Managing Human Resources For Customer Services

Job Description for Sales Assistant

Bay Man (BM is the small organization which is engaged in the business of men’s apparel, and showroom of this organization is situated in the Northland region. This showroom is set up by the organization only 1 year before, and they mainly focus on giving the most fashionable clothes to the customers in affordable price.

The main objective of this organization is to create the sustainable values for the employees, shareholders, business partners, and host communities.

Visions statement of this organization includes the aim of giving the most fashionable cloths to the customers at the price which is affordable for them. 

Organization is looking for the sales assistant in the organization who is able to handle the customers and ensure satisfying services for them. Sales assistant is responsible for handling the customers in effective way and ensure such services to them which satisfy their needs. Sales Assistant is reliable for this retail organization and hold responsibility to liking with the customers in context of ensuring that transaction between them goes smoothly. They are also expected to help the customers to choose between the organizations number of goods and services, process payments and ensure maintenance of high level of customer services.

The method adopting for sales assistant is the telephonic interview in context of selecting the candidate for the vacant position. Under this method, those employees are chose which perform well during the telephone interviews, and after that they are moving to the next stage that is interview with the hiring manager. In other words, candidate is shortlisted after the telephone interview and during the interview with the hiring manager; final decision is taken by the organization (Berinsky, Huber & Lenz, 2011). 

Job designing is the approach through which tasks and functions related to employee job are designed, as it includes the wide range which ensures both simplification and highly complex methods. Following are the two methods which can be used by the BM in terms of designing the job of sales assistant-

Work simplification- Under this method, job of the sales assistant is simplified by dividing it into small sub-parts, and after that each and every part is assigned to the employee who holds the expertise in the similar task. It ensures the proficiency and expertise of the employee by committing the repetitive tasks. It not only increases the expertise of the employee in particular task but also the profitability of the organization. Another advantage of this method is the low cost, as no training is required in this because very low level of skills is needed to do these particular tasks (Wright & Nishii, 2007).

Job enrichment- Another method which can be used by the BM is the job enrichment in terms of designing the functions of sales assistant. This method is used in different situations, as job specialization is required from the employee to do any particular task. However, it makes the work little boring as there is repetitive job routine and no challenges. It is mainly considered as vertical expansion of job, as it includes the more responsibility with less challenges and freedom to do the same (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014) 

Methods for Recruitment and Selection

Following is the job description prepared by the BM in terms of vacant job position of sales assistant in the organization-

Recruitment & selection- The chosen tools for recruiting and selecting the employee are the skill assessment and interview. Skill assessment is the tool through which skills of the candidates are examined such as attitude, knowledge of products, and communications skills. After this assessment interview of the candidate is conducted by the manager for taking the final decision in this context.

Purpose- The main aim of sales assistant is to liaising with the customers in terms of ensuring the smooth transactions with the customers, and further helps the customers in choosing the wide range of goods and services offered by the organization.

Job responsibilities- Job responsibilities of sales assistant are stated below-

• Give valuable advice to the customers and satisfy their needs through effective services.
• Ensure that transaction with the customers conducted in smooth manner.
• Ensure that stock levels in the firm are maintained.
• Promote the products of the store and offers introduced by the store.
• Arrange the window displays.
• Provide relevant information to the customers (Irish Jobs, no date.

Measurable performance standards – Following are performance measure standards which is introduced by the BM in terms of measuring the performance of the sales assistant-

• Manager set the sales target on the basis of the past records of the organization, and time frame is given to the employee in which they required to achieve these targets.
• Another measure is the promotion of brands served by the organization to the customers, and this measured by the numbers of customers entered in the loyalty scheme of the organization. 

Sales assistant require number of skills and all these skills are assessed at the time of final interview. It must be noted that, all these skills are deemed as compulsory skills and it necessary that candidate possess these skills-

• There is no minimum education qualification is set for selecting the sales assistant, but experience of at least 2 years must be hold by the candidate.
• Candidate must hold effective communication skills in terms of dealing with the customers and ensures smooth transaction. 

• Another skill required by the candidate in this context is the effective team working skills, and must coordinate with the other team members.
• Confidence level of the candidate must be high while giving the advice to the customers of the organization.
• Must hold the capability to deal with the challenges which might occurs in the professional career of the employee.
• Must hold the ability to follow the procedures set by organization in effective way and help others in following the procedures set by the management of the organization. 

In context of filling the vacant position of sales assistant, BM chose the indirect method of recruitment as this method help the organization in accessing the wide range of options for the vacant position. In this advertisement is given by the organization in terms of inviting applications of the candidates, and this advertisement is given on different platforms such as print media, electronic media, and social media. The most effective tool of this method is the social media, as it does not require any cost and give large number of access to the organization in terms of selecting the best candidate for the position. There are number of advantages of this method and all these advantages ensures the effectiveness of this method for the organization-

• Wide range of candidates can be accessed by the organization in terms of filling the position of sales assistant in the organization.
• Huge cost is not involved in this method, and this is the reason because of which this method is mostly opted by the organization.
• It is not time consuming, as it involves very less time process.
• Digital platform is the best platform in this context as it provides number of options through which process of hiring can be managed by the organization in efficient manner (Amon, Campbell, Hawke & Steinbeck, 2014). 

