Getting The Right Person For The Job

The ideal person doesn't exist so when looking to fill a vacancy employers have to look at how to approach the matter to get the best person for the job taking into consideration all the individual differences. The business has to attract people in the first place so it is important to get the image right. A good image will start the process of self-selection. Knowledge of the requirements of the job will help to build up a picture of the kinds of things to look for in an 'ideal' person and how well each applicant measures up against the value system and criteria decided by the managers involved in the process. They normally include personal attributes and qualities associated with successful performance. Information elicited during the recruitment and selection process should be both reliable and valid.

Paper qualifications from education and training will normally be an important requirement for many jobs. There is a lot of competition in the knowledge economy. It is however not the most important thing in all cases. There may be other considerations.

Credentialism places importance on 'paper' qualifications particularly educational qualifications in allocating people to jobs and careers. They can be very specific and show a level of intelligence that can be measured against others. The dangers include 'diploma disease' where gaining qualifications becomes an end in itself and the process fails to satisfy the needs of an industrial society. Screening emphasises academic qualifications but is only concerned with general intelligence. It is about sorting out people according to whether they have had a higher education or not rather than looking for any specific return on education. It serves to act as an entry to work rather than as a preparation for it. Cultural capital or wealth in the form of education and ideas and the ability to distinguish between cultural styles and categories is often used to legitimate the maintenance of status and wealth.

Dual labour market theory divides work into primary and secondary markets along a line separating long term, well paid and important jobs with career prospects and low paid, short term jobs and jobs considered 'less important'. Managers and administrators require knowledge, expertise and experience and fall into the primary labour market and therefore paper qualifications are important. As employers do not need to maintain staff who may only be called on occasionaly, many kinds of skilled and unskilled people may be placed in the secondary market.

Employers are using sophisticated 'scientific' selection methods more. They have to make the right decision. There are expectations on both sides.