Selection

Personnel selection and assessment activities are integral parts of organisational life. The contemporary economic climate has seen an ever increasing level of staff turnover and personnel reorganisation, and the abolition of the traditional view of 'a job for life'. 

Consequently, there is more pressure now on organisations to fill vacant positions quickly and with the most appropriate individuals (Lievens et al., 2002). When a company needs to recruit new staff or make promotion decisions about employees, there are various methods of assessment at its disposal. 

Selection is the methodical placement of individuals into jobs whilst keeping to employment laws and regulations. Its impact on the organisation is realised when employees achieve years or decades of service to the employer. The process of selection follows a methodology to collect information about an individual in order to determine if that individual should be employed (Human Resource Guide, 2001a; Fisher et al., 2006).

The selection process consists of three stages as illustrated in Figure 1 below.

     Figure 1: Selection process

     Source: Fisher et al. (2006), p. 283

This blog examines three different methods of assessment and selection commonly used by Thistle Hotels namely interviews, application forms and letter of reference.

SELECTION METHODS

INTERVIEWS

An interview is a selection procedure designed to predict future job performance on the basis of applicants' oral responses to oral inquiries (Human Resource Guide, 2001b). Personnel selection interviews take a variety of forms but are essentially a conversation between a candidate and one or more interviewers with a specific purpose. There are two main forms of interviews namely, unstructured and structured interviews that are employed in a selection process. 

Unstructured Interviews

This form of interview follows no particular pattern or structured format. The ubiquitous use of the unstructured selection interview in organisations attests to the faith that both employers and applicants have in the casual and unrestrained face-to-face conversation as a technique for selection. However, this form of interview is usually associated with a low level of validity. One explanation for the consistently low validity in the unstructured interview is that different interviewers may rate the same information differently, and features that are irrelevant to the personal attributes required for the job such as age, race, appearance, sex, experience of interviews and the job market situation introduce bias into how interviewers evaluate information (McNamara, 1999).

Structured Interviews

Structured interviews are the most effective type of interview. The interview process is formed through identification of the key requirements of the job and a list of questions is drawn up. A panel of interviewers works through each set of questions with each candidate and scores them on their answers. At the end of the interview process the overall scores are considered and the best candidate chosen. If additional selection methods are chosen this is fed into the overall process at the end and again the best-fit candidate is offered the appointment (Campion et al., 1994). 

Even where the interview is structured, this does not mean that follow up questions cannot be asked to probe more deeply into a candidate's skills and experience. An interview which does not do this, but instead sticks to a rigid list of questions, will not allow the interviewer to obtain the information required to make a proper decision. 

By removing the subjectivity from the interview, standardising the procedure, and introducing a direct link between the interview content and job success, it follows that structured interviews have a much higher degree of job relatedness and validity than their unstructured counterparts (Hollowitz and Wilson, 1993).

Other forms of interviews include situational interview and behaviour description interviews (Schumann, 2008).  

Advantages

• Useful for determining if the applicant has requisite communicative or social skills which may be necessary for the job.
• Interviewer can obtain supplementary information.
• Used to appraise candidates' verbal fluency.
• Can assess the applicant's job knowledge.
• Can be used for selection among equally qualified applicants.
• Allows the applicant to ask questions that may reveal additional information useful for making a selection decision.
• The interview may be modified as needed to gather important information.

Disadvantages

• Decisions tend to be made within the first few minutes of the interview with the remainder of the interview used to validate or justify the original decision.
• Interviewers form stereotypes concerning the characteristics required for success on the job.
• Research has shown disproportionate rates of selection between minority and non-minority members using interviews (Kvale, 1996).
• The drawback with highly structured interviews is that they often remove from the interview situation those interpersonal aspects which are often valued by interviewers and interviewees alike (Pawlas, 1995).

APPLICATION FORMS

The role of the application form is to act as the first filter, choosing a relatively small number of applications to process further. This procedure is known as sifting. Research suggests that sifting is not always done very effectively (Key, 2011). 

The traditional approach to applying for jobs in the public sector is to complete a fairly lengthy application form. However, if certain jobs are hard to recruit to and competitors generally ask for CVs rather than application forms, organisations may consider accepting CVs. If this is the case other safeguards may be used, for example, deleting indications of sex and race before the CVs are passed to shortlisters and more careful evaluation of decisions made in the recruitment process (Graduate Recruitment Bureau, 2012). 

