A Human Resource Bank at Alpha could provide the information required in each of these instances. If no one in the organization fills the bill, then the leaders of Alpha know that they need to look outside the organization for consultation. If they have sufficient time, they might instead provide education or training to several Alpha employees, so that they might become skillful or knowledgeable in the requisite areas. The alternative strategy is to proceed without this valued skill or knowledge. However, much is lost when no one on the Alpha team can speak French, and the meeting is being held in France or a majority of the participants are French-speaking. Alpha could hire a translator, but this is a poor substitute for a fluent member of the team who knows the business and can speak first-hand rather than through a translator. Alternatively, Alpha could hire someone with the needed skills or knowledge. This is often a costly decision, given that the needs are usually short-term. What does Alpha do with this person after the need no longer exists? What about the startup phase and learning curve as this new Alpha employee becomes acquainted with his new job and organization?
Job Appointments
The second use of the HR Bank centers on the process of identifying internal candidates for a job opening in the organization. While most organizations post all job openings and encourage internal candidates for most positions in the organization, a Human Resource Bank reinforces this policy by providing information regarding those employees who might be best qualified to assume this position. Typically, the job description is prepared with a list of desired SKAs. This list is then entered into the HR Bank and matched with employee profiles.
One does not want a perfect fit between the job specifications and the SKA requirements of the job (the person/job overlap). There is usually very little problem, however, in finding an employee who will be challenged by the new job, even though they already have many of the prerequisite SKAs as determined by the HR Bank analysis. Employees are particularly inclined to feel challenged and appreciated if the skill sets or knowledge, they will be applying in the new job has been available but never used in their previous assignments. The employee is also likely to be highly motivated if this skill or knowledge was acquired after this employee first came to the organization. It is usually a pleasure for an employee to actually use concepts on the job that she has acquired in a classroom or while working on a community service project.
