Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 8e Instructor’s Manual
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Chapter 5
Planning for and Recruiting Human Resources
This chapter explores how organizations carry out human resource planning. At the beginning,
the chapter identifies the steps that go into developing and implementing a human resource plan.
The remainder of the chapter explores the recruiting process and discusses the role of human
resource recruiters.
Chapter Outline
The Process of Human Resource Planning
• The first step in HR planning is personnel forecasting.
• Through trend analysis and good judgment, planner determines supply and demand
for HR.
• Next, determine labor demand for workers in various job categories.
• Analysis of a transitional matrix helps identify which job categories can be filled
internally and where high turnover is likely.
• The second step in HR planning is goal setting and strategic planning.
• To reduce a surplus, downsizing, pay reductions, and demotions deliver fast results
but at a high cost in human suffering that may hurt surviving employees’ motivation
and future recruiting.
• To avoid a labor shortage, requiring overtime is easiest and fastest strategy.
• The final stage of human resource planning involves implementing the strategies and
evaluating the outcomes.
Recruiting Human Resources
• Recruiting consists of any practice or activity carried on by the organization with the
primary purpose of identifying and attracting potential employees.
Personnel Policies
• Internal recruiting generally makes job vacancies more attractive because candidates see
opportunities for growth and advancement.
• Lead-the-market pay strategies make jobs economically desirable.
Recruitment Sources
• Internal versus external sources.
Recruiter Traits and Behaviors
• Through their behavior and other characteristics, recruiters influence the nature of the job
vacancy and kinds of applicants generated.
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 8e Instructor’s Manual
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Learning Objectives
LO 5-1: Discuss how to plan for human resources needed to carry out the organization’s
strategy.
LO 5-2: Determine the labor demand for workers in various job categories.
LO 5-3: Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of ways to eliminate a labor surplus and
avoid a labor shortage.
LO 5-4: Describe recruitment policies organizations use to make job vacancies more attractive.
LO 5-5: List and compare sources of job applicants.
LO 5-6: Describe the recruiter’s role in the recruitment process, including limits and
opportunities.
Society for Human Resource Management Body of Competency &
Knowledge
This chapter contains content, which may be identified within the following content areas:
• Talent Acquisition & Retention
• Organizational Effectiveness & Development
• Workforce Management
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Business & HR Strategy
• U.S. Employment Law & Regulations
Human Resource Certification Institute’s A Guide to the HR Body
of Knowledge
This chapter contains content, which may be identified within the following content areas:
• Business Management & Strategy
• Workforce Planning and Employment
• Human Resource Development
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 8e Instructor’s Manual
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Question Guidance to Vignettes and Discussion Questions
HR How To
Using Temporary Employees and Contractors
1. Suppose a small company does not want the headaches of administering benefits
programs, so it hires its workers from a temp agency and keeps them on for several years.
Would you expect the IRS to agree that these are not employees? Why or why not?
workers as independent contractors. What advice would you give management about this
idea?
Best Practices
Fixing the Talent Gap
1. Suppose you work for a company that conducts a workforce utilization review and finds
that blacks and Hispanics are underrepresented in the company’s workforce. How might
recruiting practices contribute to the situation?
2. In the situation described in question 1, how might partnering with an organization like
Year Up help the company achieve greater racial and ethnic diversity?
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 8e Instructor’s Manual
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Did You Know?
Employers Prefer Internal Recruitment
1. Would a promote-from-within policy be relevant to an organization that fills mostly
entry-level jobs? Why or why not?
HRM Social
Effective Recruitment via Social Networks
1. Based on this description, what are some advantages of finding a candidate via social
media compared with posting openings on the company’s website?
candidates through searches and advertisements.
2. Based on this description, would you want to post a profile for yourself on LinkedIn and
make posts on LinkedIn? Why or why not?
HR Oops!
Fuzzy Source-of-Hire Data
1. Which piece of information do you think would be most important for measuring the
value of recruitment sources: where candidates discover job openings, where they gather
information about positions and employers, or where they submit applications and
résumés? Why?
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 8e Instructor’s Manual
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Copyright © 2020 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw–
Hill Education.
Answer: Answers will vary. The article lends itself to providing students with more
answers on the discovery of job openings and how that plays into the value process. More
so, students need to focus on exactly what the company wants to measure and then direct
resources to that point. While the first two areas suggest that applicants can find out if
they would be a good fit for the company, the résumé submission area would determine if
applicants are making a proactive decision.
