HR Management in the Hospitality: Recruitment Process Report

Introduction

The human resource department is mainly concern with planning, management and implementation of successful resolutions to manage personnel and related resources. The plan assists in management of accurate decisions, in favour of firm’s objectives or goals.

Most companies are today keen on the importance of having an ideal human resource management system, which determines and handles personnel qualifications in all the other departments.

Due to the effect of financial and technological revolution, most organizations as well as companies integrate quality human management systems in their plans and policies, in the aim maintaining the competitive advantage over potential rivals within the global markets.

The main aim of implementing good hospitality and organization management systems is to improve the style of conducting business in the aim of proper satisfaction of clients’ needs.

Human resource is today faced with challenges involving advancement of technology. Every organization or firm has to acknowledge benefits of technological changes, and thus implement-required personnel and polices in addition to preparing for future potential outcomes.

The Information Technology (IT) department is thus vital for incorporation of these changes and required resources such as computer assets. Hospitality and organization management systems have thus become vital instruments for managing human capital especially the financial constrains connected to recruitment and induction procedures.

The human resource department of any company or an outsourced HR company has responsibility to come up with a viable but financially affable recruitment criterion during selection and hiring of new personnel.

This report paper forms an analysis of a hotel in Danang, Vietnam, particularly the human resource recruitment procedure for a head of IT department. The report provides a recruitment procedure for the job that begins with advertisement for the post.

This conscription process involves selecting, vetting, and recruiting a qualified person for the post. The selection procedure is based on a job posting done through media, vetting is through interviewing and grilling for accurate qualifications.

Lastly, the induction process has to follow an orientation programme, where the qualified employee goes through process that enables her/him to adopt and undertake duties as per job requirement.

Position Summary

Most companies have today realized that to boost profits, there is need for a well-developed computerized technology for instance the web-based systems for analysis of economically viable factors such as advancement of resources.

In line with Yao, technology advancement advocates for new and radical strategic practices especially for the administrative tasks (388, 2009).

The Information Technology (IT) manager must be a strategic business partner involved in determining future business endeavours to ensure the business gains from all the planning strategies.

In line with Mathias et al, IT departments form part of the business management system since they have the sole role of ensuring proper utilization of business resources to maximize turnover (34, 2007). Technology management is thus based on creation of human value for instance efficiency for the Hotel.

Advertisement Channels

The company’s notice boards, intranet memos, emails or short messages will be the first placement for the advertisement, to give prior chance to potential candidate who might be the hotel staff already. Willing candidates can thus have first chance to advance their careers. They will also have first hand information of upcoming changes in the IT department.

The job title entails high technological expertise, thus the next most effective channels would include the websites, and other automated communication means. The online job websites (agencies) such as www.myjob.com , www.vietnamworks.com or www.worldjobsites.org , will be effective.

Being the most common websites that offer online advertisements in Vietnam, the probability of attracting potential employees internationally will also be high. The advertisement will moreover be placed in the hotel’s website, social sites under the hotel’s accounts for instance twitter, Facebook LinkedIn, and MySpace.

Placing the advertisement on such sites will also assist in convey of the information from people visiting the sites (probably clients) who might have friends whom are potential candidates. The main aim is to capture potential candidates from a wide geographical range.

The additional placements will be done on local dairies such as newspapers, television and radio broadcasts, which are the most traditional means of advertising in Vietnam. Such media also ensure that an advertisement gives a clear first-hand notion of authenticity.

Lastly, posters will be placed strategically within Vietnam in busy places such as lobbies, public notice boards, and hallways for instance the hotel’s busy passages. Posters will be more illustrative and in point form to give clear and precise information. Posters will also be big and attractive to capture attention instantly.

Occupation’s Purpose and Objectives

Management of IT often emerges from needs to automate other business departments and the already available resources.

Some firms that are currently experiencing collapse or liquidation are those evading the demand for eminent organization shift from manual to automated technology (Hollenbeck, 40, 2008). The human resource management team has plans for dynamic transformation of employees and clients transaction procedures.

Work Responsibility

An experienced IT professional has to engage logistics that can assist in prediction of future procedures, based on present or past business performances.

The head of the IT department should also be in a position to provide growth strategies to general management, provide expertise in the field of technology for the benefit of the company, particularly for business growth.

Being the person in charge of information technology, he/she has to monitor and regulate efficiency and growth of technology, particularly in all the departments. The overall performance of a firm highly depends on effectiveness of its technology.

According to Davidson et al, every organization leader such as departmental heads of a firm has to enforce efforts to meet overall goals (34, 2009). Having precise knowledge about a system, personnel and assets in the department facilitates service delivery in accordance with clients’ needs.

The manager will have both short and long-term goals that ensure accountability for the other departments. He must also have tactical and strategic plans for including various requirements such as marketing. The main aim of IT department in to ensure smooth running of processes in all the involved departments. It also facilitates resource management.

