I.Planning and Forecasting
A. Forecasting Personnel Needs –Forecast revenues, and then estimate the size of the staff required to achieve this sales volume.
1.Trend Analysis means studying a firm’s employment levels over a period of years to predict future needs.
2. Ratio Analysis means making forecasts based on the ratio between (1) some causal factor, like sales volume, and (2) number of employees required, like number of salespeople.
3. The Scatter Plot shows graphically how two variables (such as a measure of business activity and a firm’s staffing levels) are related.
4. Using Computers to Forecast Personnel Requirements – The use of software programs can enable employers to quickly translate projected productivity and sales levels into forecasts of personnel needs, while estimating how personnel requirements will be affected by various productivity and sales levels.
B. Forecasting the Supply of Inside Candidates
1. Manual Systems and Replacement Charts – Simple manual devices can be used to keep inventories and development records to compile qualifications information on each employee. Personnel replacement charts show the present performance and promotability for each position’s potential replacement. Position replacement cards can also be created for each position to show possible replacements as well as their present performance, promotion potential, and training.
2. Computerized Information Systems are used to track the qualifications of hundreds or thousands of employees. The system can provide managers with a listing of candidates with specified qualifications after scanning the database.
3. The Matter of Privacy – Employers must balance an individual’s right to privacy while making HR information legitimately available to those in the firm who need it.
- Forecasting the Supply of Outside Candidates – This may involve considering general economic conditions and the expected rate of unemployment. Helpful sources include: Business Week, Fortune, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and prepared reports from the U.S. Council of Economic Advisors, the regional Federal Reserve banks, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Public Health Service, the U.S. Employment Service, and the U.S. Office of Education.
II.Effective Recruiting
Recruiting is a more complex activity than most managers think it is. Recruitment efforts should make sense in terms of the company’s strategic plans. Some recruiting methods are superior to others, depending on who you are recruiting for and what your resources are. The success you have with your recruiting actually depends on non-recruitment HR issues and policies, including pay levels. Applicants should be pre-screened to determine that they have a real interest in the job. A company’s image may also contribute to success or failure in recruitment efforts.
Know Your Employment Law: Pre–Employment Activities. The key question in all recruitment procedures is whether the method limits qualified applicants from applying. It is generally best to avoid limiting recruitment efforts to just one recruitment method; use multiple sources to reach out as widely as possible.
A. Organizing the Recruitment Function – Companies make a choice to centralize their recruiting efforts or to decentralize to various locations. Advantages of centralizing are that it is easier to apply the company’s strategy priorities company-wide. In addition, it reduces duplication, makes it easier to spread the cost of new technologies over more departments, and builds a team of recruitment experts, and makes it easier to assess the effectiveness of the function. However, if divisions are autonomous or needs are varied, decentralization is a more sensible choice.
1.Line and Staff Cooperation – Since the recruiting HR manager is seldom responsible for supervising the performance for the vacant position, he/she must communicate with the supervisor to find out exactly what the job entails.
B.Measuring Recruiting Effectiveness – Assessing the quality of each recruitment source will help HR managers to determine where the most cost effective recruiting sources are and thus determine where they want to direct their recruiting dollars, Prescreening selection devices shown in table 5-1 are helpful tools to get quick assessments on whether applicants are qualified. An example of GE Medical is described here as a best practice in terms of measurement techniques.
1.A High-Performance Example – GE Medical applies best practices measurement techniques to the job of hiring highly technical workers.
C.The Recruiting Yield Pyramid – is used by some employers to calculate the number of applicants they must generate to hire the required number of new employees. Figure 5-7 illustrates the pyramid.
III.Internal Sources of Candidates
A.Finding Internal Candidates – To be effective, promotion from within requires using job posting, personnel records, and skill banks.
B. Rehiring – Rehiring former employees has its pros and cons. On the
positive side, they are known quantities and are already familiar with the
organization. But former employees may return with negative
attitudes. Current employees may perceive that the way to get
ahead is to leave and come back.
C. Succession Planning – Planning ensures a suitable supply of successors for senior or key jobs. It can include the following activities: determining the projected need for managers and professionals by company level, function, and skill; auditing current executive talent to project the likely future supply for internal sources; planning individual career paths based on objective estimates of future needs and assessments of potential; career counseling based on the needs of the individual and the firm; accelerated promotions, with development targets against the future needs of the business; performance-related training and development; planned strategic recruitment to fill short-term needs and to provide people to meet future needs; and actually filling the positions.
