Smart Task 02-VCE HR INTERNSHIP

Name K SAI PRANAV

Email-ID saipranavk1997@gmail.com

Smart Task No. 2

Shortlisting, Interviewing and selection process.

Project Topic

Project-3: Shortlisting, Interviewing and Selection process.

⮚ The area of analysis selected is City. The research is done through small sample
questionnaires of self-assessment.

● WHAT IS SHORTLISTING?
Shortlisting is the process of identifying the candidates that meet the criteria laid out in the job listing.
They’re the candidates that you want to move forward with in the recruitment process, most likely by
having an initial interview or otherwise moving on to the next stage of the recruitment funnel.

In other words, you’re creating a “short” list of candidates you want to talk to.

Why should you create a shortlist?

The shortlisting process helps narrowing down your pool of applicants feel less overwhelming. It also
sets standards for you and your talent acquisition team to look at in determining who the right
applicants to talk to are.

Your shortlist can also help you identify how on-target you are with reaching your ideal candidates. If
you’re struggling to find applicants that meet your shortlist criteria, it might be a sign that you’re not
posting your job listings in the right places––or that your expectations are too high for the position
you’re looking to fill.

Overall, shortlisting makes the hiring process more manageable and helps you speed it up.

A well-thought-out shortlisting process will help you identify employees with skills that you really
need.
 Smart Task 02-VCE HR INTERNSHIP
How to build a solid shortlisting process

Sure, a shortlist sounds great––but just knowing the definition doesn’t help narrow down your
growing pool of candidates! Here’s how you can build a shortlisting process to make sure you’re
interviewing the right candidates.

1. Determine your criteria.

Before you even post your job listing, you need to identify the “must-haves” and the “nice-to-haves”
for the role you’re hiring. These qualifications will become the criteria for your shortlist.

Your list of must-haves will be the minimum qualifications for the candidates that you interview,
while the nice-to-have list might get that applicant some bonus points (but not necessarily disqualify
any applicants who don’t meet those criteria).

If you’re not sure what your criteria should be, take a look at the individuals already operating in that
position, or if you’re replacing someone, turn to that person. Ask them what skills they believe are
most important to their job. What qualifications would they want to see new hires have?

Discuss the criteria with the hiring manager for the role in question to ensure you’re selecting the right
candidates for the shortlist.

2. Decide a shortlist maximum number.

The point of a shortlist is… well that it needs to be short. If you’re not cutting down your applicant
pool, creating a shortlist doesn’t really help! That’s why you need to set a list maximum.

In other words, you need to determine how many candidates you’re going to move forward with. This
might be a set number or it could be a percentage of applicants. You can also find this number by
estimating how many candidates you’ve interviewed in the past out of everyone that applied for a
certain role.

Don’t worry too much about this shortlist number. If you end up having more highly-qualified
candidates, interview them. Likewise, don’t waste your time filling up your shortlist if you don’t have
enough candidates who meet your minimum qualifications.

This can serve as a benchmark; however, you always need to analyze your own process. If you’re
inviting more than 12% of applicants to interviews, it can mean that your shortlisting criteria aren’t
strict enough but also that you have many qualified candidates. That’s why a closer look at your
applicant-to-interview rate is necessary.

3. Try blind applicant screening.

Now that you know what qualifications you’re looking for and the number of candidates you want to
move forward with, you’re ready to start selecting applicants! This is the tough part.

When you start to look through applications, you might feel some natural pull towards certain
candidates. While this subconscious bias is pretty common, you want to avoid it as much as possible.
If you’re considering applicants for anything other than the criteria you’ve established, you might end
up with the wrong team member.
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Try a blind applicant screening where you remove all demographic data from resumes and
applications. By focusing on the relevant criteria––and only the relevant criteria––you can reduce
hiring bias and prevent it from creeping into your hiring process.

4. Eliminate applicants who don’t have the criteria you’re looking for.

You listed your “must-haves” for a reason. If a candidate doesn’t have the minimum criteria you’re
looking for in someone you want to interview––it’s time to cut them. Don’t waste your time with
applicants who don’t meet your needs.

If you’re expecting a high volume of applicants, you can automate this process. Using keyword
identifying tools, you can automatically weed candidates who don’t meet your basics out.

However, if you’re going to go down this route, just be careful that your automation process is
working appropriately. You don’t want to accidentally remove any qualified candidates! Be sure to do
a quick comb through your rejected applicants to make sure you’re not overlooking a strong
candidate. That way, you can also optimize your automated resume screening process for the future.

