Unit 1: Recruitment and Selection
Historically, Human Resources staff rather than company managers were the ones to recruit and sift through applications to find candidates to interview for open positions at a company. But, HR department staff often lack the knowledge necessary to effectively screen for many newer, more technical positions, in which case a manager's expertise and input greatly benefit the hiring process. In this unit, we will learn about recruitment and selection strategies to find and hire the right people.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 16 hours.
1.1: Where Are the Right People?
Read this article and consider the performance culture in your own organization, or an organization you are familiar with. Are employees in this organization made to feel that they are part of a team? Are high-achieving employees treated differently from employees who display average performance? Is there an appropriate level of pressure placed on employees to perform well? Does the corporate culture recognize that accomplishments take time to achieve, or does it encourage workplace shortcuts as the norm?
Read this chapter, which includes detailed information on recruitment strategies and how to manage the recruiting process. Be sure to complete all the activity worksheets within the text. These exercises will help you delve into the recruitment process from the perspective of an individual seeking employment as well as from the perspective of an organization seeking employees.
Read this chapter, which discusses how companies choose the criteria from which they will select employees, including pre-selection strategies and how candidates are evaluated. Be sure to complete all the activity worksheets within the text. These exercises will help you delve into the pre-selection process from the perspective of an individual seeking employment as well as from the perspective of an organization seeking employees.
Read this chapter, which focuses on the last phase of the employee selection process, including the interview process, selection strategies, and making an offer. Be sure to complete all the activity worksheets within the text. These exercises will help you delve into the selection process from the perspective of an individual seeking employment as well as from the perspective of an organization choosing employees and making job offers.
1.2: Recruiting and Keeping Quality Employees
Read the introduction and section 7.1, which introduce strategies for employee recruitment, motivation, and retention. In today's world of doing more with less, managers at all levels of an organization have the responsibility of knowing how to successfully implement foundational human resource concepts. This section discusses the discipline of human resource management and illustrates how managers develop and potentially implement plans associated with human resources.
Read this section, which introduces you to three major concepts as they are applied within the framework of human resources: diversity; training and development; and new employee orientation. Globalization in the 20th and 21st centuries has produced a multicultural and varied workforce. Age, gender, ethnicity, religion, and other factors have created a broad workforce landscape. It is very important to understand these elements, as no manager can achieve organizational success without fully utilizing employee capital. As you read, be sure to pay close attention to the sections of the text that discuss the mutual benefits of formal and informal on-the-job training.
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Read this section, which provides additional examples of employee motivation techniques. Earlier in this course, you were introduced to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. This section will provide you with an expanded illustration of how Abraham Maslow's motivational theory can be applied in the workplace. Pay particular attention to the visual diagrams presented in this section; these will aid your expanded analysis of motivation techniques. Also, pay attention to this section's in-depth discussion of different motivational theories.
Read this section, which discusses how compensation and benefits help create a satisfying workplace environment for employees. This section also provides you with an in-depth discussion about the ways in which companies help their employees strike a balance between their jobs and their personal lives. Because every employee requires a different level of work-life balance, companies must be creative in how they determine their work-life policies.
Read this section, which covers the topic of performance appraisals. Conducting employee performance reviews is a key part of a manager's job. The feedback a manager gives about an employee's work may or may not align with the organization's expectations for that employee; thus, a manager's input is highly influential in directing the course of an employee's career at a company. This section discusses how a manager can correct poor performance as well as how a manager can work to retain valuable employees.
Read this section, which discusses labor unions. In some workplace environments, a manager may have to work with a labor union. This section will introduce you to the foundational principles that a manager should understand when dealing with unions and union activities. As you read, focus in particular on the sections of the text that explain collective bargaining, negotiation breakdowns, and the future of unions in the United States, particularly in light of the decline in overall union membership.
Read Section 2, "Recruitment and Selection", which explains various ways to recruit and select high-quality employees.
1.3: Not All Interviews Are Equal
Read this article and consider your own past interviewing experiences. How do they compare with this depiction of the interview process at Google? Which process do you prefer? Would you want to work at Google, given what you have read in this essay?