Part 1: Reflect on planning and implementing a structured behavioral job selection interview including reflection on the Observed Skills Exercise practical application of behavioral skills
Structured behavioral job interviews assist in investigating candidate’s future by assessing his/her past performance. The purpose of conducting structured based interview questions is to assess whether the candidate has desired qualities or not. The interview processes enable to get to know knowledge, skills and abilities of a candidate, which helps the interviewer to select the right candidate for the right position. In the structured behavioral interview questions, the questions are formulated on the specific past incidents rather than hypothetical situations (Torrington, Hall, Taylor, Atkinson, 2014, 133; CIPD, 2011, p.5). In this study, I am going to give my reflection on the planning and implementation of a structured behavioral job selection interview conducted for the two vacant posts of Placement officer in university students’ services department. Before conducting or formulating structured behavioral based interviews, I did a job analysis for the mentioned position.
The job analysis defines the description of the job and person specification essential to perform a job effectively. Team leadership and ability to perform multiple tasks were the two most required skills that the chosen candidates must have to perform the job efficiently. I have evaluated candidates' responses and rated their skills on the above-mentioned criteria. The selection decision was based on the rating given by each member included in the panel group. To create uniformity of the questions asked by the panel members, I did a mock interview one day before the actual interview date. Brainstorming was encouraged in the panel of interviewers. The respective department representative was also the part of interview panel because he/she has better understanding and insights about the job. The final version of the job description and key skills identified were discussed in detail below.
The job description of Placement officer in an educational institution is as follows:
Plan, implement and promote placement programs that support the institute's strategic plan
Liaise between students and prospective employers
Brand building of university students to enhance employability
I identified the following skills, which are required for project officer position:
Observed Skill 1: Manage Multiple Tasks
Person proficiently carried out two or more than two projects simultaneously
Projects were complex and complicated by nature, which required immense diligence to handle things properly
The projects were completed on time
Candidate used smart actions to prioritize and complete assignments
All the parties directly or indirectly involved were satisfied with the outcomes.
The question developed to get the insights whether the potential candidate as the ability to handle multiple projects or not. The questions asked were open-ended which is good for attaining the in-depth information regarding multi-tasking proficiency. The set of questions were as follows:
Briefly, discuss the events when you were asked to complete multiple assignments at the same time span.
Briefly discuss how did you handle multiple tasks, your answer must include no of assignments, your actions against them and what was the outcome?
The questions were well developed it cumulatively included all the essential information which an interviewer needs to know for the vacant position. I specifically formulated open-ended questions and asked in chunks from the candidates, which enabled me to get the detailed answer from the candidate side. Candidate’s response would enable me to rate on the responses on the set criteria. I have given high rate to those candidates whose responses best fit to my set criteria. I used seven scales to rate candidate's response to the questions asked. The criteria developed to rate the candidate the response on these questions is as follows:
6-7points: Candidate gets these points only if the responses contained all the elements of above-defined criteria. The defined situation was highly complex by nature and candidate successfully comprehended the causes of issue and resolved them on time. The response depicted that proactive actions had been taken by the candidate.
3-5 points: I have given these points to those candidates who covered at least three elements of the set criteria. The response was less thorough than it was expected. The responses suggested that although candidate understood the issues and took satisfactory actions to handle them.
1-2 points: I have given these points to those responses, which failed to cover either element of the set criteria.
Observed Skill 2: Team Leadership
I have observed another skill, which a candidate must have. That skill was team leadership. The key criteria developed that is required for performing the vacant job effectively.
Key Criteria
Candidate ability to bring team members together by conducting different team building activities
Build successful teamwork approach
Team members participate and share information about the processes
I asked the following set of open-ended questions from the potential candidates to assess and rate them according to the set criteria. Those questions were as follows:
Briefly, discuss a situation when you built a team separate from the workforce for any specific project
Kindly discuss the project goal
How you aligned team members’ goal towards overall project goal
Was the desired outcome achieved?
The rating scale set for each question asked was as follows:
6-7 points: Candidates successfully aligned team member’s goals with project goal. New and innovative ideas were included in the project by involving team member’s participation. Candidate achieved the desired outcome through applying teamwork approach.
3-5 points: Responses depicted that they enabled teamwork management approach. Apart from that, unable to give satisfactory response what outcomes attained.
1-2 points: the responses failed to prove that they built teamwork approach, and desired outcomes were not attained.
Part 2: Produce a personal development plan based on the above reflections
I have conducted 15 interviews for the post of Placement Officer for an educational institution. Among them, two were selected and inducted in an institute. The selection decision was based on the rating assigned to them on their responses. The candidates whose responses were close to the set criteria, the points were assigned to them accordingly. The high rating score increased the chances of selection. Based on the rating of each candidate on their responses to each question, I have selected two candidates for the placement officer positions. The first selected candidate achieved the score between 6-7 points in the questions asked pertinent to multiple job tasking. However, the second candidate who got onboard for the same position scored between 3-5 points. Being an HR professional, I have developed their personal development plan based on the identified strengths and weaknesses during the interviews.
The personal development plan for both the newly recruited candidates would help them in improving their existing skills. The plan also helps in developing new skills in them, which would lead them to perform their job tasks efficiently. I have produced the personal development plan separately for each selected candidate. The plan will be shared with their respective departmental head so he/she can work with them and ameliorate their performances. The more organizations can understand their employee's strengths and weaknesses, the more they can achieve overall business objectives.
