Reference no: EM133027416

Kinaxis Chooses Sales Reps with Personality.

Kinaxis is a software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. Its specialty is software for supply chain management (companies obtain supplies as needed and get their products to customers on time and at minimal cost). Therefore , Kinaxis depends on sales people who understand how businesses work, who listen carefully to identify needs, and who provide excellent customer service to maintain long-term business relationship. The company had just one salesperson serving the continent, and Dolan, Vice President for sales wanted to add four more. He received about 100 resumes and started by reviewing the resumes against job requirements . He selected 10 candidates for first round job interviews. Dolan decided his next step would be personality test. He hired a firm called Opus Productivity Solutions(OPS) to administer a test called PDP PromScan to the remaining 10 candidates and his existing salespeople. Dolan himself took the test and had his existing sales people do the same. The existing salespeople was doing an excellent job, the result of their test could help Dolan and Opus pinpoint the characteristics of someone likely to succeed in sales in Kinaxis. Based on an analysis of all the results, Opus created a benchmark of traits associated with success in the job. In addition, two of them scored above benchmark in conformity and below the benchmark in dominance. This lead to eliminated by Dolan , suggested by Opus that this candidates might be so eager to please that they would be quick to give in to whatever customers requested- a pattern that could be costly for the company. Dolan still had eight candidates to fulfill four positions. He asked each one to give him the names of major accounts he or she had signed up in the previous two years. Four candidates were able to come up with three or four large clients. Those were the candidates Dolan hired. Since then , Dolan says, his experience with personality testing has reinforced his belief that this selection method helps Kinaxis identify the best candidates. The company's commitment to careful selection is expressed on its websites: "As growing and determined company, we're always looking for people eager to push the limits each day of what's possible." Kinaxis was recently named one of Canada's top employers for young people

1) What selection methods did Bob Dolan use for selecting his salespeople?

2) Did he go about using these methods in the best order?