Background information
The selection process is a significant component in looking for the right people to fill a given vacancy. There are many procedures that have been adopted by different entities in their quest to look for the right personnel to work on the work that they want. Selection is defined as the process of getting/picking the right individual from a pool of many job applicants who have been deemed to possess the right skills and competencies to fill a given position. A more formal definition of selection is that process of differentiation the applicants so that the right individuals will be taken to a team. The differentiating process will involve getting the applicants who will likely be deemed to be successful in a job vacancy that is being filled. There is a difference between selection and recruitment. While recruitment involves encouraging prospective employees to apply for a job, selection involves getting the right applicants from a pool of applicants (Avey et al., 2012). Recruitment is a process considered to be a positive one as many applicants are encouraged to apply. On the other hand, is a negative process as many applicants are to be eliminated as much as possible. The elimination is taken to be a process that will involve getting the right candidates for the job that is being advertised.
Statement of the problem
With many companies having their own procedures and yardsticks used to measure the performance and the qualifications of prospective employees, the issue of intelligence or character comes into play in the selection process. There are many procedures that have been developed by many companies to have the right candidates fill the positions that have been advertised (Bamberger et al., 2014). The paper will focus on the criteria that is deemed fit and what should be considered in the end when looking for the right candidate to fill the position. Of all the benchmarks that have been used in the selection process, the top-most benchmarks that are used are intelligence and character. Microsoft values intelligence above everything else, while South West Airlines value character above everything else.
Analysis
Ability vs personality in employee selection process
Personality and character is the component that will enable employees to be able to maintain their jobs for a long period of time. Whether this should be captured in the selection process and whether intelligence or ability should be used in the selection process is a matter of concern that needs to be taken into consideration (Blickle et al., 2013). Many human resource managers have had issues when taking the right information and when looking for the right employees to fill given positions. One unfortunate aspect is that it is not possible to get employees who will possess all the qualities that are desired and what will be required in such situations is to have a compromise of the character so that some of the compromise be made in the entire process.
One of the views that has been adopted by many companies is to get the ones who have the right character and personality and then have them trained with the right technical skills that will enable them to work on the work that has been called. Although this is the case, there are many cases where it has been stated there is no need to strictly follow this view. Research has shown that it is always important to have both qualities of personality and ability when selecting the right candidate for a job (Mello, 2014). Research shows that the two characters of ability and personality are required at different stages of job tenure for employees. As the employees are in the job that they have been called to undertake, they will be required to have these two characters at different stages of their lives as employees.
The common requirement when hiring is that character should be leading component when looking for employees while training should be done in the course of the tenure so that the hired personnel will get the right skills that are needed in the entire process. The general perspective that people have is that people can be trained to get the technical skills for a given job but it will be hard to train people to have the attitude and the personality parameters that will help them to stay in the same job that they are in for a given period. It has been stated that personality is a good predictor of performance although it is emerging that with the new hires, cognitive ability is seen to be the more important quality that will predict the performance of the new hires (Townley, 2014). It is important to understand these aspects and have a way in which the selection process will give good results of good performance. It is emerging that intelligence is a component that is needed to handle all the types of jobs that are on the market. What is emerging is that intelligence will enable an organization to have the right people for a job and still be able to get the right information and hires for the specified perspective of a job. There is a need to have some levels of intellect for all kinds of jobs that are being advertised. What will become of the selection mantra is that human resource managers should hire for skills and attitude.
There has been the need to have high standards in the hiring process. However, the competitiveness in the labor markets has made many human resource managers to relax their selection standards. It is becoming hard to attract employees who have high standards because of the competitiveness of the labor market. It is a requirement that organizations should make use of standards and procedures that have been laid down in order to show who will qualify for a given position and who will not be able to qualify for these positions. It is necessary to understand the performance of an individual in their jobs will vary and it is necessary to understand the components and the aspects that will vary in this process. It has been researched that some people will hit the ground running immediately they get a new job while others will require to have some time before they understand the work environment and be able to have ways and aspects that will enable them to work effectively on their work ethics and performance. It is important, therefore, to have cognitive ability in the first years of job tenure. The ability of the employee will describe and give the defining moments of the employee and will ensure that the employee will have optimal performance in this first year of their tenure. After the employee has mastered the job that they are working on, they will have to continue performing on the job. This calls for the employee to have character/personality in order to have due diligence in their working processes and continue to have good performance for what they are doing.
There are many parameters that are followed while selecting the right candidates for a given position. However, the ability and personality traits happen to be the leading traits that will determine the job qualifications in most situations. The roles of personality and ability are different in a job tenure. It is necessary to understand the performance of an individual in their jobs will vary and it is necessary to understand the components and the aspects that will vary in this process. It has been researched that some people will hit the ground running immediately they get a new job while others will require to have some time before they understand the work environment and be able to have ways and aspects that will enable them to work effectively on their work ethics and performance. It is important, therefore, to have cognitive ability in the first years of job tenure. The ability of the employee will describe and give the defining moments of the employee and will ensure that the employee will have optimal performance in this first year of their tenure. After the employee has mastered the job that they are working on, they will have to continue performing on the job. This calls for the employee to have character/personality in order to have due diligence in their working processes and continue to have good performance for what they are doing.
Conclusion
The two important parameters to look for in the selection process are cognitive ability and personality of the potential employee. These two parameters are important during the different times that an employee is employed in a given organization. It is important to have way that will enable companies be able to understand the roles and the aspects of the staff members in these tenures. Having a way in which staff members will be able to have a way to judge recruits in the selection process will enable good staff members to be taken into the team. From this paper, it can be said that the most effective employees will be those who have the ability to learn quickly and be able to make good judgments when working with others in order to be able to make valid decisions in the entire process of working. The selection process will also be determined by the duration that the selected candidates will working the organization. If the vacancy will be seasonal where the staff will be required to work for a short period, then ability will be considered more than character. If the vacancy will require the staff to stay for a long period of time, then character will be more important in the selection process.
References
Avey, J. B., Luthans, F., Hannah, S. T., Sweetman, D., & Peterson, C. (2012). Impact of employees' character strengths of wisdom on stress and creative performance. Human Resource Management Journal, 22(2), 165-181.
Bamberger, P. A., Biron, M., & Meshoulam, I. (2014). Human resource strategy: Formulation, implementation, and impact. Routledge.
Blickle, G., Meurs, J. A., Wihler, A., Ewen, C., Plies, A., & Günther, S. (2013). The interactive effects of conscientiousness, openness to experience, and political skill on job performance in complex jobs: The importance of context.Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(8), 1145-1164.
Mello, J. (2014). Strategic human resource management. Cengage Learning.
Townley, B. (2014). Selection and appraisal: reconstituting. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 92.
