A Servqual study for a headhunter
One day I got a phone call of an economist, an acquaintance of Willem, who was desperately searching a researcher who could develop a questionnaire about the satisfaction of services for a “headhunting company” and to try this questionnaire out in person on some clients, who were top executives of large companies. I said that I was willing to have a talk with the representative of the company about the project.
The first contact
With the economist and Willem we went to the director general of the Dutch branch of the company in order to discuss the details of the study. It was quite an experience for me to see such a luxurious office full of expensive furniture and very good looking secretaries. This was quite different from the situation at the universities. One of the secretaries announced our arrival with quite a ceremonial to the top executive. He explained us that his company was different from other “head hunters” because they did not only the selection process, but also followed the selected candidate in the first years of his/her employment in the new company. This seemed to us a quite unlikely activity, but how could we know.
The idea was that we should developed a "SERVQUAL" , a questionnaire for evaluation of the quality of their services for existing clients. I would go with a portable computer (in those days “portable” meant at least 6 kilos) to the clients for the interviews, who were notified in advance by the director general, so that there was no problem of non-response. We thought that we could develop such a questionnaire and that I could do some test interviews before the larger project would be formulated.
The first contact
With the economist and Willem we went to the director general of the Dutch branch of the company in order to discuss the details of the study. It was quite an experience for me to see such a luxurious office full of expensive furniture and very good looking secretaries. This was quite different from the situation at the universities. One of the secretaries announced our arrival with quite a ceremonial to the top executive. He explained us that his company was different from other “head hunters” because they did not only the selection process, but also followed the selected candidate in the first years of his/her employment in the new company. This seemed to us a quite unlikely activity, but how could we know.
The idea was that we should developed a "SERVQUAL" , a questionnaire for evaluation of the quality of their services for existing clients. I would go with a portable computer (in those days “portable” meant at least 6 kilos) to the clients for the interviews, who were notified in advance by the director general, so that there was no problem of non-response. We thought that we could develop such a questionnaire and that I could do some test interviews before the larger project would be formulated.
Interviewing top managers
After I developed the questionnaire, tested it myself and presented it to the director of the headhunting company, I could try it out on the selected clients. The younger executives filled in the questionnaire on their own, but some older ones, confessed that they could not handle a computer and therefore I had to fill in their responses. The meetings in general took place in a pleasant atmosphere. A middle aged executive, just divorced, even asked my judgment whether or not he could invite for a date a beautiful young client, whom I met in the corridor before the interview.
In general, the clients were satisfied with the company and some were more worried about their own business. However, I also met at a company a human resources manager, who was very dissatisfied with the services of the company, especially the psychometric assessment of the new employees. She was herself a psychologist and found their procedure very unprofessional. I encouraged her to write these complaints in the open ended question and told her that the director general would contact her personally to talk about her complaints.
By this example the director general of the headhunting company understood that he could save clients for the company by paying attention to their complaints expressed in the interviews. It was also a simple decision because our research would cost him only the half of the amount of money he received for the services of one client.
Since all had gone much better than he expected the director general suggested that I could organize interviews with 200 of his clients spread over the Netherlands.
After I developed the questionnaire, tested it myself and presented it to the director of the headhunting company, I could try it out on the selected clients. The younger executives filled in the questionnaire on their own, but some older ones, confessed that they could not handle a computer and therefore I had to fill in their responses. The meetings in general took place in a pleasant atmosphere. A middle aged executive, just divorced, even asked my judgment whether or not he could invite for a date a beautiful young client, whom I met in the corridor before the interview.
In general, the clients were satisfied with the company and some were more worried about their own business. However, I also met at a company a human resources manager, who was very dissatisfied with the services of the company, especially the psychometric assessment of the new employees. She was herself a psychologist and found their procedure very unprofessional. I encouraged her to write these complaints in the open ended question and told her that the director general would contact her personally to talk about her complaints.
By this example the director general of the headhunting company understood that he could save clients for the company by paying attention to their complaints expressed in the interviews. It was also a simple decision because our research would cost him only the half of the amount of money he received for the services of one client.
Since all had gone much better than he expected the director general suggested that I could organize interviews with 200 of his clients spread over the Netherlands.
