form
checking
skills
device
history
interests
space
information
title
reference
selection
sound
sufficient
training
details
judgement
answer
Pre-reading task
Work in small groups.
Can you answer the following questions?
- Do you know anything about devices used for selecting employees?
- What information does a traditional application form ask?
- A standard application form has some disadvantages. Do you have any idea about what they are?
Preface each answer with one of the following according to what is true for you:
I guess I know …Unfortunately, I have no idea …
I'm not absolutely certain, but I think …As far as I can remember …
Reading
1. Read text 9. How much of the information did your group already know?
TEXT 9
THE APPLICATION
Selection is the process of collecting systematic information about applicants and using that information to decide which applicants to hire. The major purpose of the various devices of selection - application form, interviews, testing, and reference checking - is to gather information about the applicants’ job-related skills. A very important principle used in developing selection devices is that the content of the questions should reflect the activities of the job to be filled.
Traditional application forms ask information about educational and work history, avocational interests, and honours. However, such forms have limitations. In the majority of cases, they have limited space, so the applicant can supply only basic information such as the names of schools attended, major, dates of attendance, and previous job titles and dates of employment. Such superficiality of information often does not give the manager sufficient details to make sound judgements about the applicant’s skills and abilities. A second limitation is that a large percentage of respondents falsify the information that they report. Such falsification is easy because often all that is requested is brief information such as job title and major. A company can use one of several devices in addition to or instead of application form to minimize these limitations.
One device that has been used successfully is a training and experience form, which presents a small number, for example five, of the important tasks of the job. The form asks applicants to indicate whether they have ever performed or been trained in each of the activities. If they answer yes, they are then asked to describe briefly how to perform the activity. Thus, the questions relate directly to the major tasks of the job, satisfying the principle that the content of the questions should reflect the activities of the job to be filled. It is also more difficult to falsify answers because it is necessary to have some knowledge of the activity to respond to these questions; inaccurate answers can usually be easily detected.
2. Comprehension check.
Are the following statements true or false? Correct the false ones.
a) To collect information about the applicants’ professional skills, the manager has to employ a number of methods.
b) The major advantage of usual application forms is that they ask only basic information about the applicant’s skills and abilities.
c) Many applicants falsify the information that they report because it is difficult to check it.
d) The questions of a training and experience form reflect the important activities of the vacancy.
e) To answer the questions of a training and experience form, an applicant must have some knowledge of the activities of the job to be filled.
3. Read the text once again. Find words in the text that mean the same as the following.
a. to reply
g. restricted
n. to provide
u. instrument
b. creating
h. in place of
o. opinion
v. award
c. essential
i. gathering
p. to employ
w. to occupy
d. to discover
j. disadvantage
q. preceding
x. enough
e. proportion
k. reasonable
r. usual
y. examining
f. professional
(2 words)
l. to do
s. short
z. recommendation
m. room
t. to point out
Role-play 1
Work in pairs.
Student A
You are a human resource manager in a food processing company who selects both management and non-management employees. You are expected to help an intern who has come to the company to get experience in human resource management.
Student B
You are an intern who has come to the above company to get experience in human resource management. You want to know the differences in the selection instruments that are used for the two types of positions, including what information about the applicants is required.
Have a talk with a human resource manager.
Vocabulary 2
T3
Read and listen to the words and phrases that are essential when having a talk with an applicant.
Listening
T4
1a. Carlos Vila is a Spanish computer programmer working in Britain. He saw the Industrias Montresor advertisement after the closing date, but he thought he would telephone Joe Andrews anyway. Listen to what they say. Is Carlos too late?
T5
1b. Joe and Carlos continue their conversation. Listen to what they say and try to remember the information that Carlos gives.
2. Comprehension check.
This is the c.v. that Carlos sent to Joe Andrews. Is there any information in it that Carlos did not mention in his telephone conversation with Joe?
