Škoda Auto
Applying Assessment Centres to ensure
best practice in recruitment and selection
In today’s highly competitive business environment, sales and service staff have
a critical role to play in promoting the Škoda brand to customers, and ensuring
Škoda Auto
the commercial success of individual car dealerships. Dealerships that take care
to find staff who are well suited to their roles typically enjoy strong performance
both at an individual and team level, while those who take shortcuts in recruitment
often run the risk of experiencing high degrees of disruption as they struggle to
manage poorly-suited recruits.
By putting in place Assessment Centres (AC) that rigorously test
candidates, Škoda dealerships can get the right people, reduce risk, minimise
costs arising from poor recruitment decisions and also provide candidates with
a positive experience.
+1 PERFECT PREDICTION
Škoda recently decided to implement a new recruitment process which
incorporates online assessment tools and a structured Assessment Centre,
80% Assessment Centres
all provided by Cubiks.
50% Ability/Cognitive Tests
The new process, which has already been successfully rolled out in the Czech
Republic and Slovakia, provides dealerships with a wealth of information on
candidates to use when making recruitment decisions.
The business case for an Assessment Centre Reducing Risk and Minimising Costs
Dealerships that put all their trust in educational qualifications, CVs and covering
letters take very significant and potentially expensive risks. A research study of
375 European employers conducted by Cubiks revealed that only 8% of
businesses think academic qualifications are always a reliable indicator of how
a candidate will perform in a role. The same study revealed that over 90% of
employers regularly encounter lies or exaggerations in application forms and CVs.
This demonstrates why it is important for employers to use a variety of screening
processes and tests to understand a candidate’s likely job performance.
By taking shortcuts and following unstructured recruitment processes, employers
can often find themselves making inappropriate selection decisions that give rise to
reduced productivity, damaged team morale, and expensive severance packages.
40% Simulation Exercises
40% Competency Based
Interview
25% Typical Employment
Interview
0 RANDOM PREDICTION
To illustrate this last point, in the example below, we have assumed that a
poorly suited individual is recruited to a dealership via an agency on a base salary
of €25K per annum and stays with the company for six months. In their contract
the individual is promised an exit compensation of 3 months salary rate to cover
their notice period.
Recruitment
agency fee @
30% of salary
Salary costs
for 6 months
Exit agreement
(assume 3 months
salary)
Total
€7,500
€12,500
€6,250
€26,250
If the dealership had instead invested €3000 in an Assessment Centre
which revealed the candidate was be a poor fit for the role, it would have
saved over €23,000.
The Škoda
Recruitment
Process
CV screening
The Škoda Recruitment Process
Škoda worked with Cubiks to develop a tailored recruitment approach to
help dealerships select candidates which best fit the role. The structured
process features a variety of tools to help the dealership assess each candidate’s
education, work experience, personality, customer-orientation, problem-solving
ability and typical behaviour in a working environment. It includes the following
Online Personality
Assessment (PAPI)
key stages:
Stage 1: CV Screening
As a first step recruiters screen CVs to understand each candidate’s education,
knowledge technical qualifications and work experience.
Assessment Centre
Stage 2: Online Personality-Assessment
Škoda uses Cubiks’ PAPI online assessment instrument to explore each
candidate’s personality, attitude and willingness to learn and improve.
Team work
and presentation
Stage 3: Assessment Centre
The Assessment Centre stage was designed to help Škoda dealerships understand
how candidates will typically react in a number of common work related situations.
Individual work
and presentation
Using the AC, recruiters can evaluate how the candidate responds to challenges,
their level of customer orientation and communication skills, their ability to operate
as part of a team and their problem-solving skills. The work simulation exercises
and presentation exercises that were developed for the AC require applicants
to engage with specific tasks that have been designed to elicit key work-related
Role Play
behaviours. Highly reflective of everyday working life, these exercises can also
help candidates to understand the type of responsibilities and tasks they will face
if appointed.
Interview based
on PAPI results
The final stage of the Assessment Centre involves a structured job interview.
There is no substitute for spending time with a candidate and exploring whether
they are right for a role. By taking part in a competency-based interview that
reviews the individual’s PAPI profile, dealership staff have the opportunity to
fully explore each applicant’s’ track record and focus in on any areas of concern.
Škoda Auto
Conclusion
Now successfully launched, the new selection process is enabling
Škoda dealerships to:
• Find the “best fit” candidates for their operation
• Create stable sales and service teams
• Achieve good sales results
• Build satisfied and loyal customers
• Promote a positive image of the Škoda brand
“During the 30 minute interview each
• The realistic Assessment Centre provides candidates with an insight into the candidate tries to make the best
business culture and typical job responsibilities of the dealership staff, helping possible impression. In most cases
them to make informed career choices.
they simply follows the guidance
provided to them by their recruitment
agency or tell us what they think
we would like to hear. But in the
Assessment Centre the candidates
are put under pressure and have to
demonstrate how they would respond
By investing a small percentage of salary costs in Skoda’s high quality and
objective AC, dealerships can realise substantial financial benefits and reduce the
risks associated with poor recruitment. Most importantly, the new selection process
is allowing dealership managers to move forward feeling confident that they have
appointed the right people.
in different sales situations, which
helps to reveal their true personality,
capabilities and skills.”
Ingrid Škornová from the Škoda
dealership Přerost & Švorc
Cubiks Ranger House, Walnut Tree Close, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 4UL
T +44 1483 544 200 F +44 1483 544 230 E info@cubiks.com W www.cubiks.com
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