Case: Trainee Selection
International trading company chooses its next trainees
Background
A large international trading company had decided to hire three new talents for its trainee program. The company received several hundred applications for the positions and selected 35 candidates. After extensive procedures through interviews, tests at an external assessment centre, IQ tests and role-plays, four candidates comes out as equal. However, only three candidates were to be recruited.
The Project
To be able to chose the right candidate Enhancer performed interviews with each candidate to evaluate their individual capability. Enhancer also determined, through top management interviews, that there are two categories of roles available after the completed trainee program.
The analysis showed that all roles in the management team had a planning horizon of at least five years. Since the trainees would be required to manage such roles in the future, it was important to know if the candidates would mature to the required level.
Analysis of the interviews and aggregation of the results showed that the candidates were not in fact equal.
Results
The result of the analysis was as follows:
Candidate 1 and 2 would never develop the capability necessary to manage a role at the top management level. Candidate 3 would be able to manage a role at top management level, but not in the next 25 years. Only candidate number 4 had the capability to operate at top management level at that time, at the age of 35.
The company chose to only hire candidate number 4, and is very satisfied with the choice. By only choosing the right candidate, the company also saved the other candidates from a negative career path.