Employee Recruitment and Selection Blog

Over the course of this term, we have discussed a wide range of topics pertaining to the employee recruitment and selection process. I think one thing in particular that I felt was important to both learn and know for the future is criteria when it comes to measuring performance. 

The difference between maximal and typical performance is something that I thought was really interesting. It was noted in the lecture that performance is a result of motivation and ability. When looking at someone who has maximal performance, they have a natural talent for the job and perform the best in situations where they are put under pressure. Additionally, they might not always be totally motivated on a day to day basis, but they always come through with results when it really counts. Then you have someone with typical performance who performs well consistently and is always willing to put in their best effort. What sets these people apart is that they do not perform as well under pressure. One of our posts was about deciding what kind of job each of these people would be best at, and also deciding which one we would hire. If performance really does equal motivation AND ability, then I think ideally you would want to hire someone who is a mixture of both performance levels. This is definitely something I will take with me as I start my career because I feel it is important to be both able and motivated as an employee. 

Looking at it from an employer side of things, I think it is also important to recognize the desirable aspects of criteria: relevance, discriminability, reliability, and practicality. I think that if the way an employer measures performance does not tap into each of these aspects, it makes it very unclear what they expect out of their employees. You have to set up some reliable and consistent way to separate the people who are performing well and the ones who might need a little more help. Otherwise, there is less room for improvement and the company as a whole will suffer. 

• What am I good at?

I think that I am good at being someone that people can count on. I am very organized and always need a plan so that I can get things done efficiently and on time. I also think that I am good at bringing a positive and calm attitude into any team that I may be a part of. 

• What do I value?

I value my education and all the opportunities that I have been given, especially in the past 4 years. I value any kind of experience that will allow me to grow as an individual and a professional. I also value my friends and family and all the support they have given me over the years.  

• How did I get here?

I got to where I am now by working hard and applying myself in the OSU community. I have taken advantage of lots of leadership and work opportunities that have allowed me to build my resume and gain new skills. By putting in this effort, I have been able to get a lot out of my four years here at OSU. 

• Where am I going?

While I am still totally unsure of where my new college degree will take me, I know that it will lead me to a good career. I plan on taking time to figure out what I really want to do in the world and go from there.

For extraversion, I scored around a 20, which the site says is pretty average. I scored a 10 on agreeableness, which is considered pretty low. For conscientiousness I scored average as well with a score of 30. I also scored a 30 on neuroticism, which is also considered average. Lastly, I scored close to zero on openness to experience. I think that these results are not totally accurate because I have taken similar tests and gotten scores that seem a little more accurate than the ones I received here. But overall, I would say these scores say that I am very reliable, but not totally open to changes and new experiences. 

As a potential employer, these results might not be very convincing because they are all relatively average. I think it is clear that I am organized and like to plan, which could mean that I am pretty reliable when it comes to getting things done on time. I also think they show that I am careful and diligent in my work and like to try to get things right on the first try. While my overall agreeableness score was low, I scored higher in trust and cooperation, meaning I could be a good team worker and would probably work well in many different environments. Aside from that, it appears that I am a pretty friendly person who likes to be positive and bring joy into whatever it is that I am doing. A major weakness that could be drawn from these results is that I do not seem to be open to new experience. However, I feel that in general I am actually open to many things, but not all, so this score may not be totally accurate. But overall, I would say these scores reflect part of my personality, but not all. 

Without knowing exactly what kind of position is being filled, I think I would hire Jaime. I think someone who is consistent and reliable is going to get more work done on a day to day basis, which in the long run would benefit the company. Avery might be naturally talented, but I would want someone on the team who is consistently putting in work and not slacking off. 

A type of job where Avery would excel would be a job that is very results oriented. Off the top of my head I think of a sales job. On the day to day, I feel like there is not a lot of tasks where consistency is required. But when there are sales events or something happening where there is ample opportunity to make a sale, I would send Avery. Especially if it were a high stress situation where my company might be competing with another company to make a sale or obtain a client. I would want to send someone who I know can perform well in that high stakes environment. 

A type of job where Jaime would excel would be something like a software engineer. I think this kind of job is one where the company gives their employees a project, and they have a good amount of time to work on it. Being able to work slowly to get a piece of software just right takes consistency and someone who is willing to work at it every day. Jaime would excel in this kind of job because there is less time sensitive pressure and not as many high stress situations that he would have to face. 

I think that my brand, or first impression, would come off as really reliable and eager to learn. One of my strengths is that I am a planner and I always get things done efficiently and on time. I am also very aware that I have a lot of skills to learn and improve upon, so I am really willing to work hard in order to do that. In addition, I have a lot of leadership experience under my belt, which I think would be an asset to any job I were to have because I know how to work with different types of people and in team settings.

