A few years ago we were working with a large corporation that was having a difficult time finding strong salespeople. In fact, they were quite lousy at it and had assembled a weak team overall. This project was quite extensive in that we had to assess their current team of over 30 salespeople, 5 managers and 3 VPs. After that, we modified our hiring process to work with their existing HR department’s process.

After many meetings, we were off and running on the sourcing side. We identified the strong candidates and went to schedule interviews with the hiring managers. Anyone who has hired strong salespeople before knows that you do not have an endless time frame to move them through your process. If you know they are strong, it is guaranteed that another company has figured this out too.

Our problem was that we had a difficult time getting a workable schedule from any of the hiring managers. They had few openings in their busy schedules and were not going out of their way to make themselves available.

We finally sat down with all of the managers and VP’s after struggling to get the first few candidates through in a timely manner. One of the managers said something I will never forget. She stated in front of everyone, “I am having a hard time with the interviewing because it is not a top priority. You hired me to increase sales in my division through my team. I do what I can to get through the resumes and assessments to schedule an interview, but it can only be a part-time activity at best.”

This was a manager where we had served up the candidates and were conducting the interviews along with them. Still, she was having a difficult time fitting the interview activity into her schedule. Surely some of that was fluff, but she did keep a fairly hectic schedule with her team trying to hit an aggressive sales goal.

When you spend your day sourcing, screening, assessing and interviewing candidates, you forget that other people are not primarily focused on these activities. Sales managers are responsible for increasing revenue through their team. Hiring is not an everyday, or even every week, activity for most of them. It is a task to be completed in the margins of their day.

I read a poignant comment from a head football coach in the paper today. The reporter asked him about the status of a player who is holding out. The coach said, “I cannot worry about who isn’t here. I have to focus my time on the players who are in camp and working out.” Sales managers have to take a similar approach which explains the thrust of our business. We do the work of weeding out the weak and sourcing the strongest candidates so that the sales manager can focus their time on their current team.

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but according to CareerJournal.com, it appears that the classic business lunch is making a strong comeback. As the article states, it may become even more popular if the IRS moves the deduction from 50% up to 80%. Check expense reports for fine wine and fancy meals!

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The pronounced generation gap in today’s workplace is a topic we consistently encounter in our selection and assessment business. We released an article, Hiring Adjustments for Generations X and Y, earlier this week in response to this gap. Now monster.com has a great article that goes to the experiential source of the younger generations’ uniqueness.

The younger generation, particularly Generation Y (born 1977 to 1989), thrives in a fast-paced technological world. . . Their constant exposure to technology has even caused some to speculate that their brains have developed differently. The familiarity of so many different technological media has enabled them to process a huge amount of information in a short amount of time . . . In some circumstances, these individuals may never have learned effective face-to-face interpersonal communication skills, due to the fact that so much of their social interaction has been over instant/text messaging, cell phones and email.

This ability to handle information has benefits as well as drawbacks. I remember people lamenting the format of USA Today when it first came out. Quick read stories and colorful charts cut against the old graphically-challenged black and white newsprint of established newspapers. That shift was a precursor to the generational change that has occurred.

…one of the primary findings was that the employer-employee relationship has become more project-based, as opposed to the traditional chain-of-command structure.

The relationship change is quite evident in the many interviews we conduct during the year. As mentioned in our article, the younger generation has a more horizontal view of the organizational chart.

This paragraph towards the end of the article cuts to the quick of the issue and helps to explain our focus on understanding candidate and employee communication styles:

Effective communication is imperative as businesses shift to this new fast-paced paradigm. Striking a balance with both generations can be difficult. Younger generations are geared to working in a fast-paced environment and getting information on a whim. Short, abrupt communication may occur and leave out important details that others may need to know in order to provide adequate responses. Older generations may overinform, causing confusion or extra work in sifting out pertinent information.

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