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2/29/2016 Chern’s
Consultation Case
Kyle Walkley
Kyle Walkley
MGMT 411: RECRUITING AND HIRING TALENTS
We’d like to thank you for choosing The Kyle Walkley Consultation group for your
Human Resources consulting needs.
First, let’s identify your company’s process and outcome goals for the short and long
term. Process goals are the goals Chern’s sets for the hiring process itself. (Phillips) Short term,
your process goal seems to be that of satisfying your staffing needs in an efficient manner. Your
long term process goal is what you contacted our consultation firm about. Your long term goal is
to improve your ability to attract top talent despite stiff competition. Both of these process goals
are essential, as your current business model puts a large emphasis on customer service and
satisfaction. Without the process goals of attracting and satisfying the need for top talent to
perform these tasks, Chern’s reputation for customer care would begin to fade. Outcome goals
are the goals your company has for the results of the hiring process. (Phillips) Your short term
outcome goal seems to be to hire employees that can perform according to the standards Chern’s
has set over the years. Your long term outcome goal is to increase retention rate and ultimately
cut down on staff shortages. Both of these outcome goals are important as higher retention rates
decrease hiring costs and reduce the need for recruiting while hiring qualified talent leads to your
company being able to continue to uphold the quality standards it is known for. By hiring and
retaining employees that can perform adequately, Chern’s can ensure the consistent customer
service your company has become known for and uphold your current business strategy.
To guide us through the consultation process we will need to develop a formal talent
philosophy, HR strategy, and a specific staffing strategy. Your talent philosophy explains how
employees, AKA talent, should be treated and what expectations they will be held to. (Phillips)
Chern’s talent philosophy seems to be as follows: Employees are expected to provide top level
knowledge and customer service on a daily basis, while also attempting to meet sales quotas.
Failure to meet these quotas 4 months in a row will lead to a warning. One more month of failure
will result in termination. Employees are encouraged to meet these goals independently as a
reflection of Chern’s ultimate philosophy of employee and departmental freedom, thus
encouraging leadership behavior. Employees that perform well are rewarded through bonuses
based on customer service and sales, as well as advancement within the company itself. These
rules and guidelines all reinforce the idea that Chern’s wants quality workers who are willing to
improve themselves. (Phillips)
After we have developed a talent philosophy, we must develop an HR strategy. An HR
strategy is the linkage of a company’s business strategies and goals with the functions of HR.
(Phillips) Chern’s HR strategy most likely fits the following description: HR seeks to
strategically tie in with Chern’s business strategy by having employees attempt to reach certain
goals by offering bonuses and through additional training if necessary. Both of these aspects
reinforce the overall business strategy of growth through an emphasis on quality and customer
service.
Lastly, we have to develop a specific staffing strategy. A staffing strategy is the means by
which a company acquires, retains, and separates from employees. (Phillips) Chern’s seeks to
attract talent for open positions by leading the market in terms of compensation and worker
freedom. At the same time, your company attempts to retain current employees through internal
hiring, an above market compensation plan that encourages continuance commitment, and the
possibility of advancement. Exit from Chern’s is supported by matching the employee’s 401k
plan up to 10 percent of their base pay. The ideas of how to guide employees into, through, and
out of your company comprise your staffing strategy.
There are several questions we must ask concerning the previous strategies that have
large consequences for your business. The first being, “Does Chern’s want a core or flexible
work force?” A core workforce is made up of regular employees who are essential to what a
company produces or does. (Phillips) A flexible workforce is made up of employees hired
typically on a contractual basis or is made up of contingent employees. From what I have seen in
your reports, it appears that the most efficient work force for your stores would be a core work
force due to the high emphasis on quality and the fact that your employees are of central
importance to what makes Chern’s successful in the first place.
The second question that needs to be answered is whether your company will prefer to
hire externally or internally. An external hire is hiring form outside of the firm for an open
position while hiring internally is searching your current employees for a viable candidate to fill
an open position. You have stressed the importance of upward mobility at your company due to
the fact that it’s a large part of your company’s culture and I agree. Thus, I would recommend a
focus on internal hiring to promote the idea that loyalty and good performance are rewarded
within your company.
Third, we have to ask whether we want to hire for, or train and develop needed skills.
Chern’s already has a training and orientation program for new hires in place. In addition, you
have stated that your company seeks to hire employees that are “good people”. Thus, it seems
that you focus on hiring employees that are already personable and experienced, and then give
them the proper training to further ensure they meet Chern’s high standards. This seems entirely
logical as employees with some degree of experience will not need to undergo as long of a
training process, while a short training process ensures that company goals are met.
The fourth question is whether Chern’s should focus on replacing or retaining talent. As I
stated earlier, your company finds upward mobility to be an important aspect of the Chern’s
culture. Your report also mentions the idea that long-term employee-customer relationships are a
vital aspect of Chern’s customer service strategy. These two reasons would lead me to
recommend that Chern’s focuses on retaining talent, as low retention rates would be detrimental
to both goals.
Fifth, “What levels of which skills do we need where?” This is asking, what levels of
knowledge and talent does a new employee need to already possess? It is usually easier for a
company to hire applicants that possess skills that are less easily learned and then train them in
those skills that are trainable. (Phillips) Since Chern’s relies heavily on customer service, being
adjustable, extraverted, and agreeable are important traits for success. (Hurley) The details of
sales can be covered during the training and orientation process. In your report, you didn’t seem
to mention what Chern’s looks for in terms of talent and skills that are already possessed. As a
result I have answered the question based on the information provided.
“Will we staff proactively or reactively?” That is our sixth question. Proactive staffing is
done prior to a staffing event arriving while reactive hiring is done when the event has already
occurred. A tie-in to this idea is talent-oriented staffing. In a market where talent is scarce and
many companies compete for a small pool of applicants, a company must constantly be seeking
new hires and talent. (Phillips) The reason for your contacting me for consultation was the fact
that the current market for employees was highly competitive. It’s quite obvious to see that a
talent-oriented staffing or proactive staffing approach would be the right fit for Chern’s.
Which jobs should we focus on? This translates to how Chern’s should distribute its
resources and staff. You currently average 125 sales roles per 19 managerial roles. Since Chern’s
is a retail store, it would only make sense that a large amount of the company’s resources would
be devoted to sales roles rather than managerial roles. In addition, the responsibility of keeping
customers happy is mainly one that falls on the shoulders of sales associates. As a result, I have
to agree with your current strategy of devoting a majority of your resources towards sales.
