Toby Dayton at Diggings has a remarkable study regarding regional newspapers and their use of online employment ads in conjunction with printed employment ads. I posted earlier this week that I do not understand why some hiring companies continue to view the newspaper as the top option for ad placement. It isn’t. Online employment ads continue to expand while newspaper circulations continue to decline. Here are the results from Toby’s study (my emphasis): …we were surprised at how ineffective the dailies were in cross-selling print and online postings to their employer advertisers. Across all 6 categories, the average percentage of print ads that also appeared on their respective daily paper€™s web site… 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 ReadingCandidate “Training”
This text is from an online ad to assist job seekers in their quest (my emphasis): —I am able to get job interviews anywhere I want. This is key because once you get the interview, you can get the job — I CAN SHOW YOU WHAT TO DO AND WHAT NOT TO DO!!!!!! I can school you on behavioral interviewing. Also, I can provide a background check for you– so you know what your potential employer will see. I have had MANY interviews and job OFFERS (entry level and mid level) from some of the most hard to get into firms in the Twin Cities… I can also show you… Read More
Continue ReadingSmall Business Retention Strategy
Inc.com offers a short article titled Employers Focus on Worker Retention. The takeaway graphs (emphasis mine): Small businesses are focusing more resources on employee-retention plans, rather than recruiting efforts or new benefits policies, a recent survey found. Of 241 small-business executives surveyed nationwide, 21 percent said they have expanded training and professional development to boost employee retention, while 80 percent said they considered their salaries “as competitive” or even “more competitive” than larger competitors, according to Employco, a Westmont, Ill.-based business services firm. Salary is a natural point in which it compete with larger companies. Most small companies are not constrained by salary slotting for specific positions as is the… Read More
Continue ReadingAccelerate The On-Ramping Time Frame
SellingPower.com has released their monthly sales management newsletter which is usually filled with insightful articles. How Long Are Ya€™ Gonna€™ Be New Here? is a client study on one company’s efforts to shorten their sales ramp time. One of the universal problems all sales managers face is getting new hires up to speed quickly. It€™s simple math: the longer it takes for a rep to learn the €œins and outs€ of your company, your product, and your sales process, the longer it will take him to stop dragging down the average performance of your sales team and start producing meaningful results. Another universal problem is sales managers hiring salespeople with… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Self-Assessment
This week we explore an important aspect of a salesperson’s psyche. If you are a sales manager, this trait will explain your salesperson’s view of himself and how best to manage to that view. Self AssessmentThe ability to practically and objectively identify one€™s personal management strengths and weaknesses. This is the ability of a salesperson to take the skills and techniques that they have gained in evaluating external situations and apply them to evaluating their own performance and abilities. A salesperson with strength in this area is capable of accurately evaluating his or her own strengths and weaknesses. They see themselves clearly. A weakness in this area indicates a salesperson who… 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 ReadingBe Specific In Your Requirements
I just read an employment ad for a company looking for a top-level salesperson. The over-written ad lists “Required Qualifications:” A bachelor’s degree in business or marketing and a minimum of 5 yrs of related experience; or, in lieu of the degree, a minimum of 9 yrs of related experience with ____________ and/or consulting is required. Avoid this nonsense – successful selling has more to do with hardwired abilities than it will ever have to do with degrees and years of experience. There is no formula for experience equaling sales ability so a statement like the one above screams HR dept. instead of the sales dept. The last bullet point… 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
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