Table of Contents
Executive summary
In the recent times, having the best talent is very important as it helps in gaining competitive parity in the tough market rivalry. Therefore, effective recruitment, selection and training processes are important. In this context, the report has taken reference of the case study of Walmart to analyze its entire recruitment, selection and induction process. Analyzing the current talent acquisition process of the company has helped in understanding that online application is the main source of recruitment of the company. The company has made its recruitment, selection process complying with its operational strategies. The company has a training academy for providing efficient induction process to the new employees. The overall analysis has denoted that the company is quite efficient in recruitment, selection and induction; however, it can still improve with the recommendations provided.
Background of the Report
Recruitment, selection and induction processes are important aspects of human resource management in a company, because with the help of efficient talent acquisition and retention approaches, the organization can gain a competition advantage in the intense market competition. With the help of efficient talent acquisition process, a company can execute the operational activities efficiently and reach a niche in a market quickly. In this context, the aim of the report is to evaluate the recruitment, selection and induction processes of Walmart. The report highlights the talent acquisition and retention policies and procedures of the company. A discussion is provided on the alignment of the HR process with the operational strategies of Walmart. The current job vacancies of the company are highlighted along with an analysis of its compliance with the operational policies. Based on the overall analysis of the recruitment, selection and induction policies and procedures of the company and suitable recommendations are provided.
Methodology
In order to execute an efficient research work on Walmart, the deduction approach of investigation is used. Both primary and secondary information is used for gaining a detailed insight into the recruitment, selection and induction processes of Walmart. In order to understand the talent acquisition and HR policies of the company, the official website of the organization is used for gathering the primary information. In addition to this, the website of the company has been used for gaining knowledge on its existing operational strategies and HR policies, as it is required for this report. Along with this, several other reputed and credible online newspaper articles have been used to gather relevant information on the entire talent acquisition and training procedures of the organization. For backing up the report with more evidences, primary data has also been used. In order to gather primary data, the information provided by Walmart on its websites and various other news articles have been used so that current information can be gathered. The opinions and information accumulated from different sources are deduced so that effective recommendations can be provided.
Findings
Existing recruitment, selection and induction processes and policy of Walmart
The report of ToughNickel (2017) has shed light on the selection process of Walmart. The company accepts online job applications only, thus the candidates need to apply for the vacant positions through the career page of the company website. The preliminary selection of the candidates is executed online based on the resume attached by the applicants. The selected candidates appear for an online assessment test and the best performers are called for first round interview. The candidates, who perform well in the first interview taken by the 3 departmental managers, need to appear for a second round of interview taken by the HR manager. After this, they are selected and hired for respective position. Following this, is the induction process of Walmart, which is termed as ‘orientation process’ (ToughNickel, 2017).
In the induction procedure, the selected candidates are called in the office premises for the documentation work and they are provided with a detailed insight into the functionalities and operations of the company. The new joiners are introduced to the rest of the workforce and their immediate trainer helps them to know about their job roles and responsibilities and make them comfortable in their work (ToughNickel, 2017).
Relation to Operational Plans
It has been learnt from Walmart (2017a) that the operational plan of the company includes positioning the brand as ‘customer-friendly’ company so that the organization can serve the needs of the customers in a better way. The company plans to create value for the customers with the help of price, access, better service and experience. Therefore, the hiring procedure and especially the induction process of the company are very much aligned with the operational plan of the company. As in the orientation procedure, the new joiners are given detailed knowledge regarding the objectives of the company so that they start preparing themselves to deliver their best performance in addressing customer wants (ToughNickel, 2017).
Current Job Openings
Halzack (2017) has stated that, by the end of this year Walmart has announced that, it will add approximately 10,000 jobs in America and facilitate the provision of skills-building training. This shows that the company takes help of the newspapers to advertise about its recruitment plans and publicize about its vacancies on the labor market. However, as mentioned earlier that the company only accepts online applications of job, it advertises its vacancies on the career page of the official website. It has been highlighted in Walmart (2017b) that the company posts all the current openings on the website and the interviewees can apply for the jobs using different filters of rate, department, team and location. The job advertisement approach of Walmart is aligned with the legal obligations of America. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2017) states that no discriminatory advertisement can be posted by the employers, which is followed by Walmart.
Utilization of Position Descriptions and Person Specifications
The current openings that are posted in Walmart (2017b) have description of the key responsibility areas (KRAs) of the person, who will be employed in that position. In addition to this, the benefits that a person is entitled to get for that particular position is also mentioned in the website. However, the aspect of ‘person specification’ in terms of qualification and other requirements of the candidates is not mentioned in the website. Therefore, Walmart utilized position description, but not person specifications.
