Year: 2020

A number of contemporary issues in the design of work have emerged in the recent past. The issues include telecommuting, alternative work pattern, techno stress, task revision and skill development. Firms use these approaches to the design of work as ways to manage growing business, while contributing to a better balance of work and family life of employees.

1. Telecommuting

One of the recent changes and potentially the most far-reaching is telecommuting. Two of every three Fortune 500 companies now use telecommuting. It is the use of microcomputers, networks and other communication technology such as fax machines to do work from home, which was traditionally done in the workplace. The employee has no contact with other employees, but is able to communicate with them using electronic means: A variant of telecommuting is the virtual office, where employees are in the field selling or serving customers.

2. Alternative work pattern

Job sharing is an example of alternative work pattern. It involves two people sharing a full time job. It can be implemented in several ways:

• Each working a half day, five days a week.
• Each working two or three hill days a week
• Each working every other week
• Each working alternate months or seasons.

Companies that use job sharing are primarily in the legal, advertising and financial services sectors.

One advantage of job sharing is that it enables a firm to retain valued employees who, for personal reasons, no longer want to work hill time. The problem of maternity leave can almost be eliminated. It is also suited to the needs of older employees who want to phase into retirement by shortening their working days. Job sharing can also limit layoffs during hard economic times. Absenteeism is much less as employees can avoid the leisure time during the week to attend to their personal needs.

However, job sharing goes against the concept of employer employee relationship. Traditionally, a single job is held by one employee and it sounds rather strange that one post is shared by two individuals.

Assuming it is in place, the employer faces the problem of pro rating remuneration and administering benefits between tow part time employees.

3. Techno stress

Techno stress is stress caused by new and advancing technologies in the workplace, mostly by information technology. For example, the widespread use of electronic bulletin hoards as a forum for rumors of layoffs may cause feeling of uncertainty and anxiety. However, the same boards can be an important source of information for workers.

Advanced information technologies enable organizations to monitor employee performance, even when the worker is not aware of such arrangement. These new technologies also allow organizations to tie pay to performance because performance is electronically monitored.

4. Task Revision

A new concept in the design of work is task revision. Task revision is an innovative way to modify an incorrectly specified role or job. Task revision assumes that organizational roles and job expectations may have been correctly or incorrectly defined. Where the role is correctly defined, behavior of the employee fits the role and performance tends to be high. Performance suffers because of deviant behaviors which result from incorrectly defined jobs. Task revision helps correct such incorrectly, defined jobs.

5. Skill Development

Ability of the employees should be an important consideration in job design. Where employee’s skills and competence do not match with the requirements of job, performance suffers. Thus, organizations must consider the talents and skills of their employees when they engage in job design efforts.

A well defined job will make the job interesting and satisfying for the employee. The result is increased performance and productivity. If a job fails to appear compelling or interesting and leads to employee dissatisfaction, it means the job has to be redesigned based upon the feedback from the employees.

Job design requires the assembly of a number of tasks into a job or a group of jobs. An individual may carry out one main task which consists of a number of interrelated elements or functions. On the other hand, task functions may be split between a team working closely together or strung a long an assembly line.

In more complex jobs, individuals may carry out a variety of connected tasks, each with a number of functions, or these tasks may be allocated to a group of workers or divided between them. Complexity in a job may be a reflection of the number and variety of tasks to be carried out, or the range and scope of the decisions that have to be made, or the difficulty of predicting the outcome of decisions.

Broadly speaking the various factors that affect a job design can classified under three heads. They are:

• Organizational Factors
• Environmental Factors
• Behavioural Factors

1. Organizational Factors

Organizational factors that affect job design can be work nature or characteristics, work flow, organizational practices and ergonomics.

(i) Work Nature

There are various elements of a job and job design is required to classify various tasks into a job or a coherent set of jobs. The various tasks may be planning, executing, monitoring, controlling etc. and all these are to be taken into consideration while designing a job.

(ii) Ergonomics

Ergonomics aims at designing jobs in such a way that the physical abilities and individual traits of employees are taken into consideration so as to ensure efficiency and productivity.

(iii) Workflow

Product and service type often determines the sequence of work flow. A balance is required between various product or service processes and a job design ensures this.

