The purpose of this project is to develop a recruitment and hiring plan for a sale representative position. We will be developing a plan for a position in a pharmaceutical company. Firstly, we will perform a job analysis and then discuss the requirements for the job. Next, we will develop a competency model for the sales representative position. After that, we will discuss the current labor market situation for this job. Then we will discuss the details of the selection or the screening process. Lastly, we will identify three ideal candidates for the position from a list of 20 candidates provided by CapraTek.
The purpose of this recruitment plan is to find a committed and articulate sales representative with excellent communication skills. The sales representative that we are looking for should have high level of customer commitment. The sales representative should also have proven ability to succeed in a demanding sales environment.
Job Analysis and requirements for the job
Since it is the sales representative position, the primary duty of the candidate is to sell. Many requirements have been developed from CapraTek and O*Net Online (2016). However, there are some additional duties that the candidate has to be capable of,
Selling company products to clients/customers: Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods;
Collecting customer or product information to determine customer needs: keeping up to date with new products and product knowledge;
Establishing strong relationships with pharmacists: developing cooperative working relationships with pharmacists and managers, and maintaining them over time. Communicating with supervisor and mangers and providing required information to them when needed;
Answering customers' questions about any pharmaceutical products, prices, and availability;
Assisting customers to select products based on customer needs, product specifications, and applicable regulations;
Preparing presentations and proposals when needed: presenting in conferences or creating proposal based on customer needs;
Identifying and resolving client conflicts: handling complaints, and resolving conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others
Monitoring sales activities: Maintain records of sales or other business transactions;
Meeting and exceeding sales targets that are set by the company;
Shipping and receiving pharmaceutical products;
Logging in invoices and return to vendor;
Attending events such as seminars, trade shows etc. to develop professional knowledge;
Visiting establishments, such as pharmacies, to determine sales of product;
Studying documentation for new pharmaceutical products;
Distributing samples of new products, promotional or educational materials;
Keeping up to date knowledge of product lines, market and sales technique, and applying new knowledge to your job;
Performing day-to-day administrative tasks, e.g. checking inventories, processing paperwork etc.;
Processing sales or other transactions.
Minimum requirements
The minimum requirements for the position of a sales representative in our pharmaceutical company are given as follows,
Bachelors in Business Administration, Marketing or Sales or equivalent education and experience;
Excellent communication, problem-solving and presentation skills;
Previous pharmaceutical sales experience and a strong interest in pursuing a career as a pharmaceutical sales professional;
Excellent verbal and written communication skills and interpersonal skills;
Customer oriented, perceptive, enthusiastic;
Organizational skills and attention to detail;
Basic computer software literacy. Proficient in Microsoft Office tools such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
Self motivated and has a strong ability to successfully work independently.
Ability
According to O*Net Online (2016), abilities required for the sales representative position are as follows (modified for a pharmaceutical sales representative),
Speaking ability to communicate with others to provide information and ideas and ability to speak clearly;
Ability to listen and comprehend information and ideas spoken by others;
Ability to read and understand writing that represents information and ideas.
Ability to see details within a few feet – very important for pharmaceutical sales representatives;
Writing Ability to communicate information and ideas that others can comprehend;
The ability of deductive reasoning;
Has fluency of ideas, i.e. the ability to come up with a number of ideas if a topic is given;
Ability to sense if something is wrong or is likely to go wrong;
Ability to combine bits of information to generate conclusions.
Company Benefits
The company benefits includes,
Competitive salaries and bonuses
Benefit coverage – medical, dental, vision, life;
Career development opportunities;
Employee discount advantage;
Employee purchase plan etc.
Competency model for the sales representative position
In addition to above requirements, a pharmaceutical sales representative has to demonstrate the following competencies (adapted from O*Net Online and CapraTek),
Effective planning and organizing;
Sales ability and persuasiveness;
Excellent communication skills, including presentation skills. Must possess an ability to convey information effectively;
Can pay undivided attention to what other people are saying;
Can negotiate to reconcile differences;
Can understand written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents;
Is actively looking for ways to help others;
Can build strategic relationships;
Demonstrate business acumen;
Can identify complex problems and review information to implement solution to the problem at hand;
Can communicate effectively in writing;
Can monitor one’s own performance and the performance of others to make improvements.
The candidate should possess the above competencies prior to hiring. However, if no candidates are found with the above competency level, then a prior training for 3 weeks will be provided to the most ideal candidates.
Analysis of the current labor market
The location of the job will be in Boulder, CO. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2016), the roughly mean wage is $36.38 per hour (the hourly wage can range from $17.46 per hour to $74.99 per hour); employment RSE is 19.5%, employment rate per 1,000 jobs 6.035.The minimum wage for our sales representative position is $31.30 per hour.
According to data, in the sales representative, wholesale, and manufacturing category, about 1281000 people are employed, among which the number of women is only 27900. About 4000 of them are black or African American, 3300 are Asian and 10000 of them are Hispanic or Latino.
Selection plan
The selection plan or the screening process for the applicants will be based on five steps in the following order (adapted form CapraTek):
Telephone interview
A 5 -minute telephone interview will be carried out for all candidates. The direct supervisor of the candidate should carry out this interview. In this interview, they should be asked whether they meet the requirements for the position and details about any relevant experience. If they meet all the requirements stated in the minimum requirements, they will be asked for a second round of in-person interview. They will be informed to bring their résumé́ to the in-person interview.
