Recruitment, Hiring and Termination

Introduction

Employees are the basis of any organization, since they do the major work and support the company´s performance and activity. Therefore, such aspects as recruitment, hiring and termination are extremely important within any company. A recruitment process should be addressed with all the responsibility of a recruitment team, since it provides a company with workers. Due to the fact that an organization literary depends on its employees, they must be selected incredibly attentively and thoroughly. A process of hiring is not less important and prevents both an employer and an employee from unpredicted and unpleasant occasions for both parties. Finally, termination process also bears importance for both parties as it helps avoid misunderstandings and prepare for ending of a work contract in terms of personal attitude to the issue and at the governmental level.

Recruitment and Hiring Policies

AmeriCorps VISTA does not provide information about an introductory period and other conditions, such as an extension of introductory period to 3 months. Such piece of information is necessary for applicants, since it provides the general overview of their obligations during the first month of their work in the organization. The duration of introductory period may become a reason why applicants refuse to continue interviewing, since the introductory period might be too long for them. According to the general standard, an introductory period may last approximately 180 days and it can be extended to 90 days (Vista Campus, 2016). Hence, the entire introductory period may last 270 days. Consequently, an applicant cannot receive full information about the initial duration of his/her admission period for his potential work. 

AmeriCorps VISTA provides a detailed orientation about the offered position. A candidate receives detailed information about the organization’s background and its purpose. The role of every employee is explained via his/her contribution to the organizations’ mission (UVM Extension Building Capacity, 2012).

The organization representatives explain conditions of employment by providing a letter of hire. Such information includes the daily tasks that a candidate should perform, if he/she will be hired. AmeriCorps VISTA also explains how the candidate’s task may influence the performance of other employees and what effect it has on the entire organization. The organization provides a list of expectations that a candidate should follow in order to satisfy the targeted position.

AmeriCorps VISTA requires that every applicant pass alcohol and drug testing. Being a non-profit organization, it cannot apply a candidate for any position without such tests. A candidate will be informed about the data of tests in advance. The physical examination is a need, since an organization has to ensure that a health state of a candidate allows him/her to perform functions at a level which will satisfy the organization’s needs.

Employee background is required to be checked before a candidate can be allowed for an introductory period. An applicant should provide references from previous place of work, which prove that he/she has experience of work in the given sphere. In addition, each candidate should provide a letter of recommendation from previous employer who gives a brief characteristic of duties that a candidate performed before, his/her level of performance and a reason why a candidate was fired or dismissed.

The organization strives to provide safe environment and thus it checks the criminal background of its candidates. All VISTA candidates should be checked via Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) criminal history. The organization also requires a review of the National Sex Offender Public Registry maintained by the Department of Justice before applicant can be approved to perform his/her obligations.

AmeriCorps VISTA provides information about conditions of property loss and the cases when the lost or damaged property can be covered by insurance. The organization explains the issue of theft and its consequences for a candidate. Moreover, the organization requires that its employees inform the members of the company about any changes of personal information that they provided during initial interview. The organization refers changes of address, name and mail address to such type of information.

A candidate receives information about the potential career growth and other opportunities that AmeriCorps VISTA provides to its employees. The career opportunity programs which help employees with their career development are among them. In addition, the organization includes the list of bonuses and penalties which may be applied to employees, if they demonstrate good or poor performance of their direct functions.

AmeriCorps VISTA does not provide any information about at-will statement that allows an employee to terminate employment at any time. However, as a rule, in the majority of non-profit organizations, employees are free to terminate their employment at any time without notice of any reasons, unless there is no written agreement which defines the terms of at-will statement policy.

Termination Policies in VISTA

AmeriCorps VISTA termination policy has many distinctive features, though in general it follows the common termination rules that are described in chapters 2 and 3. According to the common rule of a termination process, employees can terminate anytime they want and for any reason even if they are at their introductory period. The analyzed company cannot violate this law; thus, they do not set any limits for employees´ termination period. However, the handbook of the organization states that it is preferred that an employee does not terminate too soon. Such desire is very easy to understand and accept because it is always damaging for any company to teach a potential employee throughout an introductory period and lose him or her right after it ends.

As it was mentioned, the organization has numerous specific aspects in the process of termination. For instance, in the tenth month of service, an employee has to complete either the Future Plans Form or the Early Termination Request Form (Vista Campus, 2016). Such policy gives an employee an opportunity to choose whether he or she wants to continue his/her service for the company or to stop it. Moreover, due to this point of conditions, he/she may express his/her desire to work on another project, which is called the re-enrollment process. In addition, the company predetermines breaks in service, which means that an employee does not work for a company for a certain period of time, but still cannot be reimbursed for it within the break.

The reasons for which the employer can dismiss an employee immediately are not fully stated in the VISTA handbook. Such points as alcohol and drug abuse, including use, sale and purchase of alcohol and drugs, are not addressed in the manual. Another important point, such as altering or falsifying company records, is also missed. Besides, insubordination, threatening or assaulting a supervisor are also defined as reasons for immediate termination, but are not mentioned in the manual of the AmeriCorps VISTA Company. Fighting and provoking a fight in the workplace is also a very serious reason for firing an employee, though the discussed organization did not include this point into its rules. The final reason for termination of a person deals with the situation when an employee carries a concealed weapon at the territory of the organization. Nevertheless, as one can see from the VISTA manual, this issue is not addressed, as well. Among other issues that are not presented in the manual is at-will employment that predetermines that both an employer and an employee can terminate any time and for any reason (CharityVillage, 2014).

Taking into consideration the above-conducted analysis of the termination policies in AmeriCorps VISTA and comparing them to the average rules that are applicable to the above-mentioned process, one can see numerous distinctions. One may perceive such differences as weaknesses and strengths of the discussed organization. In other words, each aspect that is missed in the manual of the company, but predetermined by the common rules of termination, is a weakness. In contrast, each issue that is not addressed by the average rules but discussed in the manual is a strong side. The extra rules that are mentioned in the manual give potential employees an opportunity to get acquainted with the specific features and rules that are created and set within the given company. Such approach excludes the situations when the employees misunderstan the company´s rules and policies and enables applicants to fully understand what they will have to face in the future in case they receive a job in the organization.  

Conclusion

To conclude, one can state that the analyzed organization, known as AmeriCorps VISTA, does not correspond to all the rules of such vital aspects in business as recruitment, hiring and termination. The manual that is presented by the company omits many important points that are revealed in the chapter 3 and the videos. Such omissions can lead to bad results for the organization, since the applicants can see the instructions and simply decide whether they agree to work on such conditions or not. In contrast, the company will have to deal with any misbehavior or insubordination that is not mentioned in its manual as forbidden. On the contrary, the strong side of the manual is that it reveals numerous specific features of the company, such as breaks in service.