Part IV
Chapter 7:

Recruitment
And Selection
Planning
Recruit
Candidates
Select
Prospects
Validating the Process

Six Sigma Standard
6 Sigma +
Error Rate
3.4 per million
Business
Application
Airline flight safety
5 Sigma 300 per million
4 Sigma
3 Sigma
1.6 Sigma
6 per 10,000
30 per 100
45 per 100
Typical world-class manufacturers
Manufacturing average
IRS phone tax advice
Typical employment selection and deployment
Source: “Total Quality Sales Management, The HR Chally Group, 2008

Industry
Turnover
Rates
Construction
Office Equipment
Retail
Wholesale (Consumer Goods)
Electronics
Business Services
Pharmaceuticals
Banking
Real Estate
13.8%
47.0
51.2
18.5
14.1
26.2
8.3
4.3
11.9
Source: Dartnell’s 30 th Sales Force Compensation Survey (1999), p.187.

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Develop a hiring process related to core culture.

What are the core cultures of these companies?


The Chally Group, a sales consulting company, found that matching a person’s skills set with the skills required by the sales job led to higher performing salespeople and greater job satisfaction.

What skill sets are needed for the following sales positions?
–
–
–
Missionary?
Sales Support?
New Business?

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Missionary:
–
Technical skills, relationship building skills
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Sales Support:
–
Empathy, relationship building skills
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New Business:
–
Assertiveness, persuasiveness, time management, ability to close

What Purchasing Agents Like
About Salespeople
PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS
TRAITS WHO RATED MOST VALUED
Willingness to fight for customer:
Thoroughness/follow through:
Market knowledge/ willingness to share:
Knowledge of product line:
Diplomacy in dealing with operating departments:
Imagination:
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

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Classified Ads
–
Reaches wide audience
(trade publications may narrow the reach)
–
–
Used if high turnover
Tend to over-produce under-qualified candidates
Present Employees
–
Familiar w/ company products & procedures
–
–
–
Established job histories
Sales as a promotion
Over-rely on previous experience

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Referrals/Networking
–
Company executives understand needs, culture and potential fit for sales responsibilities
Employment Agencies
– best if company pays
Schools & Colleges
–
–
Poised & easily trained
Lack experience & become bored
Customers, Suppliers & Competition
–
–
–
Good if need w/out much training
Legal & ethical issues
Common: insurance, stock broker, office equipment, clothing

Hiring criteria for sales jobs used to guide selection process
Direct recruit to control location or phone number
Complete application blanks
Conduct screening interviews
Check credit and background
Complete psychological and achievement tests
Secondary interviews
Make offer for sales position
Physical exam
Modify hiring criteria, tests or
Interview procedures
Measure subsequent success on the job
Figure 7-3: A Model for Selecting Salespeople
Reject

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Job analysis
–
–
Incumbent interviews
Observation
Job Description
–
–
Essential tasks
Qualifications

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Selling Requirements
New vs. established account selling
Selling through distributors
Entertaining customers
Level of buying authority
Physical activity required
Technical knowledge
Relocation
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Written proposals
Individual vs. team selling
One time vs. systems selling
Type of prospects/customers
One-on-one vs. group selling
Travel: how much & what kind
Program or concept selling
Nonselling Tasks
Reports to management
Customer service and training
Sales promotion
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Educational seminars
Collecting receivables
Marketing plans
Degree of Responsibility
Negotiations of pricing
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Travel and entertainment
Compensation plan
Promotion timing
Career Paths
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Earnings potential
Promotion leaders
Performance Expectations
Activity level requirements

Minimum sales volume or profits

1.
Account for all dates.
2.
Examine the number of jobs and length of time spent on each job.
3.
Reasons for leaving job.
4.
Is there a pattern of growth?

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

“MGM Mirage Chairman and Chief Executive J. Terrence Lanni, one of the gambling industry's most powerful figures, announced late Thursday he would step down from his executive posts.
The resignation was announced publicly, however, on a day when Mr. Lanni found himself in a dispute with his alma mater over his academic credentials after questions were raised by
The Wall Street Journal.”
–
WSJ 11/14/2008
In a 2004 survey of human-resource professionals, 61% said they "often" or "sometimes" find résumé inaccuracies when vetting prospective hires, according to the Society for Human
Resource Management.

What Research Shows

Does extensive interviewing experience help an interviewer to make better judgments?

Does pressure to recruit impair the judgment of experienced interviewers less than inexperienced interviewers?

When interviewing multiple recruits, do interviewers tend to use previous applicants as the standard of comparison for subsequent applicants?

Will the positive effects of good appearance offset an unfavorably rated personal history for a recruit?

What Research Shows

How much of the factual information presented in an interview will the interviewer remember immediately after a short interview if no notes are taken?
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How will lack of notes and factual recall affect the interviewer’s rating of the recruits interviewed?

How reliably can a group of interviewers rate a recruit’s qualifications for a job?

How reliably can a group of interviewers rate future job performance by a recruit?

1.
Failure to establish rapport
2.
Lack of plan
3.
Insufficient time
4.
Not listening
5.
Personal bias
6.
Questions
7.
First impressions

What is the interviewer trying to determine in the following questions?
1.
What was the most monotonous job you ever had to do?
– What are your values and general orientation in life?
– How creative were you in eliminating boredom?

