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ANSWERS TO REVIEW AND DISCUSSION

QUESTIONS

1. What background information should a recruiter have before beginning to recruit job seekers?

Recruiters need information in two general areas: knowledge of the constraints under which they are expected to perform and knowledge of the particular job to be filled. Familiarity with company policies, labour markets, human resource plans, and affirmative action guidelines are important constraints imposed on the recruiter. In addition, the recruiter must have knowledge of the particular job, either through job analysis information or discussions with the manager who has the job opening.

2. Give three examples of how organizational policies affect the recruitment process. Explain how these influence a recruiter's actions.

Policies in compensation limit the money available to attract qualified applicants. The affirmative action plan and policies may suggest specific types and sources of workers. Promotion-from-within policies may require the recruiter to undertake a thorough review of present employees before seeking applicants externally.

3. Under what circumstances would a blind ad be a useful recruiting technique?

Whenever an employer seeks to avoid large numbers of applicants or whenever the recruiter thinks people will be less willing to apply if they know the employer or nature of the job, a blind ad may be appropriate. Blind ads also are used in order not to inform competitors of hiring needs or to keep job incumbents from knowing an opening exists, especially where an employee is to be terminated.

4. "If a job application omits important questions, needed information about recruits will not be available. But if a needless question is asked, the information can be ignored by the recruiter without any other complications." Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Disagree. Needless questions that are not job-related may be relied upon to make the final hiring decision. If such is the case, the irrelevant information may discriminate against a protected class.

5. Suppose your employer asks you, the human resource manager, to justify the relatively large recruiting budget that you have been historically assigned. What arguments would you provide? What indices or measures will you provide to show that your recruitment is cost-effective?

To have quality recruits, a pool of candidates must be generated to allow for good selection decisions, and the chosen candidates must be convinced to accept the offered position. Less qualified employees may cause organizational problems and customer irritation or dissatisfaction. There is also the higher turnover problem with unsuitable employees, causing additional hiring and training costs.

Some indices that can be used: cost per hire; quality of hires and cost offers; applicant ratios; time lapsed per hire. Figure 5-9, p. 200, shows additional measures to evaluate the effectiveness of a company’s recruitment function.

Part 1 The Strategic Human Resource Management Model

ANSWERS TO CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS

1. After months of insufficient recognition (and two years without a raise), you accept an offer from another firm for a $2,000-a-year raise. When you tell your boss you are resigning, you are told how crucial you are to the business and are offered a raise of $2,500 per year. What do you do? Why? What problems might exist if you accept the buy- back?

Although there is no right answer to the first two parts of this question, students might be brought around to discussing the question of their obligation to the other employer with whom they have accepted an offer. The problems that might exist are several. The employee might not receive another raise for some time, having just received one. Secondly, the person's future loyalty to the organization may be questioned, and it may affect future promotions. Finally, nothing prevents the first employer from firing someone it kept through a buy-back once a replacement is found through a blind ad.

2. Suppose you are a manager who just accepted the resignation of a crucial employee. After you send your request for a replacement to the human resource department, how could you help the recruiter do a more effective job?

By reviewing the job description and position description information to see if it is accurate and complete, the manager understands the type of recruit likely to be sought. If that information is outdated or incomplete, a call or visit from the manager would help the recruiter understand the needs of the job more precisely.

3. If at your company the regular university recruiter became ill and you were assigned to recruit at six universities in two weeks, what information would you need before leaving on the trip?

The knowledge needed by a new university recruiter is extensive. An understanding of present and future hiring needs, specific job openings and their descriptions, affirmative action goals, and general compensation policies is necessary. It would also be

helpful if the recruiter had knowledge to "sell" the company. This sales information requires an understanding of wages, benefits, company-provided services, the local community, opportunities for advancement, and other information sought by applicants.

4. In small businesses, managers usually handle their own recruiting. What methods would you use for the following situations? Why?

(a) The regular janitor is going on vacation for three weeks.

(b) Your office assistant who manages all

appointments and handles all filing in your office has the flu and won’t be in the office for two days. (c) Two more salespersons are needed: one for local customers and one to open a sales office in Victoria, British Columbia.

(d) Your only chemist is retiring and must be replaced with a highly skilled individual. (e) Next week, your only computer

programmer/analyst plans to begin on a three-week leave to visit his sick mother in India. If his

mother’s health turns for the worse, he may be delayed by another week or two.

Janitor. Since janitorial services cannot be left undone for three weeks, a replacement is needed either by temporarily assigning those duties to someone or hiring a temporary worker or private contractor to do the work.

Office assistant. Since urgent administrative information may have to be completed, many firms consider hiring a temporary office worker. Sharing an assistant or relying on an administrative support pool within the company also may be feasible answers. Salespersons. The local sales position may be filled through ads, employee referrals, or private or public employment agencies. Filling the Victoria position probably requires hiring a person from the area. Private placement agencies or search firms are the most logical source of such talent unless someone from the company is to be transferred.

Chemist. To fill a highly skilled position, the manager probably would rely on the skills of a search firm,

although present employees may be able to recommend someone.

Computer programmer/analyst: To fill a highly skilled position, on a temporary basis, the manager would either assign the job duties to someone else in the organization or rely on a temporary or private contractor. The manager may wish to contact a related professional association as a source of a qualified person who may be seeking a temporary position. 5. You are the human resource manager in a large auto-assembly unit employing 2000 semi-skilled and skilled employees. Each year you recruit dozens of full time and part time workers. Recently, the vice- president, Finance, pointed that out that recruitment costs in your firm are increasing steadily. She is proposing a freeze in the recruitment budget. What kind of information will you provide in an effort to change her mind on the matter? The HR manager can show her the productivity of those who were recruited, such as error and scrap rates in their assembly work. The turnover rate of those who were hired would also show the benefit of maintaining the recruitment plan

Part 3 Attracting Human Resources

ETHICS QUESTION

Comments to Instructors

There is no right or wrong answer to this question. It is for class discussion purposes.

WEB RESEARCH

Comments to Instructors

These exercises have been designed for students to demonstrate their computer and Internet skills to research the required information. Answers will vary.

INCIDENT 5.1: ONTARIO ELECTRONICS