We may be behind the times here at The Hire Sense, but we keep trying to catch up. I’m sure most readers are familiar with You Tube which is a fantastic site for uploading videos to share. Today I just discovered WSRadio which is internet talk radio. I was shocked at the number of business shows already on the “station” (is that what it is called?). These are completely web-based radio shows – no over-the-air versions that I could find in a cursory scan of the site.

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Careerbuilder.com in their Small Business Advisor Section has a great article that takes you step-by-step in posting an effective online ad. As is to be expected, the article is specifically written to CareerBuilder’s site specifications. The information is still valuable and can be used to effectively write an ad for any of the online job boards.

One tip that I would add that the author does not address is describing how the position is rewarded. One attribute that seems to appear in most ads is the desire to find a “self-starting” salesperson. This aptitude can be measured by our assessments. However, in order to maintain a self-starting aptitude, the salesperson needs to have their rewards met.

One other crucial item to self-starting ability is providing the motivated salesperson with the resources necessary to perform their job. I’ll end with an real situation.

A few years ago we found a highly motivated, self-starting business development executive for one of our customers. During the interview process, the salesperson was told that the territory was wide open. Our customer had a list of prospective companies to call and the current sales force was just managing their existing customer base.

Well, the truth was far different. The new salesperson discovered that he first had to check with an administrative person to see if any of the existing salespeople had “claimed” the prospect in their database. As you can imagine, more tenured salespeople has claimed many of the prospective companies even though they hadn’t communicated with the company for years. A weak sales manager allowed this practice to continue.

The self-starting business development salesperson lasted 6 months before resigning and we no longer work with that company.

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Forbes.com article – Are You Corner Office Material?
(I am not)

The article discusses techniques companies use to assess candidates for C-level positions. These techniques include a $12K, 1 day in-person assessment. Now that is pressure-packed role playing.

The quote that caught my eye:

Michael Butler, a vice president at Valtera, an HR consultancy, says companies are increasingly interested in his firm’s executive evaluations, partly because so many retiring baby boomers need to be replaced. Many firms will lose half of their senior executives in the next few years, “and they don’t even know it,” Butler says. “It’ll be a crisis in three years.”

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