HR-Recruitment and Selection process

Advertising is one of the most popular recruitment methods because of its effectiveness in reaching numerous potential candidates. The job advertisement chosen is for the position of Accounting Assistant. It has been posted on the Canadian popular job search website Monster.ca (www.monster.ca, 2016).

The job ad has some good points, some of which are as follows:

• -       Understandability: the ad is concise and easy to understand. It is presented in the form of bullets with clear and short sentences.
• -       Solid structure: the ad’s content is arranged logically (i.e. Job summary, brief information about the job and company, Benefits of the Position, Responsibilities, Assets and Education level).
• -       Politically correct language: the ad is written in a neutral manner that does not include any sensitive words in terms of prohibited grounds of discrimination, i.e. sex, race, religion, age, etc.
•       Relevant information: the ad contains kind of enough information, such as: job title, working conditions, job description, requirements (skills, education background, and job’s tasks), and job location.

However, there are some drawbacks in this job ad, such as: 

-       Corporate image: the company image is lacklustre. Although the company, Brytor International Moving, was established over 50 years ago, there is no “logo” in the ad. This would reflect a nondescript image of the company. Furthermore, there is not a corporate website address to be found for the viewing audience in order to search for additional company information.

-       Attractiveness: the ad lacks panache since it is presented in a dull and listless manner.

-       Relevant job information: some important items are not mentioned in the ad, for example: training, development and/or promotion opportunities, wages and/or benefits.

.Despite some issues, the ad is still effective enough for the position being offered (i.e. Part-time Accounting Assistant). The information contained within the ad was sufficient to the point being that the company was looking for an individual in an entry level position.

Based on the job description and requirements that are listed in the job ad, the two most critical skills that an Accounting Assistant needs to have are organization skills and computer skills.

-       Organization skills: The responsibilities of the job, which are to reconcile payments, post transactions, follow up outstanding payments, liaise with client on documentation, general administrative tasks, etc., require good organization skills, in both aspects, ie. Mental and physical. Physical organization ability keeps the documentation in order, avoids a messy workplace. Mental organization ability helps the employee to arrange the job according to the order of priority, especially payments/transactions related tasks, and keep everything on track (Amanda C.Kooser, n.d.).

-       Computer skills: Every accounting-related job requires the employee to work with numbers, data, figures, etc., which are processed on a computer based accounting system. Hence, an Accounting Assistant needs to have the ability to use the computer for various tasks of filing, saving, posting, and processing data.

-       In addition to those two critical skills, communication skills should be also included since the job of an Administrative Assistant – Accounting requires the person to work with clients on document/invoicing inquiries as well as coordinate with other departments to fulfill their job.

 The selection process for hiring the position of a Part-time Accounting Assistant as described in this job ad should follow below steps:

Step 1: Preliminary Reception of Applicants

This step is not applicable because in today’s hiring climate, most applicants are received by appointment only.

Step 2: Applicant Screening

The company should definitely include this step in the selection process as there is requirement of experience and education qualifications for the position. Thus the applicants who meet these minimum requirements would be considered for a possible job interview.

Suggestions:

• -       Using resumes as a must tool to screen out candidates who do not meet the minimum Educational Level (High school or equivalent) and who do not have enough years of experience (the job requires 2+ to 5 years). The company can use resume screening software, for example: Resumix, to quickly pick appropriate resumes.
• -       Using job application forms to collect more information, for instance: Personal Data, Employment Status, Education and Skills, Employment References, etc., to make indicators and help the employer to draw comparison between candidates.

Step 3: Administration of Employment Tests

This step is not applicable for this job because it is a part-time entry level position.

Step 4: Employment Interview(s)

This is one of the most important steps in the selection process to find out which candidate would be the best overall fit. Interviews are not only for evaluating the applicants’ specific knowledge and competencies, but also shows the applicants’ personalities and characteristics. Moreover, an interview is also a tool for the company’s public relations.

