SELECT Success Stories

Select for Call Centres

Success Story: Pre-employment Tests for Airlines Reservations

Issue: A major US airline asked BHA to help with the task of revamping its selection process to place increased emphasis on customer service attitudes and behaviours.

Solution: It was believed that those agents who exhibited positive customer service behaviours would perform better. Through focus groups, observation and interviews, BHA identified the critical attributes needed for successful performance in an airline reservations position. Incumbent reservation agents (sample size of 1065) completed a preliminary personality survey, and their results were compared with job performance measures.

Results: Use of their tailored version of SELECT for Call Centres has resulted in increases in booked flight reservations of 7 - 9 percent, representing an increase of several million dollars.
 

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Success Story: Increasing Inbound Sales

Issue: An organisation responsible for "banking" and trading "time shares" wanted to expand its selection process to include a realistic job preview (simulation) and a personality test.

Solution: BHA's role was to develop and validate the selection test and to assist the organisation in incorporating the SELECT testing with the job simulation preview. In a validation study of 146 vacation counsellors, SELECT for Call Centres Inbound Sales identified those applicants most likely to book holidays and obtain long-term membership renewals.

Results: Estimated productivity improvements were 5 to 8 percent. In the new expanded selection process, an applicant completes a computerised job simulation that allows them to "try" the job, then completes the SELECT for Call Centres Inbound Sales test. Candidates can opt out of the selection process based on the job simulation. For those that continue, the survey results identify those candidates with the greatest potential for success.
 

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Success Story: Outbound call centre representatives

Issue: An organisation already using SELECT for Inbound Sales decided to add a small outbound group which was responsible for outreach to current members or solicitation of new members.

Solution: Because this job requires a different set of personal characteristics than their typical inbound sales position, the organisation wanted a personality survey tailored to the unique aspects of an outbound position. After job observation, focus groups and interviews, a test was developed and administered to almost all of the current outbound representatives.

Results: Results from the SELECT for Call Centres Outbound Sales test were found to distinguish those representatives who could solicit business and close sales. Estimated productivity improvements were in the 5 to 9 percent range. When evaluating incoming applicants, the organization now uses a combined inbound / outbound survey which allows them to identify candidates with potential for inbound and/or outbound sales.
 

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Select for Administrative Support

Success Story: How Select for Administrative Support Improved the Bottom Line

Issue: A large convenience store operating company was having difficulty with turnover in corporate administrative support functions.  Through our research with the company we determined that some of this turnover was caused by their selection process. They were hiring people who did not have the personal characteristics that fit with the job and the company environment.

For example, it was very important to the company for their administrative support staff to have good internal customer service skills. It was found that a majority of the people who left these jobs (or were fired), did so because they did not enjoy providing customer service to others, were not accommodating, or did not get on well with other people. Although they had the necessary technical skills, they had personalities that were not a good "fit" with the job.

Solution: To help the company evaluate a person’s fit for the job, we recommended the development of a comprehensive assessment process. The process included a skills evaluation (typing and computer efficiency), a personality measure (Select for Administrative Support), and a structured interview. To develop this process we conducted a job analysis to determine skills and personality requirements, selected a test battery, designed a structured interview and validated the new process to ensure that it was predicting job success.

Results: The validation research clearly showed that Select for Administrative Support identified candidates who had a positive attitude, good internal customer service skills, were attentive to detail, could multi-task effectively and were self reliant in their work.

The Bottom Line: From an economic point of view, Select for Administrative Support helped the company avoid recruiting about half (46%) of the candidates who would have been poor performers. Using a conservative "cost-of-a- recruitment-mistake" estimate (hourly wage x 400), this saved the organisation £4,000 (£10 hourly wage x 400) per unsuitable employee avoided.  At the time of the study, 21 current administrative employees were considered to have been "recruitment mistakes". Avoiding 46% or 10 of these would have saved the organisation £40,000.
 

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Select for Customer Service

Success Story: Retail Nursery Associates

Issue: A retail nursery client was implementing a service excellence program for all store assistants. Believing that providing excellent customer service would be a competitive advantage over wholesale and discount competitors, this organisation decided to make a strategic investment in selecting, training and retaining customer service-oriented store assistants.

Solution: After conducting a job analysis, we determined that a strong, customer service orientation, coupled with a strong sense of work ethic/integrity and sound retail maths skills distinguished the model employees. Therefore, we recommended that the selection process should include the use of SELECT for Customer Service with the Retail Maths Module and conducted a validation study to ensure that it predicted success in their store environment.

 
Results: Using a sample of recently recruited assistants, it was found that the SELECT survey identified those employees who provided high levels of customer service and displayed a solid work ethic. Those with low maths scores were referred for additional training.

SELECT for Customer Service helped this retail chain choose applicants that would respond best to customer service training and excel against their Service Excellence Requirements.
 

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Success Story: Security Monitoring and Customer Service Personnel

Issue: Realising the impact of customer service in a competitive marketplace and industry, this particular company was interested in increasing the quality of their monitoring personnel. These individuals were their front-line customer contact employees. They wanted to hire individuals who not only provided excellent customer service, but also displayed a strong work ethic and integrity.

Solution: We recommended developing an assessment process that included the use of SELECT for Customer Service and conducted a validation study to ensure that it predicted success in this company’s environment. Using a sample of current security monitoring personnel, it was found that this SELECT test identified those customer representatives who would and did provide good customer service, display a solid work ethic and work with integrity.

