Recruitment and Selection

A brief recap of Job Analysis

• What is job analysis? (job title, tasks, ability, roles)• Output of job analysis – Job identification (information about

job title, physical location) Job description (detailed work task, summary of workflow) and job specification (inferred employees trait for successful performance, knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics KSAOs)

• Methods of doing job analysis? (interview, questionnaire, observations)

• How job analysis is interrelated with other HR domains (for selection, promotion, compensation and training)

• For selection job description is not enough and job specification is equally important

Qualitative methods of job analysis

• Observation and interviews- The first-hand nature of the data, as the

information is obtained directly,- The opportunity to obtain in-depth

qualitative information, purely descriptive details

- Unstructured interviews can obtain a great deal of work-related information (initial interview and verification interview)

Quantitative methods

• Job-task inventories: has a list of tasks arranged by general functions or duties. Likert type scale is used for assessing importance, frequency, criticality and/or complexity

• Fleishman Job Analysis Survey (F-JAS): System of analysing KSAOs (knowledge, skills, ability) required to perform jobs. The F-JAS is a 73-item questionnaire measuring three domains of required KSAOs: cognitive, psychomotor and physical.

Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)

• “A structured job analysis questionnaire which provides for a quantified analysis of individual jobs in terms of a number of ‘job elements’, often referred to as ‘items’ ” (McPhail et al., 1989, p. 1).

• http://www.paq.com/?FuseAction=Main.PAQProgram• Describe jobs based on six domains: information

sources, mental process, action involved in jobs, interpersonal activities in work, work situation and context, other miscellaneous

• We will learn about O*NET

Today’s learning objectives

• Learn about ‘Task Oriented’ job analysis and ‘Worker Oriented’ job analysis

• Within ‘worker oriented’ job analysis, understand the widely used concept of ‘Competency Modeling’

• Strategies and practical constraints to maximize the size and quality of applicants (role of pay, headhunting, organisational image and location)

• Characteristics of effective recruitment message, Role of recruiters

• Basics of reliability and validity of instruments for recruitment and selection

Task oriented analysis

• Considers duties, functions, and tasks as the basis for studying jobs

• Particular employees’ attributes are not of interest

• Jobs are independent of the people who perform them. Ex. Time and Motions Study, Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan, 1954), Functional job analysis in O*NET database

A short introduction to O*NET database – A tool for job analysis

• Occupational quick search: https://www.onetonline.org/• Example of computer programmer:

https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1131.00Free platform sponsored by US department of Labour/Employment and Training Administration• The system provides occupational profiles filled with

information regarding the required knowledge, skills, abilities, work activities, work styles, work interests, background, education and training requirements, and work context.

Currently has analysis of 974 occupations (last revised in 2010)

The O*NET content model framework

Worker-oriented job analysis

• Individual characteristics an employee must have for adequate performance.

• Competencies as those trainable core characteristics, in terms of behaviors, that lead employees to success

• CM (Competence Modeling) enables identification of KSAOs that are broad and not necessarily linked to specific jobs or tasks

• CM takes into account organizational goals and missions and seeks to develop a set of competencies to be applied across the organization or units

• CM more advantageous than traditional worker-oriented job analysis, which narrowly focus on most relevant KSAOs for the job

Developing a competence framework

• “ While traditional job analysis focuses on describing and measuring the requirements of work, CM creates a conduit to influence day-to-day employee performance along strategic lines” (Sánchez and Levine; 2009, p. 61).

• We can amalgamate Task Job Analysis (TJA) and CM• Developing a Competence Framework (How

competencies are defined, find appropriate competence framework and how the framework meet your needs)

Defining competencies • Competence as an underlying characteristic of

an individual that causally relates to superior performance in a job or situation (motives, attitudes, knowledge, behavior or skills etc.).

• A signal from the organization to the individual of the expected areas and levels of performance.

• Provide individual with a map or indication of the behaviours that will be valued, recognized and in some organizations rewarded.

Practical challenges in capturing competency

• Example: Highly beneficial to find out what motivates employees, but highly difficult to do it in practice.

• Motives are internal to person (some questionnaires aim to assess motives, values or attitudes), however in high stake situation, easy for candidate to provide acceptable answers

Types of competence• Universals: could be related to general performance,

like interpersonal skill and oral communication• Occupational: specific to jobs or family of jobs (e.g.

numerical reasoning for accountants)• Relational competency: The setting or location of job

might require different competence (e.g. lawyer working in small and big town; same firm in rural and urban setting, domestic pilot and international pilot)

• Relational competency can be related to organisational fit

Where to find competence frameworks

• Management Standards Centre, UK• http://www.management-standards.org/standards/b

ackground-and-overview-management-leadership-national-occuptational-standards

• Many occupational psychology consultancies sell such frameworks having list of competencies minus the behavioral indicators (which you pay and get)

• Two key methods of generating competency framework: Critical incident analysis and repertory grid analysis

Critical Incident Analysis

• Identification of key incidents where the job may have a big impact and make the real difference by listing

• 1. Key demands- jobs that must be done and if done right it would make a difference

• 2. Analyse job constraints: could be tangible (rules and regulations) and latent (can’t challenge the boss)

• 3. Define each task in terms of difficulty, importance and frequency (tough thing to do however guidelines are: analyze implication if things go wrong, number of people potentially affected, internal or external implication etc.)

• 4. Identify critical incidents, key competencies and behaviour indicators

Repertory Grid Analysis

• Origin from clinical psychology by George Kelly• Allow people to identify their own ideas of criteria or

construct (e.g. What makes a good manager?)• Two managers who were excellent, two who were poor and

two who were midway or moderate• Note that competence framework is broad mental

roadmap, to guide you and do not provide clear-cut black and white answers

• Overlap or conflict of competency if analysed carefully (e.g. acting decisively under leadership and interpersonal skill can be interpreted differentially)

More complexity in using competency model

• Organizations using competence framework for behavioral change

• Do not reflect on skills and abilities that organisaiton may need in future.

• Competence framework changes with culture an countries (high power distance and conflict resolution through interpersonal skill)

and how to select a competence framework

• Option 1: Use competence framework for performance management and appraisal already there in the organisation and tailor it (revise indicators)

• Option 2: Use publicly available framework and revise it as per need

• Option 3: Design your own sample framework by capturing typical behaviours likely to be displayed in various activities

• These indicators will be used for purpose of selection, performance indicator and even in compensation

Example of a sample framework

Positive/Effective Negative/Less Effective1. Oral CommunicationSpeaks clearly Speaks at an appropriate pace Keeps to the point Uses straightforward language

MumblesSpeaks quicklyVerboseUses jargon inappropriately

2. PresentationUses visual aids as appropriateKeeps eye contact with the whole audience Invites audience participation Uses appropriate structure with an introduction and summary

Uses visual aids as a ‘script’ Over-uses visual aidsLooks away or only at the audience selectivelyCannot be heard clearly One-way communicationHas no introduction or summary

References for today’s inputs

• Employee recruitment, selection and assessment: Contemporary issues for theory and practice, Ioannis Nikolaou, Janneke K. Oostrom, Psychology press

• A practical guide to assessment centres and selection methods: Measuring competency for recruitment and development, Ian Taylor, Kogan Page