Recruitment Plan for Woolworths Supermarket in Australia

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Woolworths' recruitment plan, focusing on its objectives, financial implications, and implementation strategy within the Australian market. The report examines the importance of the recruitment process in achieving organizational efficiency, analyzing the effects on stakeholders such as owners, employees, customers, and insurance companies. It includes a detailed financial analysis, projecting costs and benefits, and calculating the Return on Investment (ROI) for the recruitment plan over a five-year period. Furthermore, the report identifies potential risks associated with the recruitment process, such as selecting incompetent candidates, legislative non-compliance, and applicant deception, and proposes mitigation strategies for each. Finally, the report outlines a strategic implementation plan to ensure the successful execution of the recruitment process, emphasizing the selection of qualified and competent candidates to meet the company's goals.

Running head: RECRUITMENT PLAN1
Woolworths’ Recruitment Plan
Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Executive Summary
This study outlines the recruitment and selection process by Woolworths supermarket in
Australia. The study analyses the objectives of the recruitment in achieving Woolworths’
organizational goal of improving its level of efficiency. The recruitment initiative with only be
launched in Australia due to demand factors. The study further analyzes the effects of the
recruitment process on relevant stakeholder, the significance of the strategy to Woolworth, a risk
analysis, and an implementation plan to enforce the recruitment process. The Human Resources
team of Woolworths is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring the recruitment and selection
process is successful and beneficial to the organization.

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Table of Contents
Background......................................................................................................................................3
Problem Analysis.............................................................................................................................4
Project Proposal...............................................................................................................................4
Organizational Fit Analysis.............................................................................................................6
Financial Analysis...........................................................................................................................8
Risk Analysis...................................................................................................................................8
Implementation Strategy..................................................................................................................9

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Background
The Human Resource department’s most essential responsibility is the recruitment and
selection process. According to Billsberry (2008), this department is tasked with the crucial role
of placing the right applicants into their respective positions in the organization. Recruitment is
basically the process through which an organization searches and pools candidates with the
relevant experience, skills, and knowledge necessary to enable the organization to pick out only
the best-qualified candidates who meet the description and work criteria of the vacant position
(Dineed, 2011). The process aims to bring together the widest possible pool in order to improve
the chances of selecting the best people for the roles. Hiring the most qualified applicants may
prove to be a competitive advantage for Woolworths due to the increased productivity and
organizational efficiency.
Woolworths is an Australian supermarket chain with headquarters in Bella Vista,
Australia. Being among the largest organizations in Australia, the supermarket employs a large
number of people (Arli et al., 2013). Woolworths prides itself in adopting a recruitment process
that is strictly reliant on the candidates’ professionalism, experience, and merit. Woolworths’
Human Resources department is obligated to follow the company's recruitment rules and
regulations as well as the Australia’s Employment Opportunity Legislation, the Privacy Act, and
Anti-Discrimination laws (Nutall, 2007).
Problem Analysis
Failure to select a competent candidate may result in unfavorable and adverse effects on
the organization such as customer service complications, operational disruptions, interpersonal
conflicts, and reduced productivity (Swider, Zimmerman and Barrick, 2015). Once the

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organization identifies the candidate pool, a selection process is used to pick the most qualified
candidates. The selection process involves activities such as testing, reference checking, aptitude
tests, and interviews.Thisensures the most appropriate candidates are selected using equitable,
fair and effective activities.
Project Proposal
This recruitment plan aims to highlight the Human Resource department’s recruitment
and selection strategies in Woolworths supermarket. The study analyzes the significance of the
project, the risks involved, stakeholder analysis and strategies Woolworths HR team will enforce
to implement the recruitment plan while attempting to help achieve the organizational goal in a
cost-effective manner.The recruitment strategy will only be enforced within Australia as it
focuses on employing a workforce to occupy roles in local supermarkets.
The objectives of this recruitment and selection plan include:
 Increase the size of the applicants’ pool so as to improve the possibility of
selecting high-quality candidates.
 Enforcing effective methods to analyze the abilities, experience, and professional
skills of applicants.
 Select a qualified workforce able to help Woolworths achieve its organizational
goaland improve efficiency.
This recruitment plan enforced by Woolworths provides the organization with various
benefits. A carefully implemented plan will benefit Woolworths and help the company achieve
its general business goals and objectives. The recruitment project will help Woolworths ensure
that they have the necessary attributes, knowledge, and relevant skills that the organization

