When asked why they should rebrand an already highly respected name, Ian Beattie had this to say:  “Looking forward we felt that “Pipeline Recruitment”, better reflects our mission – to provide our clients with a “pipeline” of top talent. We have the same commitment to delivering outstanding outcomes for our clients and jobseekers.”

In an industry that frequently receives poor press from both clients and candidates alike receiving shabby and ethically questionable services,   Pipeline Recruitment set themselves apart from the pack as effective business partners to any organisation seeking top talent, and to candidates who appreciate superb communications and service.  If you haven’t had the Pipeline experience yet, we’d recommend you give them a call.

Update your contact details for Pipeline Recruitment: 

Tel: (06) 835-4550

enquiries@pipelinerecruit.co.nz

www.pipelinerecruit.co.nz

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The experience was thoroughly enjoyable and demonstrated over and over the considerable effort, drive and motivation our regions retailers put in to deliver the demands placed on them by head-office,  whilst not losing sight of the specific needs of their local customers.

However, amongst these positive themes, lurked a frequently heard common theme of the best efforts of managers and dedicated teams being eroded by poor selection decisions of staff who didn’t share the customer service ethos of their employer and took advantage of access to stock and cash through theft.

The impact on the business of these experiences was substantial and wide ranging, from the obvious loss of hard earned takings, to the less tangible impact of damaged moral to store managers doubting their capability to select and manage staff.  From my perspective as someone who specialises in reducing and managing the risks of staff selection, the most alarming observation was that most felt almost powerless to address the issue in future, which prompted me to compile the following solution from our bank of tried and tested staff selection tools:

A Retail Staff Candidate Selection Suite:

By concentrating on three core criteria for success in retail environments, employers can regain confidence that they are walking into every new employment agreement with their eyes open in terms of whether a preferred candidate has the basic essentials to perform in the role and what they are likely to need to do to get them from good to great performing staff:

1. Honesty & Integrity
2. Sales & Customer Service Focus
3. Basic Abilities in Arithmetic, Attention to Detail & Understanding Communications

1. Honesty and integrity can be readily measured through a cost-effective online tool that teases out candidates most likely to value and adhere to company policies, procedures, and have the desired conscientiousness required of people handling cash and products.  The questionnaire equally identifies those with little or no regard for company policies, targets and processes, as well as those with an unhealthy view towards theft.  Click here for an overview of the questionnaire and a sample report

2.   Most retail managers will already know that some people are cut out for a job requiring customer service and sales skills, and some are not.  Unfortunately, many continue to only find out if a new recruit is will perform in these roles in the months after they have hired them, which frequently leads to reduced sales and expensive and time consuming dismissal.  Again, determining whether a preferred candidate has the sales and customer service skills before you hire them is easily achieved through sales-focused online candidate assessment tool.  Click here for an overview of how this tool teases out those who will hit 40% of target from those likely to hit 140% of target, then place those figures against your stores bottom line and wonder why you didn’t start using this approach years ago

3. Making some form of assessment in a candidates ability to make sense of the information that will come their way, the basic numbers that drive the stores performance and checking skills that demonstrate accurate attention to detail is the third and final stage of a strong thorough selection decision.  Again, these can be readily assessed through ability tests aimed at general admin and retail staff, such as this Clerical Test Battery

The online access and fast turnaround of results make the introduction of these assessments cost effective, without slowing up the recruitment process, especially when only applied to final stage candidates.

With the cost of replacing poor performing or fraudulent staff placed at between 140% and 200% of that staff members annual salary, addressing the risks of making a selection decision you will live to regret has never been so essential or easy to access.

At People Central Ltd, the core of our business is reducing risks in recruitment and selection, from front line staff to CEO’s.  Give us a call today on 0508 PEOPLE to reduce staff selection risks in your business.

About this article & author

Steve Evans is a Director at People Central Ltd, a Napier based consultancy that supports businesses across New Zealand in making strong selection decisions and making the most of their existing teams

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This is the test chosen by New Zealand Police to sharpen up police recruitment practices after criticisms in 2006/7.  The test is particularly useful for identifying staff who are likely to benefit from further training and development, and those who demonstrate promotion potential.

