The Usefulness Of An Interview

The Usefulness Of An Interview If we cast a glance at any company which has gained success in any business area and begin to explore the reasons of this success we can see that there are many factors that cause this success: a successful business strategy, high quality organizational management, and of course, well selected employees who cope with their tasks properly. Choosing the right candidate, evaluating their performance and managing the high quality work are very important factors that play a great role for the successful activity of any company. The main purpose of this assignment is to answer the questions regarding the selection process of employees, the factors that undermine the usefulness of an interview, the background investigation of employees as part of the job selection process, and the performance appraisal method compare with the Total Quality Management (TQM). a. THE FACTORS AND PROBLEMS THAT CAN UNDERMINE THE USEFULNESS OF AN INTERVIEW. To select employees is a very important management process that requires responsibility and professionalism. Although there are many ways of managing this process, the main method is taking job interviews. It is very difficult to find a company that hires employees without interviewing them. In spite of the fact that there are many types and many ways of taking an interview, the main aim of this assignment is to analysis the problems and the factors that can undermine the usefulness of an interview. As I noticed above, selecting candidates is a very essential management task, and without knowing how to interview, it is impossible to manage this it. Several factors can undermine the usefulness of an interview First impression (Snap judgment) A study has shown that we make favorable or unfavorable judgments about someone we meet within 14 seconds. (CMR international. How to select best candidate. October 2004, p.35) Another research shows that in 85% of the cases interviewers had made up their minds before the interview even began (Dessler G., Human Resource Management, 11th edition, (2008), p.262) We can say that 50% of what an interviewers think about a candidate, 50% of their decision is made in the first 30-60 seconds. 25 percent of what the interviewer thinks about a candidate made in the first 15 minutes. This psychological factor undermines the interviews usefulness a lot. First impression becomes more harmful when the information about the candidate is unfavorable. Often the finding of even a small amount of negative information can lead to the rejection of a candidate. Generally, human psychology is affected more by negative information than the positive one. If the interview begins with negative mood, it is usually difficult to change its posture. For example, many try-outs for orchestras are now held with the applicant musicians playing behind a screen. All sexual, racial, and physical characteristics are eliminated so selectors can concentrate on listening for the best musician (http://humanresources.about.com/od/workrelationships/a/blink_effect.htm Access date 30 Sep 2009) Paying attention all these, it can be said that interviewers must not say their opinion about the candidate before an interview. Because in many cases the first impression can be deceptive. And the candidates must always remember that there is nothing like a good first impression. Body language is very important for the first impression. The candidate must sell him/herself through the unverbal communication, through the behavior. Candidate Order error This is one of the factors that can undermine the usefulness of an interview. The physiological incentive plays a great role here. Interviewers are influenced for or against a candidate by the interview of a previous candidate. For example, if a qualified applicant follows an exceptional applicant his or her qualifications tend to pale in comparison. To avoid this mistake it can be useful for the interviewers to take a little break after interviewing several candidates. Misunderstanding the Job Interviewers without clear understanding of the job sometimes ask irrelevant questions and make incorrect assumption about the qualifications of the successful job candidate. (http://ftdconsulting.com/docs/CommonInterviewMistakes Accessed date 30 Sep 2009) With incorrect stereotypes or impressions, it is very difficult to choose a right candidate. To avoid this, interviewers must get enough information about the vacant job which they want to fill and they musk ask relevant questions to the job. Nonverbal Behavior This is a very important factor during an interview both for interviewers and candidates. Nonverbal behavior is as important as verbal behavior. Psychological studies also affirm that nonverbal behavior can tell us many things about the persons nature and character. Elements, such as physique, height, weight, skin color, gender, and clothing send nonverbal messages during interaction. For example, a research into height has generally found that taller people are perceived as being more impressive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonverbal_communication Access date 30 Sep 2009) Candidates can be affected of interviewers body language- facial expressions, eye contact and psychical reactions. If the candidates start to see negative nonverbal behavior from their interviewers they can not adjust their answers. The candidates nonverbal behavior can also have an impact on his or her rating, because interviewers infer the interviewees personality from the way he or she acts in the interview (Dessler G., Human Resource Management, 11th edition, (2008), p.264) Impression Management This is a widely spreaded factor that undermines an interviews usefulness. Candidates persuade interviewers to like them by using ingratiation and praising. Applicants attempt to create a favorable impression. Some typical examples of impression management during interviews