Introduction to Recruitment:
Once the required number and the kind of human resources are determined, the management has to find the places where required human resources are/will be available and also work out strategies for attracting them towards the organization before selecting suitable candidates for jobs. This process is generally known as recruitment. Some people use the term ‘recruitment’ for employment. These two are not one and the same. Recruitment is only one of the steps in the entire employment process. Some others use the term recruitment for selection. These two terms are different. Technically speaking, the function of recruitment precedes the selection function and it includes only finding, developing the sources of prospective employees and attracting them to apply for jobs in an organization, whereas the selection is the process of finding out the most suitable candidate to the job out of the candidates attracted(i.e., recruited).
Recruitment Definition:
Recruitment is defined as “a process to discover the sources of manpower to meet the requirements of the staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection of an efficient workforce.” Edwin B.Flippo defined recruitment as “the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization.” These definitions can be analyzed by discussing the processes of recruitment through systems approach.
Objectives of Recruitment
The objectives of recruitment are:
i. To attract people with multi-dimensional skills and experiences that suit the present and future organizational strategies,
ii. To induct outsiders with a new perspective to lead the company,
iii. To infuse fresh blood at all levels of the organization,
iv. To develop an organizational culture that attracts competent people to the company,
v. To search or head hunt/head pouch people whose skills fit the company’s values,
vi. To devise methodologies for assessing psychological traits,
vii. To seek out non-conventional development grounds of talent,
viii. To search for talent globally and not just within the company,
ix. To design entry pay that competes on quality but not on quantum,
x. To anticipate and find people for positions that does not exist yet.
Employee Recruitment Methods: Recruitment can be in two different ways
●Internal recruitment is when the business looks to fill the vacancy from within its existing workforce.
●External recruitment is when the business looks to fill the vacancy from any suitable applicant outside the business.
Internal Recruitment Sources:
They include those who are employed in the organisation or those who were in the past employ (but quit voluntarily or due to retrenchment) and would return if the organisation likes to re-employ. The advantage in looking for internal resources is that they provide opportunities for better deployment and utilisation of existing human resources through planned placements and transfers. It will also motivate people through planned promotions and career development when vacancies exist in higher grades. The law provides preferences to retrenched employees when vacancies arise in future.
Internal recruitment methods are not only cost efficient, they also support employee satisfaction and moral. Before looking outside of the company for talent, take the time to look at the current employees. Nothing causes more dissatisfaction than having someone new take the position that an employee has been working to get promoted to. Promoting within requires less training and transition. Here are two ways to accomplish this:
Job postings – post open positions for employees to apply for before external hires are considered.
Skills inventory – have HR keep a record of employee skills. Review the inventory to identify any employees that might qualify for the job. Invite them to apply.
Internal Recruitment – Advantages
1. Cheaper and quicker to recruit
2. People already familiar with the business and how it operates
3. Provides opportunities for promotion with in the business – can be motivating
4. Business already knows the strengths and weaknesses of candidates
Disadvantages :
1.Limits the number of potential applicants
2.No new ideas can be introduced from outside the business
3.May cause resentment amongst candidates not appointed
4.Creates another vacancy which needs to be filled
External Recruitment
The External Recruitment is the source of the fresh blood for the organization. As a very critical HR Process, the external recruitment process has to be set up very carefully. The external recruitment is a process, which is very sensitive to changes on the external market and the managers are very sensitive about that as well.
The most popular ways of recruiting externally are:
Job centres – These are paid for by the government and are responsible for helping the unemployed find jobs or get training. They also provide a service for businesses needing to advertise a vacancy and are generally free to use.
Job advertisements – Advertisements are the most common form of external recruitment. They can be found in many places (local and national newspapers, notice boards, recruitment fairs) and should include some important information relating to the job (job title, pay package, location, job description, how to apply-either by CV or application form). Where a business chooses to advertise will depend on the cost of advertising and the coverage needed (i.e. how far away people will consider applying for the job
Recruitment agency – Provides employers with details of suitable candidates for a vacancy and can sometimes be referred to as ‘head-hunters’. They work for a fee and often specialise in particular employment areas e.g. nursing, financial services, teacher recruitment
Personal recommendation – Often referred to as ‘word of mouth’ and can be a recommendation from a colleague at work. A full assessment of the candidate is still needed however but potentially it saves on advertising cost.
