02: Reliability and Validity

Serving the Candidate as a Customer

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As humans, it is natural to have certain reactions when we meet a new person. These reactions shape our perception of the other person. They also determine whether or not we want to continue to engage with that other person. If the experience with the other person is positive, we enjoy our mutual interactions and look forward to extending the time we spend with each other. If the experience of engagement is negative, most of us look forward to cutting off the time spent with that other person as quickly as we can.

With this in mind, the recruitment role taken on by the human resources practitioner can make or break a candidate’s job-seeking fortunes. As recruiters, we may find ourselves reacting to a particular candidate based on our own individual and personal perspectives. If the personal reaction is positive, the recruitment process with that candidate continues. If the reaction is negative, the process with that candidate stops. Either way, our responses as recruiters, in this type of approach, are based on our own self-interests and are not in support of the best interests of the organization that we must represent. The results from this type of approach are not good: the business interests of the organization are not met; the valid interests of the job-seeking candidate are not met; and the legitimate interests of meeting our human resources’ legal, ethical, and professional obligations are not met.

In order to meet the legitimate interests of the business and recruitment process, viewing the candidate as a customer can provide assistance in shaping the recruiter’s frame of reference. A customer service approach for the recruiter is explored in this article posted by HRD magazine.

As noted in the article, when the recruiter is able to use a customer service-based approach, the candidate and the recruiter both experience a better process. The result may be the same in that the candidate is not the successful choice for the organization; however, the credibility of the hiring process and its results are not put at risk when the recruiter has done their job by serving in the best interests of others.

Discussion Questions:

  1. If you experienced ‘ghosting’ by a recruiter during a job application process as a candidate, what impressions were you left with of the recruiter and the company you wanted to join? Would you re-apply as a candidate in the future?
  2. From an HR perspective, how can you monitor and adapt your personal reactions (positive or negative) during the recruitment process in order to maintain objectivity and reduce recruitment risks?
  3. In your opinion, what is the value of using a customer service-based approach for job candidates? Explain your rationale.

Stretching the Truth like Silly Putty

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During recruitment interviews, HR professionals would love to give potential future employees a 100% rating, but not for the reasons one would think of.

A research study from the University of Guelph has identified that 100% of employment candidates lie, stretch the truth, or exaggerate during the employment interview process. These results should have all HR professionals asking questions like:

  • What conclusions can be drawn from this?
  • Does this mean all potential employees are liars?
  • Is a certain amount of lying acceptable?
  • Is this a systemic issue with HR’s recruitment methods?

What should be done to address this pervasive lying from potential employees? The research does not provide many answers. The study, however, does suggest that the level of competition may play a factor in the tendency for the candidate to lie, but not in the way one would think.

The research shows that if there is a fewer number of candidates competing for a job position, the tendency to lie during an interview will increase. For more details, click here to read the CBC article.

Perhaps the only way to overcome this is with direct confrontation, where recruiters can leave a copy of this research for the candidates to read at the start of an interview, and at the end of the interview, ask the candidate, “Was there at any time during this interview that you lied, stretched the truth, or exaggerated?” If the candidate answers “no,” since 100% of employment candidates lie, now you will know the “truth”!

Discussion Questions:

  1. Research how to make employment interviews more reliable and valid. Make a list of potential ideas for improvement that you find the most beneficial.
  2. Imagine you are a recruitment consultant who is making a pitch to a potential client about why your recruitment methods are better than your competitors’. Complete a 5-minute presentation to outline your methods.

SodaStream Helps Candidates Fit In

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The basics for most recruitment campaigns begin with the premise that an organization is looking for the right person to fit the right job.

To achieve the right result, the Human Resources practitioner must design and implement a series of recruitment tools that value and measure the “fit” relationship between what a job-seeking candidate offers and what the job itself provides. There is a heavy emphasis on how these types of tools are developed so that, when implemented, they can validate the closeness of that fit to produce a reliable result. The bigger the gap between what is measured as required for the candidate and the job, the less likely it is that the outcome is a reliable, or good, fit for the organization.