(iv) Culture

Organizational culture determines the way tasks are carried out at the work places. Practices are methods or standards laid out for carrying out a certain task. These practices often affect the job design especially when the practices are not aligned to the interests of the unions.

2. Environmental Factors

Environmental factors affect the job design to a considerable extent. These factors include both the internal as well as external factors. They include factors like employee skills and abilities, their availability, and their socio economic and cultural prospects.

(i) Employee availability and abilities

Employee skills, abilities and time of availability play a crucial role while designing of the jobs. The above mentioned factors of employees who will actually perform the job are taken into consideration. Designing a job that is more demanding and above their skill set will lead to decreased productivity and employee satisfaction.

(ii) Socio economic and cultural expectations

Jobs are nowadays becoming more employee centered rather than process centered. They are therefore designed keeping the employees into consideration. In addition the literacy level among the employees is also on the rise. They now demand jobs that are to their liking and competency and which they can perform the best.

3. Behavioural Factors

Behavioural factors or human factors are those that pertain to the human need and that need to be satisfied for ensuring productivity at workplace. They include the elements like autonomy, diversity, feedback etc. A brief explanation of some is given below:

(i) Autonomy

Employees should work in an open environment rather than one that contains fear. It promotes creativity, independence and leads to increased efficiency.

(ii) Feedback

Feedback should be an integral part of work. Each employee should receive proper feedback about his work performance.

(iii) Diversity

Repetitive jobs often make work monotonous which leads to boredom. A job should carry sufficient diversity and variety so that it remains as interesting with every passing day. Job variety / diversity should be given due importance while designing a job.

(iv) Use of Skills and abilities

Jobs should be employee rather than process centered. Though due emphasis needs to be given to the latter but jobs should be designed in a manner such that an employee is able to make full use of his abilities and perform the job effectively.

Job design logically follows job analysis. Job analysis provides job related data as well as the skill and knowledge expected of the incumbent to discharge the job. Job design involves organizing tasks, duties and responsibilities into a unit of work to achieve certain objectives.

Job design is the process of deciding on the contents of a job in terms of its duties and responsibilities, on the methods to be used in carrying out the job in terms of techniques, systems and procedures, and on the relationships that should exist between the job holders and his supervisors, subordinates and colleagues.

The main objectives of job design are to integrate the needs of the individuals and the requirements of the organization. Needs of the employees include job satisfaction in terms of interest, challenge and achievement? Organizational requirements are high productivity, technical efficiency and quality of work.

1. Job Rotation

It is one of the methods of job design which is an answer to the problem of boredom. Job rotation implies the shifting of an employee from one job to another without any change in the job. With job rotation, a given employee performs different jobs but, more or less, jobs of the same nature.

Advantages of job rotation are as follows:

• Decreases monotony and boredom
• Reduces disinterest of employees and stimulates the development of new ideas
• Broadens the work experience of job holders
• Transforms the specialists into generalists
• Prepares employees for assuming greater responsibilities.

2. Job Simplification

Here the jobs are simplified or specialised. A given job is broken down into small sub-parts and each part is assigned to one individual.

Job simplification involves –

• Mechanical processing of work
• Repetitive work process (assembly lines)
• Working on only one part of a product
• Predetermining tools and techniques
• Few skill requirements.

Work simplification is done so that less-trained and the less paid employees can do these jobs.

This method has limitations. Over simplification results in boredom which lead in turn to errors.

3. Job Enlargement

It is the process of increasing the scope of a job by adding more tasks to it. The related tasks are combined. Job enlargement involves expanding the number of tasks or duties assigned to a given job. Job enlargement therefore, naturally is opposite to work simplification. Adding more tasks/ duties to a job does not mean that new skill and abilities are needed to perform it. There is only a horizontal expansion.

Job enlargement reduces monotony and boredom. It helps to increase interest in work and efficiency. But there is no time increase of the job. Enlarged jobs require longer training period as there are more task to be learned.

The key benefits provided by job enlargement are as follows:

• Increases the number of tasks to include variety and reduce the monotony and boredom in the existing job
• Increases employees’ job satisfaction by providing them an opportunity to develop and learn new skills
• Utilizes mental and physical skills and abilities of employees optimally and makes them satisfied
• Enables the employees to vary the rhythm and sequence of work at their own pace to make the job enjoyable for them.