Advantages

• Owing to the standardised format of application forms, it is easier for employers to scan the information and make comparisons. The employer can ask for the exact information he or she needs to know (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 2012).
• It is easy to compare the skills and experience of different applicants.
• The same application form can be used for future vacancies thereby making it cost effective. 
• The benefit of using an application form from the organisation's perspective is that it ensures that the same information is gained from candidates which help to achieve a level of consistency in the short-listing process.
• There are also equal opportunities considerations as the consistency produced by the use of application forms is more likely to engender fairness in the recruitment process.

Disadvantages

• They are time-consuming and can be tricky to design.
• The cost involved in producing and sending them out to applicants can be high.
• Lengthy application forms can be off-putting.

LETTER OF REFERENCE

References work on the principle that the best way of finding out about someone is to ask someone who knows him or her well, such as a former employer or schoolteacher (McGrane, 2010). The principle is sound – former employers may have valuable information. 

Requesting references encourages candidates to be honest about the claims made at application stage, but as the candidate selects who to nominate as a referee it is reasonable to expect that a favourable representation of her/him will be presented. Therefore, additional tests are required to establish a fuller picture of the candidate.

According to Advameg Incorporated (2012), the main format options for requesting a reference are:

• Open request - which asks the referee’s opinion on the candidates to undertake the job as detailed within the About the Job for the post.
• Structured reference request - which asks the referee to grade the candidate’s suitability on a number of areas identified as relevant to the About the Job requirements, and general areas such as attitude and trustworthiness. This is often presented within a summary table format.

Advantages 

• This method helps employers weed out employees who may have represented themselves dishonestly and gives them an opportunity to learn about the candidate’s reliability and job performance.

Disadvantages 

• The practice of using references as a selection method is less perfect. Occasionally, unsatisfactory references may affect decisions to appoint individuals (Key, 2011). Hence, references can never be used as the sole grounds on which to base a recruitment decision as they provide a limited perspective of an individual´s abilities and performance. 
• A prospective employee is unlikely to use a reference from a negative work experience. Just like the resume, references are tailored to put candidates in the best light possible and therefore, prospective employees can hide their unwanted attitude from employers.

PERSONAL INTERVIEW PARTICIPATION

On the 16^th of October 2011, I had an interview appointment with the Departmental Head of the Food and Beverage section of Thistle Hotel at 9:30 a.m. On that very day, I arrived at the premises of the hotel at 9:20 a.m. in order to avoid creating a bad impression to my potential employer. He called my phone to check if I had arrived and later usher me into one of the conference rooms for the interview. As he began questioning me about my suitability for the job, he was asked by one of his colleagues to report to the restaurant to address a pressing issue. He therefore asked that I excuse him as there was an emergency he had to attend to. I waited for almost thirty minutes alone in the conference room. On his return, he apologised for his action and told me I could start working the following week. I was a bit surprised because I felt we had not completed the interview session.

In my opinion the interview conducted was not effective. In the first place, the interview ended abruptly without the employer completely exhausting questions he wanted to ask and also I never had the opportunity of asking for clarifications about the job and the role I had to play. Additionally, I feel the interview could have been conducted by a panel made up of three or four persons instead of just one. Also, it would have been appropriate if the interview was scheduled at a time when the interviewer was not on duty or better still during off peak periods to avoid any interruptions.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the three selection methods discussed above, the following recommendations are made with respect to improving each processes.

Interviews recommendations

• Minimise stereotypes: To minimize the influence of racial and sex stereotypes in the interview process, provide interviewers with a job description and specification of the requirements for the position. Interviewers with little information about the job may be more likely to make stereotypical judgements about the suitability of candidates than are interviewers with detailed information about the job.
• Job Related: Try to make the interview questions job related. If the questions are not related to the job, then the validity of the interview procedure may be lower.
• Train Interviewers: Members involved in the interview process should be trained in interviewing skills and the sorts of questions they should or should not ask as an interview conducted in a bad manner could hamper the selection of qualified candidates.

According to Kvale (1996), interviewers should be trained to:

• avoid asking questions unrelated to the job
• avoid making quick decisions about an applicant
• avoid stereotyping applicants
• avoid giving too much weight to a few characteristics
• try to put the applicant at ease during the interview
• communicate clearly with the applicant
• maintain consistency in the questions asked

Application form recommendations

• To avoid putting off applicants due to the lengthy nature of application forms, it is recommended that application forms should only address the really important areas to allow short listing to take place.
• Applicants should be asked to describe things that they have done which relate to key competences for the job. For example, the competence ability to influence others is assessed by the request to ‘describe an occasion when you had to persuade others to accept an unpopular course of action’.

