An increasing demand for good employees constitutes a challenge for Human Resource managers (Ullah, 2010, p. 107). This demand stems from the recognition that good employees affect productivity of a firm. The employee selection methods are becoming complex. The aim of the selection is to find suitable person to fill a vacancy (Ullah, 2010, p. 107). This essay is going to compare and contrast two selection methods, which are interview and pre-employment test.
According to Ullah (2010), interview is an appropriate tool to find out whether a person meets requirements of a vacancy or not. The author further argues that a well-structured interview should be based on 3-Ds: Development, Discussion, Decision (Ullah, 2010, p. 110). Ullah (2010) asserts that certain necessary activities should be done before the interview takes place. In other words, the interviewer should be prepared, and organize a well-structured interview before. Next, if the interview is well planned, then the proper discussion between interviewer and interviewee is much more likely. The decision process is the final phase of the interview, where the interviewer assesses the suitability of the candidate (Ullah, 2010, p. 110). Although interview is supposed to be the most appropriate tool for employee selection, it has several drawbacks. Interviewer might fall to selection bias due to the fact that he/she is a human. First, stereotyping can serve as a selection bias. For instance, the interviewer might think that work ethic of local people is better than those of immigrants. Second, first impression about a candidate might distort the interviewer’s image about the candidate. Therefore, the interviewer might miss relevant information.
On the other hand, assessment based on testing a candidate minimizes the chance of bias simply because it is done by computers. The aim of testing is to assess a candidate’s skills that are directly linked to a job (Maloney, p. 24). Tests help to identify the ability of a candidate to perform certain tasks given time limitation. If testing is related to personality, then it reveals a person’s ability to work under certain circumstances (Maloney, p. 24). However, mere results of testing would not give a comprehensive insight about a candidate. In addition, there might be circumstances that affect the results of the test. For instance, the candidate did not feel good during the test. Therefore, to conclude, testing should be supplemented with interviewing. Using two tools together will help to overcome drawbacks of these selection methods.
References:
Maloney, R. T. Employee Recruitment and Selection: How to Hire the Right Person. Cornell University, 1-30. Retrieved from https://www.uvm.edu/extension/agriculture/faccp/files/aglabor/employee_recruit.pdf
Ullah, M. M. (2010). A Systematic Approach of Conducting Employee Selection Interview. Daffodil International University, 106-112. Retrieved from http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijbm/article/view/5644/5039
