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The most important thing I have learned in MGMT 448 Employee Recruitment and Selection is the importance of creating a good job description when recruiting for a position. The job description can really make or break the hiring process, and whether or not the best candidate for the job is hired. Prior to the job description should be a job analysis, so that the job description can be as accurate as possible.

The job description should begin with the job title. The job title should convey the overall nature of the job. People tend to associate their identity with their job title, and it will affect their perception of the status and worth of the job. Therefore, the job title should not be terribly long, and should be understandable. It also should not sound embarrassing, because people will be using their job title to tell others what they do for a living often. Next, there should be a brief summary that describes the nature and purpose of the job. Also, any important work activities the potential hire would be involved in if they were hired. This can help down the line for legal defense, in case any work activities are potentially hazardous. These work activities should be organized in a way that is easily understood. Any specific tools or equipment used for this job should also be listed. The context of the job like where it is located, if it will require a lot of traveling should also be mentioned in the job description. It is really important that compensation such as salary, benefits and position classification are listed on the job description. It is proven that when salary is listed on a job description, a larger pool of applicants apply.

Being able to craft an accurate job description is extremely important for employee recruitment and selection. It can be used further down the line in the many methods of recruitment.

What am I good at? I am good at making my vision, into my reality. A few years ago I set goals for myself in my college career that I thought were pretty unattainable. As I am about to graduate, I have accomplished more than I could have imagined. I am dedicated and a hard worker. I am reliable, and will not quit.

What do I value? I value personal growth. When I look back at who I was when I moved into the dorms as a freshman, and who I am now, it is like night and day. I have changed for the better, and I can tell it has been very beneficial for my professional career goals.

How did I get here? I cannot say that I got here just with hard work and determination. I am where I am today because of the kind of support system I have built around me. I have great friends and family, and amazing role models that helped push me to be the person I want to be. Without them, I wouldn’t be here today.

Where am I going? This question is one I don’t really know the answer to. At least in specifics. I know I will go on to have some career likely in business, and I will try to stay near my support system. If anything, I know I will still value personal growth, and whatever I do I will try to become the best version of myself possible while doing it.

In the five dimensions of personality I scored other “low” or “average”, none of my results were “high” in the scale. For extraversion, my score was average which I think is pretty accurate. I like to spend time with friends but I also enjoy my time alone. In agreeableness, I scored low, which I knew might happen. I have been told in the past that I am not very sympathetic so this makes sense. My conscientiousness was average, which is not surprising because I am not extremely organized but I am not a total mess, I am just somewhere in between. I had an average level of neuroticism, not much different from the general population. But because of this average neuroticism I don’t much like new, often stressful, experiences. That is partially why my openness to experience score was low.  

A potential employer looking at this personality test might say my strengths include finishing tasks on time and having a consistent quality of work. I could also be described as someone who is personable in a social setting, but isn’t so outgoing that they are distracting to others at work. My neuroticism could be seen as both a strength and a weakness. One the one hand, stressful situations can invite an individual to work faster and more efficiently if they are worried their job might be on the line. On the other hand, stress can cause some to shut down, or have outbursts of anger that are rooted in anxiety. As for some weaknesses that can be seen from this personality test, it is shown that I am not one for new and different experiences. This could hurt me if the job position is constantly changing. I would be better for a more routine and consistent job. Another weakness is lack of empathy for others. This can be seen as selfish, and that I am only concerned with my personal goals, and not the needs of others. This could be bad if I was interviewing for a job that involved working with people who needed help (nurse, social worker, etc.). 

If I were in the shoes of the business owner, I would hire Jamie. Jamie is consistent in their work and provides pretty good results each work day. I would not be able to deal with the constant slacking from Avery. It is great that Avery has a high performance ceiling and a lot of potential, but that can only take someone so far. I am also not sure how someone could be such a slacker yet have a lot of potential. Ithink Jamie is the safe choice here.

As someone with high potential but poor consistency, I think Avery would excel in a job where a lot of their paycheck comes from commission. Avery should work in sales. That way, Avery will have something (money) to motivate them to live up to their potential. In a sales job, you cannot really slack off on the day to day, you need to put in that work to make your salary. In a sales job, Avery is more valuable than Jamie because Avery has the potential to land big sales, whereas Jamie would not be able to close when pushed to their limit.

Jamie, someone with low potential but high consistency, would excel in a job that has similar tasks everyday. To many people, a job like this would be boring. I think Jamie would be a great office manager or secretary/receptionist. They would make sure the office runs smoothly on a day-to-day basis. They would not have tasks or job requirements that would push them farther than what they are already capable of. Jamie would provide good results everyday. Jamie is better for this job compared to Avery because Avery would most definitely slack off in this job, whereas Jamie will be consistent.

My personal brand as a potential employee is that of a strong, determined leader with a great sense of humor. Typically extroverted, but can be reserved in certain situations when necessary. My strengths include being adaptable, personable and detail oriented. I also have excellent time management skills, which can be corroborated by my history of juggling many tasks at once. I avoid confrontation, so my main weakness is reprimanding others. What sets me apart from others is my tenacity and determination. When I set my mind to something, I get it done. I am used to proving myself to others and climbing the ladder to success.