Letter of Reference recommendations

• Reference checks are a tool that can substantiate and validate candidate information and provide further insight into a candidate’s skills, abilities, and knowledge. To avoid hiring mistakes, selection decisions should always be corroborated by checking a candidate’s work related references. 
• A minimum of two, but ideally three references should be checked by a member of the interview panel to ensure that follow-up questions from the interview and assessment can be probed. Telephone reference checks are the most informative and valid method of obtaining reference information. Letters of reference and non-work related references should be avoided and used cautiously (Advameg Incorporated, 2012).
• If references are not received for all applicants in time for interviews as requested, this should not have a negative effect on the candidates in question.
  
  

CONCLUSION

When determining which selection method is most appropriate, it is necessary to consider the requirements of the job, through analysis of the job or role description and person specification, and what skills, experience and aptitudes are being sought. It is worth mentioning that, more than one selection method may be appropriate for a particular job. 

It is also important to evaluate the success of the selection method to ensure that it is effective. This can be done through seeking the views of candidates who have undertaken the selection process and/or analysing recruitment statistics and turnover rates. This offers the opportunity to find out if the methods are still relevant and useful to the current selection process, particularly if there have been changes to the job or a requirement for new skills.

REFERENCES

Advameg Incorporated (2012) Employee Hiring [online]. Available from: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/small/Di-Eq/Employee-Hiring.html [Accessed 28 February 2012].

Campion, M.A., Campion, J.E. and Hudson, J.P., Jr. (1994) Structured Interviewing: A Note on Incremental Validity and Alternative Question Types. Journal of Applied Psychology.79, pp.998-1002.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (2012) The application process - CVs and application forms [online]. Available from: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1073793812&type=RESOURCES [Accessed 27 February 2012].

Fisher, C.D., Schoenfeldt, L.F. and Shaw, J.B. (2006) Human Resource Management. 6^th ed. Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin.

Graduate Recruitment Bureau (2012) Selection Methods [online]. Available from: http://www.grb.uk.com/selection-methods.0.html [Accessed 27 February 2012].

Hollowitz, J. and Wilson, C.E. (1993) Structured Interviewing in Volunteer Selection. Journal of Applied Communication Research. 21, pp.41-52.

Human Resource Guide (2001a) Personnel Selection: Overview [online]. Available from: http://www.hr-guide.com/data/G300.htm [Accessed 28 February 2012].

Human Resource Guide (2001b) Personnel Selection: Methods: Interviews [online]. Available from: http://www.hr-guide.com/data/G311.htm [Accessed 28 February 2012].

Key, M.S. (2011) Pros and Cons of Employee Selection Techniques [online]. Available from: http://www.brighthub.com/office/human-resources/articles/103196.aspx [Accessed 28 February 2012].

Kvale, S. (1996) Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.

Lievens, F., van Dam, K. and Anderson, N. (2002) Recent trends and challenges in personnel selection. Personnel Review. 31 (5), pp.580 – 601.

McGrane, C. (2010) Reference Checking in the Selection Process [online]. Available from: http://www.focus.com/briefs/reference-checking-selection-process/ [Accessed 27 February 2012].

McNamara, C. (1999) General Guidelines for Conducting Interviews.  Minnesota: Authenticity Consulting.

Pawlas, G.E. (1995) The Structured Interview: Three Dozen Questions to Ask Prospective Teachers. NASSP Bulletin. 79, pp.62-65.

Schumann, P.L. (2008) Selection Methods [online]. Available from: www.scribd.com/doc/.../Mgmt440-t06-Selection-Methods [Accessed 27 February 2012].

Recruitment

Acquiring and retaining high-quality talent is critical to an organisation’s success. As the job market becomes increasingly competitive and the available skills grow more diverse, recruiters need to be more selective in their choices, since poor recruiting decisions can produce long-term negative effects, among them high training and development costs to minimise the incidence of poor performance and high turnover which, in turn, impact staff morale, the production of high quality goods and services and the retention of organisational memory. At worst, the organisation can fail to achieve its objectives thereby losing its competitive edge and its share of the market (Richardson, 2011).

