The Washington Post has a short article that references job hunting trends from Monster.com.  Here is the data if you want to play the averages:

In a trend that has held true for three years, job hunting takes off on Monday, peaks on Tuesday and is still very busy on Wednesday, according to Monster.com. Job hunt traffic on Tuesday is 28 percent higher than on Friday, said Steve Sylven, a spokesman for Monster.

EQuest, which manages job boards for companies, used to see Tuesdays and Wednesdays as tops for tapping new career possibilities. But in 2007, Americans broadened their search days, and eQuest indicates any weekday from noon to 4 p.m. is busy.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays bring fresh listings — eQuest and others advise employers to post then, or Sunday night and Monday morning.

Hardly anyone spends the weekend hunting for a job. Saturdays and Sundays are the slowest days on Monster.com, and eQuest’s data shows less than one-third the traffic to career sites on those days vs. weekdays.

(h/t The Talent Buzz)

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Remember when the Sunday paper was the big employment section?  It wasn’t that long ago.  I don’t remember posting any job ads on a different day - it was simply call in your ad by the Thursday deadline and approve the proof you received via fax (including the cryptic shorthand used to save space/lines).  That whole process is probably foreign to Gen Y…and that’s a good thing.

Anyway, I was perusing the postings this weekend and found this title:

Sales Represenitive

The title simply cannot have errors.  None.  Period.

Also on titles, there is no simpler clue to these pyramid deals than to see a long description for a title.

$55,000 working only 2 hrs a week from home. Start today!

Some flavor of that title crops up everywhere.  Those postings are basically job board spam.  To see it out of control, visit Craig’s List and look at the sales jobs.  It doesn’t matter what city you look in, those ads are everywhere like those Tribble things from the original Star Trek episode.

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I read this line in a sales employment ad this past weekend:

Actual Year 1 average earnings  - $100,000  - $200,000 ++ REALISTIC

A $100K spread?  You know, this type of line is an immediate red flag for a jobseeker.  It may be true, but most salespeople will be skeptical.  They will put a multiplier of <1.0 on the number.

The sad part of this ad is that it was posted by a sales recruiting company.  The best bet in these ads is to be somewhat conservative on the compensation and keep a tight range on the potential.

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This is from a sales ad for a large U.S. company:

Qualifications

To be considered for this role, candidates must meet the following criteria:

• Bachelor

Perhaps that is a truncating problem, but I am feeling left out as a married man.

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Here is a bullet point from a sales employment ad:

Home based office experience a major plus!

Can you imagine reading that point just 5 years ago?

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A bullet point from a Business Development Sales Position ad:

Demonstrated ability to persevere and remain positively motivated when faced with negative response or rebuff from the customer

What they are describing is the ability to handle rejection.  I think there is no more important differentiation between average salespeople and sales superstars.  That quoted line could, or maybe should, be in every sales ad.

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Spelling errors in a resume are bad, but spelling errors in ads may be worse.  I’m looking through ads this afternoon and found an ad that spelled Minnesota this way - Minnasota.  Yeah, that isn’t going to impress the locals.  However, I think I have seen the worst error ever.  One company has the word “electrical” in their name…they misspelled it.  They misspelled their own company name.

Unbelievable.

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I just read an employment ad for a sales position that had this for the title:

Salesmen

Honestly, how out of touch can you be?

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Well, I should qualify that; I suppose an Oscar, Grammy, Tony, etc. is a timeless award.  However, I just read an employment ad from a large recruiting firm that had this bolded statement at the top:

#1 Ranked Executive Search Firm - January 2006

January 2006?  My first thought was who beat them out for the past 2 years.  Maybe they have drastically declined in some way?

Call me a minimalist, but I prefer to get right to the meat in an employment ad.  In fairness to this firm, this was an internal hire.  Still, I would think they would have a bit more sense to remove that statement since it is more than outdated.

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Hiring strong salespeople is just about the most difficult hire any company can attempt to make.  One of the reasons it is difficult is due to the types of ads that companies use when sourcing.

Here is a prime example:

Detailed Description

Prospect region to identify new Referral vendors

Provide regional support for National Referral relationships

Re-engage Referral Endorsers not assigned to current reps

Introduce (Company) to Referral vendors

Manage paperwork for registering Referral vendors

Educate Referral vendors on (Company) products and services

Manage leads received through Referral vendors

Develop (Company) solutions for referred leads

Complete profit assistants and proposals for referred prospects

Submit orders and process paperwork for provisioning

This description is for a business development position.  If you are looking for a hunter and find the words “manage paperwork” in your ad, you are in trouble.

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