There is a common marketing approach used in recruiting that states some form of “we locate the candidates who aren’t looking.”  I suppose the hook is that we can find amazing candidates that you can’t find.  It’s a hook, I guess.  Anyway, here is one I received in an unsolicited email:

What we do is go after the best candidates & the elite that are not currently looking for a job as they already have one. We personally present and sell your specific company’s opportunity to their individual needs. Our clients find that these hidden candidates are more stable, more qualified and haven’t been interviewing all over town.

Stable?  More qualified?  How does one do this?  He talks about presenting and selling your opportunity, but not about qualifying candidates who can succeed in the position.  This fact is an important distinction.

I would be wary of any recruiter who attempts to sell a salesperson on an opportunity.  Have a discussion, look for fit, determine their abilities…the onus is on the sales candidate to sell you.  I would avoid any self-proclaimed sales recruiter who takes the aforementioned approach.

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My apologies to Bob Dylan, but the chapter 11 bankruptcy of one of our local papers, the StarTribune, has been a slow train coming.  Clearly this is one of the worst dailies in the entire US.  Mismanaged, cash-strapped and unbelievably biased, this newspaper has been on the edge of inevitability for 2 years.  Yesterday they finally filed.

I am certain they will cut costs and restructure their debt before coming out of bankruptcy, but in the end I don’t think it will matter.  The game has changed; day-old news printed on paper is a thing of the past.  The world is steadily moving towards instant, on-demand.

Clearly reporting will continue…it needs to, but I think the only sustainable media for newspapers is online.  Develop the website, draw in the visitors and charge advertisers for those pages.

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Don’t get me wrong, I love email.  However, there is a downside to it.  I am emailing with someone today and I have no idea what gender they are.

The fact that it is -25 degrees F here today may be impacting my cognitive ability which is fine as long as my car starts.

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We get many press releases every day that mainly announce new products.  However, I did get one from CareerBuilder.com that was fairly interesting.  The topic is sales hiring in 2009 and, not surprisingly, many companies are going to be “cautious.”

The format is basically a survey of 2009 trends and the press release lists highlights of their findings.  I apologize for not having a link though I suspect it may be on the CareerBuilder website now.

Here is what caught my eye:

2. More Flexibility – Flexible work options continue to be an important benefit for sales employers to provide workers. Nearly four-in-ten (37 percent) of sales employers will provide more flexible work arrangements for employees in 2009, including:

•Alternative schedules – come in early and leave early or come in later and leave later – 66 percent •Telecommuting – 44 percent •Compressed work weeks – work the same hours, but in fewer days – 37 percent •Summer hours – 21 percent •Job sharing – 17 percent

Two-thirds offer alternative schedules?  I find that remarkable.  I used to work for a manager who required promoted alternative work schedules – come in early and leave late.

It is interesting how all of the trends are moving away from the old-fashioned M-F, 8-5 work week.  We receive emails and phone calls from customers well after dinner time and they have the expectation that we will respond/talk that evening.  The ubiquitous nature of technology seems to be erasing the long-established boundaries of the “typical” work day.  Perhaps the saying “quittin’ time” will eventually disappear from our lexicon.

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Just a simple thought here – when will the fax machine go away?  I talk to prospects and collect their contact information for our CRM.  I had the thought, “Why do I ask for their fax number?”

Honestly, I cannot remember the last time I sent a fax to a prospect or customer.  I scan it in and email it…again, that way I have a record of it in our CRM software.

My outside number is 5 years until it goes down to the level of the typewriter.

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One of the reasons we are so adamant about assessing sales candidates is to know what motivates and rewards the person.  Once identified, these factors can be explored during a face-to-face interview.  There is one reward that requires an in-depth discussion with any sales candidate who possesses it – Status & Recognition.

This salesperson is rewarded by prestige, social acknowledgement and tangible trophies.  Let me be clear – this is a strong reward structure for a salesperson.  However, when it is over-amplified, it becomes a detriment.

I have a friend in sales who has this issue.  He is incredibly knowledgeable about his complex product line.  He speaks about it on an engineering level even though he is not an engineer.  Unfortunately, his sales have plummeted over the past 3 months.

The issue is this – he craves the prospect’s recognition of his knowledge more than closing the deal.  For him it is getting his personal needs met in the marketplace.  This approach is fatal in sales.

He recently told me a story of how one of his customers once told him he could be a consultant in this industry.  You should have seen how he lit up as he recalled that discussion.  Unfortunately, that customer unexpectedly dropped from the revenue report and this salesperson has not done the sales work necessary to foresee it.

If you have been in sales for any length of time, you realize that the salespeople who are successful do not go into the marketplace to get their emotional needs met.  They are playing a role – salesperson.  It’s not personal.  It’s not a reflection on them.  It is a job that requires certain behaviors to be successful.  They are going to face rejection every day so they better be able to emotionally detach from the role.  It is not a reflection on who they are as a person.  This is critical when hiring salespeople.