This test is now available in an unsupervised online version, removing the barrier of needing an appropriately qualified supervisor to administer it.

Whilst we would still recommend that clients take steps to ensure that the person completing the test is the same person you are looking to hire or promote by having the tests completed either on your premises or by a third party who can verify each participants identity, this online version opens up access to any employer, anywhere, anytime, as all we need to set up the session are the names, contact phone numbers and email addresses of participants to complete the process.

Coupled with our service level to get results to hiring managers within 24hrs of test completion, this online development enables employers to make fast and accurate selection decisions without denting quality.

You can find out more about the GRT2 and see a sample report by clicking here.  Then give us a call on 0508 736753

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PASAT is the most extensive sales-focused personality questionnaire available in this country, and having it available online makes it readily available nation-wide.

People Central are the sole distributors of PASAT in New Zealand.  We developed the NZ norm group ourselves and can answer any technical queries.

Click here for an overview of the questionnaire and sample reports, and here for a more in depth look at the sales traits measured by PASAT and some ‘freebie’ interview questions on how to explore them.

Then give us a call on 06 833 6465

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The same dilemma faces HR and line managers wanting to assess staff working off-site.  How do you go about getting a thorough and accurate picture of their abilities, team-fit and potential without the time, expense and inconvenience of travel?

There are three options available through People Central Ltd that will enable you to readily address the issue:

1. Can these people be assessed or tested online?

As most of you know by now, most reputable personality questionnaires can be completed online.  All we need from you is the participant’s name, contact phone number and email address and we do the rest within 24 hours.

Online assessments are not restricted to just personality questionnaires, with most software and IT skills tests also available online, although the employer needs to be sure the person completing the test is the same one they are trying to recruit!

2. Using Skype for Supervised Sessions

Some supervised testing sessions can now be supervised by us via Skype, including our flagship tests of Numerical, Verbal and Abstract Reasoning, Clerical and Industrial Proficiency Tests.

This has brought about huge positive change for our regular clients who can make thorough assessments of candidates before deciding on whether to invest time, money and effort into travel and accommodation when short-listing  or making promotion decisions for existing staff who work off-site.

3. Use our National & International Network of Qualified Professionals

Online testing and assessment isn’t appropriate in every situation.  Where participants are required to complete Ability Tests or Assessment Centre Exercises such as Role Play’s, then the use of appropriately qualified and seasoned assessors is often mandatory.

Fortunately for you, we have put considerable time and effort into building up a network of such people across most of New Zealand’s main centres, recently adding Invercargill and Queenstown to the list.  We also have assessment partners in the major Australian cities, the UK and EU.

In other words, we can get your candidates and off-site staff assessed almost wherever they are, so you can confidently apply the same diligence to the recruitment and selection decision making process no matter where individuals are located.  Give us a call today on 06 833 6465 to see where we can support your recruitment, selection and promotion processes.

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When used effectively, phone-interviews bring all the benefits of trimming down that pile of CV’s into the final few for shortlisting without the expense of bringing candidates in from all over and organising the resources to accommodate interviews and candidates.  However, they also bring considerable risks of missing out on great candidates when run ineffectively, and with over 50% of our communications attributed to non-verbal body language, how can you make the most from the efficiencies without losing the interviews effectiveness?

Here are 4 pointers for making the most from conducting selection interviews by phone, based on hundreds of phone interviews conducted by us, and including bringing Skype technology into the mix:

1. Organising the Phone Interview

Phone interviews get the most bad press when they are sprung upon candidates.  Some recruitment consultants and employers simply call candidates out of the blue to announce they have been shortlisted and dive straight into an interview that may run anythng from ten minutes to an hour.  The candidate may be halfway round the supermarket with a toddler in tow, or even driving a car.

