Strategic Staffing, 5e

by Phillips

ISBN: 978-1-948426-39-8 | Copyright 2023

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Strategic Staffing, 5e prepares all current and future managers to take a strategic and modern approach to the identification, attraction, selection, deployment, and retention of talent.

    Organizations increasingly realize that their employees are the key to executing their business strategies, and the current competition for talent has made the identification and attraction of high-performing employees essential for companies to succeed in their marketplaces. The right employees give their organization a competitive advantage that sets it apart and drives its performance. In today’s business environment, a company’s ability to execute its strategy and maintain its competitive edge depends even more on the quality of its employees. And the quality of a company’s employees is directly affected by the quality of its recruiting and staffing systems. Because hiring managers are involved in the staffing process, hiring managers and human resources (HR) professionals need to be familiar with strategic staffing techniques. Over the past 10 years, advancing technology and the increased application of data analytics have changed the practices of sourcing, recruiting, and staffing.

    My goals for this revision of Strategic Staffing were to create a text that is grounded in research, communicates practical and modern staffing concepts and the role of staffing in organizational performance, and is engaging to read. I updated many sections on the roles of technology and analytics and better focused the discussion of ethics that was added to the fourth edition. New research findings were also incorporated, and many company examples were updated. The fifth edition of Strategic Staffing continues to present up-to-date staffing theories and practices in an interesting, engaging, and easy-to-read format. I tried to be responsive to the reviewers and users of the previous edition in revising this text. Some of the more substantial changes are:

• Because the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the ongoing staffing needs and practices of employers worldwide, its impact is discussed throughout this new edition

• The end-of-chapter exercises are now organized into two groups, “Staffing Strategy” and “Developing Your Staffing Skills,” with many revised and new exercises added

• New coverage of staffing metrics and analytics in each chapter

• New coverage of staffing-related technologies in each chapter

• Updated citations, statistics, and company examples throughout the text

• Provision of new activities in the Instructor’s Manual

    This is only a partial list of the changes in this edition; more details are available in preface.

    I treat staffing as an integrated process that begins with an understanding of a company’s business strategy and continues through planning, sourcing, recruiting, selecting, negotiating, socializing, career planning, retaining, and transitioning employees into other roles and out of the organization. These stages allow organizations to meet their hiring objectives and ensure that their talent is in the right place at the right time. Although the book is research based, many practical and company examples are included to illustrate the material. Strategic Staffing describes how to do the following:

• Develop a staffing strategy that reinforces business strategy.

• Forecast talent needs and labor supply and plan accordingly.

• Conduct a job or competency analysis and a job rewards analysis.

• Source potential recruits strategically.

• Recruit and select the right people.

• Negotiate with and hire top candidates.

• Socialize, deploy, and retain talent.

• Manage turnover.

• Use staffing metrics and conduct staffing system evaluations.

• Employ technology throughout the staffing system.

• Integrate the staffing system with the other HR functions of training, compensation, and performance management.

• Ensure the legal compliance of the staffing system.

• Promote ethical staffing.

• Leverage technology, metrics, and data analytics to optimize the performance and efficiency of a staffing system.

Chapter 1 Strategic Staffing

Updated The Staffing Context and How Strategic Staffing Differs from Traditional Staffing sections

Updated Workforce Planning section

Revised Figure 1-2 The Strategic Staffing Process to better reflect the order of the process

Updated The Goals of Strategic Staffing section, including a revised Table 1-2 Examples of Staffing Goals

New resources were added to the Develop Your Staffing Skills list of Internet staffing resources

Updated Current Issues in Staffing section to include the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

The Staffing Ethics feature was revised to cover the ethical issues commonly faced by staffing professionals

Chapter 2 Business and Staffing Strategies

New company examples including Amazon, P&G, Nike, Starbucks, and The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development

Updated introductory section

Updated A Growth Strategy section

The “How the Organizational Life Cycle Affects Staffing” section is now later in the chapter

