Reference no: EM132823218

HR Mini-Case 2-1: Hiring the Best

In his book, Good to Great, management author Jim Collins discusses what makes a company become successful and sustains this level of success: "Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any company is not markets, or technology or competition, or products. It is one thing above all others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people". Jim Collins, Good to Great, p.55 Collins reinforces the importance of this concept throughout his writings, emphasizing the critical nature of getting the "right" people. A friend of yours is a manager in an information technology company. They are going to a management meeting next week to discuss a major problem the company is having. The company has enjoyed substantial growth in sales, but is having major problems with its new hires of the past two years. Thirty percent of their hires during this period either left on their own or were not kept beyond their probationary period because of the poor quality of their work. The managers have been asked to attend a brainstorming session to see if they can identify any flaws in their selection process. An external HR consultant has reviewed their recruiting process and found that their approach has been effective in generating high-quality applications and concluded that their problems with turnover are at least partly related to the selection process, but their study did not examine this process in detail. Your friend is hoping that you can give them insight on potential problems with the selection process that could be considered in an effort to reduce the turnover rate. After some discussion with your friend you gathered the following information: Most of the positions associated with the high turnover are for computer programmers with specific knowledge of certain types of software. The company's selection process involves a pre-screening telephone interview by one of the HR staff, followed by a face-to-face interview for those who make the shortlist with the HR staff member who made the initial interview and a second more experienced senior HR manager. The face-to-face interview is more detailed with categories of questions asking about the candidate's education and experience, knowledge of the software used by the programmers in the company, and their organization and motivation skills. Reference checks are done on candidates that are borderline in terms of the qualifications for the job. Your friend is unsure why this process has not given the results the company expects in terms of the quality of new hires and is hoping that you will have insight and advice on how they can improve their selection process.

Case written by Michael Kelly, CA, MBA, MEd Faculty, School of Business, Nova Scotia Community College

1. What advice would you give to your friend to improve the current selection process? Provide at least three recommendations.