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Principles and Practices of Management

Notes screen out obvious misfits. If the department finds the candidate suitable, a prescribed
application form is given to the applicants to fill and submit.
3. Application Blank: Application blank or form is one of the most common methods used
to collect information on various aspects of the applicants' academic, social, demographic,
work-related background and references. It is a brief history sheet of an employee's
background, usually containing the following things:
(a) Personal data (address, sex, identification marks)
(b) Marital data (single or married, children, dependents)

(c) Physical data (height, weight, health condition)
(d) Educational data (levels of formal education, marks, distinctions)
(e) Employment data (past experience, promotions, nature of duties, reasons for leaving
previous jobs, salary drawn, etc.)
(f) Extra-curricular activities data (sports/games, NSS, NCC, prizes won, leisure-time
activities)

(g) References (names of two or more people who certify the suitability of an applicant
to the advertised position)

Weighted Application Blanks (WABs)

To make the application form more job-related, some organisations assign numeric values or
weights to responses provided by applicants. Generally, the items that have a strong relationship
to job performance are given high scores.

Example: For a medical representative's position, items such as previous selling
experience, marital status, age, commission earned on sales previously, etc., may be given high
scores when compared to other items such as religion, sex, language, place of birth, etc.
The total score of each applicant is obtained by summing the weights of the individual item
responses. The resulting scores are then used in the selection decision. The WAB is best suited for
jobs where there are many workers, especially for sales and technical jobs and it is particularly
useful in reducing turnover.
Selection Testing: Another important decision in the selection process involves applicant testing
and the kinds of tests to use. A test is a standardised, objective measure of a person's behaviour,
performance or attitude.

Selection Interview: Interview is the oral examination of candidates for employment. This is the
most essential step in the selection process. In this step, the interviewer tries to obtain and
synthesise information about the abilities of the interviewee and the requirements of the job.

Medical Examination: Certain jobs require physical qualities like clear vision, acute hearing,
unusually high stamina, tolerance of arduous working conditions, clear tone of voice, etc. Medical
examination reveals whether or not a candidate possesses these qualities.
Reference Check: Once the interview and medical examination of the candidate is over, the
personnel department will engage in checking references. Candidates are required to give the
names of two or three references in their application forms. A good reference check, when used
sincerely, will fetch useful and reliable information to the organisation.
Hiring Decision: The Line Manager concerned has to make the final decision now – whether to
select or reject a candidate after soliciting the required information. The line manager has to

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