Selection

Selection

The organisation which I have chosen is Tesco PLC.

‘We aim to make the selection process thorough and challenging for a number of reasons. Firstly, to make sure we employ only those people who are right for the role and, just as important, who will fit in with Tesco culture. And secondly, to make sure that you start out on the right career path, so you get the most out of the training and opportunities’.

(Tesco, 2001)

The first stage for the selection is a Psychometric Test. The applicant is asked to take this test after they have screened his application form, and if they have identified him as a candidate with the right potential. Psychometric Test is a series of questions that allow employer to gain a better understanding of candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, attitude and aptitude for verbal and numerical skills. The main advantages of this selection method are that it adds objectivity to selection process and increases predictive validity of selection decisions. It also measure factors that cannot be assess through application form or interview. One the other hand Psychometric Test discovers only general data about the person, a deeper research is essential to make decision whether candidate is suitable for the post.

The second stage of selection is an interview with a Tesco senior manager, structured around person competency framework. The main reason for the interview is that the organisation can interact with the applicant face to face. The positive aspects of this method are that it can assess some person attitude to job, problem solving and communication skills (by open and situational questions). It shows if candidate is enthusiastic for the job, confident and has some knowledge about an organisation. The negative features for interview are that interviewer makes assumptions and snap decisions about the applicant. It is quite artificial and very stressful situation largely for the candidate.
The last stage of selection for Tesco applicants is an assessment centre. A mixture of group and individual exercises assessed by the teams of selectors. The benefit of this method is that it is the most comprehensive overview of an individual’s strengths and limitations than any single selection method. Assessment centre is more objective than an interview alone which can depend on just one person interpretation and also decision makers can reach and share quick decision. It’s a long process to fit into one day of assessment.

One year ago I took part in an interview for the post of a shop assistant in Poland. The interview wasn’t structured and the interviewer asked me too many needless questions, for instance about my family, which I had found unrelated to the topic. This artificial situation made me feel quite stressed and I was just waiting when it would be finished. I think that I gave my feelings to employer and that could be the main reason to reject my application. I think there was no earlier studying of my application form to determine the areas for the investigation, and the interviewer might had made some assumptions about my personality. Unfortunately, the interview was not very effective, it just wasted time for both parties.

As I am a member of staff of the TRS 24/7 Recruitment Solutions I would rather say that the organisation has quite poor methods of selection. To improve the TRS’ selection process I would strongly recommend them to:

·         Always ask for the applicants CV. It provides employer more specific with person details, previous work experience, education and qualifications.

·         Carry out the interview which will be more formal. It is very helpful tool for the selection to gather more information about the candidate. The questions can be developed from the CV.

Selection holds many dissimilar methods in order to generate a good source of information about an individual.  First and foremost to have a successful selection, the recruitment process has to be done effectively so as to filter the best candidate through.

Reference list:

Unknown. (Unknown) Job [online]. Available from:

http://reviews.in.88db.com/images/stories/job.jpg [Accessed 2 May 2011].

Unknown. (2001) Tesco [online]. Available from:

http://www.tesco.com/recruitment/html/careers/selectionprocess/selectionprocess.htm [Accessed 2 May 2011].