Eighth, whether staffing should be treated as an investment or a cost. In situations where
differences in performance have large effects on a business and its goals, it is best to look at
employees as an investment. (Phillips) Investing time and resources towards finding, acquiring
and training these employees can result in returns that greatly outweigh the initial investment in
the employee. Since employee performance is important to your company’s business model, I
would recommend looking at staffing as an investment.
Finally, we have the question of whether staffing will be centralized or decentralized.
Centralized staffing is staffing that is centralized and channeled through one unit while
decentralized is the inverse. (Phillips) A decentralized staffing philosophy gives units, in Chern’s
case stores or departments, more control over their recruiting and staffing needs. Since Chern’s
prefers to give departments and its employees as much freedom as possible, it is only logical that
a decentralized approach to staffing would make the most sense as departments would be able to
exist with even more autonomy and be able to react to staffing needs more quickly.
Now that we have addressed the strategies and questions behind your company’s staffing
processes, we must address the implications of them. Discrimination in an employment process
can be extremely costly for company due to possible legal suits, and often manifests itself in the
form of disparate impact, which is a form of unintentional discrimination. (Robinson)
Consequently, I will be analyzing your hiring process for signs of discrimination using various
methods.
Stock statistics compare the percentage of a group within your organization with their
availability in the relevant population of qualified people interested in the position. A small
amount of variance is acceptable as different utilization rates do not always demonstrate adverse
impact of discriminatory hiring practices. (Phillips) By looking at the statistics you have
provided me with, I see some evidence of adverse impact using stock statistics analysis. It
appears that women and Asian Americans may overrepresented at your company. A hunch is not
enough however, and we must use other forms of analysis to support my theory. This leads us to
our next form of analysis.
Flow statistics or relevant selection ratio compares the percentage of applicants hired
from different group to determine if there is a significant difference between the two. I
performed these analyses using the 4/5’s rule which states that if the selection rate for a protected
group (for example, African Americans) is less than 4/5’s of the rate the most selected group, the
hiring process is most likely suffering from adverse impact. Comparing men to women, we have
a hiring rate of 8 percent for men and 11.43 for women. By dividing 11.43 by 8 percent we arrive
at an impact ratio of .69. This is less than .8 and is evidence of adverse impact. Next, we will
move onto the selection rates of various races. Asians have the highest employment rate of 11.2,
then Whites with 9.1, Hispanics with 8.33, and finally Blacks with 8%. By following the same
process as comparing men to women, I have found that Hispanic applicants have a disparate
impact ratio of .74 and Black applicants have a ratio of .71. Both of these ratios are below .8 and
are evidence of disparate impact. We must tread carefully, as flow statistics are unique, in that,
they are the only statistic that can establish adverse impact by itself. In order to double check for
signs of discrimination, we will do one more analysis.
Concentration statistics compare the percentages of groups represented in different job
categories to look for concentration in certain workforce categories. By comparing male to
female department manager percentages, it seems there may be evidence of discrimination.
There is a 40% difference is preference of men. In terms of race, it appears that Blacks are
overrepresented when it comes to store management and underrepresented in terms of
department managers. Asian Employees seem to have a high concentration in the sales associate
and department manager categories but a low amount of concentration in the store manager
category. These may just be slight discrepancies, but should still be examined in order to avoid
any legal action. We must keep in mind that these observations don’t establish discrimination by
themselves, but can be used to support the evidence found using flow analysis.
Now that we have gone through the analysis process, we have to think about how we can
alleviate any unintended discrimination. The hiring process is home to many barriers for
protected class applicants such a Hispanics and Blacks. (Cora-Bramble) These barriers include
stereotyping, bias towards people with shared backgrounds, and general ignorance of equal
employment practices. (Phillips) For the problem of overrepresentation of certain groups in your
work force, I would recommend additional workshops to educate HR and hiring personnel on the
ideas of bias and how to adjust for them in relation to the application and hiring processes, in
addition to more diversity within the ranks of your hiring departments. By attempting to break
down stereotyping and bias based on familiarity, Chern’s will hopefully begin to see far less
disparate impact due to a greater awareness of subconscious judgement. An analysis of Chern’s
affirmative action plan should also be conducted. Affirmative Action is remedial in nature and
seeks to fix overrepresentation within a company’s workforce. (CHRO: Affirmative Action)
Thus, a revamp of your current plan would hopefully close this gap.
In terms of concentration, we were able to identify the issue of women being
underrepresented in mid-level management, as well as unequal distribution of certain minority
groups. This most likely stems from barriers within Chern’s advancement and promotion
programs. Common barriers employees may face include being held to different standards based
on the group they belong in, a lack of access to informal communication networks by employees
of protected classes, and equal opportunity HR personnel being excluding from the hiring
process at higher levels. (Phillips) This barriers can be overcome by providing advancement
programs for protected class employees, making sure that evaluation processes are consistent
across all groups, and by ensuring that equal opportunity hiring personnel that are present at all
levels of hiring. These solutions, combined with those I mentioned previously, should be able to
eliminate any form of disparate impact.
We have linked disparate impact with the position of sales associate. To continue the
process, we have to look at what it takes to be sales associate at Chern’s through the use of a job
requirements matrix. In making this matrix, I consulted several competitor’s websites, O*Net,
and interviewed an employee of Nordstrom’s.
Job Duty Tasks Relative
Importa
nce of
Job
Duty
(% )
Relative
Time
Spent
(% )
Competency or KSAO Importance of KSAO
or Compentency to
Task Performance
(1=Low,10=High)(E=
Essential)
Sales 1.Compute
sales
information
and process
forms of
payment
20 15 1.Ability to perform basic
arithmetic
2.Ability to use store sales
systems
3.Persuasion skills
9.2E
9.0
8.3
Customer
Service
1.Maintain
long term
customer
relationship
s
2. Greet and
treat
customers in
a warm and
welcoming
fashion
3. Ensure
each
customer a
unique and
personalized
experience
when visiting
Chern’s
40 70 1.Communication Skills
2.Listening Skills
3.Ability to use IT systems
4.Ability to perform tasks
quickly and well
5.Service Orientation
8.7
9.0E
7.8
8.5
8.8
Product
Knowledge
1.Recommen
d, select, and
help locate
products
based on
customer
needs and
desires
2.Answer
questions
about
products sold
in the store
40 15 1.Ability to learn various
product characteristics
2. Awareness of surroundings
8.8
8.9
In order to make the process simpler, I have sorted the competencies and KSAO’s
(Knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics) by essential of non-essential. As you can
see in the table, listening skills and the ability to perform basic arithmetic are essential KSAO’s.
