Recruitment and selection in saigin shoes joint stock company and recommendations to improve the situation

1.3.2 The selection criteria 20Chapter 2: Introduction to the Saigon Shoes Joint-stock Company 2.1 The history of Saigon Shoes Joint-Stock Company 292.2 Functions, tasks and objectives o

HOcm MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYSCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

JOINT-STOCK COMPANY AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO

IMPROVE THE SITUATION

Chapter 1: Literature review

1.1 Overview of human resource management 3

1.3.2 The selection criteria 20

Chapter 2: Introduction to the Saigon Shoes Joint-stock Company

2.1 The history of Saigon Shoes Joint-Stock Company 292.2 Functions, tasks and objectives of the company 302.3 The organizational structure of the company 312.4 Future goals and tasks of the company 342.5 Business activitives:

Chapter 3: Analyzing the current recruitment and selection processes in

the Saigon Joint-stock Company

3.1 The personnel situation:

3.1.1 The characteristics of the labor force 36a) The educational level of the labor force 36

d) The turnover rate of the labor force 40

3.1.3 Employees database keeping procedure 423.1.4 Alternatives to recruitment 42

Chapter 4:Some recommendations

404 The use of alternatives to recruitment 61

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In order to complete this graduation paper, I have received a lot of helpand invaluable advice from many helpful and respectful people.

First of all, I would like to send my special thanks to the School ManagementBoard and teachers of Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages andInformation Technology

Especially, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr Dang ThanhBinh, M.E.M, my advisor who read through this paper with enthusiatic to give mesupport and valuable advice Without his helpful guidance, this research would not

be finished

I am very grateful to Department of Personnel and Administration ofSaigon Shoes Joint-stock Company, who helped me in exchanging informationand experience, in contributing opinions and supplying relative materials

Last but not least, I truly express my gratitude to my family and my friendsfor their support and encouragement

July 14,2006

Dang Nhu Trang

"Recruitment and selection in Saigon Shoes Joint-Stock Company and

recommendations to improve the situation" is the subject of my graduation

paper through the internship period at Department of Personnel and

Administration of Saigon Shoes Joint-stock Company

This study was conducted on theory and praticality of the observations

and interviews with Saigon Shoes Joint-stock Company personnel managers

to analyze the recruitment and selection processes of the Company The

findings showed that Saigon Shoes Joint-stock Company's recruitment and

selection processes had been doing their tasks well However, it also had a

number of weaknesses Thus, some recommendations were given to the

recruitment and selection activitives so that it could meet the requirements

of current human resource management

Figure 1: The human resource planning process 8

Figure 4: The sex of the labor force in SSJ Company 39Figure 5: The chart ofIncreasing and Decreasing of employees 40Figure 6: A summary of the recruiting process 62Table 1: Education level of the labor force in SJJ Company 36Table 2: Age of the labor force in SSJ Company 38Table 3: Increasing and Decreasing of employees : 40Diagram 1: Indirect selection process in SSJ Company 49Diagram 2: Direct selection process in SSJ Company 51

In recent years, together with the rapid economic growth and pressure of theglobal competition, the key task of all companies all over the world is try tomaximize business's products and services supply to their customers effectively.InVietnam, with the investment of many foreign enterprises, the competition is moreand more severe Besides, identifYing challenges and planning a long-term strategyfor human resource are essential if businesses try to expand their scale and increasetheir competitiveness Therefore, an enterprise focuses not only on finance,marketing, administrative management but also on human resource managementbecause "Career is successful or fail due to men" (Konosuke, 1997)

Human resource management includes recruitment and selection, trainingand development, performance appraisal Nevertheless, recruitment and selectionprocesses are important tasks because when recruitment and selection are well done,

an enterprise can attract qualified job applicants to increase the organization'seffectiveness Therefore, this research analyzes the recruitment and selectionprocesses in the Saigon Shoes Joint-stock Company This company is an enterprisewho produces and outsources cloth shoes and bags for many foreign countries, sothe Company always needs a large number of employees However, the company isusually in short of workforce and the recruitment and selection processes have to becarried out regularly Therefore, having an effective human resource management is

an important factor in order to help the company achieve its goals

This research aims at analyzing the recruitment and selection activities toimprove human resource management in Saigon Shoes Joint-stock Company.Moreover, after analyzing the current recruitment and selection process in theSaigon Shoes Joint-stock Company, this research will help human resourcemanagers recognize that employees are important resources Therefore, humanresource management must have a strategic visibility and must be considered as the

However, because of the limitation of time, knowledge and experience, theresearch only focuses on the recruitment and selection activities of the Saigon ShoesJoint-stock Company, draws out the strengths and weaknesses of those activities, sothat some measures are suggested for more effective management.