2. Based on the information here, review the graph in Figure 5.3, and write down three
questions you would want to answer about the source data before applying the data in an
HR department.
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 8e Instructor’s Manual
End of Chapter Questions and Cases
Thinking Ethically
Is Temp and Contract Work Fair to Workers?
1. One ethical standard is the “greatest good for the greatest number.” When an employer
decides to meet its demand for labor with contract workers, who benefits? Think about
the impact on the individual workers, the employer, and the other stakeholders affected.
2. If you were evaluating the fairness of a contract arrangement, what conditions would you
look for to decide if the arrangement was fair to the workers?
Review and Discussion Questions
1. Suppose an organization expects a labor shortage to develop in key job areas over the
next few years. Recommend general responses the organization could make in each of the
following areas: (LO 5-1)
a. Recruitment
b. Training
c. Compensation (pay and employee benefits)
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2. Some organizations have detailed affirmative-action plans, complete with goals and
timetables for women and minorities, yet have no formal human resource plan for the
organization as a whole. Why might this be the case? What does this practice suggest
about the role of human resource management in these organizations? (LO 5-1)
3. Review the sample transitional matrix shown in Table 5.1. What jobs experience the
greatest turnover (employees leaving the organization)? How might an organization with
this combination of jobs reduce the turnover? (LO 5-2)
4. In the same transitional matrix, which jobs seem to rely most on internal recruitment?
Which seem to rely most on external recruitment? Why? (LO 5-2)
5. Why do organizations combine statistical and judgmental forecasts of labor demand,
rather than relying on statistics or judgment alone? Give an example of a situation in
which each type of forecast would be inaccurate. (LO 5-3)
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 8e Instructor’s Manual
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Copyright © 2020 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
An example of when the statistical method would not be accurate is a company that is
just beginning operations. There would be no historical information to use in order to
make future predictions. Utilizing judgment may not be accurate when the environment is
so unstable that neither past experience nor expert judgment would provide a reliable
base of information.
6. Give an example of a personnel policy that would help attract a larger pool of job
candidates. Give an example of a personnel policy that would likely reduce the pool of
candidates. Would you expect these policies to influence the quality as well as the
number of applicants? Why or why not? (LO 5-4)
7. Discuss the relative merits of internal versus external recruitment. Give an example of a
situation in which each of these approaches might be particularly effective. (LO 5-4)
8. List the jobs you have held. How were you recruited for each of these? From the
organization’s perspective, what were some pros and cons of recruiting you through these
methods? (LO 5-4)
9. Recruiting people for jobs that require international assignments is increasingly important
for many organizations. Where might an organization go to recruit people interested in
such assignments? (LO 5-5)
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 8e Instructor’s Manual
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Copyright © 2020 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw–
Hill Education.
Answer: Some colleges and universities have majors in international trade or business.
Students often have a double major in a foreign language and business. These individuals
are more likely to be interested in going abroad. Thus, recruitment at colleges and
universities could provide candidates. People who have language skills other than English
may also be a possibility, particularly if they have lived in other countries. Placement of
job advertisements in special-interest magazines may prove helpful.
10. A large share of HR professionals have rated online recruiting platforms as their best
source of new talent. What qualities of electronic recruiting do you think contribute to
this opinion? (LO 5-5)
11. How can organizations improve the effectiveness of their recruiters? (LO 5-6)
Answer: The organization can have recruiters provide timely feedback to applicants.
Taking Responsibility
Facebook’s Approach to Recruiting Employees
1. What socially responsible practices can you identify at Facebook, as described here?
Where are some areas in which improvement could help its reputation with employees?
2. What are two recruiting methods that Facebook could use that would be consistent with
its mission and its efforts to be a great place to work?
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 8e Instructor’s Manual
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Managing Talent
Techtonic Group Builds Its Own Labor Supply
1. Briefly describe the labor supply and demand facing Techtonic Group?
2. What basic options did Techtonic have for addressing a labor shortage? What is your
evaluation of the approach Techtonic established?
HR in Small Business
GenMet’s Design for Constructing a 21st-Century Workforce
1. Is GenMet working with a labor surplus or a labor shortage? Explain.
2. Why is GenMet’s recruiting strategy so focused on relationships with schools? What
other recruiting methods, if any, would you recommend?
