Exercising Strategy: Never Having to Say ‘You Never Know Essay

A highly educated executive was hired on the spot without background checks. Later it was discovered he had served time in prison for attempted murder. Statistics from a company specializing in background checks shows that in 2000, 39% of the 70 background checks they performed would preclude employment offers. But due to labor shortages companies hire without backgrounds checks. Another company hastily hired a CEO without backgrounds and once his true identity was discovered he was fired. However, the venture-capital deal fell through and when the technology sector took a nose dive they laid off one third of its force. 1.People applying for jobs are always motivated to display themselves in the best light and as a result this can sometimes lead to inaccurate portrayals of abilities, skills, experiences, and personality. Based upon what you have read in this chapter how should you approach a job applicant’s written application and resume if your goal is to make sure that they accurately reflect the person’s past experiences and accomplishments? The approach to verify accuracy in the resume and the application begins with the standard selection process. Performing a prescreening phone interview, human resources would fact find and clearing up any questions on the resume. With candidate’s consent a background and reference check can be attained. The type of position would determine the testing that is used as well as the effectiveness of the selection standard; reliability, validity, generalizability, utility, and legality. There are several tests used for each position; physical ability, cognitive ability, personality inventories, drug testing, and work samples. These criterions are scored and each candidate’s situational interview would involve several trained interviewers. This standardized selection process allows for a better chance to bring in the best people and in return help make the company have  a competitive advantage (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2010). Another approach is the internal and external recruiting where there is knowledge of the candidate’s history. An internal recruitment offers the hiring manager access to the employee’s file. Then there’s classmate Denise DeRosa’s discussion post on the Superintendent that â€Å"hired two additional external applicants† who he had known. We can infer that he knew the history of both candidate’s past experiences and accomplishments (DeRosa, 2014). 2.And the face-to-face interview process what steps can be taken to assure that the applicant is being frank and honest with you and what steps should you take if you feel that he or she is portraying in an accurate picture of himself or herself? We start with the structured interview using multiple trained interviewers from operations that use a standard system to take notes. We partner the work-sample and the structured interview for a more accurate picture. There are two broad standardized categories of the structured interviews; evaluation and content (Campion, Palmer, & Campion, 1997). The rating from each interviewer should be a part of a shared goal which will be based on observable behaviors or knowledge. The situational interview style will offer insight on experience-based and future-oriented, which looks at reactions in different circumstances. These situational interview questions deal with motivating employees, resolving conflict, and overcoming resistance to change (Latham, Saari, Purcell, & Campion, 1980 pp. 422-427). The authors say, â€Å"Situational interviews can be particularly effective when assessing sensitivity issues dealing with the honesty and integrity of candidates† (Noe et al., 2010 p. 249). However, some authors suggest behavioral interviews, which are based on a person’s past performance on the job is the best predictor of future performance, are more effective than in situational interviews (Levashina & Campion, 2007). When job candidates portray an in accurate picture of themselves employers can perform searches on the internet and see if the candidate’s web presence matches the messaging of the candidate. The authors suggest â€Å"the content the person’s digital identity may be at odds with the image or corporate culture that is  being promoted by the organization† (Noe et al., 2010 p. 250). Second, employers can ask for a large reference list of people and call those people on the phone whereas they might speak with candor. Much has been wr itten on reading body language during interviews to identify candidates not telling the truth. There are some employers that request a drug testing. Another method is requesting elaboration on responses or details on projects or goals which puts the candidate on the spot. 3. Beyond the traditional approaches of going over the application conducting face-to-face interviews what other steps can you as an employer take to ensure that the person who is being hired for the job has the right abilities skills past experiences and personality? There are other steps beyond the traditional approaches which can validate the person who is being hired for the job has the â€Å"right stuff† to be effective in the position they are hired in. Depending on the industry or type of the position the steps will vary. The puzzle interview, which has been used mostly by technology companies, typically provides the candidate with a written problem that needs to be solved. The puzzle interview question provides the employer insight on how the candidate will solves problems in unusual situations (Honer, Wright, & Sablynski, 2007). The use of social media like LinkedIn and Facebook has been used by employers to verify information on job applicants. There are employers determining employee value using web based software, which is a useful tool for data mining and combing through massive amounts of information (Noe et al., 2010, p. 242). But there could be information on the web page that should not be used nor consider when selecting candidates to hire; such as pregnancy, race, or weight (Grasz, 2009). Human resources must be cautious of this potential bias and the legal implications. There will be varying methods and steps utilized by hiring managers when selecting job candidates to ensure the person hired has the skills and experiences to do the job. References: Campion, M. A., Palmer, D. A., Campion, J. E. (1997). A review of structure in the selection interview. Personnel Psychology, 50, 655–702 DeRosa, D. (2014) Discussion Forum 3: Denise DeRosa, TESC, April 15, 2014 Grasz, J. (2009). â€Å"Forty-five percent of employers use social networking sites to research job candidates, CareerBuilder survey finds: Career expert provides dos and don’ts for job seekers on social networking†. Honer, J., Wright, C. W., & Sablynski, C. J. (2007). â€Å"Puzzle interviews: What are they and what do the measure? Applied H.R.M. Research, 11, 79–96† Latham, G. P., Saari, L. M., Pursell, E. D., & Campion, M. A. (1980). The situational interview. Journal of Applied Psychology, 65, 422–427 Levashina, J. & Campion, M.A. (2007). Measuring faking in the employment interview: Development and validation of an Interview Faking Behavior Scale. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1638–1656.