How Recruitment is Done in Today’s Digital World
I’m going to shares a story to express how employers recruit employees in today’s digital world, and what jobs seekers should put into consideration.
Over the last two years, the company where Melinda works as HR manager, Dragon Enterprises, has seen plenty of growth. Much of this growth has created a need for a strategic, specific recruiting processes. In the past, Dragon Enterprises recruited simply on the basis of the applications they received, rather than actively searching for the right person for the job. The first thing Melinda did when arriving at the company was to develop a job analysis questionnaire, which she had all employees fill out using the company‘s website. The goal was to create a job analysis for each position that existed at the company. This happened to be the point where the organization started seeing rapid growth, as a result of increased demand for the types of parts the company sells. Luckily, since Melinda followed the industry closely and worked closely with management, part of her strategic outline planned for the hiring of several new positions, so she was mostly ready for it. Keeping in mind the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) laws and the company‘s position on a diverse workforce, Melinda set out to write new job descriptions for the job analysis she had performed. She knew the job analysis should be tied to the job description, and both of these should be tied to the job qualifications. Obviously, to recruit for these positions, she needed to develop a recruitment plan. Over the next year, the organization needed to hire three more floor management positions, three office positions, and fifteen factory floor positions. Next, she needed to determine a time line to recruit candidates and a method by which to accept the applications she would receive. After sharing this time line with her colleague, the chief operating officer, she went to work recruiting. She sent an e-mail to all employees asking them to refer a friend and receive a $500 bonus. Next, part of her strategy was to try to find very specialized talent in management to fill those positions. For this, she thought working with a recruiting company might be the best way to go. She also used her Twitter and Facebook accounts to broadcast the job openings. After a three-week period, Melinda had 54 applications for the management positions, 78 for the office positions, and 110 for the factory floor positions. Pleased with the way recruiting had gone, she started reviewing the résumés to continue with the selection process.
Many of us have or will sit in a waiting room with our best clothes on awaiting a job (or school) interview. You can feel your palms sweat and thoughts race as you wait for your name to be called. You look around at the office environment and imagine yourself walking through those doors everyday. People walk by and smile, and overall, you have a really good first impression of the organization. You hope they like you. You tell yourself to remember to smile, while recalling all your experience that makes you the perfect person for this job. A moment of self-doubt may occur, as you wonder about the abilities of the other people being interviewed and hope you have more experience and make a better impression than they do. You hear your name, stand up, and give a firm handshake to the HR manager. The interview has begun. As she walks you back to a conference room, you think you see encouraging smiles as you pass by people. She asks you to take a chair and then tells you what the interview process will be like. She then asks the first question, ―Tell me about yourself.‖ As you start discussing your experience, you feel yourself relax, just a little bit. After the interview finishes, she asks you to take a quick cognitive test, which you feel good about. She tells you she will be doing reference checks and will let you know by early next week. To get to this point, the hiring manager may have reviewed hundreds of résumés and developed criteria she would use for selection of the right person for the job. She has probably planned a time line for hiring, developed hiring criteria, determined a compensation package for the job, and enlisted help of other managers to interview candidates. She may have even performed a number of phone interviews before bringing only a few of the best candidates in for interviews. It is likely she has certain qualities in mind that she is hoping you or another candidate will possess. Much work goes into the process of hiring someone, with selection being an important step in that process. A hiring process done correctly is time-consuming and precise. The interviewer should already have questions determined and should be ready to sell the organization to the candidate as well. This chapter will discuss the main components to the selection process.