Pole Climbers

HALIFAX UNIVERSITY

Submitted by: Qais Qureshi

POLE CLIMBERS

Ringing Bell Company has to redesign the selection process for the position of outdoor craft technician due to an adverse impact on employment opportunities for women. Currently the failing rate is at 70% for women compared to 30% for men. The reasons identified for high failing rate for the installation school's training program include physical inability to climb poles, fear of height, an accident during pole climbing while at training school, strenuous work involved and some women have also mentioned that they felt influenced by the interviewer while applying for the outdoor craft position of a installer-repairer and line worker.

Inability to effectively communicate the job requirement and description and a flawed interview process that misleads the women candidates in thinking that the interviewer had "influenced" them are some of the factors that's result in high filing rate among women trainees. By redesigning the selection process and the steps involved Ringing Bell Company can mitigate these factors. The HR department at the Ringing Bell Company adheres to the selection process steps like employment testing, physical examination and preliminary interviews but the sequence and tests involved in the employee selection process can be improved based on these recommendations.

The steps involved in the selection process are mentioned in the figure below. HR department would need to realign the processes involved in these steps.

Preliminary Interview:

The preliminary interview is used to determine whether the applicant's skills, abilities, and job preferences match any of the available jobs in the organization, to explain to the applicant the available jobs and their requirements, and to an¬swer any questions the applicant has about the available jobs or the employer. This is where Ringing Bell has to clearly communicate the nature of the job and the skills and abilities required.

A preliminary interview is usually conducted after the applicant has completed the application form. It is generally a brief, exploratory interview that is normally conducted by a specialist from the human resource department. The interview screens out unqualified or uninterested applicants. Interview questions must be job related and are subject to demonstrations of validity.

Employment Testing:

Many types of commercial tests are available to organizations for use in the selection process. Many of these tests have undergone validation and reliability studies. Of the various categories of testing the HR department at the Ringing Bell Company should make Psychomotor and Interest test an integral part of the Employment testing step of the selection Process.

Given the physical nature of the job position the psychomotor test measures a person's strength, dexterity, and coordination. Finger dexterity, manual dexterity, wrist-finger speed, and speed of arm movement are some of the psychomotor abilities that can be tested. Interest tests are designed to determine how a person's interests compare with the interests of successful people in a specific job. These tests indicate the occupations or areas of work in which the person is most interested. The basic assumption in the use of interest tests is that people are more likely to be successful in jobs they like. The primary problem with using interest tests for selection purposes is that responses to the questions are not always sincere. However, these two tests do provide a workable guideline of selecting a more suitable candidate for the job position.

In addition to the above factors and recommendations of the selection process another integral step is the Interview process. Its purpose is to supplement information obtained in other steps in the selection process to determine the suitability of an applicant for a specific opening. All questions asked during an interview must be job related. Therefore structured interview format should be adopted where the interview is conducted using a predetermined outline that is based on a thorough job analysis. Through the use of this outline, the interviewer maintains control of the interview so that all pertinent information on the applicant is covered systematically. Advantages of the structured interview are that it provides the same type of information on all interviewees and allows systematic coverage of all questions deemed necessary by the organization.

One of the outcomes of the high failing rate for women in the training school was the "influence" practiced by the interviewers while conducting the initial interview. Although interviews have widespread use in selection procedures, a host of problems exist. The first and certainly one of the most significant problems is that interviews are subject to the same legal requirements of validity and reliability as other steps in the selection process. However, research has indicated that the validity and reliability of most interviews are very questionable. One primary reason seems to be that it is easy for the interviewer to become either favorably or unfavorably impressed with the job applicant for the wrong reasons. Obviously,