Recruitment is described as the set of activities and processes used to legally obtain a sufficient number of qualified people at the right place and time so that the people and the organisation can select each other in their own best short and long term interests (Schuler, 1987).

In other words, it is the process of identifying and attracting a group of potential candidates from within and outside the organisation to evaluate for employment (Bernthal, 2010)

The recruitment process therefore provides the organisation with a pool of potentially qualified job candidates from which judicious selection can be made to fill vacancies.

The recruitment industry has five main types of agencies: employment agencies, recruitment websites and job search engines, "headhunters" for executive and professional recruitment, niche agencies which specialize in a particular area of staffing and in-house recruitment (Daswani, 2011).

Successful recruitment begins with proper employment planning and forecasting. In this phase of the staffing process, an organisation formulates plans to fill or eliminate future job openings based on an analysis of future needs, the talent available within and outside of the organisation, and the current and anticipated resources that can be expended to attract and retain such talent.

Also related to the success of a recruitment process are the strategies an organisation is prepared to employ in order to identify and select the best candidates for its developing pool of human resources(Bunting,2007).

Of the many strategies used in the recruitment process, one that is on the rise is the use of on-line recruitment sites (Williams, 2009). This blog explores various aspects of this type of recruitment strategy.

On-line recruitment is a formal method of external recruiting which entails searching the labour market more widely for candidates with no previous connection to the organisation (Bernthal and Wellins, 2001).

Using the Internet is faster and cheaper than many traditional methods of recruiting. Jobs can be posted on Internet sites for a modest amount (less than in the print media), remain there for periods of thirty or sixty days or more - at no additional cost - and are available twenty-four hours a day. Candidates can view detailed information about the job and the organisation and then respond electronically (Richardson, 2011).

On-line recruiting also provides access to passive job seekers, that is, individuals who already have a job but would apply for what appears a better one that is advertised on the Internet. These job seekers may be of a better quality since they are not desperate for a job change as are the active job seekers who may be frustrated, disgruntled workers looking for a new position (Byham, 1992).

REVIEW OF MONSTER.CO.UK ON-LINE RECRUITMENT SITE

Monster.co.uk is one of the largest employment websites in the world, owned and operated by  Monster Worldwide Incorporated. It was created in 1999 by the merger of The Monster Board (TMB) and Online Career Center (OCC), which were two of the first and most popular career web sites on the Internet. Monster is primarily used to help those seeking work to find job openings that match their skills and location.

Below is a review of the website based on its layout, accessibility, navigation and usefulness.

Website

A visit to the website address of www.monster.co.uk opens a colourful page characterised by a blend of many colours with purple being the dominant. The entire web page is set on a background of pictures denoting individuals engaged in various employment sectors. The pictures are however not visible owing to the fact that they are black and white in colour.

Layout

In terms of layout of the website, it is worth mentioning that, all features are attractively and least daunting. All major sections of the website are well structured with the main features indicated boldly. The only aspect in relation to the layout of the site which did not go down well with me has got to do with the position of two search engines which form the top and bottom border of the website. In my opinion, one search engine would have been enough. However, the position of the main buttons namely: Home, CV, Jobs, Career Tools and Advice are excellent.

Text is laid out using style sheets which users can change in their browsers to make viewing easier for their individual requirements. The visual design also accommodates resizing text and, as relative units have been used, text can even be re-sized in Internet Explorer for Windows. In situations where a browser or browsing device does not support style sheets at all, the content of each page is still readable. HTML used is XHTML 1.0 transitional (Monster, 2012).

Accessibility

The accessibility of information required from the site is quite commendable. Various features have got short notes explaining what they imply or can be used for. An example is the Batch Apply feature which is captioned with the information “makes it easier than ever to apply to multiple jobs in one go. Try it today and save time on your job search”.

Although www.monster.co.uk is accessible to as many users as possible, it is worth noting that, just like with many other websites, people with disabilities might find using the site difficult. However, there are many things that the site does to make it easier for users. For instance, it has created a “let us know” feature which allows users to contact Administrators of the site in times of difficulty. It also has a feedback section titled “Give us your take” through which users can provide information as to what changes could be implemented to make the site even more accessible.

Additionally, the on-line recruitment site offers users the luxury of using short keys to explore the site quickly and easily.  The ACCESS KEY functionality used on the site is as follows:

    * Alt + 0 - Go to Monster Homepage.

    * Alt + 1 - Go to content.

    * Alt + 2 - Go to main navigation.