include verbal self-promotion (I am very hard worker), adjustment of nonverbal behaviors (Smiling, welcoming, body posture), and looking the part (wearing professional clothing). (Journal of Management, 33(5),752-773). Therefore, interviewers must be very careful about not being affected by these impressions Effects of Personal Characteristics Sometimes interviewers rely on applicants psychical appearance or attractiveness for making judgments about their suitability. For example, interviewers give more attention to people with favorable traits than people with unfavorable traits. The interviewers are affected by candidates gender, attractiveness and race. Besides these factors, which we have noticed above, there are some more factors that can undermine the usefulness of an interview. These factors are poorly worded questions, illegal questions (the legislation prohibits to ask private questions), and similar-to-me factor (interviewers tend to give a higher ratings to a candidate who has similar characteristics as themselves). Hiring and keeping good workers begins with the job interview. Interviews are one of the most important and extensively used hiring tools available to employers to identify the best candidate for a company. It is a great opportunity to meet several candidates and screen them to find the ones most suitable for the organization. Therefore, the interviewers must get as much benefit as they can from this opportunity. b. IS IT IMPORTANT TO CONDUCT PRE-EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION? Forming a successful interview is not enough to choose a right candidate. It is just a part of the job selection process. There are some more methods that employers use to hire people. The next method of job selection process is to conduct pre-employment background investigation. Many employers use this method before hiring people. A pre-employment background investigation is frequently performed to help companies learn about a potential employees background. The main aim is to check the information provided by the applicant and to discover the information that can be harmful for the company (criminal records, for example) Before a background investigation performed the employer must get a written and signed authorization from the employee. This informs the employee what type of background investigation of employment will be done. If the employer wants access to candidates medical records or wants to talk to his or her friends, co-workers, then two additional consent forms are required. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, areas of scrutiny consist of: Criminal records Sex offender lists State licensing records Character references Education records Property ownership Court records Credit records Social security number Past employers Neighbor interviews Medical records Vehicle records Military records Incarceration records Driving records Bankruptcy Personal references Workers compensation Drug test records Source: http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/employee-background-check.html (Accessed 25 Sep 2009) Sometimes people find themselves in a situation where they wonder if it would be appropriate to do a background investigation about someone. It is not always easy to decide what the appropriate might be to do such a check. More often an emotional process takes place which prevents a person from doing that investigation. But nobody wants to choose the wrong candidate. To avoid this, usually it is necessary to do this investigation. In the following example we can see the importance of doing pre-employment background investigation Joe Smith hired by ABC Inc. as a cable TV installer assaults and a rapes a female customer while installing cable service in her home. The employee had a criminal record of assault and drug abuse. A court could rule that the cable company was negligent because it should have found out about Joe through a pre-employment background investigation or an employee criminal background check. The family of the female customer beaten and raped by Joe of ABC Inc. sues his former employer 123 Inc. for only providing ABC Inc. with whats called a standard reference. This means 123 Inc. only gave basic information to ABC Inc. No detailed data involving Joes physical fights with co-workers while at 123 Inc. and his on the job drug abuse. Why? A lot of businessman and organizations are reluctant to share offensive and sensitive information because they are worried about being sued for defamation of character by former employees (http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/pre-employment-background-investigation.html Accessed date 25 Sep 2009) From this example we can say that, doing pre-employment background investigation is not causeless. Researches has shown that up to 20 percent of job applicants give false or misleading information on their applications for employment (http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/pre-employment-background-investigation.html Accessed date 25 Sep 2009) One more example, Bell Souths security director estimates that 15% to 20% of applicants conceal a secret in their application forms (Dessler G., Human Resource Management, 11th edition, (2008), p.280) Some of common areas of misleading involve: False dates of employment Criminal history Untrue reasons for leaving previous employment Domestic violence or abuse Problems with credit history and etc. Hiring wrong person by not doing pre-employment background investigation could destroy everything a business owner or manager has built. Background investigation is a very important search tool todays business climate. Hiring without an accurate pre-employment check could result in serious problems. It is the employers responsibility to know the employee. So every employer should approach this process with a great responsibility to avoid further unpleasant events. c. TAKING A TQM-BASED APPROACH TO THE PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Nowadays competitive market requires a high quality from the companies. Therefore, companies always try to raise the quality in all steps of an organizational process. The main aim of the quality movement is to get the best performance and effort from the employees of the organization. There are some ways to realize the quality movement. The most widely used methods are Total Quality Management (TQM) and performance appraisal methods. But there is an opinion difference about the applying of these methods. Some experts suggest that taking a TQM is an approach to the performance appraisal, but some of them have a contrary opinion. In this paragraph of an assignment the contrary among the experts will be discussed. But before this, it needs to be explained what TQM and appraisal methods are. TQM is a method to raise a quality throughout the organizational process. It is not a programme but a systematic style of work. The main aim is to raise the quality of goods, service and all organizational process. Performance appraisal method is used to evaluate the job performance of an employee. The aim is to facilitate communications between employees and administration and to identify employees training needs. But both TQM and performance appraisal methods are focused of increasing the productivity of the organization. They both help the systematic management of all the process in the organization. Some of the benefits of both the performance appraisal and TQM are: Improvement of the performance of the employees Brings quality consciousness Better utilization of resources Commitment of higher technology (http://appraisals.naukrihub.com/tqm-and-performance-appraisal.html Accessed date 26 Sep 2009) As it is noticed above, there is an argument among the experts about the usefulness of appraisal methods as a part of TQM. Many defenders of TQM criticize performance appraisals. For example, Peter Scholtes say there is no data, no research to demonstrate that performance appraisal does any good. There is nothing to indicate that a company which uses performance appraisals does any better than it would if it did not use performance appraisals. (http://www.baldrigeplus.com/Exhibits/Exhibit%20-%20Performance%20appraisal.pdf Accessed date 26 Sep 2009) They insist on performance appraisals undermines teamwork. Some experts refute the compatibility of the TQM and performance appraisals. According to them both TQM and Performance appraisals differ in their fundamental nature, characteristics and requirements making it impossible to combine them. Some fundamental differences between the two are: TQM is team based whereas performance appraisals are designed for individuals. It undermines teamwork TQM focuses on customer whereas performance appraisal method focuses on individuals. In TQM the main aim is to reach the standards but in appraisal method standards are sometimes imposed on the employee Performance appraisals generally results in some awards, like increased pay, promotions and etc. but TQM may or may not yield visible results. Nevertheless, other TQM experts defend Performance appraisals saying that this is a very important part of management programme including quality movement. They say that performance appraisals are very necessary for every organization and it must be approached in the frames of TQM. Because, as a result, the performance appraisals method is an important step to raise a work quality. Although there is a contrariety among the experts about the applying of performance appraisal methods, the benefits of these method is obvious. Of course there are some factors that can undermine the usefulness of performance appraisals (luck of preparation, unclear performance standards, and ect.).But for my opinion if it is applied faultless many problems can be eliminated in an organization. In every company there can be some insufficiencies, employees may need motivation and to eliminate these insufficiencies it is very useful to use performance appraisal methods. I want to give an example about my school. Few days ago we had been given appraisal papers to identify our needs and insufficiencies, and as a result I saw its benefit. It was a like a communication between the students and the administrators. I dont agree with the experts who say performance appraisals are useless. Maybe in some cases this method is useless but it does not mean that performance appraisals are always us eless. CONCLUSION As a result, it can be said that the interviews are very important job selection process for the both employers and employees. Interviewers must be very careful and they must avoid the problems that can undermine the usefulness of an interview. It was also shown that the good interview is not enough to choose the right candidate, therefore it is very important to do pre-employment background investigation. By doing this investigation the future unpleasant events can be avoided. In the last part of an assignment we looked through the performance appraisal methods in the frames of TQM and it can be said that although there is no common opinion about the usefulness of the appraisal methods, for my opinion performance appraisal methods are very useful. REFERENCES: Dessler G.(2004) Human Resource Management 11th edition Journal of Management (2007) 33(5) CMR international. (2004 October) How to select best candidate. p.35 http://appraisals.naukrihub.com/tqm-and-performance-appraisal.html http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/employee-background-check.html http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/pre-employment-background-investigation.html http://www.baldrigeplus.com/Exhibits/Exhibit%20-%20Performance%20appraisal. http://humanresources.about.com/od/workrelationships/a/blink_effect.htm http://ftdconsulting.com/docs/CommonInterviewMistakes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonverbal_communication

