Talent Acquisition Strategy

Question 1

Workforce planning

Answer 1

identifies the workforce that can implement the organization’s strategies and goals, both now and in the future.

Question 2

Staffing

Answer 2

Acts on the strategy determined via workforce planning

Question 3

Reynold’s Changing Staffing Patterns

Answer 3

Initial staffing (perhaps of greenfield operation) my rely on global assignees (experienced and agile but from another country/locality.) As local nationals become more skilled, they gradually replace the assignees. Eventually the local nationals become the global assignees themselves, going to other areas to assist with initial staffing requirements.

Question 4

Employment branding

Answer 4

Positioning an organization as an “employer of choice” in the labor market.

Question 5

Employee value proposition

Answer 5

Foundation of employment branding, how employees justify the organizations they’d want to work for, or why they would want to stay at your company (attracting and retaining talent.)

An EVP creates a magnet to the organization’s employment brand.

Must accurately reflect work environment and be congruent with external brand.

Question 6

Best practice for Employment Branding: Brand pillar identification

Answer 6

Clear statements of the most important attributes and principles the organization wants to consistently communicate in all aspects of talent acquisition and talent management

Question 7

Best practice for Employment Branding: Achievement of work environment awards

Answer 7

Rankings that increase an organization’s exposure and credibility with employees and candidates. Promotes an organization as a positive place to work

Examples: Public recognition and rankings on lists such as best places to work, best places to launch a career, top places to intern, top organizations for diversity, best employers for workers over 50

Question 8

Best practice for Employment Branding: Personalized channels for external audiences

Answer 8

Applications customizing and personalizing brand messaging to best fit user responses to profile questions

Examples: Website background music uniquely meaningful to potential interns or candidates just out of college, streaming online messages tailored to the experience level of the potential applicant

Question 9

bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ)

Answer 9

legitimate job criterion that employers can legally use to hire a foreigner (e.g., bring an expatriate into a country for a job).

Employers must prove that all or substantially all local employees cannot perform the key duties and responsibilities required by the job position.

Question 10

Job specifications

Answer 10

minimum qualifications necessary to perform a job.

include experience, education, training, licenses and certification (if required), mental abilities and physical skills, and level or organizational responsibilities.

Question 11

Sourcing

Answer 11

precursor to actual recruitment: generates a pool of qualified applicants, identifying individuals (both active and passive job seekers) who may be potential employment suspects or referral points for other suspects.

Question 12

Recruitment

Answer 12

process of encouraging candidates to apply for job openings.

Attracting the appropriate quantity of applicants is necessary but not sufficient. The quality of applicants is the critical factor in recruitment.

Question 13

Inside moonlighting

Answer 13

Occurs when a worker is enticed to take on a second job in the organization. It is ideal when there is a short-term need and the amount of additional work is minimal.

Moonlighting is so common in some organizations that HR departments have had to establish moonlighting policies.

Question 14

Job bidding

Answer 14

Post for internal opportunity with hopes of being groomed into it

This process allows employees to indicate an interest in a position before one becomes available.

Question 15

Job posting

Answer 15

This process provides a brief description of the job and allows employees to respond to internal promotional opportunities for which they have the skills and interest.

Question 16

Nominations

Answer 16

Managers nominate high-performing individuals as candidates for internal roles.

Question 17

Skill banks/skill tracking systems

Answer 17

Computerized talent or skill inventories furnish lists of qualified people.

Keeping track of people’s talents beyond just their current role (ex. HR person who has a degree in finance)

Question 18

Succession planning

Answer 18

Potential talent in an organization is identified and developmental plans are established to help prepare individuals for promotional roles.