Updated Filling Vacancies or Hiring for Long-Term Careers section

Updated source list for staffing-related standards and ethical guidelines

A new paragraph was added in the Deriving the Firm’s Staffing Strategy section using Starbucks as an example of tying business strategy, talent philosophy, and staffing strategies together

Updated coverage on contingent workers

Revised Table 2-9 Commonly Used Metrics in Staffing Analytics

Chapter 3 The Legal Context

New chapter opening Staffing Challenge, “Trying to Implement AI in Hiring at Amazon”

Updated material on at-will employment

Updated coverage on contingent workers, including during the COVID-19 pandemic

New coverage of joint employer

New material on Regulation S-K in the Risk Management section

Updated Title VII coverage to include U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender status, and/or transgender status

New material and Google and IBM company examples in ADEA Act section

New figure “EEO Complaint Process Flowchart”

New example in Mixed Motive Case section

New section on Intersectionality

New section on Diversity Hiring Strategies

Chapter 4 Strategic Job Analysis and Competency Modeling

Updated Job Descriptions and Person Specifications section

Updated Generate the KSAOs section

Updated Write the Job Description and Person Specification section

Chapter 5 Forecasting and Planning

Updated Industry and Economic Forecasts and Trends sections reflecting challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Updated Forecasting and the External Market section reflecting labor market area and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic

Updated Dealing with a Persistent Talent Shortage section

Updated What Resources are Needed? section

Updated How Much Time Will It Take to Hire the Employees? section

Added new section on Diversity Initiatives

Updated How Technology Helps Staffing Planning section including an example from Modell’s Sporting Goods

Chapter 6 Sourcing: Identifying Recruits

New company examples including General Motors, Amazon, Google, Shipt, Instacart, Goldmans Sachs, AARP, Lyft, Uber, and Conagra Foods

Updated In-House Sources and External Recruiting Sources sections

Updated Job and Trade Fairs section, including drive-through job fairs and a new example featuring Amazon during the global pandemic

Updated Social Media section

Updated Lateral Hiring section

Updated Creative Sourcing and Outsourcing sections

Recruiting Source Effectiveness Analytics section has two new tables determining which of the two hiring processes was most effective

Updated Workers with Disabilities and Older Workers sections

Updated Global Sourcing section

Chapter 7 External Recruiting

New company examples including CVS, Instacart, Amazon, GM, Delta Air Lines, Waste Management, Netflix, CareerBuilder, Indeed, Google, Disney, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and JPMorgan

Updated Developing the Organization’s Employee Value Proposition section

Updated Developing the Recruiting Message section

Updated Developing Realistic Job Previews and Developing Self-Assessment Tools sections

Updated Training and Developing Recruiters section

Added a new section, Networking Skills discussing the importance of networking for job seekers and recruiters

Updated Recruiting Analytics section

Updated Mobile Recruiting section

Updated Careers Sites, Social Media and Gamification sections

Chapter 8 Measurement

New Staffing Challenge “Improving Employee Retention at Nielsen”

Updated What Is Measurement? section

Updated Interpreting Correlations section coverage of coefficient of determination

Updated Reliability section, including coverage of true score

Updated Benchmarking section

Chapter 9 Assessing External Candidates

New company examples including IBM, Apple, Google, GE, Microsoft, Blinklist, Chipotle, JP Morgan, and Dock

Updated introduction discussing assessing and predicting a person’s performance

Updated Assessing Accurately section

Updated External Assessment Methods section, including Table 9-3 A Comparison of Some Commonly Used External Assessment Methods

Updated Screening Assessment Methods section

Revised Figure 9-2 An Example of a Job Application Form

Updated Telephone and Video Screens section

Updated Personality Assessments section including new material on emotional intelligence

Updated Interviews section including new material on neurodiverse job seekers

New material on how the COVID-19 pandemic changed interviewing and on structured interviews behavioral interview questions

