LESSON 3 - EMPLOYEE SELECTION: RECRUITING AND INTERVIEWING

RECRUITMENT

An important step in selecting employees is recruitment: attracting people with the right
qualifications (as determined in the job analysis) to apply for the job. The first decision is whether to
promote someone from within the organization (internal recruitment) or to hire someone from
outside the organization (external recruitment). Some organizations first advertise employment
openings to current employees. If no qualified applicants are found, these organizations then advertise
outside.

To enhance employee morale and motivation, it is often good to give current employees an
advantage in obtaining new internal positions.

Internal promotions can be a great source of motivation, but if an organization always

promotes employees from within, it runs the risk of having a stale workforce that is devoid of the many
ideas that new employees bring with them from their previous employment settings. Heavy reliance
on internal sources is thought to perpetuate the racial, gender, and age composition of the workforce.
Thus, a balance between promoting current employees and hiring outside applicants is needed.

INTERNAL VS. EXTERNAL RECRUITMENT

Advantages:

Promoting from Within

• Easier assessment of applicants since more information is available

• Less costly and quicker to do
• Promoted employee is already familiar with organization policies and culture
• Signals to employees that career opportunities exists in the organization
• Improve employee morale and organization loyalty
• Less likely to make major changes and “upset the apple cart”

Hiring Externally

• Provides new ideas and fresh perspectives

• May bring new insights from other industries
• Initiate a turnaround
• Hiring experienced employee can reduce training needed
• Internal politics can be avoided
• Bigger talent pool, more applicants

Disadvantages:

Promoting from Within

• Narrowing of thinking and stale ideas (inbreeding)

• May not help turn company around
• Training will be needed and learning curve will occur for the job duties
• Internal Politics will occur
 • Affirmative action goals may be more difficult to achieve
• Smaller talent pool/ fewer applicants

Hiring Externally

• Less information available on applicants

• Search takes longer and costs more
• Outsider takes time to become familiar with current systems and organization culture
• Destroys incentive of present employees to strive for promotion
• Can hurt employee morale and loyalty
• Members may fight new ideas

Common Recruitment Methods

✓ Media Advertisement – running ads in periodicals such as local newspapers or professional

journals is a common method of recruiting employees

Types:

-Respond by calling ads

-Apply in person ads

-Send resume ads

-Blind box ads

✓ Employee Referral – a method of recruitment in which a current employee refers a friend or

a family member for a job.
✓ Direct Mail – a method of recruitment in which an organization sends out mass mailings of
information about job openings to potential applicants.
✓ Job Fair – a recruitment method in which several employers are available at one location so
that many applicants can obtain information at one time.
✓ Realistic Job Preview – A method of recruitment in which job applicants are told both the
positive and negative aspects of a job.

EFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE SELECTION TECHNIQUES

Employment Interviews

- the most commonly used method to select employees

- a method of selecting employees in which an interviewer asks questions to an applicant and
then makes an employment decision based on the answers to the questions as well as the
way in which the questions were answered.

Types of Interviews

Structure

Structured interviews – questions are based on job analysis, every applicant is asked the same
questions, and there is a standardized scoring system so that identical answers are given identical
scores.
Unstructured interviews – applicants are not asked the same questions and in which there is no
standard scoring system to score applicant answers.

Style Medium

• One-on-one interviews • Face-to-face interviews

• Serial interviews • Telephone interviews
• Panel interviews • Videoconference interviews
• Group interviews • Written interviews

Situational Interview

an interview approach where applicants are confronted with specific issues, questions, or
problems that are likely to arise on the job. It can be particularly effective when dealing with
sensitive issues dealing with the honesty or integrity of candidates.

It has 2 types:

Experience-based– require the applicant to reveal an actual experience he or she had in the past
when confronting the situation; it seems to reduce some forms of impression management

"Describe a time when you were faced with completing an important, but boring task. How did
you deal with this situation?“

Future-oriented – asks what the person is likely to do when confronting a certain hypothetical situation
in the future;

"You are the personnel officer in a manufacturing plant and a machine operator incurred an
accident. Floor staff are distracted and in a panic mode. Production is already behind. What
will you do?"

WRITING COVER LETTERS

Cover letters tell an employer that you are enclosing your résumé and would like to apply for
a job. Cover letters should never be longer than one page. As shown in the sample cover letters in
Figures . and . , cover letters contain a salutation, four basic paragraphs, and a closing
signature.

Salutation

If possible, get the name of the person to whom you want to direct the letter. If you aren’t sure
of the person’s name, call the company and simply ask for the name of the person (have it spelled) to
whom you should send your résumé. If the first name leaves doubt about the person’s gender (e.g.,
Kim, Robin, Paige), ask if the person is male or female so that you can properly address the letter to
Mr. Smith or Ms. Smith. Do not refer to the person by his or her first name (e.g., Dear Sarah). If you
can’t get the person’s name, a safe salutation is “Dear Human Resource Director.” Avoid phrases such
as “Dear Sir or Madam” (unless the company is a “house of ill repute”) or “To Whom It May Concern”
(it doesn’t concern me).
Paragraphs

The opening paragraph should be one or two sentences long and communicate three pieces
of information: the fact that your résumé is enclosed, the name of the job you are applying for, and
how you know about the job opening (such as a newspaper ad or from a friend). The second
paragraph states that you are qualified for the job and provides about three reasons why. This
paragraph should be only four or five sentences in length and should not rehash the content of your
résumé. The third paragraph explains why you are interested in the particular company to which you
are applying. The final paragraph closes your letter and provides information on how you can best be
reached. Though your phone number will be on your résumé, this paragraph is a good place to tell
the employer the best days and times to reach you.

Signature

Above your signature, use words such as “cordially” or “sincerely.” “Yours truly” is not advised, and
words such as “Love,” “Peace,” or “Hugs and snuggles” are strongly discouraged. Personally sign
each cover letter; and type your name, address, and phone number below your signature.
WRITING A RESUME
- resumes are summaries of an applicant’s professional and educational background
Characteristics of effective resumes
1. The resume must be attractive and easy to read.
2. The resume cannot contain typing, spelling, grammatical, or factual mistakes.
3. The resume should make the applicant look as qualified as possible.

Types of resume
1. Chronological resume- list previous jobs in order from the most to the least recent.
2. Functional resume- organizes jobs based on the skills required to perform them rather
than the order in which they were worked.
3. Psychological resume- it contains the strengths of both the chronological and functional
styles and is based on sound psychological theory and research. The resume should begin
with a short summary of your strengths.
This section takes advantage of the impression-formation principles of priming (preparing
the reader for what is to come), primacy (early impressions are most important) and short-
term memory limits (the list should not be longer than seven items).
The next section of the resume should contain information about either your education or
your experience—whichever is strongest for you.
CHRONOLOGICAL RESUME
FUNCTIONAL RESUME
PSYCHOLOGICAL RESUME