The reason for this is that these skills are often not easily taught or brought out through hands-on
experience. The other KSAO’s are not marked as essential due to the fact that they can be taught
on the job, or elicited through hands-on experience as a sales associate at Chern’s. Competencies
marked as essential are characteristics your company can’t train for and must actively seek out
employees who already possess these skills, while nonessential competencies would be
characteristics you can train or develop.
Looking at the job of full time sales associate, it is only common sense that some
employees will leave your company or be promoted to a higher level of management. As such,
we need to conduct a transition analysis for the position at your flagship store. The probability
matrix you provided me with claims that 70 of the current full time sales associates will stay at
their current position, 42 will transition to higher level positions, and 28 will exit. We also need
to consider any transitional movement into the position of full times sales associate before we
can make any predictions on your company’s average hiring needs. It appears that 1
merchandising manager, 1 department manager, and 9 part time sales associates will transition
into the position of full time sales associate. By doing some simple math, (140-42-
28+1+1+9=90) we can see that there will only be 90 total full time sales associates. This forecast
would put Chern’s full time sales associate position at a deficit of 50 employees, or roughly 36%.
At this point, we need to think about how to address this deficit in terms of staffing.
As we have already established through my transition analysis, your company isn’t able
to satisfy all of its staffing needs internally. As a result of this, Chern’s must turn to external
sources for its staffing needs. In order to address this difference, we must first determine whether
this is a temporary or persistent talent shortage. The current job outlook for sales-associates in
America has an average growth rate (5-8%) for the next ten years based on information from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics and O*Net. The amount of skill and education needed to become an
employee in this position is relatively low compared to other positions as well. The average sales
associate is only required to have a high school diploma or equivalent. The lack of specialized
education needed, as well as the fact that the market outlook has an average growth rate, leads
me to conclude that the shortage is temporary in nature. This begs the question, how does
Chern’s fix a temporary talent shortage?
There are a multitude of ways to acquire more external talent to compensate for a
temporary talent shortage. While your company already has them, incentives for employee
referrals are effective in identifying and attracting potential candidates. You can also attempt to
nip the problem in the bud by decreasing the exit rate of full time sales associates. One way to
encourage long term commitment and retention is through sign-on and retention bonuses.
(Phillips) These monetary bonuses are awarded to employees who have worked for a company
for a certain period of time and awards long term employees. As an added bonus, Chern’s
wouldn’t have to raise the base pay of sales associates in order to implement this incentive
program. Finally, Chern’s could make the decision to attempt to be more competitive in the labor
market. This can be done through the utilization of search firms or additional advertising of open
positions. All of these strategies would hopefully alleviate any temporary talent shortages.
In relation to finding external talent, your company has provided me an analysis of your
different recruitment sources. I have attempted to rank these sources from best to worst, by using
two guiding principles. The first principle is the idea that culture fit is the most important
measure of the effectiveness of a hiring source. The reason for this is that you yourself have
stated in your report that you believe that Chern’s is known for its strong and unique culture and
value system. The second principle stems from the idea that employees are seen as investments
rather than costs. This would mean that any training and orientation costs are far less important
than the potential added value of a successful employee. I have ranked them in the following
order: employee referral, Cherns.com, college hiring, search firm, walk-ins, and newspaper ads.
As you can see, Cherns.com was a leading source. You have mentioned the fact that you are
interested in using the internet more as a hiring source, so I will follow this up with a few
recommendations on how to do so.
The internet can be a valuable recruiting source if implemented correctly. (Online
recruiting: internet staff recruitment) One way to capitalize on the potential of internet sourcing
is through the use of data mining. Data mining uses the internet to locate passive and semi
passive job seekers who have the capability of working for Chern’s. These are people who
already have a job but may or may not be looking for a new job. By locating these people,
Chern’s would be able to target any advertisements about job openings in more efficient way. At
that point, it would simply be a matter of converting any leads into actual applicants. A second
way to better utilize the internet as a recruitment source is through the use of Boolean searches.
Boolean searches would allow your company to scour the internet far more efficiently for
potential applicants. Granted, this system would only target people that are actively seeking jobs.
(Phillips) However, by implementing both techniques, Chern’s would be able to identify and
recruit every type of job seeker. In relation to attempting to better use a certain source, Chern’s
can also attempt to target certain applicant traits.
We have already discussed possible issues in relation to disparate impact at Chern’s.
Attempting to improve the diversity of your applicant pool is something that can be achieved
through tweaks to your sourcing methods. For recruiting nontraditional applicants such as
workers with disabilities, older workers, and welfare recipients, Chern’s can go through sourcing
websites. www.welfaretowork.org and www.dol.gov/odep/ are just two possible sites your
company can use. Another way to improve applicant diversity is through geographic sourcing.
By specifically targeting geographic areas where Chern’s does not currently source many
applicants from, your company will most likely find renewed diversity in its applicant pool. If
implemented correctly, these fixes could set Chern’s on the right path towards a diverse work
force.
Your company expressed the desire for a recruiting guide. The intricacies of your
recruitment process can be hashed out by your individual hiring managers and HR department.
In the meantime, I will provide you with a rough outline. Your recruitment guide should include
the various costs and budgets associated with the hiring process (newspaper ads, costs of
personnel, etc.), the activities included in hiring (interviews, tests, etc.), timelines for hiring
(integration time, orientations from date of hire, etc.), what staff are responsible for which parts
of the process, any precautions to be taken in terms of legal issues (affirmative action, disparate
impact, etc.), and finally specific steps to be taken to fill open positions.
The perceived fairness of your recruitment process is incredibly important. If your
process is seen as unfair, applicants are likely to spread word about the unfairness. As a result,
their perception of your company will be impacted negatively. To avoid these spillover effects,
Chern’s can attempt to improve the fairness of their assessment process. Applicant perceptions of
fairness are often either procedural or interactional in nature. In order to increase procedural
fairness, your company should implement hiring screening methods such as: interviews,
resumes, and work-sample tests. These methods are often seen as fairer than others. In addition,
respecting the privacy of applicants and giving them ample opportunities to showcase talent will
improve perceived procedural fairness. Interpersonal fairness is more straightforward. By having
recruiters treat applicants as kindly and honestly as possible, perceived interpersonal fairness will
increase. This can be further encouraged by briefing recruiters on questions and topics to avoid
when speaking with applicants. Chern’s brand suffers when it is negatively associated with
unfair recruitment processes.
Chern’s employer brand is essential in attracting and hiring potential employees. An
employer brand is a reflection of what a company offers its employees and what it’s like to work
there. A possible employer brand for Chern’s could be similar to the following: Chern’s offers
employees above market wages and independence for ambitious employees with a customer
service mindset. In addition, Chern’s is committed to personal growth of its employees through
internal advancement and improvements in sales. This belief would be held not only by Chern’s,
but also the general public. The employer brand means nothing if it isn’t marketed and reinforced
successfully however.