There are certain shortcomings of the job enlargement approach, which are as follows:

• Increases the training cost
• Leads to decrease in productivity as employees take time to gel with the new system
• Gives rise to conflict with trade unions as they demand increase in pay with increase in workload
• Finds it difficult to remove the monotony and boredom from many jobs as one set of boring tasks is added to the existing set of boring tasks.

4. Job Enrichment

It involves designing a job in such a way that it provides the workers greater autonomy for planning and controlling his own performance. It seeks to improve tasks, efficiency and human satisfaction by building into people’s jobs, greater scope for personal achievement and recognition, more challenging and responsible work and more opportunity for individual advancement.

The features of an enriched job are described as follows:

• Personal Accountability: Makes job incumbents responsible for their output and performance. The job incumbents are rewarded according to their work.
• Increased and Direct Feedback: Ensure timely and fair evaluation of performance of employees.
• New and Unique Learning: Helps the job incumbent to grow intellectually and acquire unique qualities or features.
• Power to plan own work: Involves freedom to schedule own work and decide when to undertake which task.
• Control over resources: Provides job incumbent the authority of ordering and managing supplies and other resources necessary for performing their jobs.
• Encouraged participation: Ensures that the job incumbent feels committed and get a sense of belongingness through his/her enriched job.
• Client Relationship: Refers to direct or indirect interaction with clients. An enriched job may provide an opportunity to the employees to develop strong client base by maintaining good relationship with them.
• Authority of direct communication: Allows the job incumbent to converse directly with the persons who require his/her output.

The advantages of job enrichment are as follows:

• Makes the work interesting for employees
• Provides greater sense of responsibility, self-control, and self-esteem by allowing more autonomy in the tasks
• Motivates the employees by providing them the opportunities to develop and progress
• Facilitates the higher job satisfaction to employees
• Develops the new skills of the employees
• Makes the task reinforcement easy
• Reduces the absenteeism rate and attrition rate.

Further an enriched job shall meet certain psychological needs of job holders (Identity achievement) etc. Job enrichment is motivating and satisfying as it adds status to one’s job. Empowerment, a by-product of job enrichment, gives the employees a sense of ownership and control over their job.

The limitations are, if the employee is lazy or does not give due attention to his/her job, job enrichment will not have the desired outcomes. The cost of design and implementation increases. Further job enrichment by itself does not motivate. This must be preceded by the provision of other variables which contribute to the quality of work life.

Job Analysis is an important component of human resource management system. It provides important information which aids in redesigning jobs and organization structure, planning staffing procedures, designing training and appraisal programs.

Job analysis is beneficial for the overall management of all HR activities. Information obtained from job analysis is useful in various personnel activities, such as HRP, employee recruitment, training, job evaluation, compensation, and performance assessment.

1. Human Resource Planning

Job analysis is useful in human resource planning in terms of demand forecasting. It finds out the requisite knowledge and skills required to perform a job.

2. Recruitment

Job analysis helps in recruitment in terms of finding how and when people should be hired for new job openings. It makes the recruitment process easier by highlighting the skills, knowledge and abilities required to perform a job.

3. Selection

Job analysis helps in selecting the right person by making the employer understand what is to be done on a job.

4. Placement and Orientation

Job analysis is useful in putting the newly selected person at the right place in the organization.

5. Training

Job analysis eases the training process by identifying the duties and responsibilities associated with a job. If the candidate doesn’t have enough knowledge, then training is provided to make him effective.

6. Counselling

Proper counselling of the employee is possible only after knowing the details about the employee’s job. This helps in grooming the career of the employees.

7. Employee Safety

Through a proper job analysis the analyst can know the health hazards and accidents associated with a job. By knowing, proper steps can be undertaken to eradicate those situations.

8. Performance Appraisal

In case of performance appraisal the appraiser compares the performance of the employee with the standard performance based on job analysis. It makes the process of performance appraisal easy and simple.

9. Job Design and Redesign

Through job analysis the details of job are identified. From this the weak areas in a job are identified. It helps in reducing unnecessary movements, simplify certain steps and improve the existing ones through continuous monitoring.

10. Job Evaluation

It is finding the relative worth of a job in relation to other jobs in the organization. This is done with the help of the job analysis. Job evaluation helps in fixing the pay package of employees with internal and external pay equity.