The organization of this study consists of four chapters Chapter one is theliterature review of the human resource management, especially the recruitment andselection process An overview of the Saigon Shoes Joint-stock Company isintroduced in the chapter two Chapter three analyzes the current recruitment andselection process in the Saigon Shoes Joint-stock Company and some strengths andweaknesses of these activities Some recommendations to improve the humanresource management in the company are discussed in the final chapter

CHAPTER 1

LITERA TURE REVIEW

1.1 OVERVIEW OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

1.1.1 Human resource management:

Recently, many companies recognize the growmg importance of theirhuman resource because although the human resource management does not controlmany of the factors that shape the employee's contribution, such as the capital,materials, and procedures, it is responsible for managing people in such a way thatthese factors are most productively used (William B.Werther.et ai, 1993)

An important element that causes most of ineffective business cases is thelacking of quality and strength of management skills That is, managers may notknow how to make full use of human resource and there is a waste of human andmaterial resources Therefore, in order to be effective, managers must understandand competently practice human resource management

"Human Resource Management is the recognition of the importance of anorganization's workforce as vital human resources contributing to the goals of theorganization, and the utilization of several functions and activities to ensure thatthey are used effectively and fairly for the benefits of the individual, theorganization, and society."(Schuler.et al,2000)

1.1.2 Support activities:

Before conducting the recruitment and selection process, effective managershave to consider some supporting activities such as human resource planning andjob analysis, which provide necessary information about job requirements andemployee qualification

a Human resource planning:

"Human resource planning is the process of systematically reviewing humanresource requirements to ensure that the required number of employees, withrequired skills, is available when needed."(Wayne.et al,2001)

The purpose of human resource planning is helping the company to choosethe right person in the right position If a human resource planning is well done, acompany can choose appropriate employees who have required skills to accomplishorganizational objectives Moreover, effective human resource planning can be acontribution for the success of other human resource activities such as recruitment,selection, training and development

There are six steps in human resource planning as follow: (Nguyen,2000)

Step 1: Environmental scanning

Human resource planners can identity and anticipate source of threats andopportunities and drive the organization's strategic planning by environmentalscanning It helps the human resource planners have a better understanding of thecontext in which human resource decisions are or will be made Both external andinternal factors are critical for effective planning.(Nguyen,2000)

External factors:( Harris, 2000)

• Globalization:

Globalization is a fact of business today There are both positive andnegative sides to globalization On the positive side, greater globalization createsmore potential markets for businesses which bring to the company profits andopportunities to consolidate their positions in the market places On the negativeside, greater globalization creates more competition In order to survive,organizations must compete against businesses around them, and even around theworld

• Economic:

It is difficult for personnel specialists to predict the developments in theorganization's environment in the short run or long run Economic developments

have a noticeable effect but are difficult to estimate such as inflation,unemployment, interest rates

• Legal:

These factors are easier to predict, but their implications are seldom clear.Laws and government regulations have many effects on human resourcemanagement They are issued to protect employees' rights discrimination, workingconditions It is necessary to conduct analysis on laws to ensure the success ofhuman resource planning

Internal factors:

• Business strategy:

The approach that a company take in conducting its business is referred to asits business strategy.(Harris,2000)

Each business strategy has implications for human resource practices Man

IS an essential resource for organizational strategy accomplishment Therefore,human resource planners should analyze the company's business strategy to identifYthe most appropriate employees for the purpose of fulfilling the organization's goalsand missions

• Organizational structure:

Organizational structure refers to how work tasks are assigned, who reports

to whom, and how decisions are made (Harris, 2000) Therefore, company shouldcomplete the analysis of organizational structure in order to choose suitableemployees for the organization's success

