The interview might consist of one of the following situations:

1. The interviewer reads the application and asks, \”What kind of job are you looking for\”, if it is not clear from the blank. After some discussion with the applicant, he is told that there are no such openings, receives a promise to file his application, shakes hands with the interviewer, and bids him goodbye. After the applicant gets outside, he wonders what he spent two days sitting around for and why he took all that trouble filling out the blank. \”File his application\” is a very correct statement. The blank will be filed alphabetically where it will never, never see the light of day again.

2. Let us suppose that the interviewer can see some possibility of hiring the applicant. He then calls one of the department heads where there may be a possible opening and refers the applicant to this individual. Perhaps the applicant at this point is hired. If he is, he certainly is not hired on too intelligent an appraisal of his suitability for the job in question. Following this, as is the custom in this company, the applicant is required to come in for a physical examination. This is undoubtedly an excellent idea. It is, of course, costly to the company, particularly if the applicant does not stay with the company very long after his hiring.

Two extremes have been given, one of complete simplicity and one of over-complication. What, then, is a good method for selecting employees? Opinions on this differ. Those who are concerned with Civil Service methods insist that Civil Service has the right answer. They insist upon examinations of various types. Sometimes these examinations consist of nothing but a very detailed experience record which is evaluated. The theory is excellent. If one could really tell the capabilities of an individual from an examination or from a series of tests, there could be no slip-up whatsoever. If the personal element were completely removed, all would be ideal. There are many private business people, however, who feel that this millennium has not yet been reached and that Civil Service deludes itself, often hiring incompetent, unsuitable people who nevertheless successfully manage to pass all the various tests devised to weed them out. The average company in private industry does use tests, but it also uses judgment. In order to illustrate this, a typical selection procedure, which (in the minds of many people in private business) represents the nearest approach to perfection, will be described.

The applicant comes into the employment office, either in response to newspaper ads or merely as a walk-in from the street, or by recommendation. As soon as he arrives, he is greeted courteously by a lady or a gentleman who inquires what they can do to help him. The receptionist will put him at ease by assuming that he has come in looking for a position. She will try to determine by conversation what he feels he is qualified to do in that company. As a result of this preliminary discussion, the reception clerk will inform the applicant that:

(1) There is definitely an opening,
(2) That there is a faint possibility of an opening or
(3) That there is absolutely nothing that looks promising at the present time. The clerk will go on further to tell the applicant that regardless of whether there is an immediate opportunity or not, if the applicant desires an interview, it will be granted. Note that up to this time no application blank has been given to the applicant. If the job is one in which there is an immediate opening, an interview will be arranged, perhaps on the same day or very soon thereafter. If there is no present opportunity, the interview will be scheduled for some time in the future, since there is no immediate urgency.

If the applicant shows interest at this particular point and is satisfied with the answers to any questions that he may ask about possible employment, he is then given an application blank. It will, however, get some essential information. The individual reader may question the necessity for some of the items and may quarrel with the omission of some others. There will always be a difference of opinion in this particular respect, but this form omits many things that are not essential; it does get most of the essential information. It also avoids inquiring into many personal matters which certainly should be no business or concern of the employer. Application blanks have been used which inquire as to how much money the applicant\’s wife has, how much they spent in buying their home, and what their annual budget is for food and clothing. Such items are considered by most people of experience as ridiculous nonsense and an invasion of the rights of the individual. The ideal application blank will not ask what magazines or newspapers the individual reads.

The individual may take the blank home and fill it out at his leisure. There is very little on it to encourage him to falsify too much. It is the job of the interviewer to determine whether there is any reason for doubting some of the information on the blank. It will be noted that most blanks call for references. It is very, very hard to discourage from asking for references. Of all the useless wastes of time, nothing compares with the time lost in getting references.

The applicant returns on the day set for the interview with the completed application and meets the interviewer. He does not sit around waiting in line. He has an appointment for a given time and he is expected to keep it. The interviewer will keep it too. The interviewer, by careful questioning, forms a judgment of the individual and, as shown in the rating blank, he records judgment of the prospective employee and his suitability for a certain job. At the conclusion, the interviewer should have a very definite idea as to whether the man is a suitable employee for the company and where he could be used. The interviewer is then able to tell the applicant that he will be referred to the department head for final consideration, or if there is no immediate opening, that his application will be filed. In this case it will be filed properly under the possible jobs which the applicant might fill. Thus, the applicant leaves with the satisfaction that he has been really interviewed. If he is referred to a department head for immediate consideration, the department head is called and is informed of the applicant capabilities, that he is acceptable in general as an employee of the company, that he is being considered for a certain position. Then it is up to the department to make final acceptance or rejection of the applicant, based upon the specific work experience or ability that the job demands.

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Category: Business
Keywords: Business, Organization, Structure, capital, Development, Credit, Sales, Communication, Resources, Em