The second reason (and probably the most important one) why an applicant approaches a particular company for employment is because of the company's reputation. If a company was able to build a reputation of treating employees well and has a reputation of providing opportunities both for personal and professional development towards their employees, that company will find it increasingly easy to attract talents to accept positions in their organization. This principle is very academic, why would an applicant apply in a company with a reputation of maltreating employees? Employers' good reputation is actually a good selling point when inviting applicants to join their company and candidates usually bite into these feature.

However, companies usually face certain predicaments when too many applicants flock to their premises for employment. One of which is how to turn-down unqualified candidates. Poor handling of these candidates might back-fire on the reputation of the company. Turned-down applicants might bad-mouth the company to other applicants, friends, relatives, or to his existing co-workers. He or she will also stop from patronizing your company's products or services. No individual will look down on himself; rejection from a potential employer will never be taken lightly by the applicant. It will take a long time before he or she forgives the company for rejecting him/her from joining the company.

Given these scenarios, companies must consider the following when handling unqualified applicants:

1. Always respond to applications. Whether an application was received by snail mail or e-mail, the employer must acknowledge the application either by sending a letter or an e-mail. For unqualified curriculum vitae, the content of the “rejection” letter must be polite and should not be “too” direct to the point. Thanking the applicant for considering the company is a must. Responding to applications may entail additional cost to the company in terms of postage, but which is more important? The cost of the stamps or the cost of losing your good reputation?
2. Stop using the phrase “we will call you”. Applicants are so oriented with that phrase. If they hear those words, it means the end of the story. If the interviewer realizes that the applicant he is interviewing is not qualified (or over qualified) for the position, the interviewer should know how to end the interview gracefully. It's like breaking-up, you know someone will be hurt, but the rule is “less pain, the better”.
3. Do not make empty promises. During the interview, the employer must never promise the stars just to attract the applicant to join the organization. Interviews are just the tip of the iceberg, you cannot foretell whether the applicant is 100% qualified or not. Finish the entire recruitment process (including the training process) before promising something like salary increases, bonuses, etc.
4. Put your feet on the ground. Companies overwhelm themselves when they receive tons and tons of applicants on a regular basis. They usually feel proud and superior. These companies tend to developed the “come and catch me” syndrome. They'll hide and you'll seek them. In economics, there is the supply and demand curve, the higher the supply (applicants) the lower the price (salary offer). However, this behavior should not be tolerated and time will come this will back fire on the company's future operations… or reputation.

When recruiting an applicant, companies should look at all candidates as customers. They have needs and wants that you have to satisfy. And once you have satisfied them, you will be assured of loyal, hard-working, and productive employees.

1. Between the KSAs (knowledge, skills and ability) of the individual and the task demands
2. Between the overall personality of the individual and the culture of the organization

Person-Organization Fit and HIO

High involvement organizations (HIOs) are another class of organization that uses multiple systems to support hiring for person-organization fit.

For obvious reasons, hiring practices in HlOs typically attempt to select employees who prefer working in groups and who have high needs for personal growth and development.

Thus, the hiring process is one design element of many that must fit with the overall design.

Characteristic of HIO

1. The organization is designed to create very high levels of employee involvement
2. Power, information, skills, and rewards for performance are pushed down to the lowest levels of the organization
3. Self-managed teams or other structures enable employees to share decision-making power
4. Extensive training in technical, social, and business skills provides team members with the skills needed for effective self-management
5. Information systems communicate the performance data that teams need to manage themselves
6. Reward systems such as skill-based pay and gain sharing motivate needed behaviors, such as learning and problem solving

When the recruitment process has advanced to the interview stage, the recruiter, typically from the human resource department, needs to decide what kind of interview would be used. Some of the criteria affecting this choice of interview type is the nature of the job, industry, or field, age of applicant, corporate culture etc.

• Unstructured Interview - The interviewer has a list of points that needs to be covered though the interview flows naturally like a chat. This method is very useful for relaxing the interviewee. The interviewer, however, should go through every point and must carefully note down all the answers and evaluate them systematically.
• Critical Incident Interview - Candidates are given some job-related critical incidents. They are then interviewed about what actions they would take in these particular situations. The interviews are then scored using a scoring system.
• Behavior Description Interviews - Candidates are asked what actions they have taken in prior job situations that are similar to situations they may encounter on the job. The interviewees also may need to give justifications for their actions. The interviews are then scored using a scoring system.
• Structured Behavioral Interview - This technique involves asking interviewees, standardized questions about how they handled past situations that were similar to situations they might encounter on their job. The interviewer may also ask probing questions for details of the situations, the interviewee's behavior in the situation, rational for particular decisions and the outcome. The interviewee's responses can then be scored with behaviorally anchored rating scales.
• Comprehensive Structured Interviews - This technique is wider in scope than the previous technique. In addition to the former, interviewees are asked about job knowledge, worker requirements, and how the candidate would perform various job simulations. This method of interviews is a way to assess a candidate's current level of knowledge about different dimensions of job performance, which are difficult to quantify (i.e., "tacit knowledge," "emotional intelligence," or "practical intelligence" related to a specific job).
• Oral Interview Boards - The main difference here is that instead of one or two interviewers, there is a panel of interviewers firing questions in rapid sequence. Each member of the panel then rates the interviewee on such dimensions as work history, creative thinking, motivation, and presentation. The scoring procedure for oral interview boards is typically subjective. This technique is very time-consuming and expensive and may not be feasible when a large number of applicants must be interviewed.

