PART TWO
RECRUITMENT AND PLACEMENT
C H A P T E R
T
Personnel Planning
and Recruiting
F i v e
5
Lecture Outline
Strategic Overview
Planning and Forecasting
Forecasting Personnel Needs
Forecasting the Supply of Inside Candidates
Forecasting the Supply of Outside Candidates
Effective Recruiting
Organizing the Recruitment Function
Measuring Recruiting Effectiveness
The Recruiting Yield Pyramid
Internal Sources of Candidates
Finding Internal Candidates
Rehiring
Succession Planning
Outside Sources of Candidates
Advertising
Employment Agencies
Temp Agencies and Alternative Staffing
Offshoring/Outsourcing White Collar & Other Jobs
Executive Recruiters
On-Demand Recruiting Services
College Recruiting
Referrals and Walk-ins
Recruiting via the Internet
Recruiting a More Diverse Workforce
Single Parents
Older Workers
Recruiting Minorities and Women
Welfare-to-Work
The Disabled
Developing and Using Application Forms
Purpose of Application Forms
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Using Application Forms to Predict Performance
In Brief: This chapter explains the
process of forecasting personnel
requirements, discusses the pros and
cons of eight methods used for
recruiting job candidates, describes
how to develop an application form,
and explains how to use application
forms to predict job performance.
Interesting Issues: Despite lots of
publicity and widespread knowledge
of EEO laws, many organizations
still ask questions that are highly
suspect, and some questions that are
clearly
violations
of
federal
regulations. It may be useful to
discuss causes of this and the
potential consequences of those
violations.
ANNOTATED OUTLINE
I.
Planning and Forecasting
A. Forecasting Personnel Needs –Forecast revenues, then estimate the size
of the staff required to achieve this sales volume.
1.
Trend Analysis means studying a firm’s employment levels over a
period of years to predict future needs.
2.
Ratio Analysis means making forecasts based on the ratio between
(1) some causal factor, like sales volume, and (2) number of
employees required, like number of salespeople.
3.
The Scatter Plot shows graphically how two variables (such as a
measure of business activity and a firm’s staffing levels) are related.
4.
Using Computers to Forecast Personnel Requirements – The use of
software programs can enable employers to quickly translate
projected productivity and sales levels into forecasts of personnel
needs, while estimating how personnel requirements will be affected
by various productivity and sales levels.
B. Forecasting the Supply of Inside Candidates

1.
Manual Systems and Replacement Charts – Simple manual devices
can be used to keep inventories and development records to compile
qualifications information on each employee. Personnel replacement
charts show the present performance and promotability for each
position’s potential replacement. Position replacement cards can
also be created for each position to show possible replacements as
well as their present performance, promotion potential, and training.
2.
Computerized Information Systems are used to track the
qualifications of hundreds or thousands of employees. The system
can provide managers with a listing of candidates with specified
qualifications after scanning the database.
3.
The Matter of Privacy – Employers must balance an individual’s right
to privacy while making HR information legitimately available to
those in the firm who need it.
NOTES
Educational Materials to Use
C. Forecasting the Supply of Outside Candidates – This may involve considering
general economic conditions and the expected rate of unemployment. Helpful
sources include: Business Week, Fortune, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal,
and prepared reports from the U.S. Council of Economic Advisors, the regional
Federal Reserve banks, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of
Labor, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Public Health Service, the U.S.
Employment Service, and the U.S. Office of Education.
II.
Effective Recruiting
Recruiting is a more complex activity than most managers think it is.
Recruitment efforts should make sense in terms of the company’s strategic
plans. Some recruiting methods are superior to others, depending on who
you are recruiting for and what your resources are. The success you have
with your recruiting actually depends on non-recruitment HR issues and
policies.
Know Your Employment Law: Pre–Employment Activities. The
key question in all recruitment procedures is whether the method
limits qualified applicants from applying. It is generally best to avoid
limiting recruitment efforts to just one recruitment method; use
multiple sources to reach out as widely as possible.
A.
Organizing the Recruitment Function – Companies make a choice to
centralize their recruiting efforts or to decentralize to various locations.
Advantages of centralizing are that it is easier to apply the company’s
strategy priorities company-wide. In addition, it reduces duplication,
makes it easier to spread the cost of new technologies over more
departments, and builds a team of recruitment experts, and makes it
easier to assess the effectiveness of the function. However, if divisions
are autonomous or needs are varied, decentralization is a more sensible
choice.