    * Alt + 3 - Go to breadcrumb trail navigation.

    * Alt + 5 - Go back to the top of the page.

Navigation

There is one main navigation menu located towards the bottom of the page. A "jump to main navigation" link is provided at the top of each page to enable users jump directly to the main menu for quick access. The main menu is sometimes supplemented with an "In this Section" navigation menu for exploring the current section of the site. When present, this is located directly beneath the main navigation menu.

Usefulness

Characterised with many features and products such as Career Services and Tips, Company profiles, Virtual Job interview sections, Salary Calculator, Training Courses, CV Templates, my personal comment is that monster.co.uk is a good recruitment site and is also very diverse.

General Comments about monster.co.uk

Good Points

Ø  Apart from the advertisement of job positions, the site also provides useful information to aid people seeking employment in general as to how to prepare for interviews and write CVs.

Ø  Easy to use Options to post more than one CV Confidentiality.

Ø  Excellent layout of search results.

Bad Points

Ø  Monster just seems to have jobs from employers that have paid to post vacancies, and since the recession, most employers are defiantly tightening the purse strings.

Ø  The listings display on sections of the site such as the “Upload CV” section lacks clarity.

Ø  Uploading a CV has to be done to the Monster format which is really annoying. The CV has to be very specific to get the right people approaching you.

Ø  Monster has been to blame in several instances of personal information theft. In less than two weeks, in August 2007, Monster had numerous leaks that resulted in the loss of millions of customers' data to identity theft. Although Monster waited several days to announce this leak (drawing heavy criticism), they subsequently announced new security measures to prevent this from happening again.

However, in January 2009, there was another large scale leak at its UK based site monster.co.uk, in which demographic information of up to 4.5 million people was obtained by hackers (Percival, 2009).

“REALLY GOODE” ONLINE RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGN

The “Really Goode” online recruitment campaign was launched by the Murphy-Goode Winery in 2009. This recruitment was initiated after the company thought about the new age of communications and figured it was a pretty good thing. So to get going, they decided to look for someone who really knew how to use Web 2.0 and Facebook and blogs and social media and YouTube and all sorts of good stuff like that — to tell the world about its wines and the place where they live: the Sonoma County Wine Country.

In exchange, the company was offering a Really Goode Job — a six-month job paying $10,000 a month plus accommodations. ……………………………………………………………

The title of the person employed was to be “Murphy-Goode Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent” who was to report on the cool lifestyle of Sonoma County Wine Country and, of course, tell people what they were learning about winemaking.

 

What really caught my attention was the fact, the employee was already given the tools or mechanisms through which he or she was to advertise the company and interestingly enough, it was basically through social networking sites including Facebook and YouTube. This meant that the employee already had a target market defined by the employer and thus it was up to him or her to maximise the market share of the company. 

In other words, with a compensation of $10,000 per month plus accommodations and flexible working hours, all that one had to do was experience wine and good living, and then tell people about it. In my opinion, the package or benefits was tempting enough to whip my interest in applying for such a fun-filled job. ………………………………………………………

The USA wine company Murphy-Goode Winery thus, adapted "The Best Job in the World" to a "Really Goode Job".  

 

Another interesting aspect of the campaign was that, although Murphy-Goode had the final say, viewers were also asked to rate the best applicants. Finally, the captivating and colourful advert that was associated with the campaign also caught my attention.

It is an excellent example of what can be achieved and continues to challenge the benchmark for online recruitment.  

Please click on link below to see the advert “Really Goode” online recruitment campaign:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPUzbTwtLBQ&feature=player_embedded

SHL APTITUDE TEST COMMENT 

At a time when companies can ill-afford to make the wrong hiring decisions, it is perhaps not surprising that online assessment has become more appealing to employers (Martindale, 2009).

Online assessment systems allow companies to attract applications from all over the world and filter them in a time- and cost-effective way. More importantly, they offer a tangible way of assessing an individual's skills for a particular role and how they would fit within an organisation.

For potential employees, meanwhile, online assessment can be done at a time and location that suits them and can give them a better idea of what the job is likely to involve before deciding whether to proceed with the application.

According to SHL Group Limited (2011), ability or aptitude tests are proven methods for assessing critical qualities for job success such as solving problems, communicating effectively as well as innovation and creativity. It is for these reasons that employers use such tests widely.

