Staffing for Today's Credit Department Needs
Time was when Credit was considered a "back-office" operation. No more. Today the credit staffer who can't work smoothly and effectively with customers and with his or her counterparts in other departments can create problems you may not be able to solve. Here's how one credit executive makes certain the people he hires have "the right stuff." "We have a very visible department," reports Michael Thelen, CCE, Director of Credit for Land O'Lakes Inc. (Minneapolis, Minnesota). "People inside and outside of the company see what we do, and what we don't do." It was all of this visibility that prompted Thelen to create a process that actually enables other departments to question credit department decisions and voice any other concerns they have. "Fortunately, they don't need to use this process very often," he says with a laugh. "However, if and when they do, I need to make sure that my employees are able to stand up for their decisions and explain how and why they made them." And this interdepartmental responsibility is one reason Thelen is extremely careful about whom he hires. Another reason is to maintain a proper balance between independence and teamwork. "On the one hand, I like people who are individualistic enough to be independent and use their own initiative," he explains. "On the other, I don't want people who are so individualistic that they can't or won't work as part of a team." For Thelen, the concept of team applies beyond employees working together within the credit department. "What I especially want," he says, "is to make sure that my people work as a team with people in other departments." Three Characteristics
Thelen has about a dozen people in his department, and he finds that he loses only about one a year. So he doesn't need to spend a lot of time recruiting and hiring employees. When he does need someone, however, he takes as much time as necessary to make a very careful selection. What does he look for? If candidates have technical (financial) skills, this is merely icing on the cake as far as he is concerned. "I can train the technical skills," he explains. "What I'm really looking for are candidates who possess three key psychological and social characteristics." These are 1. A work ethic. This means that employees take pride in their work, are willing to be measured (and measure themselves), strive to do their best, are not sidetracked when something else comes up, want to be part of something larger than themselves, and are willing to dig in when problems arise. 2. Political savvy. Many people may simply consider this "communication." Thelen describes political savvy as being comfortable talking with different people in the organization and understanding what these people (who come from different perspectives) need to know. For example:
- When talking with people in Customer Service, credit employees need to remember that the emphasis in Customer Service is processing orders. From this perspective, credit employees need to focus on how their decisions will affect order processing (e.g., whether orders may be held up).
- When talking with salespeople, credit employees need to focus on advance information. "We don't want to surprise salespeople with information that we are cutting off an account after they have created their budgets and quotas."
So why not just refer to "political savvy" as "communication"? The reason is that political savvy involves more than just communication. There is another element: initiative. "I don't want employees in other departments to have to call my people," he explains. "I want my people to take the initiative to call them anytime they make decisions that might affect these other departments." Thus: Communication + Initiative = Political Savvy. 3. Emotional management. On the one hand, Thelen looks for people who get excited about their jobs. He wants enthusiastic and committed employees.
"At the same time, I want people who are able to control their emotions," he adds. "If they're too emotional, this will come through negatively in their calls, communications, letters, and actions." In fact, Thelen has found in the past that on the rare occasion the sales department has criticized a decision made by a credit employee, the criticism focused not so much on the decision itself but on the way it was conveyed. Employee Selection
It's one thing to have criteria on which you base hiring decisions. It's quite another to be able to identify employees who possess the qualities you seek. Here's how Thelen does it: He asks a number of questions, but three of the most important revolve around previous and current employment, specifically job accomplishments, job frustrations, and job measurement. 1. Accomplishments. He asks candidates to elaborate on things they feel they accomplished in their previous and current jobs. "I ask them to elaborate on the things they have been most proud of," he explains. 2. Frustrations. This is a particularly important area, Thelen believes. Certainly, every employee experiences certain frustrations on the job. While Thelen is, to some degree, interested in what the frustrations were, he's more interested in how the applicants felt about the frustrations and how they handled them. Candidates impress Thelen positively if they report something like, "This particular thing was frustrating, but you always have to deal with problems like this." Whether the candidates were able to solve the problems isn't as important as their attitude toward them. For example, one candidate might report, "I was able to solve the problem by doing this, and this was the outcome," while another candidate might report, "I wasn't able to solve the problem because it was beyond my control, but I didn't let it stop me from continuing to do my job." While Thelen might be slightly more impressed with the former candidate, he is still positively impressed by the latter. The candidates who don't particularly impress Thelen are those who discuss frustrations along the lines of:
- "I got frustrated with it, so I gave up."
- "It wasn't my responsibility, so I let someone else handle it."
"These kinds of responses raise a lot of red flags in my mind," he notes. 3. Measurement. Certainly, any good department manager has a formal way of measuring employee performance. What Thelen looks for when interviewing job candidates is whether they also created their own personal measurements of success to supplement the ones their department managers used. He particularly looks for candidates who report things like:
- "Here are some of the things I did well and how I measured this success."
- "Here are some areas where I felt I was weak, and this was the plan I developed to try to improve."
Recruiting Sources
On occasion, Thelen will go outside the company when hiring a new employee. In such instances, besides thoroughly questioning candidates along the above lines, he also checks references and discusses the candidates with other credit managers for whom they have worked. "What I want to find out is whether a particular candidate is seeking a new job because he or she has outgrown his or her existing job and has a positive motive for moving on," he explains. In most cases, though, Thelen recruits from other departments within Land O'Lakes. "This has been a tremendous plus," he emphasizes. Obviously, he can get a much more detailed background on the candidates from fellow managers. Furthermore, the candidates are already familiar with the company's culture. Editor's Note: The above article originally appeared in the Credit & Collection Manager's Letter, a newsletter purchased by Credit Today in 2006. This article originally appeared prior to 2000.
| 
Webinars
