Recruitment Strategy
Organizational goals
Landslide Limousines is a new company looking to establish itself in Austin, Texas. The transportation market is already established with multiple companies and modes of transportation in direct competition with Landslide Limousines. To be successful, Landslide will have to differentiate itself from the other competitors in the area and region. The best way that it can do this is through excellent customer service and by being an excellent employer. A substantial training plan combined with an equivalent compensation and benefits package should enable Landslide to attract employees. An effective recruitment strategy geared toward diversity will also enable Landslide to be competitive.
Organizational Branding Landslide Limousines’ brand will have to center on being the best luxury transportation company in Austin, Texas. Landslide should become known for having the best customer service and the best drivers. It should also be known for being the best employer to work for. How the chauffeur interacts with the customers is most important. When someone rents a limousine for the night, that person expects to be treated professionally and with courtesy so that he or she can enjoy his or her evening. If the customer receives bad service, the customer has plenty of options elsewhere within the Austin, Texas area.
How the driver handles the vehicle should also be a priority. Unless the customer is a “daredevil,” he or she usually does not care for reckless driving. It is also disturbing or annoying for the customer if the driver cannot navigate the vehicle properly or if the driver gets lost. The final aspect of the company’s brand is being the best employer in the area. Through providing training to the employees and through valuing employee participation and feedback, Landslide will increase the likelihood of employees remaining for longer periods. This will help to decrease turnover and recruitment expenses.
Forecasted Demographic Changes
The total population of Austin, Texas is expected to increase by 55,000 people in the next five years.
Currently, 48% of the population is between the ages of 25 and 54, and this number is not expected to change significantly in the next five years. This is the target employee demographic. This particular age range is composed predominantly of Generation X and some baby boomers. In the next five years, Generation Y will begin to enter the targeted age demographic (Demographics Now, 2011).
As of the 2010 census, 40% (315,474 people) of the Austin population (households) earned $40,000 or less. The median household income is $49,967. By 2018, that number will remain approximately the same percentage however the median household income will increase to $53,351. Currently 36% of the population does not have education beyond an associate’s degree and that number is expected to increase to 41% in the next five years (Demographics Now, 2011).
Males encompass approximately 51% of the population and this number is not expected to change. Non-white minorities, not including Hispanics, encompass 32% of the population and this number is also not expected to change. The Hispanic population, however, is expected to increase to represent 38% of the white population by 2018 (Demographics Now, 2011).
Analysis of Projected Workforce Needs
The expected annual turnover rate is 10 percent or two to three employees per year. Although this number is ideal, it might be difficult but not impossible to maintain. A lower turnover rate will result in lower initial training costs and lower recruitment costs. Training needs will be of a continuous and ongoing to keep turnover low.
Additional workforce needs are based directly on the job requirements. Drivers need to have a clean driving record, as in no traffic violations or accidents. Ideally, an employee will have prior commercial driving experience, and even the chauffeur’s license, but this is not an absolute necessity.
Prior customer service experience should be required. Preference can be given to individual in-person customer assistance versus retail or phone experience. The job requires that chauffeurs provide excellent customer service and this involves interacting with the customers in person.
Consideration for a minimum hiring age of 25 years is highly recommended. By the age of 25, most individuals will have had 7 to 9 years of regular driving experience. This will serve as an advantage when attempting to drive a larger and longer than average vehicle. They will also have had prior work experience and will not be in the process of learning how to be a good employee for the first time. In addition, younger individuals usually cost more to insure in terms of driving since they represent a high risk and it is not wise to give a younger individual access to an expensive vehicle.
The individual needs to get along well with others as well as be able to work independently. Although the jobs will be individual, independent assignments, the individual will not be working alone. The individual will be interacting with the customer. He or she needs to meet and exceed the customer’s needs and expectations. In addition, the employees of Landslide are a team and will need to work cooperatively to improve individual and company performance. If they do not succeed, then the company fails and so do the employees.
Employees should have excellent oral communication and listening skills in English. This is the predominant language spoken in the state of Texas. However, additional languages spoken by employees should be viewed as a desired skill, especially Spanish since a significant portion of the population is Hispanic. Slang should not be tolerated. The objective is for the chauffeur to be understood by the customer and for the chauffeur to understand the customer.
Workforce Diversity Objectives
Businesses that want to grow will have to rely on diversity (Cascio, 2013). Therefore, the workforce needs to represent the population of Austin as much as possible. This will possibly require recruiting with race, gender and age as a consideration. Recruitment Management Software will allow the company to screen applicants for job requirements as well record the necessary demographic information. Providing demographic information should be voluntary otherwise the practice can be considered discriminatory. Screen applicants for interview solely on job criteria and application responses. Compare the demographic statistics of all applicants compared to those selected for interview to determine if there are any disparities. If there is evidence of disparate impact, then Landslide may wish to consider a diversity-based recruitment with preferential hiring depending on how significant the disparity. This type of approach systematically favors underrepresented groups in hiring and selection (Cascio, 2013).
The ideal employee demographics should be as follows but within reason:
Age
Generation 2013 2018
Baby Boomer 8 employees 5 employees
X 17 employees 11 employees
Y 0 employees 9 employees

