Dr. Ramchand Rampersad has a Ph.D in Business Administration with specialization in Human Resource Management from the University of the West Indies and an MBA from Heriott-Watt University. He has achieved Level 1 and 2 certifications from the British Psychological Society (BPS) which enables him to offer Psychometric Assessment services. His research considers factors that lead to emotional exhaustion experienced by employees of Trinidad and Tobago organizations. Dr. Rampersad is also co-author of the book “The Role of the Economic Crisis on Occupational Stress and Well Being Vol. 10” and continues to advance research in Human Resource Management. Dr. Rampersad has lectured at the University of the West Indies and conducted corporate workshops. He held positions at managerial and executive levels in several private- and public-sector organizations, and has a penchant for strategy development and execution. He currently offers HR and Management Consulting services inclusive of training, recruitment and performance management. SESSION SUMMARY – Bringing in the Best: Modern Employment Strategies 2.0 Organizational Fit Theory suggests that there should be congruence between the employee and the organization in order to achieve maximum staff satisfaction and organizational performance. Every organization hopes that employees can be motivated, satisfied and stay in the job for a long period of time because the cost of staff replacement is high and undesirable. Yet hiring the “wrong” candidate can have deleterious effects. Much of these undesirable costs and consequences can be prevented if, during the recruitment process, organizations can more accurately filter applicants, thereby improving the quality of candidate selection. Research has advanced the predictive validity of various methods of recruitment almost to the point where it has become a science enabling organizations to counteract the employment dilemma. This presentation seeks to address where Trinidad and Tobago stands in the utilization of modern employment strategies. Organizations’ initiatives are explored against a backdrop of the theoretical underpinnings of effective recruitment and selection. This study contends that the majority of public and private sector organizations still employ traditional practices as the main form of recruitment. The implication is a compromise that can lead to rejecting the best candidate, hiring a misfit, a dissatisfied employee and lower individual and organizational performance.

1. Bringing in the Best:
Modern Employment Strategies
Ramchand Rampersad (PhD, MBA, BPS)
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference
Hilton Trinidad & Conference Center
Date: May 13, 2013

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1 92 3 4 5 6 7 8 10
Introvert Extravert
Introversion
Orientated towards their own
inner world of thoughts,
perceptions and experiences. Not
requiring much social contact
and external stimulation
Extraversion
Orientated to the outer
world of people, events
and external activities.
Needing social contact and
external stimulation

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3
34% 34%
14% 14%
2% 2%

4. Why one individual or group of individuals may
function well in a given area of interest and
other individuals or groups may be less able or
successful?
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013 4

5. Every man is in certain respects like all other
men, like some other men and no other men
…kluckhohn and Murray (1953)
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6. Effective Recruitment
must seek to measure
Individual Differences
to be compared against an
Ideal Profile
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7. HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013 7
Specific
Tasks
Abilities

8. Arithmetic
Verbal
Mechanical
Spatial
Clerical
Selling
Contact Center
Abstract
Other Technical Abilities specific to the job
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9. TheHierachical Organization ofPersonality Traits
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Personality

10. Typical performance is how an employee performs on a
regular basis, while maximum performance is how one
performs when exerting as much effort as possible.
Some conditions that tend to foster maximum performance
include work, manager evaluations, and job knowledge tests.
The results from these situations are the ones that are most
accessible to supervisors; however, they are usually not
reflected in an employee’s typical, or day-to-day,
performance.
Workers usually exhibit maximum performance when they
are being observed.
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11. Maximum-performance questions are selected based on
target-related factors. Questions here are based on right-
wrong difference. Speed and Accuracy are important
Typical-performance questions are selected based on
personality, mood, attitude, temperament. Questions here
are based on identifying differences in selected factors.
Typical performance has been linked to personality, and
maximum performance has been linked to intelligence
Tests of maximum performance are timed, tests of typical
performance are not timed
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12. All tasks require some form of ability and motivation
The difference between typical and maximum performance is
determined by a combination of these two factors.
Maximum performance is primarily determined by the
intelligence of an individual.
Since maximum performance occurs when the individual is
highly motivated to perform well, the impact of intelligence is
higher under these conditions.
Everyone under this condition would be exerting the
maximum amount, so the difference between individuals lies
in their ability.
In typical performance, both intelligence and motivation are
thought to influence the quality of an employee’s job
performance. However, motivation is believed to be the more
influential factor in this situation.
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Short-List Candidates
Candidate Generation
Job Analysis & Specification
Testing & Evaluation
Behavioural Interview
Job Offer