5. Screen candidates in, not out.

Screening candidates in versus screening them out might not seem like a big difference. But rather
than just looking for candidates that don’t fit what you’re looking for, see what applicants have
transferable skills. Who seems like someone who will commit to your business and that you can rely
on?

If you’re only looking at who checks all your boxes, you might end up with candidates who seem
great on paper but aren’t willing or prepared to grow with your organization. By screening candidates
in, rather than just screening out, you can be sure to interview stronger candidates.

You should also look at your group of candidates holistically. When deciding whether or not to screen
a candidate in, consider if there are other applicants like that person. Creating a diverse candidate pool
can give you a stronger pool of interviewees––and increase the chances you hire a diverse employee.

Stop guessing,
Start data-driven hiring.

Learn how you implement a modern candidate selection process that is: streamlined, experience-
driven and backed by data.

6. Try assessments during the initial application phase.

Candidate assessments usually come later in the recruitment process, but adding them early on can
help you get to know your applicants better in the beginning––especially when you’re expecting high
volumes of applicants.

Assessments also come in handy if there is a specific skill you need to score applicants for. For
example, if your must-have criteria are very specific, an assessment can help you understand who
really has those skills versus who just listed them on their resume.
 Smart Task 02-VCE HR INTERNSHIP
You can add assessments during the application phase or wait until your candidates have already
applied. Assessments also come in handy if you find you have too many candidates meeting your list
of criteria. Have applicants you’re on the fence about complete some assessments to see if they’re a
good fit or not.

Recruitment technology including pre-employment assessments can make screening faster, more
accurate and more efficient.

7. Conduct a screening interview.

Phone screenings are incredibly common during the beginning phases of the hiring process. In fact,
you probably already use them! While initial phone interviews are efficient for some, especially for
low-volume roles, you can also screen candidates with a video interview.

Video interviews allow applicants to respond to prompts in self-recorded videos. This gives you the
opportunity to hear from large volumes of applicants without needing to invest time to independently
screen them all.

Video interviews do have some drawbacks (like that you can’t ask follow up questions) but they’re a
great way to get to know your applicants beyond just their resume and application at the very
beginning of the hiring process.

8. Give your candidates a score.

Having solid cut-off points can prevent you from wasting your time with candidates who just aren’t a
fit. However, it’s unlikely that all of your candidates will meet all your criteria. You can still identify
your strongest candidates by giving them a score.

The M.E.P. system (which stands for Mandatory, Essential, Preferred) is one way to score your
candidates. Here’s how it works:

Rank your list of criteria and qualifications as mandatory (absolute minimum requirement), essential
(a very important skill to have), or preferred (a nice to have skill, but not necessary).

As you go through applicants, allocate 1 point for every M a candidate has, 2 for every E, and 3 for
every P.

At the end of each candidate application, give them a total score.

Candidates with the highest scores are your strongest candidates.

This kind of scoring process also helps you identify a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses so you
can bring them up during the interview process and have a meaningful conversation early on.

9. Let candidates know if you’re not moving forward.

It’s always good to let candidates who don’t meet your qualifications know they’re not moving
forward in the interview process––especially if you’ve done further screening like a phone interview
or asked them to complete assessments.
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If you’re still in the application screening phase, an email is usually fine for alerting candidates. You
can also follow up with a phone call if you only had a small number of applicants.

It’s always helpful to the candidate to let them know why you’re not moving forward––whether it’s
that there were a large number of strong candidates or if they didn’t meet certain criteria. Leaving off
the relationship on a good foot can encourage them to apply again in the future, or, at the very least,
leave them with a positive impression of your brand.

Providing candidates with at least basic feedback whenever you have the capacity to do so improve
your candidate experience.

Use shortlisting to interview the best candidates.

Don’t allow a large number of applicants to derail your hiring process. When you know how to
narrow down your candidate list to focus on your strongest applicants, you can ensure you’re not
overlooking anyone that could be a good fit for your organization.

Let’s recap how you can find a shortlisting process that works for you:

Identify your main criteria and what is most important in the candidates you choose to interview.

Determine how many candidates you want to move to the next phase with.

Consider using blind screening to eliminate bias.

Cut out applicants that don’t have the must-haves you’ve outlined and use automation to make the
process easier.

Screen in, not out and look for transferable skills.

Use assessments to measure specific skills important to your application.

