| Course | C234 Workforce Planning: Recruitment and Selection |
|---|---|
| Task | Task 1 |
| Paper type | Workforce plan with selection process |
| Length | About 1,000 words, 3 pages |
| Format | APA 7 |
| School | Western Governors University (WGU) |
| Program | BS Human Resource Management |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for C234 Task 1
Sixty Drivers Short: A Workforce Plan, Recruitment Strategy and Selection Process for a Composite Regional Trucking Company Growing Faster Than It Can Hire
Student Name
School of Business, Western Governors University
C234: Workforce Planning: Recruitment and Selection, Task 1
Course Instructor
Month Day, Year
Sixty Drivers Short: A Workforce Plan, Recruitment Strategy and Selection Process for a Composite Regional Trucking Company Growing Faster Than It Can Hire
The Organization
Prairie Line Freight, a composite regional carrier based in Kansas, runs 210 tractors hauling groceries, building materials and farm equipment within about 500 miles of its terminals. It employs 230 drivers, 40 dock workers and mechanics, and 35 office staff. Most routes return drivers home every night or every other night, which is one of the company's selling points. A new contract with a regional grocery chain will add 30 tractors next year. Leadership has asked HR how many drivers the company must hire and how it will find and choose them.
Factors Influencing Labor Demand
Several factors drive Prairie Line's demand for drivers. Business growth is the largest: the grocery contract requires 30 tractors running six days a week, and with relief drivers for time off, each tractor needs about 1.15 drivers, or 35 new driver positions. Turnover is the second: 28% of drivers left last year, including 41% of those hired in the previous 12 months, and at that rate the company will lose about 64 drivers next year. Retirements add to turnover; 22% of drivers are over 58. Regulation shapes demand as well, since federal hours-of-service rules limit how long each driver can drive, which sets how many drivers each route requires. Technology is a smaller factor: better routing software may reduce empty miles slightly but will not reduce the number of drivers needed in the next year.
Factors Influencing Labor Supply
Internal supply is limited. Dock workers and yard staff are the most likely internal candidates, and eight have expressed interest in earning a commercial driver's license. External supply is tight. Experienced drivers are sought by every carrier in the region, including national companies offering sign-on bonuses, and local labor markets are small. Federal rules also narrow the pool: drivers operating in interstate commerce must meet qualification requirements that include age, a valid commercial license, a medical examiner's certificate, a road test or equivalent and a review of driving records (Qualifications of Drivers, 2024).
Forecast of the Gap
The forecast combines growth and turnover. The company needs 35 new positions for growth and about 64 replacements for expected turnover, for a gross hiring need of roughly 99 drivers next year. If the company succeeds in reducing first-year turnover from 41% to 25%, as the retention measures below aim to do, replacements fall to about 50, reducing the hiring need to about 85. In either case, recruiting must roughly double from last year's 52 hires, so the recruitment and selection plan must both widen the pool and keep more of the people it hires.
Recruitment Strategies
Internal: a sponsored commercial license program will pay tuition and wages for up to 12 dock and yard workers a year to earn their licenses, in exchange for a one-year commitment. Internal candidates already know the company and its safety culture, and their promotion is visible to others.
Driving school partnerships: Prairie Line will partner with two community college driving programs, offering tuition reimbursement to graduates who join and a paid finishing program riding with a trainer. New graduates are plentiful but have the highest early turnover, so the finishing program is essential.
Referrals: current drivers will receive $1,500 for each referred driver who completes 90 days, since referred employees tend to have more accurate expectations of the job.
Targeted outreach: the company will recruit through veterans' transition programs, where many service members hold heavy vehicle experience, and advertise home-daily routes to drivers leaving long-haul carriers, emphasizing the advantage that fits their reasons for leaving.
Honest job previews: all postings and interviews will describe the job accurately, including early start times and physical loading on some routes, because candidates who understand the job before accepting it are less likely to leave early.
Selection Process
Selection must predict safe, reliable performance, comply with federal driver qualification rules and treat candidates fairly. When Sackett et al. (2022) corrected long-standing overestimates in selection research, structured interviews came out near the top of the list for predicting how well people do the job, and work samples and knowledge tests also held up well. Prairie Line's process has five steps: an application screen for legal minimum qualifications; a structured interview with the same eight questions for every candidate, covering safety decisions, customer delivery and schedule reliability, scored by two interviewers on a defined scale; a road test in company equipment scored with a checklist, which also serves as a work sample; required checks of driving records and prior employers' safety performance; and a conditional offer followed by the required medical examination and drug test.
Fairness and legal compliance are built in. Federal guidelines on employee selection generally regard a group's selection rate below four-fifths, or 80%, of the most successful group's rate as a sign of adverse impact (Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, 2024). HR will review selection rates by group every quarter. Medical examinations will occur only after a conditional offer, consistent with disability law, and criminal history will be considered only as it relates to the job.