Unsolicited applicants – most business will have unsolicited resumes. Make sure these resumes are kept and filed. Review these before beginning to advertise. The right candidate might very well be in that file.
Events – job fairs, open houses. These are costly to run but can produce excellent results. The number of positions available can best determine if it is worth the investment.
Campus Placements – co-op programs and job placement programs are a great way to bring in new employees. Contact local colleges or universities to see if there is an opportunity to work together.
Modern Sources of Recruitment
A number of modern recruitment sources are being used by the corporate sector in addition to traditional sources.
Employee Referrals: Present employees are well aware of the qualifications, attitudes, experience and emotions of their friends and relatives. They are also aware of the job requirements and organizational culture of their company. As such, they can make preliminary judgment regarding the match between the job and their friends or relatives.
Hence, the HR managers of various companies depend on the present employees for reference of the candidates for various jobs. This source reduces the cost and time required for recruitment. Further, this source enhances the effectiveness 9of recruitment. HR managers offer various incentives/rewards including cash incentives to the current employees for referring the best candidates.
Modern external sources include: Walk in and consult in, head-hunting, body-shopping, mergers and acquisitions, tele-recruitment and outsourcing.
(i) Walk-in: The busy organizations and the rapid changing companies do not find time to perform various functions of recruitment. Therefore, they advise the potential candidates to attend for an interview directly and without a prior application on a specified date, time and at a specified place. The suitable candidates from among the interviewees will be selected for appointment after screening the candidates through tests and interviews.
(ii) Consult-in: The busy and dynamic companies encourage the potential job seekers to approach them personally and consult them regarding the jobs. The companies select the suitable candidates from among such candidates through the selection process.
(iii) Head-hunting: The companies request the professional organizations to search for the best candidates particularly for the senior executive positions. The professional organizations search for the most suitable candidates and advise the company regarding the filling up of the positions. Head-hunters are also called ‘search consultants’.
(iv) Body shopping: Professional organizations and the hi-tech training institutes develop the pool of human resources for the possible employment. The prospective employers contact these organizations to recruit the candidates. Otherwise, the organizations themselves approach the prospective employers to place their human resources. These professional and training institutions are called ‘body shoppers’ and these shopping is also known as employee leasing activity. The leasing firms employ the people and lease them for the use by various needy companies for payment of a commission.
(v) Mergers & Acquisitions: Business alliances like acquisitions, mergers, and take-overs help in getting human resources. In addition, the companies do also have alliances in sharing their human resources on ad-hoc basis.
It does mean that the company with surplus human resources offers the services of their employees to other needy organizations.
(vi) E-Recruitment: The technological revolution in telecommunications helped the organizations to use internet as a source of recruitment. Organizations advertise the job vacancies through the World Wide Web (www). The job seekers send their applications through e-mail using the Internet. Alternatively, job seekers place their CVs in the world wide web/internet, which can be drawn by the prospective employers depending upon their requirements.
External Recruitment Sources: Organisations may look for people outside it. Entry level jobs are usually filled by new entrants from outside. Also in the following circumstances organisations may resort to outside sources:
a. when suitably qualified people are not available.
b. when the organisation feels it necessary to impart new blood for fresh ideas.
c. when it is diversifying into new avenues and
d. when it is merging with another organisation.
External Recruitment – Advantages
Outside people bring in new ideas
Larger pool of workers from which to find the best candidate
People have a wider range of experience
Disadvantages :
Longer process
More expensive process due to advertisements and interviews required
Selection process may not be effective enough to reveal the best candidate
Recruitment Strategies: The recruitment strategies formulated by the companies include:
In-sourcing or Outsourcing: Companies recruit the candidates, employ them, train and develop them and utilize the human resources of these candidates. This strategy is called ‘in-sourcing’. Companies formulate and implement this strategy when the company’s growth is stable. Some organizations employ and develop the candidates with a view to provide the human resources to other companies which concentrate on manufacturing, servicing and such other activities. Some manufacturing and service companies depend for their human resource requirements on such external organizations whose core business is to provide human resources. This strategy is called ‘outsourcing’. Most of the IT companies follow this strategy. Even manufacturing companies also depend on outsourcing for the running the non-core business like canteens, hospitals, office maintenance, security, house-keeping, plant maintenance etc. outsourcing strategy is more suitable for both the fast growing and diversifying companies.
Vast and Fast Source: The fast developing IT industry and high technology oriented industry invariably require vast human resources within the short span of time. The best strategy to get vast human resources immediately is through internet.