CURRICULUM VITAE
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name: Carlos VILA Monterde
Home address: Calle Sta Ana 47, Apt. 12a,
Madrid, Spain
Present address: Flat 7, 26 Newcastle Road, Consett,
County Durham, DU4 3ME, England
Date and place of birth: 13.5.74 in Santander, Spain
Nationality: Spanish
Sex: male
Marital status: single
EDUCATION
Secondary education:
1989-92 Senior High School in Santander
High School Graduation Certificate
Further education:
1992-93 military service
1993-98 University of Zaragoza:
BSc in Computer Studies
1998-2000 University of Madrid:
PhD in Systems Engineering
EMPLOYMENT
2003- Topdown Systems, UK: Client Consultant
(promoted to Senior Software Development Engineer, July 2004)
2002-03 Imprimerie Ladoux, Paris: Control Systems Supervisor
2001-02 Franco-Italian Bank, Milan: Systems Analyst
2000-01 I took a year off and, with some friends, sailed round the world in a 12- mitre sailing cruiser
Current salary: equivalent to $48,000 plus car and bonuses
OTHER INFORMATION
Languages: Spanish (native)
French, English (fluent, spoken/written)
Italian (fairly fluent)
REFEREES
Mrs Helen Tomlinson
Manager, Industrial Clients Department
Topdown Systems Ltd
Unit 37, Medomsley Road
Consett, County Durham DU11 5AE, England
(names of other referees will be supplied on request)
Role-play 2
Work in pairs.
Student A
You are a human resource manager in a commercial bank who has to hire an employee to the Lending Department. You have a telephone conversation with a candidate who has just seen your advertisement in the local newspaper.
Student B
You are a graduate in finance who is seeking a job. You have just read an ad in the local newspaper about the vacancy in a commercial bank. You call a human resource manager and have a talk with him/her.
UNIT 6
Selecting employees: part 2
Vocabulary 1
Use your dictionary to look up any new words.
1. The words in the chart may be used as nouns and verbs. Write the meanings of these nouns and verbs in your native tongue.
E.g. interview – áåñ³äà / ìàòè áåñ³äó
interview format structure set question conduct issue guide role-play use type change point end schedule call
2. Complete the charts with the different parts of speech. Translate the obtained pairs of words into your mother language.
E.g. select / selection – âèáèðàòè, äîáèðàòè / âèá³ð, ï³äá³ð
Verb
Noun
select
selection
interaction
assess
interviewer
compare
action
perform
decision
evaluate
response
establish
discuss
description
persuasion
argue
converse
attendance
Pre- reading task
Work in small groups.
You are going to read about such a valuable selection device as the interview. In fact, two things are exceptionally important in conducting a job interview. Express your thoughts on what these two things might be.
Reading
1. Skim through text 10 and say if your suggestions were correct.
TEXT 10
The Interview
The interview is, perhaps, the most often used selection device. The purpose of the interview is to allow at least one member of the organization to interact with each applicant and assess that applicant’s job-related KSAs.
Two aspects of the interview format are especially important. First, the interview should be structured, meaning that the interviewer asks the same set of job-related questions of each candidate. This ensures that the interviewer gathers full information from each applicant, and it makes comparisons among applicants easier because they all are evaluated on the same characteristics. The second aspect of format is the nature of the questions. Questions about job-related actions have proven to be quite useful. Table 2 provides some examples of such questions. The idea behind them is that gathering information about actions that are performed on the job is useful in making selection decisions. The interviewer must evaluate the accuracy or completeness of the response.
Training for interviewers usually is concerned with how to conduct a job interview and how to evaluate applicants. In training for conducting interviews, topics such as legal issues, physical barriers to interaction, guiding the interview and how to establish relationship with the applicant are important. In training for making evaluations, interviewers can be asked to make decisions about individuals who are role-playing applicants. The use of various types of information in making these decisions is then discussed.
Table 2
Job interview questions for selection of managers
Interview Questions
1. Describe a situation in which you had to persuade another person to change his or her opinion about how to perform a task. What arguments did you use? What points did the other person bring up? How did you respond to these?
2. Describe a situation in which you had to tell an individual that he or she had performed a task incorrectly. What did you tell the person? What did the person say in response? How did you end the conversation?
3. You are scheduled to attend a training session tomorrow. That night you receive a telephone call that a close relative is seriously ill. What do you do?
2. Comprehension check.
Read the text again more carefully. Here are some answers about the interview. Write the questions.
a) _____________________________________________________________?
To assess the applicant’s job-related KSAs.
b) _______________________________________________________________?
It means that the interviewer asks the same set of job-related questions of each candidate.
c) _______________________________________________________________?
Because the applicants are evaluated on the same characteristics.