See the attached documents.
– Please cite your work in your responses
– Please use APA (7th edition) formatting
– All questions and each part of the question should be answered in detail that demonstrates an extension of learning.
– Response to questions must demonstrate understanding and application of concepts covered in class, use in-text citations and scholarly resources to support all answers.
– No grammatical errors; Complete sentences are used. Proper formatting is used. Citations are used according to APA
Lastly, this needs to be 2 pages maximum excluding original questions: Discussion 1 (one page) and discussion 2 (one page)
Human ResourceBUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Discussion One: Review the material presented in the course about how to conduct a job analysis, the various methods for collecting data, and the pros and cons of the various methods. Then, develop a plan to gather data for a job analysis. You will need to
a) select the position (a job) to analyze;
b) use at least two methods for collecting data;
c) collect the data using the methods selected and
d) summarize your findings in a short job description and job specification. If you do not have a position in a typical office, retail establishment or production facility you can use, seek out a position from elsewhere. The opportunities could include a server at a restaurant, a service provider in your home, your hair stylist, a sales assistant, the receptionist at your doctor’s office or perhaps your child’s teacher. Include the following:
1. The position you selected to analyze
2. The methods you selected for gathering data
3. The rationale for why you selected the methods you did
4. A discussion of your experience in collecting this data
5. A short sample position description and job specification you were able to design based on the data you gathered.
Be sure to provide the references for the sources of the information you used to inform your analysis including the material provided in the classroom.
Discussion Two: Complete the following:
a) Summarize and explain the major EEOC laws related to the recruiting process. How can recruiters and hiring managers reduce the risk of adverse impact?
b) Discuss three methods of recruiting to obtain a diverse group of applicants and explain why they are effective.
c) Explain the concept of employment at will. What are the risks and benefits of employment at will doctrine? How is the employment at will doctrine influenced by EEOC laws?
d) Application: Read the Module 2 Case and in-depth scenario 1. Draft a short memo to the founders of HSS to address the issues with the hiring practices. Specifically, address what laws or regulations may apply, organizational risks and discuss suggestions for how the hiring practices at HSS should be modified. You may use a word document if you like or provide your proposal in the content of your response window.
Be sure to provide the references for the sources of the information you used including the material provided in the classroom.
Module2: Surveying the Human Resources Management Legal
Environment
In your role as the new human resources manager for Human Solutions Software (HSS), you
have been talking informally to many of the employees at HSS. There are several issues that
have come up in your discussions.
When HSS first started more than two years ago, the hiring practices were haphazard. The main
method of recruiting new employees was to ask current HSS employees if they knew anyone who
had the qualifications that HSS needed. It was common practice to hire family members and
friends of established employees. Those practices are still being used today and have been
institutionalized by providing bonuses to employees who refer people to apply for positions at the
organization, who are eventually hired. In some cases, jobs appear to have been created to fit
with the qualifications of people whom some of the founders wanted to hire.
You have also been struck by the demographic characteristics of the employees. There are
roughly an equal number of men and women working for HSS, but men fill most of the higher-
level positions. Two of the founders are women, but there is a great deal of tension between
these two women and the other three founders. This tension seems to be based on the two
women wanting to set up a corporate structure that the men see as taking power from the
founders. It seems that the new HR department is one of the changes that is in contention.
There is also a lack of minority employees. The two African American and three Hispanic
employees are working in lower-level positions.
In-Depth Scenario 1
This morning you received a notice from the local office of your state employment security office
that a complaint has been filed against HSS. It appears that before you started as the human
resources manager for HSS, several people were interviewed for a mid-level software developer
position. The position was not advertised publicly, but several people applied for the position.
The person hired for the position is a friend of one of the organization’s founders. He is a 38-
year-old male. Other applicants for the position included the wife of one of the supervisors of
software development and a 54-year-old woman who is a friend of one of the female founders.