Possible questions The candidate may be asked the following questions,
Are you currently working?
Why does this position interest you?
Do you meet the minimum requirements for this job?
What the rage range that you are expecting?
Do you have any questions?
In-person interview
The Manager will carry out this interview. Candidate’s telephone interview notes by the supervisor should be reviewed before the interview. For this interview, questions should be asked regarding the candidate’s interest in the position, any previous experiences, and any difficult situations that he had to face in this line of work and how the candidate handled it. Questions will be asked in a way to determine their level of confidence, their dedication and desire for improvement.
Possible questions The candidate may be asked the following questions,
Describe a situation where you had to deal with a difficult customer. How did you handle the situation?
Describe a situation when you helped a customer. How did you realize the customer was in need of assistance and how did you help her?
Are you a team player? Tell me a story of a successful teamwork in school, College or University or in life in general.
Did you ever have to do a project that was unpleasant or boring? How did you manage to complete it?
Do you ever take the initiative to do something before being asked? If so give me such an example.
Cognitive Ability test
Cognitive ability test will be scored between 1-5; 1 being far below average, 2-below average, 3- average, 4- above average, 5-far above average as compared to a benchmark group as used by CapraTek. The benchmark group is a national pool of candidates for a similar position.
Sales Interest Inventory
Again scored between 1-5 as mentioned earlier. The score is compared to previous and current sales staffs that are superstar sales staffs.
Personality Test:
The Dunlop Personality Inventory will be used for this test, similar to the one used by CapraTek. This test provides a detailed candidate overview- matches the candidate with one of nine personality traits. This test also reveals the candidate's strengths and limitations for each personality type. The personality types that the candidate will be matched to are (1) maker; (2) achiever; (3) consultant; (4) discoverer; (5) motivator; (6) inventive; (7) influencer; (8) evaluators; and (9) socializer.
Job Knowledge Test
If the Manager is satisfied with the in-person interview, ideal candidates will be asked to do a job knowledge test. Job knowledge is a standardized test that determines the applicant's knowledge of the specific job and the tasks that he/she need to perform.
Integrity Test
Using a similar tool that was developed by CapraTek can perform integrity test. It uses the Hilliard Pre-employment Inventory. This tool is used to identify how an applicant will perform, such as his/her overall performance in the company, misuse of sick days, break company policy, offering unauthorized discounts etc.
Handwriting Analysis:
Human Resource professionals use graphology analysis provided by the Heilstadt Institute. This analysis program can deliver full report that describes and evaluates the various traits revealed by handwriting analysis according to how they affect business situations. The summary comments provide a snapshot of the overall analysis.
Background check
Contacting the previous employers should do employment reference checks. The position, and dates of employment should be confirmed. The duties and responsibilities for that position should also be reviewed and confirmed. Any other questions regarding the candidate about his/ her time in the service can also be asked at this point. A background check must be done for the candidate before the contract is finalized. This should include the following:
Criminal;
Credit;
Education;
Employment.
Final Selection
Final selection will be done based on the evaluation score of the candidate. Based on the above interviews and tests, the candidate should be given scores between 1-5, 5 being the highest for the following categories:
Motivation;
Achievements;
Communication skills;
Customer service;
Teamwork;
Handling responsibilities.
All these assessments including the screening process have to be completed using some form of software such as, MS excel. The integrity test uses a tool developed by CapraTek. It will be easiest to calculate the scores based on the categories if a software and a computer is used and all these data can also be saved for future use. Therefor, the use of technology for the recruitment process is a vital part.
Identifying three best candidates
The three best candidates from the pool of 20 candidates are Wayne Price, Patrick Brown, and Beau Hutchins. The reason I have chosen these three candidates is because based on their bio data it looks like they are sales representatives who can adapt to any type of sales environment. The CapraTek data for 20 candidates are for people who are ideal for technical field, however, the three candidates I have mentioned seems to be adaptable to the need of a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company as well.
I would definitely go through the recruitment and screening process before they are hired for this particular position.
Conclusion
In this project we have laid out the important requirements for a position of sales representative in a pharmaceutical company. We have also discussed possible screening tests and interviews that can be carried out to identify the ideal candidate. We have adapted some parts of our screening process from that of CapraTek’s recruiting and selection process and from the O*Net Online requirements for the job description. It is important to note that in a recruitment and selection plan every step has to be followed in order to hire the best of the candidates. Although a reasonable benchmark selection plan should be in place but one should keep an open mind in order make any changes to the selection process depending on different situations. Many companies follow the steps laid out above to hire sales representative, however, new additions can be made to the screening process.
Many pharmaceutical companies may prefer to interview the candidate with two or more people and skip many of the tests. Many others prefer one face-to-face interview and rely more on the test results. In my opinion, in most cases a combination of the two provides a more reliable screening process to find the most ideal candidate for the position. It should also be noted that different positions have different requirements for job responsibilities, abilities, and competencies, and so the tests and interviews have to be adapted to fulfill the respective requirements for a specific position within a company.
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2016). Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm.
CapraTek. CapraTek’s candidate selection.
CapraTek. CapraTek’s job analysis.
O*Net Online. (2016). Details Report for: 41-4011.00 - Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products. Retrieved from http://www.onetonline.org/link/details/41-4011.00#Abilities.
