Online lecture 1: recruitment
The first step is to device a recruitment strategy:
• The type of message, for example targeted messages.
• The media you’ll use
• Sources drawn from, for example: employment websites, job fairs etc.
Recruitment goals:
• Number of applicants
• Type of applicants
• Speed and timing of the procedure
You think you always need a few applicants with high quality. But of course, this is not
what happens. You often end up with a lot of applicants, and the suitability will differ in
quality. Some recruitment procedures will lead to higher quality applicants.
Advantages of a large pool:
• You have something to choose from.
• You will probably have one suitable one
Disadvantages of large pool:
• It costs more time and money
• It’s hard to find the few suitable candidates among all those unsuitable
applicants.
The goals that you have should lead to a decision about your general recruitment
approach:
• Targeted recruitment: you target a market where the suitable applicants probably
will be. Segments that have certain knowledge or skills (technical skills) or target
minorities.
• Open recruitment: you’re casting a wide net. You don’t aim for a specific segment
or market. You want everyone to see the message, and this message could
appeal to everyone. It’s a very inclusive approach.
• Combination: you can choose for this one when the labor market is very tight and
when it’s difficult to attract talent.
The state of the labor market determines how hard it is to find people. Another thing that
influences the recruitment sources is applicant reactions. The recruitment message
(rather than the format) has an influence on whether applicants feel attracted to the job.
Some messages attract certain applicants, such as information about organizational
culture.
Recruitment soures will influence the quality and quantity of applicants.
• Applicants initiated
• Employee referrals: are good for performance and retention (HR outcome)
however, it’s less good for diversity because employees refer to their colleagues.
• Employee network
, • Social media
• Advertisements
• Employment websites
• Colleges and placement offices
• Employment agencies
• Executive search firms
• Professional associations and meetings
• Outplacement services
• Job fairs: good for diversity if it’s targeted to a diverse group.
• Co-ops and internships
In the recruitment message you usually tell something about the job, the organization
and context and the needed qualifications and KSAOs.
Feldman, Bearden & Hardesty (2006) said it’s more attractive to have a specific ad.
Specific information may foster more usefulness, accurate perceptions, perception of
courtesy and credibility and memorizing. Long/general messages may send the message
that an organization is not interested/careless in the applicant. Specific ads increase:
• Informativeness
• Appropriateness
• Truthfulness
• Credibility
Using attributes rather (having analytical skills) than concrete past actions (experience
with data-analytics):
• Leaves room for self-flattening interpretation
• Self-overestimating
• Feeling entitled to job
You’re more likely to attract people who do not have these attributes. Concrete past
actions will lead to more specific adverts. The sense of deservingness is less when the
ad is describing concrete past actions in a specific ad. When the ad is vaguer and is
describing mainly attributes, people think they deserve higher salary.
Attributes will lead to more applicants, implications for salary negotiations etc.
However, concrete past actions do scare away people with little experience.
,Specific information about job, organization and context will be more positively
received. Specific information about skills (relating to general traits rather than behavior)
will lead to more self-overestimation (entitlement but probably also more applicants)
• Don’t list too many required qualifications
• Assess extent to which they are actually required
Words such as creative, diversity will attract more applicants. Words such as you have
to, proven will attract less applicants. Words such as decisive, managing will attract
more males, while words such as balanced, team will attract more females.
For internal recruitment you have to make a decision about open or closed recruitment.
Open recruitment: everyone in the organization can apply for the vacancy, it’s open for
everyone to see. This procedure is more transparent and fairer, it can also uncover
hidden talent. Closed recruitment: HR searches for applicants in the organization and
invite them to apply. This method is quicker and less expensive.
Internal recruitment can either be proactive or reactive. Proactive internal recruitment
involves replacement and succession planning, talent management systems etc. When
an internal vacancy becomes available you turn to the system you already have and
invite people to apply which have suitable skills. Reactive recruitment does not use
such a system. Posting means that you engage in open internal recruitment. You post a
vacancy on an open job board and wait to see who will react. Slotting means that you
draw on personal relationships to identify and select candidates. A manager will look in
her own network and invite a specific person to apply. They’re basically offering the job
to someone they know. Posting involves an actual selection procedure with competition
between applicants.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell if it’s posting or slotting: when a manager did post the
vacancy for everyone to see, but the manager has a preference for one candidate. For
example: this candidate gets to skip a part of the selection process. Keller (2018) calls
this a form of slotting. If other candidates do not get a fair change, it’s not fair
competition so this is called slotting.
