Chapter-05 Persnnel Planning and Recruiting

The purpose of this chapter is to improve your effectiveness in recruiting candidates. The topics we discuss include personnel planning and forecasting, recruiting job candidates, and developing and using application forms.

THE RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS

1. Decide what positions to fill, through personnel planning and forecasting.
2. Build a pool of candidates for these jobs, by recruiting internal or external candidates.
3. Have candidates complete application forms and perhaps undergo initial screening interviews.
4. Use selection tools like tests, background investigations, and physical exams to identify viable candidates.
5. Decide who to make an offer to, by having the supvisor and perhaps others interview the candidates.

PLANNING AND FORECASTING

The recruitment and selection process starts with employment or personnel planning. This is the process of deciding what positions the firm will have to fill, and how to fill them.

Steps in Recruitment and Selection Process

Employment planning and forecasting–>Recruiting: Build a pool of candidates-Candidates–>Applicants complete application forms–>Use selection tools like tests to screen out most applicants–>Supervisors and others interview final candidates to make final choice–>Candidate becomes employee

The recruitment and selection process is a series of hurdles aimed at selecting the best candidate for the job.

Linking Employer’s Strategy to Plans

Employer's strategic plany (Diversify? Integrate vertically? Expand geographically? On what basis should we compete?)

Employer's functional plans–Marketing and sales plans–Production plans–Financial plans–HR plans

Personnel plans<–>Training and development plans<—>Compensation plans<–>Labor relations plans<–>Seurity and safety plans

Personnel forecasts–Recruitment plans–Employee selection plans

Forecasting Personnel Needs

In any case, managers use several simple tools for projecting personnel needs, as follows.

Trend Analysis means studying variations in your firm’s employment levels over ther last few years.

Ratio Analysis means making forecasts based on the historical ratio between (1) some causal factor(like sales volume) and (2) the number of employees required(for instance, number of salespeople).

The scatter Plot shows graphically how two variables–such as a measure of business activity like sales, and your firm’s staffing levels–are related.

In summary, using these techniques requires a heavy dose of realism and common sense.

Using Computers to Forecast Personnel Requirements Computerized forecasts enable the manager to include more variables into his or her pernonnel projections. These variables might include direct labor hours required to produce one unit of product(a measure of productivity), and three sales projections–minimum, maximum, and probable–for the product line in question. This method can be more accurate.

Forecasting the Supply of Inside Candidates

Most firms start with the inside candidates.

Manual Systems and Replacement Charts A personnel inventory and development record form compiles qualifications information on each employee. The information includes education, company-sponsored courses taken, career and development interests, languages, desired assignments, and skills. Personnel replacement charts show the present performance and promotability for each position’s potential replacement.

Computerized Information Systems Computerized skills inventory data bypically include work experience codes; product knowledge, the employee’s level of familiarity with the employer’s product lines or services; the person’s industry experiences, since for some positions work in related industries is very useful; and Formal education.

The Matter of Privacy The employer should secure the data in the firm’s personnel data banks.

Forecasting the Supply of Outside Candidates

If there won’t be enough inside candidates to fill the anticipated openings(or you want to go outside for another reason), the employer may want to forecast the availability of outside candidates.

Uemployement rates signaled to HR managers that they may have to ramp up their recruitment to fill their open positions.

EFFECTIVE RECRUITMENT

Employee recruiting means finding and/or attracting apllicants for the employer’s open positions.

Why Recruiting is Important

Recruiting’s Complexities

There are several things that make it more complex.

First, recruitment efforts should make sense in terms of the company’s strategic plans.

Second, we’ll see that some recruiting methods are superior to others, depending on the type of job you are recruiting for.

Third, the success you have recruiting depends greatly on non-recruitment issues and policies.

Fourth, good recruiting preferably always requires simultaneously pre-screening employees–if only listing the job’s requirements in the ad, or by providing a realistic preview of the job during the initial call or contact.

Fifth, the firm’s image affects its recruiting results.

Last but not least, employment law prescribes what recruiter managers can and cannot do.

