Errors in the Current Hiring Process - Assignment Example

PART A: Errors in the current hiring process: The Human Resource at Elford Printing press use little information concerning a job to place an advertisement regarding the job under consideration. Because of insufficient information, it will be very difficult for the human resource personnel to identify the necessary skill needed for purposes of carrying out the job under consideration. Once an advert is placed, the human resource department scans the applications quickly, and is only concerned with the technical skills under consideration. This is another error, because the department is supposed to prescreen the applications for purposes of identifying other skills other than technical skills. This is because an individual needs more than technical skills to succeed in their various duties. There are some social skills such as effectiveness in communication, and ability to work under pressure which are also crucial for purposes of carrying out various duties within the organization. The interviews are also inappropriately conducted (Dessler, Rekar and Cole, 2011). The three members of the HR department each conduct their own interviews, which is wrong. The right method is for the three people to conduct a joint interview, with each person accessing the suitability of the candidate. The HR department also made an error in making up questions during the interview, and failing to allocate the necessary 20 minutes to all the interviewees. It is the right procedure to stick up with the prepared questions for the interview. The making up of questions erodes the reliability of the interviewing process. The HR department does not conduct a background check and referencing of their prospective employees. This is because the organization gives out a job offer at the end of an interview. Carrying out a background check, and referencing is important because it verifies the information that a candidate presented before the recruiting panel. The Legal Violations that Occurred During the Hiring Process: The following are the legal violations that the HR department does while carrying out their selection process: Failing to treat all candidates equally by allocating them an equal time. For instance, the department allocated a time framework of 20 minutes, but not all candidates were interviewed for the 20 minutes allocated. Failure to design an interview questions that would be used to question all candidates. This is because the HR department made up questions during the interview process. On this note, it is possible that certain people were asked different questions, and judged on their results. This amounted to bias. Issues that might occur due to poor hiring decisions: Another impact of the poor hiring process is an increase in the operational costs of the organization. This is because the company will be forced to advertise the vacancy, and conduct an interview. An organization will most definitely spend on advertisements and this will in turn increase the operational costs of the organization. During the interview, the organization will spend on the various printouts needed for cutting the interview (Pankl, 2010). There is also a loss of productivity brought about by absence of workers; this in turn will have an impact on the growth of the business organization. Other effects include the training costs needed to train new employees, and the time lost during the orientation process of new employees which could be used to conduct other important affairs of the company (Werner and DeSimone, 2012). Poor recruitment process can also affect the image of the company, and the morale of the workforce. This in turn might lead to a decrease in the organizations market share/ profitability. Advice for purposes of improving the Hiring Practice: The organization needs to sack the entire human resource team, and advertise for new opportunities within the department. This is because the current teams of human resource of officials are incompetent. While restructuring the human resource department, the organization should expand the number of people employed in it, to more than 15 individuals. The new human resource employees should be experienced enough on matters of human resource management, and before they are contracted, the organization needs to train them further (Pankl, 2010). This would ensure that the organization gets the right people to handle its human resource department, and carry out an accurate process of recruitments. The management must also enact a policy whereby it will constantly monitor the performances of the human resource department. This is by developing a performance appraisal system, whereby all the employees of the organization will participate in constantly providing information about the work performance of the members of the human resource department. This will make them to work hard, and ensure their professionalism when handling matters to do with the human resource management of the organization. Part B: Recruitment: Following my retirement, the organization has given me the task of developing a recruitment strategy for my position. My position is that of the Director of Human Resources. The allocated budget for this recruitment strategy is 1500 United States Dollars. The following is the recruitment strategy for the position of director of human resources which is about to fall vacant; Identification of the vacancy and provision of the job description. Under this step, the organization will have to identify the need of hiring a new director of human resources. After this identification, then there it will be prudent to provide the job description of the vacancy under consideration. This is for purposes of advertising the vacancy, so that the right and talented people might apply. This work description is aimed at providing the details of the exact responsibilities, performance standards, and duties of the director of human resources. The following is an example of the job description form that can be used as an advert. This advertisement can cost approximately 500 dollars to run it in various news media. The main method of advertisement is through the internet. This is because it can reach a wide number of people, and chances of getting the right person are high. It is also possible to post the job description in details through the internet. The Job Description Form: Name of the Organization ………………Unilever………………… Title…………………..Director of Human Resources…………………… Department ……………Human Resources……………………………… Date …………………1/15/2014………………………………… Prepared By…………………………………………………….. Supervisor ……………………………………………………… Main Function: ……To oversee the operations of the Human Resource Department……………………….. ……To develop the human resource policies of the organization....................………….…. Duties: …………Maintaining records of the organizations personnel......…………………. …………Recruiting, Orienting and Training employees.……………………….. …………Assigning duties for employees………………………………… Physical Demands: ……Ability to work under pressure………………………………. ……Ability to work overtime………………………………… Skills: ……Excellent Communication Skills………………………………………………. ……Knowledge in all Ms Word Packages…………………………………… Education and Experience: ………Masters Degree in Human Resource Management…………………….. ………Bachelors degree in a relevant field.