Misunderstood – let’s try that again!
I teach Human Resources (HR) courses. One concept that is important is that scientific (objective) methods of Recruitment and Selection tools and techniques are superior based on research to practice-based (subjective) methods. The impact of not understanding this concept is that students may become HR Professionals that use methods that could discriminate against certain job candidates, be unfair, unequitable, and generally choose poor candidates for the short and long term for employment. One factor in misunderstanding is that they have been told to “trust their gut” in many other situations. They also could have witnessed countless employers in the past use subjective methods as they are very prevalent in the workplace. Third, they could feel that once they have the education and gain more experience they will have better internal, subjective methods to select candidates and will not need to rely on objective methods. These are wide-spread misconceptions not only in students but society/work as a whole from my understanding.
An analogy that can help make the concept make sense to students is: if I want to bake a cake, even if I have baked said type of cake multiple times before, I will need to measure my ingredients (they are always the same amounts), consult my recipe, ensure the products I use are quality, etc.
So to put this into Recruitment and Selection terms, I will need to use the same methods (i.e. an interview, a typing test, etc.), in the same manner, with each individual job candidate to ensure I have success in hiring. I will need to consult others (the hiring manager, current job incumbent, latest best practices, etc.), and ensure that my methods are of the highest standards (i.e. using tests that are researched and verified as valid and reliable).
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