1. Line and Staff Cooperation – Since the recruiting HR manager is
seldom responsible for supervising the performance for the vacant
position, he/she must communicate with the supervisor to find out
exactly what the job entails.
B. Measuring Recruiting Effectiveness – Assessing the quality of each
recruitment source will help HR managers to determine where the most
cost effective recruiting sources are and thus determine where they want
to direct their recruiting dollars, Prescreening selection devices shown
in table 5-1 are helpful tools to get quick assessments on whether
applicants are qualified. An example of GE Medical is described here as
a best practice in terms of measurement techniques.
1. A High-Performance Example – GE Medical applies best practices
measurement techniques to the job of hiring highly technical
workers.
C. The Recruiting Yield Pyramid – is used by some employers to calculate
the number of applicants they must generate to hire the required number
of new employees. Figure 5-6 illustrates the pyramid.

NOTES
Educational Materials to Use
III.
Internal Sources of Candidates
A. Finding Internal Candidates – To be effective, promotion from within
requires using job posting, personnel records, and skill banks.
B. Rehiring – There are pros and cons of rehiring former employees. On
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the
positive side, they are known quantities and are already familiar with the
organization. On the other side, former employees may return with
negative
attitudes, and also sends a message to current employees that the way
get
ahead is to leave and come back.
to
C.

Succession Planning – The process of ensuring a suitable supply of
successors for senior or key jobs. It can include the following activities:
determining the projected need for managers and professionals by
company level, function, and skill; auditing current executive talent to
project the likely future supply for internal sources; planning individual
career paths based on objective estimates of future needs and
assessments of potential; career counseling based on the needs of the
individual and the firm; accelerated promotions, with development targets
against the future needs of the business; performance-related training
and development; planned strategic recruitment to fill short-term needs
and to provide people to meet future needs; and actually filling the
positions.
NOTES
Educational Materials to Use
IV. Outside Sources of Candidates
A. Advertising
1.
The Media – The best medium should be selected based on the
positions for which you are recruiting.
2.
Constructing the Ad – Many experienced advertisers use a four-point
guide called AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) to construct
their ads.
3.
Employment Advertising’s Effectiveness – recent studies show that it
pays for employers to formulate marketing campaigns aimed at
making themselves more attractive to potential recruits.
B. Employment Agencies
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1.
Public and Nonprofit Agencies – Every state has a public, state-run
employment service agency supported by the Department of Labor,
in part through grants and other assistance, such as a nationwide
computerized job bank. Many professional and technical societies,
and public welfare agencies have units that try to help their members
or people in special categories find jobs.
2.
Private Agencies charge fees for each applicant they place.
Typically, market conditions determine whether the candidate or
employer pays the fee.
C. Temp Agencies and Alternative Staffing
1.
Benefits and Costs – The benefits of contingency staffing include
increases in overall productivity, and time and expenses saved by
not having to recruit, train, and document new employees. The costs
include fees paid to agency and individuals’ psychological reference
to their place of employment.
2. Know Your Employment Law: Contingent Workers – Temp workers
can pose legal risks to the employer. In a case with Microsoft, a
federal court held that despite their temp titles, these “temps” were
actually regular Microsoft employees, eligible for benefits. Temporary
workers, like all workers, have significant legal rights. The degree to
which the client firm controls temp agency’s employees’ activities
determines how many rights these employees have, and the “dual
employment” view is espoused by many courts.
The basic
prescription is to treat the temp employee in all ways as if the agency
is in fact his employer.
3. Guidelines for Success: See Figure 5-8. Provide honest information
to both temp agencies and temp workers about the length of the job
assignment; implement personnel policies that ensure fair, nondiscriminatory treatment of temp workers; use independent
contractors and permanent part-time employees to complement the
conventional temp agency workforce; consider the potential impact
on regular full time employees before hiring temp workers; provide
the necessary training and orientation for temp workers; and beware
of legal snares in payroll decisions.
4. Alternative Staffing refers to the use of nontraditional recruitment
sources.
D. Offshoring/Outsourcing White Collar and Other Jobs – Hiring workers
abroad is becoming more and more common. There are several specific
issues that the HR manager should keep in mind when considering this
option.
E. Executive Recruiters, also called headhunters, are special employment
agencies retained by employers to seek out top-management talent for
their clients.
