Assess the candidate

Some key facts from the article definitive guide to recruiting in good times and bad times says that
improving the quality of assessments is three times more profitable than increasing the size of the
candidate pool and six times more profitable than getting the chosen candidate to accept a lower
compensation package.

Right interviewers: Interviewers should not enter into the process with the wrong motives . The best
interviewers are deeply familiar with the experience and skills the position requires and are self
confident , with high level of emotional intelligence and ability to decode non verbal behavior ,
masters of self control and great listeners .

Right number of interviewers: According to a probabilistic analysis three independent top caliber
interviewers are enough. These interviewers will help u reach a high level of accuracy along with low
probability of losing exceptional talent.

Right techniques: A structured type of interview process is called behavioral event interview
followed by reference checks. Putting hypothetical scenarios and judging the students reactions on
specific experiences can help. This should be followed by a rigorous group discussion within the
interviewers to arrive at a consensus on the best candidates which is then followed by a formal
reference check.

Right organizational support : Expose the candidates to few key stakeholders who have no conflicts
of interest and evaluate plus review the candidates objectively . Various mistakes that can lead to
making wrong decisions are that an impressive educational background or years of experience at
senior positions at great companies are a guarantee for success on job . Also people fall into the first
impression bias and very rapidly reach a conclusion on the basis of snap judgements . And third it is
possible that an interviewer does not does search for political reasons .

In a Moonka Auto case:

1. Ashok Agarwal needed salespersons who were effective as well as productive . He should be
capable of attending to salesperson within minutes , fully understand customers needs and
showed products that likely met their requirements , customers were full of technical as well
as general questions so salesperson needed to be friendly and knowledgeable . Competitor
products knowledge was also important and remaining upto date was quite important . The
nature of the questions included colour options , special features , waiting time after
booking product , insuring and financing options available , documents to be submitted to
the dealership and process of registration of the vehicle to get a registration number . So a
quick learner and a confident answerer is what we need . Salesperson should be open
minded about the requirements of the dealerships business and act in its best interests. The
salesperson should be able to convince the customer about the model that the dealership
and the OEM are interested in pushing .
2. Few insites from recruitment of salespersons were :
 Salespeople without experience were full of enthusiasm , energy , initially they were
grateful for getting the opportunity and keen to learn but many felt like it was a stopgap
arrangement and left to either work elsewhere or study further and some required close
monitoring because they were easily distracted and were chatting on their mobile
phones .
 Salespersons with experience were local residents with settled families in Jamshedpur
and were looking for a steady income and were resistant to relocation . They were
 challenges in teaching them to learn new technology and latest product models . One
advantage was that these people required less monitoring due to their experience.
3. Key attributes of star performers :
 They seemed to speak less and listen more and absorb followed by crisp
recommendations that made the customers delighted .
 Friendly demeanour and a strong ability to put the customers at complete ease certainly
helped them in converting sales .
 They absorbed the failures in their customer interactions and bounced back with great
enthusiasm when next customer came in .
 Research oriented and investigative in approach .
 Well read and upto date about competitors, market offers and customer trends, noted
positive customer feedbacks and used the titbits in the next sales pitch .
 Developed an informal , internal social network with the service department wherein
they picked up information about product cons and pros to use them while making
conversations with the customers .
 Sterred conversation towards value adding rather than price negotiation .

So the steps that Ashok can follow to assess the candidate is :

1. Select the right set of interviewers by using either a third party or a small number of high
caliber , well trained , properly motivated interviewers .

2. Make suitable changes in the newspaper advertisement to make the initial screening process
easier . Use a rigorous objective as well as a psychometric test that understands the persons
ability to handle tough situations . Subjective questions to test their reactions on experiences .
Test their EQ and whether they will be able to satisfy all the key attributes of star performers as
mentioned above or not .They should be able to fulfill all salesperson responsibilities as mention
in point 1 and their experience factor should also be taken into account . To ensure that the right
candidates are selected there should be atleast 4 rounds testing different aspects of the star
salesperson .

3. Do detailed reference checks . Ensure that reference given is correct and no case of fraud /
manipulative or political involvement is there .

4. Include top stakeholders in the candidate assessment like the star salespersons , the line
managers and the HR personnel of the company .