CHAPTER 7
Recruiting, Selecting, Training, and Developing
Employees
Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, the student should be able to:
1. Describe the recruiting process, including internal and external recruiting and the
importance of realistic job previews.
2. Discuss the steps in the selection process and the basic selection criteria used by most
organizations.
Chapter Outline
Opening Case: The Coaching Carousel
It’s called the coaching carousel. Every year when football season ends, coaches get fired and
new coaches get hired. And because every team needs a head coach, there is precisely one job at
each team and that job has to be filled—quickly. Consider the National Football League. The day
after the regular season ends is known as Black Monday, and most firings take place that day or
a few days after. Of course, not all teams failing to make the playoffs fire their coach.
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Chapter 7: Recruiting, Selecting, Training, and Developing Employees
Introduction
This chapter examines the processes used by organizations to attract, hire, and develop new
employees.
I. Recruiting Employees
The processes of recruitment and selection are the means whereby organizations acquire new
human resources. Recruiting is the process of developing a pool of qualified applicants who are
Both parties in the recruiting process—the organization and the prospective employee—have
goals they are trying to accomplish in the recruiting process. The most basic and fundamental
goal of an organization’s recruiting effort is essentially to fulfill the definition of recruiting: to
develop a pool of qualified applicants. This overriding goal, however, also suggests three
specific related goals that are important to the recruiting process.
• The organization wants to optimize the size of the pool of qualified applicants; that is, have
In many cases, a prospective employee’s goals are relatively straightforward. Individuals work
for several reasons, but the most common are:
• Financial income
In addition to these goals, however, individuals can also have idiosyncratic goals. One
fundamental decision that an organization must make as part of its recruiting strategy is whether
to focus recruiting efforts internally or externally. As summarized in Table 7.1 both internal
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Chapter 7: Recruiting, Selecting, Training, and Developing Employees
recruiting and external recruiting have unique advantages and disadvantages.
A. Internal Recruiting
Internal recruiting is the process of looking inside the organization for existing qualified
employees who might be promoted to higher-level positions. In any event, it is generally
important that an organization use internal recruiting as part of its overall planning process
Yet, as shown in Table 7.1, there are also disadvantages when internal recruiting is the only
type a firm uses. This can result in stagnation and stifle creativity. It is unlikely that new ideas
Job Posting
Perhaps the most common method that organizations use for internal recruiting is a process
called job posting. This is a relatively simple procedure. Vacancies in the organization are
Supervisory Recommendations
Another method of internal recruiting is supervisory recommendations. In this case,
when a new position needs to be filled, a manager solicits nominations or
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Chapter 7: Recruiting, Selecting, Training, and Developing Employees
B. External Recruiting
External recruiting involves looking to sources outside the organization for prospective
employees. As noted in Table 7.1, external recruiting has advantages and disadvantages that
directly counter to those of internal recruiting. In some cases, no internal employees may be
able to fill new positions, thereby making external recruiting the only option.
C. Methods for External Recruiting
Word-of-Mouth Recruiting
Referrals come to an organization via word-of-mouth recruiting. In most cases, the
organization simply informs current employees that positions are available and encourages
Advertisements
Advertisements on Web sites and in newspapers and related publications are also popular
methods for external recruiting. Some professional periodicals and publications also have
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Chapter 7: Recruiting, Selecting, Training, and Developing Employees
Employment Agencies
Public employment agencies became a formal part of the recruiting process with the
passage of the Social Security Act of 1935. This law requires that anyone who is paid
unemployment compensation must register the fact with local a state employment office.
Finally, executive search firms specialize in applicants for high-level positions. An
individual working for an executive search firm is also known as a headhunter. Typically,
the search firm screens potential candidates and then presents the organization with a small
number of candidates, all of whom are highly qualified and interested.
College Placement Offices
Most large organizations visit college campuses every year to interview graduates for jobs
within the organization. An advantage of this method for the organization is that it can
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Chapter 7: Recruiting, Selecting, Training, and Developing Employees
Digital Recruiting
The importance of digital recruiting would be hard to overestimate. Perhaps the most
important reason for the growing reliance on digital recruiting is that it is cost-effective. It
does not cost much to post a job opening on a job board like those available at
monster.com and hotjob.com, and these Web sites are visited literally by millions of
people annually. In addition, many organizations that start their own Web sites for
D. Internships: A Mixed Model
Although it is easier to think about recruiting having either an internal or external focus, it is
possible to take an approach that really combines elements of the two. Of course, an
internship is a form of temporary employee who can help respond to work demands in short
term.
E. Realistic Job Previews
A final topic for discussion concerning external recruiting is the use of the realistic job
preview (RJP). It is an effective technique for ensuring that job seekers understand the actual
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Chapter 7: Recruiting, Selecting, Training, and Developing Employees
nature of the jobs available to them. In the past, many recruiters were guilty of painting a
glowing picture of what a particular job might entail. They made the job sound glamorous,
exciting, fun, challenging, and rewarding in different ways. Once employees accepted the job,
however, they found just the opposite: The job they were hired to fill proved to be boring,
tedious, monotonous, and routine.
