MANAGEMENT 452

Project on Employee Selection

 

Purpose

The purpose of this project is for you to become familiar with business practices in the area employee selection.  Through this assignment, you will be able to investigate actual practices used by a business and compare them to sound practices discussed in the text and class.

Assignment

You will interview a business manager who is involved in the hiring process at his or her organization.  The manager may be a family member, friend, acquaintance, unknown, etc.  You may need to interview more than one person if your contact does not know how the company functions in all areas of selection.  The project will consist of describing the planning and recruiting, interviewing, and testing practices of the organization and critiquing them against those practices discussed in the text and in class.

Paper Format

Title page

·         include title of paper, class identification, and your name

 

Headings

·         use headings to separate the paper into logical sections

 

Main Body of Paper

·         Times Roman font

·         font size = no larger than 12 point

·         at least 6 pages in length

·         double-spaced

·         1 inch margins

 

Any charts, graphs, bibliography, or other materials should be in addition to the 6 pages.  You may include a transcript of the interview(s) in an appendix.

Information to Include in the Project

Company.  You should briefly include the following information about the company:

·         Company name

·         Type of business

·         Number of employees at the location

·         Type(s) of job(s) you will be reviewing for this project

·         Name of person interviewed, position in the company, and phone number

 

HR Planning & Recruiting.  Include information about personnel planning and recruiting practices.  Your line of questioning should enable you to determine the following types of information:

·         Technique(s) used to forecast future labor needs (e.g., mathematical methods and judgmental methods) and future labor supply (e.g., methods for both internal and external supply).

·         Does the company emphasize internal or external recruiting?  If internal, how do they track potential candidates?

·         Recruiting sources utilized (e.g., newspaper, employment agencies, referrals, college visits, job fairs, internal job postings, internal job sites, etc.).

·         Do they generate enough candidates through the methods used?  Are they quality candidates?

 

Selection Devices.  Include information about selection devices the company uses as aids in the selection process.  Your line of questioning should enable you to determine the following types of information:

·         How are applicants weeded out before the interview process?  How are job applications used to screen people before interview?  What are key questions on application?

·         Any other devices used to screen applicants before the interview?

·         Does the organization use tests?  If yes, what types of test are utilized (e.g., intelligence, personality tests, interest inventories, work samples or simulations, honesty tests, and drug tests).  If no, why are tests not part of the selection process?

·         Does the company know the reliability / validity of tests (i.e., the correlation coefficient) currently being utilized?

·         Who administers the tests?

·         How are the tests administered (i.e., the setting and procedures)?

 

Interviewing.  Include information on the interviewing process used by the company.  Your line of questioning should enable you to determine the following types of information:

·         Types of interviews (e.g., structured, semi-structured, unstructured, situational, serialized, panel, stress, etc.) and number of interviews the company uses.

·         Types of questions asked.  What are they trying to determine from interview?

·         Who conducts interviews?  Why is that person used over others?

·         Are interviewers trained?  How are they trained?

 

Job Analysis.  Find out the extent of usage of job analysis information.  Your line of questioning should enable you to determine the following types of information:

·         Is job analysis performed on jobs in the organization?  If yes, what types of techniques are used?

·         Does the company have job descriptions?  How were they created?  Are these descriptions used to help create interview questions or selection tests?

 

Critique.  Critique the company's practices against what you know to be sound selection  procedures.  Some examples of items to look for are the following:

·         What do you think of the organization=s selection practices?  Critique each selection practice (i.e., planning, recruiting, selection, interviewing, job analysis) that you have discussed.  How does the organization compare in each area to what you have learned about sound selection practices?

·         What does the company emphasize (e.g., review of job applications, use of interviews, tests, etc) in the selection process and why?

·         Any problems with the selection practices in terms of equal employment opportunity?  Are recruiting sources appropriate?

·         What practices in the hiring process of this organization should be changed or eliminated?  Why?