The Right Match

1
The Right Match

• Strategies for Realistic Recruitment and
  Selection
• Nancy S. Dickinson

2
NC Child Welfare Workers Say

• Intention to remain on the job is related
  significantly to
• Accurate job portrayal
• Match between their skills and the job

3
Agenda

• Recruitment Strategies
• Realistic Job Previews
• Competency-Based Selection

4
Recruitment Standards for Supervisors in Child
Welfare

• Pursue recruitment opportunities
• Participate in agency sponsored recruitment
  activities
• Maintain communication links with prospective
  candidates and present the agency in a positive
  light
• Coordinate and support filed placements and
  internships to attract qualified staff

5
Realistic Recruitment

• Presents an accurate picture of the job and the
  organization
• Promotes a more informed decision by the applicant

6
How Realistic Recruitment Works

• Vaccination
• against unrealistic expectations
• Self-selection
• candidate makes a more informed choice
• Coping
• newcomer able to develop coping strategies
• Personal Commitment
• to the decision and the agency
• Wanous (1992)

7
Research-based Recruiting Practices

• Recruitment source
• Job survival was 24 higher for employees
  recruited using inside sources than for employees
  using outside sources (Wanous, 1992, in a summary
  of 12 studies).
• Significantly more new hires who stayed 12 months
  had heard about the job from an inside source,
  compared with new hires who left (Larson, Lakin,
  Bruininks, 1998).

8
Promising Recruitment Practices

• Increased prehire knowledge associated with lower
  turnover (Williams, Labig, Stone, 1993).
• Use of inside recruitment sources results in
  increased information about the job, improving
  the extent to which prehire expectations are met
  and improving job survival (Saks, 1994 Taylor,
  1994 Zottoli Wanous, 2000).

9
Promising Recruitment Practices

• Using correlational research resultssuch as
  desire to helpto craft recruitment practices
• Colorado Association of Community Centered Boards
  developed a statewide recruitment campaign to
  look for people who wanted to make a difference
  in the lives of others (Collins, 2000 as
  reported in Larson Hewitt, 2005).

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Recruitment Strategies

• Link to agencys mission and public image
• What specific values, vision, mission and history
  set this agency apart from others?
• What is important about this agency that would
  attract potential job applicants?
• What does this agency want to be known for, in
  comparison with other community agencies?

12
Sample Advertisement

• CW Agency is a fast paced, supportive and
  stimulating place to work. We are looking for
  child welfare workers who desire challenging,
  meaningful work and welcome the opportunity to
  make a difference for families and children. If
  this describes you, consider applying for a
  public child welfare position at.
• Youll never be bored!

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More Recruitment Strategies

• Expand outreach
• older workers, racial diversity, immigrants,
  international
• Expand strategies
• print, TV, internet
• Agency staff as recruiters
• Streamline the process

14
Best Practices in Streamlining the Recruitment
Process

• South Carolina
• Eliminated merit system
• Central job bank of position announcements
• Wisconsin
• Continuous recruitment practices
• Michigan and Delaware
• Pool of pre-screened and trained workers
• Federal government
• On-the-spot job offers to candidates with needed
  skills

15
Recruitment Strategies Checklist

• Recruitment bonus for current employees
• Hiring bonus for new recruits
• Comprehensive and targeted marketing plan and
  materials
• TV and radio ads
• Website recruitment
• Marketing to nontraditional sources
• Presentations about careers in human services
• Open houses
• Volunteer programs

16
Expand the Pool of Recruits

• Students
• High school and young college students
• Older workers
• Applicants of color
• Millenial/emergent workers

17
Expand the Pool Students

• Agency/university partnerships
• Internships Paid and unpaid
• Classroom visits/guest lectures
• Service Learning
• Loan forgiveness

18
Expand the Pool Older Workers

1. 17 of 2010 workforce will be 55 and older (BLS)
2. Many want to continue working (Civic Ventures,
   2005)
3. Reasons be productive, health benefits, extra
   income, enhance well-being of others (Pynes,
   2008)
4. Older workers stay longer (Rosenthal, McDowell
   White, 1998)

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Strategies to Recruit/Retain Older Workers

• Targeted advertising (message placement of ad)
  (Doverspike et al 2000)
• Job security and benefits, phased retirement
  plans
• Flexible/reduced schedules, part-time positions,
  telecommuting, job sharing

20
Expand the Pool Diversity

• Client population By 2025, 32 of US population
  will be non-white (US Census Bureau, 2004)
• Workforce More than half of new entrants to
  workforce in next 15 years will be non-white
  (Judy DAmico, 2007)

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Recruiting/Retaining a Diverse Workforce

• Leadership commitment (Pease Associates, 2003)
• Feature diversity in recruitment materials
  (Doverspike et al, 2000)
• Deploy diverse recruitment teams (New Haven, CT)
• Develop a work environment that welcomes
  diversity (El Paso County, CO)
• Establish cultural competency as a qualification
  award salary differential(Sacramento County, CA
  )
• Internships for minorities representative of
  local area (426 funding)

22
What Emergent Workers Want

• Variety in daily work exciting experiences
• Fun atmosphere, friendly people, caring about
  staff as individuals
• Respect and seek their input
• Game plan on how and when they will advance
• Multiple training development opportunities
• Strong Leadership Mentoring programs
• A diverse workforce
• Work/life balance
• (Grubb, 2008)

