Strategic Human Resouce Research Worksheet

Strategic Human Resource Research Worksheet

The company your team works for is expanding operations into a foreign market and is considering multiple countries. The Director of HR has been tasked with determining what the HR department needs to do to align itself with this new direction. She has asked your team to conduct research in several key areas to generate ideas on how to proceed.

Topic A: Recruitment and Selection

Instructions for Topic A: In the Response row, each team member must list at least one article related to this topic. For each article provide a brief explanation of why it was selected and what specific advice it offers the HR manager.

Response to Topic A:

Computers have made communication better in many different ways. For instance, much of the employee recruitment and selection process can be done over the internet. Companies can realize a considerable savings over a recruitment agency. According to an article in the Best Practice magazine called Does e-recruitment work? It states, “Firms can pay 25 per cent of a candidate’s salary to recruitment agencies, compared with the negligible costs of recruiting via the corporate website.” (Coleman, 2006, p. 27) The Internet is a great recruitment and selection tool that can be taken advantage of especially when looking for employees on a global basis. The reason I selected this article is because of possible cost savings the company could realize.

According to Derek Stockley (2006) he reminds the reader that recruitment among job websites is growing and allows companies to go direct rather than through agencies. These websites are quick and inexpensive and fairly easy to use. The challenge with this method is the advertising must be structured correctly to attract the right number of qualified candidates. The author also points out how the selection process is important. A survey indicates that managers would only re-hire 60% of the candidates they originally hired. It is important for hiring managers to identify the necessary skills before making the hiring decision, otherwise it could prove costly.

One of the major reasons for recruiting abroad is to find individuals who have the skills the company is looking, when the skill labor pool in the company’s country is limited. For example, in the UK, it is common to recruit highly skilled IT workers from other countries in areas such as east Europe. The article as low-quality applicants make bosses look abroad…. Which was published by IT Training discusses this trend. This article applies to this situation in that sometimes you can’t find skilled workers in your own country, therefore you must look outside your country to find the skills you need.

It will be extremely difficult for a corporation to set up recruitment of employees in Brazil. The education system has been set up to be paid and offered by the government, every child has the right to attend school. The problems comes when the student want to receive higher education, most universities are set up by the state and they require an entrance exam to be pass by every student that is accepted in the school. Due to the low income in the families, the majority of students cannot afford to attend universities or trade schools. The amount of illiteracy in Brazil is extremely high with in adults; government has set up literacy programs which has helped bring the amount of uneducated adults down. (Wikipedia Foundations, 2006, p1)

Interviewing is a difficult process for job seekers as well as for Human Resource personnel responsible for finding the perfect candidate. According to Fran Parrish’s article “How to Recruit, Interview, and Retain Employees”, “a successful interview starts with preparation” (2006). The hiring process should begin with advertising the available position. There are several venues for job advertisements including classifieds, online job sites, word-of-mouth references, and head hunters. Human Resource managers should ensure that the position’s job description is clearly defined and meets the expectations of the supervisor in charge of that position. The required qualifications of the desired candidate should be identified and considered throughout the interviewing process. Prior to the actual interviews, the interviewer should set the stage for the interview. The location should provide for few interruptions or distractions and not cause the potential candidates to be overly uncomfortable. The interviewer should be aware that his or her attitude will set the tone of the interview and have an affect on the candidates. An interview is ultimately an exchange of information between the interviewer and the job seeker. As such, the interviewer should make a point to ask open-ended questions so as to obtain as much information as possible. Conversely, the interviewer should allow ample time for the candidate to ask questions so he or she may determine if the position is a good fit. After all of the interviews have been conducted, the potential candidates should be evaluated based on the interviews and qualifications. The Human Resource manager must then decide if an offer should be made to a candidate or if more interviews should be conducted.

Topic B: HR Skills Sets and Gap Analysis

Instructions for Topic B In the Response row, each team member must list at least one article related to this topic. For each article provide a brief explanation of why it was selected and what specific advice it offers the HR manager. As you research this topic, be sure to consider the effect of organizational structure.

Response to Topic B:

There is a software tool available on the internet called Readiness Manager that can assist in the process that businesses go through when analyzing the skill level of the employees along with the lack of talent gap that needs to be met. This sort of data will assist in the decisions, such as, what talents are needed in the company, and what to train the employees on. In an article found in the ITTranining magazine called Readiness Manager, it explains how the software works; “Using the unique InfoBase methodology, three data sets are collected: the current skills level of the workforce, the skill level the business requires and the training interventions that will fill the gap.” ("Readiness Manager," 2005) Using this information the database compiles a list of employee talent and training needs. This type of software tool can point the company in the