Need:

After Avon moved to adopt a multilevel sales strategy, the job requirements its sales leaders had changed. Avon needed a new process to better identify those who would be the best fit with the positions. This process needed to be applied globally, primarily in the 10 countries that account for 80 percent of Avon’s sales, as well as in two key emerging countries.
 

Solution:

Having developed a competency model that effectively captured the skills required of its sales managers to help drive the new sales strategy, Avon engaged DDI to help in the redesign of its selection process. Among the most significant changes, a burdensome and costly phone-based assessment was replaced by two online tests. One test measures for competencies related to sales, the other for key leadership competencies.

Recognizing that it needed to better equip its recruiters and hiring managers to conduct more effective interviews, Avon also implemented DDI’s Targeted Selection^® behavioral interviewing system. 

Results:

The revamped selection process has been rolled out in the U.S., Brazil, Canada, China, Australia, and the U.K., with additional business units implementing it worldwide on an ongoing basis. Among the results: Time required to move a candidate through the screening step in the selection process has been reduced from more than a week to two days, the assessment cost per candidate was reduced by more than 80 percent, and global standardization and consistency in the hiring process have been realized across locations and business units.