As I was searching the web this morning came across an interesting site for The Conference Board. The company is “the world’s preeminent business membership and research organization.” They have been around for 90 years and are best known for the Consumer Confidence Index and the Leading Economic Indicators that you see referenced so often.

They provide an economic analysis based on a monthly basis is the total number of online job ads. The report and analysis they provide is amazing – a total of 17 pages of information for the month of May alone!

Although the total online job ads were 4,374,400 in May, a 0.2 percent increase from April, the number of vacancies is up dramatically from a year ago. The number of advertised vacancies rose 29% over the year (May’06 – May’07). There was also a total of 2,812,900 new ads that did not appear in the month of April.

They also breakdown these numbers by region and state. Some of the analysis they provide in this report: ad rates (number of posted vacancies per 100 people), supply demand ratio (number of unemployed/number of posted vacancies), trends by state, and trends by occupation just to name a few.

Here are some interesting stats from their report (pdf):

Top states by total number of posted vacancies

1. California – 705,200
2. Texas – 368,400
3. New York – 313,700
4. Florida – 288,100
5. Illinois – 207,900

Top states with the highest ad rates (number of posted vacancies per 100 people)

1. Alaska – 5.23
2. Massachusetts – 5.04
3. Colorado – 4.84
4. Delaware – 4.76
5. Oregon – 4.42

Top states with the lowest supply/demand rate (number of unemployed/number of posted vacancies)

1. Montana – .56
2. Virginia – .68
3. Utah – .68
4. Colorado – .72
5. Wyoming – .77
6. Nebraska – .77

The full report provides data on all 50 states in case you are wondering how your state stacks up.

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We do not make sales sourcing decisions based on resumes as you may know from reading our blog. It’s an unreliable approach when looking for strong salespeople or sales leaders. Yet, we do receive resumes in response to our ads and that always leads to some interesting reads.

Here are the bullet points listed in one resume describing a candidate’s recent managerial position:

–Create and maintain dedicated sales programs and outside events to increase revenue and overall sales
–Motivating staff on a daily basis to achieve sales goals and maximize retention
–Daily sales analysis to coach representatives into meeting monthly quotas

These are 3 good points but they are not backed up by any quantifiable proof. Without specifics supporting the successes, I am left to view these responsibilities as little more than theoretical musings. That might not be accurate, but you get my point.

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This trait is one to measure in all salespeople since it reveals much of how they approach prospects, how they handle rejection and how they hold up under stress.

Sense of Self
The ability of a salesperson to realize and appreciate their own unique self-worth. They base these feelings on internal factors as opposed to external ones. This internal feeling of value allows them to appreciate themselves based on who they know themselves to be on the inside. They do not judge themselves based solely on what they do, what role they occupy or what success they attain. This capacity could also be considered the level of €œself acceptance.€

A salesperson with strength in this trait is able to value themselves as a unique entity aside and apart from their role or ambition. They base their value on their own internal standards.  This internal €œhappiness€ with one€™s self plays a crucial role in job performance and satisfaction.

A weakness in this area can be a major deterrent and manifest itself in a person in different ways; domineering, perfectionism, risk aversion and/or the inability to handle criticism or rejection effectively.

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