The selection of interviewers for the main study
Since I possessed 12 computers for interviewing I could select 12 students for this work. They should be cultured, which meant: speaking correctly Dutch and being appropriately dressed. The later was more problematic because most young people were wearing blue jeans embellished with wholes and the guys frequently wore a ponytail or even had long hair and beards like Karl Marx. In order to find students I contacted a niece who was studying IC and also worked for Willem at the university. Of course, I told her to look for some representative looking candidates. Within some days she managed to find some beautiful female students who were eager to do this well paid job and also some short- haired male students with clean shaven faces. I was very satisfied and gave them the interviewer instruction at the foundation. When they tried out the interview I heard them sometimes whisper: “but the “aunt” had said ... “ . That was the way they referred to me
Since I possessed 12 computers for interviewing I could select 12 students for this work. They should be cultured, which meant: speaking correctly Dutch and being appropriately dressed. The later was more problematic because most young people were wearing blue jeans embellished with wholes and the guys frequently wore a ponytail or even had long hair and beards like Karl Marx. In order to find students I contacted a niece who was studying IC and also worked for Willem at the university. Of course, I told her to look for some representative looking candidates. Within some days she managed to find some beautiful female students who were eager to do this well paid job and also some short- haired male students with clean shaven faces. I was very satisfied and gave them the interviewer instruction at the foundation. When they tried out the interview I heard them sometimes whisper: “but the “aunt” had said ... “ . That was the way they referred to me
I also instructed the students about clothing requirements which led to great hilarity among the boys. They hardly ever wore blazers or suits, only at funerals and weddings. When doing their interviews they would look like their fathers, they laughed. One male student even came the next day to my office with a tie. He did not know how to knot a tie and wandered if I could.
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Then the day came to present the students for inspection to the director general of the headhunting company. He shook hands with each student while glancing at his/her outfit. Fortunately he did not notice that one of them had forgotten to change his jeans. Thereafter he gave us a talk about his company where he used a lot of superlatives in the style of Donald Trump.
Data analysis and report
When the interviewing was finished, I reported the cases where the students were confronted with serious complaints about the work of the company. My client, the director general, was very grateful for this information because he could contact his clients to improve the relationship. Moreover, I analysed the data in order to find differences in satisfaction between de regional offices of the company.
In the middle of this work the director general phoned me, asking whether I could get the report done before his meeting with the international director general, since he wanted to present there the results. So I worked hard, even in the weekends, and faxed him the report three days before his meeting.
Two years more I organized this research for this company. The last year of the research the director general invited me to give a lecture about the results to the Dutch directors of the regional offices. I was a bit surprised that it took not place in the main office but at a holiday resort in the countryside, a five star hotel with gardens and tennis courts and a swimming pool. I gave a lecture with overhead sheets to an audience of approximately 10 sunburned executives who were in their early forties and wore expensive, sportive clothes. They listened politely. Some looked worried that I would reveal complaints of clients of their office. But I did not, since that would be the task of the director general. I explained the approach and the general results.
At the end of the lecture the director general expressed his satisfaction with my work. The other executives also applauded relieved as there was no criticism about their offices. Before I left the director general was very eager to get my sheets in order to present the results again to the international director.
Afterwards I realized that the major purpose for the director general of this research was to achieve a higher position on the international level of the company. He got a job in the international organization while his successor did not continue this research. Three years of this research was also enough, but it was a nice experience to see how such compasnies function.
When the interviewing was finished, I reported the cases where the students were confronted with serious complaints about the work of the company. My client, the director general, was very grateful for this information because he could contact his clients to improve the relationship. Moreover, I analysed the data in order to find differences in satisfaction between de regional offices of the company.
In the middle of this work the director general phoned me, asking whether I could get the report done before his meeting with the international director general, since he wanted to present there the results. So I worked hard, even in the weekends, and faxed him the report three days before his meeting.
Two years more I organized this research for this company. The last year of the research the director general invited me to give a lecture about the results to the Dutch directors of the regional offices. I was a bit surprised that it took not place in the main office but at a holiday resort in the countryside, a five star hotel with gardens and tennis courts and a swimming pool. I gave a lecture with overhead sheets to an audience of approximately 10 sunburned executives who were in their early forties and wore expensive, sportive clothes. They listened politely. Some looked worried that I would reveal complaints of clients of their office. But I did not, since that would be the task of the director general. I explained the approach and the general results.
At the end of the lecture the director general expressed his satisfaction with my work. The other executives also applauded relieved as there was no criticism about their offices. Before I left the director general was very eager to get my sheets in order to present the results again to the international director.
Afterwards I realized that the major purpose for the director general of this research was to achieve a higher position on the international level of the company. He got a job in the international organization while his successor did not continue this research. Three years of this research was also enough, but it was a nice experience to see how such compasnies function.