Personnel Planning &

Recruiting
Chapter 5

Presented by: FSZ

 Learning Objectives

 List the steps in the recruitment process

 Explain the main techniques used in employment planning and forecasting

 Explain the need for effective recruiting

 Name and describe the main internal sources of candidates

 List and discuss the main external sources of candidates

2
Steps in Recruitment &
Selection Process

3
Workforce Planning &
Forecasting

4
 Workforce Planning
 the process of deciding what positions the firm will have to fill, and how to fill
them

 aim is to identify and to eliminate the gaps between the employer’s projected
workforce needs and the current employees who might be suitable for filling
those needs

 embraces all future positions, from maintenance clerk to CEO

5
 Strategy & Workforce Planning
 Workforce planning should be an integral part of the firm’s strategic planning
process

 For example, plans to enter new businesses, to build new plants, or to reduce
activities will all influence the personnel skills the employer needs and the
positions to be filled

 At the same time, decisions regarding how to fill these positions will require
other HR plans, such as training and recruiting plans
6
 Strategy & Workforce Planning
 manager will usually need three sets of employment forecasts: one for personnel
needs (demand), one for the supply of inside candidates, and one for the supply of
outside candidates

 basic process is to forecast the employer’s demand for labor and supply of labor;
identify supply-demand gaps; and develop action plans to fill the projected gaps

7
 Forecasting Personnel Needs (Labor
Demand)
 how many people will we need?
 staffing needs reflect demand for its products/services, adjusted for the changes in its
strategic goals along with changes in its turnover rate and productivity
 daily, weekly, and seasonal forecasts
 forecast revenues at first, then estimate the size of the staff required to support that
sales volume
 other factors, such as, projected turnover, decisions to upgrade products/services,
productivity changes, and financial resources should also be considered

8
 Forecasting Personnel Needs (Labor
Demand)
Tools for Forecasting Personnel Needs

 Trend Analysis: studying variations in the firm’s employment levels over the past few
years (no. of employees at the end of each of the last 5 years)
 Ratio Analysis: making forecasts based on the historical ratio between (1) some
causal factor (like sales volume), and (2) the number of employees required (such as
number of salespeople)
 Scatter Plot Diagram: shows graphically how two variables—such as sales and your
firm’s staffing levels are related; then forecasting the business activity and personnel
needs depending on that

9
Forecasting Personnel Needs
(Labor Demand)

10
 Forecasting Personnel Needs (Labor
Demand)
Tools for Forecasting Personnel Needs

 Managerial Judgment:
- needed to adjust the forecast

- important factors that may modify initial forecast of personnel requirements include
decisions to upgrade quality or enter into new markets; technological and administrative
changes resulting in increased productivity; and available financial resources

11
 Forecasting Supply of Inside
Candidates
 main task is determining which current employees are qualified or trainable for the
projected opening
 need to know current employees’ skills sets or qualifications (skills inventories)
 Personnel replacement charts is an option for the firm’s top positions; show the
present performance and promotability for each position’s potential replacement
 Position replacement card creates a card for each position, showing possible
replacements as well as their present performance, promotion potential, and
training

12
13
 Forecasting Supply of Inside
Candidates
 Markov Analysis/Transition Analysis
- involves creating a matrix that shows the probabilities that employees in the chain of
feeder positions for a key job (such as from junior engineer, to engineer to senior
engineer, to engineering supervisor, to director of engineering) will move from position
to position and therefore be available to fill the key position
- shows the percentage (and actual number) of employees who remain in each of a firm’s
jobs from one year to the next, as well as the proportions of those who are promoted,
demoted, or transferred, or who exit the organization

14
 Forecasting Supply of Outside
Candidates
 absence of enough skilled inside candidates to fill the anticipated openings will lead towards outside
candidates (exceptions apply)

 forecasting labor supply depends first on manager’s own sense of what’s happening in the industry

 observations from more formal labor market analysis will also supplement to the information

 economic projections online such as Bloomberg Business Week, World Bank

 also requires forecasting specific occupations

15
 Matching Projected Demand & Supply
with a Plan
 workforce planning should culminate in workforce action plan- employer’s projected
workforce demand-supply gaps and staffing plans for filling positions

 staffing plan should identify the positions to be filled, potential internal and external
sources, required training, development, promotional activities, and necessary
resources (advertising costs, interview expenses, and many more)

16
 Succession Planning
 the ongoing process of systematically identifying, assessing, &
developing the organizational leadership to enhance performance

 3 steps: identify key needs, develop inside candidates, assess & choose

17
 Succession Planning
 First, based on the company’s strategic and business plans, top management and the
human resource director identify what the company’s future key position needs will
be. Matters to address include defining key positions and “high potentials,”
reviewing the company’s current talent, and creating (based on the company’s
strategy) skills profiles for the key positions.

18
 Succession Planning
 After identifying future key positions, management turns to creating candidates for
these jobs. “Creating” means identifying inside candidates and providing them with
the developmental experiences they require to be viable candidates. Employers
develop high-potential employees through internal training and cross-functional
experiences, job rotation, external training, and global/regional assignments.

