Recruitment

What is Selection?

Selection is the process used to find the correct candidate for the job that is on offer. The selection process is carried out after the recruitment process as the recruiting process may have got many replies and not all of the applicants would be suitable and therefore the selection process is used to select the right ones who would then be put onto the shortlist.

Different types of selection methods used in organisations

There are many different types of selection methods organisations will use to determine who the best candidate to fill the vacancy is. Three methods that organisations may choose to use are the interview process, through assessment centres and also by role plays.

Jones, K. (2010) suggests the interview process is the most popular type of method used. Interviewing potential employees can be useful however even though it is the most common way, it can also be unreliable. The reason behind this is that some employees may be able to make up answers that the employers want to hear without them noticing it. However nowadays larger organisations have started to bring in experts in body language who would be able to spot lies from the candidate should they be untruthful. The interviewing process is not always the first method used as many organisations would use other methods to shortlist employees as there may be a number of applicants and interviewing each one would be time consuming and therefore the interviewing process can be the last method used to help the employers choose the best candidate out of the shortlisted applicants.

Woodcock, B. (2011) suggests assessment centres are used to find out the full range of skills of an applicant who is applying for a job. Assessment centres have a number of tasks in which applicants must take part it. These tasks would show the employers what each applicant is capable of. Usually after each task some applicants may not be asked to do the next task as they may have failed the first and therefore may not be seen as an ideal candidate, however this can be bad as organisations should give all candidates an opportunity to take part in all tasks to fully determine the right candidate. The reason assessment centres are used is because it is the most reliable way to determine the applicants potential however this method is not always used due to the cost.

Woodcock, B. (2011) suggests role plays can be used to see how a potential applicant would react in a certain situation. This shows the employer the skills and can be very useful as the employer controls what they want to see from the applicant. For example the employer can pretend to be an awkward customer and the applicant would need to show how they would deal with the situation. However this can be time consuming if it is carried out one to ones. But roles plays are also done in groups to show team work.

Interview I have done

An interview that I have done was in secondary school, this was carried out in a formally way and it was extremely scary process as it was my first ever one, although they were mock interviews they were dealt with in a serious manner. The questions were fairly simple as they were basically asking what I intend to do and why I want to do it. Compared to what real job interviews would be like then this interview would not be too helpful as there was less pressure and I already had ideas of what they would ask, however for a job interview I would not know what they will ask or who they will be and this would make it more disturbing. However it wasn’t at all bad as it there were some positives to take out of it as the way I went about answering the questions confidently and I was interviewed by an employee of Pinewood Studios who commended me for my communication skills.

Recommendations that can be made to organisations

The recommendations that I would make to organisations is to carried out as many methods as possible, even though this may cost money but in the long term it can be beneficial as the correct candidates can be identified clearly. Also for those organisations that give tasks to applicants, should give all applicants a chance to do all tasks instead of removing them if they fail. The reason for this is because an applicant may fail the first although may pass the rest with in the correct manner, whereas the applicants who passed the first may fail the rest. So by therefore giving chances can be useful in finding the right candidate for the job.

References
Jones, K. (2010) Different employee selection methods [online] Available from: http://www.ehow.co.uk/list_6588929_different-employee-selection-methods.html

[Accessed 27^th April 2011]

Woodcock, B. (2011) Selection and assessment centres [online]

Available from:  http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/selection.htm#What

[Accessed 27^th April 2011]

Woodcock, B. (2011) Role playing [online]

Available from: http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/interviews/role-play-interviews.htm

[Accessed 27^th April 2011]