Question 19

Geofencing

Answer 19

An advertising partnership that provides advertising in a certain area targeted to people who meet a certain criterion, such as spending a certain amount of time in one geographical area

Question 20

Intrareligion recruiting

Answer 20

Sourcing for specific skills in a specific country for positions that cannot be filled by local hires

ex. need people with Eastern European language and cultural skills for a position in China

Question 21

Outplacement services

Answer 21

Services that maintain job sites or job boards for individuals displaced due to layoffs

Question 22

Temporary agencies

Answer 22

A contract relationship with an external staffing firm to supply talent through different service arrangements (either finite employment or temp-to-hire programs)

Question 23

Contract agencies

Answer 23

Offer a pool of workers (usually highly skilled engineers, specialists, etc.), supplied for long-term projects; under contract between the organization and technical services firms

Question 24

Agencies (third-party recruiters)

Answer 24

Vendors contracted to seek out active and passive candidates and provide pre-screened, qualified candidates quickly

Question 25

Head count

Answer 25

This is a foundational metric used to build out other HR metrics.

Representation of the average number of employees required to run organizational operations over the course of a particular time period.

Large swings in head count are not the result of employee turnover, but rather operational changes like acquisitions, greenfield operations, and divestitures.

Question 26

Groups and subgroups

Answer 26

Dividing employees by various categories and subcategories.

Ex.: execs, managers, trainees - group
Ex.: active/inactive - subgroup

Beneficial for reporting purposes - helps in planning for diversity and different operational requirements.

Question 27

Demographics

Answer 27

basic statistics and characteristics of certain employee groups. They include age, occupation, income, and so forth.

For HR practitioners, demographic trends such as how many people are retiring and how many new employees are entering the market are important metrics with respect to HR planning and forecasting.

Question 28

Cost of hire

Answer 28

Total costs / number of new hires

“Total costs” includes all costs associated with recruiting—advertising costs, recruiter and agency costs, referral incentives, relocation bonuses, referral bonuses, screening costs, travel costs, and the costs associated with the salary and overhead of internal recruiting staff.

Lumps together the costs of hiring for all types of employees regardless of their group/subgroup/demographic. Mixing types of employees can skew the true costs of hiring for a specific position.

Question 29

Cost per hire

Answer 29

(Sum of external costs + Sum of internal costs) / New hires within a time period

SHRM’s: measure of the effort exerted (defined in financial terms) to staff an open position in an organization.

ratio of the total dollars an organization spends (in both external and internal costs) to the total number of hires in a specified time period.

Question 30

Cost per hire, internal (CPHI)

Answer 30

defines a formula and methodology for creating the CPH measure for a single organization; it is not designed for comparison with other organizations’ CPH data.

Question 31

Cost per hire, comparable (CPHC)

Answer 31

This metric uses a similar methodology to CPHI, but it incorporates a subset of data that is more likely to be used across organizations. CPHC is helpful in building comparisons of costs between organizations.

Question 32

Attrition

Answer 32

Loss of employees for reasons other than being fired/other employer-related events

This implies that an employer has no direct control over how many employees are lost to attrition.

Question 33

Pre-screening interview

Answer 33

Usually 20 minutes or less

Usually conducted by HR

Useful when an organization has a high volume of applicants for a job and face-to-face interviews are needed to judge pre-qualification factors

Question 34

In-depth interview

Answer 34

Usually one hour or more

Usually conducted by line management

May be divided into several in-depth interviews by both line managers and potential colleagues

Question 35

Structured/repetitive interviews

Answer 35

Interviewer asks every candidate the same questions. Ensures similar info is gathered from all candidates, and gives each opportunity to make a good impression

Question 36

Unstructured/non-directive interview

Answer 36

Interviewer is more conversational with candidate, doesn’t have preset questions but may have preset topics. Gives each candidate opportunity to develop unique answers. Relies on social interaction.

Question 37

Behavioral interview

Answer 37

Interviewer focuses on specific situations and how candidate has handled them. Asks pointed questions to determine if individual meets min. qualifications. Past performance is best predictor of future performance.

Question 38

Competency-based interview

Answer 38

Interview questions based on real situations related to required competencies for the position. Provides insight into candidate’s proficiency in the competency.

Question 39

Group interview - mult. applicants interviewed at the same time

When is this usually done?

