I. Introduction
In the current academic environment, staffing is a crucial tactical process, for the qualification, efficiency, and sincerity of the staff members are some key factors influencing competitiveness of an academic institution. As a result, academic organizations invest heavily in their staffing activities believing that an efficient and productive workforce can outweigh those costs. Identifying the significance of efficient staffing, today organizations outsource their staffing activities to outside firms so as to enhance the competitiveness of the workforce. With the emergence of concepts such as web-based ads and SMS ads, it has become convenient and cost-effective for companies to locate a potential applicant pool to select the best ones from them. Today organizations widely rely on social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to advertise their job vacancies and to find adequate number of potential candidates immediately. In the current highly competitive business environment, organizations must be increasingly watchful while planning the employee hiring process, which generally involves huge costs. This recruiting plan is developed to help the Sincere College to locate a talented applicant pool so as to hire an outstanding young scholar to join the faculty of the Davis School of Business. It will address different phases of developing a recruitment plan.
II. Recruitment Plan
1. Creating recruitment timeline
According to Falcone (2008, p. 243), a well-structured recruitment timeline is particularly crucial to organize the recruitment process in an efficient and timely manner. For this, it is advisable for the Sincere College to plan things or work in reverse. To explain, first the institution must set date by which it expects to fill the position and then move backward to the date it plans to advertise the job vacancy. The college management must ensure that there is an application deadline date and several interview dates. While determining the gap between application deadline date and interview date, the management must make certain that there is enough time for candidates’ background and criminal checks.
2. Listing the position and job descriptions
In the second step, the organization needs to list the position(s) to be filled and to develop the job description. In the current scenario, the Sincere College has already announced the position (Associate/Assistant Professor of Business Ethics) to be filled as well the job description. The candidate is expected to teach primarily in the area of business ethics, and he/she may also be required to teach a combination of required and elective courses such as Perspectives of Business and Society. The job descriptions developed must be listed in the order of their priority so as to keep the candidates informed of what roles they are expected to perform in the organization. Based on the job description, the candidates may determine whether they are fit for the position stated (Human resources, n.d.). In short, listing job description for the stated position appropriately is a crucial aspect of locating a talented applicant pool.
3. Listing qualification needs and desirable traits
Once the job description is developed, it is important for the organization to determine what educational qualification and work experience are needed to meet the requirements of the job. Considering the expectations of the Sincere College, doctorate in a business discipline or a closely related area and teaching experience at the college level must be highlighted with utmost importance. The institution also indicates that professional experience in the private sector is desirable for filling this job position. After closely evaluating the job position and job description, the college’s top management must develop a list of desirable traits for the position. In the current scenario, the organization must specifically state that the candidates who possess successful teaching experience would be preferred. In addition, the organization must communicate that the candidates must have teaching and research interests in business ethics. While identifying the desirable traits, the management must ensure that the traits are reasonable and will attract a potential pool of applicants. It is advisable for the management to use the chosen traits as a means of short-listing the number of applicants, eliminating those who fail to meet the expectations.
4. Creating advertisement plan
In the next phase, the Sincere College must create an advertising plan stating the area to be covered by the ads as well as how widely the organization plans to advertize its job vacancy. As Kerley (2001, p. 38) proposes, while developing the advertising plan, the organization must ensure that the plan is good for locating a potential applicant pool without wasting resources. For instance, if the organization wants to recruit an intern, it is senseless to advertise through national media because online job boards are enough to locate adequate number of potential candidates. In the given case, the Sincere College is planning to recruit an associate professor of business ethics and hence it is better for the organization to develop an advertisement plan having national scope. As the institution has a strong reputation, it is vital to find a candidate who has the potential to meet the high standards of the organization to maintain its quality status. To be more specific, the college management may place ads in national level media or educational magazines to locate candidates from all over the country. According to Moriarty, Mitchell, Wells, Crawford, Brennan and Spence-Stone (2014, p.367), it is recommendable for the organization to give great emphasis to online advertising, particularly social media advertising, to locate a pool of potential applicants at affordable costs. As most of the people use one or other social networking website today, it seems to be the easiest and most cost-effective way for the Sincere College to fill the vacancy identified. As there is a fair amount of money ($10,000) budgeted for spending on the recruitment process, the college management may rely on TV ads that are traditionally considered an effective way of conveying a marketing message to the greatest number of people.
