Mila was thrilled when she obtained a position in Human Resources after getting her Business Degree last fall.  As a new HR Specialist at Sales Software Inc. in Vancouver, BC, she had been quite busy learning about the firm and her new job. Sales Software Inc. makes software for retail enterprises that is used at the point of sale. Mila didn't have much experience in human resources, but her degree helped her a lot in her new job.

So far, there wasn't much for onboarding or training, which made it hard for her. Mila kept going with her new career and learned something new every day. It seemed like new questions and problems came up all the time, but she kept up and looked into everything herself.It would have been good to have advice from other HR Specialists, but one was on maternity leave for the next year, another had been fired suddenly two months before Mila started, and a third had been sick for three months and had no idea when she would be back at work.  

Mila's boss, Devo, who was the HR Manager, was often in meetings and often worked from home, so she didn't see him very often. It had been five months since she started, and no one had mentioned anything about how she was doing. Usually, she thought, not hearing anything was a good sign.

Mila got into a bit of difficulty since she sent out a letter that left out some critical details she didn't know about at the time. That was the one time her boss Devo had come into her office and been angry with her. Mila thought that her supervisor could have done a better job.

There had been a few new hiring in union jobs, so the union decided to file grievances on behalf of union members who thought they were qualified for the new jobs but weren't chosen. Mila wasn't sure what she might have missed, but Labour Relations was taking over those files.

Now, an Operations Manager intended to post a job for a Software Specialist that Mila was supposed to fill in a month. Mila was a little nervous that if she missed something while uploading, she would be in trouble. She didn't feel very comfortable asking Devo at this point. A meeting with the Operational Manager was set up so that they could talk about the nature of the job and what qualities the best candidate should have.    

1.      What are four Human Resources Management issues that can be identified from this case that Mila has experienced? 

2.      What could Mila suggest to fix the identified HR issues?

3.      What should Mila do about the relationship with her boss?

4.      How should Mila handle the information gathering about the Software Specialist position that she is supposed to post and fill in the next month?

5.      Create the Software Specialist job posting keeping in mind the essential HR Management elements.

6.      Discuss four key HR Management topics from this course that will be important from the posting stage to after the successful candidate is in their new role as a Software Specialist.