Swift Achilles :: Essays Papers

Swift Achilles There was once a time of great warriors, heroes that fought for their honor and the honor of their people. This was the time of Homer’s Iliad when the great armies of the Achaeans charged Ilium, the Trojan Citadel. Although this ten-year epic battle, called the Trojan War, was supposedly fought over Helen, â€Å"the face that launched a thousand ships1,† the true heart of the Iliad is the characterization of the Homeric hero. These men possessed seemingly superhuman strength and courage, they fought and risked their lives for their people and their comrades in arms, and many of them were descendants of the gods themselves. Among the Achaeans, there emerged one man above all others in greatness. The son of the goddess Thetis, it was swift Achilles who defeated Hector, the mighty Trojan prince. When trying to classify a man as a â€Å"Homeric hero† or to decide which from a group is the greatest hero, there are certain characteristics that must be evaluated. In this process, it is also imperative to remove from consideration the ideals and characteristics that are used to judge people in the present. It is important to remember â€Å"what Homer counts as goodness is not the sort of thing that we might most readily think of as such.† (T. Irwin, Classical Thought, pp. 7-8)2. For example, the fact that Agamemnon, Achilles, and just about every other male character from the Iliad treat women like property should not come into play when deciding the level of their greatness. Although such an attitude towards women is despicable today, it was accepted in their time and therefore must be overlooked. So, the characteristics that must be examined are, in no particular order, defending and honoring your comrades, respecting the unwritten rules of Homeri c battle, and pure strength on the battlefield. Achilles earns the title â€Å"greatest of the Achaeans† by gathering points in all of these categories. When Patroclus, Achilles’ best friend and comrade, is slain by Hector in Book XVI, Achilles vows, â€Å"I shall not bury you [Patroclus], no, not till I drag back here / the gear and head of Hector, who slaughtered you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Homer, The Iliad, 18.

Shut Down Facebook

Shut down Facebook Facebook has become a place where everyone wants to be nowadays. Not only is it wrong to be on there every single day, it is also unhealthy, which is why Facebook should be banned. People no longer care about going out and making friends. Instead, they rather stay inside and become friends with people they do not even know on Facebook. These kinds of actions can be really dangerous. People can easily create Facebook accounts, meaning that it is also easy to portray someone they’re not. No one ever knows who really is sitting behind that computer screen.Especially young people, they can be ignorant at times thinking they know their friends good enough to give them their information. Most people are unaware of how easy it is for a stranger to collect all of their information. Another bad thing about Facebook is all the drama it can cause between friends, families, or any kind of relationship. It is sad how arguments are posted for the whole world to see. Teena gers every so often lie about their age just so they do not have to ask for their parent’s approval. This in most cases happens because teenagers are doing things they’re not suppose to.In addition, people sometimes tend to hide their identities on purpose to do unpleasant things such as stalking, and bullying. There are also sick people who create fake Facebook accounts to harass little kids. Facebook is not good anymore. Many people are taking advantage of it and it is better for it to be shut down for good. No one needs Facebook, anyone can survive without it. It is healthier to be out there living life than sitting behind a computer talking about it. It would certainly make a change if Facebook were banned forever.

Tips for Telephoning Native English Speakers

Tips for Telephoning Native English Speakers Have you ever had problems understanding native English speakers on the telephone? If so, you are not alone. All English learners have difficulties understanding people on the telephone. This is for a number of reasons: People speak too quicklyPeople dont pronounce the words wellThere are technical problems with the telephonesYou cant see the person you are speaking withIts difficult for people to repeat information This article focuses on the first and last problems listed above. Follow these tips to help you get native speakers of English to slow down! Immediately ask the person to speak slowly.When taking note of a name or important information, repeat each piece of information as the person speaks.  This is an especially effective tool. By repeating each important piece of information or each number or letter as the spell or give you a telephone number you automatically slow the speaker down.Do not say you have understood if you have not. Ask the person to repeat until you have understood.  Remember that the other person needs to make himself/herself understood and it is in his/her interest to make sure that you have understood. If you ask a person to explain more than twice, he will usually slow down.If the person does not slow down, begin speaking your own language!  A sentence or two of another language spoken quickly will remind the person that he is fortunate because he doesnt need to speak a different language to communicate. Used carefully, this exercise in humbling the other speaker can be very effective. Just be su re to use it with colleagues and not with a boss! More Telephone English Telephone English: Dialogue and Appropriate VocabularyTelephone English: Leaving a Message on an Answering MachinePractical Exercises: Exercises to Improve Your Telephoning SkillsRole Plays: Role Play Dialogue Cues to Practice Telephoning with FriendsBusiness Telephone ConversationsTeaching Telephone English: Lesson Plan

