This dissertation analyzes the determinants of labor market outcomes, with a focus on the labor market return to post-secondary education. The first chapter analyzes the matching of firms and recent college graduates through on-campus recruiting. Based on in-depth interviews with employers and career services personnel, I develop a theoretical model describing how firms choose target campuses given relevant search frictions. The model's central insight is that the decision to recruit at a university and the wage offer are driven not just by the university's quality, but also by the quality of the surrounding universities. There is strong empirical support for this prediction using the Baccalaureate and Beyond survey and newly collected data from 39 finance and consulting firms. Holding university quality constant, a university with a better regional rank is more likely to attract firms, and its graduates have higher earnings (controlling for the individual's test score). Structural estimation suggests that search frictions have important consequences for firm hiring strategies, student outcomes, and profits in this market. The second chapter analyzes whether there is a differential labor market return to certificates and Associate's degrees from for-profit relative to not-for-profit universities. Using the Beginning Postsecondary Student Survey and Transcript Data, we find no statistically significant differential return. Point estimates suggest a slightly lower return to a for-profit certificate and a slightly higher return to a for-profit Associate's degree. There is considerable variation in the return to certification across majors, including many with negligible or negative returns. The third chapter analyzes the impact of teen motherhood on labor market investments and outcomes, using five cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth. Teen mothers who conceived pre-maritally obtained less education (especially socioeconomically advantaged teens), married earlier and faced a higher risk of never marrying (especially after 1960). Socioeconomically advantaged teens avoided this negative outcome. Women who had been teen mothers in the 1940s and 1950s appear to have been at a disadvantage in the labor market of the 1970s, and faced higher costs of divorce. Motherhood positively affected labor force outcomes for teens married before conception, perhaps driven by earlier-timed births.

No description available.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) reimagined the Google search and how information is accessed daily. With vast processing times and the ability to digest large amounts of information at lightning speed, AI also can recognize patterns and commands, making information more relevant and useful for the end user. AI has a promising future when strategically placed within certain functions that may tremendously benefit from its skills, ultimately shaping business professionals to rethink approaches to solving complex business problems and determining how and where there may be strategic opportunities to reduce human capital with machines. Given the excitement of newly AI‐released capabilities like ChatGPT, questions have been raised around the validity of AI and if it is ethical, especially when used in a sensitive environment like talent recruiting. The hype associated with AI has led to the assumption that it will do what it is told, and marketed as an asset that can be used anywhere. Not only does the hype of AI concern the recruiting world, but it also manifests a much bigger long‐term concern for liability. This paper focuses on the use of AI in recruiting. On the surface, AI offers a lot of benefits to organizations, but many lack the knowledge and understanding of how it works. Therefore, I surveyed recruiters and managers to learn more about their dependency of AI for hiring decisions, especially when leveraging applicant tracking systems (ATS). Followed by a technical white paper, I evaluated the hype around AI in recruitment and determine best practices for companies to follow when considering implementing into this function. These technicalities include how and if AI should be used in a recruiting function. / Business Administration/Human Resource Management

No description available.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of the study was to identify an effective and appropriate framework or process for evaluation of software developers. Critical review of existing literature on the subject revealed that there are various factors that influence the evaluation of software developers for employment including the impact of the skills shortage; changes in the way software developers evaluate employers; and a fresh look at expanding the resource pool where software developers can be found. In addition to the literature review opinions of 11 purposively selected participants in the Westem Cape, which deal with this issue on a daily basis were obtained. For the research an interpretivist philosophy shaped the approach to a research strategy of grounded theory and data collection that was based on semi-structured interviews without pre-conceived theories, which gave the research its inductive and qualitative character. The research results presented findings that covered the following applicable areas: recruitment policies; minimum criteria that software developer candidates