How To Conduct Your Job Interview To Find The Perfect New Hire
July 19, 2010 by Mallory Megan
Filed under Credit
In the middle of an American economic crisis, and every other industry seems to be cutting back, one seems to be growing rapidly: the debt collection! You heard right! According to one recent study that was conducted as of late, more than fifty five percent of the collection agencies questioned plan to add to the amount of staff that they already employ this fiscal year.
Any manager going through the hiring process is aware of the time and aggravation that comes with finding the right fit for the job, especially a job like a debt collector where attention to detail and motivation are highly necessary. In the collections industry, it is imperative that you hire the right person. A debt collector who is too laid back is not going to collect; a collector who is too high strung might end up getting your agency sued. Hiring the wrong candidate not only leads to an unhappy new hire with the capacity to harm the credibility of the hiring manager and even the company, but it also chews up management time that it takes to train. Time and money that could have been put into training the right hire in the first place.
So how should a hiring manager go about holding job interviews to pick out the best fit? Interviewing styles differ from business to business. Typically, a majority of interviews will involve asking about a candidate’s job history. But if a candidate knows what you are looking for, and they are adept at selling you their experience, you may end up hiring the person who is not best suited for the specific job you have in mind. Therefore, the most important idea that any prospective employer should keep in mind during an interview is to get the candidate to be extremely specific. Research has shown that it is more effective to go over less material very thoroughly than to have a general sense of everywhere that the candidate has been. It is important not to simply accept their first answer as complete- probe for more details.
In the collection industry, behavioral questions have been proven to be helpful. These are based on the idea that past actions may predict behavior in the future. When it is crucial that you need to be able to reasonably predict how a new hire will respond to any type of stimulus on the job because the credibility of your company is at stake, questions such as “give me an example of,” or “what are your best and worst personality traits” can be helpful. Ask the candidate how they generally handle stress. We all know they are going to be dealing with it after all.
Finally, look for new hires who feel passion about the things that they do. Try to look under the surface to determine if there is an authentic depth underneath what the candidate is claiming. Try asking about hobbies, life goals, etc. It may be unorthodox, but looking beyond qualifications can help you get a hold of some of the details that will give you an idea of how a candidate will approach a job and what their work habits are like.
Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on medical collection agencies Also published at How To Conduct Your Job Interview To Find The Perfect New Hire.
What Happens When A Stock Market Crashes?
July 10, 2010 by Mallory Megan
Filed under Stock Market
A stock market crash can be loosely defined up as a circumstance where share prices of stock listed on the stock exchanges drop drastically. Even though there are a number of economic factors that will cause a stock market crash, a reason for stock market crashes is also the investing public’s loss of confidence in the economy and mass panic.
Many times, the effects of stock market crashes can be awful for a country’s economy. There have been infamous stock market crashes that resulted in the loss of billions of dollars, and as more and more people become involved in the stock market, crashes have touched more lives recently.
One of the most infamous stock market crashes began on October 24, 1929 and would be come to be known as Black Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial lost fifty percent during this stock market crash, setting off the start of the Great Depression. Another famous crash occurred on October 19, 1987, which also known as Black Monday. The crash started in Hong Kong but rapidly caught fire around the world.
By the time October was over, stock markets in Hong Kong had fallen 45.5%, the United States had fallen 22.68%, and Australia, Spain, the United Kingdom and Canada suffered intensely in addition. In stock market history, this marked the biggest one day percentage decline – the Dow Jones fell by 22.6% in one day.
Nothing could seem to explain the crash in 1987. The main events and news at the time could not predict the disaster and any obvious reasons for the collapse could not be identified. This crash created many questions about the theories and assumptions of modern economics. After the crash, computer systems were upgraded in the stock exchanges to handle larger trading volumes more efficiently. The New York Stock Exchange also introduced the concept of a circuit breaker, which halts trading if the Dow declines a prescribed number of points for a prescribed amount of time.
Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on medical collection agencies. This article, What Happens When A Stock Market Crashes? is released under a creative commons attribution licence.