Use phone or video interviews to get to know your candidates beyond just what they’ve written on
their resume or in their application.

Give your candidates a score with the M.E.P process.

Let candidates know if they’re not moving forward.

As you become more familiar with what you’re looking for in candidates, the hiring process will
become easier and easier!

●WHAT IS INTERVIEWING?

The interview process is a multi-stage process for hiring new employees. The interview process
typically includes the following steps: writing a job description, posting a job, scheduling interviews,
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conducting preliminary interviews, conducting in-person interviews, following up with candidates and
making a hire.

Strategies of Effective Interviewing

The executive engaged in the normal conduct of business devotes much of his time to interviewing.
However, there is an appalling lack of effort given to systematic attempts at building improvements
into this age-old process. Interviewing remains one of those activities which we think we know all
about merely because we have been doing it so long; we have been lulled by habit. It seems apparent
that a modest effort aimed at an analysis of our interviewing techniques would yield generous returns.

In the broad sense, interviewing is the process whereby individuals (usually two) exchange
information. The individuals may be concerned with a job opening, a promotion, a special
assignment, and a product sale, information for intelligence purposes, a proposed merger, or other
questions. The information exchanged need not be limited to facts. In business, particularly, such
products of an interview as meaning and understanding are oftentimes more significant than objective
factual statements.

Interviewing in the contemporary business setting invariably takes place in an atmosphere filled with
a sense of urgency. The time allocated to the interview is necessarily limited. Consequently, a
nondirective approach finds little application; it is necessary to use the guided interview in the vast
majority of situations. This inherent time constraint sometimes brings about dysfunctional
consequences: the interviewer is so preoccupied with budgeting his time that the content and the
purpose of the interview are vitiated. Hence, we must define what we mean by an effective interview.
For the purposes of this article, an effective interview is one that optimizes the perceived
communication objectives of the individuals involved, with time as the principal constraint. We shall
focus on research findings concerning:

● The proper kind of preparation for the interview.

● Value of such procedures as having an outline of points to be covered and taking notes.
● Use (and misuse) of questions and questioning techniques.
● The kind and amount of control that the interviewer should exercise over the discussion.
● Analysis and evaluation of information obtained.

Planning & Preparation

The lack of adequate planning for an interview is the greatest single fault found in my studies of the
interviewing process.1 All too often, the inexperienced interviewer launches into a discussion only to
find midway through that his preparation is incomplete. A moderate amount of preplanning can easily
obviate such unfortunate occurrences.

When the objective of the interview is well-known in advance, it is usually a good practice to allow
the individual concerned ample time to prepare for the talk before the actual involvement. By
indicating, ahead of time and in writing, the points to be covered, the interviewer gives the
interviewee an added advantage and reinforces the specific purpose of the session. Too often the
expectations of the interviewee may be far different from those of the interviewer. This
misunderstanding, if not corrected, can be disastrous.

On the other hand, too much preplanning and detailing for an interview can be equally harmful. The
interviewee may then develop conventionally correct answers or platitudes which, of course, reduce
the informational content of the interview to virtually zero. In short, he needs a guide, a “steer”—but
no more than that.
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A written outline of important points to be covered is not necessarily an indication of rigidity; rather,
it reflects consideration for all parties concerned. When explained, it generates a feeling of confidence
as well as fairness—particularly if two or more people are to be ranked in an evaluation. The outline
may even include typical questions in order to solicit comparable responses. Again, however, a
warning against excess is needed: too much reliance on a programed questioning approach is often
disconcerting to the interviewee and may lead to stereotyped answers. Ideally, of course, each
question should be designed for the situation and the respondent.

In presenting information, a speaker allocates blocks of time to various items on his agenda. If no time
limit is established, the presentation can continue indefinitely. Even worse, the truly important
information may never be told. This process takes place by dint of the normal human trait of retaining
the most significant bits of information for the end. Psychiatrists recognize this and are particularly
attentive in the last ten minutes of the therapy session. Borrowing from this insight, the interviewer,
although not able to set an hourly cycle as does the psychiatrist, should try discreetly to indicate a
time scale. This allows the interviewee to plan and to include relevant information which otherwise
might be withheld. If the interview is terminated too abruptly, the probability of losing valuable
information is very high.

