Employee Hiring and Selection: Best Practices

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Table of Contents

Abstract
Introduction
Importance of Hiring
Challenges in Employee Selection
Practices for Hiring and Selection
Conclusion
References

Abstract

In the modern world that is full of opportunities and options, many companies are challenged by the necessity to find the right people and make successful employee selection. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the main characteristics of a recruitment process and define the best practices for hiring and selection of employees. The aspects explored in this work include the importance of hiring, the challenges of employee selection, and the methods that employers can use in the human resource field.

The process of hiring people is not easy and should meet several criteria such as autonomy and thoughtful decision-making, as well as be goal-oriented and properly structured. Interviews, assessments, and automated searches are the best practices for selection workers that are discussed in this paper. Face-to-face interviews help to define personality traits and attitudes of new people. Assessments focus on discovering professional skills. Automated search makes the selection easy and organized.

Regarding the current technological progress and the spread of the Internet in the world of business, much attention is paid to online services. Some companies find it effective to use only one of the chosen practices and focus on achieving perfect results. Some employers believe that their managers can incorporate several approaches to find good people who can work in their companies and promote innovation, success, and profit.

Introduction

Successful recruiting remains one of the most crucial steps in the development of any organization. Despite the existing technological progress and opportunities, finding the right people may not be enough for the promotion of strong cooperation and innovation (Mazzei, Flynn, & Haynie, 2016). Many companies prefer to follow traditional standards and methods to create strong branding and underline the key skills of the personnel (Olenski, 2018).

Still, even the task to hire the right person can become a challenge for some managers. Therefore, companies continue surfing the web and researching to identify the best practices for hiring and selection of employees. In this paper, the main characteristics and challenges of a hiring process will be discussed regarding the latest impact of online and social media and the demands set by potential employees. In a modern competitive work environment, the process of hiring and selecting people cannot be ignored and has to be properly organized, staying goal-oriented, autonomous, and manipulative and relying on such practices as interviews, assessments, or automated search.

Importance of Hiring

In the human resource management (HRM) field, much attention is paid to the conditions under which new workers have to be found and selected. Though more than 50% of new hires usually come from the Internet (Ladkin & Buhalis, 2016), HR managers spend much time to create special assessments and tests to understand if they make appropriate choices. In the dictionary, personnel selection is defined as a scientific process in terms of which an individual has to match with an offered job and an organization’s culture (Miller, 2016).

Hiring becomes a time-consuming and expensive process because, despite the absence of a right person, certain work should be done. As a result, the already hired people should hide the gap and make sure all tasks are properly performed not at the expense of the company’s profit. Employee selection is integral as it is a chance to cover recent losses and motive the staff.

Challenges in Employee Selection

The main challenges in employee selection are caused by fast-developing technological progress and the prevalence of people who use the Internet to find a job, ask questions, or investigate a company. Electronic selection (e-selection) technologies vary, and not all managers and applicants have enough background knowledge to use them successfully (Novak, 2017). The exchange of experience and the possibility to learn something new within a short period also challenges employers and companies.

It is necessary not to be blinded by the results or production volumes but to focus on the process and details (Pierce, 2018). Today, it is not a difficult task to create a reputation, to change some personal facts, or to improve history. Hence, the HR field may be exposed to unpredictable dangers. The choice of a good hiring practice and selection of the right person is the key to future success and trustful relationships.

Practices for Hiring and Selection

The hiring of people is a challenging task even for the most experienced HR managers. One minor detail being missed may cost a lot to the work environment and its people. Therefore, in addition to a plan of employee selection, managers should recognize and understand the main characteristics of a hiring process and develop appropriate skills. Time and energy are required to get prepared for hiring people can bring positive results in future motivation and the establishing of new relationships.

Characteristics of Hiring

To develop a correct evaluation of a person is a task that requires much work and certain efforts. In the Internet and specialized journals or magazines, it is possible to find enough helpful material to get prepared for hiring people and learning the main characteristics of employee selection. For example, Nolan and Highhouse (2014) admit that hiring practices should be based on effective decisions.