The woman who is a friend of one of the founders and was not hired is upset, and she filed the
complaint because she feels that she is better qualified than the person who was hired. She has
a bachelor’s degree and 11 years of experience developing software. The man who was hired has
an associate’s degree and five years of experience developing software.
After receiving the notice, you have made some informal inquiries as to what the reasons were
for hiring the successful applicant. The founder who handled HR issues before you were hired
confides in you that he did not want to hire anyone in their fifties because he wanted someone
who could “grow” with the company. The female founder who is the friend of the person who
filed a complaint is outraged that her friend was not hired. You talked to one of the software
development supervisors who was involved in hiring for the position, and he told you that he
wanted to hire the person who was hired because the person who was hired had experience that
was more directly related to the type of software that needed to have developed.
The founders are aware of the complaint and want you to educate them on the situation. They
want you to inform them as to what laws or regulations may apply and to come up with
suggestions as to how the hiring practices at HSS should be modified. Draft a short memo in
which you address the following
• What laws or regulations may apply
• The organizational risks of the current hiring practices
• Propose suggestions for how the hiring practices at HSS should be modified.
Be sure to provide good sources to support your suggestions.
Chapter 1
Staffing, Systems and Strategy
Bernard O’Meara
Chapter Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter and undertaking the review questions you will:
• Value the contribution that effective systems-based strategic recruitment and
selection makes to an organisation
• Understand the complex relationship between people, performance and
profit-desired outcome
• Appreciate the application of systems theory to recruitment and selection
• Be able to apply strategic methodology to recruitment and selection
• Differentiate between traditional recruitment and selection methodologies
from systems-based strategic approaches
• Create a contemporary systems-based strategic recruitment and selection
strategy after gathering the requisite knowledge from this chapter
1.1. Introduction
In today’s highly competitive global market, organisations are investing heavily
in identifying those who can add value to, and lead, their organisations successfully
into the unknown future.
The change from an industrial society to a technological society created change
and challenges not previously experienced. Yet, a further change to a knowledge-
based society is already occurring. Therefore the knowledge, competencies, experi-
ence and networks of existing staff need to change in response to establishing or
entering new markets, seeking new opportunities and meeting new challenges.
The use of information technology (IT) allows stakeholders to monitor organisa-
tional performance as well as the contribution made by managers and executives.
Any changes in the performance of organisations are highlighted quickly by the
The Handbook of Strategic Recruitment and Selection: A Systems Approach
Copyright r 2013 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved
ISBN: 978-1-78052-810-6
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Each person has a range of experiences and knowledge that help them make
choices in how we react to new situations. When we share experiences and knowl-
edge with each other, all participants benefit.
Those currently in the workforce have an added benefit in that their employer
may agree for them to work on projects within the organisation and to use these as
learning experiences. Universities and colleges also arrange for learners to undertake
placement courses or internship with organisations where theory becomes practice.
This is a valuable experience as it makes participants better comprehend the imple-
mentation of theoretical concepts. Any form of work-based learning can aid in
gaining knowledge and experience that can be built upon further in years to come
(Boud, Solomon, & Symes, 2003).
Problem-based Learning (PBL) involves discovering the questions you need to
ask, discovering the answers and making sense of these. It is based around the indi-
vidual’s freedom to think, learn and explore without being ‘told’ what to do, how to
do it and what the ‘correct’ answers are. PBL involves individual discovering for
themselves in different ways as compared to traditional modes of education. In PBL
participants learn how to learn and discover what questions need to be asked to
achieve desired outcomes (Savin-Baden, 2001).
There are various activities that can be used to learn at the end of each chapter
to meet different learning styles. However, individual opinions, experience and
learning styles need to be identified, catered for and respected (Savin-Baden, 2001).
