Selection and Recruitment are, for me, the first step in the Management of Human Resources in a company. They are the occassion in which job applicants groom themselves, both in appearance and orally in the interview, to their very best and companies to be as meticulous as possible in sorting, interviewing and deliberating upon the acceptance of the job applicant. From the standpoint of companies, there are a number of things that we have occassion to do in the Selection and Recruitment step.
On the first place, I am going to concentrate upon the Mandatory Hard Copy Documents. The submission of CV is undoubtedly no longer a subject to remind. Subsequently, it is suggested that companies ask the job applicant to provide necessary Hard Copy Supporting Documents for any parts of the CV are considered to need any (i.e. the evidence of living abroad, Letters of Reference, Letters of Completion, etc.).
Secondly, the Sorting Process. I suppose that the most efficient way is to start by the major. Thus, CVs which do not state the major fitting to the position offered can immediately not be put into account. After, it is the turn for the GPA and university origin to take the wheel. Know our Range of GPA that has already been set: is it from 2,75 to 4,00, from 3,00 to 4,00 or from 3,30 to 4,00 ? I put GPA and University Origin on the same level of Selection and Recruitment for the latter determines the amount of GPA earned.
For example, two applicants come to me, applying for the post of Business English Lecturer. One has a GPA of 3,95 while the other 3,40. However, the former graduated from a not-so-well-reputed university whilst the latter from a well-reputed one. If it happens, I would give the second applicant more consideration than the first.
Finally, soft skills are also to be put into consideration. On a CV, they can be represented by a number of sections (Organisational Experiences, Employment History, Strengths, Distinctions, Competitions, etc.) CVs which survive all of the aforementioned stages of the Sorting Process could next be contacted for an Interview.
On the Interview level, I strongly support Face-to-Face Ones. Before the interview begins, another submission of Mandatory Hard Copy Documents is usually done by most applicants. Nevertheless, it is supremely advised that the company not immediately go through them for they shall all be, almost one hundred percent, the same documents as the ones received and sorted. A nice atmosphere must be made by the company prior to the Interview.
In order to execute it, utterances such as “I see that you (are) really prepared for this interview.”, “Did you by any chance have any traffic jam on your way here ?”, “Can I just say that I find myself interested in buying the same tie as yours.” are very much suggested to be uttered. Briefly, I would suggest the company to give credits to any preparation done by the applicant or make any enquiries into the applicant’s journey to the company. Still, the Interviewer must be careful in doing it if the applicant is the opposite sex so as for no parties to have no unwanted impressions.
As soon as we are aware that the aspired atmosphere has already been reached, the Interview can be commenced.
Instead of uttering, “All right, shall we begin the interview now ?”, “Okay, let’s begin our Interview now.” and similar things, it is advised that “It’s quite an impressive CV that you’ve got here.”, “I have gone through your CV and I must say I am interested in finding out more.”, “Thank you for giving me the CV and Supporting Documents.” be said instead in order for the Applicant not to be anxious.
Next, during the Interview, never ever should the Interviewers ask any questions whose answers are findable on the CV.
Asking questions like “I see that you went to [name of University].”, “I see that you are learning Japanese. Is it tough to learn Japanese ?”, etc. is not advisable by me. Not only do I believe that it is a waste of time and energy, it also does not provide the company with a lot of assessable things out of the candidate. – Me. Ask ‘profound’ questions instead, such as “I see that you went to [name of University]. Could you tell me what you got out of being a Student at that university ?”, “How would you describe your relationship with your fellow university friends, lecturers and the university itself ?”, “Whenever a conflict happened, what did you usually do to solve it ?”, “What is studying and working for you ?” and so forth. Not only do such questions require elaborated answers, but we can also assess a number of things out of them (i.e. Language Mastery, Logic, Personality, etc.)
Lastly, Working Simulation. I strongly second the notion saying that it needs to be put into effect before the Probationary Period of the applicant, for the company to be able to synchronise everything that the candidate has written onto his CV, everything that he has said in the Interview and predict his future as an employee in that company.
However, the company ought to remember it that it is not about recruiting perfect candidates for human beings have always flaws. It is recruiting ‘a decorated canvas’, meaning that with every hard skill and soft skill that the applicant possesses, the company must be able to ‘mold’ him by all works that it is assigning him to do to, to be a better individual in the future. For this Working Simulation stage, I leave it all up to the comany to determine the duration (i.e. a few hours, three days or even a week). Subsequently, it is important that the company assigns the applicant a number of works with as little disparity as possible in terms of its nature (since it is all about a simulation) and that the company should increase the load and complexity bit by bit for the sake of a more thorough appraisal of the candidate.
In conclusion, companies ought to do those stages in selecting and recruiting new employees. Employees have hard skill anf soft skill out of which they can make multiple contributions to the company. For that reason, they are very much assets that companies are to maintain. By a company’s putting all aforementioned Selection and Recruitment stages into action, not only can the company foresee its future with the applicant, but the applicant can also forsee his with the company, minimalising risks such as Working Motivation Loss, a sudden dissatisfaction (worse resignation) and a turnover.
Mister Iwo 