engleski

Selection Practice in Croatia

Understanding the varieties of HRM practice in an enlarged European Union has become an urgent need. While the concept is fairly well explored in the more developed, founding members of the EU, the prevailing practice in the countries that have joined European Union only recently, is less well- known. This study explores the selection practice in Croatia, one of the candidate members.The most common approach to the study of selection practices is the survey, usually based on a sample of organizations selected from an official list of the largest organizations (e.g., Fortune 500 or the Times' 1000) and often conducted only for certain types of jobs (e.g., managerial). Such an approach gives a somewhat biased picture. In our study we used the approach in which the job applicants involved in a selection procedure were treated as units of analysis. Data were collected by students enrolled in a work psychology course in 2003 and 2004. Their task was to find individuals who had recently applied for various jobs in different organizations and ask them about the organization whose selection procedure they went through, the recruitment procedure and selection methods used.The results show an absolute prevalence of the interview. In most of cases it is conducted by only one interviewer, usually an executive. The topics addressed in the interview included previous work experience, education, and motivation for the job. Other methods, used much less frequently, included: the application form, cognitive ability tests and personality questionnaires. Cognitive tests were used in less than one third of the cases. Their use is correlated with the size of the company – larger companies use tests more often. Obviously, the selection practice in Croatia deviates from the psychometric paradigm, which is similar to the experience in other countries (e.g., Ryan et al., 1999). The selection practice seems to be based on clinical intuition rather than on scientific evidence, and is seen “ as an art rather than as a science” (Levy- Leboyer, 1994). There are several explanations for this fact: (1) the selection programmes are often designed by persons who are not familiar with the predictive validities of different methods ; (2) better methods may not be deemed appropriate in view of their utility or acceptable costs, and (3) the meritocratic approach included in the psychometric paradigm may not always be seen as most appropriate.

personnel selection ; selection methods

nije evidentirano