1.2The Client
With the flexibility of this research proposal it can be fitted to almost any company as every company needs to employ people at some time. Nevertheless this proposal is based upon the University of Hull Scarborough campus as it will, hopefully, allow for more complete and specific results to be obtained. The University is situated in the North East of England on the coast. It is quite a small town and the University is rather small compared to that of larger towns, like Manchester, Leeds and Durham. The University employs more skilled employees than most other companies, nearly all applicants have to be trained already, and in general positions have to be filled relatively fast. The size of the University is important as it is obvious that it will not have a massive budget for job recruitment but needs to retain people who are capable so the University won't get a bad review from students. Even before doing the research it is clear that advertising jobs here is completely different from that at a supermarket or other high street store. This research will hopefully show the best way for the University to advertise any jobs and give some type of indication of the type of candidate they will receive depending on where they advertise.
This research will be very interesting as it will allow me to get an insight into the various ways of applying for a job, and everyone has to do this at some point in their life's. As a University student it will be good to see whether certain forms of recruitment sources are seen as better than others which will help me determine how to apply for jobs. This research will also allow me to see what is the best way to advertise jobs when I am managing my own business, which could prove invaluable to me. By doing the University I will see how lecturers find out about jobs and the process they have to go through which will hopefully give me more confidence in my lecturers.
1.3 The Research Question
The research question is,
"With the Advances in Technology and its Growing Availability what is the Best way to Advertise for new Employees."
In order to answer this question the following objectives will have to be concluded;
1. To see whether advertising on the internet gives an unfair advantage to younger applicants as they use it more.
2. To see whether advertising for jobs in certain areas favours one sex over the other and seeing if this is necessary.
3. Seeing how the type of job relates to the sources used by the intended employee.
4. Finding out whether internal promotion a better way of employment
2.0 Method
2.1 Research Design
Whilst this report will focus on the University of Hull Scarborough campus it will not be just about lecturers there are a number of little people who help keep the university running, from security guards to receptionist. It is therefore necessary to be aware that there is some manual work at the university and these jobs needed to be advertised. This will allow me to see whether the type of job affects the best means of advertising. The population of the report will therefore be all staff at the university. In order to obtain results two questionnaires (see appendix 1 and 2) will be sent out. I will also buy the local newspaper once a week for two months to see how often jobs are repeatedly advertised in this time. The proportion of this report will be based on a literature review and the questionnaires. The fourth objective, see1.3, will have to be answered mainly by secondary sources as time means I cannot go round companies seeing if their internally promoted staff work out better than others.
2.2 Data Collection
The two questionnaires are for different sets of people, questionnaire one is for the public who do not work at the university and the second is for people who do work here. This means of course that questionnaire two is limited in size to the number of employees at the university. Whereas questionnaire one has to reach enough people to be considered worthwhile. This questionnaire will be posted to one thousand people in Scarborough. In order to be any use the questionnaire cannot be completely random. It will be necessary to post them to different areas of affluence through out Scarborough in order to achieve its objectives. Therefore four areas of Scarborough will be chosen and then in these areas two hundred and fifty questionnaires will be sent out randomly. Each Questionnaire will have a pre paid envelope with which the person can return the questionnaire. In to get the report done in time a cut off date will be necessary and any arriving after then will be classed as void. This questionnaire will allow me to see what people not in the university do when looking for a job, which in turn will allow me to find the best method of advertising jobs in Scarborough. The second questionnaire, as there are a limited number of people to answer will either be placed into a pigeon hole or handed personally to the member of staff with a pre paid envelope, a cut off date will be in place again to avoid time being wasted. Hopefully the questionnaire will help to answer some of my research objectives, stated earlier in 1.3, and allow me to reach conclusions on sex, age and position.
2.3Gantt Chart
Insert Gantt chart
This chart shows when I will start and finish tasks for my research report. In total including conceiving the idea it should take twelve and a half months. But by writing this proposal I am already three months into the plan.
