Recruitment Process at Hewlett Packard

This paper aims to analyze the process of recruitment within Hewlett Packard Ltd. There will be highlighted the strong points of the recruitment process but also the weak points of it. Also we will have a case study made on a person that was part of the recruitment process of HP, Andreea Popa, who is also one of the group members that made this project. Among the strong points we will mention the “Work – Life balance” concept. At the other side of the story, among the weaknesses of the recruitment process will be included the small number of employees in the Human Resources Department which are overwhelmed by their work in some periods of the year.

Key Words: methods of recruitment, staff, employee, job description, internship, internal candidates, collection specialist

Overview

“It is necessary that people work together in unison toward common objectives and avoid working at cross purposes at all levels if the ultimate in efficiency and achievement is to be obtained.”1

— Dave Packard

At the first glance Hp is the company that was on the 10th place on Fortune magazine in USA and on the 26th place on Fortune magazine Global. The company counts an amazing number of employees, more precisely 304,000 employees and it operates in approximately 170 countries worldwide. Another impressive thing about HP is that in the last years they always increased their revenues; in 2009 the revenues reached the level of 114.6 billion USD.

The shared values of HP are:

1. Passion for customers – we put our customers first in everything we do; 2. Trust and respect for individuals – we work together to create a culture of inclusion built on trust, respect and dignity for all; 3. Achievement and contribution – we strive for excellence in all we do; each person’s contribution is critical to our success; 4. Results through teamwork – we effectively collaborate, always looking for more efficient ways to serve our customers; 5. Speed and agility – we are resourceful and adaptable, and we achieve results faster than our competitors; 6. Meaningful innovation – we are the technological company that invents the useful and the significant; 7. Uncompromising integrity– we are open, honest and direct in our dealings.

HP’s Corporate Objectives have guided the company in the conduct of its business since 1957, when first written by co-founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. These corporate objectives are:

1. Customer loyalty – we earn customer respect and loyalty by consistently providing the highest quality and value; 2. Profit – we achieve sufficient profit to finance growth, create value for our shareholders and achieve our corporate objectives; 3. Growth – we recognized and seize opportunities for growth that builds upon our strengths and 4. Commitment to employees – we demonstrate our commitment to employees by promoting and rewarding based on performance and by creating a work environment that reflects our values; 5. Leadership capability – we develop leaders at all levels who achieve business results, exemplify our values and lead us to grow and win; competencies; 6. Market leadership – we lead in the marketplace by developing and delivering useful and innovative products, services and solutions; 7. Global citizenship – we fulfill our responsibility to society by being an economic, intellectual and social asset to each country and community where we do business2.

Hewlett Packard Recruitment Process

The recruitment process is one of the most important activities of Human Resources Department. Recruitment and selection represent stages of the same process, meaning assuring the human resources capital of a company. That consists of an assembly of activities starting with identifying persons corresponding to the job description of the vacant post, attracting suitable applicants for that, testing them and finally hiring the appropriate persons in the company. An effective partnership between Human Resources Department and line management is essential3. One of the strengths of the recruitment process of HP is that it satisfies the above conditions in the sense that the process is performed by both parties.

Regarding the vacancies, there are always open positions in the company taking into consideration the volume of employees and locations of HP worldwide therefore the recruiters are always occupied. In the following lines we will explain how the recruitment process works in HP. On the webpage of the company there is a special section for the vacancies within the company. Each vacancy has an id number (also called requisition number, at least within HP) and it could have been created due to the fact that a former employee leaved the company or that a new job was created as the company expands. For each job that is posted on the website there is also a job description – what the job entails. After a potential applicant finds the job on the site he/she must follow the next steps. It is advisable that the potential applicant apply for a job only if he/ she meets the requirements in the job description.

1. Application. All the applications are made online via their job portal or on specialized recruitment sites. It is mandatory to complete all the online questions and to attach a CV, references and covering letter. If the application is incomplete, it will be returned and the applicant will be asked to resubmit a completed application. Finally it is automatically stored on their applicant database, which only authorized individuals can access. The applicant details are then checked by the responsible recruiter and later by the hiring manager.

2. Response to the application. If the application does not match the requirements for the posts currently available, the applicants will receive a rejection letter within a short period of time or at the latest when the requisition they applied for is closed. However, with their prior consent, the company will retain their application for a total of 12 months in case suitable new positions become vacant. After 12 months, their details will be deleted automatically. Naturally, if at any time the applicant no longer wishes to have his/her details stored on the company database, HP will delete them for them.

3. Telephone Interview. The next phase of the application process is a competency based telephone interview with one of HP recruiters. It will determine whether the applicant has the general skills they require and it gives the applicant the opportunity to learn more about HP and the role he/she has applied for.

4. Interview with Manager or Selection Days. After a successful telephone interview the candidate are normally invited for an interview with the responsible hiring manager. When the company is looking to recruit large numbers of employees with similar requirements, they arrange a Selection Day. During this, several managers meet several candidates at the same time. After brief presentations are given to candidates, individual interviews with the managers take place. The candidate meets previous interns or graduates and HP provides them with an excellent opportunity to experience the HP culture and give them an insight as to what it is really like to work at HP4. In this step of the recruitment process the candidates must take an intelligence test also.

The advantages of online recruitment are that it is cost effective, because putting a job vacancy advertisement on your organization web site costs nothing and on a job site usually costs just a couple of hundred euro. This method suites best HP as they are one of the leaders on the IT market5.

