SHRM-CP cheat sheet

Cost-per-hire = (total recruiting costs, internal and external) ÷ (number of hires made in the period).

Selection ratio = (positions filled) ÷ (applicants); a low ratio indicates a highly selective hiring process.

Yield ratio = (candidates advancing to the next stage) ÷ (candidates at the current stage); compute it by recruiting source to identify productive channels.

Four-fifths rule: if a protected group's selection rate is less than 80% of the rate of the highest-scoring group, adverse impact is indicated and the practice must be justified as job related.

70-20-10 model: roughly 70% of development comes from challenging job experience, 20% from relationships and coaching, 10% from formal courses.

Kirkpatrick levels in fixed order: reaction, learning, behavior, results; each level requires different data and answers a different evaluation question.

Voluntary turnover rate = (voluntary separations ÷ average headcount) × 100; report voluntary, involuntary, and total turnover separately because they signal different problems.

Training ROI = [(monetary benefits − program costs) ÷ program costs] × 100.

Nine-box grid plots employees on performance (x-axis) and potential (y-axis); the high-performance/high-potential cell drives succession and development investment.

Wider span of control produces fewer hierarchical layers and a flatter structure; narrow spans create tall structures with more managers and higher overhead.

Ulrich's four HR roles: strategic partner, change agent, administrative expert, and employee champion.

Lewin's sequence is unfreeze → change → refreeze; skipping unfreezing produces resistance, and skipping refreezing allows reversion to old practices.

Force field analysis: change occurs when driving forces exceed restraining forces, so interventions either add drivers or remove restrainers.

Workforce planning sequence: forecast labor demand → forecast supply (internal and external) → compute the gap → choose build, buy, borrow, bridge, or outsource actions.

Life-cycle structure pattern: startup (informal), growth (functional specialization), maturity (formal, decentralized), decline (renewal or retrenchment).

Progressive discipline order: verbal warning → written warning → final warning or improvement plan → suspension → termination, with documentation at each step.

OD interventions fall into four families: human process, technostructural, human resource management, and strategic change.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964): 15+ employees; prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and prohibits retaliation.

ADEA covers age 40+ for employers with 20+ employees; ADA covers employers with 15+ employees and requires reasonable accommodation absent undue hardship; GINA restricts use of genetic information.

FMLA: employer has 50+ employees within 75 miles; employee has 12 months of service and 1,250 hours worked; entitlement is up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per 12-month period.

FLSA: non-exempt employees receive 1.5× the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek; exemption requires the salary basis test plus the duties test.

COBRA: group health plans of employers with 20+ employees must offer continuation coverage, generally 18 months for termination or reduced hours.

WARN Act: employers with 100+ employees must give 60 days' advance written notice of a plant closing or mass layoff affecting 50+ employees at a single site.

OSHA General Duty Clause: the employer must furnish a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm.

Risk treatment options are tolerate (accept), treat (mitigate), transfer (insure or contract out), and terminate (avoid the activity).

NLRA Section 7 protects employees' right to engage in concerted activity for mutual aid or protection, including non-union employees.

Strategy formulation sequence: mission and vision → external and internal analysis → objectives → strategy selection → implementation → evaluation and adjustment.

SWOT pairing rules: strengths-opportunities (growth), strengths-threats (defend), weaknesses-opportunities (improve), weaknesses-threats (retrench or avoid).

Porter's generic strategies are cost leadership, differentiation, and focus (cost focus or differentiation focus); lacking a clear choice leaves a firm stuck in the middle.

Balanced scorecard perspectives: financial, customer, internal business process, learning and growth; each contains objectives, measures, targets, and initiatives.

Vertical fit = HR practices aligned to business strategy; horizontal fit = HR practices aligned and mutually reinforcing with one another.

PESTLE scans political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental macro-level factors.

In mergers and acquisitions, HR due diligence covers culture fit, compensation and benefit liabilities, talent retention risk, and labor contract or works council obligations.

HR measurement hierarchy: activity and cost metrics → efficiency metrics → outcome metrics → predictive metrics that forecast business impact.