1.3. Staffing
The term ‘staffing’ refers to the overall policies, procedures and guidelines that orga-
nisations use to attract, retain and develop their employees or staff. These can
reflect the organisation’s preferred methods of recruiting new staff, promoting and
transferring existing staff, training, educating and developing staff, determining
appropriate wage and salary strategies, creating meaningful employment opportu-
nities, recognising valuable contributions by staff, evaluating and optimising
performance.
Staffing is important to organisations and can be critical in aiding their survival
and growth. People are the core asset of any organisation and it is the performance
and commitment of staff that differentiates organisations. In this sense staffing is
the overarching management of people in the organisation, those entering the orga-
nisation and those leaving (Wickramasinghe, 2007).
The definition given above extends previous perspectives of staffing that were
limited primarily to recruitment and selection and those organisational policies
relating to these activities. However, staffing can be seen as a complete system domi-
nated by recruitment and selection which are the core of staffing.
Staffing can be seen as the process by which individuals and organisations
become matched to each other. The outcome of this is an employment relationship.
Staffing, Systems and Strategy 5
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media and at the forefront of this spotlight are the roles of leadership and effective
decision making which drive and determine success.
These have become critical for organisations seeking to grow, enter new markets
or to just maintain existing market share. Leaders are expected to be excellent com-
municators and capable of winning allegiance from staff for new strategies and
directions. They must know the right people via established networks, be
charismatic and able to cope with intense pressures, long working hours and endless
demands and changes. Organisational leaders also need to have the right staff work-
ing with them and in harmony in respect to agreed strategic imperatives.
However, staff must also have a sound judgment and decision-making competen-
cies and experience. They must be able to sift through mountains of information,
reports and paperwork and be able to identify and prioritise the key issues. They
need to make the right decisions for the right reasons and in a timely and economic-
ally justifiable manner. Good leadership is highlighted in the media while organisa-
tions with less appropriate leadership are also highlighted and are of particular
interest to those people seeking new employment opportunities.
Recruiting and selecting new staff in the current environment is now more impor-
tant than ever. New staff who will undertake these leadership and management roles
in the future need the competence and potential to grow with the organisation. The
organisation needs staff who can locate, identify and appoint these people who have
the competence, knowledge and capacity to help the organisation achieve its goals
in the future (Schramm, 2012).
It is recognised that staff bring more than competence to an organisation. They
bring knowledge, talent, potential, contacts, networks and experience with them.
Thus strategic-based organisations tend to seek new staff from a holistic or human
capital perspective so that new staff can be nurtured and developed for the future
(Crawford, 1991).
This chapter introduces the roles of staffing, recruitment and selection, manage-
ment, management philosophy, systems and strategy and that these integrate to
form successful business outcomes.
1.2. Learning Activities
Activities throughout this handbook are based around gaining, and building upon,
experience and knowledge. Experience and knowledge can be gained from carefully
constructed exercises for use in classrooms but they can also be gained by creating
new situations whereby people learn.
People can have new experiences daily and these aid in shaping the way we
address issues as they arise. We recall our personal experiences and determine
if they can help us resolve problems as they arise. When we have new experiences,
we retain information and use it in future encounters (Boud, Cohen, & Walker,
2002).
4 Bernard O’Meara
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Researchingand Writing Job Analyses
Job (work) analysis is simply gathering information on a particular function in an organization
and organizing that information in such a way that an organization’s jobs are well defined for
legal and management purposes. Good job analyses are important in making an organization
more efficient and effective, and they are also used to provide a supervisory structure and a
basis for pay rates in an organization. Job analyses are an important, information-providing
component to the strategic planning process. The ultimate purpose of job analyses is to make
the organization more productive and profitable.
A job analysis looks at the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that are needed to perform a
particular job in an organization. A job is the tasks that an individual must perform to be
successful in helping the organization succeed in meeting its strategic goals. Knowledge is the
information the person needs to perform a job. Skills are tasks in which an individual needs to
apply psychomotor actions to perform adequately. Ability is the proven competence to
adequately perform a task.
