E-lecture 2: Recruitment and Selection

Question 1

What is recruitment?

Answer 1

attracting potentially new employees

Question 2

What is selection?

Answer 2

Which applicants most closely fulfill the job requirements of a vacant position.

Question 3

Name the four stages in a strategic approach to recruitment and selection?

Answer 3

1. Business strategy (how can we recruit people that are most likely to help us achieve our organization’s goals and objectives?)
2. HR forecasting (creating a plan to ensure the right number of people with the necessary skills in the right place and right time)
3. Recruitment: attracting people; what qualities do new employees need to have?
4. Selection: Picking the right candidate who meets the job criteria best and is most likely to do well in position and organization

Question 4

Name three ways in which the workforce can provide a unique competitive advantage?

Answer 4

1. Add considerable value (human capital)
2. Be unique (or at least rare)
3. Be difficult to replicate

Question 5

What is HR forecasting?

Answer 5

process of identifying the estimated supply and demand for different types of human resources in the organization over a future period based on trends in the past and present. HR

Question 6

What are the four steps in HR forecasting?

Answer 6

1. Forecasts of labor (quantitative and qualitative)
2. Goal setting and strategic planning
3. Implementation
4. Evaluation: enforce accountability

Question 7

What are quantitative and qualititave forecasts of labor?

Answer 7

• Quantitative forecasting: trend analysis (historical data), ratio analysis (proportions) or regression analysis (statistical relationship between variables)
• Qualitative analysis: expert knowledge

Question 8

What are the most important parts in goal setting and strategic planning in HR forecasting?

Answer 8

• Main considerations: speed and impact
• Labor surplus: reduce number of employees through hiring freeze, early retirements or downsizing
• Labor shortage: increase the number of employees: overtime, outsourcing, hiring new employees

Question 9

What factors attracts people to a certain job?

Answer 9

Factors that attract people can be divided into two distinct categories: organization and the job itself.
- Factors for the organization include culture, stability, type of work of organization.
- Factors for the job include variety, autonomy, is work important etc.

Question 10

What is a fit?

Answer 10

the candidate’s experiences, values, competencies and interests need to align with the job and the organization as a whole.

This needs to be present to select optimally

Question 11

Name two factors brand perception is based on?

Answer 11

1. Degree of familiarity with the organization and external ratings of its reputation
2. More so by diffused than explicit cues – explicit communication has a limited effect.

Spending money on making explicit statements is pointless if diffuse cues about brand say something else.

Question 12

What is employer brand?

Answer 12

extent to which an organization is recognized as a desirable place to work by the internal and external labor market. It is based on a set of attributes and qualities that make an organization distinctive. Needs to help potential applicants determine fit.

Question 13

Name two required types of congruency between employer brand and?

Answer 13

• Corporate and organization identity (internal)
• Current brand image (external)

Question 14

What is low involvement recruitment?

Answer 14

only reaches people already actively looking for a job. Organization has a good reputation

Question 15

What is high-involvement recruitment strategy?

Answer 15

organization is not already well-known and provide more information about the organization and its value.

Question 16

Why does who is responsible for recruitment matter?

Answer 16

who is the first person the applicant is in contact with and who is the first person they meet. Applicants need to get a positive opinion about the people they meet and will work with.

Question 17

What three questions should you ask yourself to diversify and expand your applicant pool?

Answer 17

1. Who does your current strategy not reach?
2. How can you reach them?
3. What will attract those people to the organization?

Question 18

What is external recruitment?

Answer 18

Look for applicants outside organization (newspaper ads, online postings, employment agencies). Most likely to only be seen by people actively looking for a job.

Question 19

What is internal recruitment?

Answer 19

• Internal: Look for applicants within current workforce. (Email listserv/intranet, employee referral program, hiring former employees). Internal recruitment gives current employees the first opportunity to apply for new jobs, which they will probably appreciate, increasing their job satisfaction.
  Current employees will only apply for jobs internally if they know they are well-qualified for the open position

Question 20

Name four criteria to evaluate recruitment methods on?

Answer 20

1. Cost per hire
2. Time-to-fill-rate
3. Diversity
4. Yield ratio

Question 21

How do you calculate cost to hire?

Answer 21

total recruiting costs / number of new hires

Question 22

What is the time-to-fill rate?

Answer 22

length of time it takes from the announcement of a job opening until someone gets a job

Question 23

What is the diversity criteria for evaluating recruitment methods about?

Answer 23

extent to which your applicants are similar or different from your current workforce

Question 24

How do you calculate the yield ratio of recruitment methods?

Answer 24

number of realistically viable applicants / number of total applicants

Question 25

Why should you give applicants a realistic job preview?

Answer 25

helps with establishing realistic job expectations and reducing job turnover.

Question 26

Name the three criteria selection methods must fulfill?

Answer 26

1. Validity
2. Reliability
3. Legality / Adverse impact

Question 27

What is the criteria validity for selection methods about?

Answer 27

Extent to which a selection method measures what it purports to measure and how well it does this. Inferences based on these selection measures are adequate and appropriate.

Question 28

What is the criterion Reliability for selection methods about?

Answer 28

Extent to which the measure consistently measures what it sets out to measure

Question 29

What is the criterion Legality for selection methods about?

Answer 29

Legality means that the recruitment practices aren’t illegal. They vary widely among countries

Question 30

What is adverse impact?

Answer 30

when employment practices that appear neutral disproportionally impact members of a protected group without business necessity.

Question 31

Name three things to consider when selecting applicants and how can you evaluate those?

Answer 31

1. Can applicant do this job?
   - Cognitive ability tests; job knowledge test
2. Will this applicant do the job?
   - Personality tests; interest tests
3. Has this applicant experience doing the job?
   - CV; Interviews

Question 32

What are the best selection instruments for job specific tasks etc?

Answer 32

employment interviews, job knowledge tests, biographical data, work sample tests and assessment centers

Question 33

What selection instruments are best for measuring general things?

Answer 33

Cognitive ability test, integrity tests, personality-based emotional intelligence, conscientiousness, and interests. Benefit is that they can be used for a wide range of jobs.

Question 34

Why should you avoid personality assessments?

Answer 34

Avoid personality assessments as openness to experience, agreeableness and neuroticism have little predictive ability

Question 35

Name five criteria for effective structured interviews?

Answer 35

• Each applicant is asked same questions in same format and order.
• Base interview guideline on insights from job analysis
• Use mix of situational, behavioral and job-related questions.
• Evaluate candidate answers on anchored-rating scales made ahead of time
• Document your decisions and conversations.