A time limit can be suggested by citing the next appointment or by noting, perhaps, a previously
scheduled conference. Actions such as tapping—consciously or not—on one’s watch to indicate time
are out of order, of course; so is sitting precipitously on the edge of the chair. Sometimes it may be in
the best interest of both parties to set another date for an extended session or to plan on completing
only one or two stages of progress at a time.

Building Rapport

Certainly the general tone of the interview should be one of helpfulness and friendliness so as to
minimize the immediate barriers to forthright communication. In this connection it should be
mentioned that privacy is a first prerequisite to good interviewing. An important component of this is
freedom from distracting interruptions. (The telephone many times is such a distraction.)

In order to establish the critically important element of rapport with the interviewee, a genuine
attempt should be made to put the interviewee at ease—especially in job application, promotion, or
other interviews where significant differences in status exist. Unfortunately, sometimes this rapport is
attempted by such gaucheries as, “Now, don’t be nervous!” or, “Relax!”

Normally, at the beginning of an interview an allowance should be made for the interviewee to adjust
to the interview environment. The situation is new for the interviewee; it may be his or her first
experience of this kind. Unless there is a specified adaptation period, the interviewee may be unable
to reduce his or her level of anxiety, with the resulting loss of the entire session. Part of this adaptive
process is familiarization with the surroundings. It is an often overlooked truism that whenever an
individual is placed in a strange situation, he becomes apprehensive.

Overcoming this fear is often a most difficult procedure. By explaining, for example, the need for
commonplace objects such as pencil and note paper that are anxiety-provoking, the level of tension
may be reduced. Also, it is well to remember that the manner and simple courtesies extended by the
interviewer are greatly magnified in the eyes of the interviewee. Thus, a limited amount of
pleasantries may be condoned if they fulfill this useful purpose.

By jotting down significant bits of information, the interviewer can readily reconstruct what actually
took place. The record assists with details which would be hard to remember if not recorded. The time
that would be needed to fix them in mind without benefit of notes can be used to greater advantage
listening and thinking. Then, too, writing down items compliments the interviewee; it means that his
responses are considered important enough to be recorded. It is a convenient reinforcing mechanism;
it may even be used to guide the path of the interview.
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Information of a picayune variety should naturally be avoided. Similarly, allowing the interviewee to
relate too much information can be dangerous. Any inadvertently revealed facts or incidents may
bring about severe anxiety feelings when he or she reflects on them later. Temptations to divulge
information too freely should be sidestepped as lightly as possible so that continued rapport may be
maintained. In addition, circumspection should be exercised at all times lest the interviewer become
too emotionally involved in the exchange. Disagreements tend to provoke planning for verbal
counterattacks with the result that the informational content is lost.

Guiding the conversation

The interviewee is overly sensitive to all reactions by the interviewer. Taking advantage of this, the
interviewer may easily steer the conversation along the most productive channels. Small inflections in
the voice give encouragement. By repeating phrases already expressed, one finds the respondent
expanding with details on a relevant issue. Sometimes, merely restating the reply allows a time for
reflection and quite natural expansion or clarification of a point perhaps lost in the first verbalization.
Phrasing a question by rewording it into a rhetorical one gives the interviewee a period to think
through a definite response (although caution should be observed that the “right” words are not put
into the mind of the interviewee).

Support given by nodding is most effective. Other nonverbal means of rendering assistance are
equally significant. The use of semi verbal expressions of a meaningless nature—for instance,
“Umm…”—can prove most useful. Because such utterances provide no direct interpretation, they are
received as the interviewee wants to receive them. He then emphasizes or magnifies the point as he
sees fit.

A succinct summary of information from time to time not only allows for clarity in the
communication process but also gives the informant a mirror of just what has occurred. Alterations
can be made easily by the interviewee once he hears what he has said. In the final stage, a precise
statement of what was agreed on or of the general conclusions reached often allows for a reduction of
confusion.

When details or figures have been discussed, the summary can often be in the form of a written
memorandum. If the interviewer wants to be sure of what the interviewee communicated or to check
on whether the interviewee really understood the data discussed, he can ask him to write the
memorandum.

Developing Information

The tools of the interviewer are his questions. They should be used with dispatch and yet with the
utmost care. Sarcasm or obscure humor should be avoided unless the interviewer is positive that the
interviewee perceives them as such. Usually, the latter’s interpretation of such activity is entirely
serious; he or she may respond at the time with a semblance of perceived humor, but the real reaction
is often deep concern and suspicion.

