Ron Deaple considered all his options. As key account sales manager for Cutting Edge Technology (CET), a London-based manufacturer of special purpose computer circuits, he was responsible for sales and support of the company’s most important customers. The company’s most important business was to manufacturers such as Dell and Lenovo as well as other product companies such as Samsung. Ron’s position made him ultimately responsible for the relationship with these customers.

Key account managers at CET were often younger, highly motivated individuals. While a technology background was helpful, Ron found it was even more important for these individuals to have an understanding of contemporary selling. He believed if an individual knew about relationship building he could train them on the technical aspects of the job. Ron had personally recruited nearly all of the 50 key account managers. Up to now, Ron had recruited from other companies, hiring individuals with at least five years experience. In addition, Ron believed that it was critical for applicants to go through at least three interviews including one with himself, the executive vice president of marketing, and at least one other key account manager.

Recently, senior management had targeted Central Europe for expansion. Many technology companies are locating facilities in the area, leading to significant opportunities for market growth. CET has decided to open a regional office in Prague, Czech Republic, and Ron is tasked with hiring three new key account managers to be based there. The question was how to identify and recruit individuals for this new office.

It had become clear to Ron and others at CET that the old methods of relying on word of mouth and industry contacts were not going to be sufficient sources of new applicants in the future. Ron knew a logical source of new applicants would be the Internet. They were a technology company, and looking for potential new salespeople on the Internet would expand the list of possible candidates. His concern was the lack of direct contact with the person applying for the position. Sure he could generate a lot of applicants, but how could he be sure to get the right applicants. In addition, he believed the interview process was essential to identifying good candidates and that was not possible over the Internet. However, being based in London made personal interviews with all the candidates difficult at best.

Questions

1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of recruiting on the Internet? What are the strengths and weaknesses of face-to-face interviews in the recruiting process?

2. How would you address Ron Deaple’s concerns of using the Internet in his recruiting process?

3. Design a program that would enable you to incorporate both the Internet and personal interviews in the recruiting process.