14. COST
80% of employee turnover is due to bad hiring decisions
A poor hiring decision for a candidate earning $100,000 per
year could cost, on average, $250,000 (250%)
REASONS
Unclear performance objectives
Poor skills match
Poor personality Match
Cultural misfit
CONSEQUENCES
Lower employee morale
Customer dissatisfaction: lost customers, lost sales,
Reduced quality of products and low production
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15. Job analysis aims to answer questions such as:
Why does the job exist?
What physical and mental activities does the worker undertake?
When is the job to be performed?
Where is the job to be performed?
How does the worker do the job?
What qualifications are needed to perform the job?
What are the working conditions (such as levels of temperature,
noise, offensive fumes, light)
What machinery or equipment is used in the job?
What constitutes successful performance?
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16. KSAOs
Knowledge: A collection of discrete but related facts and
information about a particular domain...acquired through
formal education or training, or accumulated through specific
experiences
Skill (Training & Experience): A practiced act
Ability: The stable capacity to engage in a specific behavior
Other characteristics: Personality variables, interests
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17. Tap Your Employee Networks in Recruiting Candidates
Take Advantage of Your Industry Contacts, Association
Memberships and Trade Groups for Recruiting Candidates
Use Your Web Site for Recruiting Candidates
Maintain Frequent Contact With Interested Candidates
Become an Employer of Choice for Recruiting Candidates
Recruit Using the Internet
Use Headhunters and Recruiters
Find out everything you can about the top 10% of your talent pool
Publicity
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18. Educational qualifications - This can be college education and/or
university education
Professional qualifications - Only relevant for some roles and can
include on the job training
Professional experience - How many years of relevant
experience does the candidate have
Evidence of competencies - Is there any evidence from the CV
that the applicant has some or all of the competencies you are
looking for
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19. Collecting additional applicant job information and clarifying
applicants interests in the position to be presented at the first
panel search committee meeting.
Maximizing panel discussions of applicants backgrounds and
qualifications, making this dialogue more meaningful to the panel
in the selection and consideration process.
Moving quickly into scheduling interviews with identified selected
applicants. Saving valuable time for your recruitment search and
for the volunteer panel members.
Increasing your opportunity to hire the best applicant in your
recruitment pool.
Make sure that the candidate is aware of details like salary and
benefits packages
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20. Biographical Data
Cognitive Ability Tests
Integrity Tests
Personality Tests
Job Knowledge Tests
Work Samples and Simulations
Physical Ability Tests
Interviews
Assessment Centers
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21. Traditional Interview typically have straight forward answers like:
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
What major challenges and problems did you face? How did you
handle them?"
Describe a typical work week.
Behavioral based interviewing
Based on discovering how the interviewee acted in specific
employment-related situations.
The logic is that how you behaved in the past will predict how you
will behave in the future i.e. past performance predicts future
performance
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22. Behavioural Interview Sample Questions
Give an example of an occasion when you used logic to solve a
problem.
Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you
achieved it.
Describe a decision you made that was unpopular and how you
handled implementing it.
Have you gone above and beyond the call of duty? If so, how?
What do you do when your schedule is interrupted? Give an
example of how you handle it.
Have you had to convince a team to work on a project they
weren't thrilled about? How did you do it?
Have you handled a difficult situation with a co-worker? How?
Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure.
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23. Early Impressions gained within first 5 minutes
Early Negative Information difficult to shift
Self delusion of interviewers high interviewing skills
Halo-Effect of persons with similar personalities
Stereotypes – Sex, race, social group, culture, religion
Limited Capacity – Human assessor can only manipulate a
limited amount of info at a time
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24. Relationship with the candidate
Leadership skills
Ability to work with leadership
Why did he/she leave the position? (if relevant)
Dealing with stressful situations
Handling difficult people
Implementer or Initiator
Independence of candidate
Tactfulness
Key accomplishments
Areas of development
Type of guidance required
Would you want to work with this individual again?
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Assessment Method Predictive Validity
Assessment Centers
(multiple methods)
.65
Behavioral Interviews .4 – .6
Work-sample Tests .54
Ability Tests .53
Modern Personality Tests .39
Biographical data .38
References .23
Traditional Interviews .05 – .19
Source: British Psychological Society/Accord Group

26. Understand your candidate’s root motivations
Candidate’s long term professional development
Basic logistics: Location, job title, base salary
Know the hiring managers and the work environment
Discuss the future – the position in five years?
Business prospects – benefits to the candidate?
Have your financial figures of all benefits ready to give
them
Discuss why the position is open in the first place
Don’t violate trust
Lock down dates
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27. 1. Know what you want. Don’t recycle past job
2. Look for the intangibles. Don’t limit skill set
3. Make a personal connection. Have conversations with applicants
4. Use all your resources. hiring should never be a solo effort
5. Woo your top choices. Sell the benefits of working with your firm
6. Hiring the Right Candidate Takes Time
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28. Speaker’s Contact Info
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Phone : 1-868-686-8262; 1-868-638-8786
E-mail: ramchand123@hotmail.com