This characteristic implies the necessity to collect data, evaluate the field, and investigate the company’s needs and opportunities before making a final decision. Human judgments, objective attributes, and observations can be used in decision-making. However, it is not the only aspect of the practice. Goals have to be properly defined in this process. Companies want to follow innovation to any possible extent. Therefore, innovations turn out to be a part of daily activities and conversations, and organizational goals should be discussed within hiring interviews and dialogues (Mazzei et al., 2016). Practices, as well as any step and decision in the company, have to be goal-oriented.

A hiring procedure should not bother or confuse managers as well as potential employees. Nolan and Highhouse (2014) introduce autonomy as an important feature in human behavior, including selection practices. It is interpreted as the freedom to speak and act by a personal sense of self (Nolan & Highhouse, 2014). In other words, HR managers should know how to use self-determination in searching for new people and accurately demonstrate their needs and expectations. At the same time, standards and frames should not prevent the development of personal skills and abilities. Finally, hiring practices have to be manipulative to make experiments and simulations possible during first meetings and interviews.

Creative and critical thinking, enthusiasm, and awareness of the permitted scope are essential for manipulations. Managers can use different situations and stay unpredictable. However, their goals and manipulations should result in the creation of a “win-win situation for both the employer and the job seeker” (Novak, 2017, p. 289). The outcomes, if a decision is successful or failed, can be discovered with time after a new worker demonstrates some achievements in the workplace.

Best Practices

A variety of hiring practices and decisions may confuse managers. There is also a serious gap between what research says and what practices show in the area of employee selection and the HR field (Nolan & Highhouse, 2014). The choice of best practices usually depends on what companies and their managers can do or want to achieve. However, the best concept should not always be what is desirable. This choice should include the organization’s resources, social factors, and personal traits that vary between nations. Many companies believe that such traditional methods interviews, assessments of candidates, and automated searches should not be ignored (Pierce, 2018). Each practice has its characteristics, steps, and outcomes in the hiring process.

Interview

Job interviews are the most frequently used hiring practices around the whole world. It does not matter if a company works online and provides real-life services in brick-and-mortar enterprises, an interview can be organized under various conditions. Managers may use structured or unstructured forms for their interviews. Nolan and Highhouse (2014) underline that many employers like the idea of using unstructured interviews because the can fulfillment their autonomy needs.

This practice of gathering information about applicants was preferred by employers during the last century (Nolan & Highhouse, 2014). Interviewers have to be very careful and attentive to each detail during their conversations. An understanding of social and contextual factors explains the better motivation, innovation, and working intentions.

An interview is a chance to exchange information between both parties. On the one hand, an employer or a manager introduces brief facts about the company, its goals, and expected results. This method helps to introduce biases and other issues that may influence the selection and a working process (Ladkin & Buhalis, 2016). An interviewer may give several hints on how to organize answers, what kind of information is required, and how to achieve the necessary results.

On the other hand, a candidate can use an interview to make an impression, to prove his/her appropriateness, and demonstrate the best skills. Some hiring practices can be improved in a process, and an interview is not an exception. An additional look, a nod, or a hand movement can be a signal or a reaction to some outside event. Each phrase is a result of what has already been studied and discovered and what can be achieved and found out.

Direct communication with an employer is a rare event for many candidates. As a rule, specially hired HR managers are responsible for the development of interviews and the selection of people in a company. Unstructured interviews are also helpful in explaining job requirements, developing evaluations, and conducting assessments (Nolan & Highhouse, 2014). At the same time, an assessment may be defined as a separate hiring practice when managers have to observe their candidates’ behaviors, replies, and intentions to understand if they are ready to become a part of a team.

Assessment

In modern psychology and management, there are many types of assessments. On the one hand, it is possible to assess human behaviors, reactions to certain duties, and abilities to cope with tasks. As a rule, assessment from a purely behavioral perspective includes concepts and methodologies (Miller, 2016). On the other hand, personnel development, hiring, and training have to consider the results of the needs assessment.

According to Miller (2016), this process helps to determine the needs of a company, an employer, and a potential worker. The assessment of a candidate is an opportunity for a manager to understand the role of a person and be properly equipped to predict the success of a company as a whole or an individual as a part of a team (Pierce, 2018). An employer should set high expectations from the first minutes of communication with a person. The way a company meets a person face-to-face should be welcoming and calm to ensure the rights of both parties (Pierce, 2018). There is no need to hurry up, but it is also not necessary to take much time for thinking, evaluating, and assessing.

Assessment should be developed from different perspectives. In addition to such standards as a general look of candidates, their behaviors, and their readiness for the process of selection, managers should integrate special tests and exercises to understand competencies, background knowledge, and professional skills. It does not take much time to hire a person. The results of this decision will be observed with time. Still, several steps and conclusions can be made during the first meeting.

Assessment based on personality tests is appropriate. Job-specific tests help to recognize applicants’ abilities to think critically and complete specific job-related tasks (Mazzei et al., 2016). This kind of assessment is usually not complicated and does not require burdensome expenses. The exercises for independent thoughts and actions introduce another portion of tasks to assess a candidate (Nolan & Highhouse, 2014). Employers observe how potential employees can deal with already set requirements and use their knowledge to overcome panic and be prepared for work. In the majority of cases, the results of assessments turn out to be correct for the definition of future working capacities.

Automated search

Today, companies should not neglect the role of the Internet in life and work. Social media and online services determine the way of how people are hired and selected. Best modern practices have to be connected with online media to get access to a variety of applicants. There are many databases and search engines with the help of which companies identify and select candidates. Automated search is a convenient way to set the main requirements as filters and find people who meet at least some of them (Novak, 2017).

Though some companies fail to define all the necessary points in one application, there is a chance to make additions to other hiring techniques like interviews or assessments. First impressions are important in job search, so both a candidate and a company should create effective images (Novak, 2017). Online search is a step that is taken before needs and skills are evaluated. People just look through the options and make their decisions. Selection can be successful if a company establishes clear requirements and explains what it can offer to people, and what it can ask from them.

Online employment turns out to be an interesting option for many companies in the modern world of business. Selection and hiring people may be organized via Skype or similar programs, and communication can take place from any part of the world.

However, the process of searching for a job online may challenge many people because they have to know how to navigate the system, introduce strong resumes, and choose special websites not to become the victims of frauds and lies (Novak, 2017). In 2005, about 26% of job applications were made online (Olenski, 2018). Today, almost every student or another candidate tries to find a job online. Automated search is one of the best hiring and selection practices for employers because of its scope, accessibility, and unpredictable results.

Conclusion

In general, this investigation proves that hiring and selection of employees may be organized in many different ways. Companies should evaluate their opportunities, resources, and needs to set clear requirements for applicants and inform about their goals and intentions. The selection of a person for a company may influence its future and success. Sometimes, people are not sure of their decisions and choices. Hiring and selection should not be defined as the final achievement that cannot be changed. Working experience, new skills, and tasks may be developed in a variety of ways, and even the most professional HR manager can hardly be confident in the final results.

At this moment, the best practices include automated online search, face-to-face interviews, and assessments. Each organization is free to choose any option or properly combine all three methods regarding one candidate. Every hiring and selection experience is a good lesson for an HR manager and a possibility to achieve better results in the next attempt to find a person.

References

Ladkin, A., & Buhalis, D. (2016). Online and social media recruitment. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(2), 327–345. Web.

Mazzei, M. J., Flynn, C. B., & Haynie, J. J. (2016). Moving beyond initial success: Promoting innovation in small businesses through high-performance work practices. Business Horizons, 59(1), 51–60. Web.

Miller H. L. (2016). The SAGE encyclopedia of theory in psychology (Vol. 1-2). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Nolan, K. P., & Highhouse, S. (2014). Need for autonomy and resistance to standardized employee selection practices. Human Performance, 27(4), 328–346. Web.

Novak, J. (2017). Making the cut when applying for jobs online. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 46(3), 293-299. Web.

Olenski, S. (2018). Taking corporate recruiting to a whole new level. Forbes. Web.

Pierce, J. (2018). Finding the best of the best: Four recruitment secretes for candidate success. Forbes. Web.

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