BM publish the job description in the daily newspaper in terms of filling the vacant position of sales assistant in the BM-   

Job title: Sales Assistant

Reporting to: Manager

Salary: $85000 per annum.

Hours: 11 AM to 8 PM

Location: Northland (travelling is not required)

Purpose of the position- The main aim of sales assistant is to liaising with the customers in terms of ensuring the smooth transactions with the customers, and further helps the customers in choosing the wide range of goods and services offered by the organization. Job responsibilities of the sales assistant-

Give valuable advice to the customers

Satisfy their needs through effective services.

Ensure that stock levels in the firm are maintained.

Promote the products of the store

Academic or trade qualifications- No minimum qualification is required, but minimum 2 years of experience in this profile.

Work experience and skills- Skills of effective communication and team work. 

Following are the four shortlisting criteria which is chose by the BM in context of selecting the candidate applied for the vacant position in the organization-

• Whether candidate hold the required experience of 2 years or more in the position of sales assistant or any similar position or not. This question is deemed as effective criteria because this is the basic requirement for appointing the sales assistant.
• Whether candidate is able to coordinate with other employees or working in the team. It is necessary that candidate must be able to work in the team, because it avoids the unnecessary chaos and confusion in the organization.
• Whether candidate holds the effective communication skills or not, as communication skill is considered as most important skill for attracting the customers and ensures smooth transaction with them.
• Candidate must be able to advice the customers, as they must hold required knowledge about the products and services offered by the organization (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2006/ Stewart & Ruckdeschel, 1998). 

Selection is the stage for which all the above stages are performed, as it is considered as most critical stage of whole recruitment process. BM use two methods for selecting their shortlisted candidates, and these two methods are skill assessment and interview of the candidate. The chosen tools for recruiting and selecting the employee are the skill assessment and interview. Skill assessment is the tool through which skills of the candidates are examined such as attitude, knowledge of products, and communications skills. This is the effective method, as it examines all the required skills. After this assessment interview of the candidate is conducted by the manager for taking the final decision in this context. Interview is considered as effective tool (Mehrabad & Brojeny, 2007/ Woodman, Swift, O’Boyle, Valley, Bland, Kahn & Schaffer, 2006). 

BM set four questions in terms of evaluating the behavior of the candidates while selecting the candidate for the vacant position, as this further help the employer in evaluating the capabilities of the employee. Some of these behavioral questions are stated below-

• Are you able to demonstrate any situation in which you work with the team and the challenges you faced while working with that team. This helps the employer in understanding the team working capabilities of the candidate.
• Another question asked by employer related to the communication skills of the candidate, and in this candidate is asked to demonstrate the situation in which they attract the customers and entered with him in transaction when customer is not even interested in looking at the products.
• Demonstrate the situation when you deal with the person who is not as much responsive as you required entering into the transaction (Hsu & Leat, 2000).

BM create this chart for shortlisting all the candidates who send their applications, and after that taking their final decision.

Respondent	Experience as sales assistant	Oral or Written Communication Skills	Team Work	Attitude	Total
	2 Years or more	a=not acceptable b=considered c=acceptable	a=not acceptable b=considered c=acceptable	a=not acceptable b=considered c=acceptable
Respondent 1
Respondent 2
Respondent 3

Pre-employment checks are the most important stage, as it mainly ensures the background of the employee and helps in managing the future risks. Following are the criteria on the basis of which employee is evaluated-

• Background related to crimes must be checked by the organization with authorized departments.
• Residential address of the candidate must be cross verified through legal documents.
• Proofs of citizenship in the country must be verified (Ball, Pollard & Stanley, 2010).

References

Amon, K. L., Campbell, A. J., Hawke, C., & Steinbeck, K. (2014). Facebook as a recruitment tool for adolescent health research: a systematic review. Academic Pediatrics, 14(5), 439-447.

Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Berinsky, A. J., Huber, G. A., & Lenz, G. S. (2011). Using Mechanical Turk as a subject recruitment tool for experimental research. Submitted for review.

Hsu, Y. R., & Leat, M. (2000). A study of HRM and recruitment and selection policies and practices in Taiwan. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 11(2), 413-435.

Mehrabad, M. S., & Brojeny, M. F. (2007). The development of an expert system for effective selection and appointment of the jobs applicants in human resource management. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 53(2), 306-312.

Noe, R., Hollenbeck, J., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. (2006). Human Resources Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage, Tenth Global Edition. McGraw-Hill Education.

Stewart, T., & Ruckdeschel, C. (1998). Intellectual capital: The new wealth of organizations. Performance Improvement, 37(7), 56-59.

Wright, P. M., & Nishii, L. H. (2007). Strategic HRM and organizational behavior: Integrating multiple levels of analysis. CAHRS working paper series, 468.

Ball, L., Pollard, E., & Stanley, N. (2010). Creative graduates creative futures. CGCF Higher Education.

Woodman, P. J., Swift, S. E., O’Boyle, A. L., Valley, M. T., Bland, D. R., Kahn, M. A., & Schaffer, J. I. (2006). Prevalence of severe pelvic organ prolapse in relation to job description and socioeconomic status: a multicenter cross-sectional study. International Urogynecology Journal, 17(4), 340-345.

Irish Jobs. Sales Assistant. Retrieved from https://www.irishjobs.ie/careeradvice/sales-assistant-job-description/.