IV. Outside Sources of Candidates
A.Recruiting Via the Internet – Most employers find that the Internet is their best choice for recruitment efforts. Social networking also provides recruiting assistance. Figure 5-8 lists top online recruiting job sites.
- Advantages – The Web is cost efficient, generating more responses more quickly and providing exposure for a longer time at less cost.
- Disadvantages – Gathering applications online may exclude higher numbers of older applicants and certain minorities. An employer may also get too many applications because of the Web’s broad reach and speed. Applicant tracking has required a specific definition for what constitutes an Internet applicant. For an individual to be considered an Internet applicant:
- The employer has acted to fill a particular position;
- The individual has followed the employer’s standard procedures for submitting an application;
- The individual has indicated an interest in the particular position.
3. Using Applicant Tracking ASP – Web-based ads generate so many applicants that most firms are installing tracking systems to help attract, gather, screen, compile and manage applications.
4. Designing Effective Internet Ads and Systems – Employers have only about four minutes to get job seeker attention, so ease of use is key in design. Figure 5-9 shows effective and ineffective ads. Many job sites may have ads from “recruiters” with questionable legitimacy. Potential applicants should be cautious about giving such personal details as Social Security numbers
B. Advertising
1.The Media – The best medium should be selected based on the positions for which you are recruiting.
2. Constructing the Ad – Many experienced advertisers use a four-point guide called AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) to construct their ads.
3.Employment Ads and Image– recent studies show that it pays for employers to formulate marketing campaigns aimed at making themselves more attractive to potential recruits.
C.Employment Agencies
1.Public and Nonprofit Agencies – Every state has a public, state-run employment service agency supported by the Department of Labor, in part through grants and other assistance, such as a nationwide computerized job bank. Many professional and technical societies, and public welfare agencies have units that try to help their members or people in special categories find jobs.
2. Private Agencies charge fees for each applicant they place. Typically, market conditions determine whether the candidate or employer pays the fee.
C. Temp Agencies and Alternative Staffing
1.Benefits and Costs – The benefits of contingency staffing include increases in overall productivity, and time and expenses saved by not having to recruit, train, and document new employees. The costs include fees paid to agency and individuals’ psychological reference to their place of employment. Many employers use temporary agencies as a way to “test drive” prospective employees before hiring them.
2.Alternative Staffing refers to the use of nontraditional recruitment sources.
Know Your Employment Law: Contingent Workers – Temp workers can pose legal risks to the employer. Wal-Mart was raided by federal agents who found illegal “contract” workers handling after-hours store cleaning. In a case with Microsoft, a federal court held that despite their temp titles, the “temps” were actually regular Microsoft employees, eligible for benefits. Temporary workers, like all workers, have significant legal rights. The degree to which the client firm controls temp agency’s employees’ activities determines how many rights these employees have, and the “dual employment” view is espoused by many courts. The basic prescription is to treat the temp employee in all ways as if the agency is in fact his employer.
3. Guidelines for Success: See Figure 5-8. Provide honest information to both temp agencies and temp workers about the length of the job assignment; implement personnel policies that ensure fair, non-discriminatory treatment of temp workers; use independent contractors and permanent part-time employees to complement the conventional temp agency workforce; consider the potential impact on regular full time employees before hiring temp workers; provide the necessary training and orientation for temp workers; and beware of legal snares in payroll decisions.
- Offshoring/Outsourcing White Collar and Other Jobs – Hiring workers abroad is becoming more and more common. There are several specific issues that the HR manager should keep in mind when considering this option.
- Executive Recruiters, also called headhunters, are special employment agencies retained by employers to seek out top-management talent for their clients.
1.Pros and Cons – Recruiters can be useful and can save a manager’s time, but they can be more interested in persuading you to hire a candidate than in finding the one who will really do the job.
2.Guidelines – Make sure the recruiting firm is capable, meet the individual who will handle your assignment, and ask how much the firm charges. Never rely on the recruiter to do all the reference checking.
When You’re On Your Own: HR and Small Business – Expanding the Management Team - This dialogue talks about entrepreneurs engaging the services of a search firm to help them select the right candidate when the time comes for them to expand. While the initial cost of doing so could appear to be intimidating, there are many good reasons to consider this as an option when it comes to key management positions, including identifying a high quality pool of candidates, time and energy of the business owners, as well as potential legal pitfalls. When the opportunity costs are considered, there is little money actually saved by doing it themselves.
