The Increased Popularity of Screening Tools in Identifying Talent

With a focus on sales recruitment, the article "Sold short on talent" cited in BRW April 14-20, 2005 Edition states that companies need to change the recruitment process to include technological advances such as screening candidates before energy is expended pouring over numerous resumes. This improves the chance of meeting the best individual for the available position.

According to the BRW ( April 14-20, 2005 ), "Australian companies have never found it so hard to recruit talented, senior salespeople. The pool of top-flight candidates is smaller than at any time in the past 30 years. Recruitment specialists and even some sales directors say that many companies are using the wrong methods to attract senior sales managers- missing out on what limited talent is available."

"Getting the right person for the job sounds like a cliché, but its importance cannot be overstated."

NIGEL CLARKE (BRW April 14-20, 2005 )

The managing consultant of the recruitment firm Drake Australia, Nigel Clarke holds the view that, "Sales recruitment needs special skills and the human-resources departments, which usually conduct initial interviews with candidates too often eliminate potentially excellent applicants because they ask them the wrong questions. Too often, human-resources departments will base an interview on questions like how the sales process should be structured. Just because a salesperson can answer that, does not mean that they can sell."

The managing director of Objective Assessment, Beverley Jones "believes that the resume is a redundant document for screening applicants at the first stage. Jones' view is that, 'Companies rely too much on the resume to second guess whether someone's experience will enable them to sell their products.

Candidates need to be tested first for their potential to sell, and only then have their work history looked at at the interview stage. I've seen instances where there might be 100 respondents to a recruitment ad, but judging from the resumes alone there is only one potential candidate. But if you use screening tests first, you can have as many as 40 good candidates.'

Clarke says that getting the right person for the job sounds like a cliché, but its importance cannot be overstated. 'There is obviously pressure on companies to fill a sales vacancy quickly- you can't neglect your customers for any length of time. But that pressure can often result in a poor hiring, so companies need to take more time ensuring they have the right person.

The wrong person coming into the job can very quickly wreak havoc on your customer base and you can spend years trying to put that right.'"

Citations are the property of BRW April 14-20, 2005 .