Utility of Job/Task Analysis

The activity of job analysis is noted to serve several purposes in human resource management. It is useful not only to the organization but also to the individual employees.

(a) In recruitment and selection, task analysis especially competency analysis helps the organization to place people in jobs in which they can be more effective—matching role/job with the people.

(b) Job analysis helps in work planning in the following respects –

• Setting individual tasks,
• Helping the job incumbent to decide priorities of task,
• Minimizing overlaps between jobs, and
• Job enrichment

(c) In performance appraisal, job analysis helps in identifying the activities to be performed against which appraisal has to be done.

(d) Analysing the job helps in performance of the tasks and its evaluation by the supervisor.

(e) In potential appraisal, the exercise of task analysis helps in preparing a system of the competency analysis and actual potential appraisal work.

(f) In respect of employee development, task analysis provides feedback on strength and weakness, performance counselling, and training needs of employees.

(e) In team building activity through tasks analysis, better understanding is noted to be developed among employees, building linkages and mutuality between jobs.

Uses of Job Analysis

Job Analysis is an important component of human resource management system. It provides important information which aids in redesigning jobs and organisation structure, planning staffing procedures, designing training and appraisal programs.

The uses of job analysis are as follows:

1. Human Resource Planning

Job analysis represents the qualitative aspect of human resource requirements since it determines the demands of a job in terms of responsibilities and duties and then translates these demands in terms of skills, qualities and other human attributes. It helps in determining the number and kinds of jobs and qualifications needed to fill these jobs.

It is job analysis which reveals what an average person can do on a job in a day. It facilitates the division of work into different jobs which is an essential element of effective human resource planning.

2. Recruitment and Selection

To make employment program successful, it is necessary to have clear statements of jobs to be performed and of the skills and knowledge that must be possessed by the employees who will fill these jobs. The information regarding these two is procured from job descriptions and job specifications respectively.

These help in matching as closely as possible the job requirements with workers’ aptitudes, abilities and interests to facilitate the execution of employment program.

3. Placement

A clear understanding of job requirements helps in matching these with the abilities, interests and aptitudes of people. Each job can be assigned to the person who is best suited for it. Similarly, the orientation program can be geared towards helping the employee learn the activities, and understand duties that are required to perform a given job more effectively.

4. Training and Development

Training and development programs are administrated to help the employees to gain the skills and knowledge to perform the tasks assigned to them efficiently. This purpose can be achieved conveniently if the employees fully understand the job description and job specification, and are thus familiar with what they are expected to perform.

The same job information is also useful to those who administer training and development programs. It helps them in determining the contents and subject-matter to be incorporated in such programs.

5. Job Evaluation

Job evaluation aims at determining the relative worth of various jobs. The worth of a job would in turn help in determining the base compensation of the job. Job evaluation ensures internal pay equity of one job to another. To calculate the worth of a job, information concerning the job is provided by the job descriptions.

6. Performance Appraisal

Performance of the employees can be appraised objectively if clear-cut standards of performance for every job are established. Job analysis data can be adapted to establish clear-cut standards of performance for every job. In evaluating the performance of an employee, the supervisor can compare the actual contribution of each man with the set standards.

7. Employee Counselling

Job analysis provides information about career choices and personnel limitations. Such information is helpful in vocational guidance and counselling. Employees who are unable to cope with the hazards and demands of given job may be advised to opt for subsidiary jobs which are less demanding.

8. Job Design

Job analysis information helps in designing and redesigning of jobs by industrial engineers through time and motion study, work specification, work improvement and work measurement.

9. Organizational Design

Job analysis information is useful in classifying jobs and creating interrelationship among them. Responsibility commensurate with authority and accountability for various jobs can be specified so as to minimize duplications or overlapping. In order to improve organizational efficiency, sound decisions concerning hierarchical positions and functional differentiation can be taken on the basis of information obtained through job analysis.

10. Safety and Health

The process of job analysis provides an opportunity to uncover and identify hazardous conditions and unhealthy environmental factors like heat, noise, fumes, dust, etc. Corrective measures can be taken to minimise the chances of various risks, ensure safety to workers, and avoid unhealthy conditions.

Scope of Recruitment

The scope of Recruitment is very wide and it consists of a variety of operations. Resources are considered as most important asset to any organization. Hence, hiring right resources is the most important aspect of Recruitment. Every company has its own pattern of recruitment as per their recruitment policies and procedures.

