Human Resource Management

Page 1 of 3

Human Resources Management

General Instructions

As an administrator in Student Affairs, at some point, you will be involved in helping to coordinate the hiring of staff members. Commonly this will involve working as part of a "search committee" and possibly serving as the chair of that committee. This means you will be tasked with developing a job description, convening a search committee, advertising the position, screening applications, narrowing the candidate field, coordinating interviews, checking references, and making hiring decisions.

The goal of this assignment is to provide students with an inside look at the search and selecting process and give students practical experience in preparing to fill a job position.

For this assignment, take on the role of a search committee chair in the assigned Student Affairs concentration area, do some research and locate a job description for a position that you are theoretically seeking to fill, then write a paper outlining the process you would take to fill the position. The paper should include the following components: Job Description, Attracting Applicants/Advertising the Position, Search Committee Structure, Interview Process, Reference Checking, and Hiring Decision.

Job Description

• Identify a position in Student Affairs that falls within the assigned Concentration Area and locate or develop a job description. The position should be at an Assistant Director level or higher.

• You may locate a job description from a college or university via an online search (The Placement Exchange on the NASPA website or the job board from one of the professional association websites are good places to start, as are HigherEdJobs.com, StudentAffairs.com, or InsideHigherEd.com). Cite which institution the job description came from.

• Job descriptions can be very detailed, sometimes many pages in length. For the purposes of this assignment, keep the job description relatively short (no more than one page), focusing on the educational qualifications, required work experience, primary job duties, etc.

Attracting Applicants/Advertising the Position

• How would you promote the position? Conduct research to determine what publications and job posting websites would be appropriate for advertising the job and identify these resources.

• Other than posting on job boards, what other strategies might be used to attract candidates? List specific job search sites.

Search Committee

Who would be included on the search committee? Identify relevant positions from across Student Affairs (i.e., student life, residence life, multicultural affairs, etc.) and the institution that

Page 2 of 3

would be potential members of the search committee. Include the specific titles of the professionals (i.e., Vice President, Director, Coordinator, etc.) that might be included, and select one student representative from the campus. Include at least 5 to 6 members on the committee, and justify why the individuals would be appropriate committee members.

The Interview

• What questions would be asked during the interview? • Tailor the questions to the job description and include a minimum of 8-10 questions.

Reference Checking

What questions would be asked of the applicants’ references? Tailor most questions to the job description and include a minimum of 5 questions.

Hiring Decision

Which of the following criteria do you think are the most important as you make a decision on which candidate to offer the job? Choose your top three and give a rationale for your choices.

• Candidates' educational background • Candidates' work/internship experience • Candidates' effectiveness during the interview • Comments from references • Input from search committee members • Degree of interest expressed by the applicant • Other factors?

Format

• You should submit this assignment in a Microsoft Word document, double spaced and free of grammatical and typographical errors. Points will be deducted for each grammatical error.

• Papers should be formatted in APA, 7th ed. Points will be deducted for each APA error. • Include APA sub-headings for each section. • Your score will be determined by the degree to which you address each of the

components listed above. While there is no minimum number of pages, your answers should be thorough and leave a clear impression of the choices you would make at each stage of the recruiting and hiring process. Be sure to include in-text citations from the sources that you draw on for this assignment.

Scoring Guidelines

Points available: 100.

Component Excellent Competent Needs Improvement

Student thoroughly addresses all five

Descriptions of each of the five components of

Descriptions of each of the five components

Descriptions of one or more of the five

Page 3 of 3

Component Excellent Competent Needs Improvement

components of the Recruitment

Process.

the project are clearly and thoroughly

described demonstrating an in-

depth understanding of the recruitment

process. The choices made are appropriate.

(40 points)

are included, but details are limited; a

surface-level understanding of the

recruitment process is demonstrated. Most

choices made are reasonable. (20 points)

components are inadequate; some or all

choices made are flawed demonstrating a limited

understanding of the recruitment process.

(0 points)

The student provides a clear

explanation of the rationale for each component of the

assignment.

A thoroughly developed rationale is provided for choices made at each stage of the process and supported with credible sources.

(30 points)

A rationale is provided for choices made at each stage of the

process; some choices are not supported with appropriate, credible

sources. (20 points)

Rationales may be missing for some choices or those

provided are not logical or aligned with field best practices; choices are

not supported with appropriate, credible sources. (10 points)

Appropriate scholarly sources are incorporated

into the content of the assignment.

Excellent sources that serve to support

choices. (10 points)

Acceptable sources that provide some

support for choices. (5 points)

Sources are not provided or are not credible. (0 points)

Spelling and Grammar

Project has no misspellings or

grammatical errors. (10 points)

Project includes no more than 4

misspellings and/or grammatical errors.

(5 points)

Project includes more than 4 misspellings and/or grammatical

errors. (0 points)

Format

Formatting, reference listing, and/or in-text

citations include more than 2 APA errors.

(10 points)

Formatting, reference list, and in-text

citations follow APA format, with no more

than 4 errors. (5 points)

Formatting, reference list, and in-text citations

include more than 4 errors. (0 points)