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Hire Better - June 2007 Collector Magazine

Incorporating the right hiring tools into your recruitment process can help you gain better employee
By Anne Rosso
Published: Thursday, May 24, 2007

Hiring is a constant challenge in the credit and collection industry, no matter how the economy is faring, in which direction consumer spending is headed or whether the labor market is on solid or shaky ground. Finding and retaining good employees is tough, period. Many companies are realizing that the age–old hiring tactics they’ve used over the last few decades are no longer effective in today’s fast–paced and increasingly complex world. By adopting and utilizing the latest tools and tests, agencies can effectively change the face of their company.

Establishing a Benchmark
“Some of my clients have said they need to fill a collections position quickly, so they fail to put enough thought into their hiring process,” said Tina Slaughter, account manager and sales consultant for Omnia Group, a management and personnel consulting firm in Tampa, Fla. “They are mainly looking for that warm body to take care of the here and now and haven’t stopped to ask themselves, ‘What behaviors would be successful in our office? What makes our good people stay with us? Who will fit with our current group and what should we really be looking for?’”

Doing your homework before you’re crunched to fill a position will make your life much easier, so don’t wait until you have a vacancy before structuring your hiring plan. By beginning with a clear vision of every position in the company—as well as your company culture—you can better tailor your newspaper ad, job description and interview questions to find the best person for the job.

To start, examine the strengths and weaknesses of each department in the company, and take a careful inventory of the common traits of your successful collectors and managers. This can be accomplished by asking employees to take a brief survey or personality test or simply by delegating the task to the managers and supervisors who know each person the best. Does the person have high energy or a low–key attitude? Is the person a better talker or listener? Does the person keep a messy or organized desk? Does the person crave comfort or new challenges?

Not only should you note what makes your MVPs so special, but you should also look at your middle–of–the–road employees. Is there a dynamic missing in their department that could help bolster their success? Be specific. Do you want more of the same people on your team or are you looking to fill temperament or skill gaps? Look at personality traits more than skill sets—skills can be taught on the job, but personalities rarely change.

Developing a profile of your top performers can help you pinpoint what makes them top performers, and can give you a better understanding of what to seek in applicants as you review resumes and set up interviews.

A predetermined list of skill sets and personality traits required for each position will help define the rest of the hiring process. And don’t forget that candidate criteria should be updated regularly—not just yearly, but several times a year as workplaces change and evolve.

Some companies offer specialized personnel profiling services and will survey staff members to create a written report on each department in your company—a comprehensive list of each person’s strengths and weaknesses. Whether or not you have the resources to invest in such an approach, don’t ignore the benefits of sketching an accurate portrait of your staff members to better weigh their qualities against those of your applicants.

Preliminary Testing
After receiving an applicant’s resume, the next step is to have the person complete a brief behavioral assessment or personality test. While workplace personality tests have gone in and out of favor over the years, an increasing number of companies today are relying on personality, emotional intelligence and cognitive testing to prescreen applicants. In fact, approximately 30 percent of U.S. companies use personality tests, according to a 2003 survey by Management Recruiters International Inc., and that figure has risen in recent years.

Google, for instance, a company notorious for its rigorous academic screening tactics (SAT scores and GPAs have historically been of utmost importance), recently changed its hiring practices to include personality assessments.

According to The New York Times, Google applicants are now asked to take an online survey and answer a variety of behavioral and personality questions such as, “Is your workspace usually messy or neat?” and “Have you ever worked for a nonprofit organization?” The new survey questions were developed after Google surveyed its current employees and compared their answers to their performances to look for common variables. The company then used this information to craft its online applicant survey.

Collection agencies, however, tend to be slightly skittish about preliminary testing, rationalizing, “My pool of applicants is already low—why keep knocking people out of the running?” But the truth is that hiring someone just for the sake of filling a position is a short–term solution. Applicants who don’t make it through the testing are simply not a good fit for your company, and hiring unfit applicants wastes your time, money and resources.

“Even with a smaller applicant pool, chances are high that you’re not going to find the perfect fit,” Slaughter said. “But with the assessments, you are able to determine the person’s weaknesses and strengths. Can you accommodate a weakness with training and mentoring or is it something that is not trainable and therefore not worth the risk of hiring?”