Recruitment Policy
Recruitment policy of any organization is derived from the HR policy of the same organization. In other words, the former is a part of the latter. However, recruitment policy by itself should take into consideration the government’s reservation policy, policy
Regarding sons of soil etc., HR policies of other organizations regarding merit, internal sources, social responsibility in absorbing minority sections, women etc. recruitment policy should commit itself to the organization’s HR policy like enriching the organization’s human resources or serving the community by absorbing the weaker sections and disadvantaged people of the society, motivating the employees through internal promotions, improving the employee’s loyalty to the organization by absorbing the retrenched or laid-of employees or casual/temporary employees or dependents of present/former employees etc.
Limitations for Recruitment – Challenges:
1. Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation ) Act, 1986: This Act replaces the Employment of Children Act, 138, and seeks to prohibit the engagement of children below 14 years of age in certain employment and to regulate the conditions of work of children in certain other employment. Penalties for contravening the provisions are fine and imprisonment.
2. The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959:
The Act requires all employers to notify vacancies (with certain exemptions) occurring in their establishments to the prescribed employment exchanges before they are filled
3. The Apprentices Act, 1961: The Act seeks to provide for the regulation and control of training apprentices and for matters connected therewith. The Act provides for a machinery to lay down syllabi and prescribe period of training, reciprocal obligations for apprentices and employers etc. The responsibility for engagement of apprentices lies solely with the employer. An apprentice is not a workman.
4. The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970: This Act seeks to regulate the employment of contract labour in certain establishments and to provide for the abolition in certain circumstances. The Act applies to every establishment / contractor employing 20 or more persons.
5. Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976: This Act seeks to provide for the abolition of bonded labour system with a view to preventing the economic and physical exploitation of the weaker sections of society.
6. The Inter-state Migrant Workmen Act, 1979: This Act safeguards the interests of the workmen who are recruited by contractors from one state for service in an establishment situated in another state and to guard against the exploitation of such workmen by the contractors.
7. The Factories Act, 1948, the Mines Act, 1952, etc. : Certain legislation, like the Factories Act and the Mines Act prohibit employment of women (in night work, underground work etc.) and children (below 14 years of age) in certain types of jobs.
8. Reservations for Special Groups: In pursuance of the constitutional provisions, statutory reservations and relaxed norms have been provided in education and employment to candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in central and state services including departmental undertakings, government corporations, local bodies and other quasi – government organisations. Most state governments have issued policy directives extending the reservations to notified backward communities also.
9. Sons -of -the-Soil: The question of preference to local population in the matter of employment has become more complex toady than ever before. The Govt. of India has recognised the main elements of the arguments on behalf of the sons of the soil and laid down certain principles in the matter of recruitment to its public sector projects, whose implementation, however, is left to the undertakings themselves.
10. Displaced Persons: Whenever major projects are set up, large tracts of land are acquired for the purpose, displacing several hundred households in each case. Payment of compensation for land was at one time considered a sufficient discharge of obligation towards persons who are dispossessed of land. This alone did not solve the question of earning livelihood.
Realistic Job Preview:
A Realistic Job Preview is an approach that enables the communication of aspects of a job to prospective applicants before the applicant accepts the offer of a position.
For a RJP to be effective, it is critical to allow employees to obtain a balanced view of the positive and negative aspects of the position. Discrepancies between the applicant of the position and the actual operational requirements of the job role may lead to lower commitment levels and increased turnover. A RJP works by providing applicants with information that clarifies their expectations and allows them to have a more realistic perspective of the role. By providing a well designed and consistent RJP process to all potential employees, the organization can reduce turnover and increase commitment by allowing the employer to match job requirements with the applicant’s qualities and the applicant to match their personal needs with the position requirements and the organizational culture.
Research on the effects of utilizing a RJP has demostrated cost savings due to increased performance and job survival; decreased levels in turnover by better meeting employee expectations, improving their ability to cope, providing a perception of honesty for the organization and allowing them to self-select themselves for the position. In addition, there is also increased post-employment job satisfaction by giving them preparation to cope with the demands of the position and making them feel that the employer has been honest in their recruitment process.
Using Realistic Job Previews for recruitment
By providing applicants with an insight into the job vacancy – both the attractive and less attractive aspects of the role – many candidates decide for themselves that the job is not for them. The Realistic Job Previews (RJP) helps the applicant to really think through whether the new role is for them – whether they will fit into the organisation and enjoy the role.
