Who gets hired? : A qualitative study on how person-job fit and person-organization fit factors apply to the employee selection process in small finance companies.

Sammanfattning: This qualitative study aims to gain a deepened understanding of talent acquisition in small finance companies' selection processes by focusing on person-job and person-organization fit. Talent acquisition is defined as hiring quality candidates that meet the organization's needs (Mathis et al., 2016). It is crucial to hire the right candidates since the organization is less likely to succeed without qualified employees (Mathis et al., 2016). This study focuses on two aspects of person-environment fit: person-job fit and person-organization fit. Ensuring these aspects can lead to successful employment (Sekiguchi, 2004). Person-job fit evaluates three factors, knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA), and how they match the job task (Carless, 2005). Person-organization also evaluates three factors, attraction-selection-attrition, and how they match the employees' values and the organization's values and needs (Verquer et al., 2002).  The empirical data is based on semi-structured interviews with six small finance companies, where we gained a deepened understanding of their employee selection process. We connect previous research to our empirical data to gain a deepened understanding of how small finance companies can acquire talented candidates by ensuring person-job fit and person-organization fit. We used a thematic analysis to code our empirical data and draw conclusions from it.  This study has shown that knowledge is not as accounted for as previous research claims. Small finance companies consider a candidate’s skills and abilities more. Skills are assessed by job-related tests that show how fast and at what level the candidate will be able to perform. Ability is the most critical factor that small finance companies consider. If the candidate shows dedication and an entrepreneurial mindset, it indicates that the candidate possesses certain traits that the small finance companies desire. Attraction is whether the candidate and the organization share the same values and small finance companies can tailor-make roles to attract talented candidates. Selecting talent in small finance companies depends on the candidate's ability to fit into the group dynamic rather than fitting into the organization’s culture. The candidate and the organization’s expectations of attrition must match. However, it is up to the small finance companies to keep their employees satisfied.