Hiring Process for a Grocery

¶ … hiring process for a grocery store.

Hiring Processes Explained

If I were in the position to do the hiring for a grocery store I would choose one of the three following selection tools. I would either choose a personality test,

The Seligman Attributional Style Questionnaire (SASQ) or the Job skills analysis.

The one that I believe would be the best selection tool would be the Seligman Attributional Style Questionnaire (SASQ) for several reasons.

The first reason I believe it would be the best selection tool available for this type of interview and this type of position would be that the Seligman Attributional Style Questionnaire (SASQ), provides an important measurement of the potential candidates optimism and resilience under adversity.

There are many tools out there that will test the job and skills knowledge of a potential applicant however, one can always be taught job skills or job knowledge. The important factor in today's job market is how well the applicant might work in a pressure situation. This particular tool tests the applicants optimism and resilience while under pressure.

Today's job market is shrinking by attrition. The bottom line is causing companies to pile on more responsibility to those that work at the company instead of replacing those who leave. It is important to have a workforce team that works well together and can excel in times of stress and pressure and have a "can do" attitude every step of the way.

In addition to adding productivity to the total program if team members have optimistic attitude it also boost the morale of the overall employee group.

Expeirence has shown that a company with an unhappy employee can be like a cancer within the business. That one person can change the attitudes of everyone around him or her and reduce the team spirit of the total group. This selection tool helps to insure that everyone hired has a cheerful goal oriented attitude and can work well even under pressure at various times.

The tool was developed by Martin Seligman who devoted more than three decades to the study of traits in optimistic and resilient people before he marketed the selection tool that he had developed.

The tool is an excellent performance predictor and shows which applicants have the most ability to overcome adversity in their daily jobs.

This is an important element because most of those who are hired to work in a grocery store setting come into contact with the public on a daily basis and it is important that they have a can do attitude and strong customer service skills.

The job skills and knowledge selection tool can be valuable however, if one hires a person who cannot work under pressure or has non-resilient attitude about problems that arise on the job all of the job skills and job knowledge in the world are not going to change things.

This is why I believe the best and most effective selection tool for applicants who are applying to work in a grocery store is the above mentioned tool.

I would not use the same selection tool for the hiring method for the position in a final project. Initially I would use the tool to weed out the potential candidates who would not act as team players under pressure. From that pool of candidates I would be left with the most optimistic and resilient candidates available.

Then I would begin to target the job skills and job knowledge, because all things being equal it would be best to have an optimistic and resilient person who came on board already knowing how to perform the job.

Once I had determined who the most optimistic candidates were for the position I would then begin an interview process by which I would use a job skills test and knowledge test to determine who the final few candidates should be for the position.

Out of all the original candidates I would choose the 10 that got the top scores on the optimism test, and ask them to come in and take a job skills and job knowledge test for the company.

Once that was complete I would select the candidates with the top five scores on that testing process and ask them to come into the human resource office for personal interviews.

Personal interviews provide a feel for the person and how he or she would ultimately fit into the organization.

Once I conducted interviews with each of the five candidates I would then choose the three that I felt would fit the most closely with the team members already in place in the department that had the opening. I would then set those three up with interviews with the department head and ask the department head to select the one he or she wished to offer the position to.

My interview questions would be varied as my job is to locate the three or four best qualified and most personable candidates for the department head to interview and choose from.

The questions would be as follows:

1. Tell me about your last position.

2. What did you like best about it?

3. What did you like least about it?

4. What do you know about our company?

5. What would you like to know about our company?

6. What are you most proud of in your previous position?

7. What flaws in your personality might interfere with your job and how do you minimize that problem?

8. Why did you leave your last position?

9. If I called your former boss and asked him to tell me about you in three words, what words would he or she use?

10. If I called your former co-workers with the same question what words would they use?

11. How do you handle stress on the job?

12. Have you ever been fired?

13. Have you ever been insubordinate to a co-worker or a superior?