The scope of Recruitment and Selection includes the following operations:

• Dealing with the excess or shortage of resources
• Preparing the Recruitment policy for different categories of employees
• Analyzing the recruitment policies, processes, and procedures of the organization
• Identifying the areas, where there could be a scope of improvement
• Streamlining the hiring process with suitable recommendations
• Choosing the best suitable process of recruitment for effective hiring of resources

Any organization wants it future to be in good and safe hands. Hence, hiring the right resource is a very important task for any organization.

Importance of Recruitment

Recruiters play an important role in the success of an organization. They essentially act as a filter that when used properly only selects the best candidates. In a constantly changing business world, companies need to hire people who are adaptable, loyal, knowledgeable, dependable and confident, thereby creating a foundation for success.

(i) Cost

Cost is a major reason why effective recruitment and selection is important. There are many ways in which poor recruitment practices can result in financial losses. For example, if a candidate’s competency is not accurately assessed, he may make mistakes that can hinder productivity. If he needs to be retrained or replaced, this takes up more company time that could otherwise be invested toward remaining competitive.

(ii) Retention

Improper recruitment and selection practices can often result in high turnover or involuntary separations. If a recruiter is not careful when analyzing resumes and conducting interviews, she may hire an employee with a weak work ethic or a tendency to move quickly from one job to the next “job hopping.” Recruiters should pay close attention to the lengths of time at each previous job and carefully check references. Another so-called “red flag” is a gradual decrease in responsibility. For example, if the candidate starts out working as a senior manager and slowly shows progression to a less complex role, this could indicate that he is not as competent as he claims.

(iii) Loyalty and Productivity

Loyalty and productivity are linked. Employees who feel dedicated to the organization will work hard to help it succeed. With this in mind, recruiters must ask questions that provide information about a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, interviewers should inquire about a candidate’s greatest achievements throughout her career. Generally, loyal employees will have a track record of striving for excellence, resulting in a more competitive, innovative and profitable business.

(iv) Legal Issues

Discrimination is a serious concern among recruiters. If discriminatory hiring practices can be proven, this could result in serious harm, both financially and in terms of reputation. The United States Department of Labor forbids discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, political affiliation, religion or age. Steps can be taken to avoid such complications. First, advertise only the essential requirements for the position. Provide an accurate job description, listing only the position name and the specific duties involved. Things such as language proficiency or physical capabilities should not be listed unless they are absolutely essential for the role. When conducting interviews, ensure that the location is accessible by people with disabilities and refrain from holding interviews on religious or cultural holidays. Use the same questions for every candidate and try to have more than one recruiter present during the interview. Careful notes must be taken so that recruiters can justify hiring or not hiring the particular candidate.

A scientific and logical selection procedure leads to scientific selection of candidates. The criterion finalized for selecting a candidate for a particular job varies from company to company.

Therefore, the selection procedure followed by different organizations, many times, becomes lengthy as it is a question of getting the most suitable candidates for which various tests are to be done and interviews to be taken. The procedure for selection should be systematic so that it does not leave any scope for confusions and doubts about the choice of the selected candidate.

Steps Involved in Selection Procedure

Brief details of the various steps in selection procedure are given as follows:

1. Inviting applications

The prospective candidates from within the organization or outside the organization are called for applying for the post. Detailed job description and job specification are provided in the advertisement for the job. It attracts a large number of candidates from vari­ous areas.

2. Receiving applications

Detailed applications are collected from the candidates which provide the necessary information about personal and professional details of a person. These applications facilitate analysis and comparison of the candidates.

3. Scrutiny of applications

As the limit of the period within which the company is supposed to receive applications ends, the applications are sorted out. Incomplete applications get rejected; applicants with un-matching job specifications are also rejected.

4. Written tests

As the final list of candidates becomes ready after the scrutiny of applications, the written test is conducted. This test is conducted for understanding the technical knowledge, atti­tude and interest of the candidates. This process is useful when the number of applicants is large.

Many times, a second chance is given to candidates to prove themselves by conducting another written test.

