Selection

Selection is choosing the best person to do the job by gathering information on the candidate and then organise and evaluate that information. The candidate then must be assessed and the employer can try and forecast how well they would do in the job. Information on the job is then relayed to the candidate and they must decide whether to accept the offer. Some examples of selection methods are: Interviews, Tests, Assessment centres, References, Work simulations, Telephone screening and Role play. 


Interview
 Organisations need to get an idea of the personality of potential employees before they hire them. The best way to determine someones personality is through an interview. The interview is the most common method of selection. The interview would take place once the CV's have been checked over to make sure the candidates have the correct qualifications and then a select few will be called forward for the interview process. An interview is useful for the interviewer to examine the interviewee on a deeper level and give them more complex questions to see if they are suitable for the job. They are also able to obtain detailed information on the candidates personal feelings and they usually achieve a high response rate. However, some drawbacks of the interview process could be that the interviewer could be biased and ask closed questions or leading questions to make the candidate fall into a trap, this may mean that the interviewer is not consistent and the process would be unfair. It is also very time consuming in setting up and analysing.

Tests
Psychometric tests can help the organistion gain objective information about the range of skills and traits that the individual has. This maybe done after or instead of the interview process although it would be expensive to use both. It allows the company to assess factors that cannot be measured through an application form or an interview. They are professionally checked and validated to make sure the information is reliable. Other types of test that may be used are intellegence tests that can test the verbal and numerical skills of the candidate. Personality questionnaires, ability tests, motivation tests, and aptitude tests (such as a response test) are a number of others that may be put into practise.






Assessment Centres
Sometimes companies may run a series of extended selection procedures that run throughout the day or sometimes over a few days. These usually occur after the first round of interviews and before the final selection. They are usually held in the company's premesis or in a hotel and are seen at the most objective and fairest form of selection because it is taken over a longer period of time and gives numerous assessors a chance to see what the candidates can really do rather than what they say they can do. Lots of different candidates complete the process at the same time so they can see the direct competition that they are up against. They also allow the candidates to show a range of abilities rather than just doing one tests so it gives them more opportunities to play to their strengths. Feedback is also given to help them improve. The only disadvantage of assessment centres are that they are very time consuming and expensive to run.

The last interview that I took part in would have been to get into secondary school. This is because the process required to get my job was a test and no interview was required. I don't think the interview went very well as I didn't get the place. Although I was at a young age so was not really prepared or experienced enough to handle the situation. I don't think I sold myself well enough, even though there was a test beforehand which I had done well in. If I did an interview now I would appear enthusiastic and driven on getting the job. However, interviews are telling the interviewer want they want to hear a lot of the time and not what you actually think so it is hard for someone to be themselves in an interview. I would much prefer to go through an assessment centre as it gives you more opportunites to show off your skills.


In my job the selection process is just a simple test based on a presentation given and they select the candidates who answer the most questions correctly based on how much they took in. I would change this to give more activities to see whether or not the candidates are suitable for the job as with the test it is easy to ask someone else for the answer. They should have done an assessment centre by putting candidates in real life simulations and see how the respond to it. The assessors can then put through the people who coped best with the problem. This would show a wider range of skills than just answering questions on a paper. Would also allow for the candidate to show how they can improvise under pressure which would be useful for the company to have employees with these skills.


In conclusion, choosing the right person for a job is vitally important to the company. Hence why they inject so much time and money into the process to make sure they get it right. They need to make sure that they hire someone with all the correct skills to carry out the job to the highest standard to give the organisation the best results. The main way in which they do this is interviewing, however, they can also used tests and assessment centres for a more objective view.

Bibliography

• Recruitment, selection and training. Available: http://www.army.mod.uk/join/join.aspx. Last accessed 2011. 
• Mullins, L.J. (2010), Management & Organisational Behaviour, 9th edition, Essex, FT
• Oatley, A. (2004). The Strengths and Limitations of Interviews. Available: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/aeo9702.html. Last accessed 2011.
• http://www.evalued.bcu.ac.uk/tutorial/4c.htm