The Realistic Job Preview should be used to:
Help unsuitable applicants withdraw themselves before the formal recruitment process takes place. Ensure such ‘self-elimination’ is seen in a positive, brand aligned and advisory way. These applicants may also be customers and it is important to treat them with dignity.
The benefits of Realistic Job Preview
Realistic Job Previews can help with volume recruitment by removing around 15% of applicants through clarifying and clearly stating the job requirements, thereby increasing the quality of applications received. It also reduces resignation rate of recruits and ensures candidates finally selected are likely to align well with the values and culture of the organization.
SELECTION:
Selection is a process of measurement, decision making and evaluation. The goal of a selection system is to bring in to the organisation individuals who will perform well on the job. To have an accurate and fair selection system, an organisation must use reliable and valid measures of job applicant characteristics. In addition, a good selection system must include a means of combining information about applicant characteristics in a rational way and producing correct hire and no-hire decisions. A good personnel selection system should add to the overall effectiveness of the organisation.
Organisations vary in the complexity of their selection system. Some merely skim applications blanks and conduct brief, informal interviews, whereas others take to resting, repeated interviewing, background checks and so on. Although the latter system is more costly per applicant, many benefits are realised from careful, thorough selection. An organisation needs to have members who are both skilled and motivated to perform their roles. Either such members can be identified by careful selection or attempts can be made to develop them after hire by extensive training. Thus cursory selection may greatly increase training and monitoring costs, whereas spending more on the selection process will reduce these post-hire expenses.
SELECTION PROCEDURE
Selection procedure employs several methods of collecting information about the candidate’s qualifications, experience, physical and mental ability, nature and behaviour, knowledge, aptitude and the like for judging whether a given applicant is suitable or not for the job. Therefore, the selection procedure is not a single act but is essentially a series of methods or stages by which different types of information can be secured through various selection techniques. At each step, facts may come to light which are useful for comparison with the job requirement and employee specifications.
Steps in Scientific Selection Process
(i) Job Analysis, (ii) Recruitment. (iii) Application Form, (iv) Written Examination, (v) Preliminary Interview (iv) Business Games (vii) Tests. (viii) Final Interview. (ix) Medical Examination (x) Reference Checks. (xi) Line Manager’s Decision. (xii) Job offer (xiii) Employment.
Job Analysis: Job analysis is the basis of selecting the right candidate. Every organization should finalize the job analysis, job description, job specification and employee specifications before proceeding to the next stop of selection.
Human Resource Plan: Every company plans for the required number of and kind of employees for a future date. This is the basis for recruitment function.
Recruitment: Recruitment refers to the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating then to apply for jobs in an organization. It is the basis for the remaining techniques of the selection and the latter varies depending upon the former. It develops the applicants’ pool.
Development of Bases for Selection: The Company has to select the appropriate candidates from the applicants’ pool. The company develops or borrows the appropriate bases/techniques for screening the candidates in order to select the appropriate candidates for the jobs.
Application Form: Application Form is also known as application blank. The technique of application bank is traditional and widely accepted for securing information from the prospective candidates. It can also be used as a device to screen the candidates at the preliminary level. Many companies formulate their own style of application forms depending upon the requirement of information based on the size of the company, nature of business activities, type and level f the job etc. Information is generally required on the following items in the application forms: Personal background information, Educational attainments, Work experiences, Salary ,Personal details and References.
Written Examination: The organizations have to conduct written examination for the qualified candidates after they are screened on the basis of the application blanks so as to measure the candidate’s ability in arithmetical calculations, to know the candidates’ attitude towards the job, to measure the candidates’ aptitude, reasoning, knowledge in various disciplines, general knowledge and English language.
Preliminary Interview: The preliminary interview is to solicit necessary information from the prospective applicants and to assess the applicant’s suitability to the job. This may be conducted by an assistant in the personnel department. The information thus provided by the candidate may be related to the job or personal specifications regarding education, experience, salary expected, aptitude towards the job, age, physical appearance and other physical requirements etc. Thus, preliminary interview is useful as a process of eliminating the undesirable and unsuitable candidates. If a candidate satisfied the job requirements regarding most of the areas, he may be selected for further process. Preliminary interviews are short and known as stand-up interviews or sizing-up of the applicants or screening interviews. However, certain required amount of care is to be taken to ensure that the desirable workers are not eliminated. This interview is also useful to provide the basic information about the company to the candidate.
