Amazon is known worldwide as a high-technology company with a fast-paced working environment and delivering excellent customer service as the key objective. Developing an appropriate recruiting and staffing strategy for the company constitutes the blueprint for its performance improvement. For Amazon’s intention to recruit 7000 employees, it is especially important to apply the right approach to hire competent staff with the right skills and culture (Isidore, 2013). This paper focuses on creating a recruiting and staffing strategy for Amazon’s warehouse supervisor job opening and discusses the following terms and aspects: legal landscape, recruiting, selection tools, staffing, assessments, and interviewing techniques. Besides, a list of job-specific interview questions is provided for selecting candidates. The recruiting and staffing strategy suggested in this paper considers the needs and requirements of the Amazon company and aims to suggest efficient tools and technics for employing warehouse supervisors.
Legal Landscape
The legal landscape of employment might appear complex; however, several specific regulations must be considered by the company in its recruitment. According to Youssef-Morgan and Stark (2020), the law protects employees from racial, gender, religious, and ethnic discrimination. Hence, while processing numerous applications, recruiters should avoid bias and prejudice in their evaluation of each candidate. The reasons for declining an applicant should be justified and explicit. Another legal aspect to consider while hiring people for the warehouse supervisor position is disabilities. The law prohibits discrimination based on a disability; however, an employer can have a valid reason to reject a candidate if their health status can prevent them from performing the job. Work at a warehouse requires mobility from supervisors and includes many trips around the building on different levels. Therefore, Amazon has the right to know about the candidate’s physical disabilities and how they could affect the accomplishments of their daily tasks. Overall, providing equal opportunities to assume the position for all the suitable candidates should be one of Amazon’s objectives in their employment process.
Recruiting Plan for the Warehouse Supervisor Position
Recruiting and its Importance
The recruiting process refers to detecting and selecting suitable employees for a company. As Youssef-Morgan and Stark (2020) note, this process involves match-making and is essential as the perfect candidate can be chosen to fulfill the responsibilities associated with the job. There are two important aspects of a well-developed recruiting plan. On the one hand, it simplifies the procedures involved in searching and hiring and saves time and cost. On the other hand, it helps in choosing the right person to fill the position by determining the purpose of work, main tasks, and criteria for applicants. Therefore, creating an effective recruiting plan can define Amazon’s success in its mission of hiring warehouse supervisors.
Selection Tools
The relevant selection tools need to be chosen to find the right candidates. Since Amazon offers 5000 warehouse jobs, and approximately 4% of them should be supervising positions, the company needs to hire about 200 employees (Isidore, 2013). The following selection tools can be suggested for Amazon: screening, phone call or emailing, interview with the HR manager, background check, drug testing, and skill assessment (Youssef-Morgan & Stark, 2020). Screening allows the recruiter to do a basic examination of resumes and eliminate unsuitable, which is crucial for an optimal allocation of the HR department’s resources. Reaching candidates by phone or email is needed to confirm their interest in the position and clarify necessary information about their experience. Face-to-face interviews are crucial for assessing a candidate’s suitability to work as a warehouse supervisor, based on their work history, hard and soft skills, personal objectives, attitudes, and compliance with Amazon’s culture. Background check serves for the confirmation of an applicant’s history and abilities, while drug testing eliminates the risks for the company and proves that the candidate can be trusted with operating inventories. All the tools are equally important for Amazon’s recruiting process.
Besides, as a tech-savvy company, Amazon can benefit from turning to AI-powered tools and software, enhancing the efficiency of selection, and saving time spent on processing applications. Smart tools can be applied to several stages of selection, such as screening, reaching candidates via emails, and background and drug checks. AI- and technology-oriented strategy would help Amazon’s HRs automize some processes and target better suitable applicants.
Selection Plan for the Warehouse Supervisor Position
Staffing and its Importance. Assessments of Applicants
Like recruitment, staffing is used to select the right candidates for a position while concentrating on approaching, hiring, onboarding, and developing employees. The staffing process is an essential part of human resources management and needs to be elaborately conducted since it defines the allocation of money, labor, and capital, such as materials and tools. Assessments suggested for Amazon include evaluating a candidate’s skills, suitability to fit in the company’s culture, and the ability to work under pressure (Recruiteze, 2017). The estimation of professional skills and abilities is used to hire professionals and experienced people, while corporate culture evaluation is needed to select individuals able to help Amazon achieve tasks and work toward their objectives. Stress-resistance check is crucial as employees will face challenges of a large, fast-paced environment daily. Therefore, it is in Amazon’s best interest to fill the warehouse supervisor positions with candidates able to benefit the company, based on their talent, skills, and specialization.
Interviewing Techniques
Among various kinds of interviewing methods, Amazon should focus on those aiming to identify leaders and highly-skilled people for the position of warehouse supervisor. The following techniques would fulfill this task for the company: phone, face-to-face, group, and task-oriented interviews. Phone interviews will be used in the second recruitment stage and are necessary to select interested candidates and assess whether they meet the primary criteria for the job. Face-to-face interviews are more detailed and give the recruiter a better understanding of the candidate’s ability, character, and personal and professional background. Job-specific questions suggested below should be applied in this stage. Group interviews involve the interaction of candidates and ask them to provide their opinions, which enables HRs to assess interpersonal and leadership skills and the ability to work as a team. Task-oriented interviews aim to confront a candidate with a problem or task and evaluate their analytical and problem-solving skills, creativity, and the ability to work under pressure, crucial for the position. Overall, all the interviewing techniques would help Amazon identify and select the person who indeed possesses the skills and talent needed for the warehouse supervisor position.
Job-Specific Interview Questions for Candidates
- Do you have any experience working as a warehouse supervisor?
- What is the biggest challenge for you as a warehouse supervisor?
- What techniques or tools do you use to monitor the warehouse activities and ensure they are carried out on time?
- How do you motivate your employees in their daily challenges of working at a warehouse?
- How would you handle an employee who continuously misplaced or loses items in a warehouse?
In conclusion, the right approach to the recruitment process is critical for Amazon in its objective to hire many warehouse supervisors in a short time. This paper focuses on the company’s goals and requirements and develops a recruiting and staffing strategy in a detailed manner. The legal landscape, selection tools, assessments, and interviewing techniques are suggested, as well as a list of interview questions specific for the warehouse supervisor job. The efficient selection of employees can ensure smooth work and high performance of the company.
References
Youssef-Morgan, C. M., & Stark, E. (2020). Strategic human resource management: Concepts, controversies, and evidence-based applications. Lightning Source.
Recruiteze. (2017). Top 10 trends in corporate recruiting. Web.
Isidore, C. (2013). Amazon hiring 7,000 workers. CNN. Web.