Northwest State College

1 SUPPLEMENTAL CASE: Chapter 7 Case: Northwest State College Northwest State College (a disguised name) is a four-year regional state college and has an enrollment of about 3,500 students. Its business department has a faculty of seven full-time instructors, and other part-time instructors are used as needed. Currently about 900 students are majoring in business. The college is located in a medium-sized northern community of about 70,000. Most of the faculty recruiting is done by one person, the department head, who makes the initial contact with prospective faculty members at various professional meetings held during the school year. If the department head cannot attend a meeting recruiting is done by an instructor from the business department. Projections are that enrollment at Northwest State will increase about 25% in the next five years. Most of the increase is expected in the business area. The ideal faculty size would be about 16 full-time instructors. Most of the full-time instructors currently in the Department of Business Administration hold MAs or MBAs from various northern colleges. The salary scales and fringe benefits are considered to be slightly lower than the compensation available at similar colleges in the region. In addition to any increase in faculty members needed due to enrollment, three replacements are needed for this fall in the business area to replace individuals who have gone elsewhere. Northwest State has a recruiting policy that requires final approval of candidates by the department head, the vice president for academic affairs, and the president of the college. In addition, the school has a policy requiring that at least two candidates be invited to the campus before any candidate can be hired so that adequate screening can take place. Often the result is a waiting period of two months between initial contact, application, and campus interview for most applicants. Some other small colleges in the area pay full travel expenses for potential candidates, while the majority of the others pay at least half. Northwest State does not pay any travel expenses if the candidate is not hired. Only if the candidate is offered a position and accepts is full reimbursement for travel expenses given. Usually the payment comes about two months after the campus interview. In the past Northwest State has not been very successful in filling empty positions. The president is concerned and wants to evaluate the recruiting program so that a better one can be designed. Questions 1. List the reasons why you would not consider a position at Northwest State if you were a potential applicant. 2. Evaluate the approval procedure for applicants. 3. What would be the components in a recruiting system you design? 1. Beginning, I would not be interested in a position at Northwest State college for these reasons: Firstly, due to the salary scales being slightly lower than the compensation available at similar colleges in the region. There are currently instructor's at this college that hold MBA's and MA who are not being compensated accordingly at college which wants to see growth of 25% in the next five years. Secondly, considering how rigorous the selection process appears to be for potential applicants an incentive to off set the process would be to at the least cover ones travel expenses in advance. These proponents do not make a great first impression toward me and show the school potential lack of interest in recruiting the best instructor available. Lastly, I would have addition concerns regarding the current vacancies that need to be filled. There just some question that need to be answered. If the enrollment is planning to ramp up then why is it that faculty do not want to have part in a growing institution. 2. In evaluating the approval procedure for applicants the components the college has in place appear to be thorough and in-depth. However, some of the policies in place are some much in depth that it could deter an applicant's interest in the position. If the president had the confidence in it department head then some steps in the approval procedure could be eliminated. The current screening process requires too much time in between the initial contact, application completion and the campus visits of applicants. 3. Through evaluating Northwest State's recruiting process it allowed for me to consider in designing a recruiting system with effective components: First, I would consider training new hires due to its financial advantage amend their prior external experience (204). Secondly, being a strategic recruiter by discovering talent before it is needed, capitalizing on windfall opportunities when there is an abundance of highly qualified people (195). If this component can be executed then the talent potential increases for fulling a position when time. Another component I would implement in my recruiting system is develop strong Internet recruiting abilities.