Keisha,
I agree that they can be helpful with advising and with responding to students' question. Where I find that they fall short is being able to relate "real world" experiences from their employment in the field. Once they have that experience, they have much to contribute. I am surprised that they are satisfied with 9 hours per week at minimum wage. I don't know the field for which you are recruiting so that will make a difference.
Dr. Patricia Kapper
We use various recruiting methods: on-line sources such as CareerBuilder and Monster, word of mouth referrals, and our internal job portal. We also have, as a team, brainstormed on which graduates of our institution we could ask. While this might be looked down upon, we have had the opportunity to see how they work under pressure, with peers, and with superiors. We also get to observe their problem solving skills and work ethic. It's almost a luxury to have such a long interview process!
Adrienne,
The key is that you are using a variety of sources because each one is going to yield different candidates. I don't look down upon recruiting graduates from your program. I am just concerned that they have an opportunity to actually practice their skills within the "real world" of employment. It seems to me they have more value for you if they do.
Dr. Patricia Kapper
We usually recruit from other departments within the company, promote from within, or use direct employee and graduate referrals for certain positions. We find this method the most effective, as we usually know the most about a person's work ethic and professionalism through personal experience. We have also recruited through the use of online sites such as CareerBuilder, Craigslist, etc. to find qualified applicants, but in those cases we have had to use a much more rigorous interview process to get to know the candidate. This involves phone screenings, 1st interviews, 2nd interviews, team interviews, teaching demonstrations (when appropriate), etc.
Deanna,
I am surprised by the number who use Craigslist. It is interesting that you use a more rigorous process with external candidates than internal. It certainly makes sense to do so. We, however, use the same process on internal. Part of the rationale for doing so is that they are typically being considered for a promotion into a position which requires different skill sets and aptitudes. Even though we know them and know their work ethic, we need to know how well they will match the requirements of the new position.
Dr. Patricia Kapper
We often hirer within the company (past students and employees) for the receptionist positions giving us an advantage to understand the work ethic of the applicants.
Jennifer,
I am always reluctant to hire a graduate straight out of school. I believe that it is unfair to them if they have not had experience in the "real world." Now, obviously this has worked well for you. You are hiring them into a receptionist position. My experience is hiring those grads into teaching positions. For those positions, where I expect them to share their experience with the students, they need experience outside of the school.
Dr. Patricia Kapper
At our school, upon my direction, we have been conducting group interviews for admission reps. We switched to group since we receive numerous resumes and invite all candidates.
After taking this course, I have re-evaluated the method which is primarily a shot gun approach. Our batting average has been one strong candidate out of 40 interviews.
Have others had this experience?
James,
Success with this approach varies by campus. It is so dependent on the preparation and the process. Is the job description well written? Does the job description allow you to do an effective initial job screening? Does the group interview further reduce the pool of candidates? Are the interview questions planned and are they behaviorally driven to allow you to eliminate those whose experience does not lead to the desired results? Are all candidates asked the same questions thereby allowing you to effectively compare candidates. I don't know your specific situation, but we used an outside resource which designed a profile for various positions within the company. We now recruit with that profile in mind and works well.
Dr. Patricia Kapper
In regards to hiring staff we basically go through the normal avenues of advertising and a pretty generic hiring process. I guess it works alright.
As the Career Services manager we hold recruiting visits for our students and grads and they have both verbal and hands on interviews to prove they can do the work before being hired.
I have always thought that it would be fun to do more of a process of elimination with our office hiring, like a reality show. Make all the candidates do a few things that the job entails and eliminate them until the last one standing "wins" the job. However, there really isn't any funding for it.
Jennifer,
Your suggestion of a reality show is an interesting approach. I would expect that it would be a low-cost method of hiring but would take lots of work to set it up. Your assessment of the tasks which they would need to complete would need to be very explicit. You would almost need to do a rubric for each and every task. There will still need to be an interview with all of the usual steps: review of resume, write questions, identify interview team, review/compare candidate performance with interview team following the interview and production activities, etc. In the recruiting process, along with your "normal avenues of advertising," you may want to consider referrals as well. This can be a great, inexpensive source of high quality candidates.
Dr. Patricia Kapper
For our last opening, our HR department put out an ad online. The number of electronic resumes that came in was very overwhelming. I initially set up three files in Outlook: strong, weak, and don't know. Each morning, I quickly scanned the incoming emails and placed them in the files. During the day, I spent time with the ones that I thought were strong. I then reviewed the ones that stuck out to me with my supervisor. We then set up phone interviews and finally, set up individual meetings. I still felt a little disorganized and can relate to the comment James made.
Next time we have an opening, I want to prepare before an ad gets posted (I really like your interview prep form and especially the decision making matrix). Not only did I receive a few hundred resumes, some people called the school and were very aggressive with getting through to me. I appreciated their drive but some crossed the line.
Wendy ,
It sounds to me like you were very organized in your approach. One key to its success is having a well-written job description so that you can assess which candidates are strong, weak, or questionable. Decisions on which bucket to place a candidate into which are based upon the job description are easier to justify should there ever be a question. Given the current state of the economy, some candidates are becoming very aggressive out of necessity. Those candidates, however, need to realize the negative impact that might have on their candidacy.
Dr. Patricia Kapper
We use telephone and advertising to recruite our students. This is very effective because most people pay more attention to marketing campaigns than we do word of mouth, when pretaining to something good. Marketing is the best type letting people form there own opinions of what they want to do.
Pearlina,
The question was referring to recruiting candidates for open positions within the school. It might be faculty or staff positions. You might still use a similar approach, however. Telephoning potential candidates might work in a referral situation, much as it does for recruiting students. If a current employee refers an acquaintance, your follow up might be to telephone that person to determine their interest in the position. Advertising could be used for a career fair event for potential employee hires. So even though you took a different approach here, your ideas might relate to employees as well.
Dr. Patricia Kapper
I think student referrals are a good source of recruiting, career fairs.
Patti,
Students referrals are an excellent source of recruiting students. They may not be your best source for recruiting employees, however. Referrals from current employees are a better source of recruiting candidates for an open position. Employees know and understand the culture of the company. They know the job requirements and management's expectations. Knowing that, they can determine whether a friend or acquaintance might be a good match.
Dr. Patricia Kapper
We use many of the same methods mentioned in this thread: Advertising online (Craigslist, CareerBuilder), referrals from employees and hiring past graduates. If we are hiring for staff or faculty positions, the appropriate graduate will have suitable "past life" experience (our grads are often career changers) that makes them a fit for the job. We only look at more recent grads for reception or teaching assistant positions.
Employee referrals are great since they will usually have a good understanding of the culture of the company, but outside hires can often bring in "fresh blood" that is needed for perspective.
It's important to try several recruitment methods each time to try to bring in the best candidates.
Colleen,
Good response, Colleen. I agree with all of your comments. The one that always amazes me is Craigslist but others have shared how well that works for them as well. I like how you have approached the hiring of graduates. That has always been a concern of mine when campuses hire a recent grad who has little if any work experience. We have always prided ourselves on hiring faculty who are currently working in the field or have done so recently. The fact that they can bring real world experience to the classroom as opposed to research experience has been our forte.
Dr. Patricia Kapper
I think that recruiting the right person is paramount. Communicating expectations from the beginning is also key to successful results.