Personal Specifications

Job Title: Head of IT Department

Gender: Female or Male

Skills Qualification:

Essential Requirements:

1. Not less than five years of experience in a similar field and position
2. Clean background proved with a certificate of good conduct
3. Capable of making good and practicable decisions
4. Ability to manage huge organizations ( hotel with over 400 guest rooms)
5. Not older than 35 years
6. Fluency in English and Vietnamese, Another foreign language will be an added advantage
7. Ability to communicate important information clearly to all concerned departments, friendly and proficient in calming work-related pressure.
8. Excellent skills in problem solving, listening, advising and supervising skills
9. Professional clientele management skills, advisory management skills, associates, guests and visitor’s management skills
10. Remuneration Package: Among the best in the industry, job specification and positions

Experiences

The manager will be responsible for the entire computer architecture of the hotel. Potential applicant must also be in a position to deliver storage, backup and information exchange solution.

1. Have extensive and proven experience in network design and cabling infrastructure using the quality optical and wireless installation.
2. Ability to design and implement wireless technology and connectivity solutions through latest technological advancements such as VSAT, high data transfer solutions, real-time BLOS, Voice over internet, high data transfer rates or Satellite COTM.
3. Ability to design and implement Cisco-based LAN switched and WAN Solutions with evident knowledge in designing and implementation of an Enterprise solution.
4. The potential applicant must also have deep knowledge of network management solutions preferably for a hotel management system, which must involve a centralized help-desk, centralized network managers, assets managers and software management systems.
5. The manger should be in a position of assisting in marketing services, attraction of clients through management of Web-based technology, with a back end support for pre-sale activities such as booking and enquiries.
6. Assist in automation of book keeping procedures at the account department
7. The manger’s list of common activities will include scoping, consulting, designing, installing and supporting business solutions with respect to owning the business.

Education Qualification Requirements

Applicant must be a degree holder with a preference of Bachelors degree in computer engineering or computer science. Proficiency in hospitality and organization management will be an added advantage.

Also required is certification in technical computer architecture such as Cisco Systems certification (CCNP) or (CCDP) or (MCITP). Ability to configure, install and find solutions regarding the systems local and wide area networks. Have specialization on LAN Switching, network security, Unicentre or OpenView engineering (Oppenheimer, 57, 2010).

Meaning Of Abbreviations

• CCNP – Cisco Certified Network Professional
• CCDP – Cisco Certified Design Professional
• LAN – Local Area Network
• MCITP – Microsoft Certified IT Professional

Technological requirement

The head of IT department will be responsible for intranet as well as internet technology, planning training or retraining of technical as well as all involved staff members, gathering clients’ reactions and assisting in analysis of these responses. The reactions are often collected via electronic surveys through analysis of the electronic comments (Northhouse, 39, 2009).

The IT department head will also be involved in revolution of the hotel, for instance implementation of new designs and advancement of the office computer equipments. The chosen person must be in charge of technological upgrade to ensure fast and competitive growth.

Technological growth enhances the work standards and ethics as a measure that boosts other factors. Utilization of IT will thus enforce fast and effective growth of personnel and consequently the client base.

Selection Procedure

The selection process is critical owing to the fact that many resources are used to deliver the right personnel. First, the advertisement has to present clear background information about the hotel, which applicants must know. Clear explanation of the requirements in the advertisement also assists in minimizing unnecessary applications.

Closure of the application time paves way for the selection process, where all the applications are still be viable for considerations. The HR panel then assesses and shortlists candidates depending on application requirements as outlined in the advertisement.

In case of high responses, this analysis stage requires short listing in accordance with the essential requirements and consideration of extra credentials. The second phase involves selection followed by invitation for interviews.

The invited candidates are required to confirm attendance before a certain date. During this time, confirmation must be done immediately so that the panel is able to adjust time of invitation if requested by the invited interviewees.

Justification of Selection Procedure

Every manager has the task of ensuring the employees under them have good morals and practice proper ethical standards. The employees must also be satisfied to ensure security from possible physical venerability. Selection process has to include analysis of all possible qualities including writing, presentation, communication and ethical skills.

This is the reason why the vetting process has to be transparent and systematic. The selected manager will thus be in control of web-based development security, accessibility to databases and operating system.

He/she is accountable for the entire hotel’s competitive advantage by enforcing and ensuring proper monitoring of computer security system in all the involved departments. The panel therefore has to consider the chosen applicant as someone who must have good qualities of a general manager.

Interview

Introduction

Interviews are naturally sub-divided into introductory part where the interviewee is welcomed, questioning and conclusion of the interview process. Interviews have special features utilized by the human resource departments to find the right personnel.

In most situations, interviews create an inequality where the employer who has power to employ, promote or fire an interviewee is the boss.