5. Psychological tests

These tests are conducted individually and they help for finding out the indi­vidual quality and skill of a person. The types of psychological tests are aptitude test, intelligence test, synthetic test and personality test

6. Personal interview

Candidates proving themselves successful through tests are interviewed per­sonally. The interviewers may be individual or a panel. It generally involves officers from the top management.

The candidates are asked several questions about their experience on another job, their family background, their interests, etc. They are supposed to describe their expectations from the said job. Their strengths and weaknesses are identified and noted by the interviewers which help them to take the final decision of selection.

7. Reference check

Generally, at least two references are asked for by the company from the can­didate. Reference check is a type of crosscheck for the information provided by the candidate through their application form and during the interviews.

8. Medical examination

Physical strength and fitness of a candidate is must before they takes up the job. In-spite of good performance in tests and interviews, candidates can be rejected on the basis of their ill health.

9. Final selection

At this step, the candidate is given the appointment letter to join the organization on a particular date. The appointment letter specifies the post, title, salary and terms of employment. Generally, initial appointment is on probation and after specific time period it becomes permanent.

10. Placement

This is a final step. A suitable job is allocated to the appointed candidate so that they can get the whole idea about the nature of the job. They can get adjusted to the job and perform well in future with all capacities and strengths.

Significance of Selection

Significance of selection might be brought to limelight, with reference to the following advantages, which it provides to the organization:

(i) Reduced labour turnover

Properly selected candidates feel like staying in the organization; as suitable work on matching jobs, assigned to them is a source of satisfaction to them. Hence, the phenomenon of unnecessary labour turnover is highly minimized making for a stable labour force in the organization. This benefits both the organization and the worker.

(ii) Lesser need for training

Properly selected personnel exhibit a lesser need for training; as their suitability for the jobs to be assigned to them, has already been verified through the selection-procedure. As such the necessity for arranging ‘routine-training programmes’ for such personnel is rules out saving organization’s time, efforts and costs involved in conducting such training programmes.

(iii) Self-motivation and high morale

When suitable candidates (i.e. ‘best-fits’) are assigned to matching jobs; such personnel feel self-motivated towards the best performance of’ their jobs. The constant state of self-motivation over a period of time helps in building high morale of such personnel, for the organization.

(iv) More and better production: Leading to profit maximization

A derivative advantage of the ‘self-motivation and high morale’ is that the production (or performance) turned out by ‘best fits’ is not only more in quantity; but is also of a superior quality. This phenomenon leads to profit maximization, for the enterprise, in the long-run.

(v) Good human relations

As a result of good selections, there is a better environment for working in the organization. Such environment helps to promote good human relations in the organization; which is one of the highly valued assets of the organization.

According to Harold Koontz, “Selection is the process of choosing from the candidates, from within the organization or from outside, the most suitable person for the current position or for the future positions.”

Dale Yoder said, “Selection is the process by which candidates for employment are divided into classes those who will be offered employment and those who will not.”

David and Robbins said, “Selection process is a managerial decision-making process as to predict which job applicants will be successful if hired.”

According to R.M. Hodgetts, “Selection is the process in which an enterprise chooses the applicants who best meet the criteria for the available positions.”

Selection is the process of choosing from a group of applicants those individuals best suited for a particular position.

Most managers recognize that employee selection is one of their most difficult, and most important, business decisions.

This process involves making a judgment -not about the applicant, but about the fit between the applicant and the job by considering knowledge, skills and abilities and other characteristics required to perform the job Selection procedures are not carried out through standard pattern and steps in this.

The process can vary from organization to organization some steps performed and considered important by one organization can be skipped by other organization.

Personnel Selection is the methodical placement of individuals into jobs. Its impact on the organization is realized when employees achieve years or decades of service to the employer.

The process of selection follows a methodology to collect information about an individual in order to determine if that individual should be employed. The methodology used should not violate any laws regarding personnel selection.

Steps in Selection Process

The selection process typically begins with the preliminary interview; next, candidates complete the application for employment.

They progress through a series of selection tests, the employment interview, and reference and background checks. The successful applicant receives a company physical examination and is employed if the results are satisfactory.

Several external and internal factors impact the selection process, and the manager must take them into account in making selection decisions.

Typically selection process consists of the following steps but it is not necessary that all organization go through all these steps as per the requirement of the organization some steps can be skipped while performing the selection process.

1. Initial Screening

The selection process often begins with an initial screening of applicants to remove individuals who obviously do not meet the position requirements.

