Hiring Process the Selection Tools

¶ … Hiring Process

The selection tools used when hiring a new employee invariably depend upon the position the human resource manager of the organization is seeking to fill. For example, when embarking upon creating hiring program at a supermarket, the openings are likely to be entry-level jobs. Thus, the most feasible selection tools for such positions are often paper applications, face-to-face interviews, or phone interviews. Paper applications require the candidate to state his or her educational and personal history, provide references that can be contacted to vouch for the applicant's character, and state the applicant's availability and ability to meet the legal requirements of the job.

This last aspect of the process of applying on paper for such a position, although not directly relevant to the applicant's intelligence or character, is critical for an entry-level job stocking shelves or acting as a cashier. The employment might be seasonal, and require the applicant to begin work immediately. If the position required the employee to work on weekends, to accommodate the extra customer influx during such times, even the best applicant would be of little use if he or she could work at the necessary hours. If the supermarket needs a person over the age of eighteen to slice deli meat, even the most outstanding sixteen-year-old applicant will not be suitable, as he or she would not be legally allowed to operate the machinery.

Other details of the paper application, besides the candidate's name, social security number, immigration status (again, for legal purposes), are likely to be less relevant. Positions at supermarkets usually require on-the-job training, and are unlikely to require an extensive educational or academic background. Often the likely candidates are either high school or college students seeking part-time work while the students are still attending school, retired persons seeking extra income, parents who cannot work a full-time schedule, or persons without a high school diploma. The skills are fairly rote in entry-level supermarket positions, and could likely be filled by most of these types of persons, provided the jobs did not require heavy labor in the case of stockroom work, when hiring an elderly or disabled employee. So long as the candidate received register training, training in how to use the machinery in the store bakery or deli, or training in the outlay of the stockroom, a physically capable person could easily perform all of the necessary tasks for most entry-level positions, if they were willing and able to learn.

What is essential is that the person is motivated, trainable, and willing to work. Thus, rather than requiring an extensive paper application, once the basic details about the applicant's history are available, it would be best to schedule a face-to-face interview to give the human resources manager the opportunity to personally assess the candidate's character. Is the candidate likely to come to work on time? Listen to instructions? Follow the rules regarding how to operate the machinery? These aspects of the applicant's personality cannot be reliably tested on paper.

True, some places of employment have multiple choice character exams, asking the applicant questions like: 'do you think stealing is always wrong,' but a clever but dishonest applicant could easily lie and merely fill in the 'correct answers.' ('Synthetic Validity': Selection Tool Could Revolutionize Hiring, Online Dating," 2006) Despite the desire to standardize and streamline the hiring process in lower-level occupations, such exams seem of doubtful accuracy, as opposed to getting to know the individual, however briefly, in a close and intense manner such as during an interview. Coping with the pressures of an interview and even simply showing up exactly on time for an interview is something that cannot be tested by a computer-generated and graded paper exam.

Instead, the manager should try to get to know the employee, a sense of who he or she is as a person. Also, the advantage of a face-to-face interview is that the applicant can receive a brief tour of the premises where he or she would like to work. Seeing how the applicant reacts to the vast space of a warehouse, the busy nature of a supermarket filled with customers eager to check out with their purchases, or how he or she interacts with people in general is best assessed face-to-face rather than over the phone or on paper. If desired, the applicant could also be asked to 'try out' some of the basic tasks of the job -- for example, can a stockroom man or woman lift the heavier boxes, as required by the job, or could the new bakery employee maneuver him or herself around the cramped area of this area of the store. This would also be an excellent time to assess the motivation of a candidate -- is the candidate not only capable, but interested in actively listening as to how to do and then try out some of these occupational tasks?

However, for a medical office manager, the selection criteria for applicants would likely be quite different. First of all, rather than a paper application, or in addition to a paper application, the candidate would have to be asked to submit a resume. The question of when and how the applicant would be able to begin employment would obviously be relevant, but less so than in a supermarket -- it might be necessary to wait a month, to hire the right candidate, for example, if the selected manager had to finish his or her tenure at a current job. Previous experience, ideally in a medical office with a busy atmosphere or in a specialty similar to the office for which the position was being sought would be of great significance to the candidate's ability to do the work immediately, or within certain hours.

Educational history would also be relevant, such as a background in management and/or health care administration. References that would be rigorously checked would also be required. However, an interview process would also be necessary, to assess that the candidate had the necessary personality needed to fulfill the job. Is the candidate able to work under pressure? Is he or she extroverted, a people person who can smooth ruffled tempers when things get uncomfortable? Does he or she have leadership skills?