Introduction
As many other organizations, Tanglewood has reported high rates of employee turnover, which has a negative impact on productivity and, consequently, competitive advantage. This paper aims to evaluate the available recruitment efforts, determine the effect of organizational characteristics on job attractiveness, and identify the metrics of quality in recruitment to yield better results. While there are best practices in hiring and recruitment, the ultimate choice of strategy depends significantly on an organization’s needs, its culture, as well as the goal it sets for the future.
Open vs. Targeted Recruiting
Targeted recruiting is a strategy in advertising a job position for describing the process of limiting advertisement efforts to reach a specific audience based on differentiating factors that include but are not limited to work experience, skill sets, or geography. In contrast, open recruitment does not entail setting particular limitations to which applicants must adhere. A wide range of potential employees can be cast instead of a company’s HR looking for a specific candidate type. The methods of recruitment described in the Tanglewood case include referrals, kiosk recruiting, applicant-initiated processes, state job services, and staffing agencies.
While referrals and kiosk methods appear to be more open in terms of the pool of applicants, the applicant-initiated methods are relatively closed, aiming to target individuals who may not have initial interest but get interested after the process. The staffing agency approach can also be classified as a targeted approach to hiring because the agencies are interested in finding workers with prior experience who can be a part of the permanent workforce at Tanglewood. Finally, state job services provide a rather open approach – even though there is a list of hiring recommendations, there is training provided to applicants to increase their chances of getting hired.
It is expected that the individuals attracted by the applicant-initiated method will meet the hiring goals because there is an advertisement component to it. Employees who respond to advertising are more likely to show dedication to their position. The extent of attraction of candidates through referrals will be relatively low because the primary motivation is placed on workers who recommend friends to apply. Kiosk hiring is likely to result in a high number of individuals that meet the goals of hiring because they involves the screening of a diverse pool of candidates of different backgrounds.
State job services are unlikely to help find employees who meet the set goals because additional training can be costly for the organization. A staffing agency is a method through which most employees that meet the set of plans for recruitment because the process of screening is the most in-depth and includes several stages. Only individuals who show a high skill level are likely to undergo the entire process.
Realistic Job Description
Employees may be attracted to the autonomy and empowerment-driven philosophy at the Western Washington region. Empowerment within the employee management approach is especially valuable because it covers an abundance of organizational processes ranging from retaining the best talent to implementing organizational change. In contrast, the top-down hierarchical structure inherent to the Northern Oregon region is a less desirable approach for workers, considering the demand of employees for transformational and democratic leadership (Chua et al., 2018). Even though clearly defined responsibilities are essential, such a structure is quite rigid and does not allow for much flexibility and creativity in the workplace.
The purpose of a realistic job preview is to offer applicants a look into both the positive and negative characteristics of a position. Below is a realistic targeted recruiting message for the position of store associate at Tanglewood:
Want to become a member of a close-knit team that is working collaboratively towards a shared goal? While retail work is not for everyone, it takes a creative and dedicated person who finds value in helping others and fulfilling themselves through daily interactions with different people. Tanglewood is searching for candidates to fulfill the Store Associate position at its retail locations across the country. Even though nobody is perfect, we expect that our Store Associates provide the best quality of services to our loyal customers to ensure their satisfaction.
After thorough product training, it is expected that our Store Associates will know the product range and be ready to answer all customer queries. Inventiveness is welcomed if you know new solutions for driving sales, especially since you get bonuses for meeting KPIs! As a company, Tanglewood is always changing and evolving to meet our customers’ expectations and maintain competitive rivalry. We are looking forward to your applications!
Recruiting Messages
The first recruiting message in the proposal illustrates that Tanglewood relies significantly on team collaboration. On the one hand, teamwork can be attractive to applicants because it is conducive to developing work experience. On the other hand, some people consider themselves to be more effective when working independently.
The second recruiting message shows Tanglewood’s demand for creative and flexible employees who can contribute to the company with their expertise. On the one hand, it is great to acknowledge that being an employee does not always mean being perfect and that creativity could be the answer to many challenges. On the other hand, applicants may have an impression that there is a lack of structure in the organization, which is why they must be creative to fulfill their responsibilities.
