Recruitment and Selection Lesson

EMPLOYMENT ASSESSMENTS
- An employment assessment is an objective and standardized way to assess a person's KSAs
(knowledge, skills, and abilities), competencies. and other characteristics in relation to other
individuals.

- When an organization decides to use a particular employment assessment or test, it is critical

that the attribute or skill being tested is used in the work. For example, if someone's
keyboarding skills are tested, yet the job doesn't have any tasks that require keyboarding, it
would be inappropriate to use that test. Again, the purpose of tests is to gather additional
information on the candidate so that job performance in the organization can be predicted.

TYPES OF EMPLOYMENT ASSESSMENTS

- Employment assessments, or tests, may be classified in different ways. Generally, aptitude
tests (capacity to learn or acquire skills) or achievement tests (what a person knows or can do
right now) are used to measure a person's abilities.

Cognitive Ability Tests

- Cognitive ability tests evaluate brain-based skills such as memory. problem solving, and
numerical ability. A variety of tests-both paper- and-pencil and computer-administered
measure cognitive abilities,

Personality and Interest Inventories

- Whereas cognitive ability tests measure a person's mental capacity. personality tests measure
personal characteristics, such as extroversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience.

Personality tests can be problematic if they inadvertently discriminate against individuals who
would otherwise perform effectively. Therefore, Although it is generally not recommended that
personality tests be used for background information when selecting employees, they can be very
useful as part of a career development program and for enhancing teamwork.

Emotional Intelligence/Emotional and Social Competence

- One of the newer, and greatly debated, types of employment tests measures the emotional
intelligence of the applicant, particularly for leadership roles. Emotional intelligence (EI) has
many definitions, but the one most commonly used describes it as a set of personal qualities
distinct from cognitive ability and important for success.

Physical Ability Tests

- Employers may need to evaluate a person's physical abilities due to the requirements of the
job. Specific jobs, such as warehouse worker and police officer, typically require job
 incumbents to have specific physical abilities, such as strength and endurance. These physical
abilities are needed not only to do the job properly but also to minimize injury due to the
demands of these positions.

Job Sample Tests

- Job sample tests, or work sample tests, require the applicant to perform tasks that are part of
the work required on the job. Like job knowledge tests, job sample tests are constructed from
a carefully developed outline that, experts agree, includes the major job functions; the tests
are thus considered content valid. They are often used to measure skills for office and clerical
jobs.

REFERENCE CHECKING
- Organizations use a variety of ways to check references, including electronic and telephone.

- An employer has no legal obligation to provide a former employee with a reference. To avoid
liability, many employers are providing a perfunctory letter of reference, which supplies only
the name, employment dates, last position with the company, and final salary.

- By using sources in addition to former employers, organizations can obtain valuable

information about an applicant's character and habits. Telephone interviews are most
effective.

MAKING THE HIRING DECISION

- Summary forms and checklists are commonly used to ensure that all the pertinent information
has been included and that all applicants for a specific job are evaluated and compared in a
fair and consistent manner.

- It is also helpful to remember that summarizing the information about the candidates is not a
mechanical process. The decision maker needs to be sure that any employment assessments
are appropriate for the work and that any challenges to their use can be defended, that the
weighting of any criterion is done consistently for all applicants, and that job performance
indicators are appropriate for all stages of the job.

- Of primary importance is ensuring that the entire process is well structured.

- It is much easier to measure what individuals can do than what they will do. The can-do
factors are readily evident from test scores and verified information.

- What the individual will do can only be inferred. Motivation-based interview questions are
another tool to help determine how a job applicant will ultimately perform in the job.
 - Given the uncertainty around a hiring decision, the selection process may be described as a
risk-management process. The goal is to hire the best person for the job by using a variety of
sources of valid and reliable information.

The hiring decision is typically approached in 1 of 2 ways:

1. A "clinical approach, "in which each person involved will give different weights to the
applicants' background. This approach can lead to different decisions and frequently demonstrates
biases and stereotypes as it is based on personal judgment.

2. A "statistical approach, "in which criteria for successful job performance are listed and
weighting factors are assigned. Information gathered from interviews and assessments are then
combined, with the person receiving the highest score being offered the job. In this approach, it is
important to identify any threshold or cut-off-the point at which a person is no longer considered.

- Although different people, including HR professionals, may be involved in the selection

process, ultimately, the manager decides who gets hired. Therefore, it is important that this
person understands the importance of the steps necessary to make a good decision. In large
organizations, notifying applicants of the decision and making job offers are often the
responsibility of the HR department. This department will confirm the details of the job.
working arrangements, wages, and so on and specify a deadline by which the applicant must
reach a decision. In smaller organizations without an HR practitioner, the manager will notify
the candidates. Therefore, if there is an HR department, it is valuable to forge a strong
partnership with HR in order to gain its valuable technical and legal assistance.

