LESSON 3 | EMPLOYEE SELECTION: RECRUITING AND INTERVIEWING

Recruitment

The process of attracting employees to an organization.

External Recruitment

Recruiting employees from outside the organization. This method helps to bring in new talent and skills that are not available internally.

Internal Recruitment

Recruiting employees already employed by the organization. This process typically involves promotions or transfers within the organization.

Recruitment and Selection Process

1. Job Analysis

2. Selection of testing methods

3. Test validation

4. Recruitment

5. Screening

6. Testing

7. Selection

8. Hiring/Rejecting

Job Analysis

It identifies and details the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, outcomes, and work environment of a particular job to create a clear understanding of job expectations and requirements.

Selection of Testing Methods

This involves choosing appropriate methods to assess candidates' qualifications, skills, and suitability for the job. These methods include written tests, interviews, personality assessments, or technical tasks.

Test Validation

It ensures that the tests used in the selection process accurately measure what they intend to and are predictive of job performance.

Recruitment

It is the process of attracting qualified candidates to apply for job openings. This process includes various activities such as advertising positions, networking, and encouraging employee referrals to find suitable applicants.

Screening

It involves reviewing applications and résumés to eliminate candidates who do not meet the basic job requirements.

Testing

It is the stage where candidates take assessments to evaluate their knowledge, skills, personality, or abilities related to the job.

Selection

This step involves evaluating test results, interviews, and other assessments to identify the most suitable candidate(s).

Hiring/Rejecting

Based on all previous steps, the employer either offers the job to a candidate or informs others that they were not selected..

External Recruitment: Media Advertisement

• Newspaper Ads

• Electronic Media

• Point-of-Point Purchase Methods

• Recruiters

• Public and private Employment Agencies and Search Firms

• Employee Referrals

• Direct Mail

• Internet

• Job Fairs

Newspaper Ads

Posting job openings in newspapers to reach a wide audience.

Electronic Media

Using digital platforms like websites, social media, and online ads to find candidates.

Point-of-Purchase Methods

• Posting job ads in places where people are already shopping or engaging with the business (e.g., a "We're Hiring" sign in a store).

• The idea is to catch potential applicants where they already are.

Recruiters

• Campus Recruiters:

  • Visiting colleges/universities to recruit fresh graduates.

• Virtual Job Fair:

  • Online events where employers and job seekers meet and interact.

• Outside Recruiters:

  • Independent recruiters or agencies hired by the company to find employees.

Public and Private Employment Agencies and Search Firms

• Private Employment Agencies:

  • Companies that match job seekers with employers for a fee.

• Search Firms:

  • Also called executive search or headhunters. Specialize in finding high-level executives or professionals.

  • Two types:

    • Contingency Search Firms: Paid only if a candidate is successfully placed.

    • Retained Search Firms: Paid in advance to conduct a thorough search.

• Public Employment Agencies:

  • Government-run services (e.g., local labor offices) that help unemployed individuals find jobs.

Employee Referrals

• Employees recommend people they know for open positions.

• Often faster and more reliable because referred candidates are somewhat pre-screened.

Direct Mail

A method of recruitment in which an organization sends out mass mailings of information about job openings to potential applicants.

Internet

It continues to be a fast-growing source of recruitment.

Sources include:

• Employer-based websites (like career pages of companies),

• Job boards (like Indeed or LinkedIn),

• Social networking sites (like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter).

Job Fairs

• Events where multiple companies gather to meet and interview potential employees.

• Can be in-person or virtual.

Methods to Evaluate Recruitment Strategies

1. Number of Applicants

2. Cost per Client

3. Number of Qualified Applicants

4. Number of Successful Employees

5. Diversity of Applicants

One-on-one interviews

An interview where one interviewer talks to one applicant. It’s a private, personal meeting.

ex: You apply for a marketing job and meet privately with the Marketing Manager, who asks you questions about your experience and skills.

Serial interviews

A series of one-on-one interviews where you meet different interviewers one after another. Each interviewer might focus on different topics.

ex: You first meet with an HR officer, then separately with the department head, and finally with the company CEO— each one after another on the same day.

Return interviews

When you are invited back for another interview after the first one, usually because they want to learn more about you or have you meet more people.

ex: After an initial interview with the hiring team, they invite you back a week later for a second round of interviews to talk more deeply about your skills and experiences.

Panel interviews

An interview where a group of interviewers (like a panel) interviews one applicant at the same time.

ex: You sit in front of three people at once — for example, the HR manager, your future supervisor, and a senior executive — and they take turns asking you questions during the same session.

Group interviews

An interview where several applicants are interviewed together at once. The company watches how you interact with others.

ex: You and five other job applicants are interviewed together at the same time. The employer observes how you all interact, maybe through activities like group discussions or problem-solving tasks.You and five other job applicants are interviewed together at the same time. The employer observes how you all interact, maybe through activities like group discussions or problem-solving tasks.

Face-to-face interviews

You go to the company's office and have a live, in-person interview with the hiring manager.

Telephone interviews

A recruiter calls you and asks questions over the phone as an initial screening before deciding if you should move to the next round.

Videoconference interviews

You join a Zoom or Microsoft Teams call from your home and are interviewed by the hiring team remotely.

Written interviews

Instead of speaking, you are sent a list of written questions (via email or online platform) and you submit written answers, often used for remote hiring or for assessing communication skills.

Style

based on number of interviewers/interviewees; how the people are arranged.

Medium

based on how communication happens; how you connect with the interviewer.

STRUCTURE

It is determined by the source of the questions, the extent to which all applicants are asked the same questions and the structure of the system used to score the answers.

• Structured interviews

• Unstructured interview

Structured Interview

• Interviewers ask the same set of prepared questions to every applicant.

• Answers are usually scored using a specific system.

Unstructured Interview

An interview format where questions are not predetermined, allowing for a free-flowing conversation that can vary significantly between candidates.

Structured Interview

"How do you manage working under pressure?"

Structured Interview

"What would you do if you saw another officer breaking a rule?"

Structured Interview

"How would you deal with a client complaint about slow service?"

Unstructured Interview

"Walk me through your sales experience."

Unstructured Interview

"Tell me a bit about yourself."

ADVANTAGES OF STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

1. Higher Validity

2. Standardized Scoring & Job Relevance

3. Incremental Validity

4. Legally Defensible

5. Reduced Bias from Similarity Effects

DISADVANTAGES OF STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

1. Perceived as More Difficult

2. Limited Self-Expression

3. May Feel Impersonal

4. Time-Consuming to Develop

5. Less Flexibility

ADVANTAGES OF UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

1. Flexibility In-depth exploration

2. Builds Rapport

3. Customization

4. Useful for Creative or Complex Roles

DISADVANTAGES OF UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

1. Poor Intuitive Ability

2. Lack of Job Relatedness

3. Primacy Effects

4. Contrast Effects

5. Negative Information Bias

6. Interviewer-Interviewee Similarity

7. Interviewee Appearance

8. Nonverbal Cues

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other characteristics

KSAO

Create Interview Questions

• Clarifiers

• Disqualifiers

• Skill-level determiners

• Past-focused (behavioral)

• Future-focused (situational)

• Organizational fit

Create Scoring Key

• Right/Wrong

• Typical-answer

• Key-issues

TYPES OF SCREENING TESTS

Biodata