Business Games: Business games are widely used as a selection technique for selecting management trainees, executive trainees and managerial personnel at junior, middle and top management positions. Business games help to evaluate the applicants in the areas of decision-making identifying the potentialities, handling the situations, problem-solving skills, human relations skills etc. Participants are placed in a hypothetical work situation and are required to play the role situations in the game. The hypothesis is that the most successful candidate in the game will be the most successful one on the job.
Group Discussion: The technique of group discussion is used in order to secure further information regarding the suitability of the candidate for the job. Group discussion is a method where groups of the successful applicants are brought around a conference table and are asked to discuss either a case study or a subject-matter. The candidates in the group are required to analyses, discuss, find alternative solutions and select the sound solution. A selection panel then observes the candidates in the areas of initiating the discussion, explaining the problem, soliciting unrevealing information based on the given information and using common sense, keenly observing the discussion of others, clarifying controversial issues, influencing others, speaking effectively, concealing and mediating arguments among the participants and summarizing or concluding apply. The selection panel, based on its observation, judges the candidates’ skill and ability and ranks them according to their merit. In some cases, the selection panel may also ask the candidates to write the summary of the group discussion in order to know the candidates’ writing ability as well.
Test: Psychological tests play a vital role in employee selection. A psychological test is essentially an objective and standardized measure of sample of behavior from which inferences about future behavior and performance of the candidate can be drawn. Objectivity of tests refers to the validity and reliability of the instruments in measuring the ability of the individuals. Objectivity provides equal opportunity to all the job seekers without any discrimination against sex, caste etc. standardization of test refers to uniformity of the total behavior of the prospective employee on the job.
Types of Test: Tests are classified into six types. They are Aptitude tests, Achievement tests , Situational tests, Interest tests, Personality tests and Multidimensional testing.
Aptitude tests: These tests measure whether an individual has the capacity or latent ability to learn a given job if given adequate training. Aptitudes can be divided into general and mental ability or intelligence and specific aptitudes such as mechanical, clerical, manipulative capacity etc.
Emotional Quotient (EQ): Most of the organizations realized that emotional involvement and commitment of the employees determine their contribution to the company rather than their intelligence quotient. As such, emotional quotient (EQ) is used as important criteria in the employee selection process.
Achievement Tests: These tests are conducted when applicants claim to know something as these tests are concerned with what one has accomplished. These tests are more useful to measure the value of a specific achievement when an organization wishes to employ experienced candidates. These tests are classified into: (a) Job knowledge test: and (b) Work sample test.
Situational test: This test evaluates a candidate in a similar real life situation. In this test, the candidate is asked either to cope with the situation or solve critical situations of the job.
Interest tests: These tests are inventories of the likes and dislikes of candidates in relation to work, job, occupations, hobbies and recreational activities. The purpose of this test is to find out whether a candidate is interested or disinterested in the job for which he is a candidate and to find out in which area of the job range/occupation the candidate is interested. The assumption of this test is that there is a high correlation between the interest of a candidate in a job and job success. Interest inventories are less faked and they may not fluctuate after the age of 30.
Personality Tests: These tests prove deeply to discover clues to an individual’s value system, his emotional reactions and maturity and characteristic mood. They are expressed in such traits like self-confidence, tact, emotional control, optimism, decisiveness, sociability, conformity, objectivity, patience, fear, distrust, initiative, judgment dominance of submission, impulsiveness, sympathy, integrity, stability and self-confidence.
Other Tests:
Cognitive Ability Tests: These tests measure mathematical and verbal abilities. Popularly known tests of this category include Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale: this is a comprehensive test including general information, arithmetic, similarities, vocabulary, picture completion, picture arrangement, object assembly and similar items.
Wonderlic Personnel Test: This test includes perceptual, verbal and arithmetic.
Polygraph Tests: The polygraph is an instrument that records changes in breathing, blood pressure, pulse and skin response associated with sweating of palms and plots these reactions on paper.
Multi-dimensional Testing: However, the need for multi-skills is being felt by most of the companies’ consequent upon globalization, competitiveness and the consequent customer-centred strategies. Organization have to develop multi-dimensional testing in order to find out whether the candidates possess a variety of skills or not, candidate’s ability to integrate the multi-skills and potentiality to apply them based on situational and functional requirement.