If I were to present myself in a situation wanted ad, I would start by going on a website such as Canva or something of the sort in order to create a really nice, professional template. I think that the way that the ad looks says a lot about the abilities a person has. From there, I would take a look at my resume and try to apply my relevant experiences to whatever kind of job I am trying to get. I do not have much professional experience, but a lot of opportunities I have had in college have helped me grow and learn a lot, and definitely show that I am a capable and motivated employee. That being said, I would definitely highlight that aspect of myself because I think that some things I have been involved in make me different than potential competitors.  Once I have an appealing and easy to read ad, I would post it on websites like LinkedIn or Glassdoor so that it can be seen by companies. I would also have a few companies already picked out and ready to send to current employees to try to get my name out there. 

I currently work at the Austin Hall Help Desk, which is part of the College of Business IT Department. I originally wanted to apply to this job because I would always see someone sitting at the desk and always thought to myself that it seemed like a great job. I also really did not like my old job and was on the hunt for a new one. Lucky for me, I found that position on the OSU job portal and quickly applied on a whim in class one day. 

Thinking back to the job description, I would say that it matched up nicely to day to day tasks that I am responsible for. I vaguely remember being a little nervous about applying because the job description made it seem complex, but I decided to go for it anyway. While the description on the job posting was pretty spot on, there have definitely been times when I was doing something not necessarily posted in that description. Of course, people are unpredictable, and often times they come in with crazy technological problems that take extra brain power and skills to solve. There are also people who simply do not know how to use the printer, and I can easily walk them through the process because I have done it several times.  In addition, my boss often puts up extra shifts that involve different kinds of projects for us to work on if we want extra hours. A lot of the time this involves learning how to do something new, which I actually like because I feel like it gives me more knowledge of the job. Overall, I think that it is hard to fit every aspect of a job into a job description. Things come up that you do not expect, and that is just part of the process. 

Outstanding claims of discrimination like this, especially toward a group or culture I identify with, would definitely change the way I feel about the company. At the very least, it would make me feel like they broke my trust as a customer, and I would feel like they do not value people like me as a customer. I think that in terms of supporting that company, it would depend on the severity of the situation and the company’s response to such claims. If this were to happen to a store I go to all the time, let’s say it is Fred Meyer’s, I would probably still shop there occasionally. This would only be because it is conveniently located close to where I live and sometimes I need to buy essential items from there. However, if this were to happen to one of my favorite clothing stores, I would probably boycott for a while until they clear things up and fix their issues. In addition, I think that if the company were to make a genuine apology statement and take big steps to fix the problem, that might make me feel like it is appropriate to shop there again. 

In terms of applying to work for that company, I would definitely be very hesitant to work there knowing that they have past problems with discrimination. I think that if the company was that discriminatory and did not take any steps to fix the problem, there would be no chance of me getting hired anyway, so there would not be a purpose in applying there. Overall, any company who faces claims like these is likely to lose business and lose potential employees. That is why it is so important for companies to be proactive about these things and try to prevent it as much as possible. 

An organization might decide to allocate more resources towards marketing or product design because they need to put the emphasis on making and selling the actual product. Let’s say, for example, the company is a startup. In their beginning stages, they probably have a very small number of employees that are all trusted individuals. In the early stages of a business, the focus needs to be on the product so that they can gain a foundation and get their brand out there. Once they start to gain some momentum and maybe even start to breakeven on all their investments, then that would be when they could consider focusing more on recruiting new employees. 

A potential strength of allocating more resources on other aspects of the business is that it would be a good way to establish brand loyalty. I would consider this another important aspect of running a successful business. If customers do not know about your product, then it is going to be hard to sell it. In addition, if they buy it and are not satisfied, then they are not likely to come back. Having a known, trustworthy product will keep customers happy and coming back for more, which in turn will create a bigger profit for the organization. 

A potential weakness of not focusing on employee recruitment is that it increases the chances of hiring someone who will eventually waste the organization’s time and resources. When this happens, it is very costly to the company and they often will have to spend a large amount of time fixing what that employee caused. 

Overall, there are definitely pros and cons of allocating different resources to different part of an organization. I think that ultimately it comes down to what the organization needs at any given time. Thus, it is important for companies to pay attention to their needs so that they can allocate resources accordingly. 

During the first half of winter term this year, I was involved in two different job application processes. I learned a lot from both and think they are worth comparing for the purpose of this blog post. For both applications, it only involved a quick sending of my resume through Handshake. Most applications I have noticed ask for very minimal information and of course a resume. It became clear to me really quickly the value of a strong resume because in that initial application, the resume is really the only point of reference for them to decide if they want to follow up with me or not. 

After a few days, I eventually received a call/email from a recruiter to set up phone interviews. It is well-known that a phone interview is often used to initially get a feel for the applicant, and screen people out of the process. But through my experience, I realized that it is also a great opportunity for the applicant to get a vibe of the company as well. The phone interview ended up playing a big role for me in terms of the rest of the hiring process. The recruiter I talked to for the first job was very professional and our conversation flowed naturally. I was excited about the next interview because it seemed like I would mesh well with the other employees at the company. The second company I did a phone interview with was a little different. The recruiter I spoke with told me she was working from home, which is fine. But I felt like it lacked the professionalism that my other interview had because there were lots of distractions on her end like barking dogs. 

Overall, both interviews ended up going well because I was able to move on to a second interview. But it was an interesting process to experience and learn from for future interviews and application processes.