Assignment:
Based upon your determination of the overall HR strategy at MITRE, how does it compare and/or differ to your current organization's (or previous organization, association, industry, etc.) strategy? Explain.
MITRE uses a successful referral program as one venue to attract individuals. What are some elements of their success that could be copied by your organization? What might be difficult to duplicate or implement? If you had the opportunity to think "out of the box" what would you recommend for your organization? Why?
Article:
The MITRE Corporation founded in 1958, is one of eleven nonprofit US corporations that mange Federally Funded Research and Development Centers for the government. Of our workforce of nearly 6,000 employees, most are in our two principal locations in Bedford, Massachusetts, and McLean, Virginia, and the rest at remote sites in the United States and around the world. MITRE’s mission is to assist the federal government with scientific research and analysis, development and acquisition, and systems engineering and integration.
MITRE’s excellent reputation in operating its FERDCs is very attractive to many mid-and late-career people who view our employees as respected subject matter experts. Older engineers and scientists appreciate the kind and quality of work done at MITRE and how it affects at an early stage the high-level decisions made at the government agencies we support. Of the more that 500 new hires that join MITRE annually, nearly half (48 percent) are 40 years of age or older. Drawn heavily from industry, they are seasoned experts with knowledge of the latest technical developments, which enables to blend long-term domain knowledge and maturity with continuously updated expertise to benefit our sponsors.
In the past, MITRE depended heavily on advertising and employment agencies fro the majority of our hires. As those methods became increasingly expensive, MITRE asked employees to become more actively involved in the identification and attraction of appropriately qualified new workers. MITRE employees are motivated to refer high0quality people like themselves because of their desire to fulfill our sponsor’s mission expectations and to work in collaboration with other equally talented individuals. In this case it is true that “Birds of a feather flock together” To further motivate such referrals, we implemented a referral program that pays employees a bonus of $2,000 for technical staff hires, $1,000 for nontechnical staff hires, and $500 for nonexempts hires. Employee referrals now provided more that half our new hires and assure us of high-quality candidates who are likely to be good fit with MITRE’s culture.
Additionally, our data show that employee referrals significantly lower recruiting costs. In 2001, when 34 percent of new hires were through employee’s referrals, the average cost for all hires was about $14,200, which included agency and advertising fees, labor costs, relocation and interview expenses, and employee referral bonuses. In 2004, employee referrals accounted for 53 percent for our hires, and our cost per hire had decreased by nearly 40 percent to $8,700.
We use other methods as well to encourage employees to refer suitable candidates:
• We actively and frequently communicate our most urgent recruting needs to employees by distributing hot jobs filers throughout the corporation and posting hiring notices on the companys intranet.
• Staff members attending conferences are encouraged to collect business cards of people who they think would be good team members.
• Potential candidates are also attracted to MITRE when they attend technical symposia or technology transfer meetings on MITRE property. The talk with an engaged cadre of MOTRE attendees who are more than happy to respond to questions and inquiries.
• Employees can hand out networking, or handshake, cards to people who express an interest in MITRE so that then can nominate themselves in the future for a position with us.
• We bring our HR business partners into organizational meetings to alert our technical staff members about the importance of constantly being on the lookout for other subject matter experts.
We attribute the cost effectiveness of our process to several factors, including the following:
• More than two-thirds (roughly 70 percent) or our hires come from referrals, web site postings, and rehires, which helps maintain our high standards. Thus, we rely very little on print advertising, employment agencies, or other broad-based recruiting channels that are costly and tend to generate less suitable candidates.
• We focus on certain niches for skilled and experienced workers, targeting organizations that employee people with relevant skills and experiences and certifications that represent a required level of expertise.
• Our recruiting teams are attuned to older works, those who have demonstrated high levels of competency through past performance. Recruiter are coached so they can focus on relevant skill sets and criteria. Candidates who are subject matter experts (SME) are interviewed and evaluated by employees in the same area, a process we call SME-to-SME-again, birds of a feather.