Okay. After the interviews and tests, it's time to make the final decision. In this phase, a manager will check references, rank the candidates and make an offer. Reference checks, is a special source of outside information used in the hiring process. There are two kinds of references. The first kind are references supplied by the job candidate themselves. Theoretically, these are individuals who are familiar with the candidates work history, and personality. The other kind of reference, is when the manager seeks individuals on their own to speak about a candidate. Since job candidates, will only name individuals who are likely to give positive references, they can be advantageous to seek out references on your own. One particularly useful tactic, is to contact references given by the job candidate and then asked these people for the names of other individuals who could furnish a reference. In an ideal world, a Sales Manager could evaluate two applicants and immediately determine which person is better qualified and a better fit. However, each candidate is really a composite of numerous factors that qualify them for the job. One candidate may have great test scores, while another has the perfect experience profile. How do you decide on an ideal candidate objectively? One of the best approaches, is to develop a candidate scoring system. A candidate scoring system, involves strategically deconstructing a job qualification to identify a positions most critical qualification. As part of the application process, you collect data or ask candidates pointed questions about these areas. Some firms go a step further and weight each factor. By using a systematic approach, you can then easily rank candidates. Generally, the primary areas to rank a candidate are a candidate's background and experience, a candidate's interview performance, and a candidate's personality traits. The benefit of using a structured ranking, is you overcome hiring problems such as relying on your own memory, focusing on the relevant skills and confronting the normal biases we all have. Over the years, managers have determined six factors that helped to predict performance. These include: one, a candidate's current employment and two, a candidate's prior sales experience. The third factor is a candidate's knowledge of the job and its requirements, and fourth, who or what provided the source of the candidate. The fifth factor, is how much a candidate has moved. Finally the sixth and last factor, is a candidate's education. One thing a Manager hopes to achieve in hiring a person, is that this person stays in the job. You want to avoid job turnover as much as possible. Research has shown that there are three factors that helped to predict job turnover. The first factor, is a candidate's career aspirations. Does the job candidate view this job as part of a career plan? Or is it just a job? Secondly, a candidate's employment history is a good predictor of job turnover. If a candidate has frequently changed jobs, it is likely this behavior will continue. Third, prior sales experience is a good predictor of job turnover. Put another way, if the candidate has never worked in sales, there's a higher chance they will not like the job and eventually quit. So, this concludes this week's module. We turn to the next step in the hiring process and that is training.
