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The Client

BRP manufactures Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, Sea-Doo watercraft and sport boats, Johnson and Evinrude outboard engines, and Bombardier all-terrain vehicles (ATV or Quad). The company also manufactures the RM1 karts and the reputable Rotax engines that propel not only the majority of their vehicles, but also small airplanes and motorcycles made by other renowned manufacturers such as Aprilia and BMW. BPR also produces a large range of clothing, parts, and accessories. BRP still proudly bears the name of their founder, Joseph-Armand Bombardier, who, in 1937, made history by introducing the first “snowmobile”.

The Solution

Comprehensive Personality Profile® (CPP®): The CPP provides a 37-page report that describes a candidate’s personality in terms of job-related strengths and weaknesses. The selection report is used in employment screening and allows companies to match personalities to position requirements to better fit people with positions.

The CPP measures seven Primary Personality Traits:

• Emotional Intensity
• Intuition
• Recognition Motivation
• Sensitivity
• Assertiveness
• Trust
• Good Impression

A Summary Profile identifies candidates as one of four common personality types; Driver, Supporter, Thinker, or Motivator.

Other characteristics measured by the CPP include: energy level, people skills, sales potential, goal orientation, ability to perceive buyers’ needs, ability to close the sale, desire to provide after-the-sale service, desire to conform to management objectives, and tolerance for staying at one work station.

Bombardier’s Road Warriors Chosen with CPP

Being a “road warrior,” someone who travels frequently—even constantly—for work might sound glamorous, but it isn’t an easy job. It means long stretches away from home and family, living out of suitcases, missing school plays and parent-teacher conferences, never enjoying a home-cooked meal, and calling an impersonal hotel room “home” for much of the week.

For those who travel by air, it means dealing with the frustration of arriving at the airport hours ahead of schedule only to find the flight delayed, long lines that come with the increased security measures at airports and regularly waiting for luggage to make its way down the conveyor belt to the carousel. For those who travel by car, it means battling rush hour traffic, construction zones and inclement weather.

Whether travel is by car or by air, it also means a great deal of time alone in airports, on the road, and in hotel rooms. That’s a bit of an irony because the majority of “road warrior” positions involve sales—a career that is defined by being an extrovert who loves people.

Because of all of those variables, hiring the right person for a sales position that involves significant travel isn’t an easy task. That’s why Beverley Wenner, human resources generalist for Bombardier Motor Corp. of America, a Grant, Florida-based branch of the worldwide company, BRP, uses the Wonderlic Comprehensive Personality Profile (CPP) to screen all applicants.The CPP provides a 37-page report that describes a candidate’s personality in terms of job-related strengths and weaknesses. It’s used in employment screening and allows companies to match personalities to position requirements to better fit people with positions.

For Bombardier, the CPP reveals which candidates will be effective, successful, motivated sales people. “We really like using the CPP,” Wenner says. “It’s an effective tool and it makes us confident that we’re hiring the right people for the job.” She administers approximately 30 CPP tests per year, depending on employee turnover rates.

Founded in 1937 by Joseph-Armand Bombardier who introduced the first snowmobile; BRP manufactures Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, Sea-Doo watercraft and sport boats, Johnson and Evinrude outboard engines and Bombardier all-terrain vehicles. The company employs approximately 7,000 people at facilities worldwide. At the Grant, Florida office, however, they don’t assemble the vehicles, they sell them, and it’s Wenner’s job to find the best people to do just that.

Bombardier’s sales positions involve significant travel to dealerships around the region. The company has close to 4,000 direct dealers in North America alone. Unlike the typical direct-to-consumer car sales position, which involves high-pressure selling, Bombardier’s sales force travels to the dealerships that carry BRP vehicles. They develop ongoing, long-term relationships with the dealers and take orders for how many vehicles these dealers need. According to Wenner, the positions don’t involve “hard sales.” Instead, they focus on relationship building and meeting customer needs. That’s where the CPP comes in.

“The CPP tells us what an applicant’s strengths and weaknesses are before we hire them,” she says. “We want to know, do they have a need for recognition? What motivates them? Will they be able to deal with all of the travel? Are they going to be able to close a sale? We share the results with the sales manager before any hiring is done.”

Wenner isn’t the first in her company to use the CPP. Her predecessor, Peggy Kuss, transferred to the company’s Sturtevant, Wisconsin office last year. Kuss was so impressed with the CPP’s performance in the Grant office that she took the test with her to her new position Wisconsin and is using it there.