Question 1

________ contain data on employees' performance records, educational backgrounds, and promotion recommendations.

Accepted Answer

C) Qualifications or skills inventories are used by managers when determining which employees should be promoted or transferred. A skills inventory contains data on an employee's performance, education, and promotability.

Question 2

What is the purpose of recruiting?

Accepted Answer

B) The purpose of recruiting is to develop an applicant pool using both internal and external sources. Recruitment should make sense in terms of a firm's strategic plans, but the purpose is not to establish a strategy.

Question 3

Job posting refers to all of the following EXCEPT ________.

Accepted Answer

D) The term "job posting" means posting the open job on company bulletin boards and/or on the Web and listing its attributes, such as qualifications, supervisor, working schedule, and pay rate. A job posting would most likely not indicate the desired number of applicants.

Question 4

________ is the process of deciding what positions the firm will have to fill and how to fill them.

Accepted Answer

C) Personnel planning is the process of deciding what positions to fill at a company and how to fill them. Personnel planning focuses on all future positions at a firm and may require employers to conduct a trend analysis.

Question 5

Which of the following refers to an online vendor that uses its own servers to compile application information, prescreen applicants, and help employers set job interview appointments?

Accepted Answer

D) Some employers use application service providers (ASPs) to manage recruiting tasks. When applicants log on to the "jobs" page of the employer's website, they actually go to the servers of the application service provider, which then uses its own systems to compile application information, prescreen applicants, and help the employer rank applicants and set interview appointments.

Question 6

A ________ shows graphically how two variables are related.

Accepted Answer

C) A scatter plot graphically illustrates the relationship between two variables. Scatter plots, trend analyses, and ratio analyses are used to forecast personnel needs.

Question 7

When managers need to determine which employees are available for promotion or transfer, they will most likely use ________.

Accepted Answer

B) Qualifications inventories are records that list the education, skills, and career interests of employees. Such inventories are used in identifying internal candidates for promotion.

Question 8

Marie Boyd has been hired by Barnum Hotels to manage staffing for the regional hotel chain. Barnum intends to open two new hotels within the next 3 years and will have many job positions to fill. Historically, employee turnover is high at Barnum as employees remain with the company for less than 2 years before quitting. Marie realizes that Barnum needs to make significant changes in its personnel strategy in order to meet the company's goals for the future and improve employee retention rates. Which of the following, if true, best supports the argument that Marie should use a computerized skills inventory database?

Accepted Answer

A) Computerized skills inventory databases provide firms with easy access to information about all employees. If Barnum wants to hire internally, then a database would provide the skills inventory needed to determine the most qualified candidates to staff the new hotels. Recruiting, job rotation, and discrimination claims are less relevant to implementing a computerized skills inventory database.

Question 9

Newton Building Supplies hopes to generate an extra $4 million in sales next year. A salesperson traditionally generates $800,000 in sales each year. Using ratio analysis, how many new salespeople should Newton hire?

Accepted Answer

B) Ratio analysis is used to make a forecast, in this case, based on the number of salespeople and sales volume. $4 million in sales divided by the $800,000 generated by each salesperson indicates that five extra salespeople should be hired by Newton.

Question 10

Which of the following is LEAST likely to be considered by employers during the process of workforce planning?

Accepted Answer

B) In planning for future employment requirements, employers need to forecast personnel needs and the supply of inside and outside candidates. Organizational culture is less likely to be a factor.

Question 11

Which of the following refers to studying variations in a firm's past employment levels to predict future needs?

Accepted Answer

B) Trend analysis involves studying a firm's employment levels over the past 5 years or so to predict future needs. Ratio analysis means making forecasts based on the ratio between some causal factor (such as sales volume) and the number of employees required (for instance, number of salespeople).

Question 12

Which of the following is an advantage for employers that use Internet recruiting?

Accepted Answer

C) Internet recruiting elicits fast replies, and most employers also report great success in using the Web to generate many applications. One of the problems associated with Internet recruiting is that its ease encourages unqualified applicants to apply.

Question 13

Marie Boyd has been hired by Barnum Hotels to manage staffing for the regional hotel chain. Barnum intends to open two new hotels within the next 3 years and will have many job positions to fill. Historically, employee turnover is high at Barnum as employees usually remain with the company for less than 2 years before quitting. Marie realizes that Barnum needs to make significant changes in its personnel strategy in order to meet the company's goals for the future and to improve employee retention rates. Which of the following, if true, best supports the argument that a scatter plot is the most appropriate tool for Marie to use in estimating future personnel needs?

Accepted Answer

B) Scatter plots graphically show how two variables are related, such as hotel size and staffing levels. Marie should be able to estimate personnel needs if the new hotels are the same size as current ones. Productivity levels, qualifications inventories, and marketing are less important factors.

Question 14

The process of making forecasts based on the relationship between some causal factor like sales volume and the number of employees required is called ________.

Accepted Answer

A) A ratio analysis is a forecasting technique for determining future staff needs by using ratios between, for example, sales volume and the number of employees needed. A trend analysis involves studying the firm's past employment needs to predict future needs.

Question 15

Which of the following factors plays the greatest role in determining the best medium for a job advertisement?

Accepted Answer

B) The best medium for a job depends on the position and the skills needed for the job. For example, a local newspaper is probably best if an employer needs clerical workers or blue-collar help. For specialized employees, advertisements in trade and professional journals may be more appropriate.

Question 16

Which of the following is used by employers to schedule interviews, match candidates with positions, and compile resume information?

Accepted Answer

A) Applicant tracking systems are software systems that help employers keep track of their applicants by performing various services such as collecting application information, prescreening applicants, scheduling interviews, and letting employers easily do searches to match candidates with positions.

Question 17

When constructing a job advertisement, all of the following are aspects of the AIDA guide EXCEPT ________.

Accepted Answer

D) Experienced advertisers use AIDA when constructing ads, which stands for attention, interest, desire, and action. An ad should attract attention, develop interest in the job, create desire for the job, and prompt readers to take action. Implying challenges that applicants may face is not an element of the AIDA guide.

Question 18

A firm's ________ should guide employment planning and determine the types of skills and competencies the firm needs.

Accepted Answer

D) Personnel plans should flow from the firm's strategic planning processes. Personnel planning involves predicting the skills and competencies the employer will need to execute its strategy.

Question 19

The process of identifying, assessing, and developing organizational leadership to enhance performance is known as ________.

Accepted Answer

B) Succession planning is the process of deciding how to fill executive positions. The process of employment planning focuses on filling all positions at a firm rather than just executive level jobs.

Question 20

Steve, an HR manager for IBM, must decide what positions the firm should fill in the next 6 months, which means Steve is currently working on ________.

Accepted Answer

B) Personnel or employment planning is the process of deciding what positions the firm will have to fill and how to fill them. The process considers all future positions from maintenance workers to executives and flows from the firm's strategic plans.

Quiz 5: Personnel Planning and Recruiting