HUMAN RESOURCES ASSISTANT: Job Applicant

HUMAN RESOURCES ASSISTANT: ROLE-PLAYING SCRIPT FOR JOB APPLICANT,
Ms Schindler, University of Nevada, Reno - SPRING 2010

It is Spring, 2010, and you are graduating with a BS Degree in Business/Human Resources and a minor in Spanish with a 3.5 GPA from UNR. You grew up in Reno and graduated from High School with excellent grades and you chose UNR for its excellent Business program and the integration of academic scholarship and practical application.

Your HR major has taught you about recruiting employees, maintenance of essential records, job evaluation, compensation, benefits management and training and much more. You are especially interested in recruitment and training and have been volunteering with laid off and homeless people at a local shelter.

You have held several Student Worker positions and have worked up to Student Worker III. Your work with the campus HR department where you helped review applications, checked references, scheduled interviews, entered data and returned calls was the most enjoyable. Your Spanish minor was a real asset there as you assisted in hiring many Spanish speaking workers.

This year you had an Internship with Sienna Hotels and Casinos in their HR department, and were fascinated by working in a large entertainment organization. This changed your thinking about the type of HR department where you want to work.

Yesterday you were delighted when you met Ms Suarez, the VP of Human Resources for Lionsgate at the college job fair. Lionsgate is the premier independent producer and distributor of motion pictures, home entertainment, family entertainment, television programming and video-on-demand content. Lionsgage is opening a new office in Reno and has an immediate opening for an entry- level HR Assistant there.

This position will handle a variety of administrative tasks. Responsibilities will include tracking and circulating contracts for signatures, preparing stock packets for employees, maintaining contract files, conducting phones screens, checking references for candidates, assisting with college interns, and helping coordinate company events.

Since this office will be relatively small the person hired for this job must be flexible, know the area and have exceptional computer and interpersonal skills. Ms Suarez also explained the confidential nature of the department. She stressed that the person she hires must be extremely detail-oriented, with the ability to meet tight deadlines. Ms Suarez was impressed with your Spanish minor, as much of the new programming at Lionsgate is for a Latino audience, and the HR department will be dealing with many Spanish speaking applicants

This sounded like the perfect position for you, and you couldn’t believe your luck when Ms. Suarez offered you the position at the end of your interview yesterday. She asked you to come back today just to settle a couple details like salary, benefits and a starting date and then sign a contract.

You’ve done your homework. www.wageproject.org tells you that an HR Assistant in Reno has a salary range of $32,000 to $41,000 with a median salary of $36,000 which sounds like a lot of money. The benefits package for this position is worth another $17,000.

This is you dream job, but you have to be able to live in Reno, so you’ve determined that your target salary is $36,000 which you firmly believe is fair, given your impressive work and volunteer experience, your excellent education and Spanish proficiency. You can hit the ground running!

Living on your own will be expensive. You have hefty student loans to pay off. You will need an appropriate wardrobe, your car needs replacing and you want to enjoy the night life the city offers now that you are out of school. You’ve done your budget and know the minimum salary you can possibly accept is $33,000 and that would mean living VERY modestly.

You have the last appointment of the day. Ms. Suarez must leave in 15 minutes to catch a plane back to the home office in LA. Can you and Ms. Suarez come to an agreement about a starting salary which you can accept? Can you get her to agree to your target salary figure? Will she offer an acceptable benefits package?

Make notes on what you consider your persuasive points. Decide the sequence in which you will present these points. Make notes about the language you will use. Make notes about likely objections and what you will say.

Use every minute of that time to get her to your target salary. Remember this is your chance to start out with the you deserve and job that is perfect for you. Remember, too, $36,00 is what you’re worth doing this job!

Go for it!