Tip: Addressing Credit Department Staffing Challenges From a Panel of Experts
Recently the Highako Academy hosted a Panel discussion that offered excellent advice to Credit Managers worthy of a weekly Tip. The Panel consisted of three senior credit professionals, each with decades of experience in a wide range of industries. The Panel facilitated by Bob Shultz, included Len Brown, Carrie Bratlie, and John LaRocca. Their discussion was focused on four primary credit department management challenges:
- The onboarding of qualified staff.
- Career development.
- Staff retention.
- Incentivizing the Credit Department team.
This week's Tip covers the panel's best practice approaches to onboard qualified Credit Department staff.
Eight things to consider to onboard qualified staff:
1. Ask interview questions that will reveal if the person's motivation and interests are in line with what you are looking for. Consider the following type of questions to compel the candidate to tell you their story:
a. What are your hobbies? What books have you read recently? Determine if the candidate has an interest in puzzle solving and the tenacity to solve a difficult problem.
b. What has been your greatest job-related challenge? How did you handle it? What was the result?
c. What has been your biggest job-related failure? If they say there never was one, move on to the next candidate. Everyone has had a job-related failure; the real question is what did they learn from it.
3. Will the candidate be a fit with the personalities within the department and the team culture?
4. Do they demonstrate the resiliency needed to handle change, daily pressures, and stress, in an environment of high growth and change?
5. Brings the basic skills needed to meet job requirements?
6. Has a strong work ethic.
7. Utilize alternative approaches to source applicants. Simply posting job ads may bring a volume of applicants, but few are qualified. Consider:
a.Specialized recruiters.
b. Focus on “trainable” recent college graduates with treasury or accounting majors. A cost-benefit compared to more seasoned candidates. They develop through progressively challenging assignments.
c. Try before you buy arrangements with specialized staffing agencies.
d. Candidates from LinkedIn and other relevant social media sites.
8. In today's market, it is important to evaluate the top two or three candidates quickly with a fast offer turnaround.
If you are interested in viewing the Panel's full discussion, including the other three topics, the recording is now available on-demand on the Highako Academy website (academy.highako.com)
Check out the recording here: Credit Talent vs Cost-Cutting: Building a Successful Credit Team