The main purpose of the recruitment interview is to get information on certain pre-defined issues. In addition the recruitment interview also should give an in-depth impression of the interviewee. Whatever technique the interviewer chooses, the overall impression the interviewer gets should also be noted down and should be considered when making the final decision. A hunch ignored at the interview could have in many cases helped avoid an expensive wrong recruitment.

Employers often use salary requests to weed out the unsuitable job hunters from the candidate pool. If you put in too high a request, the employer naturally thinks you are too expensive for them. On the other hand, if your salary expectation is too low, the prospective employer might think that you don't value yourself and thus many not be a valuable employee for them.

There are three kinds of advice experts give on how to tackle the issue of mentioning salary expectations. These advices may seem contradictory, but each advice has sound logic. Read them carefully and decide what is suitable for your particular case.

Three strategies for replying to salary requests:

1. Ignore salary request
2. Get around the salary request
3. Meet salary request with a range

Some experts will tell you to ignore the salary request. Now, what are the repercussions? If you totally ignore the salary request, the employer might think that you overlooked it because you are unsure of what you deserve, you are careless in filling forms or you are desperate and want to negotiate about salary but would accept whatever you got. If the employer specifically mentions a salary request, they have reasons for doing so. Usually, the salary request is a method for making sure that the candidate knows her/his market value.

The second advice you'd get is “Don't think that employers are so easily fooled if you omit your salary expectations! They will wonder why you didn't mention it.” So, try to get around this dilemma by using phrases like “Each position in my career has brought fresh challenges. I've been promoted regularly with suitable benefit packages. I'd rather discuss this issue of salary and benefits face to face during the interview.”

The third advice from the experts is “Meet the salary request directly with a range.” One good way is to put a little more than the minimum you can accept as the lower figure on the range and the higher figure a reasonable notch higher. A typical example would be “Depending on the nature and scope of my responsibilities, I could negotiate for $35,000 - 45,000.”

Overall, if the job ad doesn't mention a salary request, it is better that you don't either. There is a possibility that you are screened out if you give the wrong salary expectation. You have better leverage in negotiating a better salary package during the interview process itself.

The liberalisation of economic activities has an impact upon the nature of work of an organisation, employment, labour markets and employee. It is evident that MNCs has opened production sites at various locations around the world and these production sites can be relocated easily according to the company's objectives. This relocation of production sites of multinational companies affects the employee and HR practices.

The multinational companies are thought agents of change. They bring new information's and thinking for the local organisations and the latter follow these ideas and standard in the field of HR.

Traditionally, retailing even wholesaling is considered as a localized sector, which means composed of small-scale operations. The introduction of various laws that encourage free

trade or lessen trade barriers through international treaties has made commerce vital to attain economic growth resulting in lesser barriers in worldwide employment.

Huge multinational or national retail chains are considered among the largest businesses in many developed countries, and accounted for a huge share of the approximately US$6.5 trillion in international commercial transactions in 1997.

There are various contributing factor for this phenomenon. Leading among them are the technological advancements (including electronic commerce for instance) introduced, the international movement of enterprises and quickly spreading competition-driven changes such as just-in-time production and sales. Ironically, these are considered both the cause and result of an increasingly integrated and highly competitive global market that deeply affect the organization and human resource strategy of commercial organizations. Despite its development and dynamism, deterioration of employment and working conditions are also getting prevalent causing concern among business organizations.

The trends of regionalization and the effects of global operations have heightened the need to set up HRD strategies to acquire and retain competent workforce for them to maintain competitive market positions. The skill shortages often pertain to managerial and professional skills, clerical and production workers and an overall shortage of IT skills for all economies.

It is important to keep the capabilities of both managers and workers presently working for the business at the same time introduce structural changes to allow a smooth transition to higher value-added industries. The solution for the multi-national companies as well as local companies in production sites and strategic regional centers could be in better forecasting of HRD needs, a cost-benefit training framework, better labor market policy-making, and quality vocational and training programs that are jointly conducted by the government and the private sector.

