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Profiles provide the information needed to negotiate support for further training and development at appraisal. They should form the basis of a CV or job application. Selected sections from a profile may be presented at an appraisal or job interview.
Many of us peruse job advertisements, in Job Forum, the nursing press and relevant newspapers as well as searching the web. Some are looking for a change of employment, but perhaps most of us are just curious as to what is on offer around the country. At some point, it is likely you will see a job that you want and know that you are capable of doing it well, and you will need to maximise your chances of being successful. This article aims to assist you in getting the job you want by providing information on the job application and interview processes.
Eighty-four managers who make hiring decisions in 1 of 6 occupations representative of J. L. Holland's (1973) 6 job typologies (medical technologist, insurance sales agent, carpenter, licensed practical nurse, reporter, and secretary) rated 39 hypothetical job applicants on 2 dependent variables, hirability and counterproductivity. Applicants were described on the Big Five personality factors (Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) and on general mental ability. Results showed that general mental ability and conscientiousness were the most important attributes related to applicants' hirability and that Emotional Stability, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness were the most important attributes related to counterproductivity. In most respects, these results mirror meta-analytic reviews of validity studies, thereby confirming hypotheses.
Supported work models of vocational integration have increased the employability of individuals with developmental disabilities. Interview questions most frequently used and corresponding responses considered most beneficial to job applicants were derived from an empirical analysis of the "hiring community" and served as a basis for the development of the verbal job interview skills training package evaluated in this research. Dependent measures were objective, behavioral indices of the quality of job interview responses. One-to-one training by a direct training staff, job coach, and a trained behavior analyst resulted in improved responding by all subjects as indicated in a multiple baseline design across interview questions. Improved quality in responding to questions generalized to variations in interview questions, to a novel interviewer, and in an in vivo interview situation. Finally, global measures of social validity support the value of the quality-of-response training.
Women who display masculine, agentic traits are viewed as violating prescriptions of feminine niceness (L. A. Rudman, 1998). By legitimizing niceness as an employment criterion, "feminization" of management (requiring both agentic and communal traits for managers) may unintentionally promote discrimination against competent women. Participants made hiring recommendations for a feminized or masculine managerial job. Agentic female job applicants were viewed as less socially skilled than agentic males, but this perception only resulted in hiring discrimination for the feminized, not the masculine, job. Communal applicants (regardless of sex) invariably received low hiring ratings. Thus, women must present themselves as agentic to be hireable, but may therefore be seen as interpersonally deficient. Ironically, the feminization of management may legitimize discrimination against competent, agentic women.
Offering your employees the right fringe benefits can help staff morale soar, foster loyalty, and increase the chances that a top-notch job applicant will say yes to your job offer. This article suggests practical ways to offer a competitive benefits program without breaking the bank. It includes guidance about specific benefits and suggests a dozen more extra benefits employees value and a sample cafeteria-style fringe benefits plan. Finally, the article includes guidelines about creating and using your own benefits statement with your staff; along with a model statement form you can use or adapt to your needs.
Inherent risk of injury associated with heavy physical work tasks frequently obviates direct job analysis -- content validity -- for predictive or diagnostic purposes. A common alternative is an appraisal of the physical attributes manifest by the job requirements and the selection of tests of related physical factors. 241 job applicants were given a test battery composed of 40-items at the University of California Medical Center, Sacramento, California. A factor analysis reduced the initial 40-item test battery to an unweighted 6-item field test battery FTB. Standards scales were established for the FTB and applied to evaluate without prejudice a second group of 300 applicants. Since the present criterion for adequate job performance is simply the successful completion of climbing school, means for each test item of the FTB were evaluated for their predictive value. The mean scores for the step test and balance were found to be significantly different, smaller than .05 between the successful and unsuccessful applicants, whether male or female. Percent fat differed significantly only in the males and two strength tests and reaction times were not significant. Additional studies were conducted on two groups of young adults with known fitness levels to better characterize the strength factors which are considered essential to acceptable pole climb performance. Significant differences were found for both static and dynamic strengths, p equals smaller than .05. In summary, a FTB of simple, objective, job related test items can be identified and validated for predictive and diagnostic purposes. Probabilities for success can be established through a preliminary self-screening test program and administered by the employment office. The test items which comprise the FTB can be figuratively presented as a profile analysis and incorporated in the employee's medical file for longitudinalappraisal. If meaningful standards can be established for use in preemployment or job transfer screening, substantial financial benefits can accrue to the company in terms of reduced administrative and training costs and a reduction in "sick leave" and liability resulting from industrial accidents.
This article describes the benefits of good hiring and the costs of poor hiring in a health-care environment. The elements of an effective hiring process are delineated and discussed, including job descriptions; position specifications; the advantages and disadvantages of hiring from within or outside of the organization; and job application, résumé, and telephone screening. Part II will focus on compensation considerations; the selection interview; legal issues in hiring; letting candidates know the results; and orientation of new employees. Keys for success in each of these areas are provided. An outline of the steps in a selection interview as well as specific do's and don'ts in interviewing are provided. The point is made that the selection of a new employee is one of the most important processes in the effective management of any health-care organization. Yet, it is often done in haste, with a sense of urgency and with insufficient attention to the demands of the job, the specific nature of the organization, and the less tangible but critical aspects of the applicants.
