The opening line of a candidate’s experience as he listed on his resume: Hired by company to penetrate virgin markets… Honestly, this is a candidate for a high-level sales position. He doesn’t have enough sense to change that sentence?
Continue ReadingHigher Education
Honestly read this under the "Education” section of a resume: Completed Kindergarten on through 12th grade I think that is rather funny. I guess the old axiom that the longest journey starts with the first step is true. Education starts with successfully completing kindergarten.
Continue ReadingConventional Wisdom About Sales Managers
Here is an article from Eye on Sales that addresses a common sales management topic – should you promote your top salesperson into the sales manager role? I would argue that the conventional wisdom is to avoid making this mistake. From the article: Sales management mistake #1: Promoting top performers to sales managers Top-performing salespeople are not necessarily top managers. Leaders often fail to evaluate their best sales professionals for their ability and aptitude to manage before placing them in a leadership position. It seems like an easy decision to promote the best, but in reality you might be taking one of your most potent weapons out of the game… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Problem With Hunters
They hunt – plain and simple. You could say it is in their blood. This becomes an issue when you are attempting to hire a sales hunter as I have witnessed this past week. One of our customers zeroed in on a particular candidate who is a strong hunter, but my customer took their time in pursuing him. In that time, he uncