Assignment: Assessing Cost-Benefit and Utility in Selection

Given the volume of jobs that need to be filled, the difficulty in filling specific positions, and the potential impact of making poor hiring decisions, companies should strategically plan how to recruit and select employees. Such planning will ensure the amount of effort is cost effective and achieves the desired results. Consequently, many organizations today engage in such planning by conducting cost-benefit and utility analyses to ensure the requisite amount of effort is dedicated to obtain the desired results (Boudreau, 1990; Bodreau & Ramstad, 2002). In the long term, these analyses may save organizations time, money, and effort. On the other hand, it is also important to consider the potential impact of poor hiring practices not only on the company, but also on the unsuccessful applicant or the new hire that does not work out.

For this Assignment, review this week’s media and the personnel selection processes that you developed for your Week 3 Assignment. Consider the cost benefit and utility of the personnel selection process for each job type.

Develop a cost benefit analysis and a utility analysis for a personnel selection process for the three job types presented in the media (manufacturing, sales, executive).

Your Assignment should specifically detail the following:

• The resources required (e.g., cost, personnel, time, etc.) for each job type


• The benefits and drawbacks of each component of the personnel selection process (e.g., application, interview, testing, etc.)


• The impacts of the applicant pool, the number of openings, and the projected volume of applicants for each job type


• Justifications for the personnel selection process to be used for each job type