Organizing the Recruitment Function

Larger firms, in particular, must decide if they will conduct all their recruiting company-wide from a central recruitment office, or decentralize recruiting to the firm’s various offices.

Line and Staff Cooperation The human resources professional charged with recruiting for a vacant job is seldom responsible for supervising its performance.

Measuring Recruiting Effectiveness

What to Measure How many applicants did we generate through each of our recruitment sources? However, the employer needs qualified, hirable applicants, not just applicants.

How to Measure One way is to assess applicants from each source using simple prescreening selection devices.

Tests: General mental ability tests, Conscientiousness tests, Integrity tests Method: Work sample tests, Job knowledge tests, Structured interviews, Biographical data, Grade point average, Rating of training and experience.

The Recruiting Yield Pyramid

50 New hires 100 Ofers made(2:1) 150 Candidates interviewed(3:2) 200 Candidates invited(4:3) 1200 Leads generated(6:1)

INTERNAL SOURCES OF CANDIDATES

Recruiting bypically brings to mind Monster.com, employment agencies, and classified ads, but (as at GE Medical), internal sources–in other words, current employees or “promotions from within”–are often the best source of candidates.

Internal Sources: Pros and Cons

advantages: know a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses; current employees may be more committed to the company;morale may rise.

backfire: unsuccessful applicants may become discontented; waste time; inbreeding.

Finding Internal Candidates

To be effective, promotion from within requires using job posting, personnel records, and skills banks.

Rehiring

Should you rehire someone who left your employ? It depends.

Succession Planning(继任计划)

Forecasting the availability of inside executive candidates is particularly important in succession planning–the ongoing process of systematically identifying, assessing, and developing organizational leadership to enhance performance.

Talent management involves identifying, recruiting, hiring, and developing high potential employees.

Succession planning entails three steps: identifying and analyzing key jobs, creating and assessing candidates, and selecting those who will fill the key positions.

A strategic business plan can only be realized when the right people are at the right place and at the right times to do the right things.

Improving Productivity Through HRIS: Succession Planning Systems

For example, Dole Food Co., Inc. chose Pilat NAI, which runs the software and keeps all the data on its own servers for a monthly fee.

OUTSIDE SOURCES OF CANDIDATES

Recruiting via the Internet

Rather than place their own Internet ads on their own sites or sites like Monster.com, many managers do keyword searches on sites like HotJobs’ resume database.

Advantages In general, the Web is a cost-effective way to publicize openings; it generates more responses quicker and for a longer time at less cost, than just about any other method.

Disadvantages Internet recruiting has two potential problems that employers must address.

First, fewer older people and certain minorities use the Internet.

Second, Internet recruiting is often too much of a good thing: employers end up deluged with resumes.

Using Applicant Tracking ASP Applicant tracking systems are online systems that help employers attract, gather, screen, compile, and manage applicants.

Designing Effective Internet Ads and Systems Effective Web ad uses comelling keywords such as “Excellent Commissions” and “Outstanding.” It provides good reasons why you would want to work for this company. And, it starts off with an attention-grabbing heading.

The objections of ineffective ones included:

• Job openings lacked relevant information(such as job descriptions).
• It was often difficult to format resumes and post them in the form required for the employer’s recruitment site.
• Many respondents expressed concerns about the privacy of the information they provided.
• Poor graphics often made it difficult to use the Web site.
• And slow feedback from the employers(in terms of follow-up responses and receiving online applications) was also annoying.

Advertising

To use help wanted ads successfully, employers have to address two issues: the advertising medium and the ad’s construction.

The Media The point is to target your ads where they’ll reach your prospective employees.

Constructing the Ad Experienced advertisers use a four-point guide labeled AIDA(attention, interest, desire, action) to construct ads.

Employement Ads and Images

Employment Agencies

There are three main types of employment agencies:(1) public agencies operated by fedral, state, or local governments;(2) agencies associated with nonprofit organizations;and (3) privately owned agencies.