An example to illustrate these terms is driving a truck for an organization. Potential truck drivers
must have knowledge about the way a truck operates and must also pass a written test to prove
to a government agency that they have this knowledge. These truck drivers may also have to
prove that they have the skill to drive a truck by passing an “on-the-road” test of their skills.
When truck drivers have a position, they have to prove their ability to take the truck and its load
from one place in the country to another in a safe and efficient manner.
Job analyses should be:
• observable
• not dependent on individual behavior
• valid
• consistent
There are three specific, legal uses for job analyses:
1. A job analysis can be used to help define whether a position is exempt or nonexempt for
overtime provisions of the FLSA. The definition of duties and responsibilities that comes
from a good job analysis makes it easy for an organization to support the classification of
a position as exempt or nonexempt under Department of Labor (DOL) guidelines.
2. A job analysis will define the essential job functions of a position as required under the
ADA. If a good job analysis is accomplished, it will be easy to list essential job functions
in the job description as required by the ADA.
3. A job analysis will clearly define, for the worker and for the organization, what the duties
are for any position in the organization. These duties can be stated clearly and be
required for new employees to read and understand. This should help to alleviate any
misunderstandings about what is expected of an employee holding a position in the
organization.
If an organization does not have good job analyses for its positions, it is asking for legal trouble.
Job analyses, or the lack thereof, are often the focus of lawsuits. An organization protects itself
from legal trouble by having good, scientifically valid job analyses.
Job analyses also have specific management uses:
• Managers can use job analyses to classify positions and place those positions in an
appropriate relationship with each other. Job analyses will define which positions should
be supervisory and who should report to which supervisors.
• Job analyses can be the basis for setting up a compensation plan for people in the
organization. Once the positions are classified in relationship to each other, it is easier to
place any of the positions at a fair compensation level.
• Job analyses help to define which employee should be doing what. This makes the
everyday decisions as to who should be doing what work in an organization much easier.
• Job analyses are often used as the basis for employee evaluations. If the duties for a
position are clearly defined using a good job analysis, those defined duties are a good
starting point for designing evaluations for the individual positions in the organization.
Basically, job analyses can make an organization more efficient and effective. The time and
expenditure put into job analyses will almost always be repaid in having more efficient
management functions.
The job analysis is the actual gathering and organizing of the data needed to define the duties of
positions in an organization. A job description is briefer than a job analysis and identifies what
the duties, tasks, and responsibilities, are for a position and to whom a person holding a position
will report. Job specifications define the KSAs that are needed to do a job and are used to
define the qualifications one must have to be hired or promoted.
There are many methods that may be used to do a job analysis. It is often best to have someone
objective from outside the organization do them because job analyses can have internal political
pressures put on them that might make them invalid. The courts will also take job analyses more
seriously if they know that they have been conducted by an objective outside source. All
methods of job analysis will have some qualitative aspects, but it is best to make job analyses as
quantitative as possible because if the organization has to defend the job analyses, the court will
give the quantitative data more credibility.
Common methods of job analysis are questionnaires, observation, having an analyst work
the job and then analyze it, interviewing individuals and groups that perform the jobs,
and using diaries or logs of workers who have performed the jobs. All of these methods
have their strengths and weaknesses. If a person holding a job is aware that the job they are
doing is being analyzed, they may perform the job differently as they are observed or
interviewed. Most people behave differently when they know others are studying them, so it is
difficult to get accurate job analyses when depending on information from people who already
perform the job. Using outsiders to analyze the job may be more objective, but often they do not
know the job’s entire context and so may omit important aspects of it from the analysis. Also, at
this time it is inadvisable to use job-trait techniques or behavioral techniques, because in recent
years the courts have been dubious about them.
Among the many tools that can be used for performing job analyses are the Position Analysis
Questionnaire (PAQ), Functional Job Analysis (FJA), Job Compatibility Questionnaire
(JCQ), and Work Progress Mapping (WPM). The best tool to use depends on the
organization’s particular needs and situation. FJA works well for classifying jobs, or job design.
