Overview
Do you know what the meaning of the employee selection process is? Often people confuse it with recruiting. But recruiting and selection are both parts of hiring. Recruiting is when you look for the profiles of suitable and interested candidates, and you have them with you.
But choosing the best among those suitable profiles is a part of the selection process. Apart from providing information on what selection is in staffing, this article throws light upon its importance, best selection methods, and common steps involved in the selection process.
Let’s start with the definition of selection to get the ball rolling!
What is Selection?
As mentioned above, the selection process involves shortlisting the right candidate and eliminating the unsuitable ones. First of all, you narrow down the list of outstanding candidates to be called from the plethora of profiles you receive. Then you contact them for tests and interviews.
In the final selection process, you select the best-suited candidate for the job. The selection process is a part of the recruitment process. And you may need to repeat the selection process multiple times during recruitment.
Although recruitment and selection are different, they go hand in hand for selecting the right candidate for the job.
Why is Selection Process Important?
Multiple selection processes at various stages of recruitment ensure that the most appropriate candidate is picked for a job. Thus, you can safely say that the employee selection process directly affects every employee’s quality of work and, ultimately, the overall performance of an organization.
Every company invests in recruiting, training, and operating costs according to its capacity. A mismatch between the job requirement and the hired candidate costs a lot of money, effort, and time.
It also affects the goodwill of the company sometimes. How? The candidate may leave the job due to a lack of job satisfaction. Or you may fire the candidate due to lack of quality output.
Such candidates can badmouth you in public, and your attrition rate also increases. So no company, big or small, can afford a wrong or carelessly conducted selection process.
What are the Benefits of an Employee Selection Process?
Rightly handled selection in staffing yields the following advantages:-
- A strict verification and reference check ensure the proper evaluation of the candidate.
- There is no place for bias if selection in staffing is made right. So you get deserving employees only.
- The employee selection process includes comparing candidates based on various traits such as knowledge, ability, work ethics, skillset, experience, etc.
- The candidates who lack the job prerequisites like experience, ability, and skills are eliminated through the selection process.
- The efficient selection process is cost-effective and easy to conduct.
What is the Best Method for Selection in Staffing?
There are different types of selection methods. None is better than the other. You can opt for the technique best suited for your company and the vacancy you need to fill. The direct supervisor can take the responsibility of choosing the right candidate in one type of selection process.
Otherwise, the HR managers and other senior employees can collaborate to select the right candidate. Interns or seasonal workers are also roped in with minion responsibilities or part-time jobs. It helps assess their potential for a significant full-time position in the future.
Every company takes its pick from the proven methods of selection in staffing.
What are the Different Steps of the Selection Process?
There is no uniform code for the exact number of steps involved in the selection process. It varies according to the company’s size, the number of vacancies, and the size of the hiring team.
But every company typically goes through approximately 5-7 basic selection process steps such as announcing the job, receiving the application, taking tests/assessments, calling for personal interviews, and final selection. Some of these steps can be repeated or merged according to the organization’s preference.
What is the Most Common Employee Selection Process?
Following are some basic steps involved in almost every employee selection process.
Inviting & Receiving Applications
You publish detailed job descriptions and specifications to attract applications from within and outside your organization for a particular post. After the decided deadline of collecting the application, you gather all the applications you received. They become the basis of next-level analysis.
Scanning of Applications
You start scrutinizing the applications. Incomplete and non-competent applications are eliminated, and suitable applications are forwarded for the next-level selection process.
Tests on Different Levels
Once the application scanning is done, shortlisted candidates are invited to give a test. Generally, written tests are taken before other types of assessments, such as personality tests and psychological tests.
Personal Interview
The candidates who pass the tests get ahead in their interview round. This is one of the most crucial stages of selection in staffing. There can be multiple rounds of interviews with HR personnel followed by the senior management.
Various questions regarding the candidate’s experience, skillset, family background, etc., are asked to assess the candidate’s ability to do the job.
Reference Checks
Its common practice to ask for 2 references from the candidates who pass the interview round with flying colors. Sometimes it is taken at the time of filling the application form itself. The company can do the verification from these references before hiring.
Physical Fitness Test
It doesn’t matter how experienced or skilled is your hired candidate. If a person is not in good health, they can’t give 100% output. Companies can reject candidates who achieved good remarks in interviews and tests based on ill-health.
Selection and Placement
Here comes the final stage of the employee selection process. The candidates who cross all the selection steps successfully get the offer/appointment letter mentioning the job title, salary, and other terms of employment.
In maximum cases, an initial appointment is given on a probation basis. It becomes permanent after 3-6 months, depending on the company policy. The candidates are placed on the allocated job once they agree with all the conditions mentioned in the offer/appointment letter.
Final Thought
The importance of selection in staffing is evident. Moreover, the correct methods and steps followed in the employee selection process help the organization produce high output levels and generate maximum profits.
The life of HR managers and recruiters becomes easy with the availability of an applicant tracking system like Jobsoid. Hiring processes within or outside the organization are now easily manageable. It is programmed to automate the entire selection process and complete candidate management, including sourcing, communication, interviews, tracking, etc.
Kelly Barcelos
Kelly Barcelos is a progressive digital marketing manager specializing in HR and is responsible for leading Jobsoid’s content and social media team. When Kelly is not building campaigns, she is busy creating content and preparing PR topics. She started with Jobsoid as a social media strategist and eventually took over the entire digital marketing team with her innovative approach and technical expertise.