Is It Worth It To Hire Outside Collection Agencies
June 1, 2010 by Mallory Megan
Filed under Credit
When you find yourself in a situation that may lead to larger complications down the line, you try to find the fastest and most headache-free solution to the problem. It is always the best way to nip the problem in the bud before it even starts.
The same principle applies when you’re dealing with accounts that have lagged on payments, whose checks have bounced, who have totally stopped making their payments and have deemed themselves unreachable and a dozen other scenarios that will surely make your head spin. The role of your credit manager if you have one, at this point, is to decide whether to deal with these problems in-house or pass on these accounts to a collection agency that will then be tasked to follow-up and, at best, recover the money owed to your company.
Usually, a debt collection agency is called upon when you really have an overwhelming problem with your customers’ payment backlog. You’ve already tried resolving the issue using your in-house crew and having them initiate non-threatening appeals to your accounts by making phone calls, sending letters and even making personal visits. Or, sometimes, the problem has persisted and you find that your whole business has reached its danger zone and its plight hinges on whether or not you can recover some of the money that you lost. Whatever the case, hiring a collection agency seems to be the best way to deal with the situation.
However, extra care must be exercised when you finally decide to place your past dues with a debt collection agency. You have to remember that hiring a collection agency means that you are turning over a part of your business to someone totally on the outside. First of all, when you choose a debt collection agency you have to be sure that they come highly recommended by someone who has made use of their services and have been highly satisfied with them.
It is equally important that you check with an accrediting organization like that of the Better Business Bureau. This just makes sure that the collection agency that you’ve hired is regulated and subject to a higher power if they fail to deliver on their promise.
Second, when selecting a debt collection agency, you have to consider their technological capacity and equivalent manpower to handle your demands. When you say technological capacity it means that the agency will have the contact center in place to handle any communication between your customers and the agency, with reporting to be done on a regular basis to you as the ‘mother’ company.
You also have to make sure that the agency’s staff is trained to represent you as the client and not be seen as a third-party provider. It has been reported that most people are adverse to collection agencies and are more prone to shying away from them which will make it harder for you to go after them.
Their experience and customer-related orientation need to be as good as the fees that you’ll be paying. You need to negotiate a good compensation package that will take into account all of these conditions mentioned so you’ll at least be assured that you’re getting your money’s worth. It doesn’t make sense for you to be spending so much and not getting anything in return.
Rapid Recovery Solution is a commercial debt collection company. This and other unique content ‘debt solutions’ articles are available with free reprint rights.
Know Your Customer: Good Business Tips
February 20, 2010 by Mallory Megan
Filed under Management
Running a business can be hard. A lot of the time it is necessary to hire a debt collection agency for help collecting money that is owed. However, if companies take a position of prevention, they may not require using the assistance of a third party collections agency. Knowing the client or customer can be extremely useful for filtering out potential problems.
First, a business should determine the full legal name of the customer that it plans to do business with. Find out the type of business structure. Is it a corporation or a partnership? The names, addresses and titles of the principal members should be collected.
It is key to find out the federal employer tax identification number. The telephone number, ship to address, name, fax number and email address of the main contact should be established as well. Also, the bill to address, fax number and telephone number of the accounts payable contact is a useful piece of information to know. Individuals authorized to submit orders should be listed.
Inquire about the bank references. What is the name of the bank? The branch address, fax and telephone numbers, account types, account numbers and dates opened can be useful information. The name of the bank representative should be collected also.
Finally, the terms and conditions of sale should be acknowledged and accepted by the client\’s signature. The customer\’s signature, printed name, date of signing and title should be collected, and always have the company\’s lawyer look over any documents before use.
Be aware of the customer\’s credit history and keep decent communication through phone calls or personal visits. Keep an up to date delivery of goods and services, and up to date records and accounts receivable information. Mail out memos and letters to remind the client about the money owed and keep them up to date.
Join an industry credit group and participate actively. It is crucial to know the laws in the state that the company is in regarding collections and business proposals. To protect the company, it is crucial to collect references. Bank references, including the bank name, branch, account type, account number and trade references are important to know. Collect three trade references at least that include the name, address, telephone number and email addresses.
Mallory McGuinness is employed by a debt collection company. Also she writes stories about finance and business, consumer spending and debt collection.




