| Course | HRM-5500 Strategic Recruitment and Selection |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | Discussion forum: initial response and two comments |
| Length | About 552 words |
| Format | Discussion post with APA 7 citations |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | Master of Science in Human Resources Management |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HRM 5500 Module 1
Module 1 Discussion: Is Hiring a System?
When Hiring Is Not a System: Turnover That Starts in the Job Ad
I work as an HR generalist at Raritan Logistics, a third-party warehousing company in Edison, New Jersey, with about 1,400 employees across six buildings. We hire about 300 warehouse associates a year, and last year 41 percent of them left within twelve months. For a long time we treated this as a retention problem and tried pay increases and attendance bonuses. The systems approach in O'Meara and Petzall (2013) made me see it differently.
The systems approach treats recruitment and selection as one system with inputs, processes, outputs and feedback. Inputs include the organization's strategy, the job analysis and the labor market; processes include attracting, screening, testing and choosing candidates; outputs are the people hired and how they perform and stay; feedback links those outcomes back to the earlier steps. When I look at our hiring that way, the turnover is an output of decisions made much earlier.
Our job ads describe "fast-paced warehouse work" but never mention mandatory overtime in peak season, the cold storage rooms or the rotating weekends. Our screening is a phone call, and supervisors who are short-staffed hire almost anyone who shows up. Then we are surprised when people leave in the first ninety days. Phillips (1998) pooled studies of realistic job previews and found them linked to lower turnover, in part because people who accept the job already know its hard parts. We never give one.
The most important missing piece is feedback. We do not track which sources, recruiters or interview answers predict who stays. Without that loop, each step is improved in isolation, and improvements in one place can make another worse: our attendance bonus raised applications, but it attracted people motivated by the bonus who left once they earned it. Breaugh (2008) makes a similar point that recruitment decisions affect not only how many apply but who applies.
Treating hiring as a system means starting the repair upstream: an honest job analysis and ad, a brief preview of the real work, a structured interview, and then tracking who stays ninety days and a year, by source and by hiring manager. I expect this course will help me build that loop.
Comment on Jordan's Post
Jordan, you described your hospital's reliance on staffing agencies to fill nursing assistant shifts. In systems terms, the agency becomes part of your recruitment input, but you lose the feedback. Agencies are paid for placements, not for retention, so they have little reason to screen for fit. Have you been able to get data from the agency on how long its placements stay, or to tie part of its fee to ninety-day retention? We are considering that for our seasonal hires.
Comment on Priya's Post
Priya, I agree that hiring managers are the weakest link when they are under pressure, but I am not sure training alone will fix it. At my company, supervisors skip steps because they are short of people today, not because they do not know the steps. A system has to make the right step the easy step, for example by having HR hold a pool of pre-screened candidates so supervisors are not choosing between a rushed hire and an empty shift. Did your organization find a way to reduce that pressure?
References
Breaugh, J. A. (2008). Employee recruitment: Current knowledge and important areas for future research. Human Resource Management Review, 18(3), 103-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2008.07.003
O'Meara, B., & Petzall, S. (2013). The handbook of strategic recruitment and selection: A systems approach. Emerald Group Publishing.
Phillips, J. M. (1998). Effects of realistic job previews on multiple organizational outcomes: A meta-analysis. Academy of Management Journal, 41(6), 673-690. https://doi.org/10.5465/256964
HRM 5500 Module 1 instructions, in plain terms
This is the first of seven graded HRM-5500 forums, which between them account for a quarter of the grade; an ungraded introductions thread runs alongside it. It asks how the systems approach applies to recruitment and selection: what the parts of the system are, how they connect and what happens when one part is managed alone. Expect to answer from your own workplace or one you know, using O'Meara and Petzall's model and at least one outside source, then reply to classmates. Replies should add an idea, evidence or a question rather than agreement alone, and posts should be cited in APA style. The first forum also sets the tone for the course, so connect your example to the systems model clearly enough that you can reuse it in later modules.
How the HRM 5500 Module 1 example is put together
The initial response introduces the writer's workplace and a measurable problem, then defines the systems approach from the textbook. It walks back from the turnover output through selection and recruitment to the job ad, citing meta-analytic evidence on realistic previews. It identifies the missing feedback loop as the root problem and shows how fixing one step, an attendance bonus, backfired. It closes with a sequence of changes. The first comment applies the system idea to a classmate's staffing agency, and the second questions whether training alone will fix rushed hiring decisions. The example stays the same throughout, which lets later forums build on it.
Where the marks sit in the HRM 5500 Module 1 rubric
Forum marks reflect how strong the opening post is, how well it uses O'Meara and Petzall and outside sources, and how much the replies add. Mentors reward posts that apply the systems model to a real situation and show how its parts connect, not just a definition. A study or a number from your own workplace makes the argument stronger. A reply counts when it pushes a classmate's idea further, adds something they missed or asks a question that opens the thread up. Posting within the module and writing professionally are part of the grade. Mentors also value posts that identify a measurable outcome, such as first-year turnover, because the course later asks you to measure and cost improvements. Using the textbook's vocabulary accurately shows you have done the reading.
HRM 5500 Module 1 help from the desk
Discussion posts lose points when they define a systems approach in general terms without applying it, or when replies only say "great post." Others describe a workplace problem but never connect it to the model. Name the inputs, processes, outputs and feedback in your example. Show how one part affects another. Cite the text and one other source. When replying, carry the systems idea into the classmate's setting or pose a question that puts it to the test. A free first sample of your own HRM-5500 Module 1 post is available on request. Pick a workplace whose hiring steps you can describe from the inside. Keep replies specific to each classmate's post rather than writing one general reply.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Thomas Edison State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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HRM 5500 Module 1 questions, answered
Where can I find a free HRM 5500 Module 1 sample paper?
The full Module 1 discussion is above: an initial post on hiring as a system at a logistics company and two comments on classmates' posts.
What is the systems approach to recruitment and selection?
A view of hiring as linked inputs, processes, outputs and feedback, so that problems are traced across steps rather than fixed in one place.
What textbooks does HRM-5500 use?
O'Meara and Petzall's The Handbook of Strategic Recruitment and Selection and Matuson's Talent Magnetism.
Do realistic job previews reduce turnover?
Meta-analytic research associates them with lower turnover, partly because candidates who accept have accurate expectations.
How many discussions are in HRM-5500?
Seven graded discussion forums worth 25 percent of the grade, plus an ungraded introduction forum in Module 1.