Recruiting Trends provides a summary of CareerBuilder and USA Today’s Q4 Job Forecast and there are some interesting trends.  First, according to the survey workers are postponing active job searches but are open to a change if the right one comes along.  Of the 6,100 workers surveyed, 38% are planning to sit tight for the next year and wait for the economy to swing back while 41% plan on staying until retirement.

This “squatting” will create some tension in that 23% of employers plan to add full-time, permanent employees in the next three months and 34% say they are having a hard time finding qualified candidates, especially in highly-skilled areas.  Not surprising, is it?

Finding the right candidate will be difficult over the next 3 months.  The holidays are a difficult time, in general, to fill positions.  This holiday season will be even more of a challenge.  Posting ads through the big job boards or local newspapers will probably not produce the results you are looking for.  I would suggest making a strong push through your network as your primary sourcing channel.  This approach will provide the best chance at finding, and hiring, the right candidate.

Comments(2)

That is the average length of a job in the U.S. according to The Career News newsletter (sorry, no link).  I find that number almost shocking, but the newsletter does not call out the criteria for their average.  I’m thinking part-time, minimum wage, seasonal and other positions could drag that number down.  At any rate, it does provide a bit of an eye opener to how our job market is changing.

Gen Y is typically not a generation to be known as “lifers.”  They begin their work career without discussions of pensions and retirement.  Those days are long gone.  Instead, they are focused on skill development, jobs that interest them on a personal level and an opportunity to affect their world.  To me, it almost seems as if they take a macro-view to their position (environmental impact, social impact, long-term skills, next growth step, etc.) as opposed to a micro-view (company hierarchy, internal promotions, retirement options, etc.).

There are some restraints on Gen Y becoming complete employment gypsies.  According to the same newsletter:

Seven in 10 Americans admit that they’d change jobs tomorrow if only they could.

I’m thinking financial restraints are impacting this decision.  Most people only change jobs if the opportunity of the new position is perceived as greater than the opportunity at the present position.  The fragile economy and the risk of downsizing is a strong deterrent to most employees looking to make a jump.

At any rate, I suspect the 3.5 year number is going to shrink in the near future once the economy rebounds and the Boomers continue to retire.

Comments(0)

Last week Craig’s List job postings started costing $25 in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami (South Florida), Philadelphia, and Phoenix.  These cities joined the following cities that already charge a fee for job postings – Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, NYC, Orange County, Portland, Sacramento, Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco Bay Area, Washington DC and NYC.  I supposed it is not surprising with all the “get rich now” ads that are all over the sites.

We are fans of Craig’s List and have had some decent success using their job board.  Unfortunately, it does require some patience by the candidates since there is much garbage to sift through on the site.  Still, it is a valuable resource and an effective piece of a full sourcing program.

Comments(0)

In talking with sales managers over the past month or so there is one reoccurring statement that I am hearing – their sales cycle has been extended in this economy.  It isn’t that they are not closing sales, it is just taking a bit longer.  Buyers are certainly more deliberate, but as we discussed some of their opportunities, it was clear that their sales people are not asking the difficult questions that lead to a qualified deal. 

I came across this article from Kelley Robertson quite some time ago and passed it on to one of these sales managers – it is worth bringing it up again.  The article provides a few simple questions to ask of clients and prospects to advance the sales cycle.  Kelley makes this point:

Most sales professionals understand that effective qualifying can lead to more sales. Unfortunately, these same salespeople are too often focused only on the outcome of their own process (closing), and as a result they fail to ask effective questions of their prospects and customers.

He also points out that too often sales people focus on quickly closing the sale and lose focus of what matters to the client.  They try to hurry the process along and, in the process tend to cut corners.  Whether your salespeople are cutting corners or they are just afraid to ask the tough questions, here are some effective questions Kelley supplies for your sales people:

• What are you trying to accomplish this quarter?
• What challenges do you face right now?
• If you had a magic wand, and could use it to create the ideal supplier, what would that supplier provide?
• If there was one thing you could improve about your existing situation, what would it be?

Comments(0)

Sometimes these quick tip articles provide little usable information.  This article at Eyes on Sales is not one of those articles – there are excellent suggestions within the 6 tips (pay special attention to number 1):

1. Lack of Process – The cure for this problem is to take your time to document the processes associated with finding, acquiring and retaining customers. Don’t make the mistake of focusing only on sales processes, as there are sales support, customer service, operations and many other processes that need to be examined through this exercise.
2. Lack of Proactive Funnel Management – The number one problem facing many sales managers in this area is the inability of the sales manager to have clear visibility as to what goes on within the funnel, there are no guidelines against which to measure funnel activity.
3. Lack of Preemptive Actions – As a rule, all sales managers should have an action plan in place for all poor performers, all of the time.
4. Lack of Training – Sales managers rarely get the training they need before becoming a sales manager. Likewise, very few sales managers conduct ongoing training sessions with their sales team. Selling requires cognitive skills as well as practical skills, which cannot be developed without practice.
5. Wrong Selection/Promotion Criteria – Frequently, good salespeople are ruined when they are promoted to sales management.
6. Too Many Administrative Tasks – To many talented salespeople become sales managers and then, due to the environment within which they are working, are forced to become administrative managers.

