A difficult position to fill

Prepare a 3-4-page hiring plan with your recommended course of action and analysis for filling a difficult position in the provided scenario.

Recruiting supports an organization’s short-, mid-, and long-term human capital needs. It can be a very easy and straightforward process, depending on the region, market, and the field of work. In some fields, prospective employees are readily accessible, and the organization will have the ability to select among a broad group of well-qualified candidates. In other fields, generating potential applicants will be very hard as they are not present, or if they are present, the competition among businesses in the market will be a challenge.

The nature of work is so very different from job-to-job and organizational role to organizational role. Each is important and makes valuable but very different organizational contributions. The field of HR studies the nature of work to attract and select the best applicants, and HR professionals follow SHRM’s behavioral competencies to support their decision making and, in this assessment’s scenario, to find a successful resolution to a hiring challenge.

Introduction

Scenario

For this assessment, assume you are an HR professional working as an HR business partner for one of the most prestigious nonprofit scientific research centers in the United States. The center is large enough to have its own office of general counsel. Recently, one of the assistant general counsels departed for a job at the White House. The general counsel wants the finest and most talented attorney candidates who are practicing in the field of research in a nonprofit setting. You have announced the open position and have had 807 applicants. You chose a group of 12 candidates, all of whom were turned down by the supervisor (hiring manager). The general counsel’s office demanded to see all applicant resumes, and your HR director agreed. After they reviewed all the resumes, they said none were good enough. However, they provided no additional information to you about their preferred applicant qualifications. 

Your Challenge

While you are the HR business partner to the general counsel, you have many other organizational clients, each with their own needs and expectations, and therefore a limited amount of time to give to this particular client. Given that you have failed to select appropriate candidates, you consider spending some money from your very tight budget to hire a recruiting firm, but that is not a guarantee of success. You are considering the following three options: 1) recommending to the hiring manager that she reconsider the 12 candidates you selected, 2) asking her to allow you to re-announce, possibly with some changes to the position vacancy announcement, or 3) going to the outside (expensive) recruiting firm in spite of your budget constraints. The option you recommend should offer the greatest return to the organization and its employees.

Instructions

Prepare a 3–4-page plan that states your recommended course of action. Along with your recommendation, include the following: 

• Analyze how your proposed HR solution to an HR challenge contributes to organizational goals and strategies.
  • Weigh the barriers the business partner will face with each of the three options.
  • Include the internal implications, if any, to reconsider the 12 candidates and how that could be done.
  • Consider the passage of time against the need for another attorney in the office as well as the impact of cost if you choose to go to an external organization.
• Describe key factors you considered in the formulation of a proposed HR solution.
  • Include the ethical considerations for recruiting and hiring in this scenario.
  • Integrate material from your references that offer a theory-based relationship to inform ethical considerations.
• Explain the role of the HR practitioner in advancing a proposed HR solution.
  • Briefly explain your role to influence the eventual outcome. Consider aspects of leadership, negotiation, and consultation.
• Discuss the application of any SHRM behavioral competencies to the process of solving an HR challenge.
  • Which competencies are most directly applicable to a successful resolution of this challenge and why?

Additional ​Requirements

The deliverable for this assessment applies professional skills in HRM to workplace situations that you will likely encounter in your day-to-day work in HRM. As part of your learning, we focus on the development of effective professional communication skills for the workplace. Your assessment should meet the following additional requirements:

• Length: Your plan should be 3–4 typed, double-spaced pages, plus the cover and resources pages.
  • The first page should be a cover sheet with your name, the course number, assessment title, and date. No other information is required on this page.
  • The last page should be the reference list.
• Organization: Make sure that your assessment writing is well organized, using headings and subheadings to organize content for the reader.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point. 
• Resources: Use 2–6 references and include both trade publications and peer-reviewed articles.
• Evidence: Support your assertions with data and/or in-text citations.
• APA formatting: Resources and in-text citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting.
• Written communication:
  • Support main points and recommendations with relevant and credible evidence.
  • Address the appropriate audience, using familiar, discipline-specific language and terminology.
  • Use spell-check and other tools to ensure correct spelling and grammar.

Note: Faculty may use the Writing Feedback Tool when grading this assessment. The Writing Feedback Tool is designed to provide you with guidance and resources to develop your writing based on five core skills. You will find writing feedback in the Scoring Guide for the assessment, once your work has been evaluated.

Portfolio Prompt: You may choose to save this learning activity to your ePortfolio.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies:

• Competency 1: Analyze the ways in which the human resource function contributes to individual and organizational performance.
  • Discuss the application of any SHRM behavioral competencies to the process of solving an HR challenge.
• Competency 3: Explain the strategic role of human resources in the support of organizational goals in a multicultural and global environment.
  • Analyze how a proposed HR solution to an HR challenge contributes to organizational goals and strategies.
• Competency 4: Apply the ethical standards of the profession to human resource management policies and practices.
  • Describe key factors considered in the formulation of a proposed HR solution.
• Competency 5: Analyze the strategic and operational roles that a human resource practitioner plays within an organization.
  • Explain the role of the HR practitioner in advancing a proposed HR solution.
• Competency 6: Communicate clearly, accurately, and professionally in the human resource management field.
  • Support main points and recommendations with relevant and credible evidence.
  • Address the appropriate audience, using familiar, discipline-specific language and terminology.