Common Interview Problems

Selection specialists must be aware And

trained to overcome these.

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

Halo / Horn effect

SNAP JUDGEMENTS

Weightage

LACK OF DESCRIPTION

PRESSURE TO

FAVOUR

CONTRAST

Sex, Race, Attitudes

Swayed by Negative

information

Plan the interview

Establish an easy and informal relationship

Encourage the candidate to talk

Cover the ground as planned

Probe where necessary

Analyse career and interests

Maintain control over the direction and time

Start the interview unprepared

Plunge too quickly into demanding questions

Jump to conclusions on inadequate evidences

Pay too much attention to isolated strengths or weaknesses

Talk too much

QUESTIONS FROM

THE EMPLOYER

•May I see your resume?•What attracts you to us?Openers

• What caused you to enter your job field?

Regarding motivation

•Describe your educational qualifications

Regarding education

• Why should I hire you?• Why did you leave your

previous job?

Regarding experience

Criminal record

Previous employment

Educational record

Credit record

Civil record Union affiliation

Character reference

Selection decisionMost critical of all steps

The final decision becomes a daunting task, as happened to HR people in Infosys. In 2003, the Bangalore based software giant received one million application of which only 10,000 were finally selected.

Reasons behind physical examination :

To detect if the individual carries any infectious disease.Whether an applicant is physically fit to perform the work.The information may be used to determine if there are certain physical capabilities which differentiate successful and less successful employees.Protects applicants with health defects from undertaking work that could be detrimental to themselves.

To those who have previously

crossed all the hurdles.

Job offer is made through a letter of appointment(date of reporting mentioned on it).

Rest of the applications may be preserved for future use, if any.

The basic information that should be included :Job titleDutiesDate of joiningRate of pay, allowances etc.Hours of work Holiday arrangementsSicknessGrievance procedureDisciplinary procedureWork rulesEmployer’s right.

Concluding the selection process

Contrary to popular perception, the selection process will not end with executing the employment contract. There is another step,

Reassuring those candidates who have not been selected.

Yet another development has taken place-

To effective selection

The main objective of effective selection is to hire people having competence and commitment. This objective is often defeated because of :

Limited perceptual ability -blocks the objective and rational selection

of people

No discrimination

Validity helps predict job performance

Pressure is brought on the selectors by politicians, bureaucrats,

relatives, friends.

OF SELECTION PROCESS

Selection is said to be right when right people are hired for right jobs and at right time. Four criteria have been used by organisations to ensure that selection meets the three ‘Rs’ :

Cost per hire

(CPH)

Time to hire

(TTH)

Quality of hire

Selection programme audit

MAKING SELECTION EFFECTIVE

Competency based hiring techniques

Training interviewers

Assessing culture fitment

Selection team

Refers to allocation of people to jobs.It includes initial assignment of new employees, promotion, transfer, or demotion of present employees.

When a candidate has been selected, it is logical that he or she is placed in the position that was advertised earlier.

But the task is not as simple as it looks.

Changes in the work ethics reflecting the demand for meaningful work-

I. Increased government pressure to hire and promote women and the disadvantaged, and

II. Heightened awareness of the fact that firms have many jobs but each individual has only one career.

Placement problems

The difficulty with placement is that we tend to look at the individual but not at the job.

Jobs in this context may be classified into three categories-

Independent

Sequential Pooled

Independent jobs are becoming rarer and rarer, as most jobs are are dependent (sequential or pooled).

In order to match individuals with jobs, firms use the assessment-classification model.

• Skills, interest , past performance collected

Employee details

Match subgro

up profiles with

job family profile

s

Which job

profile does

subgroup

profile best fit?

Assign the

individual to

job family

Assign the

individual to

specific job

after further counsel

ling and

assessment