Reinforcing and marketing your employer brand can help your company attract
applicants due to positive association. We can look at the staffing process as a possible way of
reinforcing Chern’s employer brand. During the onboarding process, Chern’s can strengthen its
employer brand by effectively communicating the company’s culture, spreading awareness about
any awards Chern’s currently holds, and promoting Chern’s commitment to employee
advancement and training. During the employee’s time at the firm, Chern’s can promote its
brand by delivering on the promises made in the hiring process and by reminding the employees
why they joined the company in the first place. Finally, during separation, exit interviews and
fair treatment of employees that are leaving can make one final reinforcement of Chern’s
employer brand. (Building a compelling employer brand) In addition to these stages, a unifying
slogan can really tie together an employer brand. By making these improvements to your staffing
process, Chern’s can turn the spillover effect into a positive one.
You have asked for an evaluation of the eight candidate’s resumes that you provided our
firm. The following section will evaluate these resumes in the order we were provided. To make
it easier to digest, I formatted it in a list format.
 Julia McKnight
Good: looking for long term career, has experience with technology systems, leadership
experience, customer service experience, sales experience
Bad: Poor resume formatting, improper grammar and spelling, no clear metrics of
performance
 Alex Turing
Good: College education, education is related to fashion, design experience, experience
in sales, experience in customer service, and experience in personalized fashion,
knowledgeable in fashion,
Bad: Objective is vague, no quantifiable results, admits to limited managerial experience
 Vera Levitt
Good: College educated, experience in high end retail, slight management experience,
interest in fashion, IT knowledge, customer service experience
Bad: Low-average GPA, no years of employment for several jobs, lack of quantifiable
results
 Benjamin Hirsch
Good: management experience, sales experience, experience with inventory
management, quantifiable results, seeking advancement
Bad: Bad formatting, vague, lack of experience in fashion industry, poor objective
statement
 Chris Prender
Good: knowledge of fashion, college educated, held multiple positions, sales background,
customer service background, marketing experience, seems well rounded, experience
with store maintenance, management experience, experience in high end stores
Bad: 2 page resume, no quantifiable results, no long term employment,
 Sharon Simmons
Good: High level of experience, leadership skills, customer relations experience, seeking
growth, seeking long term career, quantifiable results, experience in sales, great grades,
college educated, communication skills, interpersonal skills
Bad: Gap session is less quantifiable and is more vague
 Maria Cruz
Good: Educated, seeking a managerial role, scholarly awards, has experience in fashion
industry, experience in service industry, good sales person,
Bad: Education and internship aren’t closely related to Chern’s, uncertain about the
possibility of applying her skills to sales, no quantifiable results
 Parvathi Naryan
Good: College educated in management, good GPA, experience in sales at a seemingly
high end store, good customer service marks, relationship building skills, is able to
perform custom fittings
Bad: No clear metrics of performance, vague, only 3 years of experience in sales, 1 year
in the fashion industry
Later in this report, I will revisit these resumes. In the meantime, we have to address your
structured interview questions. In an attempt to make a scoring key, I have assigned the
questions weighted points based on their importance to Chern’s business strategies and culture.
The score reflects the overall strength of the response and is multiplied by the total weight
percentage. The summation of these scores will allow your company to assess applicants based
on these questions.
Score
Question
No
Answer
Demonstrates
minimal
understanding
of customer
service
techniques
Demonstrates
some
understanding
of customer
service
techniques
Demonstrates
full
understanding
of customer
service
techniques
Weight Weight
X
Score
0 1 2 3
A 2
B 1
C .5
Sum:
In addition to these interview questions, Chern’s should consider the possibility of
incorporating other assessment method. I have laid out a possible assessment and selection plan
that falls within Chern’s $4,000 budget. The three additional tests I would recommend are the
simulation, job knowledge, and cognitive ability tests. These tests would result in a cost of $3760
for Chern’s. This is within your budget. Every test has a test validity of at least .48 which is
considered relatively high. Applicant reactions to these techniques are all ranked as good. In
order to compensate for the high adverse impact of cognitive ability tests, I included simulations
and job knowledge tests. Both of these have low amounts of adverse impact. Simulations are the
only assessment method that has difficult usability. This doesn’t make the test worthless, as
simulations can be used to check for error in the other two methods. I believe this plan is both
affordable and realistic.
In addition to staffing at the entry level, Chern’s has to fill positions such as department
manager. In order to fill these positions internally, Chern’s will need ways to identify and
develop sales associates who have the potential to become department managers. The
identification of potential candidates for advancement is usually done through internal
assessment methods. (Phillips) Skills inventories, mentoring programs, and performance reviews
are just a few ways Chern’s can perform internal assessments. Candidates that perform well on
these assessments will most likely be identified as having high potential for development. After
being identified, these employees should be placed in internal recruitment programs. Career
development workshops, additional training, and challenging/developmental job assignments are
a few easy ways your company can develop its employees. These methods would be useless
without the hiring of the employees in the first place.
I stated earlier that we would discuss the applicant’s resumes in more detail later in the
report. I would recommend a compensatory approach to identifying candidates that are best
suited for the job of sales associate. This means assigning weights to the assessment method I
identified earlier. I would place a weight of 2 on the weight of the simulation due to it’s validity
and similarities to actual job tasks. The job knowledge test and cognitive ability tests would have
weights of 1.5 and 1 respectively. I gave the cognitive abilities test a lower weight to further
discourage any disparate impact. By looking at the weighted scores of these assignments in
combination with the resumes your company received, we can make a hiring decision for two
applicants. Due to the fact that you failed to include the results with the documents you provided
our consulting firm, we only have the resumes to go off of. As a result, it would be in Chern’s
best interest to hire Alex Turing and Sharon Simmons due to their depth of knowledge and years
of experience.
This process could have been made easier if our firm had access to the assessment scores.
Transcripts of the interviews would have also helped identify any problems in terms of culture fit
as well. Finally, reference checks could have been implemented and logged to get second
opinions on potential new hires. Ultimately, we have used the information available to the best of
our ability.
In summary, by following the recommendations outlined in this consultation report,
Chern’s will most likely be able to achieve its goals of becoming more competitive in terms of
staffing.
This consultation report has been preparedandtargetedfor the Chern’s corporation. The KyleWalkleyConsultationGroup bears no
responsibilityforany andall changes that result in undue harmor financial damages to client’s business or person.