………………………………. …Ten years experience as a senior human resource officer in a reputable organization...... The second stage under this strategy is sourcing. This involves identifying whether the organization will recruit from the external or the internal sources. In our case above, the organization will recruit from external sources. This is because the internal employees of the organization still do not have the necessary skills and experience needed to carry out the mentioned duties and responsibilities (McGuire, 2012). The model of applying this job will be through an email address. The third stage is referred to as prequalification. This stage involves screening of all applications, and short listing the most qualified people. This stage also involves preparation for an interview. Under this stage, the organization must incur certain costs. This involves the cost of communicating with the shortlisted candidates for purposes of inviting them for an interview, and the cost of preparing materials such as questions to be asked for an interview. This might take approximately, 100 dollars. This is because the organization must invite as many people as possible, for purposes of finding the right candidates for the job. It is important to denote that interviews will be carried out through the internet by using social media sites such as Skype. The fourth stage involves the interview and the selection stage. Under this stage, the actual interview will be conducted. For purposes of saving of costs, the organization needs to use Skype in order to conduct an interview. Due to the large number of people involved, there is a need of having three interviews. The first one will be an online test that is meant to gauge the reasoning capability of the interviewees (Jatava, 2010). The pass mark for this test will be 60%. This will help in narrowing down the number of interviewees in order to remain with people of high intelligence. The next stage will be through Skype, whereby interviewees will be invited for an oral interview through this tool of the social media. This stage will also help the organization to trim down the number of job candidates to three. These three people will be invited for a face to face interview, for purposes of gauging their confidence level, and testing their levels of honesty. It is at this stage whereby the organization will settle on one candidate to take up the job. It is important to denote that this recruitment strategy uses both the internet and face to face model of job recruitment. This stage will cost approximately 800 us dollars. The fifth step is referred to as closing. In this step, the organization will check the references of the candidates under consideration. This is for purposes of confirming whether the information they gave was right. This stage will also involve the provision of an offer to the successful candidate. This stage will cost approximately 100 us dollars. The following is a flow chart that summarizes the above strategy; Identification Sourcing Prequalifying Selection Closing Part C: Selection: The position of the director of human resources is vacant, following the advertisement of the job, and subsequent applications. This part mainly identifies the selection and short listing criteria. It also describes the methods to use in assessing the candidates and identifies ten questions that the recruitment panel will have to ask the candidates. The Selection Criterion: Educational Credentials: The Candidate must have the following educational credentials; Have a master degree in human resource management. Have a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field. The Job Specific Skills: Good skills in communication.. Ability to work under pressure. Skills in ms office applications. Non-Job Specific Skills: He/ she must have the capability to network or form a business relation. Personal Traits: He/she should be a hard working individual. Honest Capable of working under pressure The Short Listing Criterion: For purposes of short listing the candidates under consideration, the recruiting panel will have to conduct a combination of document and phone screening. This is for purposes of making a confirmation on whether the details provided by the candidates are correct and accurate. Under document screening, the recruiting panel will have to analyze the various applications of prospective candidates against the established selection criteria (McGuire, 2012). Candidates who satisfy this criteria will then have to pass to another level, that is phone screening. This is for purposes of confirming their details, and whether the information provided in their curriculum vitae is correct and honest. Ten Methods to use in assessing the Candidates: For purposes of assessing the candidates, the recruitment panel may use the following ten methods; Cognitive ability tests: These are aimed at measuring the mathematical, verbal and reading skills of a candidate. Job Knowledge Tests: These are aimed at assessing if an individual has some knowledge on the job under consideration. Personality Tests: These tests are aimed at assessing the personal attributes of the candidate under consideration. Biographical Tests: These are tests that assess the backgrounds of the candidates, relative to their interests on the job under consideration. Integrity Tests: These are tests aimed at measuring an individual’s honesty, dependability and trustworthiness. Structured Questions: These are tests aimed at assessing the various soft skills of a candidate, and this includes communication skills, leadership and planning skills, etc. The situational judgment tests: These are tests based on case scenarios, aimed at assessing the capability of an individual to solve problems, and make good judgment. Work Sample Tests: These are designed to measure the technical skills of a candidate by giving them a sample of the work they are supposed to undertake. Assessment Centers/Tests: These are tests designed to take a long period of time, maybe a day or weeks. Their main aim is to assess if an individual has a higher level of managerial competency to take the job under consideration (Jatava, 2010). These tests also entail a work sample, on what a candidate will have to undertake. Physical Fitness Tests: These tests are aimed at measuring the endurance of a candidate in performing certain tasks for the organization. Behavioral Questions for the Interview: Please tell us an example of a situation when you managed to use logic for purposes of solving a problem? Can you tell this panel, a goal that you managed to achieve, and how you achieved the specific goal? Also tell this panel, a goal that you did not manage to achieve, and what were the reasons for failing to achieve those goals? In your work experience, can you describe any stressful situation you have been, and how you handled the situation? Please tell us how you can work effectively under pressure? Have you ever experienced a situation where you haven’t experienced so much work to handle? Please tell us any mistakes you have made in your career? How did you manage to correct the mistake that you did? Please give this panel on how you can set your personal and organizational goals? Give this panel an example on how you can work under a team? Conclusion: In conclusion, by following the above mentioned steps, the organization can get the right person to fill in the available vacancy. References: Dessler, G., Rekar Munro, C., & Cole, N. D. (2011). Management of human resources - In-class edition (3rd ed.). Toronto, ON: Pearson Education Canada. Jatava, D. R. (2010). Human resources for self and social development. Jaipur (India): ABD Publishers. McGuire, D. (2012). Fundamentals of human resource development. Los Angeles: SAGE. Pankl, E. (2010). Recruitment, development, and retention of information professionals trends in human resources and knowledge management. Hershey, PA: Business Science Reference. Werner, J. M., & DeSimone, R. L. (2012). Human resource development (6th ed.). Mason, OH: South- Western ;. Read More