BusinessWeek.com discusses recruiting strategies based on who you are trying to attract in Recruiting Today: What Are You Promising? There are some excellent examples of different programs initiated by different companies. However, this one jumped off the screen:
In some cases, offering young employees a unique opportunity can have special appeal. DHL, which used to hire only experienced salespeople, offered nine recent college grads a shot at sales last year (and a comprehensive training program to support the move). The company, which is expanding the program this year, says the program not only attracted nine top candidates, but the new hires generated more revenue and more shipments per sale.
Many hiring managers wouldn’t expect that result, would they? The conventional wisdom in sales hiring is that experience is what matters most. This is a bad assumption. Skills, motivations and aptitudes are a much better predictor of success.
The ideal hire is usually a salesperson who has the right blend of these traits for your specific sale, has a presence about them on the phone and has some industry experience. But I would put them in that order of priority when hiring salespeople.