Selection StrategyHRM-3000-0LASubmitted by: Gloire Tshibangu & Manveen PaddaSubmitted to: Lynn McAuliffe November 26th, 20181. What screening programs and procedures do you recommend to deal with a large number of job applicants (to replace retiring workers)? The screening programs and procedure recommended to deal with a large number of job applicants in order to replace retiring workers would follow a process involving application forms, resume, background check and finally an interview. It is very essential for Dofasco to be able to have a good screening program because they fall under the “Top 100 Employers”, and have a good reputation in the labour market. Firstly, the application form completed by job candidates provides a prospective employer with general information concerning applicants’ knowledge, skills, education and previous work experience (Catano, Hackett ; Wiesner, 2019). They can be used to compare the knowledge, education and skills for good performers. However, this can be hazardous for the Dofasco since the questions asked by the employers for the candidates could land them in litigation matters; certain questions may be framed and subject to offend protected groups.
Thereby, another way to screen out information in a application form is by using weighted application blank. This is a method for quantitatively combining information from application blank items, by assigning weights that reflect the value of each item in the protection of job success. In order to get a successful screening procedure done, WAB needs to be well-constructed so that job applicants feel less threatened or disrupted, unlike when filling the regular application forms. Moreover, WAB is economical, quick and could be used to identify the strengths and qualities of the job applicants, and help them put through the right test assessments (Catano, Hackett ; Wiesner, 2019) Secondly, we recommend resumes, which are a source of biographical information. Resumes can be helpful for employers in order to skim through the essential information that is required, in order to shortlist applicants for a single position (Catano, Hackett ; Wiesner, 2019). This can be determined on the basis of applicants’ education, skills and activities such as volunteering. Sometimes, the information on Resumes can overlap the information on application blank or other sources of screening methods.
Thereby, it is essential to choose an appropriate screening method or even blend the two screening methods well so they are obtained with good information about job applicants. Thirdly, we recommend reference checks and social networking sites. Reference checks is information gathered about a job candidate from supervisor, coworkers, clients or other people named as references by the candidate. The information is usually collected from the written references and/or from contacts over the phone (Catano, Hackett & Wiesner, 2019). When doing a reference check with a large pool of job applicants, it is important for the employer to do a background check. A background check would help the employer to confirm that whatever has been stated on the resume and weighted application blanks is in fact true.
With technology advancement, employers can now make a good use of social media networks, such as LinkedIn and other virtual career websites which allow job seekers to make their profile in the form of resume. 2. What selection tools are appropriate to assess the potential of new graduate applicants to acquire knowledge and skills quickly? As mentioned in the case, Dofasco is facing the need to fill the leadership positions in the company.
For doing so, the employers may have to make the entry-level employees (new graduate applicants) go through certain tests that would prove their leadership and work ethic towards the organization. This will help Dofasco predict the degree to which job applicants possess the KSAO related to the position available (Catano, Hackett & Wiesner, 2019). Below are the tests that can be used as selection tools by Dofasco:Ability & Aptitude Tests: Abilities enduring, general traits and characteristics on which people differ and which they bring to a work situation. Skill is whereby an individual’s degree of proficiency or competency on a given task, which develops through performing the task. Aptitude is a specific, narrow ability or skills that may be used to predict job performance. Practical intelligence is the ability to apply ideas in “real world” context, whereby job knowledge are the issues and/or procedure deemed essential for successful job performance. Testing on the above criteria will help the company know whether the shortlisted candidates have the ability, aptitude and the right skills to be able to handle difficult situations at work and if they possess the qualities of being a leader (Catano, Hackett ; Wiesner, 2019).Emotional intelligence: EI is the ability to accurately perceive and appraise emotion in oneself and others, and to appropriately regulate and express emotion.
This can be done by the EQ test that can determine the ability of job applicants’ to perceive emotions, use emotions to facilitate thoughts, understand other’s emotions and the ability to manage emotions. It is important for Dofasco to conduct such test in order to be able to understand if the newly graduated candidates have the strength and ability to endure the stress and responsibility that is a part of the leadership positions. Work samples and simulation tests: Work samples and simulations are testing procedures that require the candidates to produce behaviours related to the job performance under supervised conditions related to the given job. These tests can be performed whereby the job candidates need to prove their ability to communicate (written or oral) and show their leadership qualities.