Results: SELECT for Customer Service is now being used by this organization to recruit candidates who will display the customer service behaviours desired and avoid those candidates who would not be a good fit for the customer service role.
 

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Select for Production and Distribution

Success Story: SELECT and a new process reduced turnover

Application: A major international semiconductor manufacturer currently uses a version of our SELECT for Production and Distribution as part of a total selection process for their clean room employees.

Results: During an 18 month period, the company hired over 350 employees using SELECT. The company reported a savings of over £1.5 million by using SELECT for Production and Distribution. These savings were based on their cost of a "recruitment mistake" (£3,000) which considers administrative costs, training time, benefits, and lost productivity. Turnover was also greatly reduced. Prior to implementing a total selection process which includes SELECT for Production and Distribution, the turnover rate for new employees in the clean room was approximately 70%. After implementation, the turnover rate dropped to under 20%.
 

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Select for Retail Store Managers

Success Story: Convenience Store Managers

Issue: A very large convenience store chain was changing the nature of the store manager job. The traditional district-region structure had been flattened and much more emphasis had been placed on the store manager. In the changed role, the store manager performed more complex tasks, solved more problems and shifted from being just a service provider and work scheduler to driving sales.

Solution: After conducting a job analysis, we determined that good store managers needed a strong customer service and sales orientation, an ability to organise and manage people and things, and a willingness to work hard and ethically. With this understanding, a customised version of SELECT for Entry Level Management was developed and validated on a sample of 250 managers.

Results: Results from the validation study showed SELECT to predict store sales performance, management and leadership skills, organisation and task accomplishment, as well as future potential in higher level jobs. Most impressive was the prediction of sales performance. Managers with Performance Index scores in the "OK" and "Better" ranges increased sales, on average, by more than 33%, in year-to-year comparisons, over those with scores in the "Avoid" range.
 

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Select for Health Care

Success Story: Selecting Top Performers

Issue: BHA was asked to assist large hospital in the North Eastern United States in developing a selection system that would support an HR strategy of upgrading the quality of individuals selected into key patient contact positions. This major regional hospital considered the quality of patient service (like customer service in a commercial enterprise) to be the most critical competitive advantage in today’s marketplace.

Solution: BHA’s validation research involved evaluating the applicability of SELECT for Health Care in selecting new staff in the following key patient/customer contact jobs:

• Business Office Personnel (including Accounts)

• Admitting Office Personnel

• Porters

• Food Service/Diet Aides

• Unit Secretaries

• Environmental / Building Services Personnel

The results of the validation study showed SELECT for Health Care to be an effective tool for selecting top performing patient contact employees in all job positions. Scores on SELECT for Health Care were significantly correlated with measures of job performance and helped to identify top performers.

Results: Practically speaking, using SELECT for Health Care to hire people scoring in the "Better" range on the Performance Index increased the rate of selecting top and good performers by 12 percent. More importantly, the number of poor performers, who make the greatest negative impact on the hospital and its customers, was reduced by over 50 percent.
 

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Success Story: Increasing Service Values

Application: After using SELECT for Health Care for four years, a large North Eastern hospital used existing data to conduct a follow-up study to determine the effectiveness of the survey. The hospital used the Performance Index as their main selection hurdle and did not recruit candidates scoring in the AVOID range.

Results: The existing data consisted of performance ratings of all staff in relation to the organisation’s "Shared Values."  Primary among these values is one set called "Service Values" where staff are evaluated on their ability to provide exceptional customer service to hospital patients and their families. The Performance and Integrity Index scores were strongly correlated with better Service Value performance.
 

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Success Story: Decentralising the Recruitment Process

Issue: A large, South Western children’s hospital needed to improve the selection of entry-level employees while not adding to the already burdened, under-staffed HR department. In addition to implementing SELECT for Health Care as part of their selection process, they were willing to consider unique methods for addressing the HR workload issue.

Solution: Through consultation with HR leaders, it was decided to decentralise the hiring process as much as possible. This eased the burden on the human resources department while increasing local "ownership" and commitment to new employees. 
To help identify relevant technical skills and experiences, a number of structured interviews were developed (all customised to specific jobs and departments).

Also, first level supervisors and team leaders were trained in all aspects of the new selection process and were taught to integrate all information, including the results from the test and the structured interview, to make informed, comprehensive hiring decisions.
 

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Select for Personal Services

Success Story: A Nationwide Portrait Studio

Issue: A nationwide portrait studio which provides beauty consulting as part of its services wanted to upgrade the quality of individuals selected into personal services positions (i.e. stylists, cosmeticians, photographers).

Solution: After conducting a job analysis, BHA determined that a positive customer service orientation which emphasised social skills, coupled with a strong sense of work ethic/integrity, distinguished the model employee.

A representative sample of 104 current employees were selected to serve for the validation study. This sample completed a preliminary version of SELECT for Personal Services and, concurrently, supervisor ratings of performance were collected. Statistical analysis of survey scores and performance ratings showed that SELECT for Personal Services is a good predictor of success in personal services jobs. Those selected by the survey received high marks for:

• Enjoyment of the Job

• Positive Attitude

• Good Relationships with Clients

• Work Ethic

This study and subsequent analysis on an applicant sample also showed that the survey is fair and unbiased.

Results: Candidates selected with SELECT for Personal Services have better service-oriented personalities and higher integrity than those selected without the test. Gains over previous procedures included a 9 percent improvement in avoiding poor performers and a 7 percent improvement in selecting top performers.

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