Temp Agencies and Alternative Staffing

Part-time or just-in-time workers, the contingent workforce is big and growing.

Concerns six key concerns emerged:

1. Treated by employers in a dehumanizing, impersonal, and ultimately discouraging way.
2. Insecure about their employment and pessimistic about the future.
3. Worried about their lack of insurance and pension benefits.
4. Misled about their job assignments and in particular about whether emporary assignments were likely to become full-time positions.
5. “Underemployed” (particularly those trying to return to the full-time labor market).
6. In general angry toward the corporate world and its values; participants repeatedly expressed feelings of alienation and disenchantment.

Guidelines When working with temporary agencies, ensure that basic policies and procedures are in place, including: Invoicing, Time sheets, Temp-to-perm policy, Recruitment of and benefits for temp employees, Dress code, Equal employment opportunity statement, Job description information.

Alternative Staffing include temporary employees, in-house temporary employees, contract technical employees.

Offshoring/Outsourcing White-Collar and Other Jobs

Main Issues instability or military tension, the likelihood of cultural misunderstandings, security and privacy concerns, foreign contract, liability, and legal systems issues.

Executive Recruiters

Executive recruiters(also called headhunters) are special employment agencies retained by employers to seek out to-management talent for their clients. Two types: contingent and retained. Two trends: technology and spcialization.

Guidelines In choosing a recruiter, guidelines include:

1. Make sure the firm is capable of conducting a thorough search.
2. Meet the individual who will actually handle your assigment.
3. Make sure to ask how much the firm charges.
4. Never rely solely on the executive recruiter to do all the reference checking.

On Demand Recruiting Services (ODRS)

ODRS provide short-term specialized recruiting assisstance to support specific projects without the expense of retaining traditional search firms.

College Recruiting

sending an employer’s representatives to college campuses to pre-screen appliants and create an applicant pool from the graduating class.

On-Campus Recruiting Goals has tow main goals. One is to determine if a candidate is worthy of further consideration. The other aim is to attract good candidates.

On-Site Visits Employers generally invite good candidates to the office or plant for an on-site visit.

Internships can be win-win situations

Referrals and Walk-Ins

are an important recruiting option. The firm posts announcements of openings and requests for referrals on its intranet Web site, bulletin, and/or wallboards.

Recruiting Source Use and Effectiveness

Inernet job boards, professional/trade job boards, and referral programs are the best recruiting sources.

RECRUITING A MORE DIVERSE WORKFORCE

Recruiting a diverse workforce isn’t just socially responsible: It’s necessity, given globalization, the rapid increase in minority(未成年人), older worker, and women candidates, and the 70% jobless rate among disabled people.

DEVELOPING AND USING APPLICANTION FORMS

Purpose of Application Forms

A filled-in form provides four types of information: First, you can make judgements on substantive matters. Second, you can draw conclusions about the applicant’s previous progress and growth. Third, you can draw tentative conclusions about the applicant’s stability based on previous work record. Fourth, you may be able to use the data in the application to predict which candidates will succeed on the job and which will not.

Application Forms and the Law

Education, Arrest record, Notify in case of emergency, Membership in organizations, Physical handicaps, Marital status, Housing.

Using Application Forms to Predict Job Performance

SUMMARY

1. Developing personnel plans requires three forecasts: one for personnel requirments, one for the supply of outside candidates, and one for the supply of inside candidates. To predict the need for personnel, first project the demand for the product or service. Next, project the volume of production required to meet these estimates; finally, relate personnel needs to these production estimates.
2. With personnel needs projected, the next step is to build a pool of qualified applicants. There are several sources of candidates, both internal(promotion from within) and external(advertising, employment agencies, executive recruiters, college recruiting, the Internet, and referrals and walk-ins).
3. Remember that it is unlawful to discriminate against any individual with respect to employment because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or age(unless religion, sex, or origin are bona fide occupational qualifications).
4. The initial selection screening in most organizations begins with an application form. Most managers use these just to obtain background data. However, you can use application form data to make predictions about the applicant’s future performance.