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Chern's Case Study

  • 1. 2/29/2016 Chern’s Consultation Case Kyle Walkley Kyle Walkley MGMT 411: RECRUITING AND HIRING TALENTS
  • 2. We’d like to thank you for choosing The Kyle Walkley Consultation group for your Human Resources consulting needs. First, let’s identify your company’s process and outcome goals for the short and long term. Process goals are the goals Chern’s sets for the hiring process itself. (Phillips) Short term, your process goal seems to be that of satisfying your staffing needs in an efficient manner. Your long term process goal is what you contacted our consultation firm about. Your long term goal is to improve your ability to attract top talent despite stiff competition. Both of these process goals are essential, as your current business model puts a large emphasis on customer service and satisfaction. Without the process goals of attracting and satisfying the need for top talent to perform these tasks, Chern’s reputation for customer care would begin to fade. Outcome goals are the goals your company has for the results of the hiring process. (Phillips) Your short term outcome goal seems to be to hire employees that can perform according to the standards Chern’s has set over the years. Your long term outcome goal is to increase retention rate and ultimately cut down on staff shortages. Both of these outcome goals are important as higher retention rates decrease hiring costs and reduce the need for recruiting while hiring qualified talent leads to your company being able to continue to uphold the quality standards it is known for. By hiring and retaining employees that can perform adequately, Chern’s can ensure the consistent customer service your company has become known for and uphold your current business strategy. To guide us through the consultation process we will need to develop a formal talent philosophy, HR strategy, and a specific staffing strategy. Your talent philosophy explains how employees, AKA talent, should be treated and what expectations they will be held to. (Phillips) Chern’s talent philosophy seems to be as follows: Employees are expected to provide top level knowledge and customer service on a daily basis, while also attempting to meet sales quotas. Failure to meet these quotas 4 months in a row will lead to a warning. One more month of failure will result in termination. Employees are encouraged to meet these goals independently as a reflection of Chern’s ultimate philosophy of employee and departmental freedom, thus encouraging leadership behavior. Employees that perform well are rewarded through bonuses based on customer service and sales, as well as advancement within the company itself. These rules and guidelines all reinforce the idea that Chern’s wants quality workers who are willing to improve themselves. (Phillips) After we have developed a talent philosophy, we must develop an HR strategy. An HR strategy is the linkage of a company’s business strategies and goals with the functions of HR. (Phillips) Chern’s HR strategy most likely fits the following description: HR seeks to strategically tie in with Chern’s business strategy by having employees attempt to reach certain goals by offering bonuses and through additional training if necessary. Both of these aspects reinforce the overall business strategy of growth through an emphasis on quality and customer service. Lastly, we have to develop a specific staffing strategy. A staffing strategy is the means by which a company acquires, retains, and separates from employees. (Phillips) Chern’s seeks to attract talent for open positions by leading the market in terms of compensation and worker freedom. At the same time, your company attempts to retain current employees through internal hiring, an above market compensation plan that encourages continuance commitment, and the possibility of advancement. Exit from Chern’s is supported by matching the employee’s 401k
  • 3. plan up to 10 percent of their base pay. The ideas of how to guide employees into, through, and out of your company comprise your staffing strategy. There are several questions we must ask concerning the previous strategies that have large consequences for your business. The first being, “Does Chern’s want a core or flexible work force?” A core workforce is made up of regular employees who are essential to what a company produces or does. (Phillips) A flexible workforce is made up of employees hired typically on a contractual basis or is made up of contingent employees. From what I have seen in your reports, it appears that the most efficient work force for your stores would be a core work force due to the high emphasis on quality and the fact that your employees are of central importance to what makes Chern’s successful in the first place. The second question that needs to be answered is whether your company will prefer to hire externally or internally. An external hire is hiring form outside of the firm for an open position while hiring internally is searching your current employees for a viable candidate to fill an open position. You have stressed the importance of upward mobility at your company due to the fact that it’s a large part of your company’s culture and I agree. Thus, I would recommend a focus on internal hiring to promote the idea that loyalty and good performance are rewarded within your company. Third, we have to ask whether we want to hire for, or train and develop needed skills. Chern’s already has a training and orientation program for new hires in place. In addition, you have stated that your company seeks to hire employees that are “good people”. Thus, it seems that you focus on hiring employees that are already personable and experienced, and then give them the proper training to further ensure they meet Chern’s high standards. This seems entirely logical as employees with some degree of experience will not need to undergo as long of a training process, while a short training process ensures that company goals are met. The fourth question is whether Chern’s should focus on replacing or retaining talent. As I stated earlier, your company finds upward mobility to be an important aspect of the Chern’s culture. Your report also mentions the idea that long-term employee-customer relationships are a vital aspect of Chern’s customer service strategy. These two reasons would lead me to recommend that Chern’s focuses on retaining talent, as low retention rates would be detrimental to both goals. Fifth, “What levels of which skills do we need where?” This is asking, what levels of knowledge and talent does a new employee need to already possess? It is usually easier for a company to hire applicants that possess skills that are less easily learned and then train them in those skills that are trainable. (Phillips) Since Chern’s relies heavily on customer service, being adjustable, extraverted, and agreeable are important traits for success. (Hurley) The details of sales can be covered during the training and orientation process. In your report, you didn’t seem to mention what Chern’s looks for in terms of talent and skills that are already possessed. As a result I have answered the question based on the information provided. “Will we staff proactively or reactively?” That is our sixth question. Proactive staffing is done prior to a staffing event arriving while reactive hiring is done when the event has already occurred. A tie-in to this idea is talent-oriented staffing. In a market where talent is scarce and many companies compete for a small pool of applicants, a company must constantly be seeking new hires and talent. (Phillips) The reason for your contacting me for consultation was the fact