You may be thinking nothing really earth shattering here, but they are all great reminders.  The first tip is one that we find many companies have under valued and one that needs to be better defined.  Many of the other tips flow from the first one.  Whether you are talking about closing sales or hiring sales people, this one little piece of information can mean success or failure.  If you need help in defining how a sale is won in your organiztion, check out this information from one of our previous newsletters.

Comments(1)

Is there anything more annoying than listening to someone use non-words in their speech?  Well, there probably is, but this speech habit is a real pet peeve of mine.  Saleshq.com provides a great article that calls out different sloppy speech habits.  The article focuses on interview etiquette, but these patterns are applicable to all sales situations.

One of the suggestions:

3. Grammatical Errors:

The interviewer may question your education when you use incorrect grammar or slang. Expressions such as “ain’t” “she don’t,” “me and my friend” and “so I goes to him” aren’t appropriate. Be sure you speak in complete sentences and that tenses agree. The interview is not the venue for regional expressions or informality.

Interviews and sales calls require proper speech.  I think these types of errors occur in interviews because candidates either attempt to be too casual or they go to the other extreme and attempt to use the Queen’s English.  Salespeople often do the same thing during important sales calls.

Quick tip: “irregardless” is not grammatically correct (I hear it frequently used).

Lastly, there is this:

5. Speed Talking:

While everybody is a bit anxious during an interview, you don’t want your information to fly by like a speeding bullet. A rapid speaking rate is difficult to follow, and speed talkers are seen as nervous. Slow down your racing heart by doing some breathing exercises before the interview. To avoid rushing, listen to the question, and then count two beats in your head before answering. When you finish a sentence, count two beats again before continuing. Don’t be afraid of silence. Pausing is an effective communication technique. The interviewer needs a few seconds to process what you just said anyway.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but we once interviewed a sales manager candidate who spoke like an auctioneer.  Halfway through the interview he said, “I know I speak fast, but it is slow in my head.”

We pursued and placed a different candidate.

Comments(0)

It has been a few weeks since we have touched on the subject of onramping of salespeople so it is time to return to this topic. All too often we see management waste an opportunity to set the proper tone with their new hire. They then spend months, even years, trying to correct bad behaviors they allowed in the first place.  If you do a search on onramping or onboarding on the web, you will find many articles and all of them at some point will discuss the fact that setting the tone early is very important.

So why is this a reoccurring issue for so many new hires?  In my reading the past few days I came across this article on CareerBuilder titled  A Manager’s Guide to Planning Your Employee Onboarding Process.  I recommend you read the entire article, but I would like to  highlight 7 rules from the article:

• Start at the beginning: The onboarding process should begin the moment the new employees accept your offer.
• Begin with the basics: Don’t overwhelm your employees with too much information at once.
• Pencil in some playtime: Break up the monotony of the meeting-, paper work-, and presentation-heavy first few days.
• Make it a family affair: Think of ways to involve the new employee’s family.
• Find out how they see you: Use surveys and one-on-one interviews to gain feedback and then use those recommendations to improve your onboarding program.
• Stay in it to win it: Change your onboarding program as needed.
• Know your velocity: Measure the impact of your program.

Over the past several months we have been dealing with managers that are struggling with their salespeople – from bending rules to not providing call reports to not coming into the office on a regular basis.  The one common fact through all of them has been a lack of setting the tone early.  Each one of these managers failed with rule number 1 in some respect.  Some made no effort at all with the onramping program, others only put in effort when they had the time and others ignored issues at the time they first surfaced.

I’m not condoning the salespeoples’ behaviors, but many of these issues could have been negated had the sales manager simply spent time early on setting expectations, rules and guidelines.  An old commercial tagline comes to mind, “You can pay me now or you can pay me later.”  Same holds true for the onramping process.  At some point you are going to have to invest time and effort in your employees and it is always best to make that investment at the beginning.

Comments(0)

I’m surprised blogger didn’t make the list!  CareerBuilder offers up an entertaining list of odd jobs:

• Hurricane hunter
• Wallpaper peeler
• Kitty litter box decorator
• Video game tester (”Grandma’s Boy,” anyone?)  
• Nuclear electrician on a submarine
• Turkey wrangler (get yours now!)
• Parachute tester (yikes)
• Romance specialist
• Yawn counter at a sleep clinic (my personal favorite)

I have been a yawn counter at some training sessions, but I’m not proud of that fact.

I was presenting.

Comments(0)

If you are technical geek of sorts you already know about T-Mobile’s G1 and the Blackberry Thunder as a few of the first phones to try to compete with the iPhone 3G.  According to a post on US News & World Report, Blackberry is introducing a new competitor, called the Storm that will offer 2 virtual keyboards.  The Storm will be available exclusively to Verizon customers and features a unique clickable screen.  They do not have an actual release date yet, just stating that it will be available sometime later this fall.

Comments(1)

All politics are local according to the late Tip O’Neil.  The same can be said of hiring which is why this employment ad is a mistake.  The location listed for the sales position:

Minnesota, MN

I know they probably mean the entire state, but that is not the way to list it.  It seems like a small detail, but it does make a poor first impression.  My immediate thought was that the hiring company is not familiar with this area.

Comments(0)