Candidate Selection: A Definitive Guide

Candidate selection is the process of identifying, evaluating, and choosing the most suitable candidate for a job opening. This process is a critical responsibility for HR professionals, as the success of an organisation depends on the quality of its workforce.

Ultimately, there are two aims associated with employee selection:

• Employers want to hire the best people, maximising the performance of their workforce.
• They also want to avoid making mis-hires, which would subsequently reduce the performance of their workforce.

Candidate selection is best conceptualised as a funnel, with a large number of candidates at the top of the funnel and a smaller subset at the bottom. This tallies well with how typically selection processes operate, as typically only a small proportion of candidates will be presented with offers of employment. When a candidate selection process is functioning well, each stage of the recruitment process results in an increase in the overall quality of candidates, as low-potential candidates are deselected and high-potential candidates are progressed to the subsequent stage.

Each organisation tends to utilise a unique approach to employee selection, and thus it can be difficult to outline every stage in every recruitment process. Nevertheless, there are many common themes among selection processes, which can include the following:

• 1. Job Analysis and Job Description:The first step in selecting employees is to identify the specific requirements of the job. This includes analysing the job duties, responsibilities, and the necessary skills, knowledge, and qualifications. The information gathered is then used to create a job description, which serves as a roadmap for the rest of the selection process.
• 2. Recruitment and Advertising:Once the job description has been created, the next step is to attract potential candidates. This can be done through various methods, such as online job postings, employee referrals, college recruitment, or professional associations. The goal is to reach a wide pool of qualified candidates who can apply for the job.ngineers must be able to apply mathematical principles and calculations to design and analyse structures, systems, and processes.
• 3. Screening CVs: The next step is to review the CVs received from the applicants to identify the most qualified candidates. The resumes are screened based on the requirements outlined in the job description, and the most suitable candidates are then invited for an interview.
• 4. Psychometric Assessments: Psychometric assessments are also commonly used in the selection process to gain insight into a candidate's abilities, personality traits, and behaviour patterns. These assessments provide valuable information that can help employers make informed decisions about candidate suitability.
• 5. Interviewing:The interview process is one of the most important stages in the selection process. It provides an opportunity for the employer to meet the candidate in person and gain a better understanding of their qualifications, skills, and suitability for the job. Employers may conduct several rounds of interviews, including individual interviews, panel interviews, or behavioural-based interviews.
• 6. Reference Checks:Before making a final decision, employers may also conduct reference checks to verify the information provided by the candidate and to gain additional insights into their performance in previous roles.
• 7. Selection Decision:The final step is to make a selection decision. This is where the employer considers all the information gathered throughout the selection process and makes a decision about which candidate is the best fit for the job. The decision should be based on objective criteria, such as the candidate's qualifications, skills, and experience, as well as their compatibility with the organisation's culture and values.

The criteria for selecting employees are the factors that employers use to determine the suitability of a candidate for a job. These criteria are based on the requirements of the job and are used to evaluate the skills, knowledge, qualifications, and characteristics of the candidate. Organisations often formalise their selection criteria using competency frameworks, which are a set of key competencies that underpin performance in-role. Alternatively, other organisations rely on job descriptions alone to determine selection criteria, representing a more ad-hoc approach. Common criteria for selection include:

• 1. Qualifications and Education: The candidate's education and qualifications are important factors in the selection process. This includes the candidate's formal education, training, and certifications that are relevant to the job.
• 2. Work Experience: Work experience is another important factor in the selection process. Employers look for candidates who have relevant experience in the same or similar positions, as well as experience working with similar technologies, processes, or customers.
• 3. Skills and Abilities: The skills and abilities required for the job are also important criteria for selection. These may include technical skills, interpersonal skills, communication skills, or problem-solving skills. Employers may assess these skills through various methods, such as behavioural-based interviews or skill-based tests.
• 4. Aptitudes and Cognitive Ability: These are specific cognitive skills which underpin a person’s ability to learn, solve problems, and make important decisions. For example, numerical reasoning underpins a person’s ability to work with quantitative information, whereas verbal reasoning underpins their ability to work with words and spoken language. Collectively, aptitudes represent a partial measure of overall cognitive ability, which is the strongest predictor of job performance known to psychologists.
• 5. Personality Traits and Behaviours: Personality traits and behaviours are also important criteria for selection, as they can impact the candidate's ability to perform the job effectively and to fit in with the organisation's culture and values. Psychometric assessments and behavioural-based interviews are often used to assess these traits and behaviours.