Step 2: Labor demand forecast

Labor demand forecast is an estimate of what the organization's humanresource needs will be in the future This includes the number of employees thatwill be needed, the types of skills that will be required in order to realize the statedgoals Before human resource requirements can be projected, demand for the finn's

goods or services must first be forecasted This forecast is then converted intopeople requirements for the activities necessary to meet the demand (Nguyen,2000)

Step 3: Labor supply forecast

When the company identified the labor demand forecast, the next thingwhich they must do is to determine whether the firm will be able to secureemployees with the necessary skills, and from what sources, is called anavailability forecast It helps the managers to determine whether the neededemployees may be obtained from within the company, from outside theorganization or from both of the two sources There are two sources of supply:internal and external supply (Nguyen,2000)

• Internal supply: consists of those workers presently work for the firm Theycan be promoted, transferred or demoted to fill desired job vacancies.Managers should consider either management inventories, which containsdetailed information about each manager and is used to identifY individuals

to move into higher level positions to look for the appropriate candidates forthe firm

External supply: consists of those individuals in the labor forces who arepotential recruits of the firm (including those working in another firm) The skilllevels being sought determine the relevant labor market The entire country (orworld) may be the relevant labor market for highly-skilled job whereas for simplejobs, the relevant labor market is usually the local community Determining therelevant labor market will also decide what type of recruiting approach should beused (Nguyen,2000)

Step 4: Gap analysis

Gap analysis is used for reconciling the forecasts of labor demand andsupply At least, this process identifies potential shortages or surplus of employees,

skills and jobs In addition, however, planners can compare several environmentalforecasts with alternative supply and demand forecasts to determine the firm'sreadiness for different business scenarios From a problem- solving perspective, gapanalysis is used to pair up potential strengths and opportunities with solutions inorder to evaluate how the firm might attack the future This decision-makingprocess involves (1) a search for alternative solution, (2) an evaluation ofalternatives, and (3) a choice of solutions (Nguyen,2000)

Step 5: Action programming

Action programming is the step of human resource planning that lays out theevents that need to be executed to realize the human resource plan It makes certainthat the decisions on environmental scanning and labor forecast (in the previousfour steps) turn to reality (Nguyen,2000)

Step 6: Control and evaluation

Control and evaluation monitor the effectiveness of human resource plansover time Deviation from the plan is identified and actions are taken Obviously,actual staffing levels compared to projected levels should be evaluated for accuracy.Conducting evaluations also makes it easier to determine whether long-run planningobjective will be met (Nguyen,2000)

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

Strategic Planning

Human Resource Planning

Forecasting Human Resource Reauirements

Surplus of Workers

Restricted Hiring, Reduced Hours, Early Retirement, Layoffs, Downsizing

Forecasting Human Resource Availability

Shortage of Workers

Selection

Figure I: The Human Resource Planning Process Source: Mondy, Noe, and Premeaux, 2001, Human Resource Management

bJo b analysis:

Job analysis is a systematic process of gathering information about a job Itdetermined the job's duties and responsibilities, skills and knowledge required forperforming the job, relationship to other jobs and working conditions under which it

is performed (Wayne et aI, 2001)

Job analysis is performed on three occasions:

• First, it is done when the organization is founded and a job analysis programinitiated for the first time

• Second, it is performed when new jobs are created

• Third, it is used when jobs are changed significantly as a result of newtechnology, methods, procedures, or system The majority of job analyses areperformed because changes in the nature ofjobs.( Wayne.et al,2001)

Job analysis information is used to prepare both job description and jobspecification

Job description

Job description is a document that provides information regarding the tasks,duties, and responsibilities of the job Job description should be both relevant andaccurate They should provide concise statements of what employees are expected

to do on the job and indicate exactly what employees should follow, how they do it,and the conditions under which the duties are perfonned (Wayne.et al,2001)

Job specification

Job specification IS a document containing the mInImum acceptablequalifications that a person should possess to perform a particular job Itemstypically included in the job specification are educational requirements, experiences,personality traits, and physical abilities (Wayne.et al,200 1) This document,together with job description, ensures the organization to avoid either over-

recruitment or under-recruitment That means the organization can select the mostappropriate employees through the effective tool of recruitment - the job analysis.