2.4 Cost of the Report
The reports main cost comes in the questionnaires. Not only will there be the cost of paper, printing and envelopes but each one will require at least one stamp.
No of questionnaires x No of stamps x price of stamp =
1000 x 2 x 0.28 = £560
There will also be a price for questionnaire two, unfortunately it is unattainable at the moment because I have no idea how many people will be working at the University when I hand out the questionnaires. It will not be as much though because I will only be paying for one way delivery.
The other cost comes from buying the newspaper once a week for two months,
0.32 x 4 x 2 = £2.56
At the moment there are no other foreseeable expenses as I will not be charging myself for the work done and should not have to pay for travel as I live in Scarborough during term time.
3.0 Resources
I am computer literate and know how to use most programmes if I have access. I have access to computers and the internet at University seven days a week between 9.00am and 10.00pm but not all of the computers have all the programmes, in order to use certain programmes I will need to get access to these. I also have a computer at home with a printer and am planning on buying a scanner over the summer, but it does not have internet capabilities. Being a student at the university should make it easier getting permission to question the staff, but I must make sure I get it before rushing into anything. I have done numerous reports throughout my education, including an individual study at A level for geography as well as many at university. My English is rather good and I received an A for English literature and B for English Language at GCSE level. And I have now been at university for three years and have regularly thought about my career and check the career area which has numerous ways of getting into employment after University.
4.0 Outline of final Report
The final report will be a ten thousand word report pulling together all aspects of job advertising. It will have an executive summary at the start to give a brief description of its contents. It will include graphs, in numerous forms histograms, pie charts and component bar charts. This will be from both primary and secondary data. Some analysing the questionnaires and others showing how my results compare to other results already done. My results will hopefully show that the younger the applicant the more they use technology but will still use newspapers meaning they have a broader reach but depending on the station on the radio could be accountable. Classic Fm is more likely to get an older listener than radio 1. It will show that depending where the advertisement is placed will be more favourable to men than women. For example an advert at half time in the football, or in a TV Soap magazine. The report will hopefully show that better paid jobs are more likely to be shown in larger newspapers, like the times, rather than local papers. I should also find that internal recruitment is better because it cost nothing to advertise and the person will know what they are getting into. Obviously these conclusions will not be so clear cut unless I am really lucky. The newspapers will not be included but will have the important articles cut out and most probably put in the appendix.
Appendices
Appendix 1
Questionnaire to help answer the question "With the Advances in Technology and its Growing Availability what is the Best way to Advertise for new Employees and does it Depend on the type of job or the age group or sex of the applicant?
This questionnaire is being carried out in order to find out what is the best way for a company to advertise a new vacancy in their company and whether this is affected by age, gender or the type of job. It is being carried out in conjunction with the University of Hull Scarborough Campus as part of a students research proposal on the BA Business Management degree. You have been selected randomly in order to provide a unbiased sample population. The questions which follow should be answered freely without worry as you can not be identified by the results.
1) What is your Current job?
2) Do you own or have access to (tick all that are applicable)
a) Television
b) Radio
c) Computer with the internet
3) How often do you,
Less than 1 2-4 Hours 5-8 Hours More than 8
hour a Day a Day a Day Hours a Day
a) Watch Television
b) Listen to the Radio
c) Surf the net
4) How often do you buy a newspaper? (If never go to Question 6)
Daily 4-6 Times 3-5 Times 1-2 Times Never
a week a week a week
5) Which Newspaper do you read? (Tick all that are applicable)
a) The Daily Telegraph
b) The Times
c) The Daily Express
d) The Sun
e) The Daily Mirror
f) The Guardian
g) Daily Mail
h) Financial Times
i) Daily Star
j) Local Newspaper
k) Other (please state)
6) Do you know where the nearest job centre is?
Yes
No
7) Do you know what time the television program Job finder is on?
Yes
No
8) How much money would you expect to earn from a new job?
Less than £5,001- £10,001- £15,001- More Than
£5,000 £10,000 £15,000 £20,000 £20,000
9) Do you have any qualifications? If so what?
