Running head: HR PLANNING AND TRAINING 1

Recruitment Planning, Interviewing

Jimmy Blankenship

Eikser University

Human Resources Psychology

Dr. Pam Anderson

December, 2018
HR PLANNING AND TRAINING 2

Recruitment Planning, Interviewing and Training Considerations

The following sections will discuss the three key issues in recruitment planning, why

employers value experience over academic qualifications, the advantages of structured

interviews and the key components of evidence-based training programs.

Describe three key issues to consider in recruitment planning.

Recruitment planning begins with the organizations objectives for when to start

recruiting, how much to spend and the staffing specifications (Hawk, 1967). As Cascio and

Aguinis (2011) suggest, the number of leads required to generate the number of hires is the basic

metric for estimating the time in recruiting. use of current employees as potential job applicants

is one recruiting strategy to implement with respect to timing based on prior recruitment

planning. The second issue in recruitment planning is considering the cost for the staffing

requirements. The number of recruiters depends on the number of positions required to be meet

and the time-lapse data (p. 239) can be used to calculate the staffing requirements based on the

amount of time available. Also, communicating the right message to the potential candidates

depends on who is being recruited and the type of business that is hiring. For example, older-

workers have been shown to value satisfaction and fit with coworkers based on the research of

Avery, McKay and Wilson (2007). The third issue of consideration is coast and cost can be

calculated from analyzing the labor market by source, job demand along with yield ratios and

time-lapse data if available. Cascio and Aguinis (2011) divide the total cost of recruiting (TCOR)

by the number of individuals hired (NH) to generate the gross cost per hire figure (p. 240).

Employers today generally assign greater weight to experience than to academic

qualifications. What does the evidence support?

HR PLANNING AND TRAINING 3

Screening potential job applicants based on work experience, training and education does

not seem as clear cut because work experience can be multidimensional and temporally dynamic

(Tesluk & Jacobs, 1998). However, weighing work experience over academic qualifications may

be useful in some context and can prevent adverse impact as grades negatively affect ethnic

minority applicants (Roth & Bobko, 2000). The evidence supports that the behavioral

consistency method has the highest validity as shown in the works of McDaniel, Schmidt and

Hunter (1988). Also, the accomplishment record used in selecting professionals has nearly a zero

correlation with test scores and grades (Hough, 1984). Although academic experience may be

weighed higher in technical jobs, conducting appropriate interviews can help in selecting the

right candidates.

Discuss the advantages of using a structured, as opposed to an unstructured, interview.

Given these advantages, why are HR managers reluctant to conduct structured interviews?

There are many ways to conduct interviews, however, nearly all of the approaches can be

broken down into either structured or unstructured. While structured interviews have many

advantages over unstructured interviews, many HR managers are reluctant in conducting

structured interviews. Unstructured interviews do not measure the same constructs (Huffcutt et

al., 2001) and are less valid than the structured approach as Campion et al. (1997) suggest (as

cited in Cascio & Aguinis, 2011, p. 276). Also, HR managers who have not conducted a job

analysis may not have the necessary information to create a structured interview and result to

using questions around hypothetical situations.

What are the key components of an evidence-based training program?

There are many challenges associated with the selection and interview process, however,

an evidence-based training program may be able to improve the process. Cascio and Aguinis
HR PLANNING AND TRAINING 4

(2011) discuss a few suggestions for improving the process and suggest paying careful attention

to relating the interview situation to the job situation. Linking the interview questions based on

job knowledge, organizational fit as well as social and mental skills which come from the job

analysis is one component discussed. Also, by standardizing the interview process with the same

questions, using a rating scale for scoring answers, documenting the procedures and setting up a

feedback system for interviewers can help in developing an evidence-based training program.

Summary and Conclusion

Even though the issues of recruitment planning, interviewing and developing evidence-

based training programs have been discussed, there are no easy methods for creating reliable and

valid measures for recruiting and selecting candidates. However, by considering the amount of

time, money and recruits required, HR managers can use current metrics to calculate the

necessary requirements for hiring candidates and bypass many issues. Also, understanding the

relation of work experience to academic experience in the hiring process along with

implementing structured interviews, HR managers can not only select the best candidates but

also lower the potential adverse effects of discriminating among potential candidates. Lastly, by

considering the key components of evidence-based training programs, HR managers will be

more proficient at recruitment planning, interviewing and training.

HR PLANNING AND TRAINING 5

References

Avery, D. R., McKay, P. F., & Wilson, D. C. (2007). Engaging the aging workforce: The

relationship between perceived age similarity, satisfaction with coworkers, and employee

engagement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1542-1556.

Campion, M. A., Palmer, D. K., & Campion, J. E. (1997). A review of structure in the selection

interview. Personnel Psychology, 50, 655-702Cascio, W. F. & Aguinis, H. (2011).

Applied psychology in human resource (7th ed.) 39-40. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson

Education, Inc.

Hawk, R. H. (1967). The recruitment function. New York, NY: American Management

Association.

Huffcut, A. I., Weekley, J. A., Wiesner, W. H., Degroot, T. G., & Jones, C. (2001). Comparison

of situational and behavior description interview questions for higher-level positions.

Personnel Psychology, 54, 619-644.

McDaniel, M. A., Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1988). A meta-analysis of the validity

methods for rating training and experience in personnel selection. Personnel Psychology,

79, 599-616.

Roth, P. L., & Bobko, P. (2000). College grade point average as a personnel selection device:

Ethnic group differences and potential adverse impact. Journal of Applied Psychology,

85, 399-406.

Tesluk, P. E., & Jacobs, R. R. (1998). Toward an integrated model of work experience.

Personnel Psychology, 51, 321-355.