  • 4. that the current market for employees was highly competitive. It’s quite obvious to see that a talent-oriented staffing or proactive staffing approach would be the right fit for Chern’s. Which jobs should we focus on? This translates to how Chern’s should distribute its resources and staff. You currently average 125 sales roles per 19 managerial roles. Since Chern’s is a retail store, it would only make sense that a large amount of the company’s resources would be devoted to sales roles rather than managerial roles. In addition, the responsibility of keeping customers happy is mainly one that falls on the shoulders of sales associates. As a result, I have to agree with your current strategy of devoting a majority of your resources towards sales. Eighth, whether staffing should be treated as an investment or a cost. In situations where differences in performance have large effects on a business and its goals, it is best to look at employees as an investment. (Phillips) Investing time and resources towards finding, acquiring and training these employees can result in returns that greatly outweigh the initial investment in the employee. Since employee performance is important to your company’s business model, I would recommend looking at staffing as an investment. Finally, we have the question of whether staffing will be centralized or decentralized. Centralized staffing is staffing that is centralized and channeled through one unit while decentralized is the inverse. (Phillips) A decentralized staffing philosophy gives units, in Chern’s case stores or departments, more control over their recruiting and staffing needs. Since Chern’s prefers to give departments and its employees as much freedom as possible, it is only logical that a decentralized approach to staffing would make the most sense as departments would be able to exist with even more autonomy and be able to react to staffing needs more quickly. Now that we have addressed the strategies and questions behind your company’s staffing processes, we must address the implications of them. Discrimination in an employment process can be extremely costly for company due to possible legal suits, and often manifests itself in the form of disparate impact, which is a form of unintentional discrimination. (Robinson) Consequently, I will be analyzing your hiring process for signs of discrimination using various methods. Stock statistics compare the percentage of a group within your organization with their availability in the relevant population of qualified people interested in the position. A small amount of variance is acceptable as different utilization rates do not always demonstrate adverse impact of discriminatory hiring practices. (Phillips) By looking at the statistics you have provided me with, I see some evidence of adverse impact using stock statistics analysis. It appears that women and Asian Americans may overrepresented at your company. A hunch is not enough however, and we must use other forms of analysis to support my theory. This leads us to our next form of analysis. Flow statistics or relevant selection ratio compares the percentage of applicants hired from different group to determine if there is a significant difference between the two. I performed these analyses using the 4/5’s rule which states that if the selection rate for a protected group (for example, African Americans) is less than 4/5’s of the rate the most selected group, the hiring process is most likely suffering from adverse impact. Comparing men to women, we have a hiring rate of 8 percent for men and 11.43 for women. By dividing 11.43 by 8 percent we arrive at an impact ratio of .69. This is less than .8 and is evidence of adverse impact. Next, we will move onto the selection rates of various races. Asians have the highest employment rate of 11.2,
  • 5. then Whites with 9.1, Hispanics with 8.33, and finally Blacks with 8%. By following the same process as comparing men to women, I have found that Hispanic applicants have a disparate impact ratio of .74 and Black applicants have a ratio of .71. Both of these ratios are below .8 and are evidence of disparate impact. We must tread carefully, as flow statistics are unique, in that, they are the only statistic that can establish adverse impact by itself. In order to double check for signs of discrimination, we will do one more analysis. Concentration statistics compare the percentages of groups represented in different job categories to look for concentration in certain workforce categories. By comparing male to female department manager percentages, it seems there may be evidence of discrimination. There is a 40% difference is preference of men. In terms of race, it appears that Blacks are overrepresented when it comes to store management and underrepresented in terms of department managers. Asian Employees seem to have a high concentration in the sales associate and department manager categories but a low amount of concentration in the store manager category. These may just be slight discrepancies, but should still be examined in order to avoid any legal action. We must keep in mind that these observations don’t establish discrimination by themselves, but can be used to support the evidence found using flow analysis. Now that we have gone through the analysis process, we have to think about how we can alleviate any unintended discrimination. The hiring process is home to many barriers for protected class applicants such a Hispanics and Blacks. (Cora-Bramble) These barriers include stereotyping, bias towards people with shared backgrounds, and general ignorance of equal employment practices. (Phillips) For the problem of overrepresentation of certain groups in your work force, I would recommend additional workshops to educate HR and hiring personnel on the ideas of bias and how to adjust for them in relation to the application and hiring processes, in addition to more diversity within the ranks of your hiring departments. By attempting to break down stereotyping and bias based on familiarity, Chern’s will hopefully begin to see far less disparate impact due to a greater awareness of subconscious judgement. An analysis of Chern’s affirmative action plan should also be conducted. Affirmative Action is remedial in nature and seeks to fix overrepresentation within a company’s workforce. (CHRO: Affirmative Action) Thus, a revamp of your current plan would hopefully close this gap. In terms of concentration, we were able to identify the issue of women being underrepresented in mid-level management, as well as unequal distribution of certain minority groups. This most likely stems from barriers within Chern’s advancement and promotion programs. Common barriers employees may face include being held to different standards based on the group they belong in, a lack of access to informal communication networks by employees of protected classes, and equal opportunity HR personnel being excluding from the hiring process at higher levels. (Phillips) This barriers can be overcome by providing advancement programs for protected class employees, making sure that evaluation processes are consistent across all groups, and by ensuring that equal opportunity hiring personnel that are present at all levels of hiring. These solutions, combined with those I mentioned previously, should be able to eliminate any form of disparate impact. We have linked disparate impact with the position of sales associate. To continue the process, we have to look at what it takes to be sales associate at Chern’s through the use of a job requirements matrix. In making this matrix, I consulted several competitor’s websites, O*Net, and interviewed an employee of Nordstrom’s.
  • 6. Job Duty Tasks Relative Importa nce of Job Duty (% ) Relative Time Spent (% ) Competency or KSAO Importance of KSAO or Compentency to Task Performance (1=Low,10=High)(E= Essential) Sales 1.Compute sales information and process forms of payment 20 15 1.Ability to perform basic arithmetic 2.Ability to use store sales systems 3.Persuasion skills 9.2E 9.0 8.3 Customer Service 1.Maintain long term customer relationship s 2. Greet and treat customers in a warm and welcoming fashion 3. Ensure each customer a unique and personalized experience when visiting Chern’s 40 70 1.Communication Skills 2.Listening Skills 3.Ability to use IT systems 4.Ability to perform tasks quickly and well 5.Service Orientation 8.7 9.0E 7.8 8.5 8.8 Product Knowledge 1.Recommen d, select, and help locate products based on customer needs and desires 2.Answer questions about products sold in the store 40 15 1.Ability to learn various product characteristics 2. Awareness of surroundings 8.8 8.9 In order to make the process simpler, I have sorted the competencies and KSAO’s (Knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics) by essential of non-essential. As you can see in the table, listening skills and the ability to perform basic arithmetic are essential KSAO’s.
