Recruitment and selection strategies for Landslide Limousines

Landslide Limos

Recruitment and Selection Strategies for Landslide Limousines

In defining recruitment and selection strategies for Landslide Limousines, taking a multifaceted approach ensures that an accurate 360-dedgree view of the business is seen from the customer's and potential applicants' point-of-view. The most effective recruitment and selection strategies balance the need for continually strengthening a businesses' brand to attract new customers while also providing prospective employees with a clear sense of why the business is a great place to work (Warren, 2009). This is the multifaceted aspect of how companies successful at both building their brands while also attracting excellent candidates strive to achieve. For Landslide Limousines to be successful they must first begin with the customer and deliver an excellent customer experience on every limousine rental first. Making the customer experience a priority will lead to Landslide gaining word-of-mouth throughout the Austin area. Its reputation will be enhanced and potential employees will see the company as growing and having an excellent reputation. One of the most critical aspects of a successful recruitment and selection strategy is cultivating an exceptional company culture that leads to an exceptional reputation in the industry the company competes in (Auger, Devinney, Dowling, Eckert, Lin, 2013). Landslide Limousines needs to continually invest effort and expertise in excelling in the limousine business, with the goal of being the most highly-rated services of its kind in the markets it serves. Doing this ensures continual customer loyalty and builds a profitable business and attracts high quality candidates as well.

Recruitment And Selection Strategy Framework For Landslide Limousines

Creating value either through the consistent production of high quality products or the delivering of exceptional services is how businesses earn the right to continually serve customers and grow. For Landslide Limousines to excel in their business of serving Austin-area customers with charter and limousine services, they must first align every aspect of their business to delighting the customer. Studies indicate that companies who take this strategy and align every aspect of their business to this goal also attract higher-quality candidates who want to be part of a successful enterprise (Auger, Devinney, Dowling, Eckert, Lin, 2013).

The following is an analysis of each aspect of the recruitment and selection strategy framework for Landslide Limousines, starting with the organizational goals and progressing through analysis of workforce change, workforce diversity objectives, and the critical role of organizational branding, in addition to methods of recruiting and screening candidates. All of these factors contribute to the delivery of excellent customer experiences and serve as a strong catalyst for recruiting and selecting employees as well (Auger, Devinney, Dowling, Eckert, Lin, 2013). Branding for a service business is the experience customers have on a daily basis.

Organizational Goals

Landslide Limousines' brand is defined by every customer interaction, every day. The selection and recruiting of drivers, support staff, dispatchers and customer service representatives all must be galvanized around the goal of delivering an exceptional customer experience. To attain this Landslide Limousines must define organizational goals that provide employees with every opportunity to delight and exceed customer expectations while staying focused on strategic goals and objectives of the company (Warren, 2009). The most effective organizational goals for service business provide employees with the freedom or autonomy to do their jobs, the opportunity to master their specific tasks and role, and a strong sense of purpose (Ramsey, 2010). The organizational goals need to center on autonomy, mastery and purpose all aligned to customer expectations if they are going to succeed.

Analysis of Workforce Change

To plan an effective recruiting and selection strategy, Landslide Limousines needs to be cognizant of the continual shifts in demographics occurring today. These include realizing many applicants for positions will be Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), followed by those from Generation X (born between the 1960s to the early 1980s) and Millennials as well (born between 1980s to the early 2000s). Demographic changes occurring in the workforce make the development of effective recruitment programs critically important, as the skills needed by a services business are gain more through experience than education. The dynamics of demographic shifts in workforces can paradoxically lead to more effective hiring strategies that center on experiential learning and depth of insight (Warren, 2009). While workforces are aging, they are getting richer with experience and insight into how to attain a company's objectives more efficiently and profitably.

Methods for Recruiting Candidates

Delivering an excellent customer experience is a solid recruitment strategy as word-of-mouth often leads to an excellent reputation in a given market (Auger, Devinney, Dowling, Eckert, Lin, 2013). For Landslide Limousines, the methods of recruiting candidates needs to include having customer success stories on their website and in their advertising, to show that they are a leader in the field of charters and limousine services in Austin. Recruiting high-quality employees is in many ways similar to recruiting sold, valuable customers in that to obtain both a business needs to prove it is trustworthy and keeps it value commitments (Warren, 2009). Landslide Limousines needs to concentrate on recruiting at the personal level to make sure the candidates are an excellent cultural fit for the company. While the company can easily use social media and many forms of advertising to recruit candidates, given how personal their service is to clients, the screening process needs to evaluate how good of a fit a candidate is with the company culture.

Methods for Screening Candidates

The following methods will be used for evaluating candidates both from a cultural fit and skills-based aptitude for being drivers, dispatchers, and customer service professionals at the company. First, interview methods including assessing aptitude and cultural fit will be used through an initial screening process. This initial series of interviews will concentrate on evaluating a potential candidates' ability to handle routine and unique customer situations in the charter and limousine business, in addition to testing for cultural fit by going through scenario-based evaluation of judgment. These initial interviews will be used for screening all applicants.

Testing procedures are next used for evaluating potential candidates. For Landslide Limousine, the most critical need is skilled drivers who also have excellent customer interaction and service skills. Getting approval from job candidates on their application to access their driving records needs to be the first step in the testing process. Once this is completed, tests of driving skill and customer service experiences need to be completed. These tests need to be deliberately designed to not discriminate against any potential candidate based on their age (Dube, 1988) gender, sexual orientation or any preexisting condition (Kohl, J.P., & Greenlaw, P.S. (1992). Landslide Limousines needs to ensure the entire interview and screening process is free of these biases and strive to continually train hiring managers on how to stay in compliance with federal and state laws.

Methods for Selecting Candidates

Just as the screening process needs to be free from bias and ensure everyone has an equal opportunity for employment, the selection process must also do the same. The selection process needs to begin with the qualified pool of candidates, each evaluated on their skill sets and the cultural fit to Landslide Limousines. Landslide's management team has worked very diligently to create a culture of openness and trust, and each candidate will be evaluated on how well they align with those core values. Final candidates will go through an extensive background screening process where their credit history, any arrests or convictions, legal history and extensive background checks will be completed. There are many firms who provide this service, including Verifications Inc., a full service background check service. The intent of this stage is to evaluate if the candidates have any significant liabilities from a financial or legal standpoint that would keep them from doing their jobs. The background checks from three references are included in the Verifications Inc., workflows and will provide insights into their previous work performance. Based on all the factors captured in final screening process, driver, dispatcher and customer service candidates who are the most qualified and fit with the culture of the company are made offers.