Human resources management in the Greek banking sector: a focus on selection methods

Abstract

This paper seeks to investigate selection methods of employees in the Greek banking sector with a long-term aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the methods, in terms of validity, fairness and cost. The main objectives of the paper are firstly to find out which of the selection methods, such as interviews, references, assessment centres, tests and biodata, are the most commonly practised in the banking sector and secondly to discover the role of the personnel managers during a selection process within a bank. Research showed that the selection policies of the Hellenic banks are bank/firm-specific and although some of the methods used present some common features, the pattern differs slightly from bank to bank. The classic trio of the selection methods used in the Greek banks is composed of cognitive tests, interviews and application forms or submission of curriculum vitae. Evidence also showed that the formulation of selection policies is centralised and although personnel managers have higher status than they have had in the past, they are not directly involved in the formulation of the selection process. This is not found to be really a strategic policy of the banks' personnel department either in state controlled or in private banks.