Employee Recruitment & Selection

I really enjoyed this course as I was able to brush up on the concepts that I use in every day life as an HR Manager. It was important to me to gain more insight into recruiting and selection as my department serves a growing company that is continuously hiring due to its growth and internal promotion practices.

Compliance is a large part of the job; making sure that we adhere to fair hiring practices, as well as laws and regulations that apply to hiring is of the utmost importance. Managing risk and exposure to the organization will be more challenging if we are not up to date on existing and upcoming laws and regulations. Understanding the process of an EEOC complaint was definitely enlightening as I was unaware that the employee must notify the company within 45 days prior to the EEOC becoming involved. Reviewing the protected classes and revisiting the concept of BFOQ’s was helpful information to have during a recent hiring process, where I was asked if a physical abilities test for an active role within the Quality Assurance team was deemed appropriate. Having the class lecture information fresh on my mind I was able tor provide a recommendation to the hiring manager.

Being able to compare and contrast the criterion validity of employment tests was also particularly important. Knowing which tests may be perceived as having low job relatedness by candidates is also helpful. I had been thinking about incorporating an integrity test into our hiring process of higher level positions after a recent hire resulted in a separation due to unethical behavior. It was great to be able to know the pros and cons as well as the potential costs involved with the use of the different tests available. I will continue looking into options that make sense for the organization, so for me this is only the beginning. I am excited to incorporate what I have learned in class and continue researching integrity and personality testing more in depth to further support the hiring process that we currently have in place. 

The biggest eye opener I had during the course, was the topic of bias as individuals and hiring managers. After taking one of the bias tests, I found out I am more inclined to favor gay males and in my mind I thought of myself as an impartial person. Being able to take a step back and realize some of these unconscious aspects may be helpful as we make hiring decisions. 

The lessons learned will help me as a manager, as well as a candidate going through the hiring process. 

1. What am I good at?

I am good at building relationships and being a trusted advisor. Leading people on a project and being the driving force behind accomplishing goals. Staying calm and collected in most situations has also been a strength of mine. Finding creative people solutions to complex problems. 

2. What do I value?

I value recognition, compensation, work life balance, benefits, mentoring and coaching as well as timely performance feedback. Working alongside a high performing team that is accountable and pleasant/fun is also something I value.

3. How did I get here?

Key decisions carefully planned out have brought me where I am today. From making a decision to leave a full ride scholarship in Mexico to migrate back (a second time) to the United States at 13 years of age was one of those key decisions. I also made a decision to move to the PNW after I graduated college, I helped set up a start up company and enjoyed that venture for almost ten years. I made the painful decision to walk away to continue growing even though I loved the job as I knew there was more to experience and learn. It was a hard decision but it was timely since I have been able to grow within the HR field. I find myself in Corvallis following a decision to take on a new challenge, move away from family and start fresh with a fast paced HR Manager role, which I have really enjoyed. Making the decision to start the MBA program was interesting. I have always known I wanted to go back to school and looked into it every couple years but never had the drive as strong as this time around. I felt that in order to keep advancing in my career I had to take that next step in my education to continue growing.

4. Where am I going?

It has been challenging but fun to work full time and be a part time grad student, have a child and husband. I always keep in touch with that 13 year old self that had a dream when coming to the US. I stay inspired in seeing how far I’ve come and how the decisions along the way have brought me where I am today. I plan, ponder and hope future decisions continue to make me happy, keep me challenged and continuously learning. 

-Nicte

I took the IPIP-NEO long version questionnaire and the results were not necessarily surprising to me in most areas. The test results indicated I am an extrovert and enjoy being around people, I am outgoing and sociable. Being Hispanic and growing up in a large family I was always attending parties and large gatherings of people, which I have always enjoyed. Therefore, that is one of the things I miss the most right now with current pandemic restrictions. Depending on the position, being an extrovert can be an important strength to have. I work with people day in and day out so being an extrovert makes it easy and desirable from an employer standpoint. 

I rated high in agreeableness which means I can be described as pleasant and caring. Working in HR, I feel like this is a trait is really important to have and employers would likely see this as a strenght. I also rated high in conscientiousness and I feel like I may be on the verge of being deemed a workaholic, which is important to be aware of. It was interesting to see that rating high in this trait is not always positive but I definitely think I am not in the extreme of being a perfectionist but rather dependable and hard working. Employers should be weary of those individuals that display perfectionist and workaholic behaviors as it can lead to employee burnout. 

The rating on the neuroticism area was low meaning I am a calm individual even in stressful situations. I have known this about myself for a few years now and it has also been a great ally when handling difficult situations such as HR investigations, safety incidents and life in general. When others freak out, I am there to provide a calm, positive, realistic vibe with a plan of action. This is also another strength to offer especially in a collaborative setting as organizations are becoming more team based. 

I thought I would rate high in the Openness to Experience area but the results showed I scored average meaning I enjoy traditions but I am open tor trying new things. Employers would typically identify rating low in this area as a weakness. 

Overall I think this is an accurate representation of myself and its always interesting to see it laid out. A potential employer would likely see my personality traits as strengths. 

-Nicte

The hiring decision between typical (Jaime) and maximal (Avery) performance.