To get the most from phone-interviews, organise them in the same way you would organise face-to-face interviews:

• Call candidates to arrange a suitable time and day for the phone interview
• Allow candidates enough time to organise themselves, review their CV’s, contact their referees and brush up on their homework on your business before the event
• Organise the phone interview on a land-line wherever possible.  Mobile technology has grown in leaps and bounds, but still isn’t as clear and reliable as land-lines just yet
• Ensure candidates know the duration of the planned interview so they can plan it around the rest of their commitments for the day

2. Take Account of the Missing Non-Verbal Communications

Every good interviewer knows the value of setting the scene before getting an interview underway.  In a situation where all non-verbal communications are missing, the scene-setting introduction is more vital than ever.

Think for a moment about recent face-to-face interviews you have conducted.  How often have you known a candidate was unclear about how to answer your question simply by reading their facial expressions?  How often have you been able to convey that a candidate should stop talking by putting down your pen or disengaging from the interview?

When we designed and conducting 60-minute phone interviews for middle-managers into a major supermarket chain, the introduction to each  interview spent at least 5 minutes explaining:

• That as candidate and interviewer could not see each other, the interviewer would have no idea of whether their question was understood unless the candidate said so, and that the candidate wouldn’t know whether their answer had filled the interviewers requirements unless the interviewer indicated they were moving onto another question
• Candidates were encouraged to speak up whenever they were uncertain of the interview questions and ask for them to be repeated or rephrased where necessary.  Reminding candidates that it is in both parties interests to get as much as possible from the phone interview often works well in the warm-up
• Similarly, interviewers were coached on giving verbal signals of encouragement where more information was required from a candidate, and in moving them onto the next question where appropriate

3. During the Phone Interview

As the interview unfolds, checking whether you are putting into practice what you said you would do at the outset of the interview is always worthwhile.  This simply means ensuring you account for different candidates peculiarities, such as their accents, clarity of speech, ability to understand your questions and your ability to understand their answers.

If clear, concise phone communications are part of the job, this may be a selection criteria in itself, but make sure you don’t lose good candidates for roles that don’t require these phone skills.

4. What about Skype & Video Conferencing?

At first, video conferencing and especially the availability of Skype to most candidates and interviewers, would appear to address most of the shortfalls the phone interview presents.  After all,  you can now see the candidate and they can see you.

The reality however is that while these technologies can help break the ice, especially if panel-interviewing offshore candidates, the need to account for non-verbal communications is still there.  Think about the closeup TV camera shots needed to get emotional reactions and facial expressions in the news, or in movies.  Most skype and other video conferencing facilities won’t give you that same detail you get when interviewing people face to face, so still pay attention to accounting for those non-verbal communications in the introductory scene-setting stages and as the interview progresses.

A few other tips on using Skype:

• Ensure interviewer and candidate are as visible as possible and not, for example, silhouetted against a window
• Ask the candidate to prepare as if attending a face to face interview
• Ensure only one person speaks at a time
• Always run the connection and quality check before the interview
• Double check the time zone difference, including recent daylight savings changes, when organising offshore interviews

Using these simple yet effective guidelines help you benefit from the cost and time savings of interviewing remotely, while accounting for the shortfalls in not meeting candidates face to face.

Training line managers in interview skills is at the core of our business and if you are looking to raise the effectiveness of your businesses recruitment and selection, give us a call on 06 833 6465 or contact us

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The three core changes are:

• 1. A new capability enabling you to determine the essential criteria for the job before assessing candidates for shortlisting; reducing the time and effort spent in setting up and administering the recruitment process and enabling you to only shortlist people most likely to succeed in the job.
• 2. New staff personal development plans to ensure new recruits get from good to great performers in the shortest route, and demonstrating your commitment to them from day-1
• 3. New feedback reports to unsuccessful candidates to ensure they get positive, useful and realistic ways of sharpening up their careers, removing the risk to your PR

1. Assessing the Role Before Recruiting or Promoting

Imagine having an agreed, clear and measurable vision of the criteria essential to success in the job you are looking to either recruit or promote someone into.

