5.5 Principles of Selection
Before reviewing resumes and applications, a company must know who they want to hire. The job specifications derived from the job analysis will help to understand the qualifications (KSAOs), such as education level and years of experience. However, in addition to knowing what KSAOs are needed, deciding how these will be assessed is also important. HR managers have access to a wide variety of tools to evaluate candidates’ KSAOs, and when structuring the selection process, there are a few principles to keep in mind.
Sequencing Based on Cost
Some KSAOs are objective and very easy to measure. For example, whether someone has a bachelor’s degree in Biology or a truck driver’s license is easy to determine by looking at the resumes. Whether someone is a team player or can handle stress is not as straightforward. This KSAO could be measured with an interview or a simulation, two relatively costly processes. To efficiently narrow down a list of applicants, HR managers will begin by screening for those more objective, easier-to-assess KSAOs and leave the expensive tests and checks for later.
Similar to the recruitment process, the selection process is expensive. The time it takes for all involved to review résumés and applications and interview the best candidate takes away time (and costs money) that those individuals could spend on other activities. In addition, there are costs associated with testing candidates.
According to a 2015 report by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) (2016), the average cost of hiring is $4,129.
Because of the high cost, hiring the right person is essential to ensuring your selection process is fair, effective, and aligns with the organization’s needs. Hiring the wrong person or someone with the wrong set of skills can lead to significant negative consequences for both the person and the organization.
Check out the infographic on the cost of a bad hire.
A bad hire can affect your organization’s financial success. The loss is not just the cost of recruitment fees and money spent on training. A bad hire can hurt staff morale and performance, along with a loss of productivity. It may even affect the organization’s reputation. These costs are not as easy to calculate, but research suggests that the costs of a bad hire can reach as much as three times the recruit’s annual salary (Recruitment and Employment Confederation, 2017). Ensuring appropriate selection methods will reduce the risk of a bad hire and help businesses select and retain the best person for every job!
“5.8 Criteria for Interviews” from Human Resources Management – 3rd Edition by Debra Patterson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.—Modifications: Used sections Principles of selection & Sequencing based on cost, edited; Added content on cost of selection and bad hire.