must meet; skill levels; desired characteristics; market related critical success factors; resource channels; evaluation processes and techniques in practise. In keeping with the approach to grounded theory research three major categories were identified namely: finding suitable software developers; the profile of a suitable software developer; and lastly, the approach to evaluate candidates. Analysis of the relationship between these categories and associated sub-categories led to the following conclusions: • in order to effectively assess a software developer's technical skill, it is necessary to administer a practical test or assignment; • formal and recognised tests of behavioural characteristics are not essential to form an accurate assessment of a candidate's character, but is advisable; • recruitment agencies may well be most effective as a source of candidates but cannot be regarded as the most effective channel to find suitable candidates. Herein lies a comparison of quantity versus quality. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van die studie was om 'n effektiewe en gepaste raamwerk of proses te identifiseer vir die evaluasie van sagteware programmeerders. 'n Kritiese oorsig van bestaande literatuur op die onderwerp het laat blyk dat verskeie faktore 'n invloed het op die evaluasie van programmeerders met die oog op indiensstelling. Hierdie faktare sluit in die impak van die huidige vaardigheids tekort; verandering in die wyse waarop programmeerders potentiële werkgewers evalueer; en vernuwe denke met betrekking tot bronne waar sagteware programmeerders gevind kan word. Tot aanvulling van die literatuur is opinies op die onderwerp van 11 doel-geselekteerde verteenwoordigers van organisasies in die Wes-Kaap ingewin. 'n Navorsing strategie van 'gegronde teorie' and data insameling by wyse van semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude is gevolg. Versigtigheid om nie vooropgestelde idees en teorieë te laat geld nie het aan die navorsing 'n induktiewe en kwalitatiewe karakter gegee. Die bevindinge het die volgende toepaslike areas gedek: werwings beleid ; minimum kriteria waaraan programmerings-kandidate moet voldoen; vaardigheidsvlakke; verlangde karakter eienskappe; mark-verwante kritiese sukses faktore; werwings bronne; evaluasie prosesse en tegnieke. Onder leiding van die benadering tot gegronde teorie is die volgende drie hoof kategorieë geïdentifiseer: die vind van gepaste programmeerders; die protfel van 'n gepaste programmeerder en laastens, die benadering tot evaluasie van kandidate. Analise van die verwantskappe tussen hierdie, sowel as sub-kategorieë het tot die volgende slotsom gelei: • die afneming van 'n praktiese toets of taak is noodsaaklik vir effektiewe evaluasie van 'n programmeerder se tegniese vaardigheid; • formele en erkende toetse van gedrags eienskappe is nie noodsaaklik nie, maar wel aanbevole, om 'n akkurate beeld van 'n kandidaat se karakter te vorm; • werwings-agentskappe mag 'n effektiewe bron van kandidate wees, maar kan nie beskou word as die mees effektiewe bron van gepaste kandidate nie. 'n Vergelyking tussen kwaliteit en kwantiteit is hier ter sprake.

The purpose of this research study was to identify practices that principals utilize that are believed to influence teacher retention. Teacher turnover is a major problem facing principals and school systems today. Much of the present research focuses on why teachers leave the field, but there is little research on the principals' perceptions of what they do to stem the flow of educators leaving the classroom. To accomplish this purpose, a case study was conducted, focused on identifying the principals' role in teacher retention and their perceptions of the most important strategies utilized to stimulate high teacher retention. Qualitative research methods including individual interviews, open-ended questionnaires, and focus groups enabled the researcher to identify, compare, and contrast the perceptions, beliefs, and practices used by the nine study participants. The research design produced interviews filled with rich narratives describing the practices used by principals at schools with high teacher retention. The focus group discussion elucidated the common behaviors that were perceived to support teacher retention. The study yielded evidence that high-performing principals with high teacher retention rates clearly and consistently identified specific practices they believe support teacher retention; that principals play a vital role in teacher retention and that their leadership, support, and daily practices influence a teacher's decision to remain in teaching. The data collected indicates the centrality of creating a positive school culture and a sense of belonging. All the other identified principal practices are intertwined with and contribute to this outcome. / Choosing, supporting, and valuing faculty and encouraging shared decision-making appear to be the central practices in building teacher retention; and these practices are supported by and integrated with principals' modeling of positive personal characteristics, exercising fairness and equity, being visible and approachable, and communicating in an open two-way manner. Congruence of findings from all data collection methods provided an updated list of common practices identified by these highly successful principals that may inform principal preparation and a professional development model for present and future educational leaders interested in maintaining a stable teaching faculty. / by Janet A. Cornella. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The aim of this research was to assess the recruitment and selection strategies used in the sales department of Old Mutual Group Schemes (OMGS) in the Eastern Cape. The company hopes to stem the high labour turn over in OMGS. After the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA) and Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (EEA) were promulgated, organisations in this country introduced new recruitment and selection policies. The challenge to most organisations is the implementation of these policies by managers. The requirements of these two legislations create problems for small companies because of the high costs involved especially in the implementation stages. The organisation incurs costs in the development of the new processes and the training of staff. Even after the new processes, labour turnover did not improve in OMGS. Senior management is trying any means possible to rectify the situation. The company policy was examined against the literature available and the recruitment and selection processes of different authors were investigated. The findings indicated that some steps in the recruitment and selection processes were not followed. It was recommended that the organisation use more recruitment sources to broaden the scope of accessing more suitable applicants.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Law / Master / Master of Laws

While personnel evaluation has been extensively covered in literature, little is known about evaluation procedures screening a large number of applicants. The basis of this research was to investigate if candidates for sales positions can be evaluated in a scalable way (where the number of applications does not impact the cost of evaluation much) for an on demand sales platform. The study consists of interviews with the recruiters and growth leads of the studied firm, a case study of a firm that has omitted resumes in their salesperson recruitment processes, and sample tests performed on candidates for sales positions. Further, some data on salespeople was collected and analysed. In summary, the study links the findings to the restrictions of a process that requires scalability. Previous research outlines how various indicators (personality facets, biodata, and optimism) predict sales performance in salespeople. Mental ability of candidates is relevant especially for the work training phase. Some of these findings were supported by the case study. While traditional resumes contain information predicting sales ability, some sales managers argue that they are obsolete. Previous research shows that recruiters risk drawing broad generalizations based on resume content. Video resumes have some potential, but currently have technical and ethical limitations. Personality and mental ability tests show predictive ability for sales performance, and are scalable. Previous research discusses limitations in many personality tests being commercial, resulting in limitations in how they may be modified; in their transparency of scoring; and validity studies being hard to conduct. Other limitations with personality tests in evaluation settings are that they are prone to faking. The study also suggests future topics of research in how culture defines what an ideal salesperson is, and extending these findings to other areas than sales. / Medan bedömning av sökande för tjänster har täckts i tidigare forskning, är lite känt om utvärderingsprocesser som utvärderar stort antal sökande. Denna studie söker att svara på om kandidater för säljtjänster kan utvärderas på ett skalbart sätt (där antalet sökande har liten påverkan på kostnaden för utvärdering) för en säljplattform. Studien består av intervjuer med rekryterare och growth leads av det studerade företaget, en fallstudie av ett företag som har slopat CV:n i sin ansökningsprocess, och test på kandidater för säljtjänster. Vidare analyserades befintlig data på säljare. Sammanfattningsvis länkar studien resultaten till de begränsningar som krävs av en skalbar process. Tidigare forskning visar hur olika indikatorer (personlighet, biografisk data, och optimism) kan förutse säljförmåga. Kandidatens mentala förmåga är särskilt relevant för träningsfasen. Vissa av dessa resultat stöds av fallstudien. Medan CV:n innehåller information för att förutse säljförmåga, hävdar vissa säljchefer att de är utdaterade. Tidigare forskning visar att rekryterare ibland generaliserar brett baserat på innehållet av ett CV. Videobaserade CV:n har viss potential, men har etiska och tekniska brister i dagsläget. Personlighetstest och test som mäter mental förmåga visar prediktiv potential för säljförmåga och är också skalbara. Tidigare forskning diskuterar även de begränsningar som uppstår av att många personlighetstest är kommersiella, vilket leder till begränsningar i hur de kan modifieras; i transparensen av rättningen; och att validitetsstudier är svåra att utföra på dem. Andra begränsningar med personlighetstest är att kandidater kan manipulera resultaten. Studien föreslår även framtida forskning inom till exempel hur kultur definierar en ideal säljperson, och om dessa resultat kan utökas till andra områden än försäljning.