Part of what I do every day is hunt through the local sales position ads.  There are always some ads that contain more words than a doctoral thesis.  Posting an internal job description for a sales position is the wrong move.

One aspect of sourcing that we observer is the salesperson’s ability to qualify, in this case, the opportunity.  If we post all the information about the position, the salesperson doesn’t have to work to find specific information.  I’ve said this before, it is amazing how much you can learn during an initial 10 min. phone screen.  An overwritten ad negates this fact to some extent.

One other item we are researching is response rates to ads based on how much information is in the ad.  We hope to have more information about this later, but it appears that erring to the “too little” side is better than the “too much” side.

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I’ve read many sales technique articles recently that discuss how to approach a prospect.  Salespeople are expected to have a cursory knowledge of the company itself, it’s market and, to some extent, whether or not they have a solution that may be a fit for this prospective customer.  Gone are the days of cold calling a prospect and asking what it is their company does.

I think everyone can agree with that paragraph.  So why do companies still expect hiring managers to go through the added discovery of sorting out communication styles, motivations and skill sets?  Granted, most managers want to verify these items, but assessments provide a starting point that not only speeds up the process, they enhance it.

We assess candidates before the initial interview.  The first benefit here is that we actually screen out candidates that are not a strong fit for the position.  There is no need to interview them if they are completely misaligned to the position’s requirements.

Second, the assessment results provide a foundation to start the interview process.  Now that the hiring manager has some measurement of the unknown candidate to provide context immediately in the interview.  The discovery phase is shortened drastically and a focused interview can occur.

If we measure a candidate’s sales skills and find an underdeveloped area, we provide the hiring manager with specific questions to drill down during the interview.  These areas can be explored in the initial interview which allows the hiring manager to reach their decision faster with more objective data to support the decision.

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These definitions are from Selling Power’s Talkin’ about Different Generations:

1. The Silent Generation
   Consisting of workers over the age of 60, these folks tend to follow traditional patterns; they take their work seriously, expect to do this job for the rest of their working life, and feel comfortable working alone, knowing that they are trusted to perform up to or beyond expectations.
2. Baby Boomers
   Born between the years 1943 and 1964, Boomers currently comprise almost half the workforce in many organizations. They tend to be a bit more individualistic than their elders, and struggle with workaholism and work-life balance issues.
3. Generation X
   Born from 1964 to 1981, Gen X-ers have been causing managers to run for the Maalox ever since they began entering the workforce a little over 20 years ago. Frequently more tech-savvy and resourceful than their forebears, these folks tend to value highly personal relationships, time with the boss, and the chance to explore volunteering opportunities.
4. Generation Y
   Those born after 1981 are typically lumped in the Generation Y category – they frequently make less distinction between their jobs and personal lives, and often embrace 100 percent telecommuting. Money is not their prime motivator – what they’re doing and whom they’re working with tends to excite them. A better motivator than more money for Gen Y-ers is more time off, perhaps to take a three-day weekend for an outing with friends.

Ok, so those are some apt descriptions in general terms.  However, this is the pull quote from the article (emphasis mine):

While some might be quick to attribute this “slacker” phenomenon to an increased laziness and narcissism among younger people, Nelson argues that the real increase is in the need for immediate feedback.

“From a behavioral standpoint, playing a video game, which all kids grow up on today, the amount of feedback averages 60 times a minute,” Nelson says. “You take the same kid who’s had years of that type of instant feedback, drop him into a job and tell him to say, ‘And do you want fries with that?’ – of course he’ll be bored out of his mind.

I haven’t heard that analysis before but it certainly makes sense.  We don’t own a game system so I am somewhat unfamiliar with them.  These systems definitely hold sway over my 8 year old son though.  The interaction between the game and the player is frequent so many years of this reinforcement would have some effect.  Interesting premise.

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