| Course | HRM 548 Recruitment and Retention Practices (HRM/548) |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Employer branding and sourcing strategy |
| Length | about 1,170 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HRM 548 Week 2
Why a Credit Union Loses Applicants to Banks and Call Centers: An Employer Brand and Sourcing Strategy for Saguaro Valley
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
HRM/548: Recruitment and Retention Practices
Week 2 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Saguaro Valley Credit Union and all recruiting data are composites written for a model paper.
Saguaro Valley Credit Union, the composite Phoenix-based cooperative from Week 1, must hire about 230 member service representatives a year and build a fraud prevention team of 18 analysts by 2027. Its recruiting team of five relies mainly on job boards. Applications for service roles fell 20 percent last year, and half of offers to experienced fraud analysts were declined. Candidates who withdraw cite pay at nearby banks and remote options at call centers. An employer brand cannot be invented in a marketing meeting; it has to be found in what employees already value and then made true for the people the organization wants to hire. This paper builds an employer brand and sourcing strategy for both kinds of hiring.
Why Employer Brand Matters
Employer branding applies brand ideas to recruiting: candidates form beliefs about what it would be like to work for an organization, and those beliefs influence whether they apply and accept. Theurer et al. (2018) reviewed the literature and described employer brand as building through candidates' awareness, their image of the employer and their sense of fit. A credit union is often less known as an employer than as a place to bank.
What Candidates Look For
Pooling dozens of recruiting studies, Chapman et al. (2005) showed that applicants' attraction depended most strongly on perceived fit, the characteristics of the job and organization and recruiter behaviors such as warmth, while recruiter demographics mattered little. The finding suggests that a brand should communicate the job and the culture honestly and that recruiters' conduct matters.
Evidence From Current Employees
A survey of 640 employees and focus groups in six branches asked why people joined and stayed. The most common answers were the mission of serving members rather than shareholders, supportive coworkers, tuition assistance and the chance to move into lending. The least favorable were starting pay, unpredictable schedules and pressure to sell products. A brand built only on mission would ignore real concerns.
The Employee Value Proposition
The proposed value proposition is "Build a career helping neighbors with their money." It rests on four promises the credit union will make true: member impact over sales quotas, schedules posted three weeks ahead, a paid path from member service to lending within two years and pay at the market median. The second and fourth promises require changes, which leadership has approved.
Competitor Comparison
The comparison included two national banks, a regional bank and a large call center employer. The banks pay $1 to $2 more an hour to start but impose sales goals. The call center offers remote work but limited advancement. Saguaro Valley's advantage is the combination of community mission, career paths and, after changes, predictable schedules. That combination is distinctive.
Analyzing Current Channels
Recruiting data for the past two years show that job boards produced 62 percent of applicants but only 41 percent of hires, with 12-month retention of 48 percent. Employee referrals produced 9 percent of applicants, 21 percent of hires and 12-month retention of 71 percent. Walk-in and branch applicants produced 15 percent of hires with retention of 63 percent. Breaugh (2008) reviewed research showing that referrals and rehires generally yield employees who stay longer, likely because they receive realistic information.
Cost per Hire by Channel
Job boards cost about $1,050 per hire including advertising and recruiter time. Referrals cost $800, including a $500 bonus paid after 90 days. Community college partnerships cost about $600 per hire. Agencies, used for specialist roles, cost 20 percent of first-year salary, about $16,000 per fraud analyst.
Strategy for Member Service Representatives
High-volume hiring needs efficiency and fit. The strategy expands referrals by raising the bonus to $750 for hires who reach six months, builds partnerships with Maricopa and Pima community college districts, uses a five-minute mobile application, schedules interviews automatically and posts realistic job previews showing a day at the teller line and in the contact center.
The Application Funnel
The funnel showed that 38 percent of applicants who started the online application abandoned it, which took 25 minutes on a phone. Shortening it to five minutes is expected to recover many of them. Another 30 percent of candidates scheduled for interviews did not attend, so text reminders and same-week interviews will be added.
Strategy for Fraud Analysts
Fraud analysts are scarce. The strategy recruits through professional associations for fraud examiners, LinkedIn searches for analysts at banks and payment companies, partnerships with Arizona State University and the University of Arizona for graduates in data analytics and an internal pathway for operations staff interested in fraud work. Remote and hybrid options will be offered, since many candidates now expect them.
Telling the Story Through Employees
Candidates trust current employees more than corporate messages. The credit union will feature short videos and written profiles of representatives who moved into lending, a fraud specialist explaining how she caught a scam targeting an elderly member and branch staff describing their schedules. Employees will review the content to confirm it reflects their experience. The careers page will also publish pay ranges and the career path, because candidates who see a clear path are more likely to apply and less likely to be surprised later.
Rehiring Former Employees
Former employees who left in good standing are a low-cost source of experienced talent. The credit union will create an alumni list, contact former representatives who left for pay or schedule reasons once the new policies take effect and offer to restore their prior tenure for benefits purposes. Rehires need little training and already know the culture, so even a modest number would reduce costs.
Recruiter Conduct and Candidate Experience
Because recruiter behavior affects attraction, recruiters will be trained to describe jobs accurately, respond to candidates within two business days and give feedback after interviews. Candidate surveys will measure experience.
