Simulations to Spark Learning

In my human resource management class I created a simulation experience to teach the following concepts.

• Job analysis
• job description creation
• Interview question creation
• Candidate selection planning
• New employee orientation
• Compensation

We use a “fast food supervisor” as our model for the entire 7 week course. This is a person that at least all of the students have seen in action. it allows the entire class to focus from start to finish on the whole process we would use in Human Resources and as a leader! Students are in charge of the process working in groups to learn the entire process. Students also partake in mock interviews as if they were hiring an actual candidate to gain experience.

The Job Pyramid is a way for students to visually understand that if we don’t get the first part right we ultimately won’t hire the correct person.

One of the issues leaders face is the lack of training as it relates to interviewing. Normally they are given a list of interview questions and told to go interview. This is recipe for disaster!

Each class is different and the amount of instructor intervention is different. What I find that as the course progresses I find new ways to make it more meaningful for future classes by watching how the students react to the simulation along the way! It gives what can be some boring material a life of its own in many ways.

Ultimately students have commented that they didn’t realize how much went into hiring an employee, the right employee!