Selection of Candidates: Meaning, Procedure and Importance

After reading this article you will learn about the Selection of Candidates:- 1. Meaning of Selection 2. Procedure for Selection 3. Importance.

Meaning of Selection:

Selection is the process in which candidates for employment are divided into two classes, those who are to be offered employment and those who are not. Selection is a process of choosing the right candidate from a pool of applicants. This process is established to achieve a good match between the job requirements and the candidates’ skills and motives.

A good match results in increased productivity and quality performance. A bad match is extremely costly to the company due to cost of training the candidate, the cost of mistakes made by the candidate and the cost of replacement.

Selection of employees in the process of picking up the most competent and suitable candidates.

According to Dale Yoder, ” Selection is the process in which candidates for employment are divided into two classes, those who are to be offered employment and those who not.”

Selection of candidates begins where their recruitment ends. Selection involves a careful screening and testing of candidates. Selection procedure differ from job to job and from enterprise to enterprise. The main purposes of a proper procedure of recruitment and selection is to find out the right man for each job.

The exact procedure will depend upon the job for which appointment is to be made. It is the actual placement on a job.

Procedure for Selection:

The following are the necessary steps generally involved in the selection procedure:

1. Preliminary interview.

2. Application blank.

3. Employment tests.

4. Employment interview.

5. Reference check.

6. Medical examination.

7. On the Job test

8. Orientation or induction of employees

9. Final selection

10. Intimation to Salary Department.

1. Preliminary Interview:

It is the first step after receipt and scrutiny of application forms in the selection process. The preliminary interview is for eliminating those who cannot be employed because of such factors as age, citizenship, status, disqualifying physical handicaps and inexperience or lack of training.

It also determines whether the type of work, hours, wages and other working conditions are agreeable. If the applicant appears to have some chance of being selected, he is given the application blank to fill in.

2. Application Blank:

The successful candidates in preliminary interviews are supplied the application blank to get a written record of the information. By this application, the information like family background, date and place of birth, age, sex, marital status, educational qualifications, working experience, expected salaries and allowances, and extra-curricular activities are gathered.

3. Employment Tests:

The personnel department can guide and help in the selection of types of tests, appropriate for a particular position.

There are two types of tests:

(a) Trade test.

(b) Psychological test.

(a) Trade Test:

For jobs requiring technical skill, a trade test is necessary to find out their capabilities for the type of job. It is done under the supervision of an experienced supervisor.

(b) Psychological Tests:

It is an objective and standard measure of a sample of human behaviour. The main object of psychological testing is to provide a device for measuring quantitatively a typical sample of mental performance in order to predict what an individual will do under certain circumstances.

The following psychological tests are given below:

(i) Aptitude Test:

Such tests are designed to measure the aptitude of applicants and their capacity to learn the skills required on a particular job. It is more useful for clerical and trade positions.

(ii) Intelligent Test:

To measure the mental alertness and capacity of a person to grasp and put together the elements of a novel or abstract situation.

(iii) Interest Test:

To determine the preferences but not the ability of an applicant for occupation of different kinds.

(iv) Knowledge Test:

To measure the depth of knowledge and proficiency in certain skills already achieved by the applicant such as engineering, accounting etc.

(v) Projective Test:

Which use the projective technique whereby the applicant projects his personality into free responses about pictures shown to him, which are ambiguous.

(vi) Personality Test:

It is designed to judge the emotional balance, maturity and temperamental qualities of a person. It may follow experimental methods—rating method, question-answer method.

(vii) Judgement Test:

For evaluating the ability to apply knowledge judiciously in solving a problem.

(viii) Dexterity Test:

To determine an individual’s capacity to use his fingers and hands in industrial work.

4. Employment Interview:

Interview is one of the most widely used selection tool. Virtually every manager hired or promoted by a company is interviewed by one or more persons. Interview is a selection technique that enables the employer to view and assess the total “personality” of his prospective, which is not included on the application blank.

It also gives insights about the application blank. It also gives insights about the applicant’s motivation, personality and overall attitude. This leads to more intelligent selection decisions.

5. Reference Check:

This step is to check the candidate’s reference and seek opinion from his previous employers or instructors if he is fresh out of college. This should be done prior to the comprehensive interview so as to have a better idea about the candidate, specially in the area of those characteristics that do not show up on application forms.

These characteristics include leadership qualities, ability to act assertively and decisively, ability to communicate well and attitude towards subordinates as well as superiors.

6. Medical Examination:

Medical examination should be both general and thorough. The findings should be carefully recorded as to give a complete medical history, the scope of current physical capacities and the nature of disabilities, if any. In other words, this will ensure that the candidate is physically fit and capable to exercise his responsibilities.

7. On the Job Test:

This test in normally conducted by the Departmental Head to determine the efficiency of the candidates on certain job, machine or equipment. This test reveals the worth of the worker on the job practically.

8. Orientation or Induction of Employees:

The new employee is oriented or introduced to the enterprise. It may be formed as socialising process by which the employee is made familiar and friendly to environment of the business. The major Rules, Regulations and special factors of the business are communicated to him.

9. Final Selection:

If a candidate successfully overcomes all the obstacles or tests given above, he would be declared selected. An appointment letter will be given to him mentioning the terms of appointment, pay scale, post on which selected etc. When he joins the organisation, it is the primary duty of the personnel manager to introduce him to the company and his job.

10. Intimation to Salary Department:

After the final selection of the candidates, the department of salary in intimated with the particulars, of the candidate, so that arrangements, for salary may be made.

The selection procedure may be well understood by the figure below:

This all depends upon the size of the enterprise, nature of the company, the nature of the job, job description and the objectives of the organization.

Importance of Selection:

Selection is one of most important of all functions in the management of personnel.

Importance of selection may be judged from the following facts:

1. Procurement of Suitable Candidate is Possible:

Only suitable candidates who are fit for the job are selected from among the prospective candidates for employment. So, selection is a process by which only desirable candidates are hired and others are denied the opportunity.

2. Good Selection Reduces the Cost of Training and Development:

Proper selection of candidates reduces the cost of training because qualified personnel have better grasping power. They can understand the technique of the work better. Therefore, the organization can develop different training programmes for different persons on the basis of their individual differences, thus reducing the time and cost of training considerably.

3. Proper Selection Resolves Personnel Problems:

Proper selection of personnel reduces personnel problems in the organization. Many problems like labour turnover, absenteeism and monotony shall not be experienced in their severity in the organization. Labour relations will be better because workers will be fully satisfied by their work.