We work sparingly with Gen Y-level salespeople but we do track the articles regarding this generation.  BusinessWeek.com offers an informative read in their article Careers: The Goods on Generation Y.

The takeaway information for me:

Indeed, twentysomethings don’t view work as merely a way to make a living, says Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, author of Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens through the Twenties (Oxford University Press, 2004) and research professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. “They expect work to be a form of self-fulfillment€”they don’t want to take a job that pays well but is boring or annoying,” he says. Money is important to twentysomethings, he says, but it’s not as important to them if the work’s not enjoyable and exciting. This notion comes from their baby boomer parents, who invented the idea that work should be fun, he says.

Boomer parents have also taught their kids that they’re wonderful, so they enter the workforce thinking they should be showered with things that they want, Arnett says. With strong self-esteem, they’ve also grown up in an information tidal wave, as technology has become much easier to use and widespread, notes Bruce Tulgan, founder of New Haven (Conn.)-based generational research firm RainmakerThinking and author of Managing Generation Y (HRD Press, 2001). “This group is always connected, always accessible, and creative,” Tulgan says. He’s fond of saying that Generation Y is the highest-maintenance generation that will also be the highest-performing workforce.

Interesting.  May I also recommend Steven Rothberg’s blog at CollegeRecruiter.com?  I’ve learned more about Gen Y reading his blog than any other source.  Well, other than talking to the Rock Star’s Gen Y twin sons.

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I thought this was interesting from the StarTribune’s Old-Time Job Search:

In 1937, Elmer Wheeler published the advertising classic, “Tested Sentences That Sell.” He wrote it after testing 105,000 word combinations on 19 million people over 10 years, to find the phrases and communications techniques that sold the most goods and services.

Wheeler included a chapter on tested ways to get hired, and here’s his number one rule for getting a job: “Watch your ten-second approach. Our case histories showed that many employers judge the applicant during the first ten seconds. He catches a flash of the man’s appearance, his personality, and is or is not impressed by his first ten words. Snap judgments still rule the world, unfortunately!”

…

Wheeler explains how: “The successful job-hunter will watch his opening statements €¦ [because] your first ten words are more important than your next ten thousand.”

Better to run a hiring process than to rely on snap judgments!

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I wouldn’t recommend this tact to a sales ad:

Are you the candidate we are looking for? If you are very familiar with Excel, have good organizational skills along with verbal and written communication abilities, you may just be the future (salesperson) for our growing business.

Leading with Excel and organizational skills are generally not the strongest points for drawing in talented salespeople. I would recommend putting those abilities in a “helpful to have” section. Far better to focus on the abilities the salesperson will need to close business.

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I just read another article about hiring sales “hunters” that was filled with simplistic tips and tricks.  The article triggered a thought – there seems to be much conventional wisdom about hiring strong salespeople that permeates these articles.  Unfortunately, I think the logic behind them is overly assumptive.

Let’s look at some of these mythical assumptions:

Sales Managers Should Always Be Interviewing Sales Candidates
This approach sounds good in a theoretical sense but has minimal real-world application.  The only sales managers who should follow this approach are ones who head up high-turnover sales departments.

A sales managers’ top priority is to increase profitable revenue (with an eye on SG&A at the same time).  It is advantageous to maintain a strong network that they can access in times of hiring need, but a dedicated approach to interviewing is a waste of precious productivity.  Sales managers should invest that time in growing their existing team.  This investment in the current team will reap far more rewards than performing informational interviews with external candidates.

If need be, the sales manager can employ a company like Select Metrix to source the right candidates while they maintain a focus on their current team.

Assess Candidates Before Phone Screening Them
This battle cry is all-too-familiar in the assessment world.  That’s because it is promoted by assessment companies.  Don’t fall for it.  Don’t throw good money at an unknown/bad candidate.  The phone screen is the best method for getting your first pass through a candidate’s abilities.

Let me be clear – you always need to use objective assessments when hiring salespeople.  The assessments are like an x-ray into the their sales abilities – abilities that are not easily apparent through interaction.  The sequencing of the assessments is the point here.

Use This Trick To See If The Candidate Is A Hunter
I understand the rationale behind this tip, but I find it grossly lacking in 2 areas.  First, the assumption is that you will actually attract or find a hunter.  This is a significant assumption.  If you write the wrong ad, you won’t have to worry about using any hunter tricks – none will respond.  If you are not certain about how to approach a suspected hunter, it won’t matter either.

The worse scenario is to limit your hunter determination to one trick because of the next point.

Second, hiring salespeople is difficult work – there are no magic bullets to determining if the candidate is a true hunter.  A steady, repeatable, objective process is the best approach to determining if the candidate has the business development skills that fit your position’s requirements.

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