Recruitment in Action: A Simulation Exercise on Strategic Recruitment Decisions

Recruitment is one of the most critical Human Resource Management (HRM) functions in organizations and a central topic in most HRM courses. This paper describes a simulation exercise about a high-tech company aiming to establish a solid staff foundation to expand its business landscape. In this exercise, students take on the role of decision-makers in a recruitment team for the company and are tasked with collaboratively identifying the company’s staffing needs, deciding on a recruitment strategy, prioritizing positions, and making key recruitment decisions under simulated constraints. A plenary discussion follows, where teams compare their decisions and explain the reasoning behind the choices they made. A debriefing discussion led by the instructor using the reflection questions concludes the activity. This exercise can be conducted in both in-person and virtual class settings.