en
Jobs

Let our industry specialists listen to your aspirations and present your story to the most esteemed organisations in the UK, as we collaborate to write the next chapter of your successful career.

See all jobs
Candidates

Together, we’ll map out career-defining, life-changing pathways to achieve your career ambitions. Browse our range of services, advice, and resources.

Learn more
Services

The UK's leading employers trust us to deliver fast, efficient hiring solutions that are tailored to their exact requirements. Browse our range of bespoke services and resources.

Read more
About Robert Walters UK

Since our establishment in 1985, our belief remains the same: Building strong relationships with people is vital in a successful partnership.

Learn more

Work for us

Our people are the difference. Hear stories from our people to learn more about a career at Robert Walters UK

Learn more

Building a first class credit control team

An effective credit control function is vital to the success of any business, so finding professionals who can excel in this role should be a high priority

Identifying the skills that will help a credit team to succeed can be challenging, as can attracting and retaining top talent.

By developing a clear profile of the skills you need and taking a dynamic approach to sourcing and identifying candidates, credit managers can place themselves in the strongest possible position to build a first class team.

What’s your type?

The ability to succeed in credit control often hinges on whether or not the candidate is the right personality fit for the role and the organisation.

For hiring managers, this means that the first step when recruiting is to identify the personality type that will thrive in their environment. Consider the kind of clients you work with and the wider culture of the organisation.

Some businesses will look to build a relaxed atmosphere, while others adopt a more formal culture. Determine the kind of team culture that you want to build and what kind of personalities will help you to build it.

Find your motivation

The type of personality you want to look for in your credit control team will impact on how you want to motivate and manage them. As a target driven business, bonus or commission systems can be a powerful tool to drive performance.

Additionally, if you are looking to build a sense of collaboration and teamwork within your credit function, consider setting goals for the entire team as well as individual KPIs.

Cast a wide net

As mentioned above, success in credit control often owes more to personality and attitude than it does to direct experience within the industry.

While the specific personal qualities you are looking for may vary, the confidence, dedication and resilience which are common to all successful credit control professionals can often be found in other fields.

Consider professionals with a background in sales, customer service and other roles where being goal focused and developing strong stakeholder management skills are essential.

In some cases, a candidate with a background in retail may be a better fit for a credit position than finance or accountancy professional.

Think outside the box

Many traditional interview techniques aim to identify technical skills needed to succeed in a professional role. While these can still offer value, they may not give you the insights you need into the personality of candidates.

For more junior roles, such as professionals transferring from another industry into credit control, competency questions designed to identify their ability to adapt to adverse situations can offer valuable insights.

Dealing with challenging creditors requires credit professionals who can balance tact with self-confidence and determination – asking candidates for examples of when they effectively dealt with a challenging customer or client, regardless of the industry, can help identify these qualities.

For more senior professionals such as credit managers who have experience in the field, the most valuable insights can be gained by seeing how they took an innovative approach to improve their credit control function.

Examples such as developing new internal processes or achieving year-on-year increases in cash obtained from clients can highlight the most outstanding professionals.

Share this article

Related content

Submit a vacancy
Salary Survey
Hiring advice
Get in touch

Find out more by contacting one of our specialist recruitment consultants

Related content

View all

Getting the most out of your on-demand video interview

Mobile hiring solutions is driving the recruitment market. At the forefront of the market’s evolution is one-way or on-demand video interviews, which have emerged as a resource and time saving solution for hiring managers with a high volume of interviews to complete or who simply cannot attend a fac

Read More

ACA the most important qualification for employers

Over 90% of accounting and finance employers rank certifications including ACA, ACCA or CIMA as more important than experience working within the finance market, according to new industry research, Solving the UK Skills Shortage – Accounting & Finance. The latest research highlights the relative imp

Read More

How can organisations close the disability employment gap?

How do you drive Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace? We’ve partnered with specialist diversity and inclusion organisations: Qlearsite, CV Library, Pearn Kandola, The Kaleidoscope Group, and the Inclusive Group to survey 7,500 Irish and UK professionals - to understand the career challenges and w

Read More

I'm Robert Walters Are you?

Come join our global team of creative thinkers, problem solvers and game changers. We offer accelerated career progression, a dynamic culture and expert training.