Selection of Employees

The purpose of selection is to pick up the most suitable candidate who would meet the requirements of the job in an organisation best, to find out which job applicant will be successful, if hired. To meet this goal, the company obtains and assesses information about the applicants in terms of age, qualifications, skills, experience, etc. the needs of the job are matched with the profile of candidates. The most suitable person is then picked up after eliminating the unsuitable applicants through successive stages of selection process. How well an employee is matched to a job is very important because it is directly affects the amount and quality of employee’s work. Any mismatched in this regard can cost an organisation a great deal of money, time and trouble, especially, in terms of training and operating costs. In course of time, the employee may find the job distasteful and leave in frustration. He may even circulate ‘hot news’ and juicy bits of negative information about the company, causing incalculable harm to the company in the long run. Effective election, therefore, demands constant monitoring of the ‘fit’ between people the job.

The Process

Selection is usually a series of hurdles or steps. Each one must be successfully cleared before the applicant proceeds to the next one. The time and emphasis place on each step will definitely vary from one organisation to another and indeed, from job to job within the same organisation. The sequence of steps may also vary from job to job and organisation to organisation. For example some organisations may give more importance to testing while others give more emphasis to interviews and reference checks. Similarly a single brief selection interview might be enough for applicants for lower level positions, while applicants for managerial jobs might be interviewed by a number of people.