HRM 2213 – Human Resource Management

Lesson 06: Selection

Department of Human Resource Management
Faculty of Management Studies
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
Learning Outcomes
 Define the selection

 Explain the importance of selection

 Identify the consequences of wrong selection

 Identify and Explain the selection methods

 Explain the assessment centers

Definition
Selection is the process of making the choice of the
most appropriate person from the pool of applicants
recruited to fill the relevant job vacancy.

Most appropriate means person who suit best with the

job & person specification relevant to the job vacancy.

Purpose of Selection function : choose the most

appropriate person to fill the job vacancy through
application of several methods.
Result of the selection process is job applicants are
divided into two categories;
Those who will be offered employment
Those who will not be offered employment
selection function can be perceived as a negative
function. Because selection involves rejection as well
as choice.
Recruitment function and selection function are
combined so as to create a function called employment
function in HR Dep. of some org:

Specialist call employment specialist

 Importance of selection
 The insufficient & ineffective selection results in
deterioration of quality of HR and ultimately impairs
org: success.
 Three objectives of selection process;
 To get the right person for the job vacancy
 To establish or maintain an image as a good
employer
 To perform the selection process as cost – effective
as possible.
 Results of wrong selection decision
1. Expected job performance does not occur as long as the
wrong employee is within the org:
2. Cost incurred for induction & training of the wrong
employee will go in vain
3. Possibility of occurrence of losses & costs (damage to the
public relation, goodwill, occurred in hazards )
4. Cost of grievance handling arising from an elimination
decision
5. Additional cost in procuring a new right employee
6. Possibility of harming thought of some existing employees
 Selection Process
R
E
J
Medical Test
E
C
T Background Test
I
O
N
Interviews
A
P
P Employment Test
L
I
C
A Application
N Evaluation
T
 Selection Methods
1. Application Evaluation
Application is a sheet or small booklet with blanks to filled in by
the applicant.
its purpose to collect the basic information about the candidates
most org: use application banks to screen out candidates who do
not meet the minimum job specifications on education or
experience

beyond these basics, a manager may informally evaluate the

application to find the candidates who look most promising
Following factors are important to success of
selecting by applications

 Use job description & specification for prepare

the job application
 Include necessary questions only
 Sufficient spaces
 Suitable to the job
 Careful to design it
Advantages
1. Easy to compare job candidates qualification

2. Quick way of checking whether applicants possess

minimum requirement

3. Good method of assessing legibility of writing

4. Guideline in a subsequent interview

5. preparing personal files

Disadvantages
 Can not be measured
 Verbal ability
 Visible interest
 Visible health
 Appearance
 Difficult task to prepare a good application
2. Employment Tests
• Carefully chosen systematic &
standardized procedure for evolving of
responses which can be used to assess one or
more of their psychological characteristics
• Measuring instrument
• Some researches are often referred as
psychometric test
• Psychometric literally means “mental
measurement”
 The characteristics of a good test
1. It is a sensitive measuring instrument
2. Individual’s score can be interpreted in relation to that of
others
3. Most appropriate method for large sample
4. It is reliable in the sense that always measures the same
thing
5. It is valid in the sense that it measures the characteristic that
the test is intend to measure
Ex: intelligence test should measure intelligence not simply
verbal facility.
 Types of test
I. Knowledge Tests - measured the specific subject
knowledge
II. Practical Tests – measure the some part of the job
performance
III. Aptitude Tests - measure the persons decision making
ability, analyzing ability
IV. Proficiency Test - measure the specific language
knowledge
V. Psychological Tests – measure the personality, attitudes,
interest etc..
 Activity:
Select the most appropriate employment test for the
following mentioned each vacancy
 Typist
 Translator
 Driver
 Book keeper
 Teacher
 Management trainee
3. Interviews
Interview is a face-to-face, oral and observational
evaluation method of appraising an applicant’s
acceptability with regard to a certain job.
The interview seeks to answer two broad questions
(Werther et al,1985)
i. Can the applicant do the job?
ii. How does the applicant compare with others
who have applied for the job?
 Types of Interviews
Base on number of participant in the interview
I. Individual Interview
II. Panel Interview
Type Interviewer Interviewee
(Applicant)
Individual 01 01
Panel
I 01 < 01
II < 01 01
III < 01 < 01
 Interviewing Techniques
 Open questions
best way to use to get candidates to take
good idea to begin the interview with one or two open questions.
 Closed questions
aim to clarify a point of fact
 Probing questions
used to get further details or to ensure that you are getting all the
facts
Ex: what knowledge & skills were you able to apply to the project?
 Behavioral event questions
Aim to get candidates to tell you how they would
behave in situations that been identified as critical to
successful job performance
Ex: could you describe any contribution you have
made as a member of a team in achieving an
unusually successful result?
 Capability questions

Aim to establish what candidates know, the

skills they possess & use & their competencies
– what they are capable of doing

Ex: what are the key skills you are expected to

use in your work?
 Continuity questions
Aim to keep the flow going in an interview & encourage
candidates to enlarge on what they have told you.
Ex: what happened next?
what did you do then?