You may already have a partial view of this through existing job descriptions, discussions with departing job incumbents and perhaps even the views of customers and other stakeholders.  However, you can make a substantial addition to this process now that we have added to our services a version of our most popular personality questionnaire that measures the job rather than the person to give recruiters a clear picture of what they are looking for before they begin sifting through candidates

• By completing an online questionnaire that focuses on the behaviours most important to success in the job, hiring managers have an objective, measurable and agreed template against which to measure shortlisted candidates.
• Where a job has a number of different people dependent on its success (customers, suppliers, other internal departments etc), then all of these stakeholders can have input in completing the questionnaire to get an agreed view of the requirements of the job
• Mis-matches between the ideal candidate profile and shortlisted candidates can then be explored at interview to determine whether a candidate is likely to perform in the job and where personal development plans need to be concentrated.  In other words, target the right training where it’s needed rather than just use generic induction programmes
• Job assessments are extremely cost effective at just $170 per assessment, including profile production and one-to-one feedback discussion with our team

Several key clients have already put this new assessment to the test in determining the core strengths required in their key positions.  You can reap similar benefits by calling us on 06 833 6465 or clicking here to contact us.

2. New Recruit Personal Development Plans

Enabling hiring managers to make the absolute most from the information they gather in making strong recruitment decisions is at the heart of what we do.  Our recent investment into enhancing the reporting available from our flagship personality profile tool enables you to have specific, measurable and realistic personal development plans to get new recruits up to speed in the shortest route through targeted personal development.

You can see sample reports by calling us on 06 833 6465 or clicking here to contact us.

3. Letting Candidates Down Without Denting your Public Image

All that time, effort and money spent on maintaining your positive public image can soon be dented when you interview several staff but only have one vacancy.  The risk of unsuccessful candidates talking in disparaging terms about your business can have a negative effect, especially in provincial New Zealand where everybody knows everybody else.

This risk can readily be managed if unsuccessful candidates walk away with tangible pointers and recommendations to move their careers forward and increase their chances of success at their next interview.

The third major benefit to employers from our recent investments achieves just that, with self-development action plans for unsuccessful candidates to put into practice, meaning that their disappointment is tempered and their contact with your business as a job candidate has been a positive one despite not getting the job.

You can reap similar benefits of all three of these additions to People Central’s services by calling us on 06 833 6465 or clicking here to contact us.

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If you ever want to polarise opinion in a meeting of sales managers, just start talking about psychometric testing. You’ll find that few hiring managers are indifferent to the subject, with some extolling the benefits of identifying high flyers who exceeded all targets, whilst others vehemently deliver bitter experience of using psycho-babble junk science that selected turkeys they still can’t fire.

Regardless of any sales manager’s individual experience, most would have come to use psychometric testing or personality assessments after realising the benefits of reducing the risks of poor recruitment decisions and identifying talent in their existing team. But when the subject has such a polarising effect based on very different experiences; when it comes to choosing a process for your business, where do you start?

There are four criteria that anyone with hiring and staff management responsibilities should consider before going down the route of using psychometric assessments in their sales team.  The pitfalls of getting these criteria wrong have cost businesses dearly, so here’s an opportunity to learn from their collective mistakes.

1. Is this Psychometric Test Any Good?

Google ‘psychometric tests’ and buyers are faced with a mountain of differing tests and assessments, each one claiming to be the latest and greatest and backed up with assertions of their effectiveness.  Many are either free or very cheap internet-based assessments, which we would urge you to treat with the same caution as most ‘too good to be true’ internet offers.  Just as you wouldn’t trust your health with cut-price on-line pharmaceutical products, or your bank account details to receive a billion dollars from an allegedly ousted royal family in a country you’ve never heard of, would you trust internet test freebies to determine whether a sales candidate is going to put hundreds of thousands of dollars onto your bottom line, or as trusted guide of where to direct your career?

1. Is this test any good?

The acid tests for psychometric products are their reliability and validity.  The best products on the market have as much as twenty years of empirical research behind them before they were launched. Independently researched findings of whether a psychometric test actually does what it claims to do can be sought from the New Zealand Council of Educational Research (www.nzcer.org.nz) and the British Psychological Society (www.bps.org.uk).  If you go directly to the seller, insist on seeing their products reliability and validity reports, and do give us a call if you run into barriers in determining whether the product is all it’s cracked up to be.

