Selecting the Right People for the Job: Assessing Selection Practices - Essay Sample

Introduction

For a job to be done according to one's needs, he or she should select a few people who are skilled and well familiar in that field of work. Favorable people for the job are acquired through the formulation of a plan that allows one to pick applicants of their choice. Therefore, in this context, my primary focus is to assess the organization's practices on the selection of employees.

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Overview of Selection Practices

Selection practices are the techniques that are used by the individuals to pick what they think will serve them good. Therefore for one to formulate a suitable method of selection, he or she must first comprehend the position they want to fill up. This focuses entirely on the job that the individual is required to do, which helps the board or the person making the selection know precisely the right kind of people to select. For instance, the position of an accountant in my firm requires an individual to keep records of all transactions taking place in the business and ensuring that the books are balancing. Through knowing what the vacant position deals with then, the board tasked with the selection finds the work easy to carry out.

Assessing Employee Selection Practices

There are two types of selections which include internal and external. Internal selection is promoting or hiring of one within the business, whereas, in the case of a firm booking someone from outside, it is external selection. In this case, therefore, our selection shall be external since the firm requires someone new to deal with maintaining and keeping the books (Seibert & DeGeest, 2017, p.381). Some of the selection processes carried out are up-to-date and involve tests such as cognitive ability test, integrity tests, and personality tests. Cognitive ability tests help in the measure of mental abilities. These are things such as the ability to solve mathematics, especially the books of accounts, being able to reason, ability to read, and understand. Through these various ability from the applicant is tested, which gives the board a wide range to identify the kind of person they want working for them.

When it comes to the personality test, it deals with the character of the individuals that are mainly needed to fit in the current position. One of the necessary traits is emotional stability that ensures you do not alter the books of the company to favor yourself financially (Schmidt, Oh & Shaffer, 2016). Apart from that, it ensures that the firm hires an individual who will not disclose the business financial records when bought by competing companies. Apart from that, there is the integrity test, which mainly deals with the attitude of the applicant. That is simply if the firm can trust or put its honesty on the applicant in case he or she hired. This ensures that people who are employed by the firm are trustworthy and will not engage in the activities that might result in the firm experiencing loses.

The screening interviews are standard and meet the minimum criteria for the vacant accounting post. For instance, some of the questions are whether the applicant has job experience, and if he or she has any background regarding the field of accounting. Apart from that, there is a varying in-depth interview question that is asked mainly to allow the firm to know the kind of person it is hiring. These questions are asked in a way that the applicant is not undermined, thus comfortable when answering them. When it comes to the panel and the video interviews, it gives room for the board members to evaluate the applicant and see whether the traits he or she has match the post of accountant. Through this, they will be able to pick the person well competent in the accounting position.

Improving Employee Selection

One of the challenges that the firm face when selecting an individual from outside is trust. That is the majority of people mainly want to enrich themselves, which may end up badly for the firm since profits will drop down, leading to loses instead. To deal with the issue of trust, one should ensure that they have the credentials of the applicant, allowing them to know his or her creditability. For instance, if the applicant has ever taken a loan from the bank and paid it back, it means he or she is trustworthy. On the other hand, simple questions based on how one had made his or her achievement in life can help determine whether he or she is honest. Apart from that, the firm might decide on taking the person already working in the firm to take up the accounting position since they know him or her thus proving to be trusted.

Evaluating Interview Questions

Some of the questions that are used to obtain an accountant include:

1. What is bookkeeping?
2. Define real and nominal accounts illustrating with examples?
3. What is working capital?
4. How does an individual maintain accounting accuracy?
5. What is the difference between accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR)?
6. The difference between a trial balance and a balance sheet is?
7. Name the standard errors associated with accounting?
8. Have you ever helped your company to save money or use their available financial resources effectively?
9. What are some of the ways to estimate bad debts
10. What are the common errors in accounting?

Some of the questions asked mainly involve theory and not the actual math that is included in the accounting (Employee Selection Process, n.d). These questions should engage in accounting mathematics that involves balancing the books, making of the trial balance, calculations of profits, and losses. Through this, it will be easy to identify the people with the rights skills and ones that are favorable for the position. For instance, some of the questions that should be asked should be:

1. How can one calculate the losses and profits of the frim?
2. Various ways of ensuring that a balance sheet and trial balance is equal on both sides?
3. How to calculate the firm's capital for a given period?

Therefore, through interviews, the firm can identify competent people by reviewing how the applicant answers the questions. They illustrate the ability of an applicant to fit in the vacant position. Apart from that, they depict confidence in the applicant by being able to answer the questions that are asked. This, therefore, means that he or she can run the firms book and improve them even if there are difficulties experienced.

From the above context, one can conclude that for a firm to be successful people working in it should be well selected. If the selection is carried out well following the right procedure, this means the company will be able to choose the right applicant who fits in the position they need to be filled. This, therefore, results in best output leading to the success of the business.

References

Employee Selection Process [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://accountlearning.blogspot.com/2013/03/selection-process.html

Schmidt, F. L., Oh, I. S., & Shaffer, J. A. (2016). The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology: Practical and Theoretical Implications of 100 Years... Fox School of Business Research Paper.

Seibert, S. E., & DeGeest, D. S. (2017). The five factor model of personality in business and industry. The Oxford Handbook of the Five Factor Model, 27, 381.