This information could be communicated to others via an advertisement or informational video that centers around myself. I would start by introducing myself, talk about my educational background, what I have done in the last four years and what I plan to do in the future. For example, I would say “Hello, my name is Cezanna Ems and I am about to graduate from Oregon State University with a Bachelor of Science in Mangement. After my graduation, I will be doing an internship with Blount International in their HR department. I will be focusing on employee recruitment. During my time at OSU, I received high marks in most of my classes, and was on the honor roll ten terms in a row. I was also a member of the Order of Omega and Phi Kappa Phi, two renowned honors societies. I was also president of my sorority, Sigma Kappa.” When I say this, clips and images of these organizations I mention would appear. I would then talk about my strengths and why I would be a great asset to any organization. I would also provide examples of situations I have been in that I learned from that have helped me become a better leader. As for making sure this ad was visible to prospective employers, I would guess linking it to my LinkedIn and HandShake profiles will be where I start. Or maybe I could email it out to organizations.

The last job I had is the current one I hold as a Learning Assistant in the Math Department here at OSU. I don’t have a copy of the job description, and I honestly do not recall if there ever was a formal job application that I filled out. I remember submitting a Qualtrics survey expressing my interest. I was recruited to apply by my math instructor because I excelled in her class. The job was to be a learning assistant for MTH 111, and I had seen the positive effect the LA in my class had on me and my learning experience. I was aware of what the job entailed because I had seen it in action. The responsibilities of the job included attended each class session of the course and answering any questions from students while they were working in their course notebook. It also required having a meeting with the instructor once a week to prepare for the coming material. I submitted my interest for this position over three years ago, so it is hard to recall. Each term since then, I have resubmitted my interest if it fits in my schedule. The requirements and job description has not changed much, if at all, since I first applied. It was fairly accurate to the job description. Of course, it has changed slightly since we are doing remote learning. Instead of walking around the class room to answer students questions, I move from breakout room to break out room on Zoom.

If a company that I really liked was facing a public lawsuit for discriminating against a group of people I belong to, I would have to say I would first be disappointed. I would probably read up as much as I could on the case, to see if it was blatant discrimination or if there was any room for a misunderstandings. If this was happening to a different company, one that I did not care about as much, I would not do this. This situation would likely influence how I would interact with this company moving forward. I would probably try to erase any history of me supporting the brand on social media (unfollow, unlike, etc.). In today’s society, any ties or links to a scandal or unethical company can reflect poorly on you.

As for supporting them and buying their products or services, I would probably withhold on doing that for a year after the scandal. Whether or not I support them after that is dependent on how the company and their PR department handles the scandal. If they address it and try to right their wrongs, then I would have no problem giving them a second chance. On the other side, if they try to cover-up the scandal and keep it on the down-low as much as possible, I would probably never give them my business again. Even if this company that I really liked hadn’t discriminated, I would have never applied to work their anyways. It’s kind of like when people say “never meet your heroes”. I would hate to go work for a company that I really liked, only to find out that they have a terrible work culture or unethical habits, because then it would be ruined for me.

An organization might prioritize allocating resources to marketing strategies or product design because the costs associated with it are more easily seen and laid out. Same goes for the benefits and sales it will bring into the company. These are clearly defined numbers, so organizations see this and decide to go in that direction. These companies think more in the short-term, what will get them money fast. Organizations can’t always see the value that is added by great employees, especially because it often takes a longer period of time to recognize. A lot of companies also think that they should focus on spending money externally, and less on the internal works of the organization.

One potential strength from prioritizing marketing over employee selection is that it creates brand awareness, and helps the company stand out to customers. Therefore, bringing in sales and a profit for the company. One weakness associated with not focusing on employee recruitment and selection is that the company will constantly have to hire and train new employees if they are seeing a lot of turnover. Word often gets around to potential hires if a company has high turnover rates and if past employees have disliked working there. I know this is true for myself. I worked at a grocery store chain, and I heard about another grocery chain in our area that had such high turnover and no one wanted to work there. Another weakness involved with not focusing on employee recruitment is that it will be very expensive to hire new employees so often, and their are a lot of costs incurred. Organizations could use the time spent on hiring new employees on other areas of the business if they just hired the right person from the start.

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Blog Post – Job Application Experiences

The last job I applied for had a pretty standard and simple application process. All I had to do was upload my resume along with a cover letter. I know it is pretty easy, but there is something about writing cover letters I really just do not like. They make the application process so much longer because you have to write a new one for every job you apply to. Cover letters always make me seem like I am begging a company to hire me, and I just do not like that impression. They are also kind of redundant because they just repeat what is in your resume. I know a lot of people who will not apply to a job if the application requires a cover letter.

The last job I interviewed for had an initial over the phone interview which I also did not enjoy. I couldn’t read the facial expressions or body language of the interviewer, and there were a lot of long pauses when I assume she was writing stuff down. I also don’t like phone calls in general, and I think a lot of people my age can agree. I just get really flustered over the phone. She also told me about how the interview process worked and how many rounds there would be and what each would be like. I thought about it, and in my opinion, that job was not really qualified to have such a lengthy and serious interview process.

After the phone interview, I did not really have a desire to work for that organization. I was not all that excited for the interview anyways because I knew it was over the phone and I knew what some of the work would entail and it just was not for me. I was secretly hoping that they would not email me with a second interview date, because I knew I would probably say yes and continue with the process anyways even though I did not want the job.