Closed recruitment and slotting is not the same. Slotting is a low-quality form of closed
recruitment, instead of using Talent Management Systems they just invite applicants.
Online lecture 2: reliability
How to evaluate a selection method (tools):
• Use: how often a tool is used by organizations? Tool of a CV scores very high on
this one. Doing what others do.
• Costs: how much does a tool cost?
• Reliability
• Validity
• Utility
, • Applicant reactions: more positive towards interviews compared to intelligence
tests.
• Adverse impact: whether tools tent to screen out some groups more than others.
For example, when a tool gives lower scores to ethnic minority groups.
Reliability: sometimes you want to use statistical selection tools that is selected by
another organization. You hopefully get information about the reliability and what the
test tools do predict. Reliability comes down to consistency: the extent to which a
measure provides a consistent set of scores to represent an attribute. This comes down
to the same as absence of error. What do you use reliability for?
• Deciding on using the measure/tool or not
• Interpret test scores
Each obtained score in a test consists of a true score and error. When the r is higher,
there is less error. The r is always between .00 and 1.00. For example, with a cognitive
ability test, the Cronbach’s Alpha is .84, which means that 84% of the variance in SE-
scores due to systematic variance. This means the errors of the test, and not the errors
that you made yourself. Some errors can be anxiety of when you did not sleep so well
before the test. Reliability reflects the absence of error, so the higher the reliability the
less error.
Systematic variance: for example, we have three people.
Mike scored 70/100. Zoe scored 54/100 and Kim scored 76/100. 84% of the differences
between scores is due to what the test measures, 16% due to other things. What are
these other things? What causes these errors?
• Errors due to the test items itself
o Internal consistency: do the test items measure the same? Do these
items lead to consistent answers? When the Cronbach’s Alpha is high
(>.80) the test does lead to consistency.
o Consistency over time (test-retest). If the way I perform on the test is
influenced by my mood or contextual factors, there will be more error. This
has nothing to do with my cognitive ability, but more with external factors
that can change over time.
• Errors due to raters
o Interrater. If there is more than 1 rater, then you talk about interrating
reliability: how much do they raters agree with each other?
o Intrarater: if the same person is rating in difference moments in time, to
what extent is this person consistent with their own ratings over time?
The first step is to device a recruitment strategy:
• The type of message, for example targeted messages.
• The media you’ll use
• Sources drawn from, for example: employment websites, job fairs etc.
Recruitment goals:
• Number of applicants
• Type of applicants
• Speed and timing of the procedure
You think you always need a few applicants with high quality. But of course, this is not
what happens. You often end up with a lot of applicants, and the suitability will differ in
quality. Some recruitment procedures will lead to higher quality applicants.
Advantages of a large pool:
• You have something to choose from.
• You will probably have one suitable one
Disadvantages of large pool:
• It costs more time and money
• It’s hard to find the few suitable candidates among all those unsuitable
applicants.
The goals that you have should lead to a decision about your general recruitment
approach:
• Targeted recruitment: you target a market where the suitable applicants probably
will be. Segments that have certain knowledge or skills (technical skills) or target
minorities.
• Open recruitment: you’re casting a wide net. You don’t aim for a specific segment
or market. You want everyone to see the message, and this message could
appeal to everyone. It’s a very inclusive approach.
• Combination: you can choose for this one when the labor market is very tight and
when it’s difficult to attract talent.
The state of the labor market determines how hard it is to find people. Another thing that
influences the recruitment sources is applicant reactions. The recruitment message
(rather than the format) has an influence on whether applicants feel attracted to the job.
Some messages attract certain applicants, such as information about organizational
culture.
Recruitment soures will influence the quality and quantity of applicants.
• Applicants initiated
• Employee referrals: are good for performance and retention (HR outcome)
however, it’s less good for diversity because employees refer to their colleagues.
• Employee network
, • Social media
• Advertisements
• Employment websites
• Colleges and placement offices
• Employment agencies
• Executive search firms
• Professional associations and meetings
• Outplacement services
• Job fairs: good for diversity if it’s targeted to a diverse group.
• Co-ops and internships
In the recruitment message you usually tell something about the job, the organization
and context and the needed qualifications and KSAOs.
Feldman, Bearden & Hardesty (2006) said it’s more attractive to have a specific ad.