Types of Positions
It has been underpinned in Walmart (2017b) that there are seven job positions present in Walmart. The vacant job positions are, ‘Cashier & Front End’, ‘Department Manager’, ‘Stocker, Backroom, & Receiving Associates’, ‘Sales Associate’, ‘Fresh Food Associate’, ‘Specialized Roles’ and ‘Cart Attendant & Janitorial Associate’. These job positions denote that the company has managerial, clerical and specialized job positions in the organization. Each of the job positions is specified with the help of location, department, team, employment type, position and requisition. The employment type indicates, whether the position is a full time or part time job and the position explains whether the duration of the job is based on hours, weeks or months.
Selection Approach and Impact on Best Talents
ToughNickel (2017) has helped in gaining knowledge on the selection approaches utilized by Walmart. As discussed earlier, the company takes help of assessment tests to determine the competency, ideology and mentality of the individuals. The assessment test includes 65 closed ended questions with 5 options of strongly agree, agree, neutral, strongly disagree and disagree. Bases on the responses provided by the applicants, the company select the candidates for the first and second round of interview. This online assessment is moderately effective in acquiring the best talents. This is because, the answers provided by the candidates can be biased and it is not always true that the applicants will provide appropriate answers only. In order to get the job, the candidates can give wrong answers, thus this is not an effective approach of determining the bent of mind of job applicants. Moreover, several professionals might be skeptical about this selection approach and they would not at all apply for the job because of the feeling that the efficient one might not be selected. In this manner, the company is missing out efficient professionals for the organization.
Induction Process and effect on New Employees
The report of ToughNickel (2017) has underpinned the induction or orientation process followed by Walmart. When a new candidate joins the company, for the first three days the individual is involved in paperwork and they are provided with the opportunity of gaining knowledge on the functionalities, operations, aims and objectives of the company so that they can prepare themselves for attaining the goal of the brand. This is indeed effective, as it provided a great scope for the new joiners to know about the company and about its working approach. In addition, it has been learnt from Halzack (2017) that the company provides the scope of skill building, thus endows the new joiners with extensive training on their particular job field. This helps the employees to harness their existing skills, learn new skills and deliver excellent performance.
Assessment of the Training Processes
Stafford (2017) has underlined the training session of Walmart and it has been learnt from the article that the company has a ‘Walmart Academy’ that provides detailed training to the new joiners and old employees. The company has ‘training sites’ at each of its store, which is about 2500 square feet and has all the updated software and electronic gadgets, through which the trainers provide training to the new employees and monitor their performances. About 17 trainers are present in the training sites that include front line managers and some executives of the middle management (Stafford, 2017).
Alignment of the Induction Process with Induction Procedure
It has been learnt from Walmart (2017a) that it has an objective of positioning itself as customer-friendly brand so that the customers feel valued. In addition, it is also an objective of the company to create value for the customers by the means of price, better accessibility of products, better service and excellent customer experience. Therefore, in order to meet with these objectives, the company has designed its induction procedures accordingly. ToughNickel (2017) has stated that the company educates the new joiners on the functionalities and objectives of the company for the first three days. In addition, Stafford (2017) has helped in understanding that the company has provided an elaborate training session to the new employees under the guidance of 17 trainers so that they learn to be perfect at their job and provide excellent service to the customers.
Conclusions & recommendations
Walmart is a reputed company that focuses on its talent acquisitions so that it can execute its operational activities efficiently. In addition to this, the organization has developed its induction and training session in such a manner so that it can provide the best customer service. Nevertheless, the company has scope of improvement in the area of training. The organization needs to improve its recruitment approach, as selecting candidates, only based on online web application is not that effective. The company should take help of recruitment agencies and outsourcing services to get hold of the best talents. In order to provide better training to the employees, along with preparing the executives in the training sites, the company should provide on job training to the personnel. This will help the employees to gain both theoretical and practical knowledge.
The company needs to focus on making its induction stronger so that the future requirement can be addressed. In the future, the competition will be fierce, thus the orientation program needs to be precise, yet effective enough to leave an imprint on the mind of the employees. The company needs to improve its communication structuring so that the policies that are framed are implanted quickly. The organization structure should be a bit flat so that the flow of information is effective.
- Halzack, S., 2017. Walmart touts plans to add thousands of jobs in 2017. [online] The Washington Post.
- O’Meara, B. and Petzall, S., 2013. Handbook of strategic recruitment and selection: a systems approach. Bingley: Emerald.
- Stafford, 2017. Inside Wal-Mart’s new training sessions: trying to adapt to retail landscape changes.
- ToughNickel, 2017. The Hiring process at Walmart: from application to interview to orientation.
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2017. Employers.
- Walmart, 2017a. Walmart CEO outlines growth strategy at annual meeting for the investment community.
- Walmart, 2017b. Walmart store jobs.