Besides the official recruitment process presented below HP also organizes internship programs and graduate programs. Located in more than 170 countries around the world, HP offers interns the chance to work in a truly global organization. With their open offices and dynamic working culture, the interns will also be able to network with senior managers who can help to drive their career forward. Out of an internship often a thesis project will develop. The success of their program leads to a large number of interns returning to HP as graduates. Internships last between 4 and 12 months. The standard duration is a 6 month practical semester period which usually begins in February/March or August/September. Internships involve challenging assignments that you’ll work on as part of a diverse, multi-cultural team. Due to HP international environment, the interns must also have a strong command of the English language.

Our case study – Andreea Popa

She applied for an internship program within HP at the end of June 2010. The vacancy appeared on the specialized site for internship programs: www.startinternship.ro/. The vacancy was in the Credit&Collections Department, for the position Collection Specialist. The recruitment process is different for the internship programs within HP than for the usual vacancies. This internship was sponsored by Junior Achievements Romania. JA also provided the interns with a diploma at the end of the program.

At the end of July she received a call confirming that she was selected for the next step of the recruitment process which was not the phone interview but directly the interview with the hiring manager – in the case of internship the interview is actually held by the team leader, Irina Voicu, and not by the manager of the team. Therefore the method of recruitment used in this case was a formal one as they used direct advertise and third parties (the website Start Internship). One of the advantages of external recruitment is the belief that a flow of new blood into organizations is essential and that external applicants will bring different experiences into play.

At the interview Andreea was asked the standard questions and the team leader took notes. The interview was sustained in English and it last an hour. She did not have to take the intelligence test. Also she received more information regarding the job and the time schedule and also regarding the payment. The idea that candidates for internship have interviews with team leaders is because in this way the team leaders, who are potential future managers, are trained for the potential future interviews with regular candidates.

At the end of the interview she was informed that in the next week she will receive a phone call in order to find if she was admitted to the internship program or not. After a week she was announced that she was accepted in the program and that the work will start on the 26th of July 2010 but then she was announced that due to same issues in the Human Resources Department the work will start on the 2nd of August.

During the internship program she was guided by a tutor. In the last week of internship those of interns who wanted to candidate for a job within the organization had to take the IQ test. Andreea talked to her manager and express the desire to remain within the team after the end of the program. As it happened at that moment there was an open position within the team and for the same job: Collection Specialist. Two weeks before the program ended she received a job offer. She accepted the offer with the condition that she can attend the seminars at the faculty although the position that was open was a full time one – from 09:00 till 18:00 with an hour break. The new contract should have start on 3rd of November but again due to some issues within the HR Department the papers were ready on the 10th of November. In this case the recruitment method was an internal one. The employee was recruited from the inside of the company, method which have advantages for both HP and Andreea.

During the internship HP did not paid Andreea for her work and they could analyze her strengths and weaknesses. Also in that period she took the trainings for that particular job and she was learned the procedures of the company. So when she was employed for the same job they did not have to lose time and money with her trainings. Andreea had the advantage that she did not have to start all over again with learning something new and she already knew her team and what exactly her job implies.

What could have been improved in the recruitment process from our case study?

First of all there was a little misunderstanding at the interview in the sense that the information provided regarding the job was not sufficient. At the interview the job was described as far much easier that it was in fact, as the team leader did not mention all the IT knowledge that was required (specially software requirements as: SAP; GetPaid and other programs).

Then there was the problem with the timing from the HR Department, in happened both in August and then in November that the hiring papers were not ready in time. During the internship Andreea found out that the number of employees in the HR Department did not change over time although since 2005 when the site in Bucharest was created the number of employees continuously increased reaching the number of 3000 in 2010. It is obvious that although the employees from the HR Department are very well prepared they are overwhelmed with the work they must do now especially in the period when they have to work at the salaries papers. In that period they always must work overtime.

What HP offers in order to increase the number of candidates in the recruitment process?

–“Change your idea of what’s possible at work”—

1. Work-Life Balance – David Packard said it best. In 1967 he wrote “To my mind, flextime is the essence of respect for and trust in people. It says that we both appreciate that our people have busy personal lives and that we trust them to devise, with their supervisor and work group, a schedule that
is personally convenient yet fair to others.”

2. Exciting career journey – HP embraces change and tries to learn from it. In a culture of open doors and open minds, change can offer a mosaic of career opportunities – across business models, customer segments, geographies and functions.

3. Total rewards – The HP philosophy of compensation is simple: they acknowledge and reward excellent performance. 4. Global citizenship – As a graduate working for HP, you will be part of a socially and environmentally responsible, multicultural organization. 5. Opportunities to learn – HP employees learn from each other. They learn from their managers who are there to support them; they learn from their mentors and colleagues. The 70-20-10 gives them many more opportunities to learn. The 70-20-10 principle of learning: – 70% acquiring experience – on the job training, learning to work under pressure; – 20% building relationships – Mentoring, Coaching, Feedback; – 10% enhancing education – Workshops and courses, Conferences.

References:

Books:

4 – Ghinea, Valentina Mihaela. (2010). Conducting the company – course. Bucharest: BREN Publishing House

6 – Ghinea, Valentina Mihaela. (2010). Conducting the company – Seminars. Bucharest: BREN Publishing House

Sites:

1. http://welcome.hp.com/country/lamerica_nsc_carib/en/companyinfo/corpobj.html

2. http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/values-objectives.html

3. http://h41112.www4.hp.com/jobs/de/en/recruitment.html

– all sites being visited during the period 01.04.2010 – 01.06.2010a