- On Demand Recruiting Services (ODRS) – This service provides short-term specialized recruiting to support specific projects without the expense of retaining traditional search firms. Basically, recruiters get paid by the hour or project, instead of a percentage fee. Two trends – technology and specialization – are changing the executive search business. Executive recruiters are being more specialized, and large ones are creating new businesses aimed specifically at specialized functions or industries.
G. College Recruiting involves sending employers’ representatives to college campuses to prescreen applicants and create an applicant pool of management trainees, promotable candidates, and professional and technical employees.
1. Recruiting Goals – are to determine whether a candidate is worthy of further consideration, and to attract good candidates. The school’s reputation and the performance of previous hires from that source affect school selection.
2.On Site Visits – are usually extended to good candidates.
3.Internships – are a recruiting approach that can be a win-win situation for the employer and the student. For employers, interns can make useful contributions while being evaluated for possible full-time employment. Students, are able to hone business skills, check out potential employers, and learn more about their likes and dislikes.
H. Referrals and Walk-Ins - are alternatives for identifying potential candidates. Referrals tend to generate high quality candidates. Walk-in candidates may be attracted by posting a “Help Wanted” sign.
- Recruiting Source Use and Effectiveness – Figure 5-12 summarizes a survey of best recruiting sources. Table 5-2 gives guidelines to improve a firm’s recruiting efforts. The experiences of Cheesecake Factory , Borders and Barnes & Noble are related.
J. HRIS: an integrated technology approach to recruiting. Elements should include a requisition management system, a recruiting solution, screening services and hiring management software.
V.Recruiting a More Diverse Workforce
A. Single Parents – Formulating an intelligent program for attracting single parents should begin with understanding the considerable problems they often encounter in balancing work and family life.
B. Older Workers – With the entire population aging, many employers are encouraging retirement-age employees not to leave, or are actively recruiting employees who are at or beyond retirement age by making their companies an attractive place in which older workers can work. An image of older worker-friendliness and flexibility in scheduling are vital.
The New Workforce – Supervising older workers, especially when the manager is 20-30 years younger can be a challenge. Maintaining authority and earning respect through hard work and getting to know employees are some of the keys to success in this situation.
C.Recruiting Minorities and Women – requires employers to tailor their way of thinking and to design HR practices that make their firms attractive to them.
D.Welfare-to-Work – The Federal Personal Responsibility and Welfare Reconciliation Act of 1996 prompted many employers to implement programs to attract and assimilate former welfare recipients.
E. The Disabled – Employers can do several things to tap into this huge potential workforce. The Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy offers several programs, and all states have local agencies that provide placement services and other recruitment and training tools.
VI.Developing and Using Application Forms
A. Purpose of Applications Forms – Application forms are a good way to quickly collect verifiable and fairly accurate historical data from the candidate.
B. Application Forms and the Law – Employers should carefully review their application forms to ensure they comply with equal employment laws. Questions to review include those asking about dates of graduation, arrest records, emergency contacts, physical disabilities, marital status, and housing arrangements.
- Using Application Forms to Predict Job Performance – Some firms use application forms to predict which candidates will be successful and which will not by conducting statistical studies to find the relationship between (1) responses on the application form and (2) measures of success on the job.
Know Your Employment Law: Mandatory Arbitration – Though mandatory alternative dispute resolution clauses are generally enforceable, management should remember that individual agreements can be struck down by the courts, based on the merits of the agreement. Such clauses can inhibit recruiting, since they may have a negative impact on image.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1.What are the pros and con of five sources of job candidates? The text lists several sources of job candidates, both internal and external. The student should clearly identify the differences as well as comparative strengths and weaknesses of each. There are at least the following sources to choose from: advertising, employment agencies, executive recruiters, state job services, college recruiting, referrals, employee database, internal, and talent searches.
2.What are the four main types of information application forms provide? The application form is a good means of quickly collecting verifiable, and therefore potentially accurate, historical data from the candidate. It usually includes information on education, prior work history, and other experience related to the job The application form can provide four types of information: 1. substantive matters (such as education and experience); 2. applicant's previous progress and growth; 3. stability based on previous work history; 4. prediction of job success.
3.How, specifically, do equal employment laws apply to personnel planning and recruiting activities. The student should be able to discuss the areas in which the laws and regulations covered in Chapter 2 apply to the issues of planning and recruiting. This would include constraints on sources used for candidates (i.e. not excessive reliance on referrals), the wording of questions asked on application forms or in interviews, and planning decisions that must not be overly detrimental to a protected group.
4. What are five things employers should keep in mind when using internet sites to find job candidates? Keyword searches, don’t recycle your newspaper ads, give quick feedback, ensure privacy, applicant tracking, etc.