Also, ask what training and qualifications users must have to administer, interpret and feedback the products you are considering.  Most personality assessments worth a second look require at least five days training to use, and can only be purchased and used by appropriately qualified people.  Tests and assessments that require no or minimal training are best avoided.

2. Is the Product Relevant to Sales Roles?

If you are hiring into sales roles, then it follows that you need assessments that focus on the skills, behaviours, competencies and experiences closely associated with success in a sales environment.

Assessing only the criteria relevant to the job enables hiring managers to make selection decisions based purely on whether a candidate is firstly going to exceed all expectations and should be fast-tracked into the job, secondly, whether a candidate meets enough of the criteria to be hired, with a clear personal development plan to get them from good to great performers, and thirdly whether there are enough question marks hanging over this candidates potential to suggest it is most unlikely that they will add significant value to your business.

A strong sales-focused assessment should also measure your candidates against an appropriate norm-group of other sales staff. Any seasoned sales manager can tell you that not everybody is cut out for a career in sales, yet plenty of assessments measure candidates against a ‘general population’. Make sure the sales-focused assessment you choose measures your candidates against other New Zealand sales people so you can assess their likely effectiveness in relation to other sales people.

A quick point on good practice is timely here. Even the best psychometric tools are indicators of likely success that need to be used in conjunction with other methods such as interviews and reference checks, so the potential concerns identified by these assessments need to be explored at interview and/or in reference checks rather than rejecting a candidate on psychometric assessment results alone.

3. Is the Test Relevant in New Zealand?

This is the yawning bear-trap waiting to swallow unsuspecting New Zealand businesses.

Psychometric tests are referenced against a norm-group to ensure anyone who takes one is measured relative to other similar people; for example a sales manager completing a sales personality assessment is compared with other sales managers to see where s/he is likely to perform in relation to his/her peer group, and what an employer is likely to need to do to get them from good to great performers.

Many psychometric tests and assessments in marketed in New Zealand do not have NZ-specific norm-groups and measure your kiwi candidates against American or British people working in American or British organisations with American or British values and beliefs.  This may not sound like a big deal, but it is for two reasons:

Firstly, there are differences in the way different countries people respond to tests and questionnaires.  When we brought over a very successful UK developed sales aptitude test, we ran comparative validation studies on 200 New Zealand sales people and found distinct differences between UK & NZ sales staff responses to the questionnaire, which we accounted for when using the test.  Had we taken the easy route and not bothered, some good NZ sales job applicants may have lost job opportunities or had unfair personal development plans placed on them and employers would have lost out on good sales staff candidates too.

Secondly, New Zealand isn’t America or Britain.  We have a unique blend of ethnic diversity, a distinct set of cultures and values and need to ensure we measure kiwis against kiwis.  Any employer who uses a non-NZ norm group as a tool to screen out staff could fall foul of fair selection tests in law; and rightly so.

So, the third question for a prospective supplier of tests and assessments is ‘Has this test been kiwi-fied?’  And insist on the proof that it has.  Some suppliers will insist that their US norm groups are fine and that there is no difference between the countries, but the fact is that they haven’t done the validation tests to find out and are therefore not in a position to quantify that statement.

4. How Good are the Suppliers?

This relates to both their professional abilities and service delivery.

If you are going to make the most from the results of personality questionnaires, you need to be assured that the supplier has the depth of knowledge, skills and experience to support you in interpreting and implementing the findings of difficult feedback discussions from time to time.

Your  supplier doesn’t have to be an Occupational Psychologist to do this, although that helps!, but should be qualified to at least New Zealand Council of Educational Research (NZCER) Level-C, plus have the depth of on the job experience.  Someone who became an instant expert when they bought a testing and assessment franchise is unlikely to fit the bill.  Always ask for confirmation that professionally qualified and experienced people are available when you need them.