Through the judicious use of questions, the skilled interviewer not only obtains information but also
guides the talk along productive lines. Leading questions or questions designed with built-in
responses are usually not very effective. Similarly, the double negative type of interrogation is to be
shunned as it tends to evoke anxiety. To avoid slipping into such traps, even the best interviewer
should review his questioning techniques from time to time. Thus, self-analyzing by tape recording or
by having a third person observe an interview for diagnostic purposes can prevent poor techniques
from developing into set procedures. This process may be extended to the use of video tape recordings
with proportionately more significant results.

In a research project that concentrated on questioning techniques, I analyzed the recordings of about
100 interviews held for the purpose of selecting job applicants, appraising executive performance, or
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counseling employees in their careers. One of the conclusions from this study is this: successful
interviewers (as evaluated by information obtained) utilize at the outset of the interview a pattern of
broad, general questions. Apparently this allows the respondent to answer with information which he
feels is important, as well as providing him the opportunity to expand into areas that he deems to be of
vital concern. Once this information is released, the interviewer can sharpen the focus with specific
questions eliciting short answers. For example, the “yes or no” kind of question should be reserved for
the final exploration of a subject, while queries such as “How do you feel about working with Joe
Smith’s group?” might well obtain results most useful at the beginning of a particular subject.

Fear of silence

It seems that silence in our society is to be avoided at virtually all times and all places. Unfortunately,
this feeling affects the interview. Usually fear of silence is felt most by the inexperienced interviewer.
All too often he tends to put forth another question while the respondent is meekly attempting to
formulate his own thoughts into a logical reply—all just to keep the air filled with words.

The tendency to hurry questions and answers is compounded by the distorted sense of time that
people get during an interview. To understand the amount of distortion, one research group carried out
such simple tests as stopping a conversation for a short period. Interviewers’ estimates of the period of
silence magnified it by a factor of from 10 to 100!2 On the other hand, I find, when asking
participants in an interview to estimate the time elapsed, invariably the interviewee underestimates the
period. Consequently, the interviewer in particular should be cautious of pushing forward too quickly.
In many instances, if he will permit another few seconds to elapse, he will obtain vital bits of
information that would otherwise be lost or allowed to remain in a half-expressed state in the
interviewee’s thought processes.

During these periods of silence, the interviewer may profitably spend his time pondering the question:
“What is he really trying to tell me?” Often the content of the interview makes an incomplete story
when analyzed later on. Not only may the words fall far short of the desired goal, but also they may
convey misunderstandings. Allowances for the ever-present failures in semantics must constantly be
made, and further interrogation conducted, in order that a clear approximation of the true meaning is
obtained.

Art of listening

The often posed maxim to the effect that we hear what we wish to hear does not appear at first glance
to be a profound statement. Yet it summarizes the mechanics that lie behind poor listening techniques.
Individual biases and attitudes as well as role perceptions and stereotyping all contribute to the
phenomenon of selective perception. Thus, in order to obtain the best possible information, it is
necessary that one be aware of his own particular filters that tend to impede if not prevent clear and
relatively undistorted reception of information.

It is possible to hear at the rate of from 110 to 140 words per minute over sustained periods.3 the
thinking or thought projection rate is approximately seven times this figure. The result is a surplus of
thinking time over listening time. The manner in which this surplus time is utilized varies, of course,
with the individual. However, it is at this point that the interviewer tends to project his ideas into the
interview process, thereby filtering out the interviewee’s responses.

One result is that he makes assumptions about the respondent and his information that are compatible
not so much with the interviewee as with what the interviewer has already concluded about the
interviewee. Suffice it to say that it is altogether more rewarding to spend this extra time in
formulating hypotheses, which later can be confirmed or denied as more information is revealed, or in
constructing a frame of reference for the on-going interview, which allows acquired information to be
categorized easily as it is given.
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Analyzing data

The information that is gathered should be approached and analyzed from two points of reference: the
objective and the subjective.

