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Best Match
Make the best sales candidate match possible


	Audience All sales managers and professionals involved in interviewing and selection processes.

Program Benefits
Best Match, from The Real Learning Company provides hiring managers with the knowledge, skills, and tools to effectively assess a pool of potential sales candidates and make the best hiring decision. Based on the well-researched and proven methodology of behavioral interviewing, Best Match helps sales professionals presented with multiple high-potential candidates employ the interviewing skills that determine the best job "fit."

Finding and hiring employees who possess critical competencies and skills (Can Do), have internal motivation (Will Do), and are a match with the organization and environment (Will Fit) is an essential part of the performance equation. This requires proficiency in behavioral interviewing, which is at the heart of the Best Match training. After experiencing this program, interviewers will be better able to:

avoid the expense and consequences of poor hiring
understand the importance of the key issues that impact the quality of the hiring decision: Can Do, Will Do, and Will Fit
maximize the benefits of behavioral interviewing, and fully understand the difference between it and traditional interviewing methods
craft highly effective behavioral interviewing questions
employ proven best practices for individual and team interview planning, documentation, and assessment
master the skills necessary to perform a successful behavioral interview, including peeling the onion with effective follow-up probes
be aware of the legal do's and don'ts governing the interviewing process, as well as areas that are appropriate and inappropriate to explore during an interview
interpret interview results more skillfully
work effectively as a team throughout the interview and selection process

Program Description
Before Best Match begins, participants receive a Legal Study Guide to review the do's and don'ts of interviewing, including diversity and legislative best practices. The workshop commences with a fun, fast quiz to test participants' knowledge and understanding of important legal and policy issues. The quiz is debriefed by the facilitator and a professional from the company's HR organization. Employing experiential and adult learning principals, participants work in small groups to explore the costs and associated consequences of making bad and good hiring decisions. Participants conclude that interviewing is one of the most important roles a manager performs, and that it requires extensive preparation, planning, and skill.

Working with a hypothetical job opening, participants continue to work in small groups to explore, select, and discuss the key factors associated with competencies and skills (Can Do), internal motivation (Will Do), and company culture and environment (Will Fit). Participants review two video segments that show a qualified candidate being interviewed by two managers from the hiring company. After each segment, participants discuss whether they would hire the candidate. After the second round, participants explore the differences between a traditional and behavioral interview. They develop a new awareness about what kinds of questions produce the most predictive information, and learn the nature and qualities of effective behavioral questions.

In the next phase of the program, participants work together to interview, observe, and be interviewed with the questions they constructed in the prior exercise around a real job. They give feedback, share best practices, and build fluency in the process of peeling the onion. Participants also explore how to interview for both motivational preferences and company "fit" considerations. To reinforce their questioning skills, participants explore the nature of a question and answer (Situation, Action, Outcome) model. Participants develop a set of interview questions based on an actual job description for which they will likely interview candidates in the near future, and leave the workshop with a completed Interview Guide to use during their next interview.

Implementation/Customization
Best Match requires one trained facilitator per six teams of four. A proprietary set of competencies developed by The Real Learning Company is available for client use and customization. The program may be strategically customized to include an organization's existing competencies and talents. A Best Match Review CD helps participants practice using behavioral interview questions and develop effective follow-up probes. The Legal Study Guide is also used back on the job to avoid legal and appropriateness issues when planning interviews.

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