When human resource planning involves adding to the labor force and thejob analysis indicates exactly what is the job's duties and responsibilities and whatqualifications are needed, that is where recruitment comes in So, recruitment canonly be effectively carried out with the aid of human resource planning and jobanalysis

1.1.3 The importance of recruitment and selection:

There are many various activities of human resource management such astraining, development, performance appraisal and management, compensation,health care, insurance, discipline recruitment and selection are important tasks.The three main goals of human resource management are as follows:

./' To attract potentially qualified job applicants

./' To retain desirable employees

./' To motivate employees

The first goal can only be reached when recruitment and selection are well done.Therefore, the importance of recruitment and selection process is proved by thefollowing reasons:

• If every enterprise wants to operate, they must have an organizational staff.That is the reason why recruitment and selection are the indispensableprocess

• A qualified employee is a result from a well recruitment and selectionprocess And of course, the enterprise will get benefits from the employee

• Last but not least, cost for training and developing the organization'sworkforce is also reduced if recruitment and selection are effectivelyperformed.( Nguyen, 2000)

1.2 RECRUITMENT:

Recruitment is the process of attracting individuals on a timely basis, insufficient numbers and with appropriate qualifications, and encouraging them toapply for jobs with an organization (Wayne et aI, 2001)

Finding the appropriate way of encouraging qualified candidates to apply foremployment is extremely important when a firm need to hire employees Tappingproductive sources of applicants and using suitable recruitment methods areessential to maximizing recruiting efficiency and effectiveness

1.2.1 Alternatives to recruitment:

Recruitment and selection costs are significant when all the related expensesare considered: the search process, interviewing, agency fee payment, andrelocation and processing of a new employee Therefore, a firm should consider itsalternatives carefully before engaging in recruitment

• Outsourcing: the process of transferring responsibility for an area ofservice and its objectives to an external provider

• Contingent Workers: known as part-timers, temporaries, andindependent contractors, individuals who work for staffing companies

or are classified as independent contractors

• Professional Employer Organizations: Off-site human resourcesdepartments that put a client finn's employees on its payroll, thenlease the employees back to the company

• Overtime: the most commonly used method of meeting short termfluctuation in work volume.( Wayne.et al,200l)

External Environment

Internal Environment

HR Planning

Alternatives toRecruitment

Figure 2: The Recruitment Process Source: Mondy, Noe and Premeaux,2001, Human Resource Management

As figure 2, when human planning indicates a need for employees, the firmmay evaluate alternatives ways to meet this demand Alternatives to recruitmentcommonly include outsourcing, use of contingent workers, employee leasing, andovertime When other alternatives are not appropriate, the recruitment process starts.Frequently, recruitment begins when a manager initiates an employee requisition.The employee requisition is a document that specifies job title, department, the datethe employee is needed for work, and other details With this information, thehuman resource manager can work out the job analysis.

The next step in the recruitment process is to determine whether qualifiedemployees are available within the firm (the internal source) or must be recruitedfrom external sources like colleges, universities, or other organizations Because ofthe high cost of recruiting, organizations need to utilize the most productiverecruitment sources and methods When source of potential employees has beenidentified, appropriate methods for either internal or external recruitment are used toaccomplish recruitment objectives

1.2.2 Internal recruitment:

a) Internal source of recruitment:

Internal source include present employees, former employees, andemployees' acquaintances

• Present employees: The best solution is to promote the employees who areworking presently in the firm to a higher position when time is an importantfactor These employees are familiar with policies and organization of thefirm, therefore they only take a short period of time for training and adapting

to new position in comparison with outsiders The advantage of thisapproach is the employees think that the finn always considers to theirabilities and provides them promotion chances Therefore, they will work forthe firm for a long time and work more effectively (Nguyen, 2000)

• Employees' acquaintances: Employees who are working in the firm oftenunderstand their friends are looking for a job and they can become a goodemployee Therefore, the employees want to introduce to the firm thequalified candidates This is an effective approach because the firm canrefer to without any advertising expense (Nguyen,2000)