However, the law in many countries restricts what you can ask or cannot ask candidates at job interviews. Established practice and common decency also dictate how you should conduct a job interview. The purpose of these laws restricting some areas of inquiry is to prevent discrimination, so that every human being gets a fair chance of being recognized for true worth and contribution rather than on grounds of skin colour, ethnicity, gender or age etc.

Though the majority of interviewees are genuinely interested in getting the jobs they apply for, a small number of dishonest people purposely plan misusing the interview system by finding out what is illegal, going for interviews and then suing the company for discrimination when the interviewer has asked the wrong questions. Corporate HR interviewing policy usually learns to take account of these unfortunate malpractices after some expensive litigation.

Though they vary from country to country, some overall guidelines could be given. Some of these restricted areas of inquiry at job interviews are:

• Nationality
• Birthplace
• Ethnicity or race
• Religion
• Sexual orientation
• Marital status
• Health conditions and physical disabilities

The following list of questions gives only some very broad guidelines. You should always check with your company's HR department or with someone who really knows to see if your state or locality, or even your company, has additional restrictions on what you may not ask.

1. Where were you born?

   This question might seem like innocent small talk, but it could also be used to gather information about the candidate's national origin. You should ask whether a candidate is authorized to work in the country, but avoid asking about citizenship. But some jobs are restricted to nationals of that country so you need to ask that question with proof of such citizenship.

2. What is your native language?

   You can ask whether the person speaks a language required for carrying out the job. For example, if job responsibilities include supporting French-speaking customers, it's fair to ask whether the candidate speaks French fluently.
   
   Race or ethnicity is an irrelevant factor affecting the employee's capacity to do the job though there might be some exceptional cases relating to employment in roles that require involvement with particular ethnicities or nationalities. Many employers are aware that discrimination on the basis of race is unlawful so they try to go around by asking questions like “Is that a Jewish name? But enquiries into the ethnicity of candidates are illegal in many countries.

3. Are you a lesbian? Are you married?

   This question is off limits at job interviews as the information gained can be used as a basis for discrimination. Achieving the balance between work and private life is considered the individual's own affair and does not concern the employer.

4. Do you have children?

   This might sound like an innocent question in most setting, but in a job interview it is illegal. There are general prohibitions about discrimination over parental status, so avoid asking this question.

5. Do you plan to get pregnant?

   This information is insulting, private and also can be used as a basis for discrimination so it should never be asked.

6. How old are you?

   Age discrimination is illegal, and you should avoid asking this question. Usually people write their age on their CVs. It's equally ridiculous to ask a senior level applicant with decades of job experience “Are you sure you are over 18 years old?&rdquo

7. Do you observe Ramadan or Yom Kippur?

   You can't discriminate candidates on the basis of religion, so this question is illegal. If you're concerned about the candidate's availability during certain times of the year, you could ask whether he or she can work on holidays and weekends. But you cannot ask about the observance of particular religious holidays, as this question is discriminatory.

8. Do you have a disability or chronic illness?

   This information is illegal as a factor in recruitment, so the question is illegal. If the job requires some specific physical skills, such as installing cables in high places or standing for most of the day, you may ask whether the person could perform those tasks in those particular circumstances.

9. Are you in the National Guard or liable for conscription?

   It's illegal to discriminate against someone because he or she belongs to the National Guard or is liable to conscription.

10. Do you smoke or use alcohol?

    Almost all jobs forbid drinking being under the influence of alcohol while on the job but consuming alcohol on free time is a private affair. Smoking is also forbidden indoors in many countries. Though people can be fired for drinking or being under the influence of alcohol or other narcotics while on work, and spontaneous tests can be conducted at the workplace, asking about these can be problematic. So make sure what is allowed or not in your country or state.

Most of the articles on the Internet on the topic of what is legal or illegal in job interviews focus on the USA. As legislation and established practices differ in different countries, please make sure of local conditions before designing your own job interview questions.

Personality profiles have become an essential tool for employers who want accurate assessments of potential employees. “Nearly three quarters of UK companies now rely on psychometric profiling when recruiting.” States the British Market Research Bureau in a recent article in the Times. It is standard for employers to use profiling to understand, enhance and improve personal and team performance.

But which one do you choose? There are so many psychometric tools from which to choose it helps if you are clear about exactly what it is you wish to measure. Based on a recent on line poll the most popular uses of Personality Profiles falls into three distinct areas:

Recruitment and Candidate Selection

Mainly to provide insight and reduce risk.

Employee Growth and Development

To ensure employers retain and make the most of key staff.

Temperament and Team Building - significantly improve interpersonal communication and productivity both internally and externally.

