A Difficult Hiring Decision at Central Bank

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A Difficult Hiring Decision at Central Bank

Introduction

Central Bank's Vice President Sales Martin Smith had recently been let go. In order to fill this position Central Bank has been searching for the right candidates. To find right replacement for the Vice President Sales position some criteria were identified and ranked based on their importance. The criteria selection was an important part of the recruitment process and Central Bank's mission, vision and values, job description and organizational culture established the source of the criteria. These criteria are:

 Leadership

 Team-Orientation

 Sales Management

 Recruitment and HR skills

 Mentoring and Coaching Abilities

 Communication Skill

 Community Involvement

 Front Line Experience

 Business and financial planning skills

 Adaptability

 Corporate governance

There are three successful candidates with different set of skills, backgrounds and experiences. Based on the criteria they were evaluated on the score card (1 to 10) to identify the best candidate for the position. The scorecard gives weight (1 to 5) to each criterion based on its level of importance. The score card for each candidate can be seen in Appendices 1

Leadership: In the job posting it is clearly stated that the leadership is one of the main selection criteria for the Vice President, Sales role in the Central Bank. One of the required skills that are indicated in the Purpose of the Vice President Sales position is providing the leadership skill to the design and execution of the segment wide and cross segment activities. In the competencies part of the Job posting leadership position also indicated as a necessary skill. In order to achieve the objectives of the retail division of the central bank the Vice President Sales must perform highly developed leadership skills. Also, the vice president will be responsible to identify and make necessary changes in the organization and eventually these changes will require strong leadership skills. Therefore on the score card this criterion has weight of 5, which is the highest weight on the score card, to show that this skill is critical.

Team-Orientation: One of the Central Bank's values is the teamwork. It is important for Central bank to have team oriented employees who can perform collaboratively with colleagues while respecting others' opinions and listen attentively. It is also important for Central bank to have employees with listening skills and info sharing abilities. One of the key outcomes of the Vice President Sales position is to build a customer focused high performing sales teams to achieve maximum profitability and customer loyalty. Team player skill is also one of the main required attributes for this position. The team work skill is also an important part of the Vice President Sales position because the one of the reason for the failure of the previous VP, Martin Smith, was the lack of teamwork. Therefore on the score card the team work skill has weight of 5 which indicates the critical importance of this skill.

Sales Management: The position it self is the Vice President Sales and the main objective of this position is creating a team that can achieve the intended sales objectives. The main purpose of the Vice President Sales position is leading an effective and profitable sales execution. In addition to that, the accountabilities of the position indicate that the one of the key activities is developing regional sales plan that aligns with the national strategies of Central Bank. It is also expected that the new Vice President should be able to drive the sales, business development and sales management process while building integrated sales plans to maximize customer coverage in the region. The new VP Sales has to have proven ability for developing and managing sales force. Sales prospecting and sales tracking abilities are also among the required competencies and skills for the Vice President, Sales position. In order to achieve the central bank's objectives and to maximize shareholder value, the VP Sales should provide efficient sales management skill. On the scorecard sales management skill has weight of 5 to highlight its critical importance in this position.

Recruitment and HR skills: One of the main competencies indicated in the job posting is to have an experience in recruiting and staffing of sales associates. There were some reasons for failure of the previous vice president, Martin Smith. His former supervisor indicated that the lack of successful recruitment and staffing skill was among the reasons that were needed for the success of former VP. To former supervisor, hiring right people with right values would be the one of the sources of the success of this position. In addition, since the position is related to the retail banking and employees will interact with the clients on a daily basis the hiring and staffing skills play an important role in this position. The VP Sales should utilize accurate staffing activities to hire right people and to make sure existing and new personal align with the values and culture of Central Bank. The scorecard assigns the weight of 4 to hiring and staffing skill, which indicates that this skill is very important for Vice President, Sales position.

Mentoring and Coaching Abilities: The mentoring and coaching skills are among the necessary requirements for the Vice President Sales position. It expected that the Vice President continually provides coaching and mentoring for employees to motivate them to achieve their potential. Also, the Vice President position should enable employees to have professional growth and personal development. Because of the high importance of coaching skills at Central Bank, the job posting for Vice President Sales position highlights this skill among the necessary skills and competencies. According to the job posting the successful candidate has to have "a well-honed and highly successful coaching skill". It is crucial for companies to have an environment where all employees excel. It is also evident that there is a correlation between employee satisfaction and client