• Former employees: These candidates are very familiar with the workingenvironments and they also have good relationships with current employees,

so cost and time for orienting and training can be saved However, formeremployee' recruitment may not create good influence on present employeessince they think they can leave the firm whenever they want and can easilycomeback without any difficulties (Nguyen, 2000)

b) Internal methods of recruitment:

Management should be able identify current employees who are capable tofilling positions as they become available Helpful tools used for internalrecruitment include employee database, job posting, and job bidding procedures

• Employees' databases permit organizations to determine whether currentemployees possess the qualifications for open positions As a recruitmentdevice, these databases have proved to be extremely valuable toorganizations when they are kept current Databases can be of tremendousvalue in locating talent internally and supporting the concept of promotionfrom within

• Job bidding is a technique that permits employees who believe that theypossess the required qualifications to apply for a posted job

• Among these methods, job posting may be the most well-known approach It

is a procedure for informing employees that job openings exist A majorpurpose of this method is to ensure the fairness and to avoid bad effects onthe staff encouraging policies It also gives the organization good

opportunities to employ the most appropriate and the highest qualifiedcandidates without searching from outside sources.( Wayne.et al,200 I)

There are some major advantages to internal recruitment:

• First, the organization has more knowledge of the candidate's strengths andweaknesses On the contrary, candidate already knows the organization

• Second, it provides the organization's employees with incentive andmotivation Promotion from within encourages employees greatly, so theyhave morale to work Promoting an employee can also creat challenges andcompetition among the others and they will try their best to contribute more

to the organization

• Finally, an organizational policy of promotion from within can enhanceorganizational commitment or loyalty and job satisfaction These variableshave been shown to be correlated with lower employee turnover rates andhigher productivity

Although internal recruitment has its own advantages, it also has some

disadvantages:

• Internal recruitment limits new creative ideas and encourages inbreeding inemployees There is no advance and creativity in solving the organization'sproblems

• The next disadvantage is that when selecting only one employee for theposition, the organizational management can disappoint other qualifiedemployees They may be in low morale for work and thus create jobdissatisfaction This is especially true when the rejected employees havebeen trying to show their abilities and contributing efforts to theorganization's development

• Disorder situation is the third disadvantage to internal recruiting Promoting

an employee will leave a vacancy which has to be fulfilled by transferring

1.2.3 External recruitment:

a) External source of recruitment:

External recruiting concerns looking for qualified applicants from outside theorganization to fill the job openings The following needs require externalrecruitment: (1) to fill entry-level job; (2) to acquire skills not possessed by currentemployees and (3) to obtain employees with different backgrounds to provide newideas (Wayne.et aI, 2001)

Depending on the qualifications desired employees might be attracted from anumber of outside sources The common sources preferred by the management are

as the followings (Wayne.et aI, 2001):

• High schools and vocational schools: Organizations concerned withrecruiting clerical and other entry-level operative employees often dependheavily on high schools and vocational schools Many of these schools haveoutstanding training programs for specific occupational skills Somecompanies work with schools to ensure a constant supply of trainedindividuals with specific job skills

• Colleges and Universities: Colleges and Universities represent a majorrecruitment source for many organizations Potential professional, technical,and management employees are typically found in these institutions Manyfirms routinely utilize this source for prospective employees

• Competitors and Other Firms: Competitors and other firms III the sameindustry or geographic area may be the most important source of recruits forpositions in which recent experience is required Smaller firms in particularlook for employees who have been trained by larger organizations that havegreater developmental resources

• The unemployed: The unemployed often provide a valuable source ofrecruits Qualified applicants join the unemployment rolls every day forvarious reasons Companies may go out of business, cut back operation, or

be merged with other firms, living qualified workers without jobs.Employees are also fired sometimes merely because of personality

differences with their bosses Not infrequently, employees become frustratedwith their jobs and simply quit.

b) External methods of recruitment:

After carefully examining recruitment source, an organization will determinewhere potential qualified applicants are and then select the most appropriatemethods of recruiting External recruitment methods include advertising,employment agencies, recruiters, special events, internships, executive search firms,professional associations, employee referrals, unsolicited walk-in applicants, openhouses, event recruiting, virtual job fairs, and sign-on bonuses Among thesemethods, advertising, employment agencies, a special event and internship areeffective methods in hiring individuals with different types of skill