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 8e Instructor’s Manual
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Recommended Connect Activities
Recruitment Sources
Learning Objective: 05-05 List and compare sources of job applicants.
Activity Summary: In this case analysis, students will gain an understanding of the multiple
types of recruiting techniques and when they should be used.
Follow-Up Activity: Go to your university/college/school website and find the page that lists
open job opportunities. A good classroom discussion would revolve around jobs promoted on the
school website, versus ones that would be better served by a search firm or through national
outlets. This same process could be used with any large national or regional company as well.
Have students compare distribution (warehouse) jobs versus white-collar jobs.
Forecasting Labor Supply and Demand
Learning Objective: 05-02 Determine the labor demand for workers in various job categories.
Activity Summary: This click and drag application exercise shows how organizations need to
manage the trends and events in order to meet their human resource needs.
Follow-Up Activity: To provide higher level thinking, have the entire classroom look at an
industry local to your school or city. This could be construction, health care, IT, etc. Classroom
discussion or activities could seek out the needs of one of these industries and then create a
transitional chart for 2 to 5 years in the future.
Planning to Hire
Learning Objective: 05-03 Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of ways to eliminate a
labor surplus and avoid a labor shortage.
Activity Summary: This case analysis demonstrates the knowledge needed to implement a
company’s strategic plan and be able to hire or shed jobs as necessary.
Follow-Up Activity: Have the entire classroom complete a hiring plan for a large new project.
This would be similar to the concept as described in the case study, but students break down the
project into necessary steps and responsibilities. Groups could look at previous trends (statistical
methods), judgmental forecasting, making predictions, discovering labor supply and demand,
and then finally goal setting as an entire class.
Dollar General Recruits Military Vets
Learning Objective: 05-04 Describe recruitment policies organizations use to make job
vacancies more attractive.
Activity Summary: The video case details the specific needs and strategies for filling job
vacancies at Dollar General.
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 8e Instructor’s Manual
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Follow-Up Activity: The build on students’ foundational layer of knowledge, have them view
the Dollar General website to find current initiatives to hire, train, and retain the best employees.
CHRO Conversations: Heidi Capozzi, Boeing
Learning Objective: 05-01 Discuss how to plan for human resources needed to carry out the
organization’s strategy.
Activity Summary: This video case shows how HR needs to monitor and possibly change
cultural elements to attract new candidates and encourage all employees to develop
professionally.
Follow-Up Activity: Have the entire class select a national or global company and research a
small set of strategic initiatives. Small groups could then determine the various ways the
company is attempting to achieve these initiatives. This could include the future human resources
needs, organizational structure, education/training, company culture, or competitive advantages.
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 8e Instructor’s Manual
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Classroom Exercises
Students may benefit from exercises that illustrate the concepts of the chapter. Use these along
with CONNECT activities.
1. Labor Supply and Demand
Review and Discussion question #1 could be used as in-class discussion to illustrate (LO
5-1; 5-2; 5-3). The question could then be changed to ask about a labor surplus and future
steps of the organization.
2. Forecasting Methods
Review and Discussion question #5 could be used to help illustrate forecasting. This
discussion could then be linked to classroom exercise 1. where students are asked to
discuss how the organization in Review and Discussion question #1 may improve HR
forecasting of supply and demand.
3. The Importance of Recruitment
Review and Discussion question #7 could help students understand recruitment and its
impact on the organization’s workforce. Review and Discussion question #6 could then
be used as a follow-up to help further illustrate how recruitment policy impacts the
workforce. Instructors may then link discussion from classroom exercise 2 and ask how
recruitment policies may help impact retention and improve an organization’s ability to
forecast supply, or improve the ability to attract potential candidates.
4. HRM Career Considerations
Instructors may wish to have students identify components in Chapter 5 within both the
Society for Human Resource Management Body of Competency & Knowledge and the
Human Resource Certification Institute’s A Guide to the HR Body of Knowledge.
Discussion could focus on how these chapter concepts are important to the development
of their careers and potential certification.
5. Vignette Discussions
Any of the vignettes (see above), may be employed for classroom discussion. Students
could be asked to respond as individuals or placed into groups for discussion. Individuals
and/or groups may then be asked to defend their responses and rationale when comparing
and contrasting other responses.