The first question that arises is what is a selection process. The purpose of an organization’s recruiting and selection process is to locate and hire the best candidates for job openings. This procedure follows a funnel form. Assume you’re looking for a new employee since your existing employee has opted to pursue another opportunity. You must find a suitable replacement. Your job posting receives 50 applications. You choose five of them to interview, and finally, one individual is offered the position.
The candidate selection process in every organization always begins with a job opening. Every job posting, done by HR Consultancy in Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, and other metro cities, should provide a detailed function profile. This could include criteria such as how many (if any) years of work experience are required, educational background, and expertise in specific abilities.
Candidates flood in once you announce and market your job position. This is the beginning of the selection funnel. The HRM selection process consists of a set of phases that candidates must complete. A typical funnel has seven phases. Of course, not every candidate advances to the next step. Let’s go over each level step by step.
1. Application
After you’ve prepared and double-checked a job advertisement, it’s ready to be posted. Candidates can now apply, however, the number of applications, their quality, and diversity can vary greatly.
The number of applications might range from zero to thousands, depending on the size of the firm, the type of job, and the industry, as well as the success of your sourcing strategy and employer brand. Internal considerations such as pay rates, prospects for advancement, and benefits such as health insurance all have a significant impact.
However, the number and quality of applicants are also affected by job advertisements. The way a job advertisement is worded, that is, how informative, interesting, and inclusive it is, has a direct impact on the people who see it.
All job postings should utilize gender-neutral language, and you should assess if higher education is a must for applicants.
How is your application process going? Is it responsive and fast? Or, on the other side, do you require candidates to manually enter all of the information from their CVs into your system? Always put your application process through its paces to see where your applicants could struggle. In this manner, you can ensure that your application runs smoothly.
2. Pre-selection and screening
The initial screening of candidates is the second step in the recruitment and selection process. This second phase’s purpose is to narrow the pool of candidates from a huge number to a manageable group of 3-10 people who can be interviewed. This can happen in a variety of ways.
Screening of resumes
The most well-known method is a resume or CV screening. Resume screening assists in determining whether candidates meet the employment requirements. If you demand 5+ years of job experience and a college graduate applies, you may easily rule this individual out.
Chatbot/phone screening
Following the resume screening, a phone (or video) screening is often conducted. This helps to align the expectations of the candidate and the company. Following the assessment of resumes, the recruiter may ask prospects any questions they may have. A checklist can be used by the recruiter to go over subjects such as wage expectations, full-time or part-time hours, flexible working alternatives, starting dates, and other potential deal-breakers. Because this is a very regular technique, it is also possible to have a chatbot ask these questions.
3. Interview
The job interview is the most well-known and visible step in the candidate selection process funnel. A job interview entails the candidate being interviewed by their direct manager or a recruiter (or both) to determine their suitability for the employment.
The interview provides information about a person’s verbal fluency and friendliness. It also allows you to ask the candidate questions about the job and to market the position to the candidate.
Interviews can be conducted virtually via the internet or in person. Many firms now conduct a first-stage remote interview, followed by a final in-person interview as the final round of evaluation. Lowering costs and more efficient time management help both the organization and the candidates. Many companies have been forced to do all interviews remotely due to the pandemic and shelter-in-place orders, which will most likely continue in the future.
4. Assessing
In the second step, we briefly covered assessments. The whole evaluation is usually more accurate when pre-selection, or screening, is performed to roughly clear out the least appropriate applicants.
A General Mental Ability (GMA) exam (often known as an IQ test) and a Five-Factor Model of Personality test are two common evaluations. Faster learning and higher peak performance are related to higher IQ. This suggests that candidates with high IQs have a shorter time to Optimum Productivity and are more likely to perform well. While these tests can be used as part of your pre-selection process, many organizations prefer to use them later in the employment process.
Work sample exams, integrity tests, and job knowledge tests are examples of other examinations. According to the scientific literature, assessments in the form of work sample tests are among the best indicators of job success. Having candidates do a case study or address a real-world problem during their interview is a good approach. The quality of a candidate’s work can be compared to that of other applicants as well as to the desired, or ideal, performance.
5. Background Checks and References
You should have limited the enormous list of contenders to a shortlist of one to three people by this time. Reference checking is an important phase in the applicant selection process.
Reference checks corroborate the veracity of what a candidate has told you and your perceptions of them. Request references from the candidate and follows up on them. If you have any doubts about a certain ability or talent during the interview, the reference check is a wonderful approach to acquire further information from a different perspective.
6. Decision-Making
Making a decision is the next phase in the recruitment and selection process; choosing the candidate with the most potential for the organization. Sometimes this means selecting someone who is less competent at the time but is committed to growing and remaining with the business for a longer period.
To ensure that your hiring process is as fair as possible, you should use a data-driven approach. In practice, this refers to pre-defined criteria against which each candidate is evaluated during the selection process. The top candidate is then chosen and offered a position. The hiring manager usually makes the final decision. It may also include suggestions from other managers and colleagues.
7. Contract and job offer
The selection process does not end once your firm has chosen a decision. The (perfect) candidate must still accept the offer!
At this point, the organization should have all of the information necessary for the candidate to say yes. This information should have been acquired from the various screenings (if relevant) and employment interviews.
The candidate is then presented with an offer. You draft a contract and have both parties sign it if they accept the offer. The selection process is complete only when all parties sign the employment contract.
