Recruitment and Selection Session 7 - February 26

“What’s difficult about hiring people?”  Suppose you work for a company and in charge of hiring new employees.  Consider these problems: What if you somehow you don’t seem to attract the right employees (or too few)? What kind of questions to ask during an interview? Applicants only give socially desirable answers: they are team players, hard working etc.

Agenda  Recruitment  Selection

Difference Recruitment and Selection  Recruitment: the process through which the organization seeks applicants for potential employment.  Selection: the process by which the organization attempts to identify applicants with the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics that will help the organization to achieve its goals.

Recruitment  Recruitment is necessary to: Fill vacancies created by departures (vacancy chain) Staff new positions generated by growth  Recruitment however may not be perfectly matched to positions available Analysis of labor needs (HR planning) and over-recruit current situation Recruit when openings occur Promote internally

Recruiting Yield Pyramid Offers Made (2 : 1) New Hires Candidates Invited (4 : 3) Candidates Interviewed (3 : 2) Leads generated (6 : 1) 1,

Yield Ratios  Applied to screened 6:1  Screened to interviewed 4:3  Interviewed to offered 3:2  Offered to accepted 2:1  Overall yield ratio 144:6 or 24:1 or 1200:50

 How many will be hired in a pool of 300 applicants? Is this pool size enough if there are three vacancies?  Different sources may have different yield ratios Yield Ratio

Evaluating Recruiting Sources Table 5.3

Your Experience?  How did you learn about your current or past job? a. Advertisement in newspaper b. Referral from friend or relative c. Internet search d. Signs posted on workplace or elsewhere e. Called by a recruiter f. Other

Pros and Cons  Referrals Eases burden on recruitment process and cheap Likely to have a better fit Con: sometimes associated with nepotism  Advertising in newspapers Large pool of applicants, which can make selection process complex. Difficult to target to particular segments.

Pros and Cons  Online recruiting Cheap and can be done either on the company’s website or at a career website (e.g. Monster.com.hk) But may be difficult to target to particular types of applicants  For more specific target groups: Executive search firms (headhunters) Universities

Agenda  Recruitment  Selection

Selection Will provide information that is reliable and valid and can be generalized to apply to the organization’s group of candidates Should measure characteristics that have practical benefits for the organization Must meet legal requirements in effect where the organization operates

MGTO 121 Revisited!  Decision-making biases Halo effect Horn effect Contrast effect Similarity-attraction Primacy and recency effects  All these biases could affect personnel selection

Some solutions to assessment bias  Three different approaches of solution based on different definitions of bias have been proposed Unqualified individualism Quota Qualified individualism

Unqualified Individualism  Use test to select the most qualified individuals they could find  The goal is to predict those who would perform best on the job or in school  If race or gender was a valid predictor of performance, the unqualified individualist would see nothing wrong with using these variables for assessment and selection

Quota  Explicitly equalizing race and gender differences  Population has 20% minority groups, then 20% of the employees or students must be from the minority groups

Qualified Individualism  Compromise between unqualified individualism and quota  It selects the best qualified people  But it does not take information about race, gender, and religion into consideration for assessment and selection

Legal Issues: Equal Opportunity  Core Principle: Recruitment and selection need to be undertaken without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.  Applicants with better qualifications should have a higher chance of getting the job. Female Male Qual. Female Male Qual. FemaleMale DISCRIMINATION REVERSE DISCRIMINATION AFFIRMATIVE ACTION ?

Example: Johnson case  Both Paul Johnson and Diane Joyce applied for the position of road dispatcher, a job dominated by males.  Both had about 4 years of work experience, but Diane Joyce’s experience was a bit more recent.  Paul Johnson scored 75 on an graded oral interview, Diane Joyce scored 73.  Diane Joyce got the job, and Paul Johnson claimed reverse discrimination.  Court ruled it was lawful because never before had a woman held the position of road dispatcher.

Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) in Hong Kong  Established in 1996  Goals To work towards the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of sex, marital status, pregnancy, disability and family status. To eliminate sexual harassment, and harassment and vilification on the ground of disability. To promote equality of opportunities between men and women, between persons with and without a disability and irrespective of family status

 EOC implements three Ordinances to achieve these goals Sex Discrimination Ordinance Full textFull text Disability Discrimination Ordinance Full textFull text Family Status Discrimination Ordinance Full textFull text  Some of the laws are highly relevant to the HR context Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) in Hong Kong Relevant sections SDO: S7, S8, S11, S12, S13, S18, S19, S20, S23, S24. Relevant sections DDO: S11, S12, S13, S18, S 19, S20, S22, S23, S83. Relevant sections FSDO: S8, S9, S14, S15, S16, S20.

Interviews  Nondirective interview The interviewer has great discretion in choosing questions to ask each candidate  Structured interview Consists of a predetermined set of questions for the interviewer to ask

Interview Types  Situational interviews The interviewer describes a situation likely to arise on the job, then asks the candidate what he or she would do in that situation  Behavior description interview The interviewer asks the candidate to describe how he or she handled a type of situation in the past.  Pros and cons of each?

Interviewing  Advantages Can provide evidence of communication and interpersonal skills Most valid when they focus on job knowledge and skills.  Disadvantages Can be unreliable Low on validity Costly Subjective/biased

How Organizations Select Employees  Multiple Hurdles Establishing a minimum score for each employment test thereby gradually narrowing the candidates down Example, passing scores are:  Math test - 70%  Conscientiousness test - 90%  Interview - 80% Applicant A: Math 80%, Conscientiousness, 92%, Interview 85% = Eligible to Hire? Applicant B: Math 60%, Conscientiousness, 95%, Interview 95% = Eligible to Hire?

Selection at Goldman Sachs  “It begins in the recruitment process, long before a formal offer is extended. Brains are not enough. The first couple of interviews determine whether a candidate meets the firm’s intellectual standards; the remainder, where far more candidates stumble, are used to determine “fit”. It is a grueling process that tests endurance as well as aptitude. Those candidates who do not evince a scorching ambition, total commitment, and an inclination for teamwork are quickly weeded out”. From: Endlich, L. (1999), Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success. New York: Simon and Schuster.

 Compensatory approach Scores on all predictors are added together, allowing a higher score on one predictor to offset a lower score on another predictor. Example, Total points must equal 200:  Applicant A: Math 60, Conscientiousness 100, Interview 90 = 250 points  Applicant B: Math 95, Conscientiousness 75, Interview 80 = 250 points  Applicant C: Math 50, Conscientiousness 65, Interview 80 = 195 points Who is eligible to hire? How Organizations Select Employees

Other ways of selecting employees  Competitions!  Main prize: A position at Microsoft Shanghai  Google case (end of Chapter 6, p. 203)

Hot Seat Case Introduction Diversity in Hiring: Candidate Conundrum