Hiring Smart: Human Resources Management For Beginners

Explore how moral and legal standards govern employment, from labor laws and unions to discrimination rules, ethics training, and building an ethical organizational culture that treats all stakeholders fairly.

Explore how employers respect the law in hiring, including affirmative action, ADA accommodations, harassment prevention, wrongful discharge, at-will employment, and firing versus layoffs.

Learn how to promote health and safety in the workplace by meeting OSHA standards, documenting injuries, conducting inspections, and balancing employer duties with employee responsibilities.

Explore how unions and management navigate labor relations, including open shop, union shop, and right to work laws, and examine tools like mediation, arbitration, and strikes to reach agreements.

Explore motivation myths revealed by social science, showing money alone doesn't drive engagement, and how leaders remove barriers, design rewards that target meaningful behaviors, and promote motivation beyond pay.

Hygiene factors prevent unhappiness when missing, but do not motivate; motivators provide growth and engagement. Think of hygiene as the brake and motivators as the gas pedal for work motivation.

Explore how work design creates compelling job roles that motivate employees, boost productivity, reduce absenteeism and turnover, and improve job satisfaction through well-defined tasks and clear descriptions.

Identify staffing needs and timelines using strategic staffing principles. Assess costs, outsourcing versus internal staff, and invest in training, practical interviews, succession planning, and fair compensation.

Assess sourcing options for talent in context, including full-time hires, independent contractors, and outsourcing, while weighing the make-or-buy decision and external partnerships to balance costs.

Assess external recruiters' high costs and biases, including a 20 percent first-year salary fee and coaching that can skew interviews, and prioritize internal recruiting as a core competency.

Explore the full cost of employment, from direct monetary compensation and employment taxes to indirect, non-monetary costs, and the separation, vacancy costs, and acquisition costs of turnover.

Define the open role with a clear outline of responsibilities, day-one proficiencies, future skill needs, and logistics, then identify the ideal candidate by experience, education, and temperament.

Explore diverse candidate sourcing strategies, from job postings and resume banks to social media, referrals, and college career fairs, to actively attract qualified candidates.

Craft job advertisements that clearly state duties and requirements, use keywords to attract qualified candidates, and include education, experience, and skills in a concise, actionable call to apply.

Screen resumes by keyword filtering based on educational requirements and internal referrals, then conduct email or phone screenings with a scripted intro and qualifying questions, and verify education and references.

Coordinate in-person interview logistics with a single organizer, rooms, and a time-boxed agenda. Pair a technical specialist with an hr professional to limit sessions to two and keep process efficient.

Explore in-person interviewing content, examining biases and evidence gaps across logistical, behavioral, situational, puzzle, and technical questions to improve hiring decisions.

Explore how HR policies and support establish code of conduct, dress code, recruitment, leaves, and workplace rules while promoting internal promotion and adapting to evolving compliance.

Learn to conduct performance appraisals that align subordinates' efforts with organizational goals, using standardized HR-guided processes, clear standards, and constructive, private feedback.

Update policies to address acceptable email, internet use, social media, and technology misuse. Enhance HR by training staff, guiding managers, and monitoring performance to build relationships and support change.

Harness team collaboration to unleash synergy, align diverse talents toward a shared goal, and choose among command teams, committees, task forces, and informal teams for effective problem solving.

Learn how teams evolve through the forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning stages, guided by relationships, trust, roles, and Bruce Tuchman's five stage model.

Identify patterns that derail teams, including groupthink, micromanagement, and early-phase drift. Build a cohesive team identity early, balance autonomy, and curb external stakeholder double agents and interpersonal conflict.

Build high performance teams by forming small, fully committed, single-project groups of 10 or fewer and recruiting for collaboration, problem solving, and a strong team identity.

Explore how remote working enables virtual teams across time zones, driving cost savings, flexible scheduling, and access to global talent while improving output quality.

Navigate virtual team challenges—miscommunication, language and cultural barriers, time-zone delays—and foster trust by clarifying roles, frequent updates, and face-to-face meetings.

Explore virtual team development from forming, through storming and norming, to performing, ensuring tech readiness, time-zone awareness, clear roles, and robust synchronous and asynchronous communication.

Learn to manage virtual teams across distant geographies using Flader structures, face-to-face introductions, and effective collaboration tools for remote performance.