Diversity in Sourcing
Referral programs can reproduce the existing workforce's makeup. To balance that, the credit union will add sourcing through community organizations and Hispanic-serving colleges in its markets, consistent with the membership it serves.
Recruiting Metrics
The team will track applicants by channel, yield ratios at each stage, time to fill, cost per hire, offer acceptance rate, 90-day and 12-month retention and new-hire performance ratings by channel. The quarterly report will show which channels deliver people who stay.
Budget
The plan adds about $180,000 a year for referral bonuses, college partnerships and technology, offset by an expected reduction in agency fees and turnover costs. If referral hires keep their higher retention, savings from fewer early departures alone would cover most of the added spending within two years.
Conclusion
Saguaro Valley's employer brand rests on member impact, predictable schedules, career paths and fair pay, the things current employees value and the credit union has committed to deliver. Referral-heavy, mobile-friendly sourcing will fill member service roles, while targeted, remote-friendly sourcing will build the fraud team. Measures that follow hires through their first year will show whether the strategy works.
References
Breaugh, J. A. (2008). Employee recruitment: Current knowledge and important areas for future research. Human Resource Management Review, 18(3), 103-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2008.07.003
Chapman, D. S., Uggerslev, K. L., Carroll, S. A., Piasentin, K. A., & Jones, D. A. (2005). Applicant attraction to organizations and job choice: A meta-analytic review of the correlates of recruiting outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(5), 928-944. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.90.5.928
Theurer, C. P., Tumasjan, A., Welpe, I. M., & Lievens, F. (2018). Employer branding: A brand equity-based literature review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 20(1), 155-179. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12121
What the HRM 548 Week 2 instructions ask
The second week of HRM 548 commonly asks students to develop an employer brand and a sourcing strategy for an organization. Expected elements include an employee value proposition grounded in what the organization actually offers, analysis of how candidates and competitors see the employer, an evaluation of sourcing channels such as job boards, referrals, campus programs, social media and agencies, and metrics for measuring recruiting performance. Many prompts ask students to treat different jobs differently. Base the brand on evidence from employees, compare channels using data on yield and quality, draw on recruitment research and document every source in APA style.
How this HRM 548 Week 2 example is built
A credit union that loses applicants to banks offering higher pay and to call centers offering remote work must find a reason for candidates to choose it, and the paper builds that reason from employee surveys. It defines a value proposition around member impact, predictable schedules and career paths. It compares the credit union's offer with three competitors. It analyzes channel data showing that employee referrals produce hires who stay longer. For member service roles, it designs high-volume sourcing through referrals, community colleges and mobile applications. For fraud analysts, it designs targeted sourcing through professional networks and remote work. It closes with recruiting metrics that follow each hire through the first year, so channel decisions rest on retention and performance, and with a budget that is offset by lower agency fees and turnover.
HRM 548 Week 2 grading rubric: where the points go
Strong employer branding papers ground the value proposition in evidence about what employees value and what the organization can deliver, rather than slogans. Faculty credit a fair comparison with competitors, channel analysis using yield ratios, cost per hire and quality of hire, and separate strategies for high-volume and scarce roles. Research on applicant attraction and recruitment sources supports choices. Metrics for each stage of the funnel show the strategy can be managed. A clear structure, realistic budgets and APA references complete the paper. Faculty also look for a link between brand promises and workplace changes, because a brand that promises predictable schedules while managers still post them two days ahead will raise early turnover rather than lower it. Showing that leadership has approved the changes behind each promise is persuasive.
HRM 548 Week 2 help: mistakes to avoid
Students often write employer brand statements that could describe any organization. Test whether a competitor could say the same thing. Another gap is choosing channels without data; compare them on cost, yield and retention of the people hired. Students also use one strategy for every role. Separate high-volume and specialist hiring. Avoid promising things in the brand that employees do not experience, since that raises early turnover. Use the application funnel to find where candidates drop out. Finally, include measures that track quality and retention of hires, not only the number of applicants. A channel that brings many applicants who leave within six months is expensive no matter how low its advertising cost looks.
Related HRM 548 sample papers
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- HRM 548 Week 3: Selection Methods
- HRM 548 Week 4: Offers, Negotiation and Relocation
- HRM 548 Week 5: Employment Policies
- HRM 548 Week 6: Retention and Total Rewards
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HRM 548 Week 2 questions, answered
What does HRM 548 Week 2 usually cover?
It usually covers employer branding and sourcing: defining an employee value proposition, comparing the employer with competitors, choosing recruiting channels and measuring recruiting results.
Where can I find a free HRM 548 Week 2 sample paper?
This page presents a complete employer brand and sourcing strategy for a credit union, with notes beside each step. For your own branding prompt, a free draft is one request away.
What is an employee value proposition?
The set of rewards, experiences and opportunities an employer offers in return for employees' work, which forms the basis of its employer brand and should reflect what employees actually experience.
Which recruiting sources produce the best hires?
Research generally finds that employee referrals and rehires tend to produce employees who stay longer and perform at least as well, partly because they receive more accurate information about the job.
What is a recruiting yield ratio?
The proportion of candidates who move from one stage of the hiring process to the next, such as applicants to interviews or offers to acceptances, used to compare channels and find bottlenecks.
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