1
Employee Recruitment
Abstract
The ultimate objective of the recruitment process is to select a candidate from a pool of applicants “who best meets the selection criteria for the position available.” (Ivancevich 2004). The recruiter must operate within the boundaries and requirements set by the company as well as comply with the requirements of equal opportunity legislation. How to accomplish both objectives will be further demonstrated.
The first phase in the recruiting process begins with the utilization of several resources to find employees who demonstrate the aptitudes and abilities required by the organization. In order to generate a pool of applicants, SBC Directory Operations encourages internal applicants as well as uses external resources to harvest a wide cross section of applicants.
There are three major internal resources for attracting qualified candidates. The first resource is the one most frequently used by the organization. Employees of SBC Directory Operations can submit a Job Vacancy Request (JVR) via the “Ejobs” intranet site. This is the process by which an employee can submit his/her name as a prospective candidate for any future openings in a specific department at a location specified by the employee, providing that the employee submitting the JVR has met the “Time and title” required by his/her current position. (The job analysis determined that based on the Labor Union’s (CWA) agreement with the company, the employee must complete a minimum of two years in a given position before requesting a transfer or promotion). When an opening is posted, the Human Resources Department reviews and interviews candidates who have posted JVRs for the specific job vacancy.
The second internal source is the use of employee referrals. Employees are encouraged to refer friends and relatives to apply for positions within the organization. There is no “finders fee”, therefore the main motivation behind employee referrals would be recommending someone with the required skills and ability who can perform at the required levels.
The third resource is called job posting, where the company posts all current vacancies as well as future projections for openings within various departments for the next quarter on an internal job site on the intranet. This site is describes as follows: “The Job Opportunity Broadcast System (JOBS) represents a state-of-the-art enterprise wide solution for all SBC regions. JOBS links Employees, Hiring Departments, and Staffing Administration personnel together with a powerful web-based application that provides accurate and reliable processing. As an additional feature in most regions, the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System allows employees access to information about their qualifications and movement activity utilizing JOBS data. JOBS enables employees in making their own career decisions.” https://jobs.sbc.com/JOBS/jsp/common/JobsHome.jsp This internal recruiting source allows the employee to plan their career paths as well as allows the company to effectively utilize relevant internal skills from a pool of prospective applicants. The above-mentioned internal resources yielded a wide range of qualified candidates that were reviewed during the preliminary screening phase in the recruitment process.
The company also utilizes external resources to recruit qualified candidates for job vacancies within the sales department. The most commonly used external resource is E-Recruiting. The HR specialists at SBC receive thousands of resumes each year from two of the largest job placement websites- http://www.monster.com and http://www.CareerBuilder.com. Not only is this the most cost effective resource for recruiting sales personnel, it is provides the HR specialist with a wide range of candidates and they are not confined to any specific geographic locations.
SBC also has a link from it’s own website: www.sbc.com to a human resources link -http://www.sbc.com/gen/careers?pid=1. This link provides information to external candidates regarding occupational and management positions as well as information on how to apply for an open position within the organization. Sales vacancies are also posted on the SBC Internet site. The HR Specialist responsible for filling the open sales representative position, received resumes from all of the above-mentioned external recruiting resources.
The foundation for any effective selection process is the understanding of the key characteristics that will define superior performance. The main qualification characteristics required for this position were outlined in the job analysis for the position. The job analysis specified the required skills and knowledge, as well as ability, education and experience required for this position. Some of the broad categories of the selection criteria for this position included:
1. Formal education - This position requires a high school diploma and a minimum of 2 years of college education.
2. Experience and past performance - The applicants must have 2 years of inside sales experience or in the case of internal applicants satisfactory performance in a previous sales or public contact job.
3. Skills – Typing 35WPM. Microsoft word and Excel. Verbal and Written communication skills. Desktop Publishing.
4. Internal candidates must have a satisfactory performance evaluation in previous sales or public contact job.
5. Must be able to function in a team environment
Once the selection criteria has been defined, the next phase is to determine how the company will collect and assimilate the required information from all applicants in order to begin the selection process. The Human Resource specialists responsible for filling the positions will conduct a preliminary screening of all the applications received for the vacancy.
The Human Resource specialist assigned to this task reviewed a total of 92 resumes. The HR specialist selected the 35 applicants who met the minimum selection criteria for a phone interview. The phone interview serves to determine the level of the candidate’ s interest and allows the HR specialists the opportunity to give the candidate more information about the job and the working conditions. If it is determined that the candidate is still interested in the position, a written test is scheduled for the candidate after the phone interview.
The written test is in multiple-choice format and tests the candidate’s cognitive ability to do business math as well as verbal ability. During the process more applicants are eliminated and those who pass the written test are then scheduled for a job sample performance test, which represents the next phase in the selection process.
Thirty candidates were selected to take the written test. Twenty-five passed and were recommended for the next phase, which involves a job sample performance test. Ivancevich (2004) describes this test as one that “requires the applicant to actually do a sample of work that the job involves in a controlled environment”. At SBC this test format requires the applicant to be sent an information package for review so that the applicants can prepare for the test prior to the actual test date. The job sample performance test is a timed test that lasts for 1.5 hours. Three job scenarios are outlined for the applicant where he/she must simulate an actual sales call using the data previously provided to try and 1) Sell a new account. 2) Save a possible canceled account. 3.) Handle and resolve a customer concern. As referenced in the job analysis, these are three of the main job activities performed in this position and therefore the test serves to demonstrate how the candidate would perform in these situations. The emphasis at this time is not so much on the accuracy of the information used, but more on how the candidate reacts to challenges and overcomes rejection as well as handles customers concerns.