PAQ works well for job evaluation and is probably the simplest and least expensive method. Be
aware of the O*NET site, which has a wealth of information about jobs and the skills needed to
http://online.onetcenter.org/
do them. Also be aware of the DOL’s Occupational Outlook Handbook, which uses the Dictionary
of Occupational Titles.
It is easy to get wrapped up in the specifics of doing job analyses and forget why we do them.
The main reason stated for doing job analyses is to provide information to comply with legal and
ethical requirements. Another equally important reason is to provide information to managers so
that they can organize the company to be more efficient and effective. Behind all of the great
reasons for job analyses, however, is that job analyses are an important component in the
strategic-planning process for an organization. The information gathered from job analyses is
essential to the development of good strategic plans.
http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm
http://www.wave.net/upg/immigration/dot_index.html
http://www.wave.net/upg/immigration/dot_index.html
TheLegal Environment of Human Resources
Management—Equal Employment Opportunities
In this topic we will emphasize the federal laws and regulations that define the EEO environment.
An HR manager must be aware of many state and local laws and regulations that affect the
organization’s EEO decisions. Some states expand on federal regulations that affect affirmative
action, while other states limit affirmative action when dealing with their own state and its
employees. As an example, a number of state and local governments define sexual preference as
being protected from discrimination, but the federal government does not include sexual
preference as a protected status. As an HR manager, you must be aware of the state and local
laws and regulations as they apply to your organization, but in this topic we will emphasize the
federal EEO laws and regulations because they usually pertain to everyone in the United States.
There are six major reasons for an organization to use fair practices when dealing with EEO
issues:
1. Companies that are more diverse have opportunities to be more creative and to appeal to
a broader range of people, often resulting in greater productivity and a larger market
share.
2. Companies that follow unfair practices when dealing with EEO issues risk being sued and
losing a great deal of money.
3. Companies that follow unfair practices when dealing with EEO issues risk receiving
negative publicity.
4. Unfair EEO practices may lead to boycotts of your product(s) and work slowdowns, which
can hurt your company financially.
5. Companies that follow fair practices when dealing with EEO issues are considered
patriotic because they help people to get onto a more equal footing with others
economically, leading to greater participation in our political system.
6. Companies that follow fair practices when dealing with EEO issues are considered by
most people to be doing the right thing, both morally and socially.
The most important federal laws that deal with EEO issues are:
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964, with its 1991 revision, protects individuals from
discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA, 1967, and amendments in 1978 and
1986) protects individuals from discrimination because they are over the age of 40.
• The Equal Employment Opportunity Act (1972) extended coverage of other EEO acts to
almost all employers and strengthened enforcement of EEO provisions.
• The Vietnam-Era Veterans Readjustment Act of 1974 protects Vietnam-Era veterans from
discrimination in those areas in which there is evidence of such discrimination having
occurred in the past.
• The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 prohibits discrimination on the basis of either
pregnancy or the possibility of becoming pregnant.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 protects the employment rights of people
with disabilities.
• The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act of 1994 protects the rights
of employees who are subject to military-service obligations to return to work and
continue benefits.
A protected class consists of people who are specifically mentioned as being protected against
discrimination in equal employment laws and regulations. Groups of people who have federally
protected status are groups that can show discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex,
national origin, and age over 40, as well as some Vietnam-era veterans, women who are or may
become pregnant, and disabled people. If a person is a member of a protected group, the courts
are more likely to find that the organization discriminated. One of the main ways that members
of protected status groups are protected against discrimination is through the concepts of
disparate treatment and disparate impact.
Disparate treatment occurs when members of a protected class are treated differently from
others in the organization. To protect itself from discrimination lawsuits under disparate
treatment, an organization must make certain that decisions involving employment, promotion,
training, and retention are based on valid and nondiscriminatory evidence. Evidence is
considered valid (or having validity) if a scientific study has been conducted to prove that what
the employer is saying is true. That evidence must be able to hold up as being valid in a court of
law.
