Answer

Hiring and Selection of Employees

Hiring and selection of employees is a vital process in the realization of short and long-term goals of an organization. According to Wright, Domagalski & Collins (2011), selection involves the screening of applicants with the aim of ensuring that the most suitable candidate is hired. When selecting and hiring employees companies consider issues such as legal statues, qualifications of employees, and selection devices employed in the hiring and selection processes. This paper aims at exploring the legal statues affecting selection and hiring of workers, revealing the number and nature of positions available in the new office and qualifications for such positions, selection devices, and use of integrity and drug tests in the selection and hiring processes.  

Legal Statues Affecting the Selection and Hiring of Employees

According to Fulthorp & D’Eloia (2015), job candidates often have legal rights even prior to them becoming employees. Several legal statues govern the selection and hiring of workers, and breaching these regulations can lead to adverse legal consequences. An employer is not permitted to discriminate within its process of hiring based on a job candidate’s age, pregnancy, national origin, race, gender, religion or disability. Moreover, the local and state law may specify additional/extra protected classes depending on issues such as sexual orientation of the job applicant. However, it is vital to note that the employer is allowed to discriminate on certain bases in cases a BFOQ (Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications) exists, especially when the characteristic in question is a necessary and valid job requirement.

Employers should avoid asking job applicants questions that concern classes, which are protected by laws on discrimination. Some of the areas on which the employers should not focus while interviewing job candidates are applicant’s intention to have children, children, marital status, religion, race, sexual preference, age (only asked when the applicant is suspected to be under 18 years), disability status, and citizenship status (Wright, Domagalski & Collins, 2011). An applicant is allowed to ask questions that concerns the aforementioned areas. In case an applicant asks a question concerning any these areas, the employer is allowed to address the applicant’s question to the level that is necessary to address such a question.

The employer should follow certain steps before hiring any employee. First, an employer should obtain a federal employment identification code/number for every novel employee. The employer should then register for payment compensation taxes of unemployment for every worker with the state’s employment department. The establishment of the worker’s system of pay to ensure that taxes are withheld should then follow this step. An illness prevention plan should be prepared for the worker’s occupational safety followed by posting the needed notices as required by the DOL (Department of Labor) (Lee-Flores, 2014). Consequently, the employer should proceed to assist the worker with the process of registering for employee benefits, and report the federal unemployment tax to the concerned agency.

During the process of hiring, employers should ensure that promises are not made to new or prospective employee since any false promises or statements can lead to the violation of an implied contract/agreement under the law (Lee-Flores, 2014). For instance, a promise that options of stock will worth a certain amount or the employee will be employed for life may lead to such an implied agreement or contract. In case these promises are not fulfilled, the employer can be charged with the breaching of an implied contract. As a result, the employer may be held accountable for any damage that the worker can incur depending on the promise of the employer. As such, the employer should realize that employees often have certain rights and privileges before and during the process of hiring. These rights include the policy of implied contract and anti-discrimination laws.                 

Number and Type of Positions to be Filled in the New Office

The new office will have three key positions, which will require highly qualified staff with the ability and willingness to deliver the assigned tasks.  This office will focus on the sale of the organization’s product. As such, the company will be expected to hire a branch sales manager, deputy sales manager, and sales persons.

Qualifications of Sales Manager

• The person should have a minimum of five years of working experience with a Level 4 Award in areas of operational sales planning, managing responsible selling, managing a sale team, and finance for sales managers.

Duties of Sales Manager

• Hiring and providing training to sales staff
• Assigning regions to sales representatives/salespersons
• Monitoring the performance of the sales team and motivating them to attain their targets
• Offering feedback and coaching team members
• Handling major customer accounts
• Collecting feedback of customers and executing market research
• Reporting to senior managers
• Keeping pace of competitors and products

Qualifications of Assistant Sales Manager

• The person should have a minimum of 3 years of working experience with a level 4 award in the areas specified for the sales manager.

Duties of Assistant Sales Manager

• In the absence of the sales, manager the assistant sales manager will be required to execute the duties of the manager.

Qualifications of Sales Persons

• Sales persons are required to have a diploma in sales and marketing or any of the areas that include finance for sales managers, managing responsible selling, operational sales planning, and managing a sale team.

Duties of Sales Persons 

• Sales person will be responsible for selling the company’s products in their assigned regions or areas.

Selection Devices Interviews and Ability Tests

Wright, Domagalski & Collins (2011) argue that any selection tool/device that a manager employs such as tests, application forms, physical examinations, and interviews should manage to demonstrate validity. Some of the key selection devices that the organization can employ in selecting potential candidates are interviews and ability tests. These devices are associated with certain strengths and weaknesses.

According to Fulthorp & D’Eloia (2015), an interview is a procedure of selection that is develop to forecast the future job performance based on the candidate’s oral answers to oral questions. Interviews help the employer to determine if the candidate possesses social or requisite communicative skills that are essential for the job. They also enable the interviewer to acquire supplementary information, assess the candidate’s job knowledge, and determine compatibility between organization’s employees and the applicant. Interviews can also be employed among equally qualified candidates.

Despite having advantages, interviews can lead to the making of subjective evaluations. Interviews establish stereotypes about the characteristics needed for success on the job.  According to Simonsen, Luecking & Fabian (2015), using interviews is associated with rates of disproportionate in selection between minority and non-minority members. During interviews, negative information is often granted more weight than positive information. The use of interviews does not provide proof of the validity of the procedure for selection, and are not as dependable as tests.

Lee-Flores (2014) argues that ability test is mainly employed in assessing the potential applicant in terms of overall intellectual capability and establish a profile of their individual weaknesses and strengths. Some of the tests that can be employed in the selection process physical ability tests and cognitive tests. Physical ability tests enable employers to identify candidates that are physically unable to execute essential tasks without risking injury to others or themselves. These tests can result into reduced costs related to insurance, claims, and workers compensation as well as decreases absenteeism. Nevertheless, these tests are expensive to administer, and requirements need to be demonstrated to be job-related.

Cognitive ability test are highly reliable, and can be administered in team settings in that many candidates can be evaluated at the same time. They have lower costs relative to personality tests, and their validity increases with increasing complexity of the task (Fulthorp & D’Eloia, 2015). Moreover, the completion of the scoring test can be done using a computer. However, this test does not take into consideration the difference between females and males in abilities, which may impact negatively on female candidates, especially in subjects such as mathematics.  

Integrity Testing and Drug Testing

Lee-Flores (2014) argues that integrity test is a definite form of personality test employed in assessing a candidate’s tendency to be dependable, honest, trustworthy. Performing this test enables organizations to avoid employing workers associated with behaviors like sabotage, violence, theft, absenteeism, and disciplinary issues. These tests can also be employed in measuring aspects of conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability. When combined with cognitive ability test, this test can help the company improve the validity of the selection process. According to Fulthorp & D’Eloia (2015), drug testing can be employed as a form of pre-employment test, which are used to screen applicants.  

Conclusion

Hiring and selection processes are essential components of the HR functions. These process should be executed in accordance to legal statues on employment. Besides, these processes can be enhanced by appropriate selection of selection devices such as interviews and ability tests. Other tests that can also be employed in enhancing these processes are integrity and drug tests. Such tests are significant in ensuring that companies select dependable and competent workers.