Practically both the interviewee and interviewer feel the pressure due to the responsibility. The interviewer must be just in his/her decisions to avoid negative effect on the reputation of the company. Good interviews must promote integrity and transparency of a firm.

The interview has to be free, fair and effective. The companies act or country’s laws are reasonably clear that every employee has a right to understand the nature of the interview before hand for instance the period, number of interviewers and location.

Questioning the Interviewee

During the human resource management an Interviewers within a panel must ensure they listen, absorb and penetrate thoughts or feelings behind the received information. Being keen on the body expression such as body language, eye contact, tone of the voice and facial expression is equally important.

Dealing with personal predispositions, speaking formally and openly is a clear indication of a fair judgement. Too much emphasis must not be placed on the first impression since there can be high chances of favouritism, when the interviewee and interviewer have a lot in common.

Creating personal rapport during interview may also tempt the interviewer into overlooking the candidate’s inadequacies. The best candidate must not necessarily get along with personal preferences or the one an interviewer gets on best with, it must be original.

What to endow with during interview:

1. Ensure you welcome and greet the interviewee in a friendly but formal manner, since you are the host and the interviewee the guest.
2. Break the ice with some friendly talks. Questions about the journey or weather may be appropriate in easing tension.
3. Indicate that any personal information provided during interview will be treated confidentially
4. Give a guide/outline of the topics expected to be covered during the interview.
5. Indicate the possible length of the interview, being sure to tell the uncertain details regarding the length of the process.
6. Reassure the interviewee that they have a chance to inquire anything at the end of a session.
7. Direct the course of the interview by ensuring smooth progress, guiding as per the planed outline, but the list must not be followed rigidly. The virtue of the interview is precisely the involved flexibility, the ability to pick interviewee’s responses and make adjustment of the questions in the context.
8. The questions must be a mixture of open and closed. Closed invite a brief response such as yes/no, open question on the other hand invite lengthy explanations and takes the form of where, what, when, why, who and how. An open question can be merged with a closed whereby the latter precedes.

Questions to avoid during Interview:

1. Vague questions – They makes interviewer to forfeit the purpose of the interview. It is not easy to get a response to an indirect question such as “why don’t you tell me about yourself?” the interviewee may end-up saying either too much or too little.
2. Double-ended questions – They easily cause flattering and confusion for instance the interviewer should not ask “why you are interested with this company and what your anticipated growth in five years is?”
3. Leading question – Are an indication that the interviewer holds a certain opinion strongly and anticipates a specific answer. For instance “company x had a strong and aggressive reputation, didn’t that suit you?” the interviewee is often forced to give the answer the interviewer anticipates and it thus jeopardises the atmosphere of mutual trust.
4. Quick questions – Unclear and incomplete answers cause bad impression. The interviewer must thus give a chance for rethinking and restating a response whenever necessary. Rephrasing the question that was not well understood may assist in correcting a misunderstanding or misinterpretation.
5. Question that place words in the interviewee’s mouth. – It is advisable to rescue an interviewee, whose mind goes blank, but being over helpful is feeding with an answer. This compromises reason for the interview. The interviewer guides and controls the interview as opposed to dominating.
6. Very personal question – Deep inquiry on details of marital status, which out to be a closed question and number of children are question that do not relate to the interview. The interviewer might start relating them to reasons for their hiring or rejection.
7. Questions that whitewash the profession – Emphasizing the challenges involved in the job title might discourage a rather viable and potential candidate.

Interview Questions

The human resource panel must be having a set of unique questions, which interviewees must answer.

Basic Interview Question outline:

1. What the interviewer know about the company, position applied for and their point of view on employment dates
2. The interviewee’s expectations for the tasks if employed, the anticipated responsibilities and unique aspects they may add to whatever exists.
3. Starting and final level of anticipated compensation details
4. The experiences from previous positions of similar job levels, the biggest failure or success during tenure on a similar job title and most or least rewarding task
5. The likes and dislikes of the job title based on past experiences
6. Experience with previous supervisors
7. Expectations if hired
8. Problems encountered with management in previous services
9. Reasons for leaving, resigning, quitting previous job
10. The undertakings since the last employment
11. Personal greatest weaknesses and strengths
12. How the strengths will assist if offered a job
13. A brief personal description as the IT manager
14. Personal input, mainly number of hours per day, pace of working, procedures of handling work-related pressure
15. Personal motivators
16. Most difficult decisions during previous employment on a similar level
17. Personal passion and what other criticizes about the personal details

The questions often test the ability to think independently and creatively. The interviewee must be conversant with the job specification especially considering that IT is an ever-evolving field that requires great flexibility and dynamism of knowledge.

Uniqueness in the department is highly recommendable since the department support all other related department in terms of information management and transfer. The outcome of an interview assist the human resource team to know their anticipated output from a candidate and needs that assist in determining the candidate’s proficiency.

