Using SAP HR Recruitment

Nearly 300 human resources professionals commiserated over the battles they wage to get and keep good workers during the recruitment conference The war for talent winning strategies Sept !"#!$ in %ashington &' ()* News maga+ine, November !000.s a study by the /nformation Technology .ssociation of .merica (/T..- indicates, three out of every 00 computer#related vacancies now take si1 months or longer to fill /ndeed, as the /nformation .ge morphs into the /nformation 2conomy, human resource leaders and professionals struggle with finding the right people at an increasingly faster pace There is no shortage of labor # the challenge )* managers are faced with is to find people with high#end specific /T skills )owever, this often translates into lottery#like odds of successfully matching the range of technology skills demanded by /T hiring managers with the skills that show up on candidate resumes )* managers need to ensure that the right people, with the right skills and in the right numbers, are in place at the right time /n order to find and hire those applicants having the specific skills needed by the organi+ation, )* professionals need to have a clear recruitment strategy and a highly efficient /T system facilitating and supporting the recruitment process This article e1amines the capabilities of the S.3 recruitment module that can be used to implement an effective and largely automated recruitment strategy, and how these functions can help to ease and manage the whole recruitment cycle from creating a vacancy until hiring successful applicants

VACANCIES AND JOB DESCRIPTIONS

The need to hire an employee can arise from various events such as new pro4ects, terminations, increased workload, or restructuring of a department or position, which results in the need for additional skills and5or abilities, which current employees do not possess Therefore, the first step in the recruitment process should be to evaluate the need to hire a new employee 6nce that need is established, a vacancy becomes available in the organi+ation . vacancy in S.3 is a description of a position that must be staffed, either completely or partially The recruitment process is actually triggered by the creation of a vacancy and its purpose is to fill vacancies /f the recruitment component is used in con4unction with 6rgani+ational 7anagement, this vacancy is created as an unoccupied position within the organi+ational hierarchy .ll positions marked vacant in 6rgani+ational 7anagement are available in the *ecruitment system for further processing and evaluation This allows )* managers to see e1actly where the vacancy is created within the organi+ation and the reporting structure .t this point, when creating the vacancy, the necessary skills to perform the tasks associated with this position can be attached to the position in the form of re8uirements /f the 3ersonnel &evelopment component is used, these re8uirements can be selected directly from the 9ualifications 'atalogue These

re8uirements can be used later to select suitable applicants by comparing applicant 8ualifications to vacancy re8uirements and they also provide an e1cellent basis for creating 4ob descriptions /n addition, having a written description will allow an employer to point to the 8ualifications, which a candidate failed to meet, thus avoiding any 8uestions regarding the employer:s motivation for elimination of the candidate ADVERTISING VACANCIES

The ne1t step is to advertise the vacancy .ny means used to advertise a vacancy is represented in S.3 by *ecruitment instruments ;elow is a sample list of the type of recruitment instruments companies might use< Internal Postings /f you are posting the 4ob internally and using S.3 3ersonnel &evelopment 'areer and Succession 3lanning, it is possible to identify not only the most suitable candidates but also the training needs for those who lack 8ualifications for advancement 7onitoring transfer applications can help to isolate problem areas within the company /f employees from a particular department are constantly applying for the posted positions, it may be a sign that the department:s working conditions, 4ob re8uirements, and5or supervisory staff may be a problem

Employee Referral Program 2mployees are valuable resources for filling 4ob opening and can be an effective and cost efficient way of attracting 8ualified candidates %hen logging applicant data, which have been provided through a referral, it is possible to log who referred the applicant for future reference

Classified Advertising 7ost companies use classified advertisements in the newspaper in order to recruit e1ternal applicants .n effective ad would contain enticing language that outlines the 8ualifications for the position and specific 4ob duties, which will attract 8ualified candidates These ads can be recorded in the system and if re8uirements and 4ob descriptions have been created, these can be used at this point to create the ad

Employment Agencies and Search Firms 2mployment agencies are typically used by employers to assist in the recruitment of 8ualified candidates and are paid a fee for their services /t is possible to store the costs of using agencies (as well as storing the costs for any other recruitment instrument used- and compare these costs to other advertising means and the number of responses received This allows you to not only monitor how much money is spent on advertising but also to identify the most effective way of attracting applicants

