Today, the human resource selection process plays a vital role in the production and performance value business receive by making good hires and the high costs of replacing employees following bad hires. This is especially true for small business. Now the human resource department takes on a more strategic role with hiring and selection.
What is selection? Selection is the process of selecting a qualified person who can successfully do a job and deliver valuable contributions to the organization. The selection process is the strategically planned procedural approach created and implemented by organizations when recruiting and hiring new employees. This begins when jobs are posted internally and externally however in some cases recruiting tools are used to draw top-qualified candidates for important jobs. Screening tools, such as applications, tests, interviews, background investigations and reference checks are all used during this process.
One area of the selection process that is significant and sometimes under-valued is the development of screening tools. The goal of selection is to employ the applicant who is the best possible match for the job duties which makes using the right selection tools and developing them effectively crucial. Thorough job analysis assists HR professionals better align selection tools with the job.
In addition to locating the best hire, cost efficiency and legal concerns are two main reasons why the HR selection process is so important. When companies make a bad hire, they pay to train and orient a person who ultimately may cause more harm than good if he performs poorly and negatively affects the workplace. The costs to replace a bad hire are astronomical in many industries. A Society Human Resource Management study showed that even an $8 an hour retail employee can cost up to $3,500 to replace because of the hiring, administrative and training costs involved.
When hiring