Suggestions:

• -       After the human resource department filters the best applicants, the candidate list will be provided to the Accounting Manager for ability/competence evaluation. The Accounting Manager is the person to make the final decision.
• -       Since this is a part-time entry level position, a group interview should be conducted in order to save time for the recruiters and also helps them to compare different answers of various candidates right away.

  

Step 5: Realistic Job Previews

This step is necessary as this would provide the applicants with an insight on both positive and negative aspects of the job so that the hired employee can prepare for the new job and will not be too astonished by the new workplace.

Suggestions: providing the candidate with helpful information such as: benefit, training policy, company culture, working time, available facilities, etc. as well as duties and responsibilities to help the applicants to understand the employer’s expectation.

Step 6: Verification of References

Since the job involves cash, cheques, payment, transactions, the employer does want a reliable, honest staff to work with their money. Verification of References can be somewhat of help. However, this step can only play as a “reference” role since questions to ask about applicant’s behaviour or personality are not objective and are kind of sensitive. Those types of questions subject to the personal bias. A person who is not suitable with company X is not also unsuitable with company Y. Furthermore, candidates only put the referees who are “by their side” in their resume.

Suggestions: In order to verify the references, the human resource specialist can use employment references and/or reference letters.

-       Employment references: The human resource specialist can contact with the candidate’s past employers via phone calls, which has been provided in the candidate’s resume. Some direct questions with the referees on phone calls can help the human resource specialist to have a certain view of the applicant, for example: “Would you rehire this employee now?” (Schwind, Das, Wagar, Fassina, Bulmash, 2013, p. 229)

-       Reference letters: if the reference letter had been written and signed by a supervisor of a large company, it can add a good point to the candidate’s profile. 

Step 7: Contingent Assessments

This step is not applicable because a particular test/evaluation for legal purposes is not necessary for this position.

Step 8: Hiring Decision

This final stage is to select the best candidate for the company. A right choice does not only bring the right member to the company but also add to the organization’s value.

Suggestions to ensure a good hire: Based on the above steps, the hiring decision is rather simple: to select the candidate who has the best score in the interview. Although there may be different predictors due to the reference check step, the interview performance should be the decisive indicator.

References

Amanda C.Kooser, D. M. (n.d.). What does "Good Organizational Skills" mean? . Retrieved from Smallbusiness Chron: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/good-organizational-skills-mean-2882.html

Schwind, Das, Wagar, Fassina, Bulmash. (2013). Canadian Human Resource Management: A Strategic Approach - 10th Edition. McGraw-Hill Ryerson.

www.monster.ca. (2016, 02). jobview.monster.ca. Retrieved from www.monster.ca: http://jobview.monster.ca/Accounting-Assistant-Job-Mississauga-ON-164800253.aspx?jobPosition=1

   

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Human Resource issues at Fedex Canada

Federal Express Canada (FedEx Canada) is a subsidiary of FedEx Group. It was established in 1987 to serve shipments between US and Canada with about 400 employees. FedEx Canada currently has approximately 5,000 employees with many types of services for both domestic and oversea markets (more than 200 countries)  There are over 1,000 FedEx drop-off locations in Canada, and the three Canadian Call Centers (in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal) respond to 36,500 calls a day. (Fedex, n.d.)

At Fedex, human resource is recognized as a crucial value to the organization. The workforce has been recruited from several levels of education background and experience. For instance: High School Diploma or GED equivalent for Driver Courier, Bachelor or MBA and 4-year experience for Senior Finance Analysis, Bachelor or MBA and 10-year experience for Marketing Manager, etc.

There is a gender allocation in FedEx Group’s human resource structure, as well as a number of minorities in the management team.

   

Figure 1: Gender ratio in Fedex Global workforce (Corporation, 2014) 

   

Figure 2: Minorities in Fedex Global (Corporation, 2014)

According to Figure 1, male staffs dominates the workforce at FedEx.

