CareerJournal posted this article – Six Things You Should Know About Pre-Employment Tests – earlier this week. The article is an excellent story for executive-level candidates to read closely. First, an interesting stat: Pre-employment testing is on the rise. In the past five years, 60% of companies have increased their use of workplace-behavior assessments, according to a survey of more than 500 human-resources professionals at U.S. companies… Second, a good point: “If you answer honestly and don’t get the job, it means the position wasn’t a good match for you in the first place,” he says. Third, something we can confirm in our activities: Senior executives are not exempt. In… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Development Plan
It’s Friday so time for a little housecleaning. We will be releasing our new Sales Development Plan on Monday. After a couple delays for last minute feedback, we have finalized it and will roll it out on Monday. The idea behind the tool is to give sales managers a document for tracking their salespeople’s skill development. Each plan will be customized to the salesperson and will identify areas for the sales manager to focus on when working with them. The scope of this project is increasing and we will add further functionality to the development plan in the fall. More to come on that topic later.
Continue ReadingDeath Networking?
The founder of monster.com has started a new social networking site for 50+ year olds. Eons.com is described this way: Instead of career and school sections, Eons.com has interactive games to build brain strength, news on entertainment and hobbies for older people, a personalized longevity calculator and tips to live longer.It also has a nationwide database of obituaries dating back to the 1930s to which people can add photos and comments. In addition to adding photos and videos to obituaries, members of Eons.com can sign up to receive an alert when someone from a particular area dies or in response to pre-defined keywords such as a company or school name.… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Industry-Experience Trap
An interesting article from ere.net titled The Role of the Hiring Manager in Recruiting. The author cuts to the quick in one of his bullet points: The industry-experience trap. Industry experience is not only highly overrated, but it’s also the quickest way to sub-optimize the talent you recruit. If you think of the pool of top-quality, top-quartile talent, the minute you say they must come out of the food industry or the high-tech industry, you’ve reduced that pool of available talent by about 98%! The fact is that for the majority of our jobs, top talent with high learning agility can learn the nuances of our industry, but industry-experienced candidates… Read More
Continue ReadingReinforcing Employees = Less Turnover
I was reading my daily email from the JustSell.com guys and they referenced an interesting study: With help from Gallup, the authors surveyed more than 4 million employees and found that those who give and receive praise: increase their individual productivity increase interaction among colleagues are more likely to stay in their current jobs Gallup research also revealed that the #1 reason most Americans leave their jobs is because they don’t feel appreciated — and 65% of the people surveyed said they did not receive recognition for good work in the past year. In the past year! Granted, some communication styles need more reinforcement than others, but all styles need… Read More
Continue ReadingA Pleading Cover Letter
This is a new approach for a cover letter: …please someone help me before im living under a bridge. I personally think it is wiser to explain how you, as an employee, will help the company. But that’s just me.
Continue ReadingTrivial, but funny
This should probably be an anecdote, but I found it entertaining. My general resume subscription pushed a resume to me of a candidate looking for a “House Manager” position. House Manager . . . never heard of such a position so my interest was piqued. Here’s what a House Manager does: Coordination of parties and other events Personal shopping & errands Handling of personal correspondence Care of house guests needs Keeping the family calendar & appointments Assist with travel plans Supervision of household staff Coordinate automobile maintenance Oversee maintenance & service to home Occasional driving Pet Care Household finances (I am a degreed accountant with many years accounting experience) They… Read More
Continue ReadingWhen Sales Ads Don’t Work
I’m reading posts in recruiter message boards that are discussing low salesperson response rates to employment ads placed on monster, local newspapers and publications. From the amount of responses to this subject, it appears many other recruiters are having similar difficulties. I then read the opening paragraph from this article that states: Seventy-six percent of employees are looking for new employment opportunities, according to the 2005 U.S. Job Recovery and Retention Survey released today by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and CareerJournal.com. Sixty-five percent of HR professionals indicated they were concerned about the voluntary resignations at their organizations. To prevent a mass exodus, almost half of the organizations… Read More
Continue ReadingActive Writing
This may be a bit self-indulgent, but writing style is a favorite topic of mine. Dan Tudor over at Landing the Deal authored this post – Great Sales Copywriting a couple days ago. The tip in the post are applicable to all writing, not just sales copy. The takeaway tip: The opposite of active voice is “passive” voice. Here’s an example: “While visiting China, a brand-new idea in vitamin supplementation was discovered by Dr. Smith.” You feel like Dr. Smith just stood around until he accidentally bumped into the idea, right?Now let’s change that sentence to active voice: “Dr. Smith discovered a brand-new idea in vitamin supplementation while visiting China.”… Read More
Continue ReadingColorful Employment Ads
Seems like employment ads are the topic du jour on the The Hire Sense today. One thing I have noticed that truly cheapens an ad is to use extra large fonts, multiple colors and highlighting. Does this approach just scream multi-level marketing or is it me? Most corporations write their ads in a prim and proper manner which is ok. This approach reminds me of the Apple commercials with the PC represented by the stodgy, business-suit guy and Apple represented by the trendy, young guy. Formula ads with cliche requests for degrees, years of experience, etc. are similar to the somewhat boring PC guy. Of course, that approach is certainly… Read More
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