I am going to chime in here a bit on the Velvet Hammer’s post from below regarding the 1 week window for making offers to candidates. Last week, Selling Power had an excellent article in their newsletter that contained some great tips. Dan Miller, vice president of Talent Acquisition and Retention at Monster.com made this smart suggestion (my emphasis): “Don’t just talk about the base salary; talk about the ability the candidates will have to achieve the upside,” says Miller. “Candidates may take a lower offer on the base salary if they feel that they have the tools and opportunities to exceed quota. If you’re trying to build a world-class… Read More
Continue ReadingDo Your Salespeople Talk The Talk?
I was talking to references for one of our clients last night and the reference kept telling me the candidate was excellent at solution selling. To sum up what he was telling me – the candidate is excellent at speaking the customer’s language instead of using company jargon or convoluted questions. The candidate ran a selling process to find out what business problems the company was facing and then articulated his company’s value proposition in regards to resolving their issue. Interestingly enough, I then caught up to an article in my RSS reader titled 5 Quick Tips for Creating Conversations Salespeople Will Use from ManageSmarter.com. The tips can help your… Read More
Continue ReadingHow To Make Employee Orientations More Effective
In a recent article on SHRM’s weekly Newsletter (membership required), a survey of 597 organizations found that 86% of organizations have an orientation program (14% don’t?), but most said they lacked real impact. Here are some other findings of the survey: 81% of the organizations turn to HR to administer new employee orientation, 23% involve multiple departments and 21% include the department in which the new employee will report. Orientation usually takes a day or less for about half of the employers and 26% take two to three days. Nearly half use employee surveys to measure the effectiveness of their orientation program, 22% don€™t track it at all, 20% measure… Read More
Continue ReadingAdvertised Vacancies Up 29% In Past Year
As I was searching the web this morning came across an interesting site for The Conference Board. The company is “the world’s preeminent business membership and research organization.” They have been around for 90 years and are best known for the Consumer Confidence Index and the Leading Economic Indicators that you see referenced so often. They provide an economic analysis based on a monthly basis is the total number of online job ads. The report and analysis they provide is amazing – a total of 17 pages of information for the month of May alone! Although the total online job ads were 4,374,400 in May, a 0.2 percent increase from… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Skyrocketing Telecommuting Trend
According to a recent study by World at Work: The number of Americans whose employer allows them to work remotely at least one day per month increased 63 percent, from 7.6 million in 2004 to 12.4 million in 2006. Based on government estimates of 149.3 million workers in the U.S. labor force, the 2006 data means that roughly 8 percent of American workers have an employer that allows them to telecommute one day per month. The article goes on to say that this trend is a result of the proliferation of high speed broadband, wireless access and the willingness of more employers to embrace flexibility in regards to work-life balance.… Read More
Continue ReadingCell Phone Tricks You May Not Know
I am catching up on old email newsletters and came across a very interesting read from Penny Freymiller at MinnesotaJobs.com regarding cell phones. I thought these were great tips: The Emergency Number worldwide is 112. Apparently even if you are out of your coverage area or your keypad is locked you can dial 112 and it will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you. Imagine your cell battery is very low, by pressing *3370# your cell will restart with reserve power and will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get recharged when you go to charge your cell phone the next time. If… Read More
Continue ReadingSigns Of A Qualifier
Heard a great question from a candidate interview this morning – “What reservations would you have putting me in this role.” Friends, that’s what we call stone-cold qualifying.
Continue ReadingExcuses NOT To Use When Late!
I have been catching up on some reading while on this business trip and enjoyed an article that gave some outlandish excuses for being tardy to work. The SHRM article, titled Sorry I€™m Late; a Raccoon Stole My Shoe, will prepare you for the next time one of your employees is running late: Someone was following me and I drove all around town trying to lose them. My dog dialed 911 and the police wanted to question me about what really happened. My girlfriend got mad and destroyed all of my undergarments. I woke up and thought I was temporarily deaf. I just wasn€™t €œfeelin€™ it€ this morning. I was… Read More
Continue ReadingSummer Vacations
This week school will be out for our kids and I found this SHRM article (membership required) interesting and timely. The article discusses how we here in the US are opting to move our vacations from the 2 week long once a year vacations to more 3-4 day weekend stints. A study was conducted by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. that looked at vacation habits of U.S. workers. €œWe are becoming a nation of the long weekend vacation, with workers looking ahead to each Monday/Friday holiday for the opportunity to turn a three-day weekend into a four- or five-day weekend. The switch to mini-vacations will only be accelerated by soaring… Read More
Continue ReadingFerret Out The Real Salesperson
I spoke to a sales candidate this week who took a couple days to get back to me after completing a phone interview last week. Her comments were almost unbelievable. The one that caught me most off guard was a statement that the General Manager of the company “clearly didn’t know a thing about sales.” This statement was not true, but even if it was, that is not something to blurt out in a follow-up discussion. She was a strong candidate who screened well, assessed well for fit to the position (with one anomaly) and phone interviewed well. In the end, she was not the right salesperson for the role.… Read More
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