This candidate-to-job fit approach seems to work best within a traditional recruitment planning process. There is an increasing trend, however, to move away from this narrow approach and use a broader strategy that seeks to recruit candidates based on the fit between potential candidate and company ethics and/or social values.

This approach is identified in a recent online recruitment campaign implemented by SodaStream International Ltd., an innovator in home-based water carbonation.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZoPBThVwk8[/embedyt]

The messages that are provided through this online recruitment campaign are clearly linked to SodaStream’s corporate and ethical values. It is an innovative and broad-reaching approach given the international growth for this particular company.

How do these values translate into tools that can be used to assess the necessary fit relationship between people and jobs? At the end of any recruitment process, no matter how creative it may be, a hiring decision needs to be made that serves the best interests of the organization. This decision may not necessarily be the one that serves the best interests of the candidate. In this case, traditional tools that measure and provide reliable results may still need to be in place in order to support the organizational decision that is made when the recruitment outcome does not support a good fit between the two.

Discussion Questions:

  1. As the Human Resources advisor for SodaStream’s recruitment campaign, design a recruitment measurement tool that is valid and reliable, based on the values identified by the CEO.
  2. What are potential challenges that SodaStream might face when deciding to exclude candidates from moving forward in the recruitment process?
  3. What types of branding/corporate messages does the SodaStream recruitment video promote?
  4. In your opinion, who is the target audience for the SodaStream recruitment campaign and is it effective? Explain your rationale.

Lying on Resumes

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Oh, how do we lie? Let me count the ways; with a small lie, when you respond to your spouse’s question, “Do I look fat in these jeans?”; to your kids when you promise, “This needle won’t hurt a bit!”; or a giant lie, like Scott Thomson, the ex-CEO of Yahoo, who lied about having a computer science degree!

Michele Piacquadio, Thinkstock
Michele Piacquadio, Thinkstock

According to the articles listed below, we lie up to ten times a week – that is a lot of lies over a year, and over the span of a career. The HRM Online article, Six Ways to Catch Resume Lies, states that employment candidates will lie anywhere from 40% to 70% of the time on their resumes. This would mean that close to three quarters of your applicant pool has lied to you before they have even walked in the door. How can that be? What is an HR practitioner to do?

Please read the following two articles and consider some solutions that can be applied to this problem.

Click here to view article 1.

Click here to view article 2.

The ability to filter and screen resumes is a fundamental skill that all HR practitioners must master to be successful.

Discussion Questions:

  • Are all these suggestions legal? Or will some cause greater legal liability and if so what laws would it be violating?
  • How comfortable are you using these solutions?
  • What else would you do to confirm the validity of a candidates resume?
  • A bigger question to ponder, have you eliminate a great hire because their resume did not look as good as others because they DID NOT lie?

 

Working Moms and Family Status

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If working moms are more productive, how can you ask the question about “family status” in an interview? Babies on the wall and all!

Click here to view the article.

This article seems to fly in the face of asking questions related to family status. If working moms are more productive, how can HR practitioners ensure that entire recruitment process is still fair and equitable to all applicants?

Businesswoman With Daughter
Photo Credit: Fuse/Thinkstock

As HR practitioners, we use the interview process to make sure that the ‘best’ candidate comes forward through each stage of the recruitment process. At the same time, we need to be wary of treading into preconceived ideas as to who is more effective as a worker especially when we start dealing with ‘typical’ labeling or stereotypes based on what is trending or current in dealing with workplace issues.

Supermoms may exist. So do Superdads. Does having children matter when we look to a commitment by the individual when they make a decision to join your particular workplace? Maybe we should be clear about what type of work environment the candidate is walking into so that they (the candidate) can decide whether or not the work that is required best suits their own lifestyle and work-life choices.

Discussion Questions:

  • Is it ever okay to ask the question regarding family status in an interview?
  • How do we evaluate potential employee productivity during the recruitment process?
  • What kinds of scheduling considerations should the HR practitioner put into place when dealing with employees who may have parental obligations?
  • What kinds of workplaces would be best suited to providing a ‘child’ friendly work environment?
  • Does having family friendly HR policies cause levels of discrimination?
  • What are the policy considerations that the HR Practitioner should be developing?