IPASJ International Journal of Management (IIJM)

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJM/IIJM.htm

Email: editoriijm@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-645X

A Publisher for Research Motivation........

Volume 3, Issue 7, July 2015

The Role of Human Resource Management in

Implementing Competency-Based Recruitment
and Selection
Vivekananth.P
2nd year MBA(HRM) Annamalai University Chidambaram India

ABSTRACT
The recruitment and selection are one of core tasks of HRM, and efficient strategies must be implemented to ensure that
appropriate candidates are selected for the job. Together with analyzing and accessing knowledge and experience of applicants,
competencies of candidates are to be tested in obtaining the candidate's suitability for the job. This paper examines the role of
HRM in implementing competency-based testing methods and means to impart them without ambiguity. The paper also
discusses the ways and steps to be taken for competency-based testing and selection. The competence-based interview process,
which is the core of competency-based testing, is discussed.

Need for Selecting the Right Candidates

According to Caplan, Plunkett and Levin (2015), technological advancement and the dynamics in the labor market
have made it highly crucial for every organization to ensure that they not only have adequate staff to steer its goal but
also have the right candidates. The level of competition and cost of doing business has also made it very difficult for
most organization to remain competitive and as such require the best candidate for various positions to ensure
effectiveness in delivery and quality production (Arthur 2012). With the right candidate, organizations are capable of
reducing costs as the operations of the business will be highly effective, which is very essential in the contemporary
market where the cost of production is a serious concern. As for Lurie (2012), organizations with the right candidates
are confident of producing high quality products and services that leads satisfaction of their customers needs, which is
one of the primary goals of most organizations. Every organization will, therefore, do everything they can to have the
right candidate fill various positions during selection.
The Role of HRM in Selecting Right Candidate
According to Sanchez and Levine (2009), human resource management is expected to ensure that a proper procedure is
used to get the right candidate for any position to be filled. Most human resource managers have been adopting
competency based recruitment when selecting new candidates with an aim of ensuring that the selection process is not
limited to technical abilities of the candidate (Miles & Sadler-Smith, 2014). With the competency-based selection
process, managers can go beyond technical skills and examine the applicants behavioral or cultural fit match for the
organization as a whole. According to Lee (2015), human resources managers need to come up with a behavioral
interviewing technique that will help identify and select applicants that have the competency that is considered critical
to the position to be filled. Through the behavioral interview, Human resource managers are capable of knowing the
candidates past behaviors such as how the candidate handled various situations. This is highly crucial in selecting s
candidate they will fit the organization, as past behavior is always predictive of the future.
Need for Testing Competency for Selecting Candidates
Recruitment decision can be competently reached when the recruitment agencies know more about the candidate.
According to Ellis (2014), to see that the entire selection process becomes accurate and have sufficient information
required to arrive at a well thought of decision about the candidate, there is always the need for a competency test. One
primary reason for the test competency selection is to help verify whether the candidates that can do things they claim.
There are so many people with basic requirements such as the required level of education, but some candidates are
unable to carry out their duty more competently. The use of the test will ensure that speedy selection is done, and costly
mistakes avoided. Through this test, competency information can be got from various candidates that will help make
rightful placement and as such, it remains vital for any organization.

Volume 3, Issue 7, July 2015

Page 5

IPASJ International Journal of Management (IIJM)

A Publisher for Research Motivation........

Volume 3, Issue 7, July 2015

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJM/IIJM.htm

Email: editoriijm@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-645X

Role of HRM in Competency Based Testing

Human resource management is very crucial in ensuring that competency-based testing is a success. The need for
testing in competency selection is to enable the select organization candidate with a more specific competencies
required by the position to be filled (Snell, Morris, & Bohlander, 2015). The human resource management understands
the qualities or competencies required for various functional units in the organization. With human resource
management brought in play, a rightful test that w0ill accurately bring out competencies of candidates is designed
(Takey & de Carvalho, 2015). HRM has a role of matching competency tests with job specifications to ensure that
rightful interview questions are asked for particular positions.
Steps for Competency Based Testing Method
Having understood competency-based testing and its importance, is equally important to comprehend the crucial steps
that must be followed if the objective is to be realized. The first step is to perform a job description to understand
specific competencies required to fill it ((Shahhosseini & Sebt, 2011). The second step is to design both technical and
behavioral questions that would help understand whether the candidate has the competencies required by the job
(Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The tests are then administered professionally by HRM with an aim of getting the
strength and weaknesses of the candidate for purposes of selecting the right candidate and future training needs. The
answers got from the candidates, both oral and written, are then rated objectively. The best candidate whose
competency matches the job description is then selected from the pool of candidates (Vacik et al., 2014). These steps
need to be followed one at a time without jumping the other for a desired result.
Competency Based Interview Process
To perform a competency-based interview successfully, there is a need to move from one point to another. The process
of competency-based interview is separated into two major parts that are always referred to as OPEN BACK technique
(Bamberger et al., 2014). This process is more of like a funneling process where the primary aim is to start with a broad
ranging questions about the candidate's experience and move to a more concrete evidence on the behavior of the
candidate. The first part, which is OPEN, requires the interviewer to open up the discussion with an aim of
understanding the depth of experience that candidates have when compared to competency area (Bartlett & Ghoshal,
2013). The second part of the process is BACK, which involves gathering of various concrete evidence of the candidate
in the particular situations identified in the first part. This is crucial, as understanding of the candidate's past behavior
will help the organization to predict future behavior accurately, hence their likely performance.
Analysis of Competency-Based Selection Methods in Different Companies
According to Bratton and Gold (2012), competitive based selection methods will vary from one company to the other
more so when the companies are from different industries. Competencies required in manufacturing company may
change with that needed in the banking company. It is therefore very crucial that human resource management design
competency selection different depending on the nature of the company for which a position is to be filled. The
behaviors expected from a service company is very different with behaviors required by the company that deals with
products (Lussier & Hendon, 2015). With proper analysis, rightful interview questions are designed that will bring out
specific competencies needed for the company recruiting.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, a competency-based method of recruitment and selection of candidate is very instrumental in an
organization. It gives the organization an opportunity to have effective and a very successful time investment, expertise
and money. With the help of human resource management, the approach will ensure that work demand evaluation and
staffing in the organization is accurate. Human resources management plays crucial roles from the beginning of the
competency-based selection and recruitment, as they understand job specifications and matching competencies required
for various positions to be filled (Jiang et al., 2012). Unlike in other selections methods that concentrate more on
technical competencies, competency-based selection method focuses on both technical and behavioral competency of
the candidates to be selected (Flynn et al., 2015). The contemporary world has become highly competitive, and
organization needs to have the highly competent personnel to remain gain competitive advantage.

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Volume 3, Issue 7, July 2015

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IPASJ International Journal of Management (IIJM)

A Publisher for Research Motivation........

Volume 3, Issue 7, July 2015

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJM/IIJM.htm

Email: editoriijm@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-645X

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AUTHOR
Vivekananth is studying 2nd year MBA(HRM) in Annamalai University. He has published 3 papers in
journals with topics ranging from employee motivation, team building and competency based recruitment
and selection.

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