Employee selection processes and techniques

When it comes to employee selection the decision making process can often be long and arduous but picking the right person for the job is essential to the future success of your company, and therefore worth investing your time in.

Before advertising the position it is important to do a systematic analysis of exactly what the job entails, and what skills are needed to fulfill the role. Once you know exactly who and what you’re looking for you can formulate your ad, post it and prepare for your applicants.

Planning the right strategy for your employee selection can be a challenging process, however there are many techniques asides from the classic interview to make the process of employee selection more effective. Some examples include:

Biographical data collection: Questionnaires designed to predict a persons ability so succeed in a role based on their past experiences.
Behavioral Simulations: Role-play or web based simulations designed to assess particular skill requirements.
Psychological assessments:: Personality tests that help determine a persons working temperament and ability to fit into the team etc.
Assessment Centre’s: External firms that test candidates with group events, exams, exercises and assignments to assess behavior and competency.

Often a well-structured interviewing process can be the most effective way to choose a suitable candidate, however planning and executing an effective interview is not always as straightforward as it seems. It can be all too easy to decide on a candidate based purely on their interview performance, whilst ignoring other characteristics that could drastically affect their ability to fulfill the role. This is where additional assessment can come in handy, and help you decide on the perfect person for the position.

Choosing the right candidate

So, to re-cap the above; the traditional process of employee selection generally entails the following steps:

Analysis of the position and job profile
Formulation of a job ad
Screening the applicant’s documents
Preparation of interviews and/or tests
Interviews, tests and/or assessment centers
Evaluation of the selection procedures
Decision making

Whichever interviewing techniques you employ, it is essential that you are able to accurately assess your candidates for key characteristics such as the following:

Background Experience: Desired education and industry experience.
Personality Traits: Essential characteristics needed for the role.
Competency requirements: Behavioral skills needed for successful performance.
Unique skills: Any special requirements needed for the position.
Contextual requirements: Specific role challenges, travel or cultural demands.

Essentially it is usually a good idea to have some form of unbiased assistance when it comes to your employee selection, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be in the form of an outside assessment or questionnaire. For some companies it may be enough to make sure there is a varied selection of HR members on the interview panel, to help make a balanced choice of employee and ensure that you find someone who not only has the skills, but the right temperament to fit in to your team.

Internal or External Hire?

When a new position becomes available it can be tough to decide whether to promote an existing employee, or go through the relatively lengthy process of employee selection and hire externally. Both options offer their own pros and cons; here are some of the benefits of each option:

Promoting Internally
Hiring an existing employee can be the perfect option to fill an open vacancy; least of all it dramatically reduces the time and resources that go hand in hand with employee selection. Asides from already having a sound understanding of the company and how it operates, promoting within the company can also boost moral and inspire other team members to perform well in their jobs. Studies have shown that existing employees have longer staying power than new hires, and last but not least; hiring existing team members cuts out the integration process, meaning that your ‘new’ employee hits the floor running without the teething problems sometimes associated with outside hires.

Hiring Externally
More often than not a new hire can inject a dose of well-needed enthusiasm to a team that needs a boost, the right person can positively change the dynamic of a company and inspire other team members in their work. New employees typically tend to think outside the box and are more able to see things from a different perspective, without the baggage that may hold existing employees back from making changes. With effective employee selection you can not only pick the perfect person for the role, but someone who can bring new ideas to the table or even help you acquire competitive intelligence from other firms.

Employee Selection Conclusion

At the end of the day whether you hire from inside or outside, use sophisticated questionnaires, external assessments or plain old face-to-face interviews it is always important to stay grounded and pick your employee for the right reasons. Keep in mind the skills and temperament needed for the job, stay open minded and logically assess who will suit your team dynamic. Efficient employee selection, no matter what technique you use will almost always result in an employee who will not only work well for your company but who will enjoy it too, making the workplace a better place for both you and your team.

Employee selection with softgarden

softgarden recruiting software supports your stages of the employee selection from start to finish, beginning with your advertisement. Our pre-prepared templates let you formulate a professionally branded ad in minutes. Once you begin to receive your applicants the software automatically screens incoming documents and quickly categorizes candidates with pre-defined criteria. You can schedule interviews, and discuss your applicants with your team with our collaborative features, designed to help you decide on the right candidate together. Even the integration of online tests and assessment features is available via our API. softgarden cuts out the time-consuming part of employee selection, leaving you to focus on choosing the perfect person join your team.