At this stage, a few straight forward questions are asked. An applicant may obviously be unqualified to fill the advertised position, but be well qualified to work in other open positions.

The Purpose of Screening is to decrease the number of applicants being considered for selection.

Sources utilized in the screening effort

Personal Resume presented with the job application is considered a source of information that can be used for the initial screening process. It mainly includes information in the following areas:

• Employment & education history.
• Evaluation of character.
• Evaluation of job performance.

Advantages of Successful Screening

If the screening effort is successful, those applicants that do not meet the minimum required qualifications will not move to the next stage in the selection process. Companies utilizing expensive selection procedures put more effort into screening to reduce costs.

2. Completion of the Application Form

Application Blank is a formal record of an individual’s application for employment. The next step in the selection process may involve having the prospective employee complete an application for employment.

This may be as brief as requiring only an applicant’s name, address, and telephone number. In general terms, the application form gives a job-performance-related synopsis of applicants’ life, skills and accomplishments.

The specific type of information may vary from firm to firm and even by job type within an organization. Application forms are a good way to quickly collect verifiable and fairly accurate historical data from the candidate.

3. Employment Tests

Personnel testing is a valuable way to measure individual characteristics.

Hundreds of tests have been developed to measure various dimensions of behavior. The tests measure mental abilities, knowledge, physical abilities, personality, interest, temperament, and other attitudes and behaviors.

Evidence suggests that the use of tests is becoming more prevalent for assessing an applicant’s qualifications and potential for success. Tests are used more in the public sector than in the private sector and in medium-sized and large companies than in small companies.

Large organizations are likely to have trained specialists to run their testing programs.

Advantages of using tests

Selection testing can be a reliable and accurate means of selecting qualified candidates from a pool of applicants.

As with all selection procedures, it is important to identify the essential functions of each job and determine the skills needed to perform them.

4. Job Interview

An interview is a goal-oriented conversation in which the interviewer and applicant exchange information. The employment interview is especially significant because the applicants who reach this stage are considered to be the most promising candidates.

Interview Planning

Interview planning is essential to effective employment interviews.

The physical location of the interview should be both pleasant and private, providing for a minimum of interruptions. The interviewer should possess a pleasant personality, empathy and the ability to listen and communicate effectively.

He or she should become familiar with the applicant’s qualifications by reviewing the data collected from other selection tools. In preparing for the interview, a job profile should be developed based on the job description.

5. Conditional Job Offer

Conditional job offer means a tentative job offer that becomes permanent after certain conditions are met.

If a job applicant has passed each step of the selection process so far, a conditional job offer is usually made.

In essence, the conditional job offer implies that if everything checks out such as passing a certain medical, physical or substance abuse test the conditional nature of the job offer will be removed and the offer will be permanent.

6. Background Investigation

Background Investigation is intended to verify that information on the application form is correct and accurate.

This step is used to check the accuracy of application form through former employers and references. Verification of education and legal status to work, credit history and criminal record are also made.

Personal reference checks may provide additional insight into the information furnished by the applicant and allow verification of its accuracy.

Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. It is important to gain as much information as possible about past behavior to understand what kinds of behavior one can expect in the future.

Knowledge about attendance problems, insubordination issues, theft, or other behavioral problems can certainly help one avoid hiring someone who is likely to repeat those behaviors.

Background investigations primarily seek data from references supplied by the applicant including his or her previous employers. The intensity of background investigations depends on the level of responsibility inherent in the position to be filled.

7. Medical/Physical Examination

After the decision has been made to extend a job offer, the next phase of the selection process involves the completion of a medical/physical examination.

This is an examination to determine an applicant’s physical fitness for essential job performance.

Typically, a job offer is contingent on successfully passing this examination.

For example, firefighters must perform activities that require a certain physical condition. Whether it is climbing a ladder, lugging a water-filled four-inch hose or carrying an injured victim, these individuals must demonstrate that they are fit for the job.

8. Permanent Job Offer

Individuals who perform successfully in the preceding steps are now considered eligible to receive the employment offer. The actual hiring decision should be made by the manager in the department where the vacancy exists.

Notification to Candidates

The selection process results should be made known to candidates—successful and unsuccessful—as soon as possible.

