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Chapter 5: Screening Applicants Selecting and hiring qualified employees are essential func tions for the health of any organization. To aid in the selection and hiring of employees, agencies should implement initiatives to accurately and efficiently screen and select the individuals who are most qualified for job openings. In this chapter, we present challenges, strategies, and workforce practices related to âScreening Applicants.â Exhibit 5-1 provides a snapshot of the chapter. Exhibit 5-1 Snapshot of Chapter 5 Chapter Road Map Concept and Definition Forward-thinking transportation organizations are revising their recruitment practices and policies to make it more of a collaborative effort between hiring managers and recruiting team s, while also validating entry requirements and tests . Workforce Challenges â¦..â¦â¦....â¦.. 40 Lack of Recruiting Proces s Bureaucratic Hiring Policies Aging Workers and Technology Effect of Economic Downtur n Industry Strategies .â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦ 41 Prepare Hiring Managers to Screen Use Multiple Interviewers Integrate Human Resources in the Hiring Proces s Screen for Eligibility Screen for Competenc y Screen for âFit â Workforce Practices â¦..â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦. 43 Pennsylvania DOT Civil Engineer Training (CET) Program Definition of Screening Applicants: Involves identifying avenues for enhancing the process of screening applicants from entry-level staff to senior leaders. The goal of these efforts is to help organizations accurately and efficiently screen and select the individuals who are most qualified for a job opening. As a result, these practices help to establish a better qualified workforce. 39
Exhibit 5-1 (Continued) Snapshot of Chapter 5 Workforce Pipeline Target Area 5.1 Workforce Challenges. Programs related to âScreening Applicantsâ are typically designed to address challenges associated with accurately and efficiently screening and selecting the individuals who are most qualified for job openings. These challenges should be carefully considered before selecting the program that would best fit the needs of your agency. For example, these are common challenges agencies face: Lack of Recruiting Process. Slightly less than half of the participan ts in one of our studies indicated that their organization uses a formal recruiting process on an âas neededâ basis (Cronin et al., 2007). It is interesting to note that one-quarter of participants suggested that their organization never engages in recruitment activities as all applicants come through âword of mouth.â Some of these organizations fail to see the value in constantly updating and maintaining online job listings, company website listings, newspaper ads, and other job advertisements. Still other organizations cannot afford to pay for the costs associated with strategic recruitment initiatives. This is especially true for organizations working in the public sector. When it comes to attracting candidates, they seem to take the âkitchen sinkâ approach and im plement a handful of non-strategic initiatives instead of evaluating which of their advertisements or recruiting methods are most successful in attracting applicants from their target population. When the needs of a hiring manager change, the human resource representative must find all the locations where the open position is advertised and make the appropriate updates. Bureaucratic Hiring Policies. This factor refers to the complex bureaucracy within the organization that often results in a slow recruitment process. Several participants acknowledged that successfully hiring a candidate could take several weeks because their organizations require several levels of approval for hiring. Potential candidates typically find another position with a competitor while waiting for these approvals to take place. Some hiring managers, who feel the pressure to maintain productivity, circumvent the recruitment process by determining who they are going to hire several weeks before they open up the position for applications. This type of non-strategic approach can lead to new hires who do not have the skill sets to be successful long-term. This informal approach can also have a negative impact on the organizationâs diversity goals since individuals tend to hire those âsimilar to themselvesâ when using a non-structured process for hiring. Aging Workers and Technology. Likewise, participants indicated that a major generational difference is evident in the area of technology. There are huge gaps in the technological skills and abilities among em ployees, most notably between older and younger workers. Organizations are transforming the original face-to-face approach of recruitment to an entirely online process called e-recruiting. While this new Target Career Stages K-12 Comm. Colleges 4 year Colleges Graduate School s Entry-Level Staff Mid-Career Staff Senior Leaders Retirees Screening Applicants Chapter 5 Target Area TRANSPOR ATT ION WORKFORCE PIPELINE 40 Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce
process caters to the younger generation, participants felt that it can exclude older generations who do not have enough experience with the technology to easily apply for open positions. Effect of Economic Downturn. Participants indicated that there is a shift from an applicantâs market to an employerâs market during times of economic downturn. This shift leads to a rising applicant pool but fewer job openings. As a result, organizations no longer need to sell themselves to compete, but rather look for candidates to sell their skill sets and experiences to the organization. However, larger applicant pools make it more difficult for hiring managers to identify high-potential candidates because they are tasked with sifting through numerous resumes and applications from many candidates who would not be a good fit for the job. In addition, with larger applicant pools, the definition and benchmark for a high- potential candidate becomes more stringent. Organizations also mentioned that, during times of economic downturn, hiring freezes have ripple effects that make future recruiting difficult. One of these challenges is maintaining relationships with universities and career fairs during the freeze. At times, career fair organizers have waiting lists of employers that would like to take a spot at the career fair. As a result, a hiring freeze for one organization is another organizationâs