Introduction

Human Resource Management Day to Day: Keeping Up with Growth

Over the last two years, the company where Melinda works as a human resources (HR) manager, Dragon Enterprises, has seen plenty of growth. This growth has created a need for a strategic, specific recruiting processes. In the past, Dragon Enterprises recruited simply on the basis of the applications they received, rather than actively searching for the right person for the job.

The first thing Melinda did when arriving at the company was develop a job-analysis questionnaire, which she had all employees fill out through an online-survey tool. The goal was to create a job analysis for each position that existed at the company.

This process happened to coincide with a time when the organization started seeing rapid growth as a result of increased demand for the types of parts the company sells. Luckily, since Melinda followed the industry closely and worked closely with management, part of her strategic outline planned for the hiring of several new positions, so she was mostly ready for it. Keeping in mind the company’s position on a diverse workforce, Melinda set out to write new job descriptions based on the job analyses she had performed. She knew the job analysis should be tied to the job description, and both of these should be tied to the job qualifications.

Obviously, to recruit for these positions, she needed to develop a recruitment plan. Over the next year, the organization needed to hire three more floor management positions, three office positions, and fifteen factory floor positions. Next, she needed to determine a timeline to recruit candidates and a method by which to accept the applications she would receive. After sharing this timeline with her colleague, the chief operating officer, she went to work recruiting. She sent an email to all employees asking them to refer a friend and receive a $500 bonus. Next, part of her strategy was to try to find very specialized talent in management to fill those positions. For this, she thought working with a recruiting company might be the best way to go. She also used her Twitter and Facebook accounts to broadcast the job openings.

After a three-week period, Melinda had 54 applications for the management positions, 78 for the office positions, and 110 for the factory-floor positions. Pleased with the way recruiting had gone, she started reviewing the résumés to continue with the selection process.