Measures
HR will track drivers hired against the forecast each quarter, applicants per opening by source, time to fill, the pass rates at each selection step by group, 90-day and one-year retention by source and safety events among new drivers in their first year. Sources that produce drivers who stay and drive safely will receive more investment. The plan will be reviewed at midyear against the forecast; if growth or turnover differs from assumptions, hiring targets and recruiting budgets will be adjusted rather than left to drift until year end.
Conclusion
Prairie Line needs roughly 85 to 99 new drivers next year, about double last year's hiring, because of growth and high early turnover. The plan widens the pool through internal licensing, school partnerships, referrals and targeted outreach, and it selects drivers with structured interviews and road tests that predict performance and comply with federal requirements. Measuring results by source and group will show which strategies build a stable, safe and fair driver workforce.
References
Qualifications of Drivers and Longer Combination Vehicle (LCV) Driver Instructors, 49 C.F.R. pt. 391 (2024). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-III/subchapter-B/part-391
Sackett, P. R., Zhang, C., Berry, C. M., & Lievens, F. (2022). Revisiting meta-analytic estimates of validity in personnel selection: Addressing systematic overcorrection for restriction of range. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(11), 2040-2068. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000994
Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, 29 C.F.R. pt. 1607 (2024). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-XIV/part-1607
What the C234 Task 1 instructions ask
C234 starts with a staffing plan for an organization that needs more workers than it has. You will typically describe the organization, analyze factors that affect labor demand and labor supply, forecast the gap, propose recruitment strategies and design a selection process. Evaluators expect demand factors, such as growth and turnover, to be tied to numbers, and supply factors to separate internal from external sources. The forecast should show its arithmetic so a reader can check it. Recruitment strategies earn credit when each targets a specific source of candidates identified in the supply analysis. The selection process should use methods with evidence of validity and comply with the law, including rules on adverse impact. Measures that show whether the plan worked round out a strong paper.
How this C234 Task 1 example is built
The plan opens with the carrier's fleet, workforce and the home-daily routes that shape its hiring. Demand factors come next, with growth converted into positions at 1.15 drivers per tractor and first-year turnover of 41% shown as the second driver. Supply factors separate eight interested dock and yard workers from a tight external market. The forecast combines growth and replacements into a gross need and shows how better retention would lower it. Recruitment strategies are grouped by source, from internal licensing to school partnerships and referral bonuses. Selection follows federal driver qualification rules and draws on research that ranks structured interviews and work samples highly. A measures section lists what HR will track each quarter, and notes explain each part's purpose.
Where the C234 Task 1 rubric puts the marks
C234 Task 1 aspects are graded competent, approaching competence or not evident. A demand aspect asks for the factors that drive labor needs, explained with the organization's data. The supply aspect looks for internal and external availability analyzed separately. A forecast aspect wants a reasoned estimate of the gap, and evaluators check the math. Recruitment aspects reward strategies matched to the candidate sources the analysis found. The selection aspect asks for steps in a logical order with methods that predict job performance. Legal aspects look for relevant laws applied, here federal driver qualification rules and the Uniform Guidelines on adverse impact. A measures aspect expects metrics for judging success. Writing and APA citation aspects apply to the whole paper, so cite regulations and research correctly.
C234 Task 1 help: what sends it back
Workforce plans often lose marks when demand and supply are described in general terms. Give numbers for each factor and show how they combine in the forecast. Some papers forget turnover and plan only for growth, which understates the need. Recruitment sections can list every method available instead of choosing those that reach the right candidates; explain why each fits. Selection processes sometimes include tests with no evidence of validity, so cite research on the methods you choose. Adverse impact is a frequent gap, and tracking pass rates by group is a simple way to address it. Measures may be missing or vague, so name them and say how often they will be reviewed. Keep the organization and its figures consistent from section to section.
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C234 Task 1 questions, answered
What drives labor demand in C234?
Business growth, turnover and changes in how work is done. The sample converts a new contract into 35 driver positions and adds replacements for turnover, especially the 41% of new drivers who leave in their first year.
Is the C234 company real?
No. Prairie Line Freight is a composite written for this example. The federal driver qualification rules, the Uniform Guidelines and the selection research cited are real, so check them against your own organization.
Must C234 address adverse impact?
Yes, where your instructions ask about legal compliance. The sample tracks pass rates at each selection step by group so that a step screening out one group can be found and reviewed.
How should C234 show the forecast?
With the arithmetic visible. The sample adds growth positions to expected replacements for a gross need of about 99 drivers, then shows how cutting first-year turnover would reduce that figure.
Where can I find a free C234 Task 1 sample paper?
The trucking company workforce plan is set out above with a note on each part. Tell us the organization you are planning for, and your first custom C234 paper will be written free.