• Advertising: is a way of communicating the firm's employment needs to thepublic through media such as radio, newspaper, or industry publications

• Employment agency: is an organization that assists firms in recruitingemployees and also aids individuals in their attempts to locate jobs

• A special event: is a recruitment method that involves an effort on the part of

a single employer or group of employers to attract a large number ofapplicants for interviews

• Internship: is a special form of recruitment that involves placing students intemporary jobs with no obligation either by the company to hire the studentpermanently or by the student to accept a permanent position with the firmfollowing graduation (Wayne.et ai, 2001)

Depending on the specific circumstances, management can find one of theabove methods most useful and economical However, a combination of severalmethods can make the recruitment process more effective

There are some advantages of external recruitment:

First, new insights, skills and know-how can be introduced into theorganization Another advantage is that outside employees are not member of

changes and initiatives without having to please constituent groups Last but notleast, there is not an vacancy left after recruitment and the organization keepsrunning smoothly.

Together with advantages, external recruitment also has disadvantages Ittakes a new employee for a long time to adjust and adapt to new workingenvironment Another disadvantage is that an employee may be selected whoseperformance is below the standard required or whose personality does not matchwith the organization's culture The final disadvantage is that the introduction ofnew personnel may have a negative impact on work group cohesion and morale

Both internal and external sources are necessary for an organizationwhenperforming recruitment However, which source to choose depends greatly on thequalifications require organization policies and strategies, and internal as well asexternal environment Good decision on appropriate sources will determineeffective recruitment and, therefore, make the organization's selection easy andprecise

1.3 SELECTION:

Whereas recruitment encourages individuals to seek employment with a firm,the purpose of the selection process is to identifY and employ the best-qualifiedindividuals Selection is the process of choosing from a group of applicants theindividual best suited for a particular position and organization (Wayne,etal,2001).As might be expected, a firm's recruitment success has a significant impact

on the quality of the selection decision

There are many ways to improve productivity, but none is more powerfulthan making the right hiring decision A firm that selects qualified employees canreap substantial benefits, which may be repeated every year the employee is on thepayroll

1.3.1 Environmental factors affecting the selection process:

A standardized screening process that can be followed consistently wouldgreatly simplify the selection process; however, circumstance may requireexceptions to be made The following sections describe environmental factors thataffect the selection process:

• Legal Considerations: As previously described, human resource management

is greatly influenced by legislation, executive orders, and court decisions.Although interpretation of legislation by the courts and federal agencies hasoften created controversy and been met with opposition by the private sector,the intent of federal legislation is generally not at odds with good businesssense

• Speed of Decision Making: The time available to make the selection decisioncan also have a major effect on the selection process If the selection processtakes too long, the best candidates will be working for another, moreefficient employer

• Organizational Hierarchy: Different approaches to selection are generallytaken for filling positions at varying levels in the organization

• Applicant Pool: The number of qualified applicants for a particular job canalso affect the selection process The process can be truly selective only ifthere are several qualified applicants Yet only a few applicants with therequired skills may be available The selection process then becomes amatter of choosing from whoever is at hand Expansion and contraction ofthe labor market also exert considerable influence on availability, and thus,the selection process

• Type of Organization: The sector of the economy in which individuals are to

be employed - private, governmental, or not for profit - can also affect theselection process Prospective employees are screened with regard to howthey can help achieve profit goals Therefore, a person who fills one of thesepositions must be not only qualified but also dedicated to this type of work

• Probationary Period: Many firms use a probationary period that permits them

to evaluate an employee's ability based on established performance Thispractice may be either a substitute for certain phases of the selection process

or a check on the validity of the process The rationale is that if an individualcan successfully perform the job during the probationary period, otherselection tools are not needed In any event, newly hired employees should

be monitored to determine whether the hiring decision was a good one.(Wayne.et aI, 2001)

1.3.2 The selection criteria:

It is important to state what is necessary for effective performance on the job.This forces selection program to have specific criteria There are some criteriapreferred by most companies:

• Formal education: to find a person who has the right abilities and attitudes to

be successful, employers have to screen the applicant's educationalaccomplishments It is important to note that educational standards must besuitable to the job, avoiding the situation in which employing higher or lowstandards that position actually requires