5. Selecting interviewers and scheduling interview process
This is another crucial part of developing a promising recruitment plan. In order to determine whether a candidate is capable of filling the current vacancy, it is essential to create a team of skilled and experienced interviewers. As Grinnell and Unrau (2010, p.314) purport, while selecting the interviewers, the college management must include faculty officials who would be in a supervisory role over the new hire, or who have an extensive work experience in the department concerned. This approach would greatly assist the Sincere College to recruit the most apt candidate for the position and to restrict the recruitment costs to the levels estimated. In addition, the management has to consider other staff members’ work schedules and responsibilities while designing the interview process as it is vital to make sure that the hiring process would not affect the quality of the college’s academic environment. It can assist the organization to execute its recruitment process effectively keeping the academic environment normal.
6. Developing interview questions
Prior to executing the interview actually, the interview team should create a list of thought-provoking questions to ask the interviewee (Greene, 2011, p.na). For this, the interview team may conduct brainstorming session within the group or rely on external HR consultants. It is recommendable for the interviewers to focus on job-related questions as well as mental ability questions so as to evaluate the applicants comprehensively. In the current era, organizations emphasize less on job-related questions as they do not need an employee who is only skilled in his area of study. It may be better for the Sincere College to prepare its interview questions with a focus on scrutinizing the creative abilities of the interviewees. Furthermore, the interview questions must be capable of assessing the cultural awareness of the applicants and their competitiveness in managing cultural diversity. The organization is specifically advised to assess whether the potential candidates would fit within the culture of this educational institution. Such an assessment is particularly inevitable because Sincere College is a strong-reputed educational institution with an international focus. Finally, it is advisable for the interview team to discuss the questions with someone from the institution’s HR department so as to make certain that the interview process is in full compliance with the accepted legal standards.
7. Setting up the interview process
It is a strategic aspect of the recruitment plan. While setting up the interview process, the top management must estimate the total time needed to complete the process and plan it accordingly. As the Sincere College just wants to hire only one employee, it can complete the whole interview process within one week maximum. It is recommendable for the interview team to divide the interview process into several phases such as group discussion, self-introduction, written exam, and personal interviews. This approach may aid the organization to assess a candidate from different viewpoints and thereby hire the most efficient candidate. The Sincere management must ensure that there is a sufficient time gap between the final interview and position fill date because the successful hires may need to give their current employer prior notice of leaving the company. It is particularly important for the organization to note that any delay in the interview process would add to the total costs.
8. Documenting interview decisions
Finally, careful documentation of the interview processes and interview decisions constitute an integral part of the recruitment plan. It is advisable for the interviewers to attach relevant notes to each interviewee’s resume so that they can recollect how they evaluated a candidate in future. This practice can greatly benefit the organization to defend lawsuits or complaints from a disgruntled applicant successfully. In other words, proper documentation is helpful for the organization to maintain transparency in its recruitment process and to gain the trust of applicants. Another advantage of systematic interview documentation is that the top management can easily identify second- and third-best performers later and contact them if there is another job vacancy in the near future. This process may contribute to the cost as well as time efficiency of the Sincere College in certain circumstances.
III. Conclusion
References
Falcone, P. (2008). 96 Great Interview Questions to Ask Before You Hire. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.
Greene, R. F. (2011). Law School For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons.
Grinnell, R. M & Unrau, Y. A. (2010). Social Work Research and Evaluation: Foundations of Evidence-Based Practice. Oxford University Press.
Human resources. (n. d.). University of California. Retrieved from http://hr.ucr.edu/recruitment/guidelines/process.html
Kerley, P. (2001). Employment Law for the Paralegal. Cengage Learning.
Moriarty, S., Mitchell, N. D., Wells, W. D., Crawford, R., Brennan, L & Spence-Stone, R. (2014). Advertising: Principles and Practice. Pearson Australia.