Lady Want and People Essay

Lady Want and People Essay Lady: Want and People Essay Essay If you are lucky enough you’ve had people in your life who support you through thick and thin and love you no matter what and help you find your meaning in your life. Whether these people are your parents or friends, many people crave a support system in which people help and guide them to find and understand what their meaning is in life. When you do have a reliable and strong support system it helps you find things about yourself to lead a more successful life, and the things a great support system can provide you can’t buy confidence, loyalty and many other things. Also another thing a support system can provide is a place to relive stress and the pent up anger you have in yourself, which leads to avoiding a life of depression and anger which helps lead a positive life. Also another benefit of having a strong support system is accountability, if you think about it if I got a F on this essay I wouldn’t care if my parents weren’t here and I could care les s to go to college and pursue a better life if my parents didn’t drill it in my head and told me that every day. In many cases when people don’t receive some type of support or assistance, they lead a life wanting one and lead them to gangs and other negative groups and people. Of course when you join a negative situation, you make negative decisions which lead to negative consequences and that leads to a negative life. Many people also take for granted their support system which like I said many people crave

Editing And Sound In Kill Bill Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Editing And Sound In Kill Bill - Essay Example The paper shows that the director uses the transition from one scene to another thereby causing a film to have an effective continuity of action. For instance, when in Japan the young Ishii's parents are murdered in front of her by the Yakuza and later on takes vengeance on the Yakuza boss making her become the new boss after training as an elite assassin. In which case, the match cut helps in giving a connection between the two different events. The film also makes use of spectacular sound edits to make the film even more lively. The scenes are well synchronized with the sound leading to the creation of sound bridges for each scene. In the film kill Bill, even if you cannot see the horrific image, you can still hear the cracking of the bones, the blood spray, and the victim let out dying breath or one last shriek. A lot of the sound effects are created by the artificial use of the FX sound effects which creates an atmosphere of the real life situations and also keep the audience glued in both either of the visual or auditory senses. In conclusion, the creativity that is applied while editing a film determines the quality and the size of the market of the film. Any form of art requires very well edited sound; effects and a diverse application of techniques that will make the audience enjoy the art and also are part of it when they are attracted. A good art, therefore, must have a good and quality visual and audio effects that make the film appear to captivate and real.

Gangs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gangs - Essay Example There are accounts to prove these claims and with this, they tend to resort on things, which worsen their personalities-Drugs, theft, robbery, sexual assaults and even murder are some of the crimes that they commit. There are measures that are continuously done by the authorities to prevent or at least lessen this kind of activities. Most of the people have put the blame on their parents while some attributed this kind of occurrence to the leniency of laws particularly in correcting the children, which deals in sparing the rod. Most of the critics agree that this kind of method spoils the children and they likewise feel that they are free to do whatever they want to do. These things do occur and parents are the pointed culprits on these. They (parents) suffer such a fate since it is their responsibilities to raise their children. However, is it enough to put the blame on the parents alone How about when these children are out of their homes It is an established fact that most of the boys and girls in their puberty age shows untoward behavior and such occurrences do have different reasons, which the science cannot explain to date. When juveniles commit illegal activities, they were arrested and tried as most of the states here claim that it cannot tolerate such untoward behavior. In this case, psychologists and sociologists agree that in order to correct these individuals, the method of correcting them must be different from the method that the justice system applies in reprimanding individuals in legal ages. Juvenile courts are tailored for the correction of minors in order for them to be corrected and become more matured in order to ensure that they would not commit the same mistakes again. Basically, it is divided into three parts "separated into three types: independent and separate courts, part of a family court and unit within a trial court" (Miriam Van Waters, p. 299). This court can either examine or determine the process of correcting a convicted juvenile. Of course, the kind of correction is much lighter than the convicted criminal on the basis that they are on their "tender" or "innocent years." The court also focuses on the development of these individuals, rather than punishment. To add to that, the web also has the definition on juvenile court: legal-explanations.com (2006) stressed that "The court that takes up the cases where there is an involvement of children below eighteen years of age and who are dependant, abused, or out of control. But the cases which has been charged on the under age child as adult cannot be tried in this court. Juvenile Courts 3 A critic claimed, "It is impossible to eradicate juvenile delinquencies if we don't delve on the roots why these things happen." True enough, like most of the crimes and problems, their roots must be eradicated to prevent further harm. In recent studies, most children are involved in gangs and similar organizations solely on the basis of peer pressure in which most of them tend to believe that they should be involved in such organizations for them to cope-up with the society as most of them presume. In this kind of situation, a certain method should be done. In avoiding this kind of scenario to happen, one must know that proper education among the juveniles should be done. This responsibility should not be on the shoulders of