State Agencies The state employment services and unemployment provide prescreening and testing of prospective 4ob candidates at no fee to the employer Job Fairs /ndustry associations, consulting and search firms often hold 4ob fairs which allow a wide range employers and prospective employees to have an opportunity to meet in one place Online Recruiting Sites /n recent years, there has been an e1plosive growth in the amount of online recruiting This includes local newspapers, industry#related websites, corporate websites and 4ob and resume sites )* professionals have recogni+ed that the %orld %ide %eb allows them to enlarge their pool of prospective employees and that the web:s inherent interactivity allows them to create highly personali+ed and responsive web recruiting domains The most important recruiting tools on the web are web#site search engines, interactive 4ob application forms, e#mail autoresponders and e#mail mailing lists allowing )* departments to link their company databases with the web site 'ompared to newspapers and speciali+ed 4ournals, the /nternet is an ine1pensive medium for advertising vacancies and allows to reach out to a much broader audience /t is also a 8uick and easy way for applicants and employees to search for employment opportunities and to submit their applications immediately %ithin S.3, *ecruitment /nternet .pplication 'omponents (/.'s- can be used for both for e1ternal applicants and for employees They allow you to place 4ob advertisements on the /nternet5/ntranet, process on#line applications, process unsolicited applications to a company via the /nternet5/ntranet and have applicants monitor the processing status of their own applications 'osts can be saved here because companies have fewer telephone in8uiries to answer, and they do not need to create and send letters of confirmation .pplicants can find out the status of their applications 8uickly and easily on the /nternet .nother advantage is that they are not restricted to normal company opening hours *ecording advertisements in S.3 whether these are classified ads or via the /nternet # allows you to record and manage all advertisements and to evaluate the advertising strategy by comparing costs and effectiveness of all the different recruitment instruments used .dvertisements are recorded for vacancies and therefore each advertisement is linked to one or more vacancies

RECORD KEEPING

6nce applications have been received in response to the advertisement, all the received applications need to be processed *ecord keeping is an important element of the recruitment process /t is not only critical to maintain accurate 4ob descriptions but also log details such as the recruitment methods used, applications received, candidates interviewed, candidate selected and reasons for selection /n the event that a claim is filed against a company for discriminatory hiring practices, the records mentioned above will provide evidence of the valid selection criteria used by the company The key issue which arises out of these regulations, and which will ultimately determine an employer:s compliance with the record#keeping re8uirement, is whether a particular candidate is an =applicant= .ccording to the 226' (28ual 2mployment 6pportunities 'ommission-, any person seeking employment who submits a written application, notice, or resume will be considered an applicant The .pplicant .dministration component within S.3 *ecruitment allows you to record all applicant related data and to coordinate and monitor all the steps involved in applicant administration The two#tiered data entry concept provides a fast and easy way to enter and structure both unsolicited applications (applications received on an ad#hoc basis, not in response to a specific ad- and applications in response to a specific advertisement /nitial entry of applicant data takes place using fast data entry and is performed for every applicant This is because it contains data (such as the name, address and organi+ational assignment of the applicant- that is re8uired later for printing letters, and for statistical purposes The 2nter additional data activity is only carried out for applicants who are of further interest to the company This action enables you to assign an applicant to one or more vacancies, as well as entering data on an applicant>s education, training, 8ualifications and previous employer This has the following advantages< 2ntry of applications in the system can be divided # so that more than one person is responsible for it? large numbers of applications can be processed 8uickly and a minimum of time wasted on entering data on unsuitable applicants (/f an applicant is to be hired, his or her data can be transferred directly to 3ersonnel .dministration, which further reduces data entry/n all these cases, the applicant>s data is compared with e1isting information This means that the same data does not need to be entered twice, or stored in two different locations /t also helps reduce data entry errors @or e1ternal applicants, all data need to be keyed in manually whereas when dealing with internal applicants, data such as name and address can be imported simply by specifying the candidate:s personnel number .ll applicants are assigned to applicant groups used to group together applicants on the basis of the type of work for which they have applied (i e a permanent contract versus a temporary contract- and to an applicant range classifying applicants on the basis of either hierarchical (i e e1ecutives, workers- or functional criteria (i e marketing, production, sales.ll application documents and resumes can also be scanned so that they can be made available to several employees at any one time )owever, implementing S.3 .rchive can be 8uite a lengthy process but helps speed up processing, and protects the originals against damage and loss