chance to move up on the waiting list and take their spot. 5.2 Industry Strategies. Researchers and program managers identify the following programmatic strategies when describing industry efforts in âScreening Applicantsâ (see Exhibit 5-2). While these strategies represent the general direction of human resource (HR) departments across the nation, it is important that the specific needs of your agency are used to guide the development and implementation of a program in your agency. Exhibit 5-2 Industry Strategies: Screening Applicants Strategy Strategy Description Prepare Hiring Managers to Screen Many organizations indicated they are administering training to recruiters and hiring managers to help them recruit individuals of different generations, cultures, and genders. These courses instruct employees on the effective and ineffective ways to construct job advertisements and interview applicants. This training is helpful in situations where managers have to screen âwalk-onâ candidates. âWalk-onâ candidates are those who walk up to hiring managers on work sites and ask to apply for a job. This situation can put technical managers in screening and hiring situations where, before training, they may not have the necessary skills to communicate effectively or make informed decisions. These training sessions also prepare hiring managers to market the organization, a specific department, available job opportunities, and the benefits of joining the team. Use Multiple Interviewers Organizations suggested they are involving more than just the hiring manager in the interview process. Involving other managers and employees in hiring decisions increases the likelihood that the right employment decision is made. Different interview styles and questions tend to elicit more information about the candidate that can be used to make a more informed decision. This also minimizes the impact of the bias that the hiring manager may bring into the interview. It is important that the candidate is hired because of his/her âfitâ with the job requirements and organization and not personality similarity to the manager. Sometimes the additional interviewer is a human resource (HR) professional. These professionals can either interview the applicant along with the hiring manager or separately but it is important that they work Screening Applicants 41
Exhibit 5-2 (Continued) Industry Strategies: Screening Applicants Strategy Strategy Description collaboratively to come to an informed decision. This type of joint effort is critical because the hiring manager tends to primarily focus on the technical skills of the applicant while the HR professionals are assessing if the applicant is a good fit for the immediate team and the organization. Integrate Human Resources in the Hiring Process Participating organizations indicated they are ensuring that hiring managers and recruiting teams collaborate while they are sourcing, identifying, and hiring. Organizations have also found that rotating recruiters from job sites to headquarters will help to improve the screening of âwalk-on,â âword-of- mouth,â and âreferralâ candidates. Recruiting teams (e.g., managers, recruiters) can also help to manage the impression the organization is giving during the recruiting process. Some organizations call all the applicants once a week until a decision is made and then call the applicant to let them know whether or not they are being offered a position. If the person did not get the job, they let them know why and, if possible, suggest other positions where the individual may be a viable candidate. This engagement during a recruiting process is rare and stands out to an applicant, leaving a positive impression that the organization to which they are applying really cares about them. Applicants are more likely to continue to apply or tell other people to apply to the organization even when they were not initially selected. Screen for Eligibility Organizations have purchased software that asks online applicants to respond to a short set of questions that relate to job requirements for the open position. If the applicant answers a question in a way that indicates he/she is not qualified, he/she is notified and encouraged not to upload a resume to the website. This practice saves the organization the time and expense of reading resumes of unqualified applicants. Once an applicant applies and uploads their resume, organizations have started conducting background checks to determine if the information is accurate. Names of schools, certifications, licenses, past job experience, relationships with former employers, and arrest history are possible facts to verify. Screen for Competency Organizations are moving away from matrix or check-box style screening which typically involves the hiring manager or recruiter asking âyesâ or ânoâ questions regarding the applicantâs experience. Performance or behaviorally- based interviews require applicants to respond to problem solving questions where they indicate, in several sentences, how they would respond to a typical work-related situation. Positive and negative responses to these questions are pre-determined by subject matter experts in the organization. Pre-determined answers help hiring managers and recruiters quickly decide if an applicant possesses the skills, work ethic, and customer service required to perform the job. Assessments can either be paper and pencil or computer-based. One organization uses a managerial assessment process for entry-level positions to help hiring managers identify high potential applicants who could be future candidates for managerial positions. Although some organizations are discouraged from using physical abilities tests because of state laws that govern applicant assessments, others find that 42 Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce
Exhibit 5-2 (Continued) Industry Strategies: Screening Applicants Strategy Strategy Description physical abilities tests are beneficial for positions that require constant physical activity. For example, if the job requires a person to lift 50 lbs. over his/her head, organizations are asking applicants to lift this amount of weight during the interview. One organization has their applicants cut a log in half with a chain saw. This organization has found that some applicants, who indicated several years of experience with chain saws, do not know how to start the saw when asked. Organizations that have adopted these practices have also seen a decline in their worker compensation cases. Screen for âFitâ Organizations have also begun to focus efforts on including realistic job previews (RJPs) in job advertisements. A realistic job preview is where organizations, verbally or through video, provide a description of a typical work day for a person in the open position. Organizations sometimes even bring the person to the job site. They are careful to describe not only the good parts of the job but also the challenging and unpleasant aspects. If an applicant does not feel that he/she can handle the challenges and unpleasant parts of the job that individual will either screen himself/herself out or the organization will encourage the individual not to apply. This screening approach saves the applicant from having a bad experience and the organization from wasting time and money on additional recruitment efforts. Some candidates will appreciate the honesty and perceive the organization as a forthright employer. 5.3 Workforce Practices. Fourteen workforce practices that were designed to assist in making the process of âScreening Applicantsâ within transportation agencies efficient and effective were reviewed, and we identified one workforce practice that was noteworthy within this context: Pennsylvania DOT Civil Engineer Training (CET) Program For this practice, we conducted a case study. A summary of the case study is presented below. The full case study can be found on the TRB website at http://trb.org/Main/Blurbs/164747.aspx as part of Volume II: Supplemental Materials. The full case study description details each practiceâs background, implementation, maintenance, evaluation, and transferability. Screening Applicants 43
Pennsylvania DOT Civil Engineer Training (CET) Program. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has approximately 12,000 employees, not including consultants or contractors, of which roughly 10,500 are engaged in maintenance, restoration, and expansion of the highway system. PennDOT has created the Civil Engineer Training (CET) program to identify, recruit, and retain civil engineers by allowing program participants to gain 1 year of work experience rotating through the phases of civil engineering (CE) work at PennDOT. CET participants, or CETs, are inducted in a class of 25-35 trainees; each trainee must pass department tests and go through orientation and training programs to become acclimated to their work with PennDOT before they begin their year-long rotation. After the trainee completes all the requirements associated with his/her 12 months of training and job rotations, the candidate becomes eligible for full-time permanent status as a civil engineer with PennDOT. The CET program equips candidates with a supervisor, training coordinator, and a mentor to familiarize them with PennDOT and guide their career development. PennDOT created a manual for the CET program discussing the roles and responsibilities of the CET, the work phases CETs will experience (e.g., the planning and programming phase, design phase, etc.), the training courses CETs will take and activities in which they will participate, and evaluation forms for CETs to track their own progress and evaluate the CET program. Additionally, PennDOT requires CETs to maintain a daily log of activities in the form of a journal, which serves as a record for PennDOT and for the trainee to track his or her progress. The CET program was implemented by the Workforce Division of PennDOT. The Workforce Division brought Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) together from various DOT disciplines to help create the CET manual, which gets distributed to all trainees. PennDOTâs Workforce Division also partnered with the Civil Service Commission to streamline the CET application process, which can otherwise be cumbersome, and to ensure the validity of the CET entrance exam. PennDOT communicates the practice to employees and to college students, the target audience of the CET program, through learning institutions, the PennDOT website and internally through PennDOTâs intranet site, job fairs, and the Civil Service Office in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. All steps of implementing the CET program have been performed internally, and thus the only cost to PennDOT has been in employee time and resources. To assess the success of the CET program, PennDOT uses a number of measures: (1) surveying CETs and their supervisors for feedback, (2) examining traineesâ performance reviews at the end of each trainee job rotation, (3) reading CETsâ journals, and (4) examining CET completion rates of various markers in the CET program. Based on the feedback from the aforementioned methods, and on the increasing applicant pool and rising retention rates, PennDOT considers the CET program a success and credits the program with improving organizational performance. Pennsylvania DOT Civil Engineer Training (CET) Program Job Type: Engineers ROI: Mid-term Generation: Younger Key Program Highlights: o Trainees are exposed to different phases of Civil Engineering work through a 12- month job rotational period before full- time employment within a chosen area of the agency o Class sizes range between 25-35 trainees o Helps agency increase applicant pool and retention rates, while improving organizational performance 44 Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce
Other Example Practices To serve as an additional resource for agencies interested in âScreening Applicants,â we have included a list of other practices that transportation agencies have implemented for this purpose. Additional information on each of the following practices can be found in one- to two-page summaries within the supplemental materials. Decentralization of Human Resource Responsibility Eliminating Restrictive Hiring Regulations Hiring Panels Innovation in Recruiting and Hiring for Wisconsin's Department of Employee Relations Internet Recruitment New Hampshire's Computerized Hiring Process Program One Day Selection Workshops Revision of Restrictive Recruitment Policies and Practices Shaping Applicant Attitudes/Intentions in the Selection Process SonicRecruit Step One Survey II Use of Technology in Human Resource Processes Validating Entry Requirements and Examinations The practice summaries include information, such as the lead organization, practice description, practice purpose, targeted participants, return on investment (ROI) timeline, influence of the economy, innovativeness, and resources to find out more information on the individual practices. Screening Applicants 45