COM 230 Module 4 Recruiting and Selection Example

Finding Twenty-Six Universal Bankers: A Recruiting and Selection Plan Built on Evidence

Student Name

Business Administration Program, Aspen University

COM 230: Human Resource Management

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Finding Twenty-Six Universal Bankers: A Recruiting and Selection Plan Built on Evidence

The workforce plan in Module 3 calls for Blue Ridge Community Credit Union to hire twenty-six universal bankers from outside over three years, about nine a year, alongside seventy current employees retrained for the role. The new hires matter because they bring skills current tellers often lack, such as lending experience or comfort teaching technology. This paper plans how Blue Ridge will find and choose them.

Whom to Recruit

The task analysis from Module 3 shows that universal bankers spend their time on cash handling, account problems, digital help and loan conversations. The strongest candidates are likely to have experience in customer service where accuracy matters, such as retail banking, pharmacy or insurance, along with patience and comfort with technology. A degree is not required.

Sources and Targeting

Breaugh (2008) reviewed research on employee recruitment and organized it around decisions employers make: whom to target, which recruitment sources to use, what message to send, which recruiters to use, how to handle site visits and when to recruit. Studies of sources have often found that employee referrals produce hires who stay longer and perform better, partly because referred applicants have more accurate expectations and partly because employees refer people they believe will fit. Breaugh also stressed that targeting, deciding which applicants to seek and where they can be found, comes before choosing methods.

Blue Ridge will use three sources: an employee referral program paying $500 after a hire's six months, a partnership with Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College's business programs and job ads that describe the role realistically. It will recruit before the spring and fall hiring peaks of local retailers.

What Attracts Applicants

Chapman et al. (2005) conducted a meta-analysis of studies on applicant attraction to organizations and job choice. They found that characteristics of the job and organization, such as pay, the work itself and the work environment, perceptions of fit with the organization, recruiter behaviors such as being personable and informative, and applicants' expectations of receiving an offer predicted attraction. Perceived fit and job and organization characteristics were among the strongest predictors.

Blue Ridge's job ads will therefore lead with what the work is like, the $17.50 starting pay, regular weekday schedules with one Saturday a month and the path to loan officer described in Module 1. Recruiters will be current universal bankers and branch managers, trained to describe the job honestly and answer questions.

Choosing Selection Methods

Schmidt and Hunter (1998) summarized eighty-five years of research on the validity of personnel selection methods for predicting job performance. General mental ability tests had high validity and low cost. Work sample tests and structured interviews had validity comparable to general mental ability. Integrity tests and conscientiousness measures added to prediction when combined with ability tests. Free-flowing interviews, calls to references and counting years on the job forecast performance less well. Blue Ridge's branch managers have relied on exactly those three. Combining general mental ability with a second valid method raised prediction substantially.

The Hiring Process

Applicants apply online and take a twenty-minute ability test. Those above a set score are invited for a ninety-minute visit: a work sample and a structured interview with a branch manager and a universal banker. Offers go out within three days. Blue Ridge will check the test for adverse impact against protected groups in its first year.

The Applicant's Experience

Good candidates have other options, so the process must not lose them. Applicants receive an email confirming each step and telling them when they will hear back. The visit is scheduled within a week of the test. Candidates meet a current universal banker during the visit, which serves Chapman and colleagues' finding that perceived fit drives attraction: applicants can judge whether they would like the work and the people. Candidates who are not selected after the visit receive a call rather than an email.

Fairness in the Process

Cognitive ability tests predict performance well but have shown group differences in scores that can screen out more applicants from some groups. Blue Ridge will set the test's cutoff score modestly, so it screens out only applicants unlikely to succeed, and give the work sample and structured interview more weight in final decisions. The test will be reviewed for adverse impact after the first year, and if the review shows a problem, the credit union will adjust the cutoff or replace the test with a method of similar validity and less adverse impact.

From Hire to Productive Banker

Selection is only the first step. New hires join the same twelve-week training as retrained employees, which builds relationships across the two groups. Each new hire is paired with an experienced employee for their first month.

Checking Results

Denise will compare new hires' ninety-day performance ratings and first-year retention with those of earlier teller hires. She will also check which recruitment source each hire came from and how each scored on the test, work sample and interview, so that after two hiring rounds Blue Ridge can see which sources and which methods best predicted success in its own setting. If referrals produce the strongest hires, as Breaugh's review suggests they often do, the referral bonus can be raised; if one interview question predicts nothing, it can be replaced.

Conclusion

Breaugh guides where and how Blue Ridge recruits, Chapman and colleagues show what will attract applicants and Schmidt and Hunter show which methods predict performance. Combining a referral-driven search with an ability test, work sample and structured interview gives Blue Ridge its best chance of hiring universal bankers who succeed and stay.

References

Breaugh, J. A. (2008). Employee recruitment: Current knowledge and important areas for future research. Human Resource Management Review, 18(3), 103-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2008.07.003

Chapman, D. S., Uggerslev, K. L., Carroll, S. A., Piasentin, K. A., & Jones, D. A. (2005). Applicant attraction to organizations and job choice: A meta-analytic review of the correlates of recruiting outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(5), 928-944. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.90.5.928

Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 262-274. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.124.2.262