Employee Selection Tool and the Interview Process Essays

Employee Selection Tool and the Interview Process Essays Employee Selection Tool and the Interview Process Essay Employee Selection Tool and the Interview Process Essay Employee Selection Tools and the Interview Process Axia College, University of Phoenix Choosing the best suited individuals who are highly skilled and adequately suited for an employment position has become a difficult and sometimes a time-consuming process for employers. Today’s job market has become so diverse and competitive that companies must implement resources that assist them in carefully evaluating the credentials, backgrounds, and abilities of each candidate. Therefore, it is essential that organizations possess the ability to properly and effectively select qualifying applicants for employment positions. Hence, the HR recruiters or department heads rely on various selection tools designed to prescreen, evaluate and objectively select the best qualified individuals for the position, which will eliminate the time and money spent processing less qualified applicants. Just as many large corporations and technologically advanced industries reach for highly educated, experienced, skilled and talented employees, smaller operations such as supermarkets must also consider the diversity and competitive nature of the job market. Therefore, it is essential that the human resources manager and department heads carefully evaluate each applicant just as efficiently as larger more complex organizations. Supermarkets contain an array of department within their organization. These departments may range from fresh produce and meat departments, merchandising and stock departments, to cash management areas and supervisory or executive heads. â€Å"In these to tough and competitive times, and certainly in tight labor markets, the need to hire the right talent the first time must be a top organizational strategy. states Sal Silvester, (2009). To make the proper selection though, recruiters in the supermarket must implement selection tools such as the application form, employee integrity and cognitive test, employee reference and employment verification checks as well as drug testing to ensure that the best suited individual is chosen that will effectively fill the vacant position as well as lead the company into future success. Silvester, S. , (2009). The first step, the application process, is requiring the applicant to complete an application for employment form. As explained by Bohlander and Snell, (2007), applications are selection tools designed to prescreen for experience and education allowing the employers to differentiate between possible qualified applicants and lesser experienced individuals. In essence, this will evidently save the employer time and money that would otherwise wasted processing each separate individual. After the candidates pass through the initial application and interview process, narrowing the selection of candidates even further requires more in-depth reviews, hence the employment integrity and cognitive testing enters. Integrity tests are designed to evaluate the applicants reactions to various ethical scenarios that involve, theft, misconduct and or corruption within the workplace while cognitive test are designed to reveal certain skills and abilities, which reflect the applicants deductive reasoning, comprehension, and problem solving capabilities. The use of these tests allows employers to minimize employee misconduct and efficiently to place individuals in the best suited positions. These tests, and the organizations ability to effectively manage them, may also potentially raise company moral and ethical standards. Bohlander and Snell, (2007) explains it as, â€Å"Employment tests are an objective and standardize measure of a sample of behavior that is used to gauge a person’s knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics in relation to other individuals. † Drug testing is a selection tool that has experienced recent debates in regards to its effectiveness as an effective tool for providing a safer work environment as well as its ability to raise employee productivity. Drug testing however, has been recognized to be predominantly more effective in industries in which safety is a critical element in the workforce or labor field. Therefore, supermarkets may fall into this category since there are various pieces of equipment used in the stores that require the employees to practice safe measures at all-times to eliminate potential dangers. For example, ladders may used by employees who stock shelves, and band saw may be used in areas like the meat department. Therefore, it is critical that employees be coherent and drug-free to ensure the safety of them and others while limiting the possible liabilities of the employer such as employee absenteeism, increased insurance premiums, and potentially devastating lawsuits. Bohlander and Snell, (2007) Although each of these selection tools may effectively assist the recruiters in choosing the appropriate individual for the position, cognitive and integrity testing however will more readily separate qualified applicant from lesser qualified individuals. Therefore, employment testing would be considered as the best selection tool designed for selecting the best suited individual in a supermarket setting, and more so, it would also prove as an effective device in areas such as a food and beverage director position, which has been selected for the final project. The position of food and beverage director requires the individual candidate to possess certain skills that include the ability to use deductive reasoning for problem-solving, effective management skills that allows the individual to