CHAPTER 4 EMPLOYEEE SELECTION: RECRUITING AND Point-of-Purchase Methods

INTERVIEWING
- The point-of-purchase method of recruitment is
based on the same “POP” (point-of-purchase)
advertising principles used to market products
Recruitment - The process of attracting employees to
to consumers.
an organization.

External recruitment - Recruiting employees from RECRUITERS

outside the organization.
Campus Recruiters
Internal recruitment - Recruiting employees already
- Many organizations send recruiters to college
employed by the organization.
campuses to answer questions about
MEDIA ADVERTISEMENTS themselves and interview students for available
positions.
Newspaper Ads - As a result, an increasing number of colleges are
- Running ads in periodicals such as local organizing virtual job fairs, in which their
newspapers or professional journals is a students and alumni can use the web to “visit”
declining method of recruiting employees. with recruiters from hundreds of organizations
at one time
Respond by calling - Recruitment ads in which - Virtual job fair - A job fair held on campus in
applicants are instructed to call rather than to apply in which students can “tour” a company online,
person or send résumés. ask questions of recruiters, and electronically
send résumés.
Apply-in-person ads - Recruitment ads that instruct
applicants to apply in person rather than to call or send Outside Recruiters
résumés.
- More than 75% of organizations use such
Send-résumé ads - Recruitment ads in which applicants outside recruiting sources as private
are instructed to send their résumé to the company employment agencies, public employment
rather than call or apply in person. agencies, and executive search firms (SHRM,
2001b).
Blind box - Recruitment ads that instruct applicants to
- Executive search firms - Employment
send their résumé to a box at the newspaper; neither
agencies, often also called headhunters, that
the name nor the address of the company is provided.
specialize in placing applicants in high-paying
WRITING RECRUITMENT ADS jobs
- Although little research is available, there is Employment Agencies and Search Firms
plenty of expert advice on the best way for an
employer to write recruitment advertisements. Employment Agencies

- operate in one of two ways:

- They charge either the company or the
applicant when the applicant takes the job. The
amount charged usually ranges from 10% to
30% of the applicant’s first-year salary.
- An organization that specializes in finding jobs
for applicants and finding applicants for
organizations looking for employee.

Executive Search Firms

- Executive search firms, better known as “head

hunters,” differ from employment agencies in
several ways

Public employment agencies

ELECTRONIC MEDIA - An employment service operated by a state or
local government, designed to match applicants
- The potential advantage to using electronic
with job openings.
media for recruitment is that, according to a
2013 study by the Radio Advertising Bureau, Employee Referrals
Americans spend 3.7 hours per day watching TV
and 2.3 hours a day listening to the radio.
 - A method of recruitment in which a current affirmative action statements, displaying
employee refers a friend or family member for a pictures of minority employees, and using
job. minority recruiters).

Nontraditional Populations

Direct Mail - When traditional recruitment methods are

unsuccessful, many organizations look for
- A method of recruitment in which an
potential applicants from nontraditional
organization sends out mass mailings of
populations.
information about job openings to potential
applicants. Recruiting “Passive” Applicants

Internet - With the exception of the direct-mail approach,

and at times, the use of executive recruiters,
- The Internet continues to be a fast-growing
most of the recruiting methods previously
source of recruitment. Internet recruiting
discussed in this chapter deal with applicants
efforts usually take one of three forms:
who are actively seeking work
employer-based websites, job boards, and
- “the best” employees are already employed,
social networking sites.
recruiters try to find ways to identify this hidden
Employer-Based Websites talent and then convince the person to apply
for a job with their company.
- With employer-based websites, an organization
lists available job openings and provides Evaluating the Effectiveness of
information about itself and the minimum Recruitment Strategies
requirements needed to apply to a particular
job. Cost per applicant

Job Boards - The amount of money spent on a recruitment

campaign divided by the number of people that
- A job board is a private company whose website
subsequently apply for jobs as a result of the
lists job openings for hundreds or thousands of
recruitment campaign.
organizations and résumés for millions of
applicants. Cost per qualified applicant

Social Media - The amount of money spent on a recruitment

campaign divided by the number of qualified
- the greatest change in employee recruitment
people that subsequently apply for jobs as a
has been the increased use of social media
result of the recruitment campaign.
outlets such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
- Essentially, social media sites are traditional Realistic job preview (RJP)
employee referral programs and networking on
- A method of recruitment in which job
steroids.
applicants are told both the positive and the
Job Fairs negative aspects of a job.

- A recruitment method in which several Expectation-lowering procedure (ELP)

employers are available at one location so that
many applicants can obtain information at one - A form of RJP that lowers an applicant’s
time expectations about the various aspects of the
job.