23
Recruiting Millenials Embrace Todays Technology

• Distribute flash drives w/ company information
• Use text messaging to communicate w/ recruits
• Accept video resumes
• Create company Facebook and MySpace pages
  linked to your website
•  Find a reason to be on YouTube
•  Conduct webinars to promote your company
•  Create blogs on your website
•  Host luncheons w/ local colleges where you
  recruit
• (Grubb 2008)

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Expand Recruitment Strategies

• Comprehensive marketing campaign materials
• Internet recruitment
• Print ads linked to internet
• TV and radio ads
• Open houses
• Volunteer programs
• Inside recruiting
• Recruitment bonuses

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Internet Recruitment Sites

• www.monster.com
• www.LiveDeal.com
• www.CraigsList.com
• www.CareerBuilder.com

• www.HotJobs.com
• www.MySpace.com
• www.LinkedIn.com
• www.StudentList.com

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Realistic Job Previews

• Fewer unmet expectations higher retention

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Research on Realistic Job Previews

• RJPs improved retention rates by 9-17 (McEvoy
  Cascio, 1985).
• RJPs increased retention of employees 12 for
  agencies with annual retention rates of 50 and
  24 for those with rates of 20 (Premack
  Wanous, 1985).
• RJPs delivered after a job offer has been made,
  but before decisions, are more effective in
  reducing turnover than earlier in the process
  (Phillips, 1998).

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Developing and Using RJPs

• Up-to-date and complete job description
• Positive and negative job characteristics
• What do you like best about your job?
• What is the hardest part about your job?
• What do you wish you had known about your job
  before you started working here?
• Select the most important topics and strategy to
  enable an informed decision

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RJP Strategies

• Structured observation
• Meetings with current workers
• RJP video
• Photo album or scrapbook
• Booklet or brochure
• Web-based multimedia RJP
• Panel of agency staff
• Internships or volunteer opportunities

30
RJP Design Principles

1. Purpose of the RJP must be clear to the applicant
2. Must use credible information (real people and
   events not actors and scripts testimony from
   job incumbents rather than a discussion with
   supervisors)
3. Should include info about how current employees
   feel about their jobs
4. Positive and negative information should be
   balanced to reflect actual experiences
5. Should be presented before or at the time that a
   job offer is made.

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Impact of a Realistic Job Preview University of
Michigan

• Workers who saw the RJP were significantly more
  likely to
• Indicate a commitment to remain in child welfare
  for five years
• Say that the application and selection process
  helped them cope with job pressures
• Say that the agencys honesty made them feel more
  loyal, and
• Less likely to say they would never have taken
  the job if they had known what it was like.

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NC Realistic Job Preview DVD

• On the Recruitment and Retention website
• http//ssw.unc.edu/jif/rr/rjp.htm

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Child Welfare Worker Selection

• Attract the best, screen out less qualified

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Selection Standards for Supervisors in Child
Welfare

• Know and comply with law and policy related to
  fair hiring processes
• Participate in selection interviews
• Select people who are able to demonstrate the
  competencies needed and whose values are
  consistent with the agencys mission
• Justify and document hiring decisions using
  job-related criteria

35
Competency-based Selection

• The better the fit between the requirements of
  the job and competencies of the jobholder

The higher job performance and retention will be.
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Search Hiring Model

• To do this job
• In this organization
• Requires this person

• Job duties, reporting relationships
• Organizational structure, climate, staffing mix
• Skills, knowledge, competencies

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Best Practice in Screening

• Job related
• validity
• Objective
• focus on competencies
• Multiple assessments
• Consistent

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Validity of Research-based Selection Strategies
(Hermelin Robertson, 2001)

• Structured interviews High
• Cognitive ability as assessed by standardized
  test High
• Biographical data Medium
• Personality and integrity tests Medium
• Work sample tests or assessment centers Low to
  medium
• Unstructured interviews Low to medium
• The big five personality traits Low

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Focus on Underlying Competencies
KSs
Attitudes Values
Motives Traits
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Entry Level Competencies

• Predict long term success
• Difference between average and outstanding
• Most difficult to change

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Underlying Competencies

• Interpersonal Relations
• Adaptability
• Communication Skills
• Observation Skills
• Planning and Organizing Work

• Analytic Thinking
• Motivation
• Self Awareness/confidence
• Sense of Mission
• Teamwork

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Multiple Job Related Assessments

• Standard Interview
• Fact Finding Interview
• Written Exercise
• Reference Check

43
Consistency Structure
Time Questions Order
Opportunity Rating Criteria All Components
44
Standard Interview

• Opinion Questions thinking self-awareness
• Past Behavior past behavior predicts future
  performance
• Situational future intentions
• Follow ups and probes

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Purpose of Standard Interview

• Not only looking for answers but also insights
  into the competencies
• Including
• Thinking processes used
• What motivates the candidate to behave in certain
  ways
• Candidates self-awareness, including ability to
  reflect on and learn from experiences

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Consistency in Rating

• Scoring guides Examples of unacceptable, average
  and outstanding answers
• Use Subject Matter Experts to develop
• Rate competencies Behaviors to Look for
• Consensus discussion
• (Bernotavicz, 2008)

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This Presentation

• Is brought to you by the RR Project
• A part of the Jordan Institute for Families
• At the University of North Carolina at Chapel
  Hill School of Social Work
• Funded by grant 90CT0114/05 US DHHS
  Administration for Children and Families,
  Childrens Bureau