Updated Medical and Drug Tests and Background Checks sections, including new material on credentials

Updated Technology section

Chapter 10 Recruiting and Assessing Internal Candidates

New Staffing Challenge, “Internal Mobility at Schneider Electric”

New company examples including Microsoft, LAZ Parking, Texaco, Coco-Cola, and Google

Internal Recruiting section updated with the discussion of internal recruitment sources, how to communicate the opportunities, internal mobility, and how to manage potential internal candidates

Updated Maximizing Fit section

Updated Complying with the Law section

Updated Developing a Succession Management System section

Chapter 11 Choosing and Hiring Candidates

New company examples including Social Notebook, Fact & Fiction, and GM

Updated Multiple Hurdles Approach section

Updated An Employer’s Preference for Diversity section

Updated Job Offer Strategies section, including salary history bans

Updated noncompete agreement discussion

Updated mandatory arbitration clauses coverage

Revised Figure 11-2 A Sample Job Offer Letter

Updated Closing the Deal and Reneging sections

Chapter 12 Managing Workforce Flow

New company examples including LinkedIn, Chipotle, Square, Amazon, Walmart, Boeing, Uber, Airbnb, Aon, Verizon, and Bird

New Staffing Challenge “Onboarding at LinkedIn during the Global Pandemic”

Updated Onboarding Technology and the Socialization Choices sections

Updated Causes of Voluntary Turnover section to include the influence of COVID-19 pandemic

Revised Figure 12-4 Retention Strategies

New section on Stay Interviews

Updated Telecommuting discussion to reflect the influence of COVID-19 pandemic

Updated Managing Succession section to discuss the prevention of systemic barriers to success for members of underrepresented groups

Updated Downsizing, Layoffs, Alternatives to Layoffs, and Technology sections

New sections on Furloughs and on Reduction in Force

Chapter 13 Staffing System Evaluation and Technology

Updated introduction section to include adopted amendments to Regulation S-K regarding human capital resources

Updated Résumé Screening Software section

Appendix–Chern’s Case

Quantitative information was revised in parts of the case, including the flow statistics in Table A-3 and the transition probabilities for the full-time sales associates in Table A-5.

I also updated the references throughout the book and continue to discuss modern strategic staffing theories and practices including integrating staffing strategy with business strategy, aligning staffing with other HR management functions, using technology in recruiting and staffing system management, downsizing strategies, and current legal issues. Of course, traditional staffing concepts, including forecasting and planning, recruiting, assessment, and selection, are covered as well. Throughout the book, staffing concepts being discussed are brought to life through organizational examples.

I also strive to develop staffing skills in addition to conveying staffing theories and concepts. The Develop Your Staffing Skills feature in each chapter covers topics including job offer negotiation tips, Boolean sourcing techniques, online résumé tips, and making your own career development plan; these elements help translate the book’s concepts into real-life skills.


  • Learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter provide an advance road map of the material covered by the chapter.
  • Each chapter leads off with a Staffing Challenge that describes a staffing challenge faced by a real organization. At the end of the chapter, the Staffing Challenge Response integrates the relevant staffing concepts that the company used to address the challenge.
  • Every chapter has a Develop Your Staffing Skills feature that extends a topic in the chapter and develops a personal skill related to staffing.
  • Discussion questions at the end of each chapter provide the opportunity to check the reader’s understanding of the chapter content.
  • A brief case study at the end of each chapter encourages problem-solving and the application of chapter material by stimulating in-class discussions or focusing on individual solutions.
  • Three interactive exercises at the end of each chapter bring the material to life. One exercise is tied to the opening Staffing Challenge, one is linked to the chapter’s
  • Develop Your Staffing Skills feature, and one integrates the chapter’s staffing concepts with business strategy. The exercises are now organized into two groups, Staffing Strategically and Develop Your Staffing Skills, to better highlight the learning objectives of each exercise.
  • A book-long active learning project applies the breadth of the textbook material to a specific job in an organization. This active learning project develops strategic staffing skills, in addition to developing tacit knowledge about the strategic staffing process.
  • A book-long case study contained in the Appendix provides the experience of evaluating the staffing strategy and staffing system for sales associates in a hypothetical high-end retail store called Chern’s. The case also provides practice planning, budgeting, and evaluating the return on the investment of the staffing choices made. Videos, available with CourseBank, illustrate both structured and unstructured interviews and provide the experience of creating an assessment plan, scoring job interviews, and making a hiring decision from among eight candidates.
  • Videos of eight structured and eight unstructured interviews of eight job candidates for employment at an upscale department store are available for use with the Chern’s case and are also available for stand-alone use as examples or as part of a learning activity. (All videos are available free to adopting instructors for use in lecture. Student access to the videos is only available through CourseBank, which is free with the purchase of a new print edition of the textbook or the available ebook+CourseBank bundle) Three of the videos from a previous edition were retained to be used as part of an exercise described in the Instructor’s Manual on rating bias in interviews.


CourseBank is a pre-built course that easily integrates with Blackboard, Canvas, D2L, or any other LMS to provide Chern’s case interview videos, auto-graded quizzes and exams, flashcards, and other assets. CourseBank automatically grades all assignments and populates your LMS gradebook. Use CourseBank to augment your lecture, save the effort of building an online section from scratch, or provide students with a self-study resource.

Expand/Collapse All
Table of Contents (pg. iii)
Preface (pg. ix)
Chapter 1 Strategic Staffing (pg. 1)
Chapter 2 Business and Staffing Strategies (pg. 31)
Chapter 3 The Legal Context (pg. 70)
Chapter 4 Strategic Job Analysis and Competency Modeling (pg. 127)
Chapter 5 Forecasting and Planning (pg. 170)
Chapter 6 Sourcing: Identifying Recruits (pg. 211)
Chapter 7 External Recruiting (pg. 255)
Chapter 8 Measurement (pg. 305)
Chapter 9 Assessing External Candidates (pg. 349)
Chapter 10 Recruiting and Assessing Internal Candidates (pg. 409)
Chapter 11 Choosing and Hiring Candidates (pg. 441)
Chapter 12 Managing Workforce Flow (pg. 478)
Chapter 13 Staffing System Evaluation and Technology (pg. 521)
Appendix A Strategic Staffing at Chern's: A Case Study (pg. 550)
Glossary (pg. 582)
Organization Index (pg. 595)
Subject Index (pg. 598)

Jean Phillips

Jean Phillips is a professor of Human Resource Management in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at Penn State University. Jean earned her PhD from Michigan State University in Business Management and Organizational Behavior. Her interests focus on recruitment, staffing, and the processes that lead to employee and organizational success. Jean was among the top 5 percent of published authors in Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology during the 1990s, and she received the 2004 Cummings Scholar Award from the Organizational Behavior Division of the Academy of Management. Jean is also a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Jean has published more than fifty research articles, chapters, and books, including Strategic Staffing (3e, 2014), Organizational Behavior (12e, 2016), Human Resource Management (2013), Managing Now (2008), and the five-book Staffing Strategically (2012) series for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Jean was also the founding coeditor of the Organizational Behavior/Human Resource Management series for Business Expert Press. Her applied work

includes leveraging employee surveys to enhance strategic execution and business performance, developing leadership and teamwork skills, and creating and evaluating strategic recruitment and staffing programs. Jean has taught online and traditional courses in Human Resource Management and Organizational behavior in the United States, Iceland, and Singapore.



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Elaborating on Chern's Spreadsheet
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Chern's interview videos
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The interview videos are available in CourseBank, which is free with the purchase of a new print edition or ebook purchased directly from the Chicago Business Press website. Other ebooks and used books do not include access to CourseBank. 

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