Work in Omaha, Live in Connecticut from CareerJournal discusses the commuting schedule of the CEO of ConAgra. Two words = corporate jet. The article provides much detail regarding the interaction between CEO’s and the investment community. But in the middle of the article resides this little dandy: But other experts suggest that in the age of the BlackBerry, the CEO’s whereabouts are increasingly irrelevant. Many travel constantly among far-flung divisions anyway. And there are several high-profile chief executives who have lived away from headquarters cities. I don’t know if it is too early or too late to say this may be a trend. Perhaps we are headed towards the age… Read More
Continue ReadingAnecdote – The Debut
Our sourcing, screening and interviewing activities for our customers leads us into some comical discussions. Sales candidates are entertaining, coy and often cocky. Some times their responses are downright baffling. This news is not groundbreaking to anyone who has hired salespeople in the past. We’ve added a category for “Anecdotes” that will encompass some of the funnier moments from our experiences. Hopefully these posts will add a little levity to The Hire Sense. My question: Why are you looking for a new position at this time? Candidate’s response: My driver’s license is suspended at this time which was required of my previous position. Do I need to drive for this… Read More
Continue ReadingExperience – Fact or Fiction?
In this article from the Minneapolis StarTribune.com, the author discusses the growing demand for salespeople in the medical industry. One quote in particular jumps out: Medical salespeople often tell me it is rewarding to sell things that help people. I bring this topic up because it is of interest in that we have measured this reward in the medical and health insurance industries. There is a statistical significance among these salespeople to be rewarded by a higher Sense of Mission (purpose). The article continues: Medical salespeople are experienced, persistent and smart, do their homework and have an understanding of the audience they are selling to. I would agree with all… Read More
Continue ReadingDon’t Do That
This article from ABC News’ career correspondent is an interesting read. She visited a women’s prison to talk to the inmates about finding a job once they are released. I must admit, I was debating whether or not to read the article, but it does provide a different perspective. I choked on my coffee when I read this sentence: I’ve hired people because I got the immediate sense that they were kind, good, decent souls. And I’ve rejected others with awesome resumes because their demeanors were too harsh. Please, don’t do that. Your gut is a valuable tool in hiring, but it is not objective. A better approach is to… Read More
Continue ReadingHow to Manage a Staff of Young Employees
We have a bit of an impromptu theme this week starting with our article released Monday. Generations X and Y are popular topics these days. I have been catching up to some older articles and came across this one from allbusiness.com which is the title of this post. Overall, it is a strong article with good tactical suggestions for managers. Some seem simplistic – be clear from the outset, be a mentor and teach them business standards. Yet, I can immediately think of 5 examples where sales managers did not perform such rudimentary tasks. Maybe these items are topical fodder for management articles nowadays? Two points really jumped out from… Read More
Continue ReadingHiring as a Part-Time Activity
A few years ago we were working with a large corporation that was having a difficult time finding strong salespeople. In fact, they were quite lousy at it and had assembled a weak team overall. This project was quite extensive in that we had to assess their current team of over 30 salespeople, 5 managers and 3 VPs. After that, we modified our hiring process to work with their existing HR department’s process. After many meetings, we were off and running on the sourcing side. We identified the strong candidates and went to schedule interviews with the hiring managers. Anyone who has hired strong salespeople before knows that you do… Read More
Continue ReadingLost Art of the Phone Screen
The phone screen is making a comeback, as well it should. We talk extensively about the sequence in which a strong sales hiring process occurs. Step 3 is the phone screen which comes before the in-person interview. The main thrust of this approach is to neuralize the candidate’s advantages while placing them in a sales prospecting scenario. What is one strength that is almost universal in all salespeople? Rapport-building. Granted, there are some who lack even this ability but the vast majority of salespeople have some skills in this area. Unfortunately, even the bad salespeople can have enough of this ability to make themselves appear stronger than they are in… Read More
Continue ReadingIn Support of Assessments
I read Perfect Score = Perfect Job? a few days ago on Forbes.com and am catching up to comment on it now. It is a good read with many excellent points in support of assessments. I previously posted about an article that discussed the ability of candidates to refuse to take the assessments. This article goes a long ways in articulating the purpose and results of effective, validated assessments. …the process benefits both sides by matching the employer’s needs with the candidate’s skills and interests. To put a sharper point on it, assessments measure the candidate’s skills, aptitudes, style and motivations to the specific needs of the position for which… Read More
Continue ReadingTelecommuting Part 2 – Businesses Slow to Act
From a recent SHRM survey and article titled “Businesses slow to help employees at the gas pump” (membership required): of 380 companies surveyed from April 25th to May 1st of this year, few companies are actively moving to assist their employees with rising gas prices. In fact, 86% indicated that they were doing nothing. Here is a break down of the top initiatives for those companies reaching out: 20% are increasing the mileage limit 8% are offering public transportation discounts, up from 7% in 2005 8.4% organize carpools, up from 5.3% in 2005 7.1% offer telecommuting, up from 4.4% in 2005 As you can see, only a small percentage of… Read More
Continue ReadingAn Opportunity-Limiting Move
What If Employers Want You to Take a Personality Test? is a stretch of an article from monster.com. Surely it is written to generations X and Y and falls under the category “Work/Life Balance.” (see our new article released this week regarding this topic). The author advocates a position of questioning the assessment process to the point of respectfully declining to take the test. In all fairness to the author, he does state that theoretically a candidate could decline but that approach is not realistically a strong position for getting the job. First off, “personality test” is a fat phrase – it can encompass a broad array of assessments. This… Read More
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