Personal development Plan for first Selected Candidate
Personal development Plan for second Selected Candidate
Part 3: Relate learning from the selection skills exercise to the aims, content and intended learning outcomes of the Resourcing and Talent Management material with particular attention to the recruitment and selection process
The recruitment task is to identify who is the ideal candidate for the company. The recruitment team role is to bring that candidate on board who has certain knowledge, skills and attitude to perform the required job. He/she should the best match fit professionally and personally in the organizational culture. For choosing the right candidate to fit in this position, the first step is to identify the job need. It is required before starting recruitment process to determine the vacancy. In doing so, the two approaches need to be followed (Torrington, Hall, Taylor, Atkinson, 2014, 133; CIPD, 2011, p.5). The first is the job analysis approach and the second is the competency-based approach. In this study, the selection skills identified for performing the placement officer job are team leadership skills and ability to do multiple job tasking. The job vacancy was identified when placement department head coordinated with the HR department and communicate the need to fill-up two positions, i.e., placement officer and junior placement officer.
The next step is to advertise the position; the best medium to collect resumes from masses is online recruitment. Online recruitment is the cost effective method for advertising the job post. Globalization has replaced traditional medium for advertising the job post to modern mediums for instance use of digital platforms like LinkedIn and job portals. Companies are less relying on the traditional methods and prefer to use the modern mediums. The job post on the digital platform can reach the masses (Doncker, n.d, 14). The potential candidate can access the job post through mobile phones, laptops, and other technological mediums. I used social networking site LinkedIn and job portals baytt.com and monster.com as well as official website of the institution for advertising the available job positions.
The bulk of resumes received against the advertised the job positions. The resumes were shortlisted for the further procedure as the best match profile of the potential candidate with advertised position requirements. The process would become a hassle if shortlisting the CVS would be doing manually. The less time-consuming process for reducing irrelevant CVs and filtering relevant ones by using different methods. Some of these methods include CV matching software and self-test questionnaire. I have used CV matching software for filtering and screening the best matching candidates. CV matching software is the most suitable candidate selection method (Matt & Matt, 2007, p.29; Chaplin & Hayes, 2005, P.13).
After shortlisting the potential candidates, they were asked to show up for the next procedure that is an interview process. The company can get the right candidate only if the screening phase has less biased. The research conducted on the effectiveness of selection methods. The outcomes depict that the least preferable candidate selection method pre-interview references. In this method, the interviewer’s selection decision is influenced. Group exercise, general ability tests, and pre-application elimination selection methods are the average ways of screening the right candidates for the right job. Assessment Centers, Literacy and Numeracy tests and Personality/aptitude tests/psychometric tests can be used for shortlisting potential candidates. However, chances of biases exist in all the mentioned selection methods. The most effective selection method is competency based interviews and structured interviews. As these two methods are the most effective ones, so I have selected the structured behavioral interviews as selection method (Mondy, Noe & Gowan, 2005, p.18).
The structured behavioral interviews include open-ended questions regarding the candidates past achievements. By asking structured questions regarding their past, interviewers assess potential candidates' knowledge, skills, and abilities. In the structured behavioral interview questions, the questions are formulated on the specific past incidents rather than hypothetical situations (Recruitment and selection, 1994, p.10). The candidates were asked to appear in the interviews. The structured questions were formulated before the interview date. The candidates were provided a comfortable environment so that they can give their best. The best way for conducting an interview is that interviewers must give some time to the candidates so they can calm down and reduce their interview anxiety. I conducted interviews with the candidates for placement officer positions.
The personal development plan must be provided to the respective department of the newly hired employees. The plan helps the department to focus on the strengths and formulate strategies to minimize the weak areas. The company can achieve the best out of their employees through ongoing training and development programs. I have produced a personal development plan for the newly hired employees where I have mentioned using the most appropriate methods that help in overcoming the areas of improvement. These methods include in-house training programs, external and on the job training programs (Steiger, 1995, p.13; Roberts, 2005, p.12).
References
Chaplin, C., & Hayes, K. J. (2005). Interviews. Jackson, MS: Univ. Press of Mississippi. P.13
CIPD. (2011). Resourcing and Talent Planning: Annual Survey Report 2011. London: CIPD.p.5
Doncker De O., “Recruitment Online 1.0 To Online 2.0”. University of Salford Manchester. Pp.,1-14
Matt, G., & Matt, G. (2007). Interviews. Köln: Walther König.p.29
Mondy, R. W., Noe, R. M., & Gowan, M. (2005). Human resource management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.p.18
Recruitment and selection. (1994). London: Industrial Society.p.10
Recruitment and selection. (2004). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.p.1
Roberts, G. (2005). Recruitment and selection. London: Institute of Personnel and Development.p.12
Steiger, N. (1995). Hiring and selection: What the nurse manager needs to know? Philadelphia, PA: W.B. Saunders.p.13
Torrington, D., Hall, L., Taylor, S. and Atkinson, C. (2014). Selection methods and decisions. In, Torrington, D., Hall, L., Taylor, S. & Atkinson, C. (eds). Human Resource Management (9thedn.). (pp. 133-152).Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.
