CHAPTER 5 Planning for, Recruiting, and Selecting the Workforce

Question 1

Discuss the steps in human resource planning.

Answer 1

• Forecast demand for labour in the organization.
• Determine the supply of labour—both external and internal to the organization.
• Identify the gap between demand and supply.
• Develop action plans to close or eliminate the gap.

Question 2

The advantages of recruiting from within the organization.

Answer 2

Reward for past performance
Makes use of people who already know the organization
Motivates other employees
Helps achieve diversity initiatives

Question 3

The disadvantages of recruiting from within the organization.

Answer 3

May not have people with specialized training or expertise when needed
May not have people with broad enough experiences
May need new ideas and perspectives

Question 4

Outline the advantages and disadvantages of external recruitment.

Answer 4

• External recruitment can bring in new ideas and acquire people with special- ized skills.
• Constraints on the organization, such as a legislated employment equity plan, may lead to a different pool of applicants than what the manager may want.

Question 5

Describe the typical steps in the selection process.

Answer 5

• Typical steps start with the receipt of an application (form and/or resume), then an initial interview, possible employment tests, an interview with the supervisor, refer- ence checks, and then a hiring decision.

Question 6

Discuss reliability and validity of the selection process

Answer 6

• Reliability: the degree to which selection procedures (interviews, tests, etc.) yield comparable data over time
• Validity: how well the selection procedure (interviews, tests, etc.) measures a person’s attributes and abilities to successfully perform the job