Answer 39

When job duties are clearly defined and where numerous candidates can be informed and/or ask about job requirements.

Question 40

Fishbowl interview

Answer 40

Typically interactive - may bring multiple candidates together to work on a realistic work situation, or could be 1 applicant paired with staff.

Helps employer learn how individual interacts with others to solve issues.

Question 41

Team interview

Answer 41

used in situations where position relies on team cooperation (similar to 360-degree process). Can be comprised of supervisors, subordinates, and peers.

Question 42

Panel interview

Answer 42

structured questions are spread across the group. The individual who is most competent in the relevant area usually asks the question (e.g., HR or a manager would ask behavioral questions to assess the ability to take direction; a peer might ask about knowledge specific to a project). In some panel interviews, interviewers may play off each other and ask questions in a “tag-team” style.

Question 43

Stress interview

Answer 43

Stressful questions put candidate on defensive to see how they act under pressure. Interviewer might show aggressive attitutde, ask puzzling questions, show other unusual behavior. Could be used based on relevance of stress management to position (eg. air traffic controller.)

Question 44

Substantive assessment methods (also called pre-employment tests)

Answer 44

Way to get more precise info about applicants who meet minimum criteria for the job. Help determine high performers if hired.

Question 45

Cognitive ability tests

Answer 45

Skills applicant has already learned - verbal, math, reasoning

Typically consist of multiple-choice items that are administered via a paper-and-pencil instrument or computer.

Examples: Performance tests or work sample tests that require candidates to complete an actual work task in a controlled situation may be administered.

Question 46

Personality tests

Answer 46

Multiple choice/true-false items that measure personality factors such as conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, and emotional stability.

Question 47

Aptitude tests

Answer 47

General ability or capacity to learn or acquire a new skill. Predict learning and training success.

Example: A test measures the natural aptitude for computers and problem solving for computer professions (e.g., systems analyst, programmer, network manager).

Question 48

Psychomotor tests

Answer 48

Require a candidate to demonstrate a minimum degree of strength, physical dexterity, and coordination in a specialized skill area.

Ex. a manual dexterity test administered to a candidate for a factory assembly job.

Question 49

Assessment centers

Answer 49

Not a place- method of assessing higher level managerial and supervisory competencies.

Require candidates to complete a series of exercises that simulate actual situations, problems, and tasks they would face on the job for which they are being considered.

Usually last at least a day and up to several days.

Question 50

Discretionary assessment methods

Answer 50

Used to assess more subjective behaviors, such as organizational citizenship. Assess how a person would fit culturally with an organization. Rely heavily on candidate’s intuition.

Ex. might be testing for “organizational citizenship behaviors” such as helping others, covering for a sick colleague, being nice.

Organizations intent on maintaining strong cultures may consider assessing the person/organization match. Because they are subjective not usually used alone.

Question 51

Contingent assessment method

Answer 51

Depends on nature of the job and legal mandates. Applicant receiving job offer is contingent on these assessments. Examples: drug test, medical exam

Question 52

4 steps of Building an Employment Brand

Answer 52

Test the brand
Execute the brand
Reassess and revitalize the brand periodically
Promote the brand continuously

Question 53

E-recruitment advantages/disadvantages

Answer 53

Advantages: widens recruitment sourcing, immediate responses, increased applicant pool, smarter candidate matching

Disadvantages: high volume of responses, labor-intensive filtering processes, excludes candidates who prefer a resume

Question 54

RCR (recruitment cost ratio)

Answer 54

[(external + internal costs) / total first year comp of hires in a time period] x 100

Question 55

Yield ratios

Answer 55

Qualified applicants/total applicants

Minority applicants/total

Female/total

Offers extended/qualified applicants

Offers extended/final interviews

Offers accepted/offers extended

Question 56

Days to fill

Answer 56

Number of days from opening of requisition to acceptance of offer

Helps HR determine realistic timeframe for hiring

Emphasizing speed may increase recruitment costs and decrease quality of hire.