The third message focuses on product training for the individuals hired for the Store Associate positions. On the one hand, such a message is vital for showing applicants that the company cares about them developing the necessary knowledge to do fulfill their responsibilities effectively. On the other hand, it can be considered a negative quality of the position of having to memorize a lot of information from the beginning rather than learning as they start working.
The fourth recruiting message is concerned with the organization welcoming inventiveness on the part of their Store Associates, whose bonuses depend on the sales they make at the store. The argument for this message is showing the reality of working at Tanglewood – engaging with customers can be challenging, and it often takes a creative and flexible approach to meeting their expectations and making sales. The argument against this message is that some applicants may be deterred by the bonus structure and their reliance on making sales.
The last message is concerned with illustrating the company’s culture of change and innovation as a means of sustaining a competitive advantage in its industry. The argument for this message is that it shows the reality of market competition and the need for a company to consistently meet market demands and adjust to trends. The argument against this is that applicants may not be willing to work at a company where change is continuous, as some may not adjust well to such changes.
Unifying Hiring Approaches
The choice of a hiring approach that suits each Tanglewood division depends on its culture and the method of management. As illustrated previously, the Northern Oregon division tends to have a stricter approach to organizational structure, hiring, and employee management. Its approach is somewhat different from the one that the management at Western Washington region takes, which tends to be more laissez-faire. However, these differences lead to a mismatch in hiring practices and further gaps between divisions (Brunello & Wruuck, 2021).
Therefore, if all divisions start pursuing the same approach to hiring, such as focusing on kiosk hiring, there will be more unity in the organization overall. Moreover, kiosk hiring, for example, is an easily accessible method that can target potential applicants who do not have access to computers in their place of residence, which makes the hiring pool more inclusive. In addition, staffing agencies are a hiring method that allows for screening a diverse pool of applicants, especially since professionals working at the agency are trained to find individuals who qualify for the positions at Tanglewood. Therefore, even though a complete shift of all divisions to more formal methods of hiring is not mandatory, a more unified approach is preferable across the entire organization.
Alternative Metrics
Even though costs and retention are helpful metrics that allow for conclusions regarding the recruitment’s effectiveness and quality, they are not enough to show an organization the ‘full picture.’ It is recommended that candidates’ job satisfaction and performance in their respective positions be considered. Candidate job satisfaction is an indicator of candidate experience associated with several factors, with meeting expectations having a significant contributor to satisfaction (Davidescu et al., 2020). This means that the environment that an employer creates for newcomers will have a direct influence on whether applicants’ expectations are met and whether they will be satisfied.
Thus, measuring job satisfaction is necessary for identifying how well the hiring team sets the expectations during the process of hiring, which will allow for the identification of gaps between reality and the description of a job. In contrast, measuring performance will signify whether the candidate at hand is a good fit for the organization. While a learning curve is expected, if newcomers’ performance does not meet Tanglewood’s requirements, the hiring process could be considered ineffective.
Both of the alternative considerations fit with the managerial group’s concerns about the need to improve customer service quality, especially the measurement of performance, as it has a direct impact on quality. Moreover, getting feedback from newcomers will allow for determining the accuracy of job postings in conveying the company culture and main characteristics of a join.
Conclusion
To conclude, the choice of a recruitment strategy is either conducive or limiting to the effectiveness of an organization in hiring the right personnel. Tanglewood offers quite a diverse perspective on organizational culture, especially since the four regions have unique characteristics and methods of handling hiring or managing employees. However, several challenges with setting realistic expectations and unifying the hiring strategy must be addressed to reduce the gaps between the reality of working at the company and the advertised job position.
References
Brunello, G., & Wruuck, P. (2021). Skill shortages and skill mismatch: A review of the literature. Journal of Economic Surveys, 35, 1145-1167.
Chua, J., Basit, A., & Hassan, Z. (2018). Leadership style and its impact on employee performance. International Journal of Accounting & Business Management, 6(1), 80-94.
Davidescu, A. A., Apostu, S-A., Paul, A., & Casuneanu, I. (2020). Work flexibility, job satisfaction, and job performance among Romanian employees—Implications for sustainable human resource management. Sustainability, 12(15). Web.