Discussion Topic:The HR process of selecting employees is continuing to evolve as employers consider a variety of strategic, economic, legal, and professional conditions that are constantly changing.

Savannah

In completing the personality trait quiz, it showed that I am 56% open, 73% conscientious, 48% an extrovert, 75% agreeable, and 46% neurotic. Where some areas are more accurate than others, I don’t really feel that this test as a whole is an accurate representation of my personality. I don’t think that asking a series of vague questions should determine what personality traits that you have. Also, these are only five traits out of the thousands that could be used to describe oneself. According to Mathis et. al. (2020), faking and discrimination are two major concerns with personality tests. People may try to choose responses that are more desirable than what may actually be true to oneself to have a better chance at getting a job. People are apt to put their best foot forward when asked to describe themselves, and some, if not most, may do more than that when the stakes are tied to especially attractive rewards (Tett & Simonet, 2011). While some questions measure mental health challenges, this may victimize those dealing with mental health issues including depression and anxiety.

Emotional intelligence can be defined as the ability to recognize and manage our own feelings and the feelings of others (Mathis, et. al., 2020). For the emotional intelligence quiz, I only scored an 80/200, and I feel that is extremely inaccurate. I think that I do a great job at controlling my emotions as well as being a mediator in other relationships. Many people in my life have come to me for advice and look to me for guidance in that aspect. Again, I don’t think that asking 10 questions with four formulated responses is a good depiction of one’s personality. There may have been a different way in handling the situation presented that wasn’t one of the options that would have worked out just as well. I think that is organizations are going to use these types of tests to help with selecting future employees, the questions need to be more open ended or have more options.

I have never conducted an interview, so the best interview question I have ever been asked was to explain a time that I had encountered a difficult work situation and how I had overcome it. I like this question because I think it covers a lot of different areas of a person’s personality as well as how people manage stressful or difficult situations. It reflects on problem-solving skills as well as how one performs under pressure. This question is open-ended and allows the interviewee to go into detail about a personal experience and show the interviewer a moment of personal growth in their workplace.

The question I like the least during interviews is being asked where I see myself in 5 or 10 years. I know that this question is focused on seeing if the person wants to grow within the company or if they have other visions for themselves, but I feel that this question leads many people to be dishonest. In the nursing profession, many people decide to go to graduate school to become a nurse practitioner or nurse anesthetist. Not many people are going to want to say this during an interview in fear that they might not get hired because their intention is not to stay there in the long run. Although furthering education should be encouraged, it is not what employers are going to want to see from potential job candidates.

Questions that should be avoided during an interview include anything that may cause the candidate to feel discriminated against. This includes any questions about age, race, ethnicity, color, gender, sex, sexual orientation, country of origin, birthplace, religion, disability, marital status, family status, pregnancy, and salary history. These should be avoided because they are illegal, and the candidate could press charges against the organization for being discriminatory in the interview. Other than it being illegal, these questions should not be asked because they have nothing to do with the candidate being able to perform the job. Interviews should be focused on if the candidate meets the requirements, what kind of experience they have, how they would handle a day in that workplace, and how they solve problems or manage stress.

References:

Mathis. R. L., Jackson, J. H., Valentine, S., & Meglich, P. A. (2020) Human Resource Management (16th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Tett, R., & Simonet, D. (2011). Faking in Personality Assessment: A “Multisaturation” Perspective on Faking as Performance. Human Performance, 24(4), 302–321. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umary.edu/10.1080/08959285.2011.597472

Megan

Personality test can be used by employers to evaluate if a potential employee's attributes align with those of a certain job (Mathis et al., 2019).  Emotional intelligence tests may help to determine how in touch one is with their emotions, which could directly correlate with their ability to develop good working relationships. (Mathis et al., 2019). When conducting these test, there are some ethical issues that may arise. Faking answers by those taking the test can produce false results. The tests administered should try to reduce faking. Another issue is discrimination towards those with disabilities by measuring mental health challenges (Mathis et al., 2019). 

I think that my "Big Five" personality test was pretty accurate, but the emotional intelligence test was not. In the "Big Five", openness was my highest scoring. I believe that this is very accurate as I try to keep an open mind about everything. I think that I strive to be adventurous and creative in all that I do. 

The best interview question that I have ever been asked was in regards to my enjoyment and happiness in my career. I was asked what I would be happy doing everyday for the rest of my career. I thought that this was a great question because if you do not enjoy what you are doing, it is very difficult to be engaged and fully committed to it. It was a question that I had never been asked before in an interview. I thought that it showed that the company truly cared about their employees and wanted them to enjoy coming to work everyday. This was really important to me when looking for a career.

The worst question that I have been asked during an interview was the very generally question of what my biggest weakness was. I think that is a question that you just expect when going into an interview. I do not know about everyone else, but I actually researched what to say for this question. I don't feel that anyone is totally honest when answering this question. If you do research this question, most of the answers say to give a quality that is not bad but make it seem bad. An example would be that you're a team player to the point that you put others first more often than not. This could affect your own self care. We all have weaknesses, but I don't think that this question is the greatest for an interview.

During an interview some questions should be avoided. These questions include subjects that are protected under equal employment laws and regulations such as age, race, gender, and religion. These types of questions are illegal (Raisbeck, 2010) Other questions that should be avoided include yes/no questions, leading questions, and questions that are not job related (Mathis et al., 2019). Listening responses that should be avoided include nodding, causing, making casual remarks, echoing and mirroring (Mathis et al., 2019). This could lead to the applicant trying to please the interviewers based on this type of feedback. 

Reference

Mathis, R. L., Jackson, J. H., Valentine, S., & Meglich, P.A. (2020). Human Resource  Management (16th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Raisbeck E. (2010). Dealing with difficult interview questions. Practice Nurse, 39(11), 46.