Specific information may foster more usefulness, accurate perceptions, perception of
courtesy and credibility and memorizing. Long/general messages may send the message
that an organization is not interested/careless in the applicant. Specific ads increase:
• Informativeness
• Appropriateness
• Truthfulness
• Credibility
Using attributes rather (having analytical skills) than concrete past actions (experience
with data-analytics):
• Leaves room for self-flattening interpretation
• Self-overestimating
• Feeling entitled to job
You’re more likely to attract people who do not have these attributes. Concrete past
actions will lead to more specific adverts. The sense of deservingness is less when the
ad is describing concrete past actions in a specific ad. When the ad is vaguer and is
describing mainly attributes, people think they deserve higher salary.
Attributes will lead to more applicants, implications for salary negotiations etc.
However, concrete past actions do scare away people with little experience.
,Specific information about job, organization and context will be more positively
received. Specific information about skills (relating to general traits rather than behavior)
will lead to more self-overestimation (entitlement but probably also more applicants)
• Don’t list too many required qualifications
• Assess extent to which they are actually required
Words such as creative, diversity will attract more applicants. Words such as you have
to, proven will attract less applicants. Words such as decisive, managing will attract
more males, while words such as balanced, team will attract more females.
For internal recruitment you have to make a decision about open or closed recruitment.
Open recruitment: everyone in the organization can apply for the vacancy, it’s open for
everyone to see. This procedure is more transparent and fairer, it can also uncover
hidden talent. Closed recruitment: HR searches for applicants in the organization and
invite them to apply. This method is quicker and less expensive.
Internal recruitment can either be proactive or reactive. Proactive internal recruitment
involves replacement and succession planning, talent management systems etc. When
an internal vacancy becomes available you turn to the system you already have and
invite people to apply which have suitable skills. Reactive recruitment does not use
such a system. Posting means that you engage in open internal recruitment. You post a
vacancy on an open job board and wait to see who will react. Slotting means that you
draw on personal relationships to identify and select candidates. A manager will look in
her own network and invite a specific person to apply. They’re basically offering the job
to someone they know. Posting involves an actual selection procedure with competition
between applicants.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell if it’s posting or slotting: when a manager did post the
vacancy for everyone to see, but the manager has a preference for one candidate. For
example: this candidate gets to skip a part of the selection process. Keller (2018) calls
this a form of slotting. If other candidates do not get a fair change, it’s not fair
competition so this is called slotting.
Closed recruitment and slotting is not the same. Slotting is a low-quality form of closed
recruitment, instead of using Talent Management Systems they just invite applicants.
Online lecture 2: reliability
How to evaluate a selection method (tools):
• Use: how often a tool is used by organizations? Tool of a CV scores very high on
this one. Doing what others do.
• Costs: how much does a tool cost?
• Reliability
• Validity
• Utility
, • Applicant reactions: more positive towards interviews compared to intelligence
tests.
• Adverse impact: whether tools tent to screen out some groups more than others.
For example, when a tool gives lower scores to ethnic minority groups.
Reliability: sometimes you want to use statistical selection tools that is selected by
another organization. You hopefully get information about the reliability and what the
test tools do predict. Reliability comes down to consistency: the extent to which a
measure provides a consistent set of scores to represent an attribute. This comes down
to the same as absence of error. What do you use reliability for?
• Deciding on using the measure/tool or not
• Interpret test scores
Each obtained score in a test consists of a true score and error. When the r is higher,
there is less error. The r is always between .00 and 1.00. For example, with a cognitive
ability test, the Cronbach’s Alpha is .84, which means that 84% of the variance in SE-
scores due to systematic variance. This means the errors of the test, and not the errors
that you made yourself. Some errors can be anxiety of when you did not sleep so well
before the test. Reliability reflects the absence of error, so the higher the reliability the
less error.
Systematic variance: for example, we have three people.
Mike scored 70/100. Zoe scored 54/100 and Kim scored 76/100. 84% of the differences
between scores is due to what the test measures, 16% due to other things. What are
these other things? What causes these errors?
• Errors due to the test items itself
o Internal consistency: do the test items measure the same? Do these
items lead to consistent answers? When the Cronbach’s Alpha is high
(>.80) the test does lead to consistency.
o Consistency over time (test-retest). If the way I perform on the test is
influenced by my mood or contextual factors, there will be more error. This
has nothing to do with my cognitive ability, but more with external factors
that can change over time.
• Errors due to raters
o Interrater. If there is more than 1 rater, then you talk about interrating
reliability: how much do they raters agree with each other?
o Intrarater: if the same person is rating in difference moments in time, to
what extent is this person consistent with their own ratings over time?