1. Pros and Cons – Recruiters can be useful and can save a manager’s
time, but they can be more interested in persuading you to hire a
candidate than in finding the one who will really do the job.
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2. Guidelines – Make sure the firm is capable, meet the individual who
will handle your assignment, and ask how much the firm charges.
When You’re On Your Own:
HR and Small Business –
Expanding the Management Team - This dialogue talks about
entrepreneurs engaging the services of a search firm to help them
select the right candidate when the time comes for them to expand.
While the initial cost of doing so could appear to be intimidating,
there are many good reasons to consider this as an option when it
comes to key management positions, including identifying a high
quality pool of candidates, time and energy of the business owners,
so when the opportunity costs are considered, there is little money
actually saved by doing it themselves.
F. On Demand Recruiting Services (ODRS) – This service provides shortterm specialized recruiting to support specific projects without the
expense of retaining traditional search firms. Basically, recruiters get
paid by the hour or project, instead of a percentage fee. Two trends –
technology and specialization – are changing the executive search
business. Executive recruiters are being more specialized, and large
ones are creating new businesses aimed specifically at specialized
functions or industries.
G. College Recruiting involves sending employers’ representatives to college
campuses to prescreen applicants and create an applicant pool of
management trainees, promotable candidates, and professional and
technical employees.
1.
Recruiting Goals – are: 1) to determine whether a candidate is
worthy of further consideration, and 2) to attract good candidates.
2.
On Site Visits – are usually extended to good candidates.
3.
Internships – are a recruiting approach that can be a win-win
situation for the employer and the student. For employers, interns
can make useful contributions while being evaluated for possible fulltime employment. For students, they are able to hone business
skills, check out potential employers, and learn more about their likes
and dislikes.
H.
Referrals and Walk-Ins are alternatives for identifying potential
candidates.
I. Recruiting via the Internet – More and more people are going online to
look for jobs. This can be a cost effective method of finding qualified
candidates.
1.
Applicant Tracking – Web based ads often produce so many
applicants that many firms must use applicant tracking software.
2.
Using an E-Recruiting Applications Tracking ASP – Applications
service providers, such as Recruitsoft.com, are strategically
partnering with HR departments of many companies to streamline
the recruiting process.
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2.

V.
NOTES
Designing Effective Internet Recruiting Programs - It is a mistake to
take newspaper ads and transpose them to the Web. Instead, when
posting on job sites such as Monster.com, use compelling keywords
which provide good reasons why candidates would want to work for
your company. See Figire 5-10 for examples of ineffective and
effective web ads.
Educational Materials to Use
Recruiting a More Diverse Workforce
A. Single Parents – Formulating an intelligent program for attracting single
parents should begin with understanding the considerable problems they
often encounter in balancing work and family life.
B.
Older Workers – Many employers are encouraging retirement-age
employees not to leave, or are actively recruiting employees who are at
or beyond retirement age by making their companies an attractive place
in which older workers can work.
Box - Supervising the Graybeards – Supervising older workers,
especially when the manager is 20-30 years younger can be a
challenge. Maintaining authority and earning respect through hard
work and getting to know employees are some of the keys to
success in this situation.
C. Recruiting Minorities and Women – requires employers to tailor their way
of thinking and to design HR practices that make their firms attractive to
them.
D. Welfare-to-Work – The Federal Personal Responsibility and Welfare
Reconciliation Act of 1996 prompted many employers to implement
programs to attract and assimilate former welfare recipients.
E. The Disabled – Employers can do several things to tap into this huge
potential workforce. The Department of Labor’s Office of Disability
Employment Policy offers several programs, and all states have local
agencies that provide placement services and other recruitment and
training tools.

VI.
NOTES
Educational Materials to Use
Developing and Using Application Forms
A. Purpose of Applications Forms – Application forms are a good way to
quickly collect verifiable and fairly accurate historical data from the
candidate.
Box – Know Your Employment Law: Equal Opportunity and
Application Forms – Employers should carefully review their
application forms to ensure they comply with equal employment
laws.
B. Alternative Dispute Resolution – While the EEOC generally opposes the
idea, more employers are requiring applicants to sign mandatory
alternative dispute resolution forms as a part of the application process.
C. Using Application Forms to Predict Job Performance – Some firms use
application forms to predict which candidates will be successful and
which will not by conducting statistical studies to find the relationship
between (1) responses on the application form and (2) measures of
success on the job.

