Human Resource Managers
Numerous mistakes that human resource managers make when conducting job interviews may have dire consequences ranging from bad selection of suitable candidates to fill a position to lawsuits against their employers. While bad hires may result in a decline of productivity, lawsuits will cost companies thousands of dollars. This occurs primary because companies assume that anyone can conduct a good interview by relying on their intuition and experience. This leads to situations when interviewers let their own biases and insecurities intervene with the hiring process. An article by Weber (2012) argues that interviewing is a separate job-related skill that has to be developed by human resource managers.
Inconsistency of hiring decisions stems from the fact that interviewers tend to hire people that are similar to themselves in educational background or interests. While that is natural for humans, companies have to balance this by preparing a thorough set of questions that every candidate has to answer. Other mistakes that hiring managers make include providing candidates with cues concerning interview questions. While a job interview is assumed to be a dialogue rather than a monologue, hiring managers should refrain from providing information about themselves (Weber, 2012). Furthermore, the hiring process at many companies displays multiple pitfalls. For example, at Phillips, candidates sometimes have to go through interviews with twenty people in three days. In addition, hiring managers fail to prepare to the interview beforehand or do not take notes during the interview. These mistakes make hiring process inefficient.
Finally, a separate group of problems that arise during job interviews stems from the fact that many hiring managers do not know which questions are legal and which are not. For example, Weber (2012) stated that it is illegal to ask an applicant whether he or she has children or turn to questions that concern the candidate’s personal circumstances or even their age.
According to Weber (2012), a good hiring manager should be attentive, provide the candidate with 80% of the “air time” during an interview, have good listening skills, and avoid talking too much. These skills comprise interviewing as a job-related skill necessary in the corporate environment.
Relevance to the Material
The article is closely connected to the concept of human capital and human resource strategy of the organization. The ability to manage human capital in an organization is the key to improving productivity. Human capital is the concept that refers to economic value of knowledge, skills, experience, and abilities of the company’s employees; combined, they produce a synergetic effect. Human resource management is concerned with locating the best talent, training best-fitting candidates, and providing compensation for their contribution to the business. Human capital is envisioned as the most important asset of the organization. Capabilities of human capital such as leadership, performance, adaptability, flexibility, and efficiency are the key drivers of the company’s performance. Thus, the task of human resource management is to use these capabilities to drive company’s financial results.
| Introduction to the History of Psychology | Importance of Cultural Sensitivity in Language Use |
- Importance of Cultural Sensitivity in Language Use
- Aboriginal People and the Canadian Constitution
- Introduction to the History of Psychology
- The Graves are Walking