This is the title from a sales resume: sales pro here looking for best carrer oppertunity Spell check is a jobseeker’s best friend.
Continue ReadingThe Annual Valentine’s Story
Romance in the office is the topic du jour on Valentine’s Day. This year is no exception as BusinessWeek offers The Ethics of Office Romance. I did enjoy the author’s take: The implications for the workplace are this: The odds against an office romance succeeding are just slightly better than what you’d find at the worst casino in Las Vegas. When you lose at roulette or keno, though, you’re out only a couple of bucks (if you’re smart), and that’s the end of it. When you lose the game of love at the office, you still have to face the other person day after day. That constant reminder of a… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Social Salesforce
Salespeople are motivated by many factors, but the primary, most common motivation is Utilitarianism. The drive is for a return on investment. Most people first think of money which is a good example, but it is bigger than that. It involves a return on time, effort, energy, resources, etc. 72% of the top salespeople in any market or company are motivated by Utilitarianism. Now imagine a salesforce that is not compensated in some manner by commission – a group with a strong Social motivation. You would then have this story from the Boston Globe – A noncommissioned sales force? You’re crazy: What is it that Little, vice president of sales… Read More
Continue ReadingThe New Look
As you can see at our site, we have updated the blog page a bit. We have had some strange issues in the past with truncating (really disappearing) text so we have gone with a new theme, layout, color, etc. I hope you like the look and ease of reading The Hire Sense with these changes. There are a few more on the way so please check back often as the look evolves.
Continue ReadingPaid Interviews?
Lee sent this short article to me – Paying Recruits to Interview? I’m woefully out of touch on this one: Notching Interviews: Why would corporate recruiters pay candidates to interview for jobs? To Los Gatos Hills, California-based Notchup.com, the answer is simple: Companies ideally will find top candidates, so the money will be well spent. The startup job board adds a twist to the traditional online job search by enabling job-seeking professionals to name their price at which they will agree to interview with prospective employers. Notchup.com says employers benefit by being able to target passive candidates. The company says its tools include optional background checks on candidates and a… Read More
Continue ReadingDulled By Success
There is an effect we have noticed when recruiting salespeople from larger companies that seems to be consistent across markets. Some salespeople, maybe many, lose their edge when it comes to prospecting when they land a large customer. I see this effect happening in larger companies, for some reason, more than smaller companies. I bring this up because I read an employment ad for a large company that we used to work with in a previous life. This company has an unbelievably strong customer service orientation. I mean that in a negative way. Their “hunter” salespeople believe they can service their way to a sale. This approach is reinforced by… Read More
Continue ReadingIt’s A Dry Cold
From Yahoo News today: It lived up to its name: The temperature in International Falls fell to 40 below zero Monday, just a few days after the northern Minnesota town won a federal trademark making it officially the “Icebox of the Nation.” The previous record low for Feb. 11 in International Falls was 37 below, set in 1967, said meteorologist Mike Stewart at the weather service in Duluth. The temperature also fell to 40 below in Embarrass, 80 miles southeast of International Falls. That’s just one degree above the all-time record in Minneapolis, 250 miles to the south, that was set in January 1888, the weather service said. I can… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat’s Hot In A Recession
More stories are appearing that address “recession-proof jobs” in response to our slowing economy. Timely titles for sure, but one position is always recession-proof and that is sales; specifically successful sales. Case in point, Job Hunting in a Recession from The Wall Street Journal: Target critical posts. “The safest jobs are the ones selling to or servicing customers,” says Gary Rich, president of Rich Leadership, an executive advisory firm in Pound Ridge, N.Y. “When things get tight, it’s all about who’s going to drive the top line and who’s going to service that.” Less durable jobs are those in human resources, public relations, finance, strategic planning and other nonvital business… Read More
Continue ReadingVision Statement vs. Leadership
Color me skeptical, but I am just not a fan of vision statements, mission statements, company statements and whatever else is the latest iteration. I prefer P&L statements. I could be wrong on this so I’ll provide an article from BusinessWeek.com titled Vision Decisions. The opening graph: Feeling the pressure to prove they have what former President George H. W. Bush famously termed “the vision thing,” they drag their staffs through formal visioning sessions. The resulting empty exercises yield “vision statements” to which employees periodically genuflect, but they have no operative meaning. The net result is anti-inspirational. The purpose of vision, after all, is to inspire: vision provides motivation through… Read More
Continue Reading7 Signs You Are A Bad Boss
I thought the article was going to be anecdotal and humorous, but it is actually quite insightful. Inc.com offers this article – The Office: The Bad and the Ugly – which is well reasoned. Here are the 7: 1. The staff has developed guidelines for dealing with you and quietly passes them to new employees. “Never suggest that there might be another way of doing something,” they might say. Or “Act self-deprecating so he doesn’t feel threatened.” 2. You have one or two fanatical acolytes. Yes, such devotion may be a testament to your fabulousness. But often when a boss is perceived as universally loathed, the staff opportunist offers herself… Read More
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