It’s important to initiate the personality or behavior test prior to the first interview, Slaughter noted, in order to get the truest picture of the person’s preferred behaviors.

“Once an interviewer begins describing the work environment, the expectations of the job and so on, this paints a picture for your candidate,” she said. “For best results, have the candidate complete the profile prior to the initial interview. If you are still interested after the initial interview, you can then process the results of your candidate’s profile, assess strengths and weaknesses, and structure the second interview to discuss the specific issues at hand to ensure a successful determination whether this candidate is right for your environment and you are right for this candidate.”

Interestingly, while one–third of workers believe personality tests can help determine if a prospective employee will be a good fit for a company, according to a recent Harris Interactive survey, almost half think such tests are not fair assessments of actual personality. Indeed, there are as many critics of personality tests as there are supporters. Some argue that these tests are unreliable and a person’s personality isn’t an accurate indicator of potential job performance, while others caution that the only effective and legal tests are those overseen by an industrial psychologist or attorney.

If you decide to use personality or behavioral tests, make sure they toe the line of the law. Personality tests that could pass for medical tests (such as those designed to diagnose mental illness) may lead to lawsuits, and others have been found to be discriminatory. The personality test you choose should be specifically designed for selecting job applicants. The ever–popular Myers–Briggs test, for instance, is not recommended for hiring or applicant selection purposes (though many companies do use it for employee training). Check state laws for guidance, too, as some states regulate the use of such tests.

In 2005, The Boston Globe noted that personality testing has become a $400 million industry, with 2,500 personality tests on the market. With so many options at your fingertips, the thought of selecting one to use for your hiring can be overwhelming. Jim Finocchiaro, president of SC Riverside, a search and recruitment firm in Council Bluffs, Iowa, specializing in the credit and collection industry, noted three main tests that are popular with his company’s clients:

Predictive Index—Tests for an applicant’s motivations (what drives the applicant) and strengths. Tests can be customized and, as such, can take 10 minutes to an hour to complete depending on the position for which you’re hiring.
The Wonderlic Personnel Test—A common intelligence and competency test designed to assess aptitude, management style, emotional intensity, intuition, assertiveness and adaptation skills. It can be perfect for screening entry to mid–level jobs and is usually completed in less than 40 minutes.
People Decision Center tests—The People Decision Center provides a variety of screening tests and assessments for several specific industries, including the collection industry. Tests can be customized for each position and can determine attention to detail, competitiveness, energy, resourcefulness and social comfort, among other traits. Tests usually take 10–15 minutes.

Other popular tests include the Watson–Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, NEO Personality Inventory, Comprehensive Personality Profile, Wesman Personnel Classification and the Occupational Personality Questionnaire. Test costs can vary widely, from $25 to $500 per test.

While most companies don’t discuss the results of personality tests with candidates—unless a candidate aced the test—doing so is not out of the question. In fact, even though there may be responses you don’t like, talking the issues over with applicants will give them a chance explain themselves, which may in turn show you how the applicants may be best managed.

The Interview
Before you meet with candidates, review each resume thoroughly. Take notes and base your interview questions on those notes. This may seem like an obvious step, but a hectic week can change even the best laid plans.

Panel interviews have advantages over one–on–one interviews as they don’t rely on one person’s interpretation of the candidate’s responses. In order to streamline the interview process, take a moment to clearly explain to all team members why they are being included in the interview process. Make sure each person’s schedule meshes with your timeline for the hiring process—you don’t want to let promising candidates languish because the person they need to speak with is out of town. Have a firm hiring date in mind, and schedule everything around it.|

Interviews should be consistent—the basic framework should not change from candidate to candidate. Interviewers should have a detailed map of how the meeting should go, including questions to ask, reactions to look for and answers to get.

“The better agencies will present a vision to the candidate,” Finocchiaro said. “In the credit and collection world, especially the agency world, everything is focused on the month—making your month, month–end, etc. Sometimes you get so fixated on the months that you don’t spend any time thinking beyond the month. It’s important to talk about your company’s future. Cover not just the end of 2007, but 2008 and 2009. Applicants want to know where they can go with your company. Too few agencies do this. By presenting a vision of the future, you will be ahead of your competition for quality candidates.”

