Selection Process For An Aircraft Maintenance Organization: Critical Analysis And Recommendations
Benefits of Unstructured Interviews
The human resources in a given organization play a significant role in both its short-term and long-term success. With increased competition in the corporate world, organizations have become more focused on ensuring that they hire the right kind of people to perform various roles (Siavelis and Morgenstern,2008). To meet the demands of modern workplace organizations have shifted their focus on the processes of recruitment and selection to attract people with the desired skills and attributes.Recruitment is the process through which organizations attract potential candidates possessing the desired attributes, skills, experience and knowledge to fill vacant positions(Avey, Luthans and Jensen,2009).To successfully meet, the objectives of recruitment, organizations must apply the appropriate recruitment methods for various positions. While some positions might require the use of multiple selection methods, for others, a candidate can be identified through a single method.This report focuses on the selection process for an Aircraft maintenance organization.
A critical analysis of the proposed selection process
The organization intends to use multiple criteria for selecting the most qualified applicants for the 200 vacant positions. The proposed methods are the selection of candidates through the use of application forms and, followed by an unstructured interview and the use of cognitive ability test. The selection criteria used plays a significant role in
A better understanding of candidates
One of the significant benefits of unstructured interviews is the fact that it gives the interviewer an opportunity to understand better various candidates shortlisted for the vacant position. Through the various questions asked, the selection panel can have an understanding of how knowledgeable various candidates are (Brewster, 2017). With the large pool of applicants, The use of unstructured interviews by the organization will give it a chance to understand various candidates better so that only the most qualified are picked for the vacant positions.
It’s a practical method of analyzing candidates
Because of the spontaneous nature of unstructured interviews, they have proved to be quite practical and realistic. Through unstructured interviews, the real knowledge levels and intentions of a candidate can be identified which will enable informed choices on the suitable candidates for the company (Brewster, 2017)
It’s more comfortable than structured interviews
Unstructured interviews take the form of a normal conversation which makes an interviewee more comfortable during the interview process. It also allows the candidate to explain all concepts in a very informal way which makes it possible for them to explain pure knowledge. It will, therefore, make it possible to identify the most knowledgeable candidates from the pool of applicants (Jackson, Schuler and Werner, 2009)
Disadvantages of Unstructured Interviews
Cons of Unstructured interviews
Unstructured interviews are known to consume a lot of time especially due to the fact that they lack any particular guidelines or format (Gagné, 2009)This makes them an unreliable method of screening candidate where a large number of applicants are involved. With the organization expected to screen approximately 2000 applicants, the use of this method will mean that they will need so much time. It means therefore that the method is not quite appropriate for the organization’s selection process (Kumari, 2012).
Comparison of results will be difficult
The lack of standardized interview question means that each unstructured interview is unique. Screening interviews are meant to access the attributes of an individual applicant, which are then compared with those of other applicants (Ofori and Aryeetey, 2011). The uniqueness of the interviews means that it might be quite difficult to compare the results of different candidates, which might lead to the choice of the wrong candidates or qualified candidates (Guest, 2011). This, therefore, makes it a less effective method for the selection process of the organization.
Personality test advantages
In a situation where a big number of applicants are involved personality tests can enable the selection panel to narrow down the number of applicants. Therefore if the organization applies personality tests before main interviews, it will be able to minimize the number of applicants (Cabellero and Walker, 2010).
Assessment of candidate’s abilities and skills
With the nature of the interview involved, the assessment of the candidate’s skills may not be carried out well. The use of personality tests will facilitate the identification of requisite skills and attributes (Cascio, 2018).
Disadvantages of personality tests
Costly
Personality tests might be costly. The test process might involve hiring someone to score the test. With a large number of applicants involved in the recruitment drive for the company, the process might be quite expensive (Lievens and Chapman, 2009).
The tests might not be reliable
In most cases, the tests are answered by candidates as a way of pleasing the test administrator or the organization and not as a true reflection of their personality (Wright and McMahan, 2011). While the organization needs specific attributes and skills, the method might not be appropriate in the identification of the best candidates.
Advantages of Cognitive Ability tests
Reliable results
Cognitive ability tests have the major benefit of producing valid and reliable results because it is standardized. This means that the organization will be able to accurately compare results for various candidates which will result in a more informed decision (Keep and James,2010.
Advantages of Personality Tests
Training need assessment
As new employees join an organization, they may require training to acquire specific task related skills. The tests will, therefore, be appropriate for the identification of skill gaps among the new employees for to facilitate effective training.
Disadvantages of Cognitive ability tests
They may not result in good performance.
The performance of a candidate in a cognitive test might not be reflected in their job performance (Subramony, 2009). In order to effectively determine the ability of a candidate, many other factors should be considered. This therefore means that, cognitive texts might not lead to the selection of the most qualified candidates
Text anxiety
Such texts involve a psychological effect, likely to have a negative impact on the candidate’s performance. Anxiety may come in the form of stress and other emotional effects. Text anxiety may, therefore, affect the performance of candidates, hence denying potential candidates an opportunity to be selected. It may therefore not be the most appropriate selection method for the organization.
Limited knowledge
The referee may have very little knowledge about the candidate being referenced. For example, he or she might be aware of only a few aspects of the applicants such their past job responsibilities but not the actual performance especially if they were not directly responsible for overseeing the employee or if there are a big number of employees who have held the same position over time. This makes the method less appropriate for the organization’s recruitment process (Bratton and Gold, 2017).
Most referees rely on their memory
It is certain that most referees only rely on their memory while giving an account of their former employees. There is no effort made by the referees to check an employee’s past records including past performance appraisals before giving their account.Reliance on memory instead of documented records makes the method less reliable. The organization may therefore not get the best candidates through this method.
Past performance may not be a guarantee for future performance
The performance of an employee is to a large extent determined by the environment in which they operate. With this being the case, therefore, it may not be possible to accurately determine the future performance of an employee with their past performance in a different environment (Boxall and Macky, 2009).Through this method, therefore, the organization might not be able to determine the potential of various applicants accurately.
While the selected methods may be appropriate to some extent, their numerous disadvantages are also quite evident (Anyim, Ekwoaba and Anthony, 2012). The organization can, therefore, improve the effectiveness of their selection process through the following recommendations.
Disadvantages of Personality Tests
Situational judgment tests
With the practical nature of the vacant positions, situational judgments will be quite effective in accessing the ability of various candidates to deal with job-related situations. This will determine not only the level of job-related experience but also their ability to creatively deal with situations at work (Jiang et al., 2012).
In a practical task such as the ones advertised by the organization, task-related skills are much more important. The use of work sample tests will be an effective tool in the identification of the skills, abilities, and level of knowledge for various candidates (Lengnick-Hall., 2009) Task-related knowledge, skills, and abilities are more important in determining the performance of an employee.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the organization’s selection method has both its merits and demerits. The merits and demerits might either lead to the selection of appropriate or inappropriate for the vacant positions. The reliability of some methods such as the use of referees is not quite effective for identifying potential candidates to join the organization. However, the organization can make their selection process more effective by the adoption of work-related sample tests and Situational judgment tests in their selection process. The two selection methods will facilitate the identification of candidates whose skills and job-related knowledge match with the requirements of the organization.
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