Other tests that Dofasco can conduct are situational judgement test, leadership group discussions and in-basket test. Situational Judgement Test is a type of situational exercise designed to measure an applicant’s judgement in workplace or professional situations. Leadership group discussions is a simulation test designed for candidates to exercise their leadership and communication skills. The in-basket test is a simulation test used to assess candidates organizational and problem-solving skills (Catano, Hackett & Wiesner, 2019). The three simulation tests above are used by employers to observe how well a job applicant performs if they were given managerial position in the organization. 3. How would you assess the leadership potential of applicants? Applicants who will be replacing the retired employees are in for a challenge as they will need to be able to perform at par with the company’s expectations. It is always advised to develop selection tool tests conducted in assessment centres.
Assessment Centres (AC) is a standardized procedure that involves the use of multiple measurement techniques and multiple assessors to evaluate candidates for selection, classification, and promotion (Catano, Hackett ; Wiesner, 2019). Not necessarily being in a physical location, assessment centres can be conducted using selection tools. Developing and conducting AC’s on job candidates can be very essential for Dofasco as it will set the right profile, showcasing the strengths and the weaknesses of candidates being evaluated through the tests. It will help the company to shortlist and decide which candidates best fit managerial positions. Not only for the employees, but it can also be proven to be beneficial for candidates to experience what the job scope will be if the position is given, and how intense the work in a day could also be.
The evaluation can be conducted by having a behavioural, situational or structured interview to assess the candidate’s EQ. Case studies assess their problem-solving skills and leader-less group discussion will assess candidates creativeness and how well (if any candidate is shortlisted) they can lead a group and hold on to their opinion. 4. How would you assess each applicant’s organizational fit? To be able to assess each applicant’s organizational fit, it is vital that Dofasco, besides framing a good screening and selecting method, also assess whether the applicant is fit for the organization. Assessments can be made by framing structural interviews and behavioural interviews that will assist the company to assess candidates behaviours in situations or contexts aligning with organizational values and ethics. When assessing candidates, Dofasco should typically look for traits like integrity, teamwork, being detailed-oriented, open-mind to any kind of organizational change, being flexible, being ethical, and the ability to handle stress.
Dofasco has been known to promote employees who portray good leadership attributes such as being an initiator, communicator, being motivated and motivate others. The interview can be conducted in a couple of formats including long-distance interviews and puzzle interviews. Long distance interview is conducted through telephone, video conferencing, internet interviews or computerized interview, serving as an alternative to face-to-face interviews. This can be done to help accommodate candidates who are located very far from the workplace location. Puzzle interview is usually unstructured interviews that ask applicants to solve puzzles or unusual problems. This will help candidates demonstrate their ability to be creative and solve problems in a short duration of time, and mostly on the spot.
5. Detail the various selection tools you recommend, the order in which you will apply them, and the weight you will assign to each of these selection tools. The first selection tool to be applied for Dofasco is the General Mental Ability test. The GMA test measures individuals latent intellectual capacity. This selection tool is crucial for Dofasco, as it will help to forecast entry level individuals who have the potential to quickly acquire the required skills, in order to be promoted into multiple technical and leadership positions needed to be filled when the workforce will be retiring. The test will also assess a person’s ability to learn, how easily they can be trained to accomplish job responsibilities, how well they can solve problems, and their adaptability. Due to the significance of selecting individuals for Dofasco with specific leadership and technical abilities and potentials, this selection tool will be assigned a weight of 30 percent.
The validity mean when the GMA test is used by itself is 0.51 (Catano, Hackett & Wiesner, 2019) which makes it a high selection predictor overall. The second selection tool to be applied for Dofasco are work samples and simulation tests. Work samples and simulations testing require candidates to generate the behaviours related to job performance under supervised conditions which resemble the ones needed in the job.
Since Dofasco is looking to hire potential team leaders, supervisors and managers, the Situational Judgment Test should be used to measure applicants judgement in professional situations. The questions (paper-and-pencil based) will include a variety of answers which the applicant will choose from. In order to measure candidates judgment and ensure predictive validity and reliability, the test will ask candidates what they “would do” rather than what they “should do”. Candidates will rate their responses from best to worst.
Leaderless group discussions, where a group of candidates are required to support a job-related topic or business case with no rules or structure given can also be used to identify leadership potential during Dofasco’s selection stage. The weight assigned for this selection tool will be 35 percent. The validity mean when work samples and SJT’s are used to supplement the cognitive ability test is 0.63, which makes it one of the highest selection predictor. Last but not least, the third selection tool to be applied for Dofasco is a structured behavioural interview. Candidates will be asked a series of questions and required to describe what he or she did in a specific previous situation. The interviewer will also use to scoring guide with sample answers to evaluate and score the answers. This tool will address the company’s concern of looking for evidence of organizational fit when hiring new entry-level-employees.