The authors evaluated the extent to which a personality-based structured interview was susceptible to response inflation. Interview questions were developed to measure facets of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability. Interviewers administered mock interviews to participants instructed to respond honestly or like a job applicant. Interviewees completed scales of the same 3 facets from the NEO Personality Inventory, under the same honest and applicant-like instructions. Interviewers also evaluated interviewee personality with the NEO. Multitrait-multimethod analysis and confirmatory factor analysis provided some evidence for the construct-related validity of the personality interviews. As for response inflation, analyses revealed that the scores from the applicant-like condition were significantly more elevated (relative to honest condition scores) for self-report personality ratings than for interviewer personality ratings. In addition, instructions to respond like an applicant appeared to have a detrimental effect on the structure of the self-report and interview ratings, but not interviewer NEO ratings.
Doing a good job of conducting thorough reference checks and background investigations of job applicants has become increasingly important in healthcare in preventing personnel-related crime and the legal consequences of negligence in hiring people who commit such crimes. However, there are many obstacles to obtaining information on applicants. In this report, we'll explore in depth the current state of background checking as described by an official of a company which provides background checking services, as well as the latest in legal practices from a leading attorney in the field.
Bernstein and Garbin (1985b) suggested that the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory's major clinical scales (excluding Scales ? and 5) can be approximated by an oblique three-component structure: (a) Profile Elevation, (b) Test-taking Attitudes, and (c) Optimism-Pessimism, collectively termed the salient weight model. In this study, we found that both this model and the MMPI's principal component structure remain invariant across race, sex, and, as previously noted, context of testing (job applicants vs. inmates in correctional institutions). We further noted that several alternative definitions of Profile Elevation provide equally satisfactory representation of the relations among the scales. This factor invariance is necessary, but not sufficient, for the MMPI to be viewed as unbiased.
Job applicants tend to send mass mailings of the same resume to potential employers. It is more effective to send customized resumes drawn from a resume database, a detailed, descriptive list of past successes in professional and personal life. This article offers a step-by-step guide to creating a resume based on results that gets results.
Job applicants tend to send mass mailings of the same resume to potential employers. Customized resumes drawn from a resume database, a detailed, descriptive list of past successes in professional and personal life, are more effective. This article offers a step-by-step guide to creating a resume-based on results--that gets results.
Performance of 565 minority and 414 majority job applicants on traditional paper-and-pencil tests and on a telephone simulation that measured similar constructs was assessed. Models of the measurement characteristics of these 2 test batteries indicated larger subgroup mean differences on the traditional tests than on the simulation. Correlations between traditional tests were lower in the majority sample than in the minority sample, and the variance of the minority candidates' scores on the traditional tests was much larger than the variance of majority applicants' scores on the same measures. The validity of the simulation was lower than the validity of the traditional tests. This study replicates previous laboratory research that has indicated smaller subgroup differences on simulations than on paper-and-pencil tests and extends this research by providing evidence of the relative validity of these 2 types of measures.
Recruiting and retaining direct-care staff has long been a challenge for administrators of programs that serve persons with disabilities. A literature review revealed that beginning in 1950, researchers set out to develop a paper-and-pencil test that would identify good employees. Regardless of how they defined good, employers were unable to identify tests that selected promising job applicants. Efforts to develop research-based selection tools decreased in the early 1970s with the transition from state institutions to community programs. However, the growth of community programs did not mitigate the turnover problem, and the need remains for a reliable hiring tool. Whereas recent researchers have identified practices that can reduce turnover, these practices should be more widely implemented and their efficacy examined.
Preemployment roentgenographs have long been used in industry to screen job applicants. Roentgenographs have had little effect, however, in curbing the cost of back problems in industry. This study evaluates the capabilities of preemployment roentgenographs for predicting acute back injury claims within the longshoring industry and for predicting back problems that lead to back disability of more than six months. The data indicate that lumbosacral roentgenographs are not helpful in predicting who is more likely to make a back injury claim, or those few who make up the vast majority of the costs for industrial back pain by becoming disabled for more than six months. Lumbosacral roentgenographs have little link to back disorders and may be viewed as discriminatory. The radiation exposure is not justified by their predictive value as a preemployment screening tool.
Most research on employment interventions focuses on job acquisition as the sole outcome measure, despite the fact that there are many intermediate steps to obtaining work. This article examines the impact of a vocational problem solving skills (VPSS) intervention to increase motivation and action step activities that lead to employment. Over a 1-year period between 1995 and 1996, a sample of 109 methadone maintained treatment clients were randomly assigned to either a 10-session vocational problem solving intervention (N= 62) or a time and attention control condition (N=47). The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) and a Vocational Motivational Assessment Checklist (VMAC) were administered upon enrollment in the study and at 6 months postbaseline. The VMAC was completed on a biweekly basis over the 12-week intervention period. The VMAC measures both the behavioral actions to obtain employment (e.g., reading want ads, completing job applications) and client perceived motivation to obtain a job. There were no differences by condition in the level of motivation to secure employment and the number of job seeking activities during the intervention period. However, motivation to work and number of action steps did predict obtaining employment for the sample as a whole at the 6-month follow-up. Although the intervention did not increase motivation and job seeking activities, information regarding reasonable outcomes for this population of chronically unemployed persons was identified. Also, practical and methodological implications are discussed.
Offering employment structures other than traditional full-time positions in your practice can help you draw excellent job applicants and also can enable you to increase morale, job satisfaction, and productivity. However, there are many decisions you must make when offering a part-time, flex-time, or job-sharing position. This article explores the pros and cons of offering alternative job structures. It suggests ways to make part-time, flex-time, or job-sharing positions work most effectively, both for the employee and for your practice. In addition, this article suggests which positions are best suited to alternative structures.