Today's world is moving by leaps and bounds and is becoming more and more complex, which is why it becomes more demanding. Since the 80's we have observed changes that have drastically affected the way of life; Technological advances occur without even being announced, globalization is a worldwide phenomenon that is affecting the economies of countries and especially those of Latin America, since it links the survival of their organizations to their ability to compete in an open market.
These changes in the environment force organizations to rethink their production strategies and consequently their way of managing staff, in such a way that they become increasingly demanding with their collaborators.
Companies, in their eagerness to respond to market and consumer demands, seek to develop the best quality products and services, in accordance with international certification standards that allow them to export and be more competitive.
Fortunately, this shift in industrialization, which makes the concept of quantity obsolete and gives importance to quality, has allowed companies to become aware of their workers, such as those who can contribute their knowledge, skills, abilities and other human characteristics to improve the products.
The idea is this: "If we have products that can compete in the market, we have competent workers."
It is for these reasons that companies do not want to make mistakes when managing their staff, and adopt the management of human talent by competencies, which ultimately seeks to develop high performance behaviors in workers that guarantee success in carrying out tasks. his homeworks. But what can we do to have the most competent workers on the market?
The first step is the selection of personnel by competencies.
Personnel selection is an activity typical of the human resources areas and in which other levels of the organization participate.
Its objective is to choose the most suitable candidate for a specific position, taking into account their potential and adaptability.
To carry out such a job, companies propose a series of very similar steps that include psychological and technical interviews, application of psychometric tests, reference checks, home visits, among others. Personnel selection by competencies differs from a traditional selection process by the methods it uses, not the steps.
Among the methods it introduces are competency interviews and assessment centers or Assessment Center.
Personnel competency interviews seek to find findings of behaviors in the person's past that are successful and that serve as predictors of current performance for a specific position. To do this, it uses questions that investigate competencies, known as critical incident or behavioral event questions.
Examples of these are: Tell me an example of a new idea or suggestion that a supervisor has proposed to you in the last six months? Or describe the top three responsibilities from your last job.
The assessment centers or Assessment Center, constitute a technique that uses situational tests for the evaluation of skills and competencies. It is a behavioral test where candidates are faced with solving conflictive situations that may arise in the workplace.
Another selection technique that is affected by competency management is the home visit, however on this topic there is not much written material available.
Few people currently work on personnel selection by competencies, including Martha Alicia Alles from Argentina, Jaime Grados from Mexico, Nelson Rodríguez Trujillo from Venezuela and consultants such as Hay Group.
The selection of personnel by competencies is a very recent issue that is captivating Latin American companies that want to make sure they have a qualified and competent staff, and although there are few people and written material found in this field, it is necessary to have more literary production by human resources managers and psychologists.
