Case: Northwest State College

Northwest State College (a disguised name) is a four-year regional state college and has an enrollment of about 3,500 students. Its business department has a faculty of seven full-time instructors, and other part-time instructors are used as needed. Currently about 900 students are majoring in business. The college is located in a medium-sized northern community of about 70,000. Most of the faculty recruiting is done by one person, the department head, who makes the initial contact with prospective faculty members at various professional meetings held during the school year. If the department head cannot attend a meeting recruiting is done by an instructor from the business department.

Projections are that enrollment at Northwest State will increase about 25% in the next five years. Most of the increase is expected in the business area. The ideal faculty size would be about 16 full-time instructors. Most of the full-time instructors currently in the Department of Business Administration hold MAs or MBAs from various northern colleges. The salary scales and fringe benefits are considered to be slightly lower than the compensation available at similar colleges in the region. In addition to any increase in faculty members needed due to enrollment, three replacements are needed for this fall in the business area to replace individuals who have gone elsewhere.

Northwest State has a recruiting policy that requires final approval of candidates by the department head, the vice president for academic affairs, and the president of the college. In addition, the school has a policy requiring that at least two candidates be invited to the campus before any candidate can be hired so that adequate screening can take place. Often the result is a waiting period of two months between initial contact, application, and campus interview for most applicants. Some other small colleges in the area pay full travel expenses for potential candidates, while the majority of the others pay at least half. Northwest State does not pay any travel expenses if the candidate is not hired. Only if the candidate is offered a position and accepts is full reimbursement for travel expenses given. Usually the payment comes about two months after the campus interview.

In the past Northwest State has not been very successful in filling empty positions. The president is concerned and wants to evaluate the recruiting program so that a better one can be designed.

Questions

1. Evaluate the approval procedure for applicants.
2. What would be the components in a recruiting system you design?