How Markit Chose Two Star Sales Reps From 216 Candidates

Learn how Markit, a European eCommerce company that makes it easy to buy IT products, hired two star sales reps quickly.

Giorgio Luciani, the Italy country manager for Markit, decided it was time to grow his sales team from two reps to three. But without a local human resources team in Italy, he knew he would have to run the search himself.

The challenge

From past experience, Giorgio knew that finding a good account manager with expertise in IT purchasing in Italy wouldn’t be easy.

He also wasn’t sure how to assess all the skills he felt were important to succeed in the role.

Worst of all, he had no time to spend reviewing résumés and interviewing candidates. He hoped that he could use technology to conduct the first round of interviews, and test every applicant’s skills online. Then he would only have to meet the top people.

So he searched online for a solution that would help him hire sales reps quickly.

The solution

Giorgio came across Vervoe by reading reviews of hiring solutions. He immediately liked the simple interface and easy-to-use product, and decided to give it a try. Giorgio quickly realized Vervoe was the right solution for him.

Giorgio used a combined job simulation to test each applicant’s attitude and technical skills.

The psychological side of the assessment was very important to him as his team worked remotely or was often on the road. He wanted to make sure that the new hire would embrace Markit’s culture of transparency, strong ethics and problem-solving.

After advertising on LinkedIn, 216 people applied for the role. Instead of having to worry about screening them to figure out who to interview, all Giorgio had to do was focus on the best responses to his simulation. It was immediately obvious which candidates were the right fit.

The outcome

Giorgio initially intended to hire one account manager.

But after seeing the calibre of lots of candidates – really seeing them in action, not guessing – it was obvious that he was spoiled for choice.

So he hired two! Two great people who were the right fit. Importantly, Giorgio saved a ton of time by using Vervoe to highlight the best performers.