The nature of the work varies for working type. As a supply chain company, we are maintaining flexible working time for many levels of staffs: part-time jobs for operation teams (6:30am – 9:00pm), full-time jobs for other office support teams. Work shifts are applied for operation teams. Moreover, FedEx Canada has carried out some programs to improve safety for the workplace, such as: Safety Focus Program, Safety Partnership Location, etc. (Fedex, n.d.)

FedEx Canada’s Employment Practice and Procedure are in line with the group in terms of systematic and professional operation. Firstly, management, department and team meetings are planned based on annual goal plan and adhoc request. Plus, our uniform with two color black-purple and FedEx logo is easy to be recognized via our drivers. Regarding recruitment, we look for staffs via head-hunter companies. Moreover, in order to motivate employees, FedEx has some programs to rewards excellent performance as well as the loyalty to the company. The programs are: Five Star Award, Bravo Zulu, Purple Promise Award, CEO safety award, Service Award, Quality Driven Management Cup  (FedEx)

Although FedEx Canada has been doing well in the human resource management, however, we would likely encounter 3 human rights challenges in our organization. Firstly, gender discrimination would be an issue due to the domination of male staffs in the workforce. Additional, BFOR would be a challenge in the workplace. Furthermore, legal challenge in terms of occupational health and safety should also be considered.

To begin with, we should review the Prohibited grounds of Discrimination, which is related to gender. According to the gender ratio reported by FedEx’s Global Citizenship report, the number of female accounted for only ¼ of the workforce. In the management team, male leaders also dominates the quantity. We recommend all department manager to review the job types to find out positions that could be more suitable for female staff, such as: administration, personal assistant, secretary,…and to be really objective in recruiting new staffs, giving male and female candidates the same chance to demonstrate their capacity and background. We should think about this to avoid the problem may have caused due to Gender Discrimination.

Plus, bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) is also a challenge in our organization. This may occur in the operation sector, where driver-couriers play the vital role. Due to the job characteristic, the driver-couriers would have good health for transportation and deliver parcels. Male drivers with better physical strength is an advantage. Although this issue is legal, the people in the non-protected group may feel bad as being indirectly discriminated. Our recommendation for this issue is the department heads as well as human resource department to diplomatically explain to staff/candidates why physical strength is an advantage for some types of work, and also fairly treat female candidates/staffs if they have good health that could adapt the job.

In addition, occupational health and safety is an issue in almost every supply chain company. In FedEx, a large portion of staffs are working outside the office, and their workplace is streets and trucks. Therefore, they have to face to many dangerous situations on the streets, for example: bad traffic, severe weather (snow, rain, ice pellets). In the other hand, accidents, which could be falling or being injured, may happen while our couriers deliver heavy parcels. Furthermore, people working in the warehouse are also in an unsafety environment. Since there are tons of goods to be packed, delivered, it is likely to be dusty, unhygienic within the area. Toxic is a problem that must be considered by HR department. Besides, equipment used in the warehouse, ie. Conveyor belt system, may also cause accidents like clothes/finger/feet caught, injury,   In order to ensure the safety for our labor force and minimize the dangerous, we recommend to develop our current safety training program by regularly implementing every 6 months for different job types. In details, we will implement 2 specific safety training programs for driver courier team and warehouse staffs. For the driver courier team, we will do some investigation to survey the causations of most of accidents so far, then design the proper program. For staffs working in the warehouse, we will measure the toxic and dust concentration in the area and have a professional entity to consult the best solution. The warehouse staffs will be also carefully trained about safety rules in the workplace. 

References

Corporation, F. (2014). FY14 Global Citizenship Report. Tennessee: Fedex.

FedEx. (n.d.). About FedEX. Retrieved from www.fedex.com: http://about.van.fedex.com/our-people/recognition-programs/

Fedex, C. (n.d.). Fedex Canada history. Retrieved from www.fedex.com: http://www.fedex.com/ca_english/about/overview/fastfacts/