The structured behavioural interview will enable Dofasco to predict future behaviours with candidates past behaviours; the candidate’s answers should reveal whether their behaviours align with leadership attributes developed through training and developing, such as initiative, decision-making, communication and conscientiousness. This tool will be conducted at the end of the of the selection stage, thus reducing the number of people to interview, and reducing cost (due to cut-off). As with the work samples and SJT, the weight assigned to this tool will also be 35%. When supplemented with the cognitive ability test, the mean validity is also 0.63, which is a high validity mean for selection predictor. 6. What decision model will you use? Describe it. Why do recommend it? The decision model which we will use is the Multiple Hurdle Combination model.
This decision model is a combination of the Multiple Hurdle, where each applicant must pass the minimum cutoff for each predictor before being evaluated on the next predictor, and Multiple Regression, where applicants scores, on all predictors, are weighted and summed to give a total score. (Catano, Hackett & Wiesner, 2019). Cutoff scores are set to serve as minimums in this selection decision model. In the combination model, Multiple Hurdle is used at the beginning of the selection stage with the less costly predictors used earlier during the process (to reduce the number of applicants), and the Multiple regression is used later with the more costly predictors used later in the process. We recommend the Multiple hurdle combination model because it is a good middle ground in terms of time and price, with more realistic expectations in regards to the tools used to select applicants. Although this model requires more time in comparison to the multiple regression and multiple cutoff models and is more expensive than the simple hurdle model, Dofasco will benefit from the assurance that the minimum qualifications will be satisfied and that the multiple regression will provide the optimal rank of candidates.
The company will also benefit from minimized errors in predictions. This decision model will align well with the company’s goal of adding 1500 employee/colleagues to their company over the next five years; If the need to hire new employees was urgent, the multiple hurdle combination decision model would not have been timely. 7. How will you determine whether the selection system is working? In order to determine whether the selection system is working, we will be applying a multidimensional model of job performance, with a behaviour observation scale.
We will be grouping job behaviours into categories. Each category (performance dimensions), will encompass a set of behaviours which will be obtained from Dofasco’s goals and attributes. We will be incorporating John Campbell’s eight performance dimensions into the four types of job behaviour (task, contextual, adaptive and counterproductive performance) in order to measure Dofasco’s selected candidate overall performance. The list of job dimension criteria will be constructed by the managers within the company who are knowledgeable about the jobs to be filled over the next 10 years. Once selected candidates have completed their probation period, their performance will immediately be evaluated using BORS. Performance evaluations will also be conducted using BORS every six months after the first evaluation, to ensure that the goals and desired performance are being met, and to provide timely and corresponding training and development initiatives.
Utilizing this rating system will provide a greater degree of satisfaction, fairness, validity and reliability. Dofasco will be able to see whether their selection system predicts desired job performance well, as assessed by job-related criteria. 8. How will you determine if these assessments/tools/tests (as you have detailed above) will have/have had an adverse impact on minority applicants (designated groups)? What steps would you take to address this issue? In order to determine whether the selection assessments, tools and tests will have or have had an adverse impact on minority applicants, Dofasco will be using alternative predictors as mentioned above, such as work sample, situational judgment tests and behavioural interviews to supplement the GMA predictor.
Implementing these supplemented tests will reduce the chances of adverse impact by assessing multiple cognitive and non-cognitive KSAO’s, and promote higher transparency of all test. Secondly, Dofasco will need to look into banding; grouping candidates on the basis of ranges of scores, such as the cutoff score we have recommended implementing. The standard error of measurement will need to be implemented in this approach, as it considers that most measurements have an error. SEM will be calculated to construct bands (groups) around the scores. The scores which will fall within a particular band will all be equal, thus enabling Dofasco to select individuals scoring in the same band on the basis of minority (Catano, Hackett ; Wiesner, 2019). In the beginning and during the selection process, numbers and data will be recorded and then assessed to determine whether the tools used have had or will have an adverse impact on minority groups and to see whether all groups are represented in the selection. Lastly, Dofasco will need to exercise caution when using the tools and tests. They will need to inform the applicants on why they are being tested, how applicants will be assessed on relevant KSAO’s, and that the results will be used to make the selection decision.
The applicants should receive response and decisions based on the results. Applicants must also be aware that they have the right to privacy and that their information will be kept confidential. Candidate will also have the possibility to be tested in their preferred languages, and Dofasco will be accommodating and customizing the testing process for any applicants with disabilities or requiring accommodation. References:Catano, V. M., Hackett, R.
D., & Wiesner, W. H. (2019). Recruitment and selection in Canada. Toronto, Ontario: Nelson Education.