2.
In thinking about people you like, what is it you most like about them?
–
Reflects what person is and desires to become
3.
Up to this point in your life, what do you consider to be your biggest disappointment?
–
Have you done anything? -- more active = more disappointments
4.
How willing are you to relocate?
To what extent are you willing to travel?
–
Motivation in wanting job -- involves travel

5.
How do you feel about the way your previous employer treated you?
–
How you react to supervision & organizational cultures
6.
What are your long-term financial objectives and how do you intend to achieve them?
–
–
Are you realistic & mature?
Will this company enable you to achieve these goals?
7.
What was the most difficult decision you ever had to make as a leader?
–
–
Were the leadership positions in your resume demanding or ceremonial in nature?
What is your leadership style & philosophy?

8.
Why should we hire you?
–
–
How badly do you want the job?
What do you think of yourself?
–
Do you believe in yourself?
9.
Sell me this pen.
–
Do you really know how to make a sales presentation?
–
–
Did you mention the main product benefits?
Did you ask for the order?

About two weeks after starting a new job, doubts creep into your mind. The gap between what you were told and what’s actually happening gets wider by the day. When you’re on the job for three weeks, you say to yourself, “I think I made a mistake.” One way to avoid making a costly mistake like this is to ask the right questions when interviewing. What questions would you ask when applying for a field sales position to avoid accepting the wrong job?

1.
Where will I get my leads?
2.
May I review your sales literature?
3.
When are your slow times?
4.
May I go with you on a sales call?
5.
May I visit your marketing department?
6.
May I look at your resume?

 Dates of Employment?
 What was the job?
 What type of selling was involved?
 How did the applicant get along with his/her manager?
Customers? Fellow salespeople?
 How did his/her job performance compare others?
 Applicants strongest points? Weaknesses we should help him/her overcome?
 Why did s/he leave your company?
 Would you rehire the applicant? Why?

Validity of Predictors for Entry-Level Jobs
Predictor
Ability composite (tests)
Job tryout
Biographical inventory
Reference check
Experience
Interview
Training and experience ratings
Academic achievement
Education
Interest
Age
.37
.11
.10
.10
.01
.26
.18
.14
.13
Validity
.53
.44

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Personality
–
Big Five
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Openness to experience (intelligence)
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Conscientiousness
Agreeableness
Extroversion
Neuroticism (emotional stability)

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Intelligence
–
Wonderlic
Work sample
Biodata

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Civil Rights Act
–
Disparate treatment
–
–
–
–
(i) the plaintiff is a member of a protected class;
(ii) the plaintiff applied and was qualified for the job;
(iii) the application was rejected; and
(iv) the position remained open after the rejection.
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Disparate impact
–
80% rule

Griggs v. Duke Power Co.
, (1971),
A court case argued before the Supreme Court of the
United States on December 14, 1970. It concerned employment discrimination and the disparate impact theory and was decided on March 8, 1971. It is generally considered the first case of its type.
The court ruled that the company's employment requirements did not pertain to applicants' ability to perform the job, and so was discriminating against
African-American employees, even though the company had not intended it to do so. The judgment famously includes the line "Congress has now provided that tests or criteria for employment or promotion may not provide equality of opportunity merely in the sense of the fabled offer of milk to the stork and the fox."

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Age discrimination
Fair employment Act (reinforce civil rights act)
Americans with Disabilities Act
–
Reasonable accomodation

Small letters such as “a,” “e,” and “o” are more than ¼ inch in height and farther to the right side of the page.
Small signatures, less than 1/8 inch tall with an upright slant and placed towards the left hand of the page
Medium-sized signatures
(about 1/4 inch).
These people tend to be enterprising and are usually risk takers, take charge leaders, and pacesetters. They are your typical salesperson.
These people tend to be objective observers. They keep cool, don’t get excited under pressure, and in general make good listeners and negotiators.
They might be better for high-level sales to established clients.
These people are your team players.
Interaction is their byword and they tend to play strictly by the rules. They take calculated risks, with emphasis on the calculations. Not generally sales types.

WHAT MAKES A SUPER SALESPERSON?
Personal Computer
Manufacturer
Threshold Competencies
Communication
*Information Collection
Personal Sensitivity
*Relationship-building
Technical knowledge
Photographic Equipment
Manufacturer
Threshold Competencies
Decisiveness
*Information Collection
*Organizational Awareness
*Relationship-building
Systematic thinking
Differentiator Competencies
Concern for personal impact
*Focused achievement
Initiative
*Organizational awareness
Personal time-planning
Quick thinking
Targeted persuasion
*Use of influence strategies
Differentiator Competencies
*Focused achievement
Interpersonal diagnosis
Job commitment
Persistence
Presentation skills
Stress tolerance
*Use of influence strategies
* These traits were found in salespeople at both companies.


Regardless of the company and type of sales position for which you may interview, there are some interview questions that are typically asked. You may not be asked each of these questions in every interview, but you should be prepared to answer them all. After reading each question, think about what the interviewer’s purpose may be in asking the question. What is he or she trying to determine?
What should your response be to each question?

Typical Interview Questions
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What do you regard as your major strengths and limitations?
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What have you accomplished or achieved in life that you are most proud of?
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Success means different things to people. What does it mean to you?
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If there was a job that had everything you are looking for, what kind of a job would it be?
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What goals have you established for yourself in the short and long term?