Selection Methods

By Frank Mulligan - Recruit China

A very common task for HR staff and recruiters in China is to assess the competency and fit of potential new employees.

The studies show that most of us think we are a good judge of these issues. Unfortunately, when measures are made of peopleís ability to assess another persons competence, the results are frightening. Basically, most people are not good at assessing others, and do not take any training in this area because they believe there is no problem.

Training is one solution but there are many íobjectiveí selection methods. Which one is the best?.

Well, these are the figures that I have been able to collate from different sources. Donít take them as absolute figures but I think they do give a rough indication of the relative merits of each selection method.

The percentage on the left gives you the level of predictability of that method.

The Failed Methods
0% - Handwriting Analysis
0% - Candidateís Age
0% - Candidateís Education Level

The Self Presentation(Self Assessment) Methods
4% - Resume Interviews
4% - Scores in College
4% - Expert Recommendations
4% - Personality Tests
4% - Candidate Motivation

External Reference Methods
6% - Reference Check
9% - Biographical Data
9% - Situational Interviews
10% - Behavioral Event Interviews10%

The Objective Methods
25% - Tests of Mental Ability
64% - Job Content Simulations

The first group are easy to dismiss, so dismissed!
The Self Presentation group do definitely add to your knowledge of the personís ability to do the job, and because HR has to interview candidates face to face anyway, these methods tend to be used extensively in recruitment. They are also relatively cheap to implement, and requires little training. Headhunters use them extensively too.

The third group require more effort on the part of HR and, from our own studies, in appears that in China only a minority of companies actually use these methods. The last two methods cost much more time and money, and again in China we find that they are not used very much.

Conclusions
If I were to choose any single method it would have to be the Simulation. I have seen these in practice being used for Design Engineers, Commissioning Engineers, Brand Managers, Sales Professionals etc. and it is not difficult to see why they work. You cannot fake them and the interviewer can push the candidate to go as deep as he can. When he runs out of answers then you know how good he really is.

If he doesnít run out of answers, hire him now before a competitor sees him!

Email frank.mulligan@recruit-china.com
Frank Mulliganís blog - english.talent-software.com