Lee sent this short article to me – Paying Recruits to Interview?  I’m woefully out of touch on this one:

Notching Interviews: Why would corporate recruiters pay candidates to interview for jobs? To Los Gatos Hills, California-based Notchup.com, the answer is simple: Companies ideally will find top candidates, so the money will be well spent. The startup job board adds a twist to the traditional online job search by enabling job-seeking professionals to name their price at which they will agree to interview with prospective employers. Notchup.com says employers benefit by being able to target passive candidates. The company says its tools include optional background checks on candidates and a money-back guarantee on all interviews.

I wonder if this is a natural outcropping of the impending labor shortage.  Imagine demand for candidates is so great that companies will pay for an interview!  The day may be closer at hand than you think.

Comments(0)

There is an effect we have noticed when recruiting salespeople from larger companies that seems to be consistent across markets.  Some salespeople, maybe many, lose their edge when it comes to prospecting when they land a large customer.  I see this effect happening in larger companies, for some reason, more than smaller companies.

I bring this up because I read an employment ad for a large company that we used to work with in a previous life.  This company has an unbelievably strong customer service orientation.  I mean that in a negative way.  Their “hunter” salespeople believe they can service their way to a sale.  This approach is reinforced by a team of customer service people assigned to every account.

Recently, this company has seen it’s long-standing market share evaporate under pressure from an aggressive, sales-oriented competitor.  The competitor is taking this company out in their strongest regions.

The main thrust behind the competitor’s success is the sales team’s inability to close new customers in a competitive situation.  This company has a well-established name that has allowed it to hide the gross inadequacies that have solidified within their sales department.  In essence, the long-tenured sales team’s skills have been dulled by success.

I’ve seen this phenomenon in other large companies also.  I don’t have any market research to prove this effect – my thesis is purely anecdotal.  The salespeople become complacent with their existing customers and compensation and ratchet down the prospecting.  Once an aggressive competitor emerges, the salespeople are almost helpless to react.

Be wary when talking to sales candidates from these companies.  Ask them about recent customers they have closed and look for complacency in their business development.

Comments(2)

Being in the final stages of strategic planning right now with my company (following the establishment of a Vision statement last year) I just can’t leave Derrick’s post alone.

He is absolutely correct with his assumption that many “visioning” exercises are empty of real meaning or impact. As any good business consultant will tell you, execution of the vision and the strategy is a lot harder than crafting the words. Most companies do not follow through and get any real value. It sounds like that’s what Derrick experienced (as I have in several previous lives).

But, for a company like ours that is transitioning from a manufacturing mentality to become a “custom solution provider”, the ‘vision thing’ and the subsequent strategic planning has shown value already. Creating the statement was a company wide activity, and we got input from every level (a first). We are now working to help employees ‘connect’ with that vision – what does it mean for you? what does it mean for your function and area?

Simultaneously, the leadership team is working through a sometimes painful strategic planning session to align the company’s structure, resources and efforts towards achieving that vision. One approach is more organic, grassroots, the other provides focus for our management efforts. If nothing else, it got us out of our status quo, made us ask ourselves the tough questions and gave us a process to do some worthwhile planning (the strategic planning process includes setting specific action plans and measuring results, so it’s designed to lead to real changes).

Could a strong charismatic leader do the same without the hokey “OD” work? Sure. Many do. My suspicion is, those types of leaders use the same tools in a different way – they help people see the vision they articulate (even if its not developed by the employees), they reinforce and direct efforts that lead to that vision, and they make sure their organization supports it with its actions and behaviors.

Will our effort be a guaranteed success and is it worth it?  That’s up to us…and how well we execute.

Comments(0)

From Yahoo News today:

It lived up to its name: The temperature in International Falls fell to 40 below zero Monday, just a few days after the northern Minnesota town won a federal trademark making it officially the “Icebox of the Nation.”

The previous record low for Feb. 11 in International Falls was 37 below, set in 1967, said meteorologist Mike Stewart at the weather service in Duluth.

The temperature also fell to 40 below in Embarrass, 80 miles southeast of International Falls. That’s just one degree above the all-time record in Minneapolis, 250 miles to the south, that was set in January 1888, the weather service said.

I can tell you that stories like this one do make it difficult to recruit out-of-state salespeople to transfer up here to our customers.

Comments(0)