There is no doubt that personality profiles can provide insight in these areas and generate measurable improvements. Yet this trend is not a modern phenomenon as the basics of personality profiling has been around for a long time. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator was developed in the 1950's and is still popular now even though this was based on the work of Carl Jung in the 1920's. The lineage of personality profiling can be traced back through the centuries, right back to Plato around three hundred and forty years before the birth of Christ.

Surprisingly the basic nature of all personality profiles has remained surprisingly static in all that time. They measure an individual's psychological attributes using one of two different styles or instruments:

Aptitude Tests: These mainly consist of "right" (like me) or "wrong" (not like me) answers. They are constructed to measure a person's ability or aptitude. Some tests gauge someone's verbal or numerical skills and are used when a particular skill or aptitude is required to do a job. So, aptitude tests tend to be used to measure “hard” skills.

Open Ended Questionnaires: Typically there are no right or wrong answers because questionnaires consider someone's characteristics or how they prefer to behave. Open Ended Questionnaires tend to be used to measure “soft” skills.

So whilst it is true that a psychometric profile may provide some rigor to the process of recruiting, give confidence in making the right decision and perhaps help to appoint the right person. They are not always an objective mechanism to short list candidates or eliminate those individuals without the right temperament.

When Profiles Go Bad

The issue is not the process but the nature of how the information is gathered. Both test and questionnaire based profiles use a linguistic base to drive the profile. And these questions, or variations of them, have been around for a long time. People who are exposed to them are becoming used to the style, pattern and content. Cheating is common place, in fact you can by books and attend courses in how to answer the questions in a way that changes the profile.

Results are easy to manipulate, even without any detailed "inside knowledge". For example the question below was taken at random from a widely used and popular test. Does interacting with strangers (a) energise you or (b) tax your reserves?

Frankly, it doesn't take much understanding of psychometric profiles to realise that this question is measuring your preference for social interaction. Most popular profiles would define this trait as Introversion or Extroversion. If you have a basic understanding of personality profiles you could predict the employer's requirements, modify your answers and alter your profile. As familiarity with the questions and interview coaching increase the effectiveness of profiles increasingly diminishes. This is a growing concern for employers and the profiling industry.

To combat this trend modern psychometric tests are emerging that record the subject's response to non-verbal stimuli. The techniques used work at a deeper more unconscious level, which makes them much harder to predict or second guess. There is even a suggestion that the answers given are more accurate, eliminating the other issue with traditional profiles which is the number of questions that need to be asked. Instead of spending ten, fifteen or thirty minutes often a visually based psychometric profile can often be completed in less than a minute. You can try an example of this style of test at personaliteye.com. Another advantage of this "non-verbal" style is that the applicant's language skills are less of an influence on the result.

If words and questions are being replaced by images and preferences, perhaps this will make psychometric profiling not only faster, fun and more accurate.

In a recent research study commissioned by the on-line recruitment company ifoundwork.com undertaken by Extra Sensory Perception Limited, over 50 key industry sector recruiters in the UK were tele-researched. Specifically, they were asked about the traits that they find most appealing and repulsive in an applicant. When asked about what made a negative impression on them during the interview process certain key trends were revealed. The eight traits below are the things that most annoyed prospective employers and killed off any chance of the applicant being successful.

Job applicant's who want the best chance of impressing a prospective employer, should review the eight traits below and avoid them - like the plague! To arrive at this "things not to do in an interview" list, the employer were asked “Of the people you last interviewed and rejected, how could you tell that they were not really suited to the position?” The verbatim answers given were then clustered into generic areas. Applicant qualifications and relevant experience were excluded from the sample, so only the impression left from the interview process was counted. It's the remaining trends and statements from the general clusters that counted towards the eight traits.

The What Not To Do Traits

1. Demonstrate lack of interest or enthusiasm.
2. Present themselves in an unkempt, untidy or unsuitable or manner.
3. Be uncommunicative, especially in the first 2 minutes of the interview.
4. Have few or no interpersonal or rapport skills, specifically eye contact.
5. Having trouble completing application forms.
6. Being late for the interview and do not making reasonable efforts to inform the interviewer.
7. Having expectations of a position beyond their ability.
8. Demonstrate a negative attitude toward past employers.

The demonstration of any one of these traits could prove be a disaster, but typically it took three or more to be fatal to the applicant's chances. So, avoiding any of these simple pitfalls will improve the applicant's chance of being successful and securing that perfect job. A full copy of the research findings is available as a free pdf download from www.virtual-therapist.com. Either way simply avoiding the “what not to do” list will provide the best opportunity of becoming one of the 6-7% of applicants who are successful - whatever the economic outlook. Good Luck!