When it comes to service delivery, ensure a supplier is going to only enhance your selection process rather than slow it down.  All online test providers produce near-instant reports, but is the professional support as accessible when you need it?

When you get satisfactory answers to these four questions, then you have covered the basic requirements to determine whether a proposed psychometric test or assessment is going to benefit your business, or simply raise more barriers to success and risks to integrity.

The post Sales Manager Guide to Choosing & Using Psychometrics in Recruitment appeared first on .

Motivation

High performers are motivated by targets, set personal targets above those set by their employer, enjoy having their performance measured and see success as the results of their own efforts.

Q’s: Describe the sales performance targets set for you in your current job.Do you think they are reasonable and achievable?

What personal targets do you set for yourself over and above those set by your manager?

How have you performed against these targets?

Emotional Resilience & Stability

Dealing with setbacks and rejection and still being able to get up the next day and take on your sales targets without being daunted by the previous days disappointments.Also relates to accepting criticism, being consistent in dealing with others, not exhibiting jealously and not letting home life affect work life.

Q’s: Describe an occasion where you lost a big sale to a competitor.How did you motivate yourself to get back into the market-place the next day?

What did you learn from the experience?

Relationship Building & Maintenance

The importance a candidate places on establishing new relationships and maintaining profitable relationships with existing clients, including how others see them in being warm, approachable, genuinely interested in others, seeking agreement and progress in their working relationships

Q’s: Take me through the process you use to establish an effective working relationship with a new prospect or client, and illustrate your answer with actual examples.

Give me another example of how you maintain strong profitable relationships with existing clients

Change Management & Spotting Unplanned Opportunities

High performers thrive on change, get excited about new ways of doing things, actively seek out and respond to unplanned opportunities and are more likely to regularly embrace professional and personal development

Q’s: Describe an occasion where you spotted an unplanned opportunity to make a sale.How did you take advantage of the situation?

What was the outcome?

What was the last major change you experienced at work?

What role did you play in bringing that change to fruition?

What benefits did that change bring to the business?

Control & Influence

Not to be confused with manipulation, successful sales people are able to control situations and influence people through being observant, attentive, interesting and bending the occasional rule in order to reach their objective

Q: Describe an occasion where you had to stretch your influencing skills to get a result. What did you do to overcome that clients concerns or objections to your proposal?

Planning, Organising & Conscientiousness

No trust equals no sale, and how better to generate trust with a new prospect and reinforce trust with existing clients than demonstrating your meticulous attention to detail, delivering on promises on time, remembering personal and business details of your clients, turning up on time and being prepared.Sales staff who place high value on planning and organising, coupled with strong conscientiousness quickly establish trust

Q: Give me an example from your job that demonstrates your meticulous attention to detail, planning and organising skills.

Find another example of how you have prepared for a sales meeting or presentation for a big client

Self Assurance

Showing confidence in a broad range of situations helps sales people to be persuasive, responsive to clients requests, relate well to different people and take responsibility for the advice and decisions they give that affect others

Q: Describe an occasion where you felt ‘out of your depth’ in your sales job.What did you do to overcome that situation?

Find another example of where you have been asked to meet important clients at very short notice.Take me through the steps you took to prepare and deliver to this client

Attentiveness & Adaptability

The x-factor in sales effectiveness can be the subtle way in which some sales people listen to the words and phrases their clients use, take in their non-verbal communications and seamlessly adapt their own behaviour to match and compliment the behaviour of others.These are the sales superstars who understand and react to the old adage that people buy from people they like

Q: Talk me through what you pay attention to when meeting a prospect for the first time.

Find an example of where you have formed a working relationship with someone who has a very different outlook on life to your own.How did this person differ from you?

How did you adapt your approach to appeal to this person?

What affect did your adapted approach have on your working relationship?

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It has been common knowledge for decades that the selection interview is a very poor predictor of whether a candidate is going to perform in any job. When it comes to sales jobs, the interview becomes even less effective, as most sales candidates are able to present themselves well at interview, be adept at brushing over the areas they would rather you didn’t explore and usually arrive with glowing references. Whilst some recruiting managers may see these factors as evidence of sales skills, most will grimace with pain in recalling occasions of hiring staff that were good at interviews but precious little else.