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requires to achieve its long-term goals and current operational needs. The recruitment project
which will be strict and keenly monitored will result in the recruitment of a highly effective
workforce ready to positively impact the organization (Narchal, 2013). The selection criteria will
be enforced by authorized HR personnel with strict instructions to abide by the set-out
recruitment regulations. The applicants will further be exposed to various interview stages and
thorough investigations into their previous jobs and ethicalinclinations. Competent candidates
with the necessary skills and qualifications to help Woolworths achieve their long-term goals and
operational requirements will be selected.
The project will further help Woolworths to meet its supply and demand requirements. A
highly effective workforce selected as a result of the recruitment project will enable Woolworths
to meet its customer service demandsin an efficient way. Woolworths serves a large base of
customers spread in various regions and locations (Stevens, Plaut and Sanchez-Burks, 2008).
The company, therefore, need to ensure they have a competent workforce to meet the customers’
demand and preferences. This recruitment project will help Woolworths achieve customer
satisfaction.
A carefully implemented strategy will increase the organizational efficiency of
Woolworths. The company must enforce effective measures to ensure all operations and
activities are operating in an optimal manner.Organizational efficiency ensures the relevant
companies are successful in achieving their objectives. Any successful company is driven by a
qualified workforce working as a team to achieve the organizational goals. This recruitment
project will provide Woolworths with a team capable of working cohesively to facilitate
organizational efficiency.

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Organizational Fit Analysis
The recruitment must complement the organizational structure of Woolworths.The main
aim of Woolworths’ recruitment and selection process is to facilitate the improvement of
organizational efficiency and profitability. In relation to the recruitment plan, a stakeholder is
any party interested in what the recruitment and selection process achieves (Breaugh, 2017).
These parties might influenceWoolworths’ future, or they might be affected by the candidates
chosen. Potential stakeholders in Woolworths’ recruitment and selection process include the
owners of the supermarket chain, employees, the surrounding community, insurance companies,
and customers. It is important for organizations to involve stakeholders in their recruitment plans
in order to cultivate positive relationships with them, benefit from valuable information,
reinforce their commitment to the organization, and facilitate a conducive business culture.
The owners and shareholders of Woolworths being the main beneficiaries of an increase
in profitability have a keen interest in the recruitment process adopted by the HR team. Likewise,
if the process doesn’t meet its objectives, it’s the same shareholders and owners who feel the
greatest impact (Blundell, 2013). The HR team must, therefore, put the owners in mind when
formulating and implementing a recruitment plan.
Insurance companies are directly involved with the Woolworths employees’ health
coverage and benefits. The companies will hence have an invested interest in the workforce
structure of Woolworths. The insurance service providers need recruitment updates so as
toprovide cover plans that specifically suit Woolworths.
Most projects launched by the HR team aim to improve the level of skills in the
workplace, enhance the workplace structure, and improve operational processes. Employees are
the primary stakeholders in any organization. The recruitment and selection process will have a

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direct impact on their productivity, skills, earning capacity, and confidence. The recruitment
process by Woolworths may provide existing employees with a competitive threat in terms of
roles, responsibilities, and promotions. Ensuring cohesiveness and employee satisfaction is
important so as to reinforce their commitment to Woolworths.
In the supermarket and service industry in general, the mode of interaction with
customers is crucial to an organization’s success. Customers and clients are primary stakeholders
who will be directly affected by a recruitment process. The HR team of Woolworths must,
therefore, ensure the candidate who proceeds from the selection stage are competentand well-
versed in professional and ethical consumer interaction. A successful recruitment process
benefits the organization by increasing their service delivery and cultivation of a positive
organizational structure.
The recruitment process by Woolworths affects the surrounding community by providing
employment opportunities (Griepentrog et al., 2012). In a community with high rates of
unemployment, the non-discriminatory hiring opportunity providingan employment
opportunitycultivates a positive relationship with the community.
Financial Analysis
Cost is one of the main factors that have a direct impact on the recruitment and selection
process of an organization (Zhao and Liden, 2011). Before implementing the recruitment
process, Woolworths must fully understand and put the expenses that the process will incur into
consideration. The recruitment project must satisfy a cost-benefit analysis before the supermarket
giant implements the plan. It is prudent for Woolworths to forecast the possible amounts of
money these future employees from the selection process will cost the company in terms of
benefits, allowances, and salaries.While planning the recruitment activities, teams from the HR

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and Finance department in Woolworths may be required to determine the recruiting yield ratio
and the cost per hire (Jabbar, 2016). Woolworths must also budget for cost resulting from
posting the job advertisements, agency costs, backgrounds check expenses, recruiter salaries, and
referral program incentives. Despite the financial burden imposed by the recruitment strategy,
Woolworths expects that the incorporation of a qualified workforce to fill the existing
organizational gap will provide long term benefits to the company. Woolworths aims at
employing 10 new employees. The following 5-year financial analysis of the company outlines
the expected costs and benefits from the recruitment process.
First year
In order to develop and implement the recruitment it is important to analyze costss
associated with the process. Costs are expected to be particularly high during the first year.
Recruitment costs may be analysed on an internal and external costs.
External costs
Advertisement costs = $ 50 000
Consultation costs = $ 25 000
Internal costs
Identification of gaps = $25 000
Interviewers training and renumeration costs = $65 000
Applicattion and screening = $39 000
New empoyees’ salary = $100 000

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Total costs: Internal recruiting costs + external recruiting costs. = $304 000
Cost per hire (CPH): Total costs / Total number of hires = $30 400
Second to Fifth year
After implementation of the recruitment plan, Woolworths expects an improvement in the
organizational structure and efficiency including cost reduction and innovation. These expected
returns should provide a postive cost-benefit result to Woolworths.
Return on Investment
Figure 1
Expected returns of the recruitment plan
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
$0
$50,000
$100,000
$150,000
$200,000
$250,000
$300,000
$350,000
$400,000
$450,000
Expected Return
Expected Return
Return on Investment (ROI) is the percentage calculation of (Benefits-Costs)/costs.Based
on figure 1 above, Woolworths expects a total program benefit of $400 000 and a total cost of
$304 000. Therefore, the project’s ROI is represented by:

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100*($400 000 - $304 000)/$304 000
ROI = 31.58%.
Risk Analysis
An effectiverecruitment process ensures the organization has the required experience,
skills, and knowledge to achieve its goals. There, however, exists risk associated with the
recruitment process.Potential risksinclude the risk of selecting candidates who are incompetent
or do not fit into Woolworths’ organizational culture.This may result in Woolworths’ failure to
achieve its operational and strategic goal. The company can mitigate this risk by updating the
recruitment policies and using effective assessment tools (Warhurst et al., 2009). Woolworths
can alternately train the hiring personnel of efficient screening and assessment techniques before
placing the candidates.
A legislative risk exists due to the non-compliance possibility in Woolworths.This may
be greatly damaging to the organization. The risk exposes Woolworths to fines and legal
lawsuits. Training the workforce on the relevant legislative rules, hiring legal advisors, and
updating the organization's internal policies such that they are legally compliant will mitigate the
legislative risk.
Applicants may gain employment in Woolworths as a result of deception during the
recruitment process.This may encourage fraud, legal prosecution, and failure to meet the
organizational goals. The hiring team should enforce strict screening and background checking
procedures to alleviate this risk (Robson, 2011).