  • 7. The reason for this is that these skills are often not easily taught or brought out through hands-on experience. The other KSAO’s are not marked as essential due to the fact that they can be taught on the job, or elicited through hands-on experience as a sales associate at Chern’s. Competencies marked as essential are characteristics your company can’t train for and must actively seek out employees who already possess these skills, while nonessential competencies would be characteristics you can train or develop. Looking at the job of full time sales associate, it is only common sense that some employees will leave your company or be promoted to a higher level of management. As such, we need to conduct a transition analysis for the position at your flagship store. The probability matrix you provided me with claims that 70 of the current full time sales associates will stay at their current position, 42 will transition to higher level positions, and 28 will exit. We also need to consider any transitional movement into the position of full times sales associate before we can make any predictions on your company’s average hiring needs. It appears that 1 merchandising manager, 1 department manager, and 9 part time sales associates will transition into the position of full time sales associate. By doing some simple math, (140-42- 28+1+1+9=90) we can see that there will only be 90 total full time sales associates. This forecast would put Chern’s full time sales associate position at a deficit of 50 employees, or roughly 36%. At this point, we need to think about how to address this deficit in terms of staffing. As we have already established through my transition analysis, your company isn’t able to satisfy all of its staffing needs internally. As a result of this, Chern’s must turn to external sources for its staffing needs. In order to address this difference, we must first determine whether this is a temporary or persistent talent shortage. The current job outlook for sales-associates in America has an average growth rate (5-8%) for the next ten years based on information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and O*Net. The amount of skill and education needed to become an employee in this position is relatively low compared to other positions as well. The average sales associate is only required to have a high school diploma or equivalent. The lack of specialized education needed, as well as the fact that the market outlook has an average growth rate, leads me to conclude that the shortage is temporary in nature. This begs the question, how does Chern’s fix a temporary talent shortage? There are a multitude of ways to acquire more external talent to compensate for a temporary talent shortage. While your company already has them, incentives for employee referrals are effective in identifying and attracting potential candidates. You can also attempt to nip the problem in the bud by decreasing the exit rate of full time sales associates. One way to encourage long term commitment and retention is through sign-on and retention bonuses. (Phillips) These monetary bonuses are awarded to employees who have worked for a company for a certain period of time and awards long term employees. As an added bonus, Chern’s wouldn’t have to raise the base pay of sales associates in order to implement this incentive program. Finally, Chern’s could make the decision to attempt to be more competitive in the labor market. This can be done through the utilization of search firms or additional advertising of open positions. All of these strategies would hopefully alleviate any temporary talent shortages. In relation to finding external talent, your company has provided me an analysis of your different recruitment sources. I have attempted to rank these sources from best to worst, by using two guiding principles. The first principle is the idea that culture fit is the most important measure of the effectiveness of a hiring source. The reason for this is that you yourself have
  • 8. stated in your report that you believe that Chern’s is known for its strong and unique culture and value system. The second principle stems from the idea that employees are seen as investments rather than costs. This would mean that any training and orientation costs are far less important than the potential added value of a successful employee. I have ranked them in the following order: employee referral, Cherns.com, college hiring, search firm, walk-ins, and newspaper ads. As you can see, Cherns.com was a leading source. You have mentioned the fact that you are interested in using the internet more as a hiring source, so I will follow this up with a few recommendations on how to do so. The internet can be a valuable recruiting source if implemented correctly. (Online recruiting: internet staff recruitment) One way to capitalize on the potential of internet sourcing is through the use of data mining. Data mining uses the internet to locate passive and semi passive job seekers who have the capability of working for Chern’s. These are people who already have a job but may or may not be looking for a new job. By locating these people, Chern’s would be able to target any advertisements about job openings in more efficient way. At that point, it would simply be a matter of converting any leads into actual applicants. A second way to better utilize the internet as a recruitment source is through the use of Boolean searches. Boolean searches would allow your company to scour the internet far more efficiently for potential applicants. Granted, this system would only target people that are actively seeking jobs. (Phillips) However, by implementing both techniques, Chern’s would be able to identify and recruit every type of job seeker. In relation to attempting to better use a certain source, Chern’s can also attempt to target certain applicant traits. We have already discussed possible issues in relation to disparate impact at Chern’s. Attempting to improve the diversity of your applicant pool is something that can be achieved through tweaks to your sourcing methods. For recruiting nontraditional applicants such as workers with disabilities, older workers, and welfare recipients, Chern’s can go through sourcing websites. www.welfaretowork.org and www.dol.gov/odep/ are just two possible sites your company can use. Another way to improve applicant diversity is through geographic sourcing. By specifically targeting geographic areas where Chern’s does not currently source many applicants from, your company will most likely find renewed diversity in its applicant pool. If implemented correctly, these fixes could set Chern’s on the right path towards a diverse work force. Your company expressed the desire for a recruiting guide. The intricacies of your recruitment process can be hashed out by your individual hiring managers and HR department. In the meantime, I will provide you with a rough outline. Your recruitment guide should include the various costs and budgets associated with the hiring process (newspaper ads, costs of personnel, etc.), the activities included in hiring (interviews, tests, etc.), timelines for hiring (integration time, orientations from date of hire, etc.), what staff are responsible for which parts of the process, any precautions to be taken in terms of legal issues (affirmative action, disparate impact, etc.), and finally specific steps to be taken to fill open positions. The perceived fairness of your recruitment process is incredibly important. If your process is seen as unfair, applicants are likely to spread word about the unfairness. As a result, their perception of your company will be impacted negatively. To avoid these spillover effects, Chern’s can attempt to improve the fairness of their assessment process. Applicant perceptions of fairness are often either procedural or interactional in nature. In order to increase procedural
  • 9. fairness, your company should implement hiring screening methods such as: interviews, resumes, and work-sample tests. These methods are often seen as fairer than others. In addition, respecting the privacy of applicants and giving them ample opportunities to showcase talent will improve perceived procedural fairness. Interpersonal fairness is more straightforward. By having recruiters treat applicants as kindly and honestly as possible, perceived interpersonal fairness will increase. This can be further encouraged by briefing recruiters on questions and topics to avoid when speaking with applicants. Chern’s brand suffers when it is negatively associated with unfair recruitment processes. Chern’s employer brand is essential in attracting and hiring potential employees. An employer brand is a reflection of what a company offers its employees and what it’s like to work there. A possible employer brand for Chern’s could be similar to the following: Chern’s offers employees above market wages and independence for ambitious employees with a customer service mindset. In addition, Chern’s is committed to personal growth of its employees through internal advancement and improvements in sales. This belief would be held not only by Chern’s, but also the general public. The employer brand means nothing if it isn’t marketed and reinforced successfully however. Reinforcing and marketing your employer brand can help your company attract applicants due to positive association. We can look at the staffing process as a possible way of reinforcing Chern’s employer brand. During the onboarding process, Chern’s can strengthen its employer brand by effectively communicating the company’s culture, spreading awareness about any awards Chern’s currently holds, and promoting Chern’s commitment to employee advancement and training. During the employee’s time at the firm, Chern’s can promote its brand by delivering on the promises made in the hiring process and by reminding the employees why they joined the company in the first place. Finally, during separation, exit interviews and fair treatment of employees that are leaving can make one final reinforcement of Chern’s employer brand. (Building a compelling employer brand) In addition to these stages, a unifying slogan can really tie together an employer brand. By making these improvements to your staffing process, Chern’s can turn the spillover effect into a positive one. You have asked for an evaluation of the eight candidate’s resumes that you provided our firm. The following section will evaluate these resumes in the order we were provided. To make it easier to digest, I formatted it in a list format.  