Business Management, Ethics and Entrepreneurship

What do you understand by Selection?

The selection procedure starts with the screening of applications for various jobs from the interested candidates. Totally unsuitable candidates are rejected at this stage. The personnel department administers various kinds of tests to the candidates to determine if they would be able to do their jobs efficiently. Those passing this stage are called for employment interviews. Candidates found suitable for employment are required to go through medical examination and reference checking. The employment process is completed when appointment letters are issued to the candidates clearing all the stages in the selection procedure.

Selection and Recruitment

Recruitment is the process of identifying sources for prospective candidates who may be stimulated to apply for a job in an organization. The main objective of recruitment is developing and maintaining adequate manpower resources with the required skills upon which the organization can depend when it needs additional personnel. It helps management to search for competent personnel from among the eligible qualified candidates. As against recruitment, selection is the process of logically choosing individuals who possess the necessary skills and ability to successfully fill specific jobs in the organization. Selection is more of a negative function because it results in the elimination of unsuitable candidates.

Significance of Selection

Selection is a critical process these days because it requires a heavy investment of money to get the right type of people. Induction and training costs are also high. If the right type of person is not chosen, it would lead to a huge loss to the employer in terms of time, effort, and money. Therefore, it is essential to devise a suitable selection procedure. Each step in the selection procedure should help in getting more and more information about the applicants to facilitate decision-making in the area of selection.

Absenteeism and employee turnover are two important problems that are generally faced by most organizations. The magnitude of these problems can be reduced if in future all selections are made carefully so that there are round pegs in the round holes’. Whenever unsuitable employees are appointed, the efficiency of the organization goes down. Such employees shirk work and absent themselves from the work more often. They may also be compelled to leave their jobs. If this happens, all the expenses incurred on the selection and training of such employees will go to waste.

Scientific selection and placement of personnel go a long way towards building up a stable workforce. It will keep the rates of absenteeism and labor turnover low and will increase the morale of the employees. If the employees are suitable according to the requirements of the jobs, they will show higher efficiency and productivity. This will also enable the organization to achieve its objectives effectively.

The benefits of selecting the right kinds of people for various jobs are as follows:

(i) Proper selection and placement of personnel go a long way towards building up a suitable workforce. It will keep the rates of absenteeism and labor turnover low.

(ii) Competent employees will show higher efficiency and enable the organization to achieve its objective effectively.

(iii) The rate of industrial accidents will be considerably low if suitable employees are placed against various vacancies.

(iv) When people get jobs of their taste and choice, they get higher job satisfaction. This will build up a contended workforce for the organization.

(v) The morale of the employees who are satisfied with their jobs is often high.

About the author

Shreya Kushwaha

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