Having gone through all the exercises in the HR Simulation has taught me so many things particularly on the aspect of recruitment. Firstly, it has made me realize how important selection goals are. In recruitment, having set clear selection goals could guide the recruitment team in the entire process. For one, it can result in hiring the person that best fits the vacancy. This means lower cost on the part of the company because it did get the right value of the money spent in the entire recruitment process. In other words, there is an increase in the return on investment of the hiring process. Furthermore, it can help the company or Juniper Hotel in this case, to use the right approach in order to retain the newly hired employees. Setting clear selection goals could guide the interviewers on what needs to be known from the applicant in order to make him or her stay in case he or she is hired for the job.
My team opted to purchase two resume books. We focused our recruitment at Northern and Western University. This is opposed to Juniper Hotel’s previous approach wherein they only confined their recruitment at Western University. We also considered looking at possible qualified applicants from the unsolicited applications we received. The reason for this new approach is to cover a wider scope thus, enable us to have more candidates to choose from. For the interviews, we made use of both unstructured and structured on-campus interviews, of which, only eight applicants were selected to take the exams. This is intended to reduce previous costs incurred in this particular recruitment phase.
The applicants were asked to take cognitive, personality, written, and job simulation tests. The cognitive test is necessary to help us determine the level of intelligence of our eight selected applicants. This is important to determine if they both have the mental capability and capacity to carry on and cope with the job. Personality test on the other hand is equally important in order for us to determine the personality, behavior, preferences and source of motivations of our candidates. The result of this test could be used as a predictor of their future job performance. Written skills test was also administered because it is necessary to know our candidates knowledge on the particular job opening. The more knowledge they have, the more they could share. This is also a very good test to measure the applicants’ written communication skills. Lastly, the job simulation test is intended to determine how well the applicant could handle the actual job. This also measures his ability to cope with stressors especially when faced with stressful situations, as well as his decision making skills.
In developing a selection strategy, an organization has to explore as many sources of applicants as possible. By doing this, you are not limiting your choices to mediocre applicants. Many sources do not always mean more cost. You can advertise through free job postings. Referrals can also be a good source. Having sourced more applicants would mean more pool also for future job openings. In screening resumes, the personnel in charge should also look for potential candidates for certain positions in the organization, aside from the vacant one. This is very helpful in case a position is suddenly vacated and the organization is already in dire need of a replacement. Of course, you will not process the applicant yet but, their might be a need in the future so better be ready. It is also good to keep the waitlist on active file. These applicants have already been processed so in case the first choice cannot make it, there is still a fall back and less cost will be involved.
The recruiting sources have equipped me with the knowledge necessary to be able to do a successful recruitment. I have learned that the entire hiring process is not that simple at all because you also need to make many preparations in order to make it successful. You have to know the right place where you could find the best candidate you need. You also need to ask the right questions during the interview to be able to get your best pick among the candidates based on the earlier set criteria. Most importantly, you have to bear in mind that the recruitment process is an investment thus; you have to return such by selecting the right person for the job vacancy.
My hiring decisions were arrived at based on the results of the resume screenings, interviews and exams administered. However, I admit that there were so many things which I failed to consider in the recruitment process. This is evidenced on the return of investment, of which only four is the highest. Many of my selected candidates declined the offer, which forced me to settle for the less qualified ones namely Yuhning Hu, Mary Lou Jones and Saif Abdulla. The decision I made was really terrible because I wasn’t able to maximize the opportunity.
The exercise has taught me so many important points that I need to consider and remember especially when I am already in the real recruitment world. Making a decision for the organization, which is hiring for example, is not an automatic response but something that needs to be thought of properly to be able to get the most out of the investment made. It should be planned well. The selection goals should be direct, precise and clear to guide everyone in the recruitment team on what will be expected from the new hires. Secondly, Overall cost should be well calculated and be considered a tool for decision making. It is worth considering in identifying the extent of the hiring process to be employed. Questions to ask during the interview are also very important. Resume’s should be screened and studied properly to be able to ask the right probing questions. Special attention should be given to job experiences that are related to the vacancy to validate if what was written in the resume is true and if the applicant is really technically competent to handle the job. Job experiences that are also less than six months must also be explored. This might be a trend on the applicant’s tendencies to easily get bored or might be an indicator that the applicant cannot stay put in one job. These things need to be validated. . Targeted selection interviewing should be employed at all times. Hiring these people is costly to the organization, thus should be taken with caution. After the interviews, only those who have qualified and met the standards should be allowed to take the test because this also entails another cost. Prior to letting the candidates proceed to the other steps of the hiring process, the interviewers should inform the applicants of the salary package and benefits applicable to the job. This is very important to avoid incurring additional costs for applicants who are not willing to accept the offer. The earlier the interviewer identifies these applicants, the better. Lastly, personality test results should be given attention too. These will help a lot, although not a hundred percent determinant of a good employee. This can be a good source in identifying a well adjusted individual.
If I were to do the simulation tests all over again, I still would select the applicants from both Western and Northern University. However, I would focus more on the applicants with actual exposure to the hospitality job. The vacancy is a supervisory level thus, I need to focus on applicants that are not just capable of doing the routines of the job, but also those capable to make good decisions and most especially, those who can cope with stress and handle people well. Usually, these skills are honed through experience. Having to deal with different clients coming from varied countries with varying cultures may be a source of stress. If not handled well, this might lead to the business’ negative reputation. The supervisor’s lack of human resources skills may also be a source of employee demoralization, which may affect job performance. If the employees (e.g. bellboy etc) have been treated badly by a supervisor, tendency is a boomerang effect on the customers.