II. The Selection Process
Selection is concerned with identifying the best candidate or candidates for a job among the pool
of qualified applicants developed during the recruiting process.
A. Steps in Selection
At a general level, the selection process involves three distinct steps.
• The first step is gathering information about the members of the pool of qualified
B. Basic Selection Criteria
Several possible criteria can be used in the selection decision, and these often differ in terms
of how objectively they can be assessed.
Education and Experience
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Chapter 7: Recruiting, Selecting, Training, and Developing Employees
In a selection context, education refers to the formal classroom training an individual has
received in public or private schools and in a college, university, or technical school. For
Skills and Abilities
The assessment of skills and abilities, on the other hand, is rather mixed in terms of
objectivity. It is relatively straightforward to assess someone’s typing ability, and it is even
Personal Characteristics
Some personal characteristics, which are believed to reflect the applicant’s personality, are
also difficult to assess objectively. More recently, however, a great deal of attention has
Hiring for “Fit”
When a firm decides to hire someone on the basis of fit, it hires that person not because he
III. Popular Selection Techniques
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Chapter 7: Recruiting, Selecting, Training, and Developing Employees
A. Applications and Background Checks
An employment application asks individuals for various facts and information pertaining to
their personal background. Commonly asked questions include details such as name,
educational background, personal career goals, and experience.
Application blanks, when used in typical selection systems, provide a quick and inexpensive
mechanism for gathering several kinds of objective information about an individual and
information of a type that can be easily verified. A number of innovations have extended the
usefulness of application blanks, including the following:
• The so-called weighted application blank relies on statistical techniques to determine
B. Employment Tests
Another popular selection technique used by many organizations is an employment test, or a
device for measuring the characteristics of an individual. These characteristics may include
personality, intelligence, or aptitude. Although employment tests are generally traditional
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Chapter 7: Recruiting, Selecting, Training, and Developing Employees
Cognitive ability tests measure mental skills. The applicant is not required to do anything
physical, only to demonstrate some type of knowledge. General intelligence, or g, refers to
reasoning, or problem-solving skills, but it is typically measured in terms of the information
Psychomotor ability tests measure physical abilities such as strength, eye-hand coordination,
and manual dexterity. These abilities can be practiced and perfected, and are usually measured
Personality tests measure traits, or tendencies to act, that are relatively unchanging in a
person. Personality can be measured in two ways: self-report inventories and projective
techniques. A self-report inventory is a paper-and-pencil measure in which an applicant
Some critics believe they can lead to legal problems, whereas others disagree whether
cognitive ability tests (especially intelligence tests) or personality tests provide the most
useful information for selection decisions. Regardless of the merits of these arguments,
however, both personality and cognitive ability remain popular criteria in selection
techniques, as do all employment tests in general.
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Chapter 7: Recruiting, Selecting, Training, and Developing Employees
Integrity tests attempt to assess an applicant’s moral character and honesty. Most of these
tests are straightforward and include questions such as “Do you think most people would
cheat if they thought they could get away with it?” and “Have you ever taken anything that
C. Work Simulations
Work simulations (sometimes referred to as work samples) require an applicant to perform
tasks or job-related activities that simulate or represent the actual work for which the person is
D. Personal Interviews
Although tests are popular, the most widely used selection technique in most organizations is
the employment interview. Interviews have traditionally been defined as face-to-face
conversations between prospective job applicants and representatives of the organization.
In any case, three different types of interviews are commonly encountered.
• In a structured employment interview, the interviewer works from a list of standard
questions that are presented to every candidate, by every interviewer.
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Chapter 7: Recruiting, Selecting, Training, and Developing Employees
Interviewers generally prefer unstructured interviews because they believe these interviews
However, it is more difficult to establish the job relatedness of interviews, partly because of
the prevalence of interview errors.
• Interviewers make the first impression error tend to make a decision early in the
interview process.
E. Other Selection Techniques
References and Recommendations
The job applicant is usually asked to provide either letters of recommendation or the names
and addresses of individuals who may be contacted to write such letters. References and
Assessment Centers
Another selection technique that is used widely, but only for the selection of managers, is
the assessment center. An assessment center is not a physical location but is instead an
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Chapter 7: Recruiting, Selecting, Training, and Developing Employees
IV. The Selection Decision
The final step in the selection process is deciding whom to hire.
A. Multiple Indicators
By using multiple approaches, the organization is able to counterbalance the measurement
error in one selection technique against another, and it is also able to base decisions on the
basis of more complete information. The organization must decide if a candidate must pass
some minimum requirement on every selection technique, or if a high score in one area can
compensate for a lower score somewhere else.