Disparate impact occurs when protected-class members are underrepresented in an
organization. When comparing how many members of a protected class are hired in an
organization, disparate impact occurs if there is a significant difference in the hiring rate of
qualified protected-class candidates compared with the hiring rate for qualified candidates of the
most hired group in the organization. The organization can protect itself by being sure to use
valid means to define the qualifications for jobs and to show that any disparate impact is based
on a validated job-related business necessity.
Sexual harassment is treated as discrimination based on sex under the Civil Rights Act of
1964. The courts will allow a sexual harassment lawsuit against an organization even if only one
individual in the organization is committing the sexual harassment. If the courts find that there is
a hostile environment in the organization, the organization may be held liable for the actions of
the individual committing the harassment. The organization may be able to protect itself from
sexual harassment lawsuits if it has taken reasonable care to prevent sexual harassment and if
the sexual harassment did not lead to a tangible employment action. Providing training in sexual
harassment and having a plan to prevent sexual harassment may contribute to the provision of
reasonable care.
Affirmative action (AA) is one of the most controversial and misunderstood parts of equal
employment opportunity. Most of the problems with affirmative action come from managers who
do not know what affirmative action is and what it requires of organizations. Affirmative action
is simply a way for an organization to identify whether there might be discrimination against
their employees and to come up with a plan to help remedy that possible discrimination. If the
organization can prove that good-faith efforts have been made to carry out their AA plan, they
have complied with the requirements of affirmative action. For AA to apply to an organization (at
the federal level), they must have at least 50 employees and $50,000 in federal government
contracts.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) makes anyone over the age of 40 a member
of a protected class. The ADEA applies to employers with more than 20 employees and to other
employers such as unions (more than 25 members) and the federal government. There has been
some question as to whether the ADEA applies to state governments. In Kimel v. Florida (2000),
the U.S. Supreme Court decided that citizens could not sue a state government under the ADEA
because it was a violation of the 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s protection of the
states against suits by their citizens. Kimel was an employee of the state of Florida and sued
under the ADEA.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to all employers with 15 or more employees,
including state governments. The ADA requires the employer to provide reasonable
accommodations for people with disabilities to be able to perform their jobs. HR managers
should be especially familiar with one very important aspect of the ADA—the need to include
essential job functions in job analyses and job descriptions. If the essential job functions are
not listed and an employee is hired who cannot do the job because of physical or mental
disabilities, the employer may lose a lawsuit and have to keep the disabled employee hired, or
pay damages, even though the disabled employee cannot perform the job.
Two important concepts in dealing with EEO issues are job relatedness and bona fide
occupational qualification (BFOQ). Job relatedness is the concept that every aspect of an
employment decision must be related to a person’s ability to successfully perform the job.
Employers can discriminate against members of protected classes if they can prove, in court,
that the employment decision being challenged is job-related. BFOQ is the concept that there
are certain qualifications for jobs that may discriminate against members of protected statuses if
it can be proven, in court, that the qualification in question is a valid requirement or concern. A
good example of a BFOQ is an age restriction (usually 60) on airline pilots flying airplanes
because of health concerns with people who are aging.
Americans working outside the United States for American employers are covered under most of
the EEO provisions we have covered here, unless there is some local practice that supersedes
these EEO provisions (usually specified in agreements or treaties). There is also a practical
aspect to Americans working for American employers overseas in that any lawsuits will probably
have to be brought in the United States, which is expensive and inconvenient if one is living
overseas. The FLSA does not apply to Americans working overseas.
