Types of Selection Methods

Table of Contents

1. Movie Case Study
2. Types of Selection Methods:
   1. Application blank:
   2. Aptitude and ability tests:
   3. Simulation Tests:
   4. Interviews:
3. Understand Selection methods with a video:

Movie Case Study

The scene above is from the movie ‘Men in Black. This scene shows how Jay (Will Smith) is taking a series of tests to get selected by a secret organization that polices and monitors extraterrestrials on earth. (Reference- IMDB)

As you see in the scene above, Jay is first giving, what looks like an aptitude test which is followed by a work simulation test.  Learning Perspectives will explore selection methods in this blog.

Types of Selection Methods:

For selecting the best candidate, all organizations conduct different rounds of tests. The explicit goal of the selection process is to identify and hire individuals who have the

• Knowledge
• Skills 
• Abilities

to perform jobs within the organization successfully. Generally, more than one candidate can be identified who meets given job requirements.

To ensure a proper match, a series of steps are crucial.

Application blank:

This is the most common and generally the first round of many rounds in the selection process. These are some standardized questions relating to personal information, experience, salary, accomplishments, references, etc. These applications along with the resume of the candidate serve as a guide in the other rounds.

Below is a snapshot of an application form.

Aptitude and ability tests:

These tests gauge the aptitude ability and skill level of the candidate. It can be an offline or an online test. As you saw in the scene above, Jay is giving an aptitude test which is on paper. Minimum scores are created as a cut-off to weed off candidates who don’t meet the criteria of the company.

Different types of aptitude tests may include numerical reasoning tests, verbal ability questions, or in-tray exercises, where one is required to answer about an imagined scenario. Tests of intellectual ability, spatial and mechanical ability, perceptual accuracy, and motor ability have shown to be moderately valid predictors for many semi-skilled and unskilled operative jobs in industrial organizations.

Simulation Tests:

These tests undertake to clone of the tasks that will be part of the job. The scene that you just saw shows this as the next exercise for Jay, where all the candidates are shooting, what looks like aliens.

These tests place the candidate in real-life situations to understand the reaction and responses of the candidate. They also judge the critical reasoning ability of the candidate.

Interviews:

Interview judge the candidates’

• Confidence
• Subject knowledge
• Verbal skills
• Competence.

Interviews help in assessing applicant’s

• Applied mental skills
• Level of conscientiousness
• Interpersonal skills.

Candidates who are not able to perform well in this process are most likely cut off from the pool of candidates.

Organizations lean toward candidates who have values consistent with this of the organization or at least a good portion of those values. Candidates also learn about the organization’s values and they can self-select themselves from the applicant pool. Therefore, the Selection process is a 2-way street and it sustains the organization’s culture.

Understand Selection methods with a video:

Reference: Organizational behavior, Stephen P. Robbins