The SHL test comprises of eleven differing exercises (http://www.shldirect.com/practice_tests.html). After taking three of the tests namely the verbal reasoning, money handling and Situational Judgement Test, I am of the view that, similar tests should not be used as a recruitment tool before gaining an interview due to the following reasons:

The use of such tests has the potential to exclude certain groups. As noted by Martindale (2009), aptitude tests can discriminate against certain ethnic minority groups, such as Hispanic and African American candidates, who tend not to perform well on these types of tests. Hence, this has huge implications for diversity and inclusion.

Older or less IT-savvy candidates could also be deterred, and the inconsistent internet access in some – mainly rural – parts of the UK could also inadvertently discriminate against some people.

Also, looking at the length of time one has to usually spend on the internet completing aptitude test, it is obvious that, candidates who fail to score good marks in the aptitude test thereby being declined an interview session might feel emotionally stressed out feeling dejected after all the time spent on the test.

CONCLUSION

Recruiting the right employees can be a challenge, with no guarantee of success. But using the right information and procedures will improve an organisation’s chances of finding what it is looking for.

Whatever the strategies selected for recruiting, the objective is to recruit the most qualified, committed individuals into the organisations and that the organisations achieve the objectives for which they have been established (Bratton and Gold, 2007).

Job websites offer unlimited space which can be used, by management, to sell the organisation. The site can then be used, not only to post vacancies, but also to publicise the organisation. That will allow candidates to become more familiar with the company, know what skills the company is looking for and get to know about its culture. Most importantly, the system will provide a proper path to securing quick responses to job openings. On-line recruiting facilitates the decentralisation of the hiring function by making it possible for other groups in the organisation to take responsibility for part of the function (Dale, 2010).

On-line recruiting is not all positive, though; there are drawbacks for unwary users:

·         Some applicants still place great value on face-to-face interactions in the hiring process. Such applicants are likely to ignore jobs posted, impersonally, on-line.

·         Companies are overwhelmed by the volume of résumés posted on the Internet. This can, in fact, lengthen the short-listing process. If the screening process is not well done, the quantity of applications/résumés logged-on may be more of a hindrance to the process than an aid to selection.

·         Job seekers who demand confidentiality in the recruitment process may be reluctant to use the Internet as a job search mechanism (Bernthal and Wellins, 2001).

REFERENCES

Bernthal, P.R. (2010) Recruitment and Selection [online]. Available from:  http://www.ddiworld.com/DDIWorld/media/trend-research/recruitment-and-selection_ere_es_ddi.pdf?ext=.pdf [Accessed 13 February 2012].

Bernthal, P. R, and Wellins, R. S. (2001) Retaining talent: A benchmarking study. Pittsburgh, PA: Development Dimensions International.

Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (2007) Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. 4^th ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Bunting, M. (2007) Skills, Training and Human Resource Development: A Critical Text.   Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Byham, W. C. (1992) The assessment center method and methodology: New applications and technologies. Pittsburgh, PA: Development Dimensions International.

Dale, M. (2010) Recruitment.  London: BHP Information Solutions Ltd.

Daswani, K. (2011) Recruitment [online]. Available from:  http://karishmadaswani.com/karishmadaswani/index.php/category/hrm-2/recruitment/ [Accessed 14 February 2012].

Martindale, N. (2009) Testing and selection: The pros and cons of online assessment [online]. Available from:   http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2009/10/13/52484/testing-and-selection-the-pros-and-cons-of-online-assessment.html [Accessed 12 February 2012].

Monster (2012) Site and Accessibility Information [online]. Available from:   http://www.access.monster.co.uk/Accessibility.aspx [Accessed 11 February 2012].

Percival, J. (2009) Hackers steal jobseekers' details from Monster recruitment website. The Guardian [online].Jan 27. Available from:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jan/27/hack-monster-data-recruitment [Accessed 13 February 2012].

Richardson, M. A. (2011) Recruitment Strategies Managing/Effecting the Recruitment Process [online]. Available from:  http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan021814.pdf [Accessed 13 February 2012].

Schuler, R. S. (1987) Personnel and Human Resource Management.3^rd ed. St. Paul: West Educational Publishing.

SHL Group Limited (2011) Practice Test [online]. Available from:   http://www.shldirect.com/practice_tests.html [Accessed 13 February 2012].

Williams, H. (2009) E-recruitment: Rethinking recruitment [online]. Available from:   http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2009/06/09/50918/e-recruitment-rethinking-recruitment.html [Accessed 13 February 2012].