HANDLING CORRESPONDENCE

6nce all resumes and 4ob applications have been received, the S.3 system will handle all applicant related correspondence &epending on the status of the applicant within the recruitment process, (resume received, applicant re4ected, applicant to be invited for an interview, etc - different standard letters can be printed out using the mail merge function The advantages of automatic correspondence are that there is no need to type individual letters for each applicant since standard letters can be edited in an easy fashion and letters can be sent in the form of fa1es and e#mails directly from the *53 System .pplicant correspondence is created using applicant activities These activities represent the administrative stages through which an applicant passes during the course of the application procedure Asing S.3 ;usiness %orkflow further enables you to coordinate tasks by distributing work and automatically forward it to the persons responsible for certain tasks Betters can be displayed or printed directly and the system inserts the applicant:s personal data automatically into the standard letter Betters or documents for applicants can either be printed out individually via the connected activity, or together with other letters using bulk processing

SELECTING THE RIGHT CANDIDATE

The most challenging and time#consuming task within the recruitment cycle is the successful selection of suitable candidates .gain, a very good practice for )* professionals would be to start with a current 4ob description focused on the skills, knowledge and e1perience relevant to performing the essential functions of the position Such a description should be comprehensive /n addition to 4ob title, salary and location, and re8uirements C such as education, skills, abilities and e1perience C the description should include the reporting relationships and duties and responsibilities defined as essential to the position @rom the 4ob description, )* professionals can determine the skills and attributes they seek in applicants for a particular position and set the parameters for the search within S.3 recruitment Asing terms that are strictly linked to the essential 8ualifications for performing the 4ob helps avoid consideration of factors that are irrelevant to an applicant:s ability to succeed in the position .pplicants within S.3 participate in two types of selection procedures< an overall procedure considering them for any suitable vacancy within the organi+ation and an individual selection procedure for a specific vacancy to which the applicant has been

assigned This allows considering all applicants for more than 4ust one vacancy and enables applicants, which were re4ected for a particular position to be considered for alternative vacancies The selection procedure is completed when all participating applicants have been assigned either the status *e4ected or To be hired .s mentioned above, when using *ecruitment in con4unction with 3ersonnel &evelopment, the system can also compare 8ualifications of an applicant to the re8uirements of the vacancy, enabling to find suitable vacancies for each applicant or suitable applicants for each vacancy So called 3rofile matchups help determine whether a person is suitable for a position and whether 8ualification deficits e1ist and filters out those candidates who have one or all of the 8ualifications needed to perform the 4ob and the result can be displayed graphically .lternatively, the system also allows searching for applicants or e1isting employees possessing specific 8ualifications without comparing them to re8uirements /t is also possible to list applicants assigned to a particular vacancy and check their suitability by means of a short profile and archived facsimiles of the application documentation These methods are highly effective and fair /ndeed, the selection tools are designed to filter out skills on a neutral basis without having any race or gender awareness /f used in con4unction with efficient interviewing techni8ues, organi+ations are in a position to staff their vacancies with the most suitable candidates S.3 *ecruitment also offers a range of standard reports, which allow retrieving data related to applicants (skills, status, activities carried out etc-, vacancies, advertisements, costs and so on The S.3 *ecruitment component was designed to automate most of the processes relieving the )* &epartment of administrative burden and enabling )* 3rofessionals to focus on the successful selection of the right candidate(s- /n order to make full use of it, use it in con4unction with the complementary components 3ersonnel .dministration and 3ersonnel &evelopment .lthough this technology has taken some of the chores related to sorting, categori+ing and filing resumes, editing correspondence and comparing skill sets, )* professionals still remain responsible for implementing recruitment policies that keep the company on the right side of the law and they also still need to master the art of interviewing applicants who on paper seem to be suitable for a particular position 'orrect use of the *ecruitment module can greatly reduce the lottery#like odds of successfully matching applicants> skills to the open positions in an organi+ation .t its best, it enables )* managers to ensure that the right people, with the right skills and in the right numbers, are in place at the right time .nd that is one of the most critical success factors of any growing business