Reference no: EM133010130

GE Medical hires about 500 technical workers a year to design sophisticated medical devices such as CT scanners. It has cut its hiring costs by 17%, reduced time to fill the positions by 20% to 30%, and cut in half the percentage of new hires who don't work out.138

GE Medical's HR team accomplished this in part by applying its purchasing techniques to its dealings with recruiters. For example, it called a meeting and told 20 recruiters that it would work with only the 10 best. To measure "best," the company created measures inspired by manufacturing techniques, such as "percentage of résumés that result in interviews" and "percentage of interviews that lead to offers." Similarly, GE Medical discovered that current employees are very effective as references. For instance, GE Medical interviews just 1% of applicants whose résumés it receives, while 10% of employee referrals result in actual hires. So GE Medical took steps to double the number of employee referrals. It simplified the referral forms, eliminated bureaucratic submission procedures, and added a small reward like a Sears gift certificate for referring a qualified candidate. GE also upped the incentive-$2,000 if someone referred is hired, and $3,000 if he or she is a software engineer.

1. If you were an HR Consultant to GE Medical, how could GE Medical improve recruiting efficiency?

What measures would you take to make sure you recruit diverse candidates?

Finally, how would you make sure you don't miss out on internal candidates that could be promoted from within?