Employment Interview:
Final interview is usually followed by testing. This is the most essential step in the process of selection. In this step, the interviewer matches the information obtained about the candidate thorough various means to the job requirements and to the information obtained through his own observation during the interview.
Various Types of interviews: 1.Priliminary Interview 2.Core Interview 3.Decision-Making Interview
1.Priliminary Interview: Informal Interview & Unstructured Interview
Informal Interview: This is the interview which can be conducted at any place by any person to secure the basic and non-job related information. the interaction between the candidate and the personnel manager when the former meets the latter to enquire about the vacancies or additional particulars in connection with the employment advertisement is an example of informal interview.
Unstructured Interview: In this interview, the candidate in given the freedom to tell about himself by revealing his knowledge on various items/areas, his background , expectations, interest etc. Similarly, the interviewer also provides information on various items required by the candidate.
2.Core interview: It is normally the interaction between the candidate and the line executive or experts on various areas of no knowledge, skill, talent etc. this interview may take various forms like: Background Information Interview, Job and Probing Interview, Stress Interview, Stress Interview, Group Discussion Interview, Formal and Structured Interview, Panel Interview & Depth Interview.
Background Information Interview: This interview is intended to collect the information which is not available in the application blank and to check that information provided in the application blank regarding education, place of domicile, family, health, interests, hobbies, likes, dislikes and extracurricular activities of the applicant.
Job and Probing Interview: This interview aims at testing the candidate’s job knowledge about duties, activities, methods of doing the job, critical/problematic areas, methods of handling those areas etc.
Stress Interview: This Interview aims at testing the candidate’s job behaviour and level of withstanding during the period of stress and strain. The interviewer tests the candidate by putting him under stress and strain by interrupting the applicant from answering, criticising his opinions, asking questions pertaining to unrelated areas, keeping silent for unduly long periods after he has finished speaking etc. stress during the middle portion of the interview gives effective results. Stress interview must be handled with utmost care and skill. This type interview is often invalid, as the interviewee’s need for a job and his previous experience in such type of interviews may inhibit his actual behaviour under such situations.
Group Discussion Interview: There are two methods of conducting group discussion interviews, viz. group interview method and discussion interview method. All the candidates are brought into one room, i.e., the interview room and are interviewed one by one under group interview. This method helps a busy executive to save valuable time and gives a fair account of the objectivity of the interview to the candidates. Under the discussion interview method, one topic is given for discussion to the candidates who assemble in one room and they are asked to discuss the topic in detail. This type of interview helps the interviewer in appraising certain skills of the candidates like initiative, interpersonal skills, dynamism, presentation, leading, comprehension, collaboration etc. Interviewers are at ease in this category of interview because of its informality and flexibility. But it may fail to cover some significant portions of the candidates’ background and skills.
Formal and Structured Interview: In this type of interview, all the formalities, procedures like fixing the value, time, panel of interviewers, opening and closing, intimating the candidates officially etc. are strictly followed arranging and conducting the interview. The course of the interview is preplanned and structured, in advance, depending on job requirements, the questions for discussion are structured and experts are allotted different areas and questions to be asked. There will be very little room for the interviewers to deviate from the questions prepared in advance in a sequence.
Panel Interview: A panel of experts interviews each candidate, judges his performance individually and prepares consolidated judgment. This type of interview is known as panel interview. Interviews for middle level and senior level managers are normally conducted by the panel of experts.
Depth Interview: In this interview, the candidate would be examined extensively in core areas of job skills and knowledge. Experts test the candidate’s knowledge in depth. Depth interviews are conducted for specialist jobs. Information technology brought significant developments in the selection process of employees. The vital development is on-line interview.
3.Decision-Making Interview: After the candidates are examined by the experts including the line managers of the organization in the core areas of the job, the head of the department/section concerned interviews the candidates once again, mostly through informal discussion. The interviewer examines the interest of the candidate in the job, organization, reaction/adaptability to the working conditions, career planning, promotional opportunities, work adjustment and allotment etc. the Personnel Manager also interviews the candidates with a view to find out his reaction/acceptance regarding salary, allowances, benefits, promotions, opportunities etc. The head of the department and the personnel manager exchange the views and then they jointly inform their decision to the chairman of the interview board, who finally makes the decision about the candidates’ performance and their ranks in the interview. Most of the organizations have realized recently that employees’ positive attitude matters much rather than employees’ skills and knowledge. Employees with positive attitude contribute much to the organization. Hence the interviewers look for the candidates with the right attitude while making final decision.