Objective View.
The objective category can be broken down into content and form:

1. Content—this term refers, of course, to the factual presentation—what is actually being said and
whether or not it is reliable. The overview of the interview or the pattern of the total situation must be
firmly grasped and then noted. In addition, it would seem that the following items are valuable in
evaluating information—

● A response that is overwhelmingly conventional is likely to be suspect, owing to the great

possibility of its being less than valid. For instance, in an employment interview, the response,
“My boss didn’t like me,” is suspect as a cliché. Similarly, the response, “I quit that job
because the pay was too low,” could be merely a platitude to satisfy the interviewer.
● If the respondent is impervious to interruption during the interview, then a measure of doubt
is cast as to the kind of information the interviewee is relating. Such behavior generally
indicates a need to cover all points in a predetermined pattern with such compulsion that, if
the interviewee were interrupted, he would never be able to reassemble all the parts.
Weaknesses in the “pseudo armor” should be investigated.
● A constant shifting of the subject or an extremely short attention span often denotes a degree
of suspicion.
● Should gaps or illogical sequences be prevalent, care should be exercised to augment or to
complete the lapses. The voids should be completed by direct interrogation, preferably later in
the interview, to check continuity and to arouse a minimum of suspicion by the informant.
Later validation by telephone may help with these questions.
● Conflicting times or facts as well as gaps or illogical sequences may indicate areas for careful
attention or further penetration.
● Useful visual barometers of an unduly high anxiety level are such things as—
A. color of face

B. erratic body movements

C. varying eye contact

D. dryness of the mouth

E. pitch of the voice

F. excessive perspiration

2. Form—by form I mean the “how, when, and why” of the information. Words take on different
meanings when differentiated along these lines. Form can be subdivided into verbal (what is heard)
and into nonverbal (what is observed) content. Nonverbal expressions are perhaps the purest kind of
information transmitted, since they are the most difficult to mask or disguise. By developing an
awareness of and sensitivity to such signals as when a certain fact was mentioned, what prompted the
mention, how it was presented, and so forth, the skilled interviewer takes a most useful if not an
essential step. Indeed, this awareness might well be extended to include the nonverbal transmissions
of the interviewer himself.

Subjective View.
In evaluating information from a subjective point of view, the interviewer is attempting primarily to
assess feelings and attitudes. It is often argued that these intangibles have no obvious place in an
interview that takes place in a business environment. Yet, even though it is impossible to determine
exactly how feelings and attitudes do influence the information transmitted, it is nonetheless crucially
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necessary that one be fully aware of the fact that these intangibles are powerful, active agents in
creating opinions.

Concluding the meeting

The final 10% of the interview is perhaps the most important, since the greatest amount of
information per unit of time is generally exchanged during this time interval. In a series of taped
interviews involving appliance sales and sales in which travel arrangements were a factor, it was
found that the sales person often did not hear vital information offered toward the end of the interview
or after the sale. This overlooked information brought about frequent misinterpretations, which, in
turn, accounted for many later cancellations and unsettled complaints. All of this could have been
avoided if a moderate amount of attention had been exercised so as to prevent a premature termination
of the interview.

Part of the conclusion usually consists of a plan of action—something to be done or achieved by

either or both parties. A clear, concise summary of this plan, as mentioned earlier, is a most useful
technique for achieving good results. The summary is helpful to both parties because it enables them
to realize exactly what has been accomplished as well as to focus on a final concordance.

Follow-Up

I have observed in my studies that a general failing of interviewers is their inability to document just
what occurred in a talk. In their usual—often premeditated—hurry to get to the next interview, they
neglect valuable notes. This impatience in many cases is merely behavior resulting from a self-
satisfying need to prove to them that they are busy.

Adequate notation of significant events, impressions, and agreed-on information are of great value in
reconstructing the interview at a later date and in providing a framework for planning the next session.
By documenting a series of events, one is able to see things which, if merely left to the fragile human
memory, may fuse into meaningless, disconnected scenes in a panorama of many human happenings.
To be sure, too much recorded information may well lead to a surfeit of data, a situation I have also
observed in several interviewing offices, but this extreme is easily prevented if good judgment is
exercised.

Another benefit of effective documentation is that it offers the opportunity to reflect on a previous
event. By reviewing and considering this information, one can oftentimes discover errors and flaws in
technique and improve his approach. Without such specific means for learning, the same mistakes
tend to become routinized until the point is reached where they become, unintentionally, an integral
part of the interviewer’s technique.

●WHAT IS SELECTION PROCESS?

What Is Candidate Selection?

Candidate selection is the culmination of the 360-degree recruitment process and is a result of arriving
at the smart decision on whether a candidate has the right experience-knowledge-expertise score
based on job-requirements.
Candidate selection is thus about filling a vacancy with the right candidate using objective techniques
and measurement tools to gauge their fit within the organization, their projected success in the role,
and their growth path within the system.
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The process of candidate selection involves an array of interviews, skills tests, psychometric tools,
group discussions, and reference checks – all aimed at measuring the candidate’s fitness for the role at
hand. In spite of the incorporation of mobile-friendly AI-enabled tools to these processes, the
selection process is being held back. Let’s look at what these factors are and how to elevate candidate
selection to provide an engaging candidate experience.