19
 Succession Planning
 Finally, succession planning requires assessing these candidates and selecting those
who will actually fill the key positions.

20
 Employee Recruiting
 Employee recruiting means finding and/or attracting applicants for the
employer’s open positions

 Effective recruiting involves:

- Recruiters (proper training)
- Sources (quality over quantity)
- Employer brand (what it’s like to work at the company)

21
 Internal Sources of
Candidates
 Finding Internal Candidates
- relies on job postings, skills inventories, and qualifications skills banks

- Job posting- publicizing the open job to employees by positing on company intranets or
bulletin boards; listing the job's attributes, qualifications, supervisor, work schedule, and pay
rate

22
 Internal Sources of
Candidates
Pros Cons
 employees’ strengths & weaknesses ✘ unsuccessful employees may become
known
discontented
 more committed employees
✘ waste of time
 rise of morale
✘ Inbreeding – tendency to maintain status
 require less orientation
quo

23
 Internal Sources of
Candidates
 Rehiring
- are already familiar with how things are done

- may return with negative attitudes

- need to inquire (before rehiring) about what they did during the layoff and how they feel about
returning

- after a probationary period, credit them with the years of service they had accumulated before
they left
24
 Outside Sources of Candidates
 Informal Recruiting & Hidden Job Market
- many job openings aren’t publicized at all

- jobs are created and become available when employers serendipitously encounter the right
candidates

- 28% of those surveyed found their most recent job through word of mouth

25
 Outside Sources of Candidates
 Recruiting via Internet
- own company website, bdjobs.com, and so on

- shifting to social networking sites, such as, Facebook, LinkedIn

- generates more responses quicker and for a longer time, at less cost

- chances of excluding older generation and minorities

- internet overload: employers bombarded with resumes

- Applicant Tracking System (ATS): online systems that help employers attract, gather, screen,
compile, and manage applicants
26
 Outside Sources of Candidates
 Advertising
• employers should address two issues: the media & ad’s construction

• the best medium depends on the position to be recruited

• daily newspapers, weekly magazines

• advertisers use the guide AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)

• ads with more specific job information considered more attractive and credible

• consider realistic ads in case of risky jobs

27
 Outside Sources of Candidates
 Employment Agencies
• Recruitment Process Outsourcers (RPOs) are special vendors that handle all or most
of an employer’s recruiting needs

• usually sign short-term contracts with the employer, and receive a monthly fee that varies with the amount of
actual recruiting the employer needs done

• makes it easier for an employer to ramp up or ramp down its recruiting expenses, as compared with paying
the relatively fixed costs of an in-house recruitment office

28
 Outside Sources of Candidates
 Employment Agencies
• On-demand recruiting services (ODRS)
• Services that provide short-term specialized recruiting to support specific projects without the
expense of retaining traditional search firms

29
 Outside Sources of Candidates
 Outsourcing & Offshoring Jobs
• the most extreme examples of alternative staffing

• Outsourcing means having outside vendors supply services that the company’s own employees
previously did in-house.

• Offshoring means having outside vendors or employees abroad supply services that the
company’s own employees previously did in-house.

• present employers with some special challenges

30
 Outside Sources of Candidates
 Executive Recruiters
• are special employment agencies which seek out top-management talent for their clients

• also known as headhunters

• have many contacts and especially skilled at finding qualified candidates who are not actively looking to
change jobs

• can help keeping the firm’s name confidential until late into the search process

• need to ensure that the recruiter understands the needs of the clients

• Ex: ZN Consultants

31
 Outside Sources of Candidates
 Campus Recruiting
• sending an employer’s representatives to campuses to prescreen applicants and create an
applicant pool

• an important source of management trainees, professional, and technical employees

• it’s expensive and time consuming

• worth the time if conducted properly

32
Outside Sources of
Candidates

33
 Outside Sources of Candidates
 Referrals
 the employer posts announcements of openings and requests for referrals on its intranet or bulletin boards

 tend to generate more applicants, more hires, and higher yield ratio (hires/applicants)

 usually provide accurate information about applicants as they put their own reputation on the line

 new employees come in with a more realistic picture of the firm

 might be discriminatory

34
 Outside Sources of Candidates
 Walk-ins
• direct applications made at the company’s premise

• big source of candidates

35
 Outside Sources of Candidates
 Military Personnel

36
 Application Form
 usually the first step in the employee pre-screening process

 provides four types of information

 make judgments on substantive matters (whether the applicant posses education and experience to do
the job)

 draw conclusions about the applicant’s previous progress and growth

 draw tentative conclusions about the applicant’s stability based on previous work record

 able to use the data to predict the success rate of the applicants

37
 Thanks!
Any questions?
You can find me at
faseeha.zabir@northsouth.edu

38
 Reference
Dessler, G. (2012). Human Resource Management (13th Edition).
New York: Pearson.

39