If I was a business owner I would hire Jaime because this individual is consistent. I can focus on running a business while Jaime contributes and performs the job hired for. Otherwise, if I selected Avery I would feel like I am rewarding someone that is inconsistent although bright. The lack of consistency would make it a challenge to manage and would create difficulties in work flow and completion of tasks. In addition, if I owned a business I would want my selection practices to support the business strategy and goals as well as the values of the organization. Having a slacker as an employee would not support those values and would set the wrong tone in the organization. 

Avery could be a better fit as a writer, marketing consultant or temporary worker that can set either a convenient work schedule that is flexible to their work product and deliverables or a limited duration project. The high potential and ability of Avery is definitely valuable when compared to Jaime. While Jaime offers consistency, there is a limit to the performance but when we set Avery to a task we have the potential to achieve something amazing in complex tasks.

A job that requires constant inputs would be better suited for Jaime such as a receptionist,  administrative assistant, crew leader, and delivery driver. In order for an individual to be successful in these roles, consistency and dependability are a must. Otherwise, even if Avery can achieve complex tasks but cannot complete all of the deliveries of the day, then this individual is not meeting the minimum expectations of the job. Jamie is more valuable in task based jobs because the work product will be constant and reliable. 

My  brand as a potential employee is in the establishment stage and the best advertising for me has been Linkedin so far. Nicte Chandler as a brand offers employers a high performing trusted advisor building people solutions in their organization. Offering a well rounded background in all functional areas of HR is a main strength while bargaining agreements be a new challenge. 

Last quarter I took a Marketing course for the MBA program and that inspired me to make an infographic resume about myself as I wanted to do something creative and memorable for employers. While I still have a chronological old-school resume, and a functional resume, I felt the need to have one that was more creative for a rainy day.  I have also made one-pagers to potential employers as a medium of having them know more about me, my personality and who I am as a candidate.

Job descriptions or JD’s for short, usually provide us a snapshot of what the role may encompass on a day to day, the minimum qualifications set forth by the employer and the essential functions of the role.

I remember when I took on my current job about a year ago, a recruiter reached out to me and forwarded me the job description for review. I looked at it and the qualifications were right in line with my education and experience. The JD painted a picture for me of what the job entailed, which areas of HR I would have oversight of, what my main responsibilities were, who the position reported to, as well as physical essential functions of the job. I remember reading the job description and thinking it was a good fit for me and decided to move forward and interview for the company.  The job description is below for review.

I recall being an applicant in the past for other positions and the JD deterred me from applying when my experience was not a match or if the position’s goals, areas of focus and day to day responsibilities are not in line with those that I enjoy. Therefore, job descriptions can attract candidates that fit the bill, but it can also cause candidates to select themselves out of the process if they don’t think their qualifications match and the job itself does not appeal to their interests. 

Discrimination in the workplace has been a hot topic and it has been a popular source of content for news outlets. While some companies may in fact have discriminatory practices (by disparate impact or disparate treatment) there are times where employees may feel dissatisfied with the company, their decision making, and values and may feel like they are being treated unfairly or discriminated.

Recently, I was in a meeting with a manager and an employee. The employee claimed he was being discriminated since a co-worker made more money than he did and he mentioned that he could produce the same work as his co-worker. Bold statement, especially since he has been in a personal improvement plan due to his low quality of work, inability to read complex schematics and to difficulty communicating and not asking questions when in doubt . These performance issues resulted in several costly mistakes on his part as well as having to re-work projects. After explaining compensable value, ranges of pay and performance pay, he was still dissatisfied with his rate of pay but understood where the differences in pay and was more interested in knowing the path towards advancement rather than just asking for a higher raise. The employee gained pay understanding and this created a shift in his feelings of inequity and discrimination.

Moral of the story is, I do not believe everything I hear on the news because I have seen both sides working in HR. My perceptions of the company would be changed based on the evidence and claims made. My decisions to support or apply to the company would depend on the facts of the claims, if they were corroborated,  as well as how egregious they may have been.

By Nicte Chandler

The last role I applied for,  although I was not actively job searching at the time, was for a strategic HR management role in the healthcare industry.

I remember reading the job posting and thinking to myself, “ I can see myself with this organization in this particular job.” It was a weekday and late at night after a long day at work and I thought the whole process would take no more than 15 minutes. I did the normal application online providing my personal information, work experience, education and references, at that point I thought I was done but to my surprise, the application process did not end there. I was asked to complete a 110 item questionnaire that included Wonderlic items as well as job specific questions such as shift availability. Mid-way through the questionnaire, I remember wondering if the application instructions mentioned having to complete this portion and also providing the applicant an estimated time it would take to complete from start to finish. Its a nice courtesy to know what someone is getting themselves into from a time commitment standpoint. Once I completed the application, I was exhausted and feeling very different about the job I applied to than when I first got started with the process. 

This experience further reaffirmed how as a society we are have limited time, patience and we want to complete a task and move onto the next thing instead of being caught up with too much all at once. Being mindful of the applicants is important as the application process is designed to ensure they continue to be engaged and excited about the position. Some individuals may become disengaged mid-application and may select themselves out of the process altogether.

By Nicte Chandler