• Experience and past performance: this is a useful criterion for selectingemployees because many selection specialists believes that past performance

of similar job might be one of the best indicator of ability and work- relatedattitudes Individual with job experience can be prospective candidate who isbelieved can undertake the tasks with effective performance With thesecriteria, the tendency for many organizations is to hire form within

• Physical characteristics: studies have shown that many employers tend tohire and pay high wage for those who are well looking This became one ofselection criteria but this kind of criteria easy leads to the situation ofdiscrimination, violating equal employment opportunity (EEO) legislation.For this reason, physical characteristics are considered only when therequirement of the job is concerned

• Personal characteristics: include marital status, age, sex, and so on ,anyemployers tend to single out applicants who are considered to be easy to fitthe jobs, especially jobs requiring time freedom and oversea transfer While

it is illegal to discriminate against those who are over the age of 40, there is

no law for younger Moreover, minimum or maximum age restriction is justapplied when clearly job-related Thus, age should be used as selectioncriterion only after careful thought and consideration

1.3.3 The selection process:

Figure 3.1 illustrates a generalized selection process that may vary byorganization It typically begins with the preliminary interview, after whichobviously unqualified candidates are quickly rejected Next, applicants completethe firm's application for employment Then, they progress through a series ofselection tests, the employment interview, and reference and background checks.The successful applicant receives a company physical examination The individual

is employed if results of the physical examination are satisfactory Theenvironmental factors previously mentioned impact the selection process, and themanager must take them into account in making selection decisions

(1) ()

Step 1: The preliminary interview

The selection process often begins with a preliminary interview The basicpurpose of this initial screening of applicants is to eliminate those who obviously donot meet the position's requirements In addition to eliminating obviouslyunqualified job applicants quickly, a preliminary interview may produce otherpositive benefits for the firm This type of interviewing not only builds goodwill forthe firm but also can maximize recruitment and selection effectiveness

There are many methods supporting preliminary interview, such as:telephone interview, videotaped interview and computer interview Among them,telephone interview may be the most effective and economical way to exchangeinformation with applicants in distant locations A large number of candidates can

be screened using this method

Step 2: Review of applications

Another easy step in the selection process, which may either proceed orfollow the preliminary interview, is having the prospective employee complete anapplication for employment The employer evaluates it to see whether there is anapparent match between the individual and the position

The specific information requested on an application for employment mayvary from firm to firm, and even by job type within an organization An applicantfrom typically contains sections for name, address, telephone number, militaryservice, education, and work history An employment application form must reflectnot only the firm's information needs but also EEO requirements The informationcontained in a completed application for employment is compared to the jobdescription to determine whether a potential match exists between the firm'srequirements and the applicant's qualifications

Step 3: Administration of selection tests

A technique that some organizations use to aid their selection decisions is the

selecting qualified candidates from a pool of applicant Moreover, it can identifYattitudes and job-related skills that can't be identified in interviews There are awide variety of selection tests However, each type of tests only has limitedusefulness, how to effectively apply those ones is still a difficulty Human resourcemanagers can select the most qualified applicants for the organization throughevaluating variety of issues such as: Psychomotor Abilities, Job-Knowledge, Work-Sample and Personality Tests.

• Personality test: Recent advances have suggested much positive conclusions

about the role of personality tests in predicting job performance Mainly, this

is due to the widespread acceptance of taxonomy of personality Measures ofpersonality traits can be survey, projective techniques or interview However,survey measures in general, are the most reliable and valid means ofpersonality testing for selection decisions

• Ability tests are measures that assess an individual's capacity to function in a

certain way There are two major types of ability tests: aptitude andachievement Aptitude tests look at a person's innate capacity to function,while achievement tests assess a person's learned capacity to function.Surveys reveal that organizations consider ability tests a key determinant ofemployee performance Without a certain level of ability, be it innate orlearned, performance is unlikely to be at an acceptable level

• Job knowledge tests attempt to directly assess an applicant's comprehension

of job requirements Job knowledge tests can be one of two types: one typeasks questions that directly assess knowledge of the duties involved in aparticular job The other type focuses on the level of experience with criticaljob tasks and tools or processes necessary to perform the job

