Employee Selection: Chapter 5

• Chapter 5 is on selecting employees

Selection Process Overview

• Organizations decide who will fill job openings through the selection process
• Organizations seek individuals who are likely to be the best performers
• Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are software that streamline information flows
• ATS automate screening of applications and résumés
• ATS generate applicant messages
• ATS match applicants with hiring managers
• ATS support data handling and report generation
• The selection process includes screening applications and réssumés, testing and reviewing work samples, interviewing candidates, checking references and background, and making a selection

Candidate Experience

• Candidate experience involves a job seeker's perceptions of and response to the employer's talent acquisition process
• Candidate experience is a determinant of organizational reputation and employer brand
• A positive candidate experience can increase business relationships, even if not hired
• May share experience publicly online around 77% of the time
• A negative candidate experience may cause candidates to withdraw support as customers/clients
• A bad experience may be voiced publicly online around 64% of the time

Legal Standards in Selection

• Selection processes must adhere to human rights and privacy requirements
• Selection requires being fair and unbiased
• Interviews should assess candidates without drawing out information irrelevant to the job
• Interview notes cannot identify candidates based on any prohibited grounds
• For background/reference checks candidates must provide consent
• As of March 2024, Working for Workers, Bill 149 (Ontario) is an active Standard.
• As part of bill 149, Pay Transparency does not allow employers to ask applicants about their pay history
• This avoids locking in any pattern of pre-existing pay disparity
• The use of Al must be disclosed in any publicly advertised job posting
• Records of AI use, like applications, must be retained for 3 years

Evaluating Selection Methods

• Reliability looks at the extent to which a measurement generates consistent results
• It should remain free from random error
• Reliability asks if the accuracy of measurement is valid
• Validity looks at the extent performance on a measure relates to what the measure is designed to assess
• Namely, job performance
• Validity asks if something is being measured of value
• Employers are using assessments as workers' skills are specific credentials, such as digital badges in SHRM surveys.

Skills-Based Hiring

• Skills-based hiring evaluates candidates based on their skills
• A skills based evaluations places emphasis on skills rather than on education or past work experiences
• Skills based evaluations consider whether a degree is truly necessary to the job
• Skills based evaluations focus on equivalencies or skill sets where possible

Adoption of Skills-Based Hiring

• More than half of surveyed companies in the SHRM survey are using assessments of workers' skills and specific credentials
• Credential examples are digital badges for completed courses and certifications
• IBM no longer requires a 4-year degree for more than ½ of its job categories
• It focuses on recruiting people without a degree to enroll in an apprenticeship program
• Provides for full-time potential jobs in cybersecurity, data science or marketing
• Most jobs at Google do not require a degree
• Instead, Google developed a set of courses leading to certification
• Fields like data analytics and project management
• Employers report outcomes associated with skills-based hiring are improved quality of their hiring decisions, greater diversity, increased number of candidates with needed skills, and higher retention.
• 68% of employees prefer skill-based hiring process
• This is an increase of 21% from last year.
• Strongest in the US and Latin America
• Over 80% of employees prefer skills-based hiring.
• Hiring bias is up by 48%
• 84% of employees agree that skills-based hiring can help prevent it
• 90% feel as though they're more likely to secure their dream job
• 81% say it's helped them gain access to new employment opportunities.
• From 2014-2023. There was a fourfold increase in the annual number of roles from which employers dropped degree requirements.
• Examples skills-based hiring leaders are Apple, Yelp, and Walmart.

Candidate Evaluation Tools

• Applications are an inexpensive way to gather basic data from applicants
• Applications ensure organizations have standard categories of information
• Information includes contact information, Work experience, Educational background, skills, and the applicant's “signature”
• Résumés let applicants introduce themselves to potential employers
• Résumés present information oriented favorably to the applicant and highlights accomplishments
• Applicant tracking systems (ATS) can remove identifying information for initial screening (blind screening)

References and Background Checks

• References involve applicants providing names and contact information of former employers or others
• Legal issues may arise from references
• Includes negligent hiring, defamation, or misrepresentation
• Background checks verify that applicants are as they represent themselves to be
• Include criminal records, education, and employment
• Social media also is becoming a background check

Employment Tests:

• Physical ability tests evaluate physical or psychomotor abilities
  • These tests are vulnerable to human rights complaints
• Cognitive ability tests are sometimes called "intelligence tests"
  • Cognitive ability tests measure mental abilities
  • Examples are verbal, quantitative, and/or reasoning
• Job performance tests examine tests for performing specialized tasks
  • Also considered are In-basket tests and work samples, assessment centers, and game based assessments
• Personality inventories find applicants who have desired personality traits

Employment Tests Continued

• Honesty, alcohol & drug tests ensure attitudes toward honesty and integrity
• Alcohol and drug testing should conform to Human Rights policies
• Medical examinations must be related to job requirements
• Medical exams establish physical condition at hiring and are conducted after a conditional job offer
• Interviews can provide evidence of communication and interpersonal skills as well as insight into a candidate's personality
• Interviews can be unreliable, low in validity, costly, subjective and potentially biased, with risk of discrimination complaints
• Non-directive interviews provide varying questions for each candidate
• Structured interviews consist of a pre-determined set of questions
• Including situational interviews, “What would you do?" and behavioral interviews, “Tell us about a time when....”
• Other forms are Panel style interviews or digital interviews
• Digital interviews can be Synchronous (e.g. Zoom) or asynchronous video interviews (AVIs)
• AVIs are when interviewees record responses

AI Based Assistance

• Tools like ChatGPT can draft job postings for positions like an Entry-Level Marketing Associate
• AI can generate five behavioral interview questions for an Entry-Level Marketing Associate posting
• These responses can enhance efficiency while still requiring human oversight
• Other applications would be generating a sample problem for a job candidate as part of the interview process.

Selection Decisions/h3>

• In a multiple-hurdle model, candidates are eliminated at each stage
• In a compensatory model, very high score on one assessment can make up for a low score on another
• Compensatory models are more expensive

Communicating the Decision

• The HR department notifies applicants about selection results
• Job offers should include job responsibilities, rate of pay, work schedule, starting date, date to accept job offer, etc.
• Negotiations may occur during the offer stage
• Close communication is needed between HR and supervisor about job offer and to prepare for the new employee's arrival
• The Conference Board of Canada reported percentage of vacancies filled by first-choice candidates
• Executive positions – 72% and Management, technical, clerical and support – 90%

Digital Humans

• Digital humans are computer-based interfaces, equipped with extensive knowledge, El, and the ability to engage in human-like conversation
• Digital humans integrate generative Al, conversational Al, visual Al, and speech technologies
• All enhanced with cognitive Al analytics
• Gartner Insights calls them "One of the top five transformative technologies"
• By 2035, the digital human economy will become a $125 billion market with continuous growth
• By 2027, the majority of business to consumer enterprises are expected to have an allocated dedicated budget for digital humans
• Once hired, digital humans do not get tired, complain, or ask for a raise
  • They consistently follow company policy
• They also work in diverse range of organizations
  • Accounting giant, EY
  • Yahoo Japan
  • Arab Banking Corporation
• The benefits of digital humans are being available 24/7, available online and offline, possibility to authenticate customers, lower costs, increase ROI, scalability, and infinite customization
• In making selection decisions this can be done by the immediate manager or supervisor, Human resources professional, Work team or other panel, or the hiring algorithm
• A Data & Trust Alliance mitigates data and algorithmic bias in HR and workforce decisions
• Members: IBM, General Motors, Walmart, Nike, Pymetrics, Deloitte et al.