efficiently direct individuals as well as to possess ethical and moral standards that will lead to success within the company and for the company. Considering the requirements for the position and the various selection tools used to evaluate the candidates, employment testing proves to be the best solution in determining these qualities in an individual. Although employee testing reveals the candidates abilities of deductive reasoning in problem-solving, effectively interviewing prospective candidates is a measure that should not be ignored, either. There are several methods that may be implemented in the interview approach. These methods may range from non-directive interviews in which the candidate is presented open-ended questions allowing them to freely express themselves to structured more directly focused interviews, which requires the applicant to relate more direct information in regards to his or her background, education and experience, and qualifications. In either case, interviews may be performed by a single interviewer presenting an atmosphere for a direct one-on-one approach, or by a panel of carefully selected individuals who are focused on obtaining the most qualified individual. Bohlander and Snell, (2007) The chosen direction of interview for the final project is the panel review method. The reason for which the method has been chosen is that a food and beverage director would be employed in an area of management; therefore requiring the individual to not only be qualified enough to carry out the various tasks of the position, but to also be able to communicate effectively with other supervisors, managers, or executive within the corporation. Panels that include the managers and or supervisors of various other departments closely related to the food and beverage director will be able to jointly collaborate and decide on the best candidate. According to Bohlander and Snell, (2007), advantages to this method could include higher reliability in the selection, acceptance of the selection, less bias or discrimination against the prospect, and essentially, less time and money spent evaluating prospects. Interviews are best effective when interviewers possess and implement a purpose and directive prior to beginning the interview. This requires the interviewer to possess the ability to be an active listener, effective observer, and to possess a certain degree of ethical standards that will enable the interviewer to be objective. To ensure that the interviewer can incorporate these standards within the interview process, questions to ask the applicant should be designed, which will enhance the interviewer’s objectiveness and ability to observe or listen. Question should also be designed to allow the individual being interviewed to effectively portray their abilities and qualifications in regards to the position being interviewed for. Examples of questions that would be used to effectively interview a prospect for the position of a food and beverage director may include the following which will be implemented into the final project. 1. Tell me about your experience in the Hospitality industry. 2. Why do you feel you would be best suited for this position? 3. Why do you wan to work in this position, in the Hospitality industry or even for this organization? 4. Explain what you feel is your best quality and if interviewed, would others feel the same? 5. Explain to me what others would say about your weaknesses and why? . If hired, where do you see yourself within this company in two years, five years, and ten years? 7. What other positions or jobs have you applied for or that you may be considering? 8. What are your goals in regards to your personal self, your family, or your career? 9. What significant characteristic, skill or ability do you feel you possess that will lead you to success in the position as well as being beneficial to the company? 10. Why should we hire you for the position rather than promoting from within or choosing another candidate? 11. What are you though about the company, the position, this interview and my effectiveness to perform the interview? Designing the question as described allows the interviewer to observe the applicants ability to focus on their qualities, communicate effectively, relate themselves to the position and the company, and to exhibit certain behavioral patterns that may reveal characteristics either beneficial or possibly detrimental to the work environment and the company. As one can perceive, selecting and hiring the right individual can be a difficult complex process. Employers; herefore must chose and develop strategies and selection tools such as employment testing, which will reveal skills in deductive reasoning and problem-solving, and to design question for the interview process that focus on the candidates past and present experiences, education, abilities, and behavioral characteristics. By carefully selecting the tools, designing the interview and incorporating others to be involv ed in the process can lead the company to higher success rates of employees creating long-term loyalty, higher moral, ethical standards, and customer satisfaction, and stability of the organization. Furthermore, by incorporating these practices into the employee selection process, companies will be able to focus on highly qualified applicant and be able to properly and effectively choose the right talent, highly skilled, and best qualified individual for the position. Reference Bohlander, G. W. , and Snell, S. A. , (2007) Managing Human Resources, 14th e. Retrieved December 15, 2009, from myesources. phoenix. edu Silvester, S. , (2009) Hiring the Right Talent. Retrieved December 15, 2009, from 512solutions. com/resources/downlods/talent. pdf