Effective Employee Selection Techniques

- If the recruitment process was successful, an
Special Recruit Populations organization will have several applicants from
which to choose. At this point, many techniques
Increasing Applicant Diversity can be used to select the best person from this
- Many organizations make special efforts to pool of applicants.
recruit underrepresented groups such as Employment Interviews
women and minorities. Efforts include recruiting
at historically black colleges (HBCs), developing - A method of selecting employees in which an
targeted intern positions, and highlighting the interviewer asks questions of an applicant and
organization’s openness to diversity in then makes an employment decision based on
recruitment materials (e.g., including
 the answers to the questions as well as the way the same questions of everyone, it is the job
in which the questions were answered. relatedness and standardized scoring that most
distinguish the structured from the
Types of Interviews unstructured interview.
- Perhaps a good place to start a discussion on Problems with Unstructured Interviews
interviews is to define the various types.
Interviews vary on three main factors: Poor Intuitive Ability
structure, style, and medium. - Interviewers often base their hiring decisions on
“gut reactions,” or intuition.

STRUCTURES Lack of Job Relatedness

Structured interviews - Research by Bolles (2014) has identified the

most common questions asked by interviewers.
- Interviews in which questions are based on a As you can see in Figure 4.4, these questions are
job analysis, every applicant is asked the same not related to any particular job
questions, and there is a standardized scoring
system so that identical answers are given
identical scores.

Unstructured interview

- An interview in which applicants are not asked

the same questions and in which there is no
standard scoring system to score applicant
answers.

STYLE
Primacy Effects
- The style of an interview is determined by the
number of interviewees and number of - The fact that information presented early in an
interviewers. One-on-one interviews involve interview carries more weight than information
one interviewer interviewing one applicant. presented later.
Serial interviews involve a series of single Contrast Effects
interviews.
- When the performance of one applicant affects
MEDIUM the perception of the performance of the next
applicant.
- Interviews also differ in the extent to which
they are done in person. In face-to-face Negative-Information Bias
interviews, both the interviewer and the
applicant are in the same room. - The fact that negative information receives
1. Face-to-face interviews - provide a personal more weight in an employment decision than
setting and allow the participants to use both does positive information.
visual and vocal cues to evaluate information. Interviewer-Interviewee Similarity
2. Telephone interviews - are often used to
screen applicants but do not allow the use of - In general, research suggests that an
visual cues (not always a bad thing). interviewee will receive a higher score (Howard
3. Videoconference interviews - are conducted & Ferris, 1996) if he or she is similar to the
at remote sites. The applicant and the interviewer in terms of personality (Foster,
interviewer can hear and see each other, but 1990), attitude (Frank & Hackman, 1975),
the setting is not as personal, nor is the image gender (Foster, Dingman, Muscolino, &
and vocal quality of the interview as sharp as in Jankowski, 1996), or race (McFarland, Ryan,
face-to-face interviews. Sacco, & Kriska, 2004; PrewettLivingston et al.,
4. Written interviews - involve the applicant 1996)
answering a series of written questions and Interviewee Appearance
then sending the answers back through regular
mail or through email. - Meta-analyses (Barrick, Shaffer, & DeGrassi,
2009; Hosada, Stone-Romero, & Coats, 2003;
Advantages of Structured Interviews Steggert, Chrisman, & Haap, 2006) indicate that,
- Though some HR professionals think they are in general, physically attractive applicants have
using a structured interview because they ask an advantage in interviews over less attractive
 applicants, and applicants who dress Typical-answer approach - A method of scoring
professionally receive higher interview scores interview answers that compares an applicant’s answer
than do more poorly dressed applicants. with benchmark answers.

NON VERBAL CUES Benchmark answers - Standard answers to interview

questions, the quality of which has been agreed on by
- Nonverbal communication Factors such as eye
job experts.
contact and posture that are not associated
with actual words spoken. Key-issues approach - A method of scoring interview
answers that provides points for each part of an answer
that matches the scoring key.
Creating a Structured Interview
Conducting the Structured Interview
- To create a structured interview, information
- Though it is common to use a panel interview,
about the job is obtained (job analysis) and
research suggests that interviews will best
questions are created that are designed to find
predict performance when one trained
out the extent to which applicants’ skills and
interviewer is used for all applicants (Huffcutt &
experiences match those needed to successfully
Woehr, 1999).
perform the job.

Creating Interview Questions Job Search Skills

- Though the orientation of this and the next
Clarifier - A type of structured interview question that
chapter is on selecting employees, it is
clarifies information on the résumé or application.
important that you master the skills necessary
Disqualifier - A type of structured interview question in to obtain a job.
which a wrong answer will disqualify the applicant from - The following three sections provide advice on
further consideration. how to interview, write a cover letter, and
write a résumé.
Skill-level determiner - A type of structured-interview
question designed to tap an applicant’s knowledge or Successfully Surviving the Interview Process
skill.
- One of the most important of these steps is to
Future-focused question - A type of structured obtain training on how to interview.
interview question in which applicants are given a
situation and asked how they would handle it.

Situational question - A structured-interview technique Scheduling the Interview

in which applicants are presented with a series of
situations and asked how they would handle each one. - Contrary to popular advice, neither day of week
nor time of day affect interview scores.
Past-focused question - A type of structured-interview - the interview can be scheduled for any time of
question that taps an applicant’s experience. the day or week, but the applicant must not be
Patterned-behavior description interview (PBDI) - A late!
structured interview in which the questions focus on Before the Interview
behavior in previous jobs.
- On the day of the interview, dress neatly and
Organizational-fit questions - A type of structured- professionally, and adjust your style as
interview question that taps how well an applicant’s necessary to fit the situation (Williams, 2005).
personality and values will fit with the organizational Avoid wearing accessories such as flashy large
culture. earrings and brightly colored ties. Hair should
be worn conservatively— avoid “big hair” and
colors such as purple and green (impersonating
a member of MTV’s Jersey Shore is not a good
interview strategy).
Creating a Scoring Key for Interview
Answers During the Interview

- Most suggestions about how best to behave in

Right/Wrong Approach - Some interview questions,
an interview take advantage of the interviewer
especially skill-level determiners, can be scored simply
biases discussed in this chapter. Nonverbal
on the basis of whether the answer given was correct or
behaviors should include a firm handshake, eye
incorrect.
contact, smiling, and head nodding.
 - Keep in mind that first impressions are the most 1. The résumé must be attractive and easy to read. To
important. achieve this, try to leave at least a 1-inch margin on all
sides, and allow plenty of white space; that is, do not
After the Interview
“pack” information into the résumé by using smaller
- Immediately following the interview, write a fonts and margins. A résumé can have great content,
brief letter or email thanking the interviewer for but if the “package” is not attractive, few employers will
her time. This nice touch certainly cannot hurt. want to read it. This rule is hardly surprising, as physical
To help you prepare for the employment attractiveness provides a first impression for many
interview, complete the Surviving the activities, such as interviewing, dating, and purchasing
Employment Interview Exercise (4.9) in your products.
workbook.
2. The résumé cannot contain typing, spelling,
grammatical, or factual mistakes. When Walter Pierce,
Jr., was a personnel officer for Norfolk Southern
Corporation, his boss received a résumé from an
excellent applicant who was applying for a job as a
Writing Cover Letters computer programmer. Even though the applicant had
outstanding credentials, the personnel director would
Cover letter - A letter that accompanies a résumé or job not even offer him an interview, because the applicant
application. had misspelled two words on his résumé. A similar story
Salutation - If possible, get the name of the person to is told by Dick Williams, general manager of N & W
whom you want to direct the letter. If you aren’t sure of Credit Union. He once received two cover letters
the person’s name, call the company and simply ask for stapled together—both referring to the résumé that
the name of the person (have it spelled) to whom you wasn’t there. To make matters worse, four words were
should send your résumé. misspelled. I could tell you more horror stories, but the
point should be clear: Do not make any careless
Paragraphs - The opening paragraph should be one or mistakes!
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).

Signature - Above your signature, use words such as

“cordially” or “sincerely.” “Yours truly” is not advised,
3. The résumé should make the applicant look as
and words such as “Love,” “Peace,” or “Hugs and
qualified as possible— without lying. This is an
snuggles” are strongly discouraged. Personally sign each
important rule in determining what information should
cover letter; and type your name, address, and phone
be included. If including hobbies, summer jobs, and lists
number below your signature
of courses will make you look more qualified for this
particular job, then by all means, include them.
Writing a Résumé
Résumé - A formal summary of an applicant’s Types of Résumé
professional and educational background. Chronological résumé - A résumé in which jobs are
Views of Résumés listed in order from most to least recent.

- Résumés can be viewed in one of two ways: as Functional résumé - A résumé format in which jobs are
a history of your life or as an advertisement of grouped by function rather than listed in order by date.
your skills. Résumés written as a history of one’s Psychological résumé - A résumé style that takes
life tend to be long and to list every job ever advantage of psychological principles pertaining to
worked, as well as personal information such as memory organization and impression formation.
hobbies, marital status, and personal health. - Averaging versus adding model - A model proposed
Characteristics of Effective Résumés by Anderson that postulates that our impressions are
based more on the average value of each impression
One of the most frustrating aspects of writing a résumé than on the sum of the values for each impression
is that asking 100 people for advice results in 100
different opinions. However, though there are many
preferences, there are really only three rules that must
be followed in writing résumés: