Describe the Different Employee Selection Methods and Specify Which Work Best for Different Jobs

The pressures of competition, cost saving, downsizing and global skill shortages have made recruitment a top priority. (HR Focus, 2000 p.10). Therefore human resource plays an essential role in an organization that can influence the performance of the business. The competition for talent means that skilled workers are today’s prized trophies. For many companies, talented people are the prime source of competitive advantage. (Thomas, 2001, pg72-3). Chales Goode, chairman of ANZ, says ‘Attracting and retaining the most talented staff and building a successful culture is critical to our future’. (Goode, 2006, p.2). Recruitment and selection are used today as major levers to bring about strategic and cultural change. (Iles & Salaman, 1995, p206).

The recruitment is an approach which to encourage the peoples to seek a work with an organization, and the purpose of the selection process is to identify and accept the best suitable candidates for the specific work position. The managers may consider some ways to select employees: the application form, written tests, performance-simulation tests, the interview, background investigation and physical examination. In addition, a decision to hire requires line managers and the human resource manager to clearly identify the criteria that distinguish successful from unsuccessful job performance and to use only predictive measures of job success that are valid and reliable.(Raymond J, 2008, pg 244).

The different business would vary the selection process or methods. Generally, after a reception of an applicant, the selection begins with the preliminary interview. That is the initial screening interview maybe used to identify and check the language, willingness to do the job and the qualifications. This type of interview could build goodwill for the firm and also maximize the recruitment and selection effectiveness.(Mondy & Noe, 1990, pg219). So the next step is the application form that can be a simple one which covers the basic information: name, date of birth or address and a comprehensive one which include details of personal information: the history of person’s work experience, special skills and so on. The application, creatively constructed to reveal a candidate’s true qualifications, is making a comeback as a selection tool. (Smart, 1987, pg 49). Nowadays, there is some organizations use the weighted application forms. This method is used to recognize the variable factors, for example, the long term and short term employees, the satisfied and unsatisfied ones. It is measured with some score points that for the level of past experience, education and so on. And then the best suitable candidate would be selected from the highest scores. However, there are some information cannot be proven valid and the weighted-item is expensive to create and maintain. In spite of the weighted-item’s ability to determine which factors are important for predicting tenure