There were 10 candidates who were successful at the job simulation tests. The Dallas Division Area Sales Managers, whose main objective was to assess the strengths of each candidate and determine how well they would fit into a team environment as well as gather any additional information that could help to determine the final outcome in the selection process, interviewed these candidates. These interviews are structured. Ivancevich (2004) recommends the use of these types of interviews. He contends that structured interviews “regardless of their specific format will generally be more reliable than unstructured interviews.” The main objective of this phase in the selection process is to gather more information that will assist in the final selection of candidate for the position.
During structured interviews, all candidates were asked the same questions chosen from a list of predetermined questions. The questions were based on information gathered from the job analysis. Each candidate receives a score of 1- 4 based on answers to each question. This process allows the company to have formal documentation of the interview and selection procedure as well as allows women and minorities to have a fair opportunity during the interview. The team interview serves to prevent biases and the documentation gives the company the ability to defend itself should there be any lawsuits after the selection process.
At the completion of the interview phase there were ten candidates who demonstrated the right aptitudes and skills for the position. Following is a summary of each candidate’s qualifications, skills and abilities as well as the recruitment sources that yielded the qualified candidates. The “additional information” column reflects notes and comments that were written by the Area Sales Managers at the conclusion of the structured interview.
Summary of Candidates Skills and Qualifications
Candidate’sName / Recruitment Source / Qualifications / Skills / Written Test Score out of 100 / Job Simulation
Test Score out of 100 / Additional
Info
Lori Toelle / Employee Referral / 2 years college
10 yrs Inside sales. - Advertising sales experience. / 45 wpm
Microsoft Word and Excel
Desktop Publishing / 95 / 90 / Disability-
Will not prevent candidate from performing required activities
Kelly Overton / Monster.com / BS degree-
Geology. Order fulfillment clerk. Sales support. / 35 wpm
Microsoft
Word and Excel / 85 / 97 / Excellent verbal communication skills. Team oriented
Jeff Barnes / Monster.com / 18 yrs outside sales experience
2 years college. / 40 wpm
Windows 2000. Microsoft Word & Excel / 95 / 95 / Has a 1.5 hr commute and lives 95 miles away from the office
Kim Spinks / Internal Candidate – SBC internal job posting / 2 years of used car sales prior to SBC.
Clerical Sales Support position – SBC Payroll clerk
2 years of college credit courses / 55 wpm
Freehand
Windows 2000. Microsoft Word & Excel / 93 / 80 / Female
Minority
Excellent verbal communication skills. Presented a portfolio of sample ads she created using “Freehand” software
Hattie Roy / Internal candidate – JVR posting / 18 years in a public contact position at SBC / 45 wpm
Customer service skills.
High School Diploma / 80 / 85 / 55 Years Old and 18 months before retirement from SBC
Female and minority
Mohamed Hussein / Careerbuliders.Com / Inside Sales in high tech industry
4 year college degree
BS Degree
Engineering / 35 WPM
Microsoft Word & Excel / 95 / 80 / Mentioned that he must observe certain Muslim holidays and prayer at a certain times during the day.
Jessica Simpson / SBC.com – Company website – careers link / 2 years inside sales with an SBC competitor
4 year college degree / 45 wpm
Microsoft Word and Excel / 80 / 80 / Did not sign a non-compete contract with previous employer
Carol
Johnson / Monster.com / 10 yrs in the banking industry as a financial adviser – Public
contact position / 45 WPM
Windows 2000
Microsoft Word and Excel / 80 / 80 / Mentioned that she was over 50 yrs and lives at least 100 miles away from the office
Ashley
Malinowsky / Employee
Referral / 8 years of retail inventory and sales experience
BA degree in marketing / 50 wpm
Windows 2000/XP
Microsoft Office
Stocking and shipping / 90 / 80 / Recently graduated from college.
This would be her first full time job.
Team oriented
Laverne Calhoun / Internal Candidate - JVR / 18 years in Advertising sales at SBC
Account executive for the outside sales group / 35 Wpm
Microsoft Word and Excel. SBC internal database system. / Not required to take this test as stated in job description / Not required to take this test as stated in job description / Did not get a satisfactory performance evaluation in the past 2 years
On completion of structured interviews conducted by the Dallas management team, the HR specialist reviewed the above summary as well as the score for the structured interviews and two candidates did not meet all of the requirements – Hattie Roy did not have any college credits and Laverne Calhoun (based on the general requirements outlined in the job description, this candidate was not required to take the tests since she had prior experience within the sales organization of SBC) did not receive a satisfactory performance rating for her current sales position for 2 consecutive years. Jeff Barnes called in to say that he had accepted an outside sales position with another company, which was closer to where he lived.
The final candidate must be selected from the remaining seven applicants. These candidates agreed to background checks. The background checks further revealed that Mohammed Hussein did not meet the requirements for lawful employment in the US. His current visa allowed him to study and work part time. According to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, “all employers are required to screen every applicant for lawful employment and maintain records demonstrating employment authorization.” Ivancevich (2004). Under the IRCA employers are required not to discriminate on the basis of citizenship or national origin therefore it would be illegal for SBC to discriminate against Mohamed because of the fact that he is from Bangladesh, however in order to comply with the clause that specifies that it is the employers’ duty to verify authorization to work in the US. Mohamed was notified of the results of the immigration check and he agreed to withdraw his application.