After the first round of interviews, thank the applicants and give them a specific timeframe within which you will be in touch with them again. Lack of prompt feedback, whether caused by indecision or red tape, has turned off many promising candidates.

“Feedback doesn’t necessary mean saying ‘yes,’” Finocchiaro said. “Sometimes candidates will beg for a ‘no’ just so they know one way or another.”

There’s no reason why an agency can’t respond to an applicant within five to seven days after an initial face–to–face interview, or one to two days after a phone interview. If a candidate has to wait any longer, something is wrong with your internal process. After the final interview, agencies should decide whether or not to extend an offer within two to three business days.

“If a candidate has been made to wait 10 days after the last interview before the agency extends an offer, the agency should expect the candidate to take that same amount of time to accept or reject the agency’s offer,” Finocchiaro said. “If you want a swift answer, you need to provide swift answers.”

Time is also of the essence if you’ve promised the candidate financial reimbursement for any interview–related costs, such as travel expenses, hotel bills or moving fees. Quick reimbursement is key to winning over a promising candidate.

“Some agencies will write candidates an expense check before they leave the office the day they are interviewed,” Finocchiaro said. “It’s not about the money per se, it’s about the gesture. It’s thoughtful and it sends a powerful message. I know candidates who have made decisions based on that. If an applicant has to wait three weeks for airfare reimbursement, it can be a clear sign of what’s to come. A company that moves too slowly in taking care of its employees perhaps might work similarly with its clients.”

Verification
With a positive interview under your belt, revisit the applicant’s resume and references. Verifying past employment details can save your company time and money in the long run. Fibs about previous salaries, college degrees, accomplishments and employment dates are most common. A 2006 ResumeDoctor.com study found that more than 40 percent of resumes contain at least one major inaccuracy.

Media searches are also becoming increasingly common during the hiring process. Tracking an applicant’s online activities—Googling a candidate’s name, for instance—can help paint a better picture of his personality. Some employers even look at social Web sites like MySpace, Friendster and Facebook to see whether applicants have posted anything that may dissuade the company from hiring them.

“Candidates’ MySpace pages can take them out of the running completely,” Finocchiaro said.

Additionally, background checks are becoming a must in the hiring process. Finocchiaro estimated that 80 percent of all candidates applying for collection professional positions are subject to a background check—90 percent for executive positions.

“Background checks are becoming more thorough and less forgiving,” Finocchiaro said. “If it’s a government–requested or public company background check and the candidate did something stupid in college, it might not be forgiven at all. Expunged doesn’t always mean expunged.”

Applicants must sign a consent form before an employer can conduct a background check, whether you’re looking at the person’s criminal record, driving record or credit history. Your employment application should specifically ask about criminal background and state that the job offer is contingent on the outcome of the background screening. And because criminal history checks require the applicant’s birth date, those searches should be conducted only after the applicant has been offered the job. (Asking for an applicant’s date of birth before a conditional offer of employment opens your company up to an age discrimination lawsuit.)

Several federal laws govern access to public records and personal information, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act and Driver’s Privacy Protection Act. The FCRA, for instance, requires companies to notify applicants that a background check will be conducted and whether a bad credit report has factored into a decision not to hire the applicant. However, employers aren’t required to tell applicants who do get hired which checks were run. Read Sections 604, 606 and 615 of the FCRA to learn about your responsibilities when using consumer reports for employment purposes. States also have laws or restrictions governing the use of personal information and government records that may be more stringent than federal laws.

Employment and education checks, on the other hand, can be conducted without written consent as part of your standard reference checks. And keep in mind that references verified by employers are not covered by the FCRA, but references verified by an employment or background check company are.

A New Path
A clear hiring plan can work wonders for your business. Not only will it provide direction throughout the hiring process, but it can also spotlight better ways to organize your departments and teams for maximum profit, efficiency and success. Preliminary testing, structured interviews and thorough background checks can help ensure you choose the right person for the job, but without a well–defined plan, you have no roadmap.

“Creating a hiring plan is the simplest but yet most overlooked step in the hiring process,” Finocchiaro said. “It seems so obvious, but it is without question the most common mistake agencies make. A good plan should be the first step.”

Anne Rosso is associate editor of Collector.

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