Top 5 candidate selection pitfalls

It is not only an organization’s business environment that is dynamic. The job market is ever-
morphing as well – with the rise of the gig workforce, influx of new generations at work, the growing
need to adopt fast-evolving technology, and changing employee and candidate expectations. So, how
can the candidate selection process help in elevating the candidate experience? When it comes to
candidate selection, there are five common pitfalls that organizations need to be wary of.
1. A loosely tied selection process

No matter how strongly the trend of unstructured workforces and work schedules pick up, lack of
structure in the selection process is a definite let-down. Almost two-thirds of the candidate population
claims that a selection process that appears to be unplanned would impact how they perceived the
employer brand. In a recent Manpower Group survey of 18,000 candidates in 24 markets titled“Add
to Cart: Candidates are Consumers, Too” 54% of participants stated that the candidate journey they
went through would affect whether they invest in the brand’s products or services.

And this is a perception that they would hold onto. Besides the outward perception, an unstructured
selection process would pose obvious problems of scalability while also being difficult to replicate.
2. Lack of role-specific selection systems

Every role is unique, and as they require a specific skills-competencies-personality equation for
success, they need a reciprocally unique selection process too. Adopting a one-size-fits-all approach to
the selection where you expect to employ the same testing and measuring tools across roles is a recipe
for a mundane, ineffective, and superficial selection process.
3. Being over-dependent on the human recruiter

This is a challenge that most organizations face when adopting new technology – where does human
intervention end and tech take the reins? Recruiters may find it difficult to relinquish the reins but
think of all the extra work you is putting in despite your investment in technology. Surveys point out
that 57% of job seekers might lose interest and pull out of a lengthy selection process. Why stick to a
long-drawn, time-consuming process when you can keep it short, sweet, and mobile?
4. Denouncing data

It might be difficult to believe, but even in a ratified world, there are hiring managers who trust their
gut over data. While we are not negating the importance of tapping into our human abilities to sense
and perceive how well a candidate might fit into the organization, it seems risky to not rely on the
depth of data that we have access to at present. According to CareerBuilder, 74% of recruiters admit
to hiring the “wrong” candidate at some point. Moreover, denouncing data paves the way for biased
decisions and besides being difficult to justify, such subjectivity is not something that could help you
augment your candidate experience.
5. Overlooking the candidate experience

According to Glass door polls, more than two-thirds of employees feel that there is a discrepancy in
the expectations set during their interviews and their actual job. These inconsistencies, lack of
adequate communication and feedback, along with a tedious application process, all add up to dismal
candidate experience. Whether you end up hiring that candidate or not, the experience that you have
 Smart Task 02-VCE HR INTERNSHIP
provided stays associated with your brand and rest assured, will make its way around the social media
whirlpool.

Now that we know what the five common pitfalls in candidate selection are, let’s look at the three
pillars that uphold the process – the holy trinity of smart candidate selection if you will. In a market as
deeply candidate-driven as this, where your employer brand needs to shine, you must bring your A-
game to attract top talent.

Here are the three key aspects of smart candidate selection:

1. Dependable data: Having access to the right data can help you upgrade any process. Rather than
not having enough data backing, our immediate concern might actually be having too much data at
hand. It is often easy to get distracted by this data dump, but with AI tools that can sift through piles
of data to sniff out the most relevant pieces of information; you can start putting the selection puzzle
together.

2. Efficient processes: The importance of a quick, smooth, and structured selection process cannot be
stressed enough. This not only helps the candidate but also helps you portray your employer brand as
agile and effective, where processes are carried out without glitches and where the candidate’s time is
valued. Greater efficiency reduces waste since it has a direct impact on time to hire and cost per hire.
Structuring an efficient and engaging process for the candidate becomes a lot easier if you pay
attention to the data trends of candidate engagement levels and keep track of the feedback they
provide.

3. Focus on candidate experience: How do you convert brand enthusiasts to brand advocates who
can help you drive your employer brand? The experience you provide through the selection process is
what could make the difference between creating a brand advocate and a brand adversary.
Interestingly enough, the other two pillars of efficiency and data can improve the experience that a
candidate has through the process of recruitment.