When you look at the bottom-line of the income generated by a sales person hitting one hundred percent of their targets, as opposed to someone hitting just forty percent, then the need to make the most from the imperfect art of staff selection becomes clear, and there are three practical steps that any sales manager can take to reduce the risks of making poor selection decisions at a time when strong sales performance is more important than ever.

Know what you are looking for

Going into the interview process without having clear goals on what you want to measure is as ineffective as selling without clear goals for prospecting, call cycles or sales plans. How will you select the right candidate if you don’t know what you are looking for?

The reliability of the selection interview rises dramatically when the interviewer has a clear picture of the behaviours, skills and competencies associated with success in the job. For those of you with a strong HR function in your business, your first port of call should be the job description and competencies for the specific vacancy. For those without on-tap HR support, the list of interview questions in the next article (scroll to top of this page) identifies what in our opinion are the core sales competencies, most of which will be applicable to your business.

Raise your game in interviewing

The next step to increase the effectiveness of interviews is to ensure they are conducted by someone who knows how to do it. Interviewing is a bit like driving in that you hardly ever meet someone prepared to admit they aren’t very good at it. It seems to suggest that we are not a good judge of character or our interpersonal skills are somehow incomplete; both of which are admissions few sales managers would feel comfortable making.

The reality is that selection interviewing is a prized skill developed through practice and training in effective interviewing methods, most notably behavioural or competency based interviews. If you don’t interview very often or are untrained, then bring in a seasoned and trained interviewer to help you and reduce the risk of making a poor selection decision. If interviews are likely to become a significant part of your job, then get trained in Competency Based Interviewing.

Back up your selection decision with reliable supporting information

The greatest improvement that can be made to the process of selecting the right candidate is to add other criteria to back up your decision. Most recruiters make superficial in-roads here, usually in checking references, but few take sufficient steps to make a strong selection decision.

We already know that there is no perfect correlation between the selection method used and performance in the job, but the more steps we take to assess the candidate, the more we reduce the risk of getting it wrong.

References are as notorious as interviews when it comes to making selection decisions. How many of you have being on the brink of firing a useless sales person when they flounce into your office and announce they are leaving? What kind of reference are you going to give them to help them on their way? Also, remember that many separation packages reached outside of employment tribunals include ‘a good reference’.

I’m not suggesting that recruiting managers should stop checking references, but would advise that they use the same diligence as they apply to the selection interview by asking the same competency based questions and insisting on specific examples. References should always be checked by phoning the referee as people will tell you much more than they are prepared to write down. In sales, it also pays to get a reference from a key client of the candidate as well as the employer to get a sense of how their customers see the candidate.

Sales Aptitude/Psychometric Tests bring objective, independent and unbiased information into making the selection decision, identifying sales superstars, people unlikely to cut it in sales environments and the personal development plans required to get a good candidate to a great performer before the Employment Agreement gets signed.

Just ensure the test you use is from a reliable test publisher; something that a freebie downloaded from the internet is unlikely to deliver.  Ask us about the sales focused assessments and tests most suited to your business by calling 06 833 6465 or clicking here

Sales Simulations & Role Plays are little used in New Zealand, but bring valuable additional information to the selection process on how the candidate is likely to perform in the job. Choosing simulated role plays that have been tried and tested to ensure they measure what they claim to measure is the first step to ensure you don’t fall into the trap of choosing a tool that won’t do the job. Secondly, ensure that the role play fits the sales job you are assessing. A relationship sales role where long term business is generated through sales presentations to panels of decision makers requires a different role play to one-off high volume retail sales.

Following these three steps isn’t a quick or easy process, but the time and financial investment in getting a clear picture of the person you want to recruit, acquiring the skills to interview effectively and backing up the shortcomings of the selection interview with additional measures of candidates effectiveness will reap huge dividends in increased sales volumes by effective sales people.

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