The conventional wisdom is that hiring industry experts is the best approach for salespeople.  It isn’t.  You probably have plenty of expertise in your company today.  If not, go hire engineers.  When hiring a salesperson, the better course of action is to hire one who can sell.  Sales ability is not synonymous with industry experience.  Assess your candidates, know what rewards them and pursue questions that reveal their sales ability.

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Unbelievable. I have been solicited in a disgusting, disturbing manner. Read this (my emphasis):

This request for information (RFI) shall not be construed to be a Request For Proposal (RFP) and no agreement/contract will be entered into with/awarded to any vendor based on responses to this RFI, and it shall in no way be considered as authorization by <company> for vendors to undertake any work.

Nothing in this RFI shall be construed as a commitment to issue a RFP. Response to this RFI will not create any obligation. Neither <company> nor vendors answering this RFI shall be bound by any aspect of their response to this RFI.

RFI? Yes, I live in a cave and am not familiar with such an acronym. Ok, I am being a bit over-the-top, but honestly think about this approach. Why in the world would any salesperson respond to such a request? You are provided the opportunity to present your solution to their problem without any compensation. As sales managers, I hope you do not allow your salespeople to waste time on these RFI’s.

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The Herman Trend Alert touches on the ever-popular Gen Y/Millennial trends and traits in their most recent email (sorry, no link).  The perception of this generation still needs some improvement…drastic improvement (emphasis mine):

Recently JobFox.com conducted a poll of recruiters with predictable results—Millennials were judged to be the least effective performers of the four generations now in our workplace. A paltry 20 percent of the responders characterized them as “generally great performers”. Compare this statistic to the 63 percent who said Baby Boomers (43 to 62 years old) were great performers and 58 percent who gave high marks to Gen Xers (29 to 42).

True confession – I have a general perception of Boomers being stagnant, almost stuck in a 1980’s mode.  I apologize now, it is just a perception.  Yet, you can understand my surprise when reading survey results such as the aforementioned quote.  Instantly, I found myself thinking, “I bet they interviewed mostly Boomers for this survey.”

The email progressed to show how misguided the Millennial perception is.  The author supplies 4 major motivators for Millennials:

The most sought-after motivator is balance. The Millennials do not embrace the value of the Boomer-created nine-to-five work week. They work best when they can set their own hours.

Second, they want to be on the leading edge. Millennials understand that technology is changing rapidly. If not updated continuously, their skills promptly become obsolete. “They have seen their parents and neighbors downsized and right-sized out of jobs.” Staying marketable is justifiably very important to them. Even though in a recent JWT survey, 60 percent of Millennials agreed that “an employee owes loyalty to their employer “,companies that do not provide new learning experiences will see this generation seeking job opportunities elsewhere.

Third, they do not want to be treated “as junior anything”. Millennials want to begin contributing right away. Companies must do a better job of helping younger workers see how their work is vital and how that work relates to the bottom line of the company.”

Finally, Millennials are looking for stability—especially now. Gen Y workers can be loyal team players as long as they can balance work and life goals, gain new learning opportunities, and feel like they are supporting company goals. The employers that will be the most successful over the next two decades will be the ones that can best inspire and engage this challenging generation.

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It just doesn’t seem so difficult to figure this out, but candidates keep using their personal email addresses that seem to date back to their college days.  Of course, there wasn’t email when I was in college…different story.

Here is one I came across today:

shovelhead@yahoo.com

Unbelievable.  Instead of considering his candidacy, I am left with thoughts of the potentially peculiar shape of his head.

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Today’s announcement of 7.2% unemployment is remarkable in a bad context.  Yet, I do appreciate the AP writer’s opening sentence (my color):

The nation’s unemployment rate bolted to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in 16 years, as nervous employers slashed 524,000 jobs.

Dramatic, wouldn’t you say?  Look, it is bad and most people realize that fact, but this type of fear-mongering is over the top.  How about the third graph:

For all of 2008, the economy lost a net total of 2.6 million jobs. That was the most since 1945, when nearly 2.8 million jobs were lost.

That was the first half; here is the second half (can’t put my crayon down):

Although the number of jobs in the U.S. has more than tripled since then, losses of this magnitude are still being painfully felt.

The total number of jobs as more than tripled which changes the context of the numbers drastically.  An unbiased editor would delete the presentation of the statistics because the context is willfully deceiving.

Nonetheless, the economy will roll on and it will rebound.  It is cyclical which is a point lost on the media.  My approach to these times is to hunt down pockets of opportunity whether you are a jobseeker or a salesperson.

There are industries that are relatively strong in this down economy.  Government is obviously spending money, aerospace, healthcare and others are the “strongest of the weak” right now.

The key for the short-term is to find openings in these industries and ride them out.  The best guess is that the economy will start to come out of its funk in June of this year.  Unfortunately, hiring is a lagging indicator so it will take longer for that area to rebound.  We must press on so don’t let emotionally-written articles get you down.

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