Naturally, identifying and outlining candidate selection criteria is the easy part. More difficult is reliably measuring these characteristics and using that information to form employee selection decisions. Consequently, organisations have a wide range of potential tools at their disposal, and a number of third-party providers are available to support organisations in estimating their candidates' potential.

Employers use a variety of tools to improve the effectiveness of candidate selection and ensure that they are selecting the best candidate for the job. Usually, these tools require the expertise of a third-party provider, usually a psychometric testing publisher, HR consultancy, or occupational psychologist. Here are some of the more commonly used employee selection tools available on the market today:

• Psychometric Assessments: Psychometric assessments are commonly used by employers to gain insight into a candidate's abilities, personality traits, and behaviour patterns. These assessments provide valuable information that can help employers make informed decisions about candidate suitability. Some of the most common types of psychometric assessments include ability tests, personality tests, and behavioural assessments.
• Skill-Based Tests: Skill-based tests are another tool that employers use to assess the candidate's abilities and technical skills. These tests may include aptitude tests, coding tests, or simulation exercises that simulate the work environment and assess the candidate's performance.
• Assessment Centres: Assessment centres are a type of selection tool that provides a comprehensive evaluation of the candidate's abilities, skills, and behaviours. Assessment centres may include a combination of skills tests, behavioural-based interviews, and simulations, and they provide a realistic assessment of the candidate's performance in a work-like environment.
• Video Interviews: Video interviews can be conducted remotely, allowing employers to reach a wider pool of candidates and reducing the time and cost associated with traditional in-person interviews. They also allow employers to assess a candidate's communication skills, body language, and overall demeanour, providing valuable information about their suitability for the job. Video interviews can be conducted as pre-recorded or live sessions, and they can be used in combination with other selection tools to provide a comprehensive assessment of the candidate.

When deciding which assessment tools to use, there are several factors to account for. You must ensure that the assessment method is fair, reliable, and valid, effectively measuring your intended selection criteria. Many products on the market today simply aren't fit for purpose, and you must conduct thorough due diligence when making purchasing decisions. For example, you should also ask for technical manuals for assessments, evidence of fairness across legally protected groups, and reliability coefficients, avoiding providers who fail to provide these.

Improving employee selection requires a structured and comprehensive approach. First, organisations must acknowledge the inherent weaknesses of the existing approach, taking an honest and objective look at historic practices. Once areas of weakness have been identified, they can adopt a range of measures to improve their selection processes, increasing the probability of hiring great candidates. The following actions can help employers to achieve this:

• Expand Your Selection Criteria: Employers should expand their selection criteria to include a wider range of abilities, skills, and behaviours that are relevant to the job. This will provide a more comprehensive assessment of the candidate and ensure that the best candidate is selected for the job.
• Use Assessments Early in the Process: Assessments should be used early in the selection process, as they provide valuable insights into the candidate's abilities, personality traits, and behaviour patterns. This information can then be used to inform the rest of the selection process, helping employers to make informed decisions about candidate suitability.
• Conduct Local Validation Studies: Employers should conduct local validation studies to verify the effectiveness and accuracy of their selection tools, including psychometric assessments. This will ensure that the tools are appropriate and relevant for the local job market and will provide valuable insights into the performance of the selection process.
• Provide Interviewers with Training: Providing interviewers with training will increase the likelihood of identifying high performers and screening out low performers. Interviews can be powerful predictors of performance when done well, but they are often ineffective if not done properly. Untrained interviewers may simply engage in casual conversation with their candidates, failing to gather any valuable information about their competence. To maximise their effectiveness, it is important to ensure that all interviewers receive formal training in interview techniques.
• Expand Your Candidate Pool: Expanding the candidate pool will provide employers with a wider pool of qualified candidates to choose from. This can be achieved by reaching out to a wider network of potential candidates, using social media and job boards, and considering candidates from diverse backgrounds and with different experiences.

In reality, most HR professionals and hiring managers overestimate their ability to hire the right candidates and simultaneously underestimate the effectiveness of candidate selection tools available to them. This is because traditional candidate selection often relies heavily on face-to-face interviews, which are often flawed. A skilled interviewee could easily convince a hiring manager that they are resilient, hardworking, diligent, and creative, even though interviews are not capable of measuring these traits.

However, as organisations grow, the need for external employee selection tools becomes unavoidable. The larger the candidate pool size, the more beneficial selection tools become, and eventually leading organisations to adopt them. Instead of waiting for it to become necessary, organisations should start researching these tools now, allowing them to implement solutions before problems arise in the future, while also improving their current candidate selection processes.