Race
Race 2013 2018
American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut 0 to 1 0 to 1
Asian, Pacific Islander 1 1
Black 2 2
White 17 17
Other 3 3
Two or More 0 to 1 0 to 1 Hispanic 9 9
Non-Hispanic 15 15

Gender
Gender 2013 2018
Male 12 to 13 12 to 13
Female 12 to 13 12 to 13

Recruitment Methods
There are multiple cost effective resources that Landslide may utilize for recruiting new employees.
The first is the company website and social networking websites. Approximately 60 percent of hires come from a company’s website or through networking (Cascio, 2013). Since Landslide is already spending money on its website, this is an effective use of money already being spent. In addition, social networking sites provide “word of mouth” advertisement for the company which can be more effective than a formal advertisement. Another method to consider is that the Texas Workforce Commission provides financial assistance to employers through more than one initiative. For example, the Self-Sufficiency Fund provides “training for targeted employment opportunities, primarily for adult Temporary Assistance for Needy Families recipients as well as those individuals at risk of becoming dependent on public assistance” (Train Your Workforce - Texas Workforce Commission, 2011). This program could help to identify potential employees a lot quicker than using traditional recruitment methods and save money. Another program is the Skills Development Fund Pre-Employment Training for New Jobs. This project grants funds to community and technical colleges to deliver customized job training programs to businesses that want to train potential new workers prior to hiring them. Employers interested in participating should partner with their local community or technical college for proposal submission (Train Your Workforce - Texas Workforce Commission, 2011). Not only would this save money in training costs, it would also provide an already trained workforce which will save on recruitment costs. Utilizing these types of programs will help Landslide to establish goodwill within the community and city since the use of public employment services declines as skill levels increase (Cascio, 2013).
Screening and Selection Methods
Landslide will need to develop a drug and alcohol policy that is in compliance with Texas state drug laws and this should be communicated in the advertisement. Since the employees will be employed in transportation, it is imperative that the policy be strictly enforced.
Texas follows federal law in age discrimination except that the target ages where age discrimination is specifically prohibited are ages 40 through 55 (Society for Human Resources, 2013). So long as Landslide does not discriminate for age, there should be no concerns.
Landslide will need to make use of the eVerify system to verify eligibility to work. While this is not federally required for private employers, the consideration is that Texas is a “border” state with immigration issues. The company could be at risk for severe penalties if it hires persons who are not eligible to work in the United States, and this is something that the company cannot afford in its infancy.
The advertisement for the position should include a detailed description of job attributes, duties and requirements, relevant company policies, and a description of the company. This information should also be provided to applicants as they apply to the position.
Recruitment Management software should be utilized to screen all applicants initially. It will rank the highest scoring applicants based on their responses. Based on the initial screen, applicants can be selected for interview based on their score.
Initial interviews should either individual or a group of two. Topics that should be covered are the applicants’ knowledge of the job, their qualifications for the job and behavioral-based questions. It is important that the individual being interviewed understand the requirements of the job. The person can’t just recite the job description, so it would be wise to ask “what are the most important aspects of the position?” Another question that the interviewer should ask is “what are the individual’s salary expectations?” It is possible that the individual may have inflated salary expectations and it is best to address this issue so as not to waste time continuing through the interview process if it comes to that.
Upon successful interview, the company can then begin verifying the driving record and license, background check and references.
The next step is the Realistic Job Preview (RJP) and a group interview at the weekly staff meeting. An RJP requires telling applicants about the nice things a job has to offer and about the unpleasant aspects of the job. These work best when few applicants are hired and with entry-level positions since it can lessen inflated expectations (Cascio, 2013). The group interview at the weekly staff meeting should be informal. It will give the candidate the opportunity to meet his or her potential coworkers as well as give Landslide the opportunity to observe the candidate interactions with his or her potential coworkers. This will provide additional insight into the candidate’s behavioral qualities through his or her interactions and through employee observations.
If the RJP and group interview go well, then the next step is to hire the candidate.
Conclusion
The recruitment strategies presented provide sound and cost effective methods for building a diverse workforce. These strategies are not set in stone and Landslide is encouraged to modify them as needed to meets its workforce needs. Above all, Landslide is encouraged to be cognizant of diversity with regards to race, gender and generation. REFERENCES
Cascio, W. F. (2013). Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits (9th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Demographics Now. (2011). In University of Phoenix - University Library Resources. Retrieved from http://www.apollolibrary.com/Library/databasesNew.aspx.
Society for Human Resources Management. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/LegalIssues/StateandLocalResources/StateandLocalStatutesandRegulations/Documents
Train Your Workforce - Texas Workforce Commission. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.twc.state.tx.us/customers/bemp/train-your-workforce.html.