I am currently sourcing candidates for a customer with these requirements: technically savvy, results oriented, efficient sales skills with good phone & writing skills. My interaction with this candidate started via email, which is great because I could get an idea of his written communication skills.

His first emails were to find out a little more about the company and a lot about the position responsibilities. We emailed back and forth several times in which he asked some great questions. After I had answered his questions, he sent an email stating that he was interested in the position and would like to take it to the next step. I emailed him back telling him I had some questions for him and that we would need to set up a time for a phone discussion.

I received this response from him:

That’s great, go ahead and send me your questions and I will be more than happy to answer them for you.

Okay . . . I thought maybe I was not clear or that because he is currently working that it may be difficult for him to get time during the day to talk. So I responded to him by emailing that I would like to talk with him and if needed I could make myself available in the evenings.

I received an email back almost instantly from him stating that:

No, it would be easier for him to do this via email and that I should just fire off the questions to him via email and he would get them back to me in the next day or so.

Remember, this position requires a fair amount of phone activity. Amazing. I have never encountered a sales candidate who would not get on the phone. Needless to say, I passed on the candidate.

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Posted By Lee Charles | Anecdotes, Communication, Hiring Salespeople, Sourcing | |