Medical examination: – Applicants who have crossed the above stages are sent for a physical examination either to the company’s physician or to a medical officer approved for the purpose.
Reference checks: – The applicant is asked to mention in his application form the names and addresses of two or three persons who know him well.
Final approval: – The shortlisted candidates by the department are finally approved by the executives of the concerned department. Employment is offered in the form of appointment letter mentioning the post, the rank, the grade, the date by which the candidate should join and other terms and conditions in brief.
HR Interview
The goal of an HR interview is to determine the potential job performance of an applicant based on the answers that they give to questions. The HR interview is excellent for jobs that will require applicants to have communication skills. It will also allow the company to obtain important information that is related to the client. During the HR interview, the applicant will be able to demonstrate how much they know about a particular task.
The HR interview is designed to make sure the best candidates are selected. The interview will also allow the human resources department to determine if the applicant can work well with the other employees. However, there are a number of disadvantages to the HR interview process. The evaluations that are made by the HR department will often be subjective. The decision on whether or not they will hire the applicant is generally made during the first few minutes of the conversation. The rest of the interview is used by the HR department to determine if the decision is valid.
There are a number of ways that can be used to make the HR interview more successful. The use of stereotypes should be reduced as much as possible. Sex and race should not play a role in the selection process of the company. Studies have shown that interviewers who do not have an advanced knowledge of the job are much more likely to use stereotypes than those who do understand the job requirements.
The questions that are asked during the interview should always be related to the job. When applicants are asked questions which are not related to the job, this can damage the credibility of the company. To solve these problems, it is important for a company to make sure they train their employees, especially those who will be interviewing applicants. The interviewer must have interpersonal skills. They should not make quick decisions about those they interview, and they should never use stereotypes. The emphasis should never be placed on any one characteristic, especially if the job requires the applicant to be skilled in multiple areas.
Reliability of the Interview:
In the interview context, reliability is consensus, or agreement, between two interviewers on their assessment of the same candidates. This is called Interrater Reliability. Research shows that it is rather weak.
Similarity Error: Interviewers are positively predisposed to candidates who are similar to them (in hobbies, interests, personal background). They are negatively disposed to candidates who are unlike them.
Contrast Error: When several candidates are interviewed in succession, raters tend to compare each candidate with the preceding candidates instead of an absolute standard. Thus an average candidate can be rated as higher than average if he or she
comes after one or two poor candidates and lower than average if he or she follows an excellent candidate.
First Impression Error: Some interviewers tend to form a first impression of candidates rather quickly, based on a review of the application blank or on the first few moments of the interview. Thus, this impression is based on relatively little information about the candidate. Nevertheless the initial judgment is resistant t change as more information or contradictory information is acquired. In addition, the interviewer may choose subsequent questions based on the first impression, in an attempt to confirm the positive or negative impression.
Traits Rated and Halo Error: Halo error occurs when either the interviewer’s overall impression or strong impression of a single dimension spreads to influence his or her rating of other characteristics. For instance, if a candidate impresses the interviewer as being very enthusiastic, the interviewer might tend to rate he candidate high on other characteristics, such as job knowledge, loyalty and dependability. This is especially likely to happen when the interviewer is asked to rate many traits
Placement: Placement refers to assigning rank and responsibility to an individual, identifying him with a particular job. If the person adjusts to the job and continues to perform per expectations, it means that the candidate is properly placed. However, if the candidate is seen to have problems in adjusting himself to the job, the supervisor must find out whether the person is properly placed as per the latter’s aptitude and potential. Usually, placement problems arise out of wrong selection or improper placement or both. Therefore, organisations need to constantly review cases of employees expectations / potential and employee related problems such as turnover, absenteeism, accidents etc., and assess how far they are related to inappropriate placement decisions and remedy the situation without delay.
Induction: Induction refers to the introduction of a person to the job and the organisation. The purpose is to make the employee feel at home and develop a sense of pride in the organisation and commitment to the job. The induction process is also envisaged to indoctrinate, orient, acclimatise, acculture the person to the job and the organisation. The basic thrust of Induction training during the first one or few weeks after a person joins service in the organisation is to:
▪ introduce the person to the people with whom he works
▪ make him aware of the general company policies that apply to him as also the specific work situation and requirements,
▪answer any questions and clarify any doubts that the person may have about the job and the organisation ……and
▪ provide on-the-job instructions, check back periodically how
the person is doing and offer help, if required.