• Performance tests and work sample: These tests are mechanisms to assess

actual performance rather than underlying capacity or disposition Aperformance test measures what a person actually does on the job, while awork sample is designed to capture parts of the job A performance test is

more costly to develop than a work sample, but it is usually a better predictor

of job performance

Step 4: Employment interview

The employment interview is a goal-oriented conversation in which theinterviewer and applicant exchange information Historically, interviews have notbeen shown to be valid predictors of success on the job Nevertheless, they continue

to be the primary method companies use to evaluate applicants The employmentinterview is especially significant because the applicants who reach this stage arethe survivors They have endured the preliminary interview and scored satisfactorily

on selection tests

Interview planning

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

He or she should become familiar with the applicant's qualifications by reviewingthe data collected from other selection tools As preparation for the interview, a jobprofile should be developed based on the job description After job requirementshave been listed, it is helpful to have an interview checklist that includes these hints:

• Compare an applicant's application and resume with job requirements

• Develop questions related to the qualities sought

• Prepare a step-by-step plan to present the position, company, division, anddepartment

• Determine how to ask for examples of past applicant behavior, not whatfuture behavior might be

Types a/interview:

• Unstructured interview: is one in which the interviewer asks probing,

the interviewer encourages the applicant to do much of the talking.The nondirective interview is often more time consuming thanstructured interviews and results in obtaining different informationfrom different candidates Attractive topics relating to the job aregiven to the candidate in order to help them feel comfortable about theinterview so that they can naturally express their talent Unfortunately,the accuracy of this approach is not high in many interview situationsbecause each applicant is given different questions.

• Structured interview: is a series of job-related questions that areconsistently asked of each applicant for a particular job Althoughinterviews have historically been very poor predictors for makingselection decisions, use of structured interviews increases reliabilityand accuracy by reducing the subjectivity and inconsistency ofunstructured interviews

• Behavioral interviews: is a structured interview that uses questionsdesigned to probe the candidate's past behavior in specific situations.The premise that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavioravoids having to make judgments about applicants' personalities andprecludes hypothetical and self-evaluative questions In the behaviorinterview, the situational behaviors are carefully selected for theirrelevance to job success Questions are formed from the behaviors byasking applicants how they performed in the described situation.Questions asked in behavior description interviewing are legally safesince they are job related Equally important, since both questions andanswers are related to successful job performance, they are moreaccurate in predicting whether applicants will be successful in the jobthey are hired to perform Although behavioral interviewing was onceused exclusively for senior executive positions, it is now a populartechnique for lower-level positions

Step 5: Reference and back-ground check

A way to gain additional insight into the information provided by anapplicant and to verifY the accuracy of the information provided This step involves

in contacting to either their previous supervisors and co-workers or their academicadvisors and friends with the hope that the interviewers can verifY the candidates'personality, behavior, experience and the past job accomplishment From thesereferences, human resource specialists can get information of applicants'potentiality and qualifications Therefore, reference and background investigationmay be reasonable step in the selection procedure

Step 6: The selection decision

The final choice will be made from among those still in the running afterreference checks, selection tests, background investigations, and interviewinformation have been evaluated The individual with the best overall qualificationsmay not be hired Rather, the person whose qualifications most closely conform tothe requirements of the open position~d-!\lf PJ(g~lJit?tiQ.nshould be selected

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Step 7: Physical examination

A person who wants to effectively accomplish his or her job definitely needsheath and an enterprise, which wants to have successful goal achievement needsalso healthy employees The basic purpose of the physical examination is todetermine whether an applicant is physically capable of performing the work

Step 8: New employment

When the applicants pass seven steps of selection process, they will receivethe notification of the selection results and the date for starting the jobs

All the methods presented above are very useful for making recruitment andselection decisions There are various methods However, which methods to applydepend greatly on the type of vacant position (managerial or non-managerial),management policy and strategies, internal and external environment Circumstances differ from organization to organization, so the decisions on themethods should be carefully evaluated The effectiveness of recruitment andselection process is measured by the cost, reliability, validity, utility of the methodsand the applicant's reaction to the process (Wayne.et aI, 200 1)