NOTES
Educational Materials to Use
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What are the pros and con of five sources of job candidates? The text lists several
sources of job candidates, both internal and external. The student should clearly identify the
differences as well as comparative strengths and weaknesses of each. There are at least the
following sources to choose from: advertising, employment agencies, executive recruiters,
state job services, college recruiting, referrals, employee database, internal, and talent
searches.
2. What are the four main types of information application forms provide? The application
form is a good means of quickly collecting verifiable, and therefore potentially accurate,
historical data from the candidate. It usually includes information on education, prior work
history, and other experience related to the job The application form can provide four types
of information: 1. substantive matters (such as education and experience); 2. applicant's
previous progress and growth; 3. stability based on previous work history; 4. prediction of job
success.
3. How, specifically, do equal employment laws apply to personnel planning and
recruiting activities. The student should be able to discuss the areas in which the laws and
regulations covered in Chapter 2 apply to the issues of planning and recruiting. This would
include constraints on sources used for candidates (i.e. not excessive reliance on referrals),
the wording of questions asked on application forms or in interviews, and planning decisions
that must not be overly detrimental to a protected group.
4. What are five things employers should keep in mind when using internet sites to find
job candidates? Keyword searches, don’t recycle your newspaper ads, give quick
feedback, ensure privacy, applicant tracking, etc.
5.
What are the five main things you would do to recruit and retain a more diverse
workforce? The student should first be able to identify groups that would create a diverse
workforce. Examples found in the text are: single parents, older workers, minorities and
women, welfare recipients, and global candidates. In order to retain these employees,
students would first need to understand the needs of each group, and then create plans and
programs that accommodate these specific needs. For example, to attract and keep single
mothers, employers could give employees schedule flexibility, and train the supervisors to
have an increased awareness of and sensitivity to the challenges single parents face.
INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP ACTIVITIES
1.
Working individually or in groups, bring to class several classified and display ads
from the Sunday’s help wanted ads. Analyze the effectivenss of these ads using the
guidelines discussed in the chapter. The effectiveness should be analyzed using the
following list: attracts attention, develops interest, creates desire, and prompts action.
2. Working individually or in groups, develop a forecast for the next five years of
occupational market conditions for various occupations such as accountant, nurse,
and engineer. Be sure that the forecasts that the students develop are grounded in
information gleaned from these sources. They should do an adequate analysis of the
statistics.
3. Working individually or in groups, visit your local office of your state employment
agency. Come back to class prepared to discuss the following questions: What types
of jobs seemed to be available through this agency, predominantly? To what extent do
you think this particular agency would be a good source of professional, technical,
and/or managerial applicants? What sort of paperwork are applicants to the state
agency required to complete before their applications are processed by the agency?
What other services did the office provide? What other opinions did you form about
the state agency? The answers to this will vary greatly by state and local offices.
Generally, these agencies may be more oriented to unskilled and skilled position, rarely do
they handle professional and managerial positions...although some do quite a bit. Although
students may come back with a negative view of these offices, help them to understand the
valuable role that they do play. A special note of courtesy: make sure that your have
discussed this assignment with the local agency office. Surprise visits by several groups
during busy periods can create some especially negative relations between the office and
your school. Make sure they are welcome and expected.
4. Working individually or in groups, find at least 5 employment ads either on the Internet
or in a local newspaper that suggest that the company is family-friendly and should
appeal to women, minorities, older workers, and single parents. Discuss what they’re
doing to be family-friendly. Students should identify statements in the ad that would
suggest that they’re aiming to be family-friendly.
5. Working individually or in groups, interview a manager between the ages of 25 and 35
at a local business who manages employees 40 or older. Ask the manager to describe
three or four of his or her most challenging experiences managing older employees.
Students should probe the manager to see if he/she mentions that the older employee found
the experience challenging as well.
6. The HRCI “Test Specifications” appendix at the end of this book lists the knowledge
someone studying for the HRCI certification exam needs to know in each area of
human resource management (such as in Strategic Management, Workforce Planning
and Human Resource Development). In groups of 4-5 students, do four things: (1)
review that appendix now: (2) identify the material in this chapter that relates to the
required knowledge the appendix lists; (3) write four multiple choice exam questions
on this material that you believe would be suitable for inclusion in the HRCI exam; and
(4) if time permits, have someone from your team post your team’s questions in front
of the class, so the students in other teams can take each other’s exam questions.