Julia McKnight Good: looking for long term career, has experience with technology systems, leadership experience, customer service experience, sales experience Bad: Poor resume formatting, improper grammar and spelling, no clear metrics of performance  Alex Turing Good: College education, education is related to fashion, design experience, experience in sales, experience in customer service, and experience in personalized fashion, knowledgeable in fashion, Bad: Objective is vague, no quantifiable results, admits to limited managerial experience  Vera Levitt Good: College educated, experience in high end retail, slight management experience, interest in fashion, IT knowledge, customer service experience
  • 10. Bad: Low-average GPA, no years of employment for several jobs, lack of quantifiable results  Benjamin Hirsch Good: management experience, sales experience, experience with inventory management, quantifiable results, seeking advancement Bad: Bad formatting, vague, lack of experience in fashion industry, poor objective statement  Chris Prender Good: knowledge of fashion, college educated, held multiple positions, sales background, customer service background, marketing experience, seems well rounded, experience with store maintenance, management experience, experience in high end stores Bad: 2 page resume, no quantifiable results, no long term employment,  Sharon Simmons Good: High level of experience, leadership skills, customer relations experience, seeking growth, seeking long term career, quantifiable results, experience in sales, great grades, college educated, communication skills, interpersonal skills Bad: Gap session is less quantifiable and is more vague  Maria Cruz Good: Educated, seeking a managerial role, scholarly awards, has experience in fashion industry, experience in service industry, good sales person, Bad: Education and internship aren’t closely related to Chern’s, uncertain about the possibility of applying her skills to sales, no quantifiable results  Parvathi Naryan Good: College educated in management, good GPA, experience in sales at a seemingly high end store, good customer service marks, relationship building skills, is able to perform custom fittings Bad: No clear metrics of performance, vague, only 3 years of experience in sales, 1 year in the fashion industry Later in this report, I will revisit these resumes. In the meantime, we have to address your structured interview questions. In an attempt to make a scoring key, I have assigned the questions weighted points based on their importance to Chern’s business strategies and culture. The score reflects the overall strength of the response and is multiplied by the total weight percentage. The summation of these scores will allow your company to assess applicants based on these questions.
  • 11. Score Question No Answer Demonstrates minimal understanding of customer service techniques Demonstrates some understanding of customer service techniques Demonstrates full understanding of customer service techniques Weight Weight X Score 0 1 2 3 A 2 B 1 C .5 Sum: In addition to these interview questions, Chern’s should consider the possibility of incorporating other assessment method. I have laid out a possible assessment and selection plan that falls within Chern’s $4,000 budget. The three additional tests I would recommend are the simulation, job knowledge, and cognitive ability tests. These tests would result in a cost of $3760 for Chern’s. This is within your budget. Every test has a test validity of at least .48 which is considered relatively high. Applicant reactions to these techniques are all ranked as good. In order to compensate for the high adverse impact of cognitive ability tests, I included simulations and job knowledge tests. Both of these have low amounts of adverse impact. Simulations are the only assessment method that has difficult usability. This doesn’t make the test worthless, as simulations can be used to check for error in the other two methods. I believe this plan is both affordable and realistic. In addition to staffing at the entry level, Chern’s has to fill positions such as department manager. In order to fill these positions internally, Chern’s will need ways to identify and develop sales associates who have the potential to become department managers. The identification of potential candidates for advancement is usually done through internal assessment methods. (Phillips) Skills inventories, mentoring programs, and performance reviews are just a few ways Chern’s can perform internal assessments. Candidates that perform well on these assessments will most likely be identified as having high potential for development. After being identified, these employees should be placed in internal recruitment programs. Career development workshops, additional training, and challenging/developmental job assignments are a few easy ways your company can develop its employees. These methods would be useless without the hiring of the employees in the first place. I stated earlier that we would discuss the applicant’s resumes in more detail later in the report. I would recommend a compensatory approach to identifying candidates that are best suited for the job of sales associate. This means assigning weights to the assessment method I identified earlier. I would place a weight of 2 on the weight of the simulation due to it’s validity and similarities to actual job tasks. The job knowledge test and cognitive ability tests would have weights of 1.5 and 1 respectively. I gave the cognitive abilities test a lower weight to further discourage any disparate impact. By looking at the weighted scores of these assignments in combination with the resumes your company received, we can make a hiring decision for two applicants. Due to the fact that you failed to include the results with the documents you provided
  • 12. our consulting firm, we only have the resumes to go off of. As a result, it would be in Chern’s best interest to hire Alex Turing and Sharon Simmons due to their depth of knowledge and years of experience. This process could have been made easier if our firm had access to the assessment scores. Transcripts of the interviews would have also helped identify any problems in terms of culture fit as well. Finally, reference checks could have been implemented and logged to get second opinions on potential new hires. Ultimately, we have used the information available to the best of our ability. In summary, by following the recommendations outlined in this consultation report, Chern’s will most likely be able to achieve its goals of becoming more competitive in terms of staffing. This consultation report has been preparedandtargetedfor the Chern’s corporation. The KyleWalkleyConsultationGroup bears no responsibilityforany andall changes that result in undue harmor financial damages to client’s business or person. "Building a Compelling Employer Brand." Building a Compelling Employer Brand. Web. 01 Mar. 2016. Butler, Max. "Nordstrom in Relation to Chern's." Personal interview. 27 Feb. 2016. "CHRO: Affirmative Action." CHRO: Affirmative Action. Web. 01 Mar. 2016. Cora-Bramble, Denice. "Minority Faculty Recruitment, Retention and Advancement: Applications of a Resilience-based Theoretical Framework." Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 17.2 (2006): 251-55. Web. Hurley, R. F. "Customer Service Behavior in Retail Settings: A Study of the Effect of Service Provider Personality." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 26.2 (1998): 115-27. Web. "Nordstrom." Careers. Web. 01 Mar. 2016. Robinson, G., and K. Dechant. "Building a Business Case for Diversity." Academy of Management Perspectives 11.3 (1997): 21-31. Web. "Online Recruiting: Using the Internet to Recruit Staff Is Becoming More Popular." Online Recruiting: Internet Staff Recruitment. Web. 01 Mar. 2016. Phillips, Jean, and Stanley Morris. Gully. Strategic Staffing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009. Print. "Summary." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web. 01 Mar. 2016.
  • 13. "41-2031.00 - Retail Salespersons." 41-2031.00 - Retail Salespersons. Web. 01 Mar. 2016.