Rationalize the Identification of Potential Hiring

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NORTHCENTRAL UNIVERSITY

ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

Student:  Aziza Nassar                                

Faculty Use Only

MBA-5121-8-7

Week 7-2 Assignment: Rationalize the Identification of Potential Hiring

Student’s Name: Aziza Nassar

Faculty’s Name: Shanan Farmer

January 8, 2018

The hiring process for organizations is essential to its sustainability and well-being. Employees have a direct and indirect effect on customer satisfaction, growth, and profitability which means they hold the future of the business. However, despite its importance, mistakes do happen within this process. This report will discuss ten mistakes made in the hiring process based on the work of Taylor and Stern (2009). After that, other mistakes that could occur in the hiring process will be discussed. When that is done, I will comment on whether I believe any of the mistakes mentioned by Taylor and Stern (2009) are not actually mistakes. Lastly, this report will end with its conclusions.

Mistakes in the Hiring Process

Taylor and Stern (2009) found ten mistakes in the hiring process. The first mistake found is that management thinks they are in control which means that they want employees to court them in a one-way affair. However, with the rise of knowledgeable people, hiring needs to be a two-way mutual process. As such, a way to correct this mistake would be to create a talent acquisition strategy that an HR employee and the manager look into the hiring process and come up with a logical solution. By working together, the best plan can be created as the manager knows more about the company and the HR employee knows more about the hiring strategy. Additionally, teamwork will lessen the thought of being in control with managers as the responsibility is shared.

The second mistake found is making hiring decisions based on resume and references (Taylor & Stern, 2009). This would be a mistake as the manager is only looking at the cover of a person and not the actual individual. A candidate’s core skills, past experiences, and their fit into the company’s culture must be assessed. For example, a person was just hired because they have a Master’s in Business Administration and their references seemed sound. On the first day, the new hire did a bad job communicating clearly to customers and co-workers which caused some issues that needed correction. Assessing an individual’s key traits is, thus, just as important as their knowledge of the job. A way to lessen this would be to dive deep into resumes and ask particular questions to make it clearer, such as the start and ending date of the month and day.

The third mistake would be that managers only look at the short-term: they just want the position filled (Taylor & Stern, 2009). As such, inadequate candidates can be hired and harm the business by doing a bad job, upsetting others, and/or adding to turnover rates. This causes duress in a company’s midst and higher training and hiring costs. As such, HR should be brought into the equation and look to the long-term. Candidates should fit into the position requirements, be able to develop and grow, and stay within the business for at least five to seven years to make it a successful recruitment (Tract, 2016).

The fourth mistake managers make is ignoring the cultural fit (Taylor & Stern, 2009). This, again, fits into only looking at a resume and not the character behind it. Personality, attitude, and values should be assessed and compared to the business culture. For example, a job that requires a light personality, people-oriented attitude, and values pleasing the customer should not hire a serious person that is single-minded and does what they want. To lessen this mistake, behavioral and crises scenarios should be given and used to assess the applicant’s emotional intelligence. This can then be analyzed against what the company is looking for.

The fifth mistake would be not knowing your competition (Taylor & Stern, 2009). The manager should understand their competitors and the last company the applicant worked at to better make the correct decision. The reasoning being that applicants from direct competitors will be more worthwhile. The solution to this mistake is research and market intelligence. HR professionals should be wise in this subject and, thus, managers should collaborate with them.

The sixth mistake would be that managers ask softball questions due to not being trained like an HR professional (Taylor & Stern, 2009). These are simple open-ended questions that do not reveal much about an applicant. The interview may have seemed to go well, but valuable information, such as how well an applicant does under pressure, is not learned. The solution to this is simple: ask role-playing and on-the-job questions to reveal more about the applicant (Heathfield, 2016). This information can then be compared to what the company is looking for and needs as it predicts future performance rather well.

Mistake seven would be managers treating all job applicants as their mirror image (Taylor & Stern, 2009). Managers should not assume what they like in a business will be equally liked by subordinates: differences in preferences, such as like a slower pace vs. a faster pace, can be the difference to keeping an employee. As such, figuring out what motivates a candidate should reveal if they will like and want to stay in a business or leave. Travel, security, flexibility, and other questions should be asked to learn if the applicant will like and fit the job.

Mistake eight is ignoring key motivators by not looking to the long term (Taylor & Stern, 2009). They do not have anything for the new employee to look forward and train for which means they can quickly lose interest and leave which causes a loss of profits to the company in time, energy, and training costs. As such, when learning about the individual, it is important to see what will sustain the person and whether the company can deliver it to them.

When managers take control of hiring on their own, they are committing another mistake (Taylor & Stern, 2009). To disregard the expertise and knowledge of HR and to work on own’s own can cause biases and mistakes. This is, of course, unintentional but the lack of expertise in the field can cause someone that is not qualified to be hired. As such, managers must learn to collaborate with HR and share knowledge to increase the likelihood of a great selection of applicants. HR can provide some great insight into where to look for candidates, how difficult positions may be to fill, and other useful information that can make the hiring process easier.