Personnel Selection: The Tools And Techniques Of HR Experts

Personnel Selection Techniques

Although the aim is always the selection of candidates, recruiting techniques are different. There are more “classics” and more creative ones. Based on the choice of the most suitable recruiting technique, some factors must be considered, such as the types of company and profile sought, as well as the time and economic resources available. Among the more conventional techniques, in addition to the traditional search through the publication of job offers and the usual recruiting operations, one can also opt for a direct search activity (headhunting) to select specialized or hard-to-find profiles. 

Headhunting makes it possible to identify candidates looking for work and those already employed by a competitor who might be interested in evaluating new proposals. In recent years, thanks to the increase in the number of unemployed and given the need on the part of companies to launch more targeted and effective recruiting processes, some highly creative and anything-but-conventional personnel selection techniques have emerged. Here are some examples:

Gamification

It is a technique involving candidates in a game to identify motivated resources.

Contests

As part of this recruitment technique, candidates are invited to participate in a competition and to carry out a project to distinguish themselves from the competitors.

Riddles

To test the real capabilities of the candidates, you can choose to put them to the test by proposing a puzzle to solve. This solution lends itself well and has been used above all for applications in the IT field.

“Hidden” Recruitment

This is an undercover personnel selection technique in which recruiters select candidates directly “in the field” through tricks.

Stages Of Personnel Selection

The personnel selection process is generally structured in 3 phases:

PHASE 1 – Job Analysis

The first phase includes analyzing and defining the vacant position and the profile sought. Among the useful tools to tackle this first phase and collect as much information as possible:

1. direct observation of the work
2. interviews with workers on the tasks performed
3. questionnaire or written interview
4. detection of critical aspects relating to the job

PHASE 2 – Recruiting

After defining the ideal profile, we move on to the candidate recruitment phase using the following methods:

1. a collection of curricula through online announcements or other methods
2. screening of candidates (analysis and filtering of CVs based on the requirements set by the profile)
3. call for an introductory interview in the company

PHASE 3 – Selection Of The Candidate

In this phase of personnel selection, the direct meeting between candidates and recruiters takes place, aimed at a more precise evaluation by the selector. There are different types of job interviews:

Individual Interviews 

it is one of the most effective recruiting techniques, as it allows the recruiter to examine the candidate both through his reasoning and from the point of view of non-verbal language

Situational Interview 

Type of interview in which the candidate is asked to describe how he would behave in certain circumstances and carrying out a certain job and evaluate a hypothetical job placement.

Practical Tests 

practical tests related to the tasks that the candidate will have to perform or to his basic knowledge are very important to understand what could be expected from the candidate

Group Talks

it is an interesting technique that allows recruiters to understand how candidates interface with others and manage interpersonal relationships

Psychometric Tests 

It consists of administering tests to candidates to analyze their personality and behavior from a psychological point of view.

Online Tools For Personnel Selection

With the growing diffusion of social networks, the world of human resources has also undergone a revolution. There has been a shift from a passive dynamic (receiving profiles following the publication of offers) to a pro-active dynamic, in which, supply and demand, they are committed to improving their branding and refining their research. Therefore, personnel selection is increasingly made online and on social networks, with various advantages.

First of all, the possibility of examining online profiles before an interview allows the recruiter to obtain information about the candidate, also investigating the psycho-aptitude aspect. The progressive increase in the search for hyper-specialized profiles also greatly impacts social networks, allowing them to establish themselves as an effective – low-cost – tool for personnel research and selection.

The most used social media are Facebook and Twitter, but above all, Linkedin, which with an ever-increasing number of subscribers and an openly professional cut, allows you to find a large variety of profiles for every business need. In addition to the real social networks, there are other tools to give visibility to the company and social recruiting practice :

Corporate Blogs

The blog is a very effective tool to bring visibility and credibility to the company, affirming its role as an expert in a given sector.

Video Recruiting Tools

The growing need to reduce the distance between recruiters and candidates has led to the development of tools like Skype or Hirevue to conduct virtual interviews and assessment sessions through video calls.

Job Posts And SEO

To promote corporate job offers, it is very useful to use portals to publish job advertisements, taking care of the methods of writing texts in compliance with the SEO rules for positioning on the web.

Why Choose To Contact A Personnel Search And Selection Company

First of all, here’s why relying on an HR team specialized in recruiting:

Time-Saving

Contacting a personnel search and selection company will, first of all, allow you to save a lot of time and focus on examining the CVs that match the profile you are looking for and organizing interviews for a limited number of candidates.

Write Effective Ads

Those involved in recruiting can offer suggestions for writing the texts of the job advertisements so that they are more effective and correspond to the profile sought. Furthermore, it will advise disseminating the offers about the reference target, significantly amortizing the selection costs.

Specialized Advice

The companies specialized in personnel search and selection processes know the reference market in-depth and, therefore, can understand the customer’s needs to support them better, providing valuable updates on current trends and simplifying the search, making it simpler and more effective.

Find Hyper-Specialized Profiles

If difficulties arise in the search for specialized resources or technical profiles, a team of experts can help, thanks to advanced personnel selection techniques, such as direct hunting.

Also Read: Boosting Online Business: 10 Useful Tools For Small Entrepreneurs