10) What age group are you in?
Under 16 16-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 Over 65
11) Are you,
Male
Female
12) Number in order of preference which form of job advertising you would use (leave blank any you would never use)
Adverts in Newspapers
Television
Internet
Radio
Shop Windows
Job Centre
Thank you for taking the time to fill out this questionnaire. Please return it, completed, in the envelope provided before January 3.
Appendix 2
Questionnaire to help answer the question "With the Advances in Technology and its Growing Availability what is the Best way to Advertise for new Employees and does it Depend on the type of job or the age group or sex of the applicant?
This questionnaire is being carried out in order to find out what is the best way for a company to advertise a new vacancy in their company and whether this is affected by age, gender or the type of job. It is being carried out in conjunction with the University of Hull Scarborough Campus as part of a student’s research proposal on the BA Business Management degree. The questions which follow should be answered freely without worry as you can not be identified by the results.
1) What is your Current job at the university?
2) How did you hear of this job?
3) How long have you worked at the University?
4) Do you own or have access to (tick all that are applicable)
a) Television
b) Radio
c) Computer with the internet
5) How often do you,
Less than 1 2-4 Hours 5-8 Hours More than 8
hour a Day a Day a Day Hours a Day
a) Watch Television
b) Listen to the Radio
c) Surf the net
6) How often do you buy a newspaper? (If never go to Question 8)
Daily 4-6 Times 3-5 Times 1-2 Times Never
a week a week a week
7) Which Newspaper do you read? (Tick all that are applicable)
a) The Daily Telegraph
b) The Times
c) The Daily Express
d) The Sun
e) The Daily Mirror
f) The Guardian
g) Daily Mail
h) Financial Times
i) Daily Star
j) Local Newspaper
k) Other (please state)
8) Do you know where the nearest job centre is?
Yes
No
9) Do you know what time the television program Job finder is on?
Yes
No
10) How much money would you expect to earn from a new job?
Less than £5,001- £10,001- £15,001- More Than
£5,000 £10,000 £15,000 £20,000 £20,000
11) What age group are you in?
Under 16 16-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 Over 65
12) Are you,
Male
Female
13) Number in order of preference which form of job advertising you would use to find a job (leave blank any you would never use)
Adverts in Newspapers
Television
Internet
Radio
Shop Windows
Job Centre
Thank you for taking the time to fill out this questionnaire. Please return it, completed, in the envelope provided before January 3.
References
Books
Burns R.(2000) Introduction to Research Methods, London Sage
Wiersma W. (2000) Research Methods in Education: An Introduction, Boston Allyn and Bacon 2000
Jankowicz A. (1995) Business Research Projects, Chapman & Hall
Bowden J. (200) Writing a Report, How To Books Ltd
Gillham W.(2000) Developing a Questionnaire, London Continuum
Saunders M. Lewis P. & Thornhill A. (2003) Research Methods for Business Students, Financial Times Prentice Hall
Journals
Zottoli M, Wanous J. (2000) Recruitment Source Research: Current Status and Future Directions, Human Resource Management Review, Vol 10, Issue 4, pg 353 – 382
Breaugh J, Starke M. (2000) Research on employee recruitment: so many studies, so many remaining questions, Journal of Management, Vol 26, Issue 3, pg 405 – 434
(2004) Behind Every Successful Individual Is a Good Team. ENR: Engineering News-Record, Vol 252, Issue 2, pg 48
Faucheux S, Nicolai I, (1998) Environmental technological change and governance in sustainable development policy, Ecological Economics, Vol 27, Issue 3, pg 243-256.
Gardyn R, (2000) The Future of Fine Print, American Demographics, Vol 22, Issue 5, pg 26
Web Sites
www.tutor2u.net
http://qb.soc.surrey.ac.uk
www.me.umn.edu
www.whatis.techtarget.com
www.jobassistant.co.uk
www.planetrecruit.com
www.how-to.com