Examples of multiple choice questions are as follows:
1. Trend Analysis, Ratio Analysis and Scatter Plots are all methods of:
a. Recruiting
b. Forecasting Personnel Needs
c. On-Demand Recruiting Services
d. Qualifications Inventories
Answer: b
2. Contingent staffing is:
a. Potentially risky for employers
b. Beneficial in terms of productivity
c. Costs employers more than permanent workers
d. All of the above
Answer: d
3. Selection Devices that can be used to screen applicants are:
a. Structured interviews
b. Job descriptions
c. Qualifications inventories
d. None of the above
Answer: a
4. Qualifications Inventories,and Replacement Charts are examples of tools to:
a. Finding contingent workers
b. Forecast the supply of internal candidates
c. Recruiting a more diverse workforce
d. Ratio analysis
Answer: b
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES & CASES
Experiential Exercise: The Nursing Shortage
This is a good exercise for students to create a recruiting approach for nursing jobs and use their
creativity and what they have learned in the chapter.
Application Case: Finding People Who Are Passionate About What They Do
Trilogy Software is a fast growing software company with a unique and highly unorthodox culture.
The case provides a framework for discussing issues related to person-company fit and the role
of recruiting in that process.
1. Identify some of the established selection techniques that underlie Trilogy’s
unconventional approach to attracting talent? Trilogy actively recruits potential employees
early in the hiring cycle. Their techniques include reviewing resumes (over 15,000 in one
year), attending job and career fairs, conducting on campus interviews (over 4,000), flying in
prospects for interviews, and having more personalized procedures for handling top recruits.
2. What particular elements of Trilogy’s culture most likely appeal to the kind of
employees it seeks? How does it convey those elements to job prospects? A number of
company characteristics many appeal to programmers, including: no dress code, no regular
work schedule, self-directed scheduling, workers with similar interests and technically
challenging work.
3. Would Trilogy be an appealing employer for you? Why or why not? If not, what would
it take for you to accept a job offer from Trilogy? Students may answer this either way.
Students who require more structure may want to know about career paths, mentoring and
measures of success. They may want the company to make some sort of symbolic comment
to them.
4. What suggestions would you make to Trilogy for improving their recruiting processes?
The student should refer to the section on outside sources of candidates and put themselves
in the shoes of a prospect to make their suggestions
Running Case: Carter Cleaning Company
Getting Better Applicants
1. First, how would you recommend we go about reducing the turnover in our stores?
The students should base their responses on the information presented in the advertising
section of the chapter, and their response should include placing and constructing ads that
will attract candidates who will find the job attractive.
2.
Provide a detailed list of recommendations concerning how we should go about
increasing our pool of acceptable job applicants, so we no longer have to hire almost
anyone who walks in the door. (Your recommendations regarding the latter should
include completely worded advertisements and recommendations regarding any other
recruiting strategies you would suggest we use.) The students should review the section
on outside sources of candidates, and their responses should include advertising and the
possible use of employment and/or temp agencies.
KEY TERMS
employment or
personnel planning
The process of deciding what positions the firm will have to fill,
and how
to fill them.
trend analysis
Study of a firm's past employment needs over a period of years
to predict future needs.
ratio analysis
A forecasting technique for determining future staff needs by
using ratios between sales volume and number of employees
needed.
scatter plot
A graphical method used to help identify the relationship
between two variables.
computerized forecast
The determination of future staff needs by projecting a firm's
sales, volume of production, and personnel required to maintain
this volume of output, using computers and software packages.
qualifications inventories
Manual or computerized systematic records, listing employees'
education, career and development interests, languages, special
skills, and so on, to be used in forecasting inside candidates for
promotion.
personnel replacement
charts
Company records showing present performance
and promotability of inside candidates for the most important
positions.
position replacement
cards
A card prepared for each position in a company to show possible
replacement candidates and their qualifications.
recruiting yield pyramid
Calculating and using the historical arithmetic relationships
between recruitment leads and invitees, invitees and interviews,
interviews and offers made, and offers made and offers
accepted.
job posting
Posting notices of job openings on company bulletin boards is an
effective recruiting method.
succession planning
The process of ensuring a suitable supply of successors for
current and future senior or key jobs.
alternative staffing
The use of nontraditional recruitment sources.
on demand recruiting
These services provide short-term, specialized recruiting
services usually
paid for by the hour or project, rather than on a percentage fee.
services (ODRS)
application form
The form that provides information on education, prior work
record, and skills.
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