More fun from the resume pile: Sales, If your looking for a rock star. I’m looking for a sale carreer with a strong base and benifits. I’m the best looking for the best.
Continue ReadingSelect Metrix Site Update
We have spent some time updating the look of the Select Metrix website. The home page has remained mostly intact but we have changed the layout to make it a faster read. We have also attempted to blend the blog into the site more directly. Please stop by, have a look at the new design and let us know what you think.
Continue ReadingBritish Interview Faux Pas
Google brought me to this British site – Onrec.com and their article Interview Faux Pas. Here are my 2 favorites from the somewhat strange list: 1. Know the job you’re being interviewed for. After an otherwise quite successful interview for a telesales job, one graduate stunned the panel with the phrase: “Oh and by the way I don’t do cold calling.” 8. Prepare your questions. At the end of her questions, an interviewer posed the question; “okay, you can ask me one question and one question only” to the interviewee. After much procrastination, the young lady took a deep breath, calmed her nerves and asked “Are you going anywhere nice… Read More
Continue ReadingMost Valuable Tool For Hiring Gen Y
Your website. Straight from Selling Power’s article Hiring Generation Y: The most powerful recruiting tool for Generation Y is a company’s Website, says Lloyd. Websites need to be up-to-date, engaging, and constantly evolving. “If you demonstrate the latest technology, you will impress this group,” says Lloyd. We just placed a salesperson for a customer who did not have a live website. They were reworking the site to tie in with their other companies and I can tell you it was a real stretch. Not only did this company not have a website, they did not have any noticable digital identity. They appeared to be ethereal. Thankfully they brought their new… Read More
Continue ReadingAssessing The Behavioral-Based Interview
Selling Power discusses behavioral-based interviewing in On Your Best Behavior. The article covers the main points of this interview approach and it is certainly an approach we incorporate – to some extent. First, if you are relying on the face-to-face interview to make a strong sales hire, you are taking unneeded risks. Even bad salespeople can be good at building rapport. Other salespeople may be silky smooth talkers but nothing more – they can shine in the interview but never close a deal once they make it on to your payroll. An over-reliance upon the interview is the number one reason for a bad sales hire. You must use a… Read More
Continue ReadingSoft Skills Development
An encouraging sign from M.B.A. programs as reported by CareerJournal.com – M.B.A. Programs Hone ‘Soft Skills’. From the article: The schools are responding to employers’ growing interest in soft skills. Executive suites are increasingly composed of managers running far-flung operations who must attract and retain knowledgeable workers. That puts a premium on skills such as communicating and brokering compromises, says Warren Bennis, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and author of a best-selling book on leadership. “It isn’t just nice — these interpersonal skills,” Mr. Bennis says. “It’s about stuff that’s necessary to lead a complex organization.” We’ve been observing this shift first hand… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Cocky Resume
I just found this cover letter and red flags went off everywhere: College student nearing completion of a Computer Sciences degree looking for a full or part-time entry level position in a technical environment such as software testing, hardware installation, database development, or data entry. Get me secured in your company while I’m still sans degree, because there will come a day when my time will be very valuable. I would run the other way from this candidate. Again, confidence is good, cockiness is bad. Take a look at the close: Tuition reimbursement a plus, but not required. Please e-mail with any openings available for a resumé. Remember, this is… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Closer Resume
Straight from the resume pile: Got Sales Leads? I Can Close Them! If that hasn’t piqued your interest, I’m sure the rest of the cover email will: -References -Quick product knowledge -Reliable transportation -Available immediately A salesperson with confidence is a prerequisite, but they have to be able to back it up with more than “reliable transportation.”
Continue ReadingOverzealous Email Filters
I’m sourcing for a non-sales position and am trying to email a candidate the job ad. He has a common provider with a strong spam blocking program. This program asks you to go to a website and enter the letters displayed in the box. After that, your email address is approved and your email will go through. The website cannot display the letter image – it simply shows the red x meaning it can’t get the image from it’s own website. I have no way to get the email through to the candidate. Now I have a voicemail in to him and have to wait until it is resolved. Utterly… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Practical Thinking
Sales requires the ability to balance time and quality in a practical manner. Sales also requires a person who knows how to get things done. This week we focus on a specific trait that measures this ability in a real-world manner. Practical Thinking The ability to make practical, common sense decisions; to see and understand what is happening in a common sense way. This trait realistically identifies problems and solutions in practical terms rather than in theoretical or conceptual terms. A salesperson with strength in this trait will be able to properly balance getting things done in a timely manner with getting things done in a quality manner. A weakness… Read More
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