Recruiting supports an organization’s short-, mid-, and long-term  human capital needs. It can be a very easy and straightforward process,  depending on the region, market, and the field of work. In some fields,  prospective employees are readily accessible, and the organization will  have the ability to select among a broad group of well-qualified  candidates. In other fields, generating potential applicants will be  very hard as they are not present, or if they are present, the  competition among businesses in the market will be a challenge.

The nature of work is so very different from job-to-job and  organizational role to organizational role. Each is important and makes  valuable but very different organizational contributions. The field of  HR studies the nature of work to attract and select the best applicants,  and HR professionals follow SHRM’s behavioral competencies to support  their decision making and, in this assessment’s scenario, to find a  successful resolution to a hiring challenge.

Introduction

Scenario

For this assessment, assume you are an HR professional working as an  HR business partner for one of the most prestigious nonprofit  scientific research centers in the United States. The center is large  enough to have its own office of general counsel. Recently, one of the  assistant general counsels departed for a job at the White House. The  general counsel wants the finest and most talented attorney candidates  who are practicing in the field of research in a nonprofit setting. You  have announced the open position and have had 807 applicants. You chose a  group of 12 candidates, all of whom were turned down by the supervisor  (hiring manager). The general counsel’s office demanded to see all  applicant resumes, and your HR director agreed. After they reviewed all  the resumes, they said none were good enough. However, they provided no  additional information to you about their preferred applicant  qualifications. 

Your Challenge

While you are the HR business partner to the general counsel, you  have many other organizational clients, each with their own needs and  expectations, and therefore a limited amount of time to give to this  particular client. Given that you have failed to select appropriate  candidates, you consider spending some money from your very tight budget  to hire a recruiting firm, but that is not a guarantee of success. You  are considering the following three options: 1) recommending to the  hiring manager that she reconsider the 12 candidates you selected, 2)  asking her to allow you to re-announce, possibly with some changes to  the position vacancy announcement, or 3) going to the outside  (expensive) recruiting firm in spite of your budget constraints. The  option you recommend should offer the greatest return to the  organization and its employees.

Instructions

Prepare a 3–4-page plan that states your recommended course of action. Along with your recommendation, include the following: 

• Analyze how your proposed HR solution to an HR challenge contributes to organizational goals and strategies.     
  • Weigh the barriers the business partner will face with each of the three options.
  • Include the internal implications, if any, to reconsider the 12 candidates and how that could be done.
  • Consider the passage of time against the need for another  attorney in the office as well as the impact of cost if you choose to go  to an external organization.
• Describe key factors you considered in the formulation of a proposed HR solution.     
  • Include the ethical considerations for recruiting and hiring in this scenario.
  • Integrate material from your references that offer a theory-based relationship to inform ethical considerations.
• Explain the role of the HR practitioner in advancing a proposed HR solution.     
  • Briefly explain your role to influence the eventual outcome. Consider aspects of leadership, negotiation, and consultation.
• Discuss the application of any SHRM behavioral competencies to the process of solving an HR challenge.     
  • Which competencies are most directly applicable to a successful resolution of this challenge and why?