Staff Selection

Question 1

Define SELECTION

Answer 1

Selection is the process of choosing the individual best suited for a particular position within an organisation. It is based on personality, skills, attitude and qualifications.

Question 2

Why is selection a two way process?

Answer 2

• information is provided for all involved. You provide information about yourself in the form of a CV and the company provides information about the job.
• applicant eventually makes final decision between companies applied to
• applicants are influenced by the way their applications are managed - e.g. if the recruitment manager is rude, the applicant is less likely to accept a job

Question 3

How should managers interact with applicants?

Answer 3

• reply meaningfully and fast
• correspondence should contain useful information - the manager should be helpful
• interviewers need to have the relevant skills and knowledge about the job

Question 4

What is selection criteria based on?

Answer 4

How the employee would fit into the organisation, how they would fit into a team/department, how they would suit the role.
The organisation will design questions to determine this

Question 5

What is the selection process?

Answer 5

There are 3 stages:

1. Preliminary screening - may be an online questionnaire or a phone call. This immediately removes obviously unqualified candidates.
2. Review of application and CV, matched to the job description
3. Interviews (may be in person or phone/skype)

Question 6

What is an applicant tracking system?

Answer 6

A software application that helps companies sift through CVs electronically - matches words in the CV to those in the job advert and person specification

Question 7

What are the types of selection tests?

Answer 7

• cognitive aptitude tests
• psychomotor abilities test
• job knowledge test
• work sample test
• vocational interest test
• personality test
• honesty test
• online assessment
• assessment centres

Question 8

What is a cognitive aptitude test?

Answer 8

A selection test. This measures the individual’s ability to learn as well as to perform a job, by identifying candidates with large knowledge bases.

Question 9

What is a psychomotor abilities test?

Answer 9

A selection test. It tests strength, coordination and dexterity. Only used for jobs that require them, such as surgeons.

Question 10

What is a job knowledge test?

Answer 10

A selection test. It measures the applicants knowledge of the role for which they are applying.

Question 11

What is a work sample test?

Answer 11

A selection test. Candidates perform a set of tasks that are representative of the job

Question 12

What is a vocational interest test?

Answer 12

A selection test. Indicates occupations that the applicant is most interested in.

Question 13

What is a personality test?

Answer 13

A selection test. A self reported measure of traits, temperaments and dispositions.

Question 14

What is honesty testing?

Answer 14

A selection test. Examples include graphology (the study of a person’s handwriting) and polygraph (lie detector test).

Question 15

What are online assessments?

Answer 15

A selection test. Makes the selection process easier and faster and requiring less labour and also tests the applicants alleged technical abilities.

Question 16

What are assessment centres?

Answer 16

A selection test. They require candidates to perform activities similar to the job. Examples:

• in basket exercises, which test time management
• management games, that test delegation
• leaderless discussion groups
• mock interviews

Question 17

What is the employer responsible for in the selection process?

Answer 17

They are responsible for making sure there is a burden of proof, making sure tests are related to success or failure and there is no discrimination against apllicants

Question 18

What are some types of interviews?

Answer 18

• unstructured
• structured
• behavioural
• situational

Question 19

What is involved in an unstructured interview?

Answer 19

• asks probing, open ended questions
• encourages applicant to do most of the talking
• often time consuming
• the fact it is ‘off script’ may cause issues if there is a dispute, as there is no record of what was said

Question 20

What is involved in a structured interview?

Answer 20

• series of job related questions

- increased reliability and accuracy and reduced subjectivity/inconsistency (compared with unstructured)

Question 21

What is involved in a behavioural interview?

Answer 21

• prompts applicants to relate actual incidents relevant to the target job

Question 22

What is involved in a situational interview?

Answer 22

• creates hypothetical situations that candidates may encounter and asks how the applicant would deal with them

Question 23

How can an interview be planned?

Answer 23

• physical location should be pleasant and private
• job profile should be developed based on person specification/description
• questions should be prepared that relate to required qualities

Question 24

What is the general content of an interview?

Answer 24

• seek additional job related information (e.g. experience academic achievement, personal skills)
• ask about past job related behaviour
• provide information about the job, the company and expectations

Question 25

What are some methods of interviews?

Answer 25

• one on one interview
• group interview
• board interview (popular in UK)
• multiple interview (several interviews in 1 day)
• video interviews
  0 stress interview (deliberate anxiety is created and the employees response is looked at)

Question 26

What are some potential interview problems?

Answer 26

• inappropriate questions
• non job related information given
• interview bias/discrimination
• interviewer domination
• lack of training of interviewer
• non verbal communication (body language)

Question 27

How can a selection method be evaluated?

Answer 27

Reliability - is it consistent?
Validity - is it related to performance?
Utility - is it cost effective?
Legality - is it legal and fair?
Acceptability - how will applicants react?

Question 28

What are some recent trends in the selection process?

Answer 28

• online social networks for professionals e.g. Linked In
• free online profiles about candidates
• moving more applicant screening online