Block 6. Human Resources

OK… here is one ‘human resource’ actively re-sourcing!  [An old neighbour, brilliant engineer, entrepreneur and friend tucking in to three tiers of shellfish at a fabulous restaurant in Poole – and yes, he did finish it – AND half of mine!].

The point is that human resources are expensive to run – in service industries they are often the largest cost element of the business!  So:

• recruiting and selecting the wrong person for the job then having to replace him/her at considerable cost, over and over again
• recruiting and selecting the right person for the job, but then losing them, perhaps to the competition

… can be very costly indeed (as we shall discover together).

We are going to look at this problem in three phases:-

Phase 1.  The real costs of recruitment, selection and retention.

Phase 2.  Optimising the recruitment, selection and retention processes

Phase 3.  What are the impacts and implications of all this for me as a job applicant?

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Phase 1.  The real costs of recruitment, selection and retention.

We are going to start by working out the real cost of recruitment, selection and retention from the point at which an employee decides in his heart he has had enough and intends to leave right through the process to having a happy, well-motivated, productive replacement employee in place.

Remember…. these costs can be directly and indirectly caused by the person leaving and being replaced and may also be quantifiable or not immediately quantifiable [but no less real, remember!].

When it comes to calculating the cost of time to the enterprise, I suggest you use:

• 100 Euros per hour for a manager
• 50 Euros per hour for a secretary/administrator

 That is not the salary, of course, but nearer the costs of employment to the organisation, of which salary is just one part.

Other costs, you may ‘guesstimate‘, research online or use my help to quantify…

To do this we will need to operate in 4 teams again [different ones, preferably]. Here are your instructions:

TEAM 1.  identify all the costs involved between the point at which an employee first thinks in his heart that he has had enough and will leave to the point at which he ‘hands in his notice‘ (actually resigns).

TEAM 2. identify all the costs involved between the point at which notice has been handed in and a prioritised list of the best candidates on paper (cv, covering letter etc) who may be candidates for interview. (i.e. the recruitment process).

TEAM 3. identify all the costs involved between the point at which the company has a viable list of candidates ready for interview and the appointment of the best candidate (i.e. the selection process).

TEAM 4. identify all the costs involved between the point at which the successful candidate receives news of his appointment and this new employee, six months later, being happy, acclimatised, productive and motivated to perform and remain with the organisation.

Each team will produce a synoptic, hard copy report of 2 x pages A4 in good quality business English and present their findings to the group.

You may be surprised how time-intensive and expensive this all is!

Given the fastest way a company can ‘make’ money is to reduce its costs by changing its decisions, systems and processes, it is hardly surprising that organisations are looking for economy, efficiency and effectiveness gains from its HRM/DRH  function and its recruitment, selection and retention services.  The question is: what would a really good recruitment, selection and retention service ‘look’ like?  Given we know from Phase 1 what a ‘bad’ one looks like, we should be able to design something far better!

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Phase 2. Optimising the recruitment, selection and retention service

Better to spend a little more on re-thinking a recruitment and selection system rather than continuing to hire, train and lose good staff to the competition or hire the ‘wrong’ staff that one can’t get rid of ‘for love nor money’.….?

Might this help explain why your generation has to ‘work’ so hard to secure a post, why a one page CV no longer works and why interviews are seldom a comfortable ‘chat’ over a coffee…..  Employers seem to be making the process more difficult, more technical….  Now you know why!  Because the cost of not getting the ‘right’ person can be prohibitive!

Your task will be to build on the work of Team 4 to try to design a system of recruitment, selection and retention that is (the Es again, sorry!): Economical, Efficient and Effective.

We will attempt (and succeed!) in designing this by means of a brainstorm session in class where you will contribute your ideas and the group as a whole will produce a workable system that balances cost with the need to find and keep the right people.

If this is what is currently ‘playing out’ in organisations you might be targeting as future employers, it ‘begs’ the question:

What does all this mean to ME as a future job applicant?

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Phase 3.  Impacts and implications for job search, application and ‘interview’.

Perhaps we can brainstorm this up as well … or maybe I might set this as a personal ‘devoir sur table‘…. (I will decide and tell you).   In either case, it is likely to involve questions such as:

• is it worth becoming a member of a recognised Professional Organisation?
• what does my Social Media presence say about me to a potential employer?
• should I be joining a professional social network?
• where should I now be looking to find jobs ‘advertised’ / ‘offered’?
• if the classic, French, one-page cv/résumé is dead – what should I be producing?
• how should I use the Job Description and Person Specification to prepare a covering letter, cv and get ready for interview?
• what sort of ‘tests’ might I expect a potential employer to ‘throw at me’ and am I prepared for them?

I trust that if you have thought these things through, then you may well have a MUCH better chance of being recruited and selected!

Remember – in the Olympics the 2nd and 3rd candidate may get a silver or bronze medal…… in the job market, second or third gets NOTHING (other than the annoying sense of feeling that you JUST missed out)!

In the next block, if we have the time, we will APPLY this…. I will get you to:

1. find a job in the English speaking global employment market that you could realistically do at the end of your course
2. review the offer, Job Description and Person Specification in order to design and produce [in impeccable business English] the ideal covering letter and CV for the position.
3. undergo an interview for the post [by one of your colleagues].

READY???   After this block, you should be!