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Implementation Strategy
It is of paramount importance for any organization to have an effective strategy to
implement their recruitment plan. The selection or recruitment function must be enforced in a
proactive mannerso as to avoid unnecessary costs due to a faulty process. Woolworths’ strategy
to implement their recruitment plan is largely consistent with ensuring Woolworths has the
necessary attributes, knowledge, and skills required to meet the organization’s goal and
operational requirements (Humburg and Van der Velden, 2015). The implementation strategy
will also aim to ensure that only qualified and competent candidates are selected for recruitment
into Woolworths. By formulating an implementation strategy, Woolworths can improve their
chances of selecting a suitable candidate. The strategy will also increase the number of potential
applicants from which the company can select qualified candidates.
The first step in implementing a recruitment plan is to identify the existing skill gaps in
the organization (Udechukwu and Manyak, 2009).This will help the HR department of
Woolworths to analyze the current skill level and determine what type of skills the supermarket
chain needs so as to achieve organizational efficiency. The analysis simply involves identifying
the skills needed, determining the existing skills in Woolworths, and finally comparing the
desired skills to the current skills.
In order to fill the skill gaps identified, Woolworths is expected to launchrelevant
advertisement strategies to reach as many potential applicants as possible. The vacancy
advertisements should be non-discriminatory and target widespread (Downes, 2011). After
sending out the job application invites, Woolworths’ HR team should formulate appropriate
strategies to receive the responding applicants. The organization must select a hiring team to
oversee the recruitment process and activities. It is important to train the interviewers and use

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processes that do not favor oroffer any form of bias.The next step of the implementation plan is
to screen the applicants, expose them to employment tests, conduct face to face interviews,
investigate the applicants’ background and finally select the successful candidates ready for
placement into their respective roles in Woolworths.
After implementing the recruitment process, it is important that an organization applies
therelevant measure to evaluate the effectiveness of the recruitment plan. The outcome of the
recruitment plan must be complementary to Woolworths’ organizationalgoals and objectives.
Woolworths can utilize various performance to analyze the success of the recruitment and
selection process. The company can analyze the average fill time. This is the time it takes them
to fill a vacancy. Depending on the result of the applying this measure, Woolworths may
consider enforcing strategies to shorten the fill time. Another measure is to determine the cost
per hire. It would be wise for Woolworths to reduce any unnecessarycosts incurred during the
selection process. Woolworths may also use the number of applicants who showed interest to
measure the effectiveness of its recruitment methods (Parry and Tyson, 2008). After measuring
the recruitment process and the activities, the next step is to suggest and enforce appropriate
control and improvement measures to make the process more efficient.

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Table 1
Implementation strategy
Recruitment Action Time Frame
As from:
Responsibility Estimated
Cost
Identification of human resource
skill gaps in the organization.
August 2017 Human Resource
department.
$25 000
Advertisement of employment
opportunities.
October 2017 Woolworths’
marketing
department
$50 000
Collection and sorting of
applications from interested
parties.
November 2017 The human
resource
department
$15 000
Select and train interviewers November 2017 The HR team $65 000
Screening of applicant using
interviews and other employability
tests.
January 2018 Trained
interviewers.
$24 000
Selection and inductment of
successful candidates into the
organization.
March 2018 The HR team and
the Woolworths
community.
$100 000
Evaluation of the recruitment
plan’s effectiveness.
March 2018 Relevant consulting
firm.
$25 000
Total cost $304 000

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In conclusion, the HR team of Woolworths is tasked with thecrucial responsibility of
overseeing the successful implementation of the recruitment strategy.The process aims to bring
together the widest possible pool in order to improve the chances of selecting the best people for
the roles. The recruitment strategy will only be enforced within Australia as it focuses on
employing a workforce to occupy roles in local supermarkets. The recruitment team must ensure
they consider the various stakeholders as they enforce the various implementation activities.A
carefully implemented plan will benefit Woolworths and help the company achieve its general
business goals and objectives. It is, however, important to keep up with the various risks and
financial implications of the process.

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