The Hammer’s recent post, The Trick to Talent Upgrades, brings up a touchy subject for some sales managers. What if the talent upgrade includes people with more experience or with seemingly superior skills to those of the sales manager? If I upgrade the talent I manage, where does that leave me? Unfortunately, these types of scenarios make our role rather difficult. We have encountered more than a few instances where these situations have derailed strong candidates. This derailment has happened despite the sales manager’s stated goal of upgrading the skills and experience of the sales force. In these types of situations, I find it helpful to make myself go through… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Truth About Candidates
This line is straight from a CareerBuilder.com email blast: The record shows that the job goes not necessarily to the perfect candidate, but to the person who knows the most about how to get hired. So let€™s get busy€¦ I hope that gives you pause. That’s their bolding too. This approach – knowing how to get hired – is the backbone of bad hiring. Bad candidates can still know how to appear strong, adapt greatly or Google deeply to masquerade through your hiring process. The fix is to use a process that limits your reliance upon your gut since that is how they pull it off. Use a focused process,… Read More
Continue ReadingResults-based Work
From Seth Godin’s post Who should you hire? There is a fundamental shift in rules from manual-based work (where you follow instructions and an increase in productivity means doing the steps faster) to project-based work (where the instructions are unknown, and visualizing outcomes and then getting things done is what counts.) And yet, we’re still trying to hire people who have shown an ability to follow instructions. A great point from him especially in terms of hiring strong salespeople. “Project-based work” has been more common in sales since salespeople tend to have some freedom, or latitude, to achieve results. Sales is typically the easiest position to measure success. If a… Read More
Continue ReadingI Wouldn’t Call It a Skill or Hobby
From the Special Skills/Hobbies section of a resume (my emphasis): Athletic in football,baseball,hockey and can play pool very well. Other hobbies include hunting,fishing,horseback riding, drinking, and reading. That definitely falls under the TMI section of communication (Too Much Information).
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