Induction Programme

The qualified person will be accorded important documentations indicating procedures of handling assigned duties. The documents will clearly outline the terms and conditions for all mangers, specifically informing on the procedures of managing the firm. The policies of management will also guide for easy outlining of goals and mission.

The manual is clearly drafted since it contains the firms’ policies, procedures, organization culture and guides on legal issues. The policy manuals will also guide on work ethics, communication requirements and procedures as well as legal issues.

In line with Carpenter and Sanders, a good employee manual guide clearly indicates the company’s objectives, policies and mission, which direct attention to the critical factors (12, 2009).

The guide is a dynamic document that remains tentative and can thus change anytime to incorporate new features that can enhance growth. The rule must therefore be up-to-date with the dynamic requirements regarding organization culture and other performance regulations.

The induction process will also involve enlightening the candidate on matters pertaining information security. The information technology is faced with a huge task of ensuring information security. Hackers and malicious attacks from unprincipled competitors is a common scenario in most wide-based firms like hotels. The head of IT department is an employee as well as a consultant on matters concerning information security.

The orientation procedure will require the head to meet with other board members to be enlightened on his/her board responsibilities. He/she ought to be in a position of making viable decisions concerning evaluation of both internal and external vulnerabilities of the firm.

Security evaluation also concerns possible financial losses through virtual transactions. The head is the administrator of the entire system and is thus involved in decision-making, concerning approval of transactions via internet. He/she has authority to advice over adherence to such sales or purchases.

The induction procedures will also involve physical inspection of internal security, which has to cater for potential physical risks such as buildings’ parameters, rooms and machines access requirements for instance use of passwords and user identifications.

Automated door locks ensure protection against possible physical attacks. The database security measures address identification procedures and rights audit database files. Unauthorized access to databases can easily be breached when employees are allowed remote accessibility, configuration of hardware and related group access policies.

Justification of the Induction Programme

Proper induction program ensures the ranking of employees has a direct connection to individual as well as group performance. The technology of the hotel must be flexible and effective enough to accommodate future needs for advancement or growth.

The orientation procedure will thus enable the Head of IT department to see that other departments and general advancement of the hotel in technology terms, to accommodate alternative ways of managing files such as storing and information transfers. The manager must understand that his/her task is ensuring majority of the paper work is transformed to automated transactions.

Office space is changing in size and relatively smaller spaces are common today in the aim to accommodate personnel-expansion needs. The tight arrangement means adjustment of technical equipments. The tablet computers are widely replacing palm and laptops whenever necessary. Small space may mean more distraction and lowered privacy.

The IT department head induction will involve understanding of such factors in order to manipulate space and the cabling system of the offices for instance the cooling, lighting and communication lines. Today’s conference rooms are transforming to places where presentation can be done in three-dimensional and are able to represent some reality.

Working remotely is becoming a reality and this required employees who are both knowledgeable in the field as well as talented technologically. Enhancing reliability of the employees is thus a vital quality of a good IT manager.

Conclusion

Since management of information technology is vital in each business sector especially hotels, a qualified IT manager is equally an important investment since everyday task must involve communication and information transfers.

Historically, the advancement of technology has come a long way. In line with Laux Co, Oticon in Denmark was the sole producer of a hearing device got great support from former President Ronald Reagan (15, 2008). The device however lost most of its shares due to improved engineering to a better device.

Nevertheless, a newly introduced leader Kolind reduced the workforce and consolidated more personnel for budget approval. The new advancement was a clear indication that cross-functional teams are required for development of new ideas that meet market demands.

The IT department head will thus be responsible for facilitating the paperless offices in all departments. A paper-free office will involve management of an email room, whereby the incoming mails are scanned, read, shred or stored in the computer’s main database for further use.

References

Carpenter, M. A., & Sanders, W. G. (2009). Strategic Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice-Hall.

Davidson, P., Simon, A., Woods, P. & Griffin, R. W. (2009) Management (Fourth Edition). John Wiley & sons Australia, Ltd. Print

Hollenbeck, C. (2008) Big Bucks Selling Your Photography. Sunderland, UK: Amherst Media, Inc

Laux Co. (2008). The Hearing journal: Volume 61, Issues 7-12 Indiana, IN: Indiana University Press.

Mathis, R, L., Jackson, J. H. and Elliott, T. L. (2007) Human Resource Management Ohio, OH: Thomson Southwestern Publishers. Print

Northhouse, P. G. (2009). Leadership: Theory and Practice London, UK: SAGE Publication press, Print

Oppenheimer, P. (2010). Top-Down Network Design. Indianapolis, IN: CISCO PRESS.

Yao, J.T. (2010). Web-based Support Systems. New York, NY: Springer Press.