Any delay may result in the firm losing a prime candidate, as top prospects often have other employment options. As a matter of courtesy and good public relations, the unsuccessful candidates should also be promptly notified.

An interview is essentially a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers. In common parlance, the word “interview” refers to a one-on-one conversation between an interviewer and an interviewee. The interviewer asks questions to which the interviewee responds, usually so information is offered by the interviewee to interviewer and that information may be used or provided to other audiences, whether in real time or later. This feature is common to many types of interviews a job interview or interview with a witness to an event may have no other audience present at the time, but the answers will be later provided to others in the employment or investigative process.

The “information” or answers may also be transferred in both directions in a tradition interview.

Interviews usually take place face-to-face and in person, although modern communications allow conversations in which parties are separated geographically, such as with videoconferencing software, and telephone interviews can happen without visual contact. Interviews almost always involve spoken conversation between two or more parties. In some instances a “conversation” can happen between two persons who type their questions and answers.

Interviews can be unstructured, free-wheeling and open-ended conversations without predetermined plan or prearranged questions, or highly structured conversations in which specific questions occur in a specified order. They can follow diverse formats; for example, in a ladder interview, a respondent’s answers typically guide subsequent interviews, with the object being to explore a respondent’s subconscious motives. Typically the interviewer has some way of recording the information that is gleaned from the interviewee, often by keeping notes with a pencil and paper, or with a video or audio recorder. Interviews usually have a limited duration, with a beginning and an ending.

The traditional two-person interview format, sometimes called a one-on-one interview, permits direct questions and followups, which enables an interviewer to better gauge the accuracy and relevance of responses. It is a flexible arrangement in the sense that subsequent questions can be tailored to clarify earlier answers. Further, it eliminates possible distortion due to other parties being present.

Face to face interviewing makes it easier for people to interact and form a connection, and it helps both the potential employer and potential hire who they might be interacting with. Further, face to face interview sessions can be more enjoyable.

Interviews can happen in a wide variety of contexts:

(i) Employment

Interviews in an employment context are typically called job interviews which describe a formal consultation for the purpose of evaluating the qualifications of the interviewee for a specific position. Interviews are seen as a useful tool in assessing qualifications. A specific type of job interview is a case interview in which the applicant is presented with a question or task or challenge, and asked to resolve the situation. Sometimes to prepare for job interviews, candidates are treated to a mock interview as a training exercise to prepare the respondent to handle questions in the subsequent ‘real’ interview. Sometimes the interviews happen in several waves, with the first interview sometimes being called a screening interview which is a shorter length interview, followed by more in-depth interviews later on, usually by company personnel who can ultimately hire the applicant. Technology has enabled new possibilities for interviewing; for example, video phoning technology has enabled applicants to interview for jobs despite being in different cities or countries than the interviewer.

(ii) Psychology

Psychologists use a variety of interviewing methods and techniques to try to understand and help their patients. In a psychiatric interview, a psychiatrist or psychologist or nurse asks a battery of questions to complete what is called a psychiatric assessment. Sometimes two people are interviewed by an interviewer, with one format being called couple interviews. Criminologists and detectives sometimes use cognitive interviews on eyewitnesses and victims to try to ascertain what can be recalled specifically from a crime scene, hopefully before the specific memories begin to fade in the mind.

(iii) Research

In marketing research and academic research, interviews are used in a wide variety of ways as a method to do extensive personality tests. Interviews are often used in qualitative research in which firms try to understand how consumers think. Consumer research firms sometimes use computer-assisted telephone interviewing to randomly dial phone numbers to conduct highly structured telephone interviews, with scripted questions and responses entered directly into the computer.

(iv) Journalism and other media

Typically, reporters covering a story in journalism conduct interviews over the phone and in person to gain information for subsequent publication. Reporters also interview government officials and political candidates for broadcast. In a talk show, a radio or television “host” interviews one or more people, with the topic usually chosen by the host, sometimes for the purposes of entertainment, sometimes for informational purposes. Such interviews are often recorded.

(v) Other situations

Sometimes college representatives or alumni conduct college interviews with prospective students as a way of assessing a student’s suitability while offering the student a chance to learn more about a college. Some services specialize in coaching people for interviews. Embassy officials may conduct interviews with applicants for student visas before approving their visa applications. Interviewing in legal contexts is often called interrogation.