The organization that is most responsible for enforcing EEO laws and regulations is the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission. Affirmative Action is monitored and enforced by the Office
of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.
http://www.eeoc.gov/
http://www.eeoc.gov/
http://www.dol.gov/esa/ofccp/
http://www.dol.gov/esa/ofccp/
HumanResources Planning and Recruitment
Before hiring anyone, it is important to know what an organization’s skills and needs are. If a
good job analysis has been performed for positions in the organization, that job analysis provides
much of the basis for HR recruitment planning. Once the planning process has been advanced,
recruiting for employees in an organization can take place. As discussed on week 1, human
resource needs in an organization must address the internal needs of the organization and the
external influences of society. Once those needs are determined, an organization can begin
recruiting to fill those needs. The recruitment planning process consists of figuring out how many
employees the organization must hire with particular skills to be successful, and then determine
what specific skills and attributes those employees should have. There are many techniques that
can help with the recruiting effort.
Recruiting
Recruiting is a natural outgrowth of human resources planning. Once the plan identifies what
skills are needed in the organization, it is time to begin recruiting for those skills.
There are two levels of recruiting:
1. The human resources department manages the process, making sure it follows
organizational and legal recruiting guidelines.
2. The managerial level of recruiting personnel provides the content expertise to ensure that
people with appropriate skills to fit specific needs are recruited.
The basic questions that must be answered when recruiting include:
• What skills are needed?
• What techniques should be used for recruiting for those particular skills?
• How long will the recruiting process take (time lapse) before the new recruits are on the
job?
• How many job applicants will be qualified and hired (yield ratios) using the recruiting
techniques that are selected?
• Should the recruiting take place internally or externally?
The human resources planning and the job analyses will already determine the skills needed in
the organization. It is important that the human resources manager keep the managers in the
departments focused on meeting the strategic planning goals. Sometimes the department
managers are more concerned with operational (short-term) needs and overlook strategic needs.
It is also important for the human resources department to make sure that department
managers are educated about the legal and ethical concerns of recruiting. Department managers
are often so focused on hiring people who are like the people who have been successful in their
departments in the past, that they are unaware of the advantages of recruiting people who may
bring new ideas and attitudes into the organization, but who may look and act differently.
There are many ways to ensure that people who have needed skills become aware that your
organization is recruiting for their skills. Generally, the more focused on skills, the less general a
recruitment effort needs to be. Unsolicited applicants and referrals are cost-effective ways of
finding needed skills. Both of these techniques may bring equal employment opportunity (EEO)
problems with them, however. It is important to define when unsolicited applicants become
official applicants for a position. The status as to whether a person has applied for a job will
affect the organization’s EEO statistics and could determine whether an applicant has grounds for
a discrimination lawsuit. Using referrals tends to get applicants who are like the people who refer
them. Using referrals when a job has not been publicly advertised can lead to a lack of diversity
and potential lawsuits.
Advertising for positions can be general or specific. General advertising appears in broadly
distributed sources. Specific advertising may be in trade or professional journals or websites that
will be read only by people in that profession. Broader advertising will get more applications but
lower yield ratios, whereas specific advertising will bring fewer applicants and higher yield ratios.
Hiring external employment agencies or search firms to help fill positions can be very cost-
effective because the external organizations will pre-screen applicants, resulting in higher yield
ratios for the applicants that your organization actually interviews. Campus recruiting is useful
for entry-level professional positions but will not be effective for positions that do not require a
college education or positions that require previous experience.
Electronic recruiting is more effective when recruiting computer-savvy personnel and on more
focused professional job-recruiting sites. One of the problems with electronic recruiting is dealing
with the numerous search firms that will contact you and want to recruit for your organization
once they see your posting; however, the Internet has great potential to help in the recruiting
effort.
The recruiting effort is an extension of job analyses and is also an extension of the human
resources planning process. Society external to the organization may have a great effect on the
planning and recruiting process. Be aware of issues that affect labor supply and issues that deal
with equal employment opportunity guidelines while planning and recruiting people to work in
your organization. The human resources manager is on the front line of making sure that an
organization can meet its goals, because an organization cannot meet its goals without properly
skilled employees.
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