HR Decision Choosing a Call

HR Decision Choosing a Call Center Supervisor All four candidates that have applied for the position of supervisor in Company X's customer service call center have qualities that make them suitable for the position, and the decision as to which one of these candidates to hire is not a simple one to make.

The decision is made still more difficult in this scenario as there is not any opportunity to interview the candidates more extensively, but instead the decision must be made from information that has already been obtained and the brief (or non-existent) personal remarks from each candidate regarding their enthusiasm for the position and other plans that they might have.

Even with the lack of personal information and the impossibility of meeting with each individual candidate to get a better "feel" for them, however, there are still several key considerations that were taken into account during the decision making process. The primary consideration, though far from the only aspect of the candidates that was considered, was the proven performance record of each candidate.

None of the applicants have negative background or performance record information, which is at once encouraging and yet creates further complications -- any of these candidates would likely be at least serviceable if not better in the open position, but this means that there was no truly easy elimination.

Because the merits of the individual candidates as they appear on paper all qualify them for the position, the decision shifted from one of choosing the candidate that simply appeared to possess the most comprehensive qualifications for the position to one in which specific individual features of each candidate were used to rank them in order of preference. Once this schema was applied, the decision actually became a great deal easier and was quickly accomplished.

Though he is the nephew of Company X's president and there has already been some indication of pressure to hire him, Frank Swain was ranked as the bottom choice for this position due to his relative lack of experience (with only five years in the workforce, and that dealing with a staff half the size of Company X's call center), a complete dearth of performance records from his current employer, and the fact that he apparently earned his MBA immediately after earning his BA (given his age and the timeline described, this seems to be a reasonable conclusion), which means he would have potentially obtained less practical information from his education.

Karen Wilson was ranked only slightly higher, and for the same reasons; her relatively low level of work experience both before earning her MBA and generally makes her a less ideal candidate for this position despite her knowledge of competitor's operations.