 Focused work questions

specific aspects of the candidates work history

Ex: how many times were you late last year?

Problems with the interviewer
 Halo Effect / Error
occurs when either interviewer’s overall impression or
strong impression of a single or few dimension/s
spreads to influence his or her rating of other
characteristics.

 Similarity Error
interviewers are positively predisposed toward
candidates who are similar to them – hobbies, interest,
personal background
 Race, sex, religion, class and age bias
 Contrast Error
when several candidates are interviewed in succession,
rates tend to compare each candidate with the preceding
candidate rather than with an absolute standard
 Overemphasis on one criterion
a special or extra importance is given by the interviewer
purposefully to one criterion and others criteria are
considered with lesser importance
 First Impression Error
Problems with the Interviewee

 Poor listening

 Distort purposefully his/her answers

 Interview nervous & fear

 Talking too much

 Social desirable behaviour

 Problems with the method of Interviewing
Interview Process
1. Preparation
i. Method – what type of interview should be used
ii. Interviewers – as success of interviewing heavily
depends on quality of interviewers
iii. Place – protect privacy, is quiet, is pleasant & is easy
for holding the interview needs to be selected.
arrangement of tables, chairs, ventilation & other
facilities suitable for interviewing as also important.
iv. Questions – preparation of questions which are
going to be asked at the interview in advance
allows the interviewers to hold the interview
more objectively

V. Evaluation Scheme – it is essential to develop an

evaluation scheme to be used to determine
suitability of each candidate for the job vacancy.

VI. Time – date & time of interview must be

decided
2. Conduct
i. Commencement – very important to start the
interview at the right time with proper salutation
Develop a good rapport with interviewee
ii. Exchange of Information – the heart of
interview process is the exchange of information
iii. Termination – after obtaining necessary
information the interview should be terminated.

3. Evaluation
4. Background Investigation
background investigation is a special
investigation to reveal real background of the
job applicant. It is a formal look into past
behavior of the applicant.

Main purpose of it is to know what type of

person the applicant was.
Type of Background Investigations
 Academic – to investigate academic history of job
applicant
 Employment – to investigate employment history

 Personal/ Individual – to investigate the character of

the job applicant

 Financial – to investigate the financial state of the

job applicant
There are three methods through which reference can be
made
 By mail in writing
 By telephone
 In person

5. Medical Examination
Medical examination is a special test focusing on the
physical fitness of the job applicants.
it examines the job applicant’s health & physical
abilities.
Purposes;
 Persons who are found to be physically unable to
perform the essential functions to the job.

 To place individuals in jobs that they are fit

enough to handle.

 To prevent the spread of contagious diseases to

current employees

 To prevent insurance or worker’s compensation

claims
6. Assessment Centers
Assessment center is a relatively new method of selection
and it is used mainly for managerial selection.
It is a special program formulated to select candidates for
specially managerial vacancies.

It is a special program formulated to select candidates

through the use of several techniques of evaluation

It is not a station it is a program.

An assessment center has following features:
 It focuses on behavior of job applicants
 There are multiple types of evaluation techniques – its
may include intelligence tests, personality tests,
interviews, case studies, presentations, group
discussions, role plays, management games, in-basket
exercises etc.
 There are multiple assessors/evaluators – GM, HRM, &
other relevant line managers may work as evaluators
 There are multiple job applicants – 10 – 12 candidates
are selected to the evaluation
 Assessors conference – finally all the assessors get
together & discuss about their evaluations in order to
make final decision

 Feedback is given to all candidates about their strengths

& weaknesses.

 Glueck said that the most effective method of

managerial selection is assessment center.

 Research shows that assessment center has high degree

of validity.
 Multiple assessors will improve the degree of
accuracy of selection decisions.

 Multiple assessment techniques will maximize

advantages of each technique

 Opportunity for self-assessment

Thank You…