Job Analysis

JOB ANALYSIS is the process of obtaining information about jobs (or work) by determining what
the duties, tasks, or activities of those jobs are and the necessary skills, knowledge, training, and
abilities to perform the work successfully.
- The procedure involves undertaking a systematic approach to gathering specific job
information, including the work activities, worker attributes, and work context.
- This being the case, when job information is accurate, it will be easier to recruit, select,
manage performance, plan for training and development and health and safety issues, and
compensate an individual doing this work. The ultimate purpose of job analysis is to improve
organizational performance and productivity.

A supervisor or Human Resource (HR) specialist normally aims to collect one or more of the
following types of information via the job analysis.
- Work activities: information about actual work activities performed
- Human behavior: information about human behavior like sensing, communicating,
deciding, etc...
 - Machines, tools, equipment, and work aids used: information about performance standards
(in terms of quantity or quality levels for each job duty).
- These standards will be the basis on which the employee will be evaluated.
- Job context: information about physical working conditions, work schedules and the
organizational and social context (e.g. information regarding inc etc...)
- Human requirements: job-related knowledge or skills, and required personal attributes.

USES OF JOB ANALYSIS INFORMATION

- Recruitment and Selection: Job analysis provides information about what the job entails
and what human characteristics are required to carry out these activities. This description and
job specification information is then used to decide what sort of people to recruit and hire.

- Compensation: Job analysis information is also essential for estimating the value of and
appropriate compensation for each job. Compensation usually depends on such things as the
job's required skill and education level, safety hazards, and degree of responsibility. Job
analysis provides the information for determining the relative worth of each job so that each
job can be accurately classified.

- Performance Appraisal: Compares each employee's actual performance with his or her
performance standards. It is often through job analysis that experts. determine the standards
to be achieved and the specific activities to be performed.

- Training: Job analysis information is also used for designing training and development
programs, because the analysis and resulting job description show the skills and therefore the
training that is required.

- Ensure Complete Assignment of Duties: Job analysis can also help discover unassigned
duties.

STEPS ON JOB ANALYSIS

Step 1: Identify the use to which the information will be put, since this will determine the data you
collect and how you collect them. Some data collection techniques like interviewing the employee
and asking what the job entails are good for writing job descriptions and selecting employees for the
job. Other job analysis techniques do not provide qualitative job descriptions. Instead, they provide
numerical ratings for each job: these can be used to compare jobs to one another for compensation
purposes.

Step 2: Review relevant background information such as organization charts, process charts, and job
descriptions. The chart should identify the title of each position and, by means of interconnecting
lines, who reports to whom and with whom the job incumbent is expected to communicate.
Step 3: Select representative positions to be analyzed. This is done when many similar jobs are to be
analyzed, and it is too time consuming, for instance, to analyze the jobs of all assembly workers.

Step 4: Analyze the job, by collecting data on job activities, required employee behaviors, working
conditions, and human traits and abilities needed to perform the job.

Step 5: Review the information with job incumbents. The job analysis information should be verified
with the worker performing the job and with his or her immediate supervisor. This review step can
also help gain the employee's acceptance of the job analysis data and conclusions, by giving that
person a chance to review and modify your description of his or her job activities.

Step 6: Develop a job description and job specification. The job description is a written statement
that describes the activities and responsibilities of the job, as well as important features of the job,
such as working conditions and safety and hazards.

- The job specification summarizes the personal qualities, traits, skills, and background
required for getting the job done.

METHODS OF COLLECTING JOB ANALYSIS INFORMATION

The Interview
- Three types of interviews are used to collect job analysis data Individual interviews with each
employee,
- Group interviews with groups of employees having the same job, and Supervisor interviews
with one or more supervisors who are thoroughly knowledgeable about the job being
analyzed.
- The group interview is used when a large number of employees are perf similar or identical
work, it can be a quick and inexpensive way to learn al. 1 job. As a rule, the worker's
immediate supervisor would attend the group session, but you should interview the
supervisor separately to get that person's perspective on the job's duties and responsibilities.

THE INTERVIEW

Typical Questions:
- What is the job being performed?
- What are the major duties of your position? What exactly do you do?
- What physical locations do you work in?
- What are the education, experience, skill, and (where applicable) certification and licensing
requirements?
- What activities do you participate in?
- What are the basic accountabilities or performance standards that typify your work?
 - What are your responsibilities?
- What are the environmental and working conditions involved?
- What are the job's physical demands?
- The emotional and mental demands?
- What are the health and safety conditions?
- Are you exposed to any hazards or unusual working conditions?

QUESTIONNAIRES
- Having employees fill out questionnaires to describe their job-related duties and
responsibilities is another good way to obtain job analysis information. The main thing to
decide here is how structured the questionnaire should be and what questions to include.

- Whether structured or unstructured, questionnaires have both pros and cons. A questionnaire
is a quick and efficient way to obtain information from a large number of employees; it is less
costly than interviewing hundreds of workers. However, developing the questionnaire and
testing it (perhaps by making sure the workers understand the questions) can be expensive
and time consuming.

OBSERVATION
- Direct observation is especially useful when jobs consist mainly of observable physical
activity. On the other hand, observation is usually not appropriate when the job entails a lot of
un-measurable mental activity (lawyer, design engineer). Nor is it useful if the employee
engages in important activities that might occur only occasionally,

- Direct observation and interviewing are often used together. One approach is to observe the
worker on the job during a complete work cycle. (The cycle is the time it takes to complete
the job; it could be a minute for an assembly line worker or an hour, a day, or longer for
complex jobs.) Here you take notes of all the job activities you observe. Then, after
accumulating as much information as possible, you interview the workers. The person is
asked to clarify points not understood and explain what other activities he or she performs
that you did not observe. You can also observe and interview simultaneously while the
worker performs his or her job.

PARTICIPANT DIARY/LOGS
- Another approach is to ask workers to keep a diary/log or list of what they do during the day.
For every activity he or she engages in, the employee records the activity (along with the
time) in a log. This can produce a very complete picture of the job. especially when
subsequent interviews with the worker and his or her supervisor are done. The employee
might try to exaggerate some activities and underplay others. However, the detailed,
chronological nature of the log tends to mediate against this.
Job Description
- A job description is a written statement of what the jobholder actually does, how he or she
does it, and under what conditions the job is performed. This information is in turn used to
write a job specification that lists the knowledge, abilities, and skills needed to perform the
job satisfactorily.

There is no standard format you must use in writing a job description, but most descriptions
contain sections on:

1. Job identification
2. Job summary
3. Responsibilities and duties
4. Authority of incumbent
5. Standards of performance
6. Working conditions
7. Job specifications

JOB SPECIFICATIONS
- The specific skills, knowledge, and abilities required to successfully perform the job become
the job specifications. Skills relevant to a job can include education and experience,
specialized training, and specific abilities, such as manual dexterity. If there are any physical
demands, such as walking long distances or reaching high shelves, these would also be
mentioned. Many organizations now view job specifications as including "employability"
skills and knowledge, such as problem- solving abilities.

- The job specification may be a separate section on the job description or a separate document
entirely.

- Writing job specifications for trained employees is relatively straightforward. For example
you want to fill a position for a trained bookkeeper (or trained counselor or programmer). In
cases like these, your job specifications might focus mostly on traits like length of previous
service, quality of relevant training, and previous job performance. Thus, it is usually not too
difficult to determine the human requirements for placing already trained people on a job.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JOB DESCRIPTION AND JOB SPECIFICATION

JOB DESCRIPTION
- Describes the job itself
- Includes general information about the job
- Outlines role responsibilities and tasks
- Used within a job posting to attract potential candidates
JOB SPECIFICATION
- Details the traits needed to succeed in the role
- Includes qualifications, skills, and attributes expected of the ideal candidate
- Used as part of the job description
- Sets clear criteria for selecting top talent

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JOB DESCRIPTION AND JOB SPECIFICATION

JOB DESCRIPTION
● Job Title
● Job Location
● Job Summary
● Reporting to
● Working Condition
● Job Duties
● Machine to be used
● Hazard

JOB SPECIFICATION
● Qualifications
● Experience
● Training
● Skills
● Responsibilities
● Emotional Characteristic
● Sensory Demand

JOB DESCRIPTION GUIDELINES

BE CLEAR
- The job description should portray the work of the position so well that the duties are clear
without reference to other job descriptions.

- Indicate scope of authority. In defining the position, be sure to indicate the scope and nature
of the work by using phrases such as 'for the department' or 'as requested by the manager.'
Include all important relationships.

BE SPECIFIC
- Select the most specific words to show (1) the kind of work, (2) the degree of complexity, (3)
the degree of skill required, (4) the extent to which problems are standardized. (5) the extent
of the worker's responsibility for each phase of the work, and (6) the degree and type of
accountability.
 - Use action words,such as analyze, gather, assemble, plan, devise, infer, deliver, maintain,
supervise, and recommend. Positions at the lower levels of organization generally have the
most detailed duties or tasks. while higher-level positions deal with broader aspects.

BE BRIEF
- Short, accurate statements usually accomplish the purpose best.
- Recheck.
- Finally, to check whether the description fulfills the basic requirements, ask yourself, 'Will a
new employee understand the job if he or she reads the job description?"