doing everything in a rush and didn't really put much effort and time in to it.
Personality Tests
Personality tests is also another selection method used in many organisations and it is used to find out whether the candidates have the right personality to work for the organisation. The questions which the candidates will have to answer are based on the job role. A candidate cannot fail the personality test as there is not right or wrong to these set of questions but the employer will assess where their personality lacks and decide whether the candidate will last in the long run and also maintain the reputation of the organisation.
I interviewed my sister to find out what she thought about using personality within a selecting process. She said that when an organisation use the personality test as a selecting method, the employer shouldn't just depend on the test results because it could lead to employing the wrong candidate. She also said that people can lie on the test which is a disadvantage for the person who employs the candidate. For example if the job role requires a friendly personality, but the candidate has been lying on the personality test and turns out that they have a very rough personality who isn't friendly at all, it won't be looking good for the organisation. Another drawback that she said about using personality test on its own is that it doesn't give full evidence of how the candidate will work when put in the working environment and therefore when an organisation makes the candidates do the personality test, it is important that they interview them as well making them do some role plays or group activities related to their job role to see whether their personality matches the results of the test. Over all my sister said that personality tests could be advantageous if the method is combined with other selecting methods as well. The organisation should not only depend on the test as people can lie in them. Candidates might not take the test seriously and therefore they might just rush through the set of questions which could lead the organisation to knocking off good candidates due to their lack of care.
Selection process used within The Co-operative
The co-operative also known as co-op is a well known company that provides many different services to their customers and one of them is selling food products at their supermarkets which are located all over the world. There is a co-op located in High Wycombe and they had a recruitment process going on and a lot of different candidates within the area applied for the job. As there were a number of candidates who applied for the job, it was much harder for the employer to select the right people for the job. The people who want to apply for the job must make sure that they submit their CV to the manager and once there are a bunch of CV's on the desk, the manager will go through them and create a short list for the candidates who might get a chance of getting the job. After the short list has been created, the manager will get a location for all the interviews to take place ( the manager's office) and then he/she will start interviewing each candidate face to face. During the interview the manager will ask a set of work related questions and also why the candidate wants to apply for this job and what they can bring to the organisation. After the interview has been done, the manager will ask the candidate to get a reference from a previous job or even a previous school they have attended to. If the manager believes that the interview was a success, he/she will than have a look at the provided references and if they are also good, the candidate will receive a phone call from the manager to let them know that they have got the job. If the candidate hasn't got the job, they will still get a call just to let them know so they can keep on searching for a job. The selecting method that co-op uses is a classic and also very basic. The recommendations that I would provide for co-op in order for them to improve their selecting method is to choose more suitable methods so the employer can select employees who will be there in the long run. According to a friend of mine who is currently employed at the co-op, told me that the turn over is very high due to the fact that more than 10 people have left their job just within 2 months. This has become very costly for the organisation and all of this is down to the recruiting and selecting method used within the organisation. The interviewing method is good for the organisation but it is important that the employer takes the interview seriously and asks questions that are job related and also more tough. I think if the employer has an addition method of selecting such as group interviewing would also be a good idea. In a group interview, the employer can make all the candidates do group activities as well as roll plays, so they can have an idea of what the working environment would be like. If they don't like the conditions and rules, they have the choice of leaving before starting the actual job. This is easier and much cheaper for the organisation because as they have just passed the recruiting process, there are still a lot more willing people out there who would want to work for the organisation.
Conclusion
Over all the selection process is very important and the reason for this is because during this process all the candidates that will be working for the organisation will be selected. It is important that the correct person is selected during this process as they will have to learn to keep up the organisation's reputation as well as work hard during their time of employment within that business. An organisation can use different methods to select the correct candidate, but when they choose the method they have to make sure that the selection method is worth while and not a waste of money.
References
- (Careers (1999) Interview format [online] available at: http://www.careers.ed.ac.uk/STUDENTS/Applications_Interviews/Interviews/format.HTM [accessed at: 01/04/10])
- (M.Farmer, W.Yellowley (2008) People and Organisation. 2nd edition. Face to face interviews. Edinburgh Gate, Harlow, Essex. Page 121)
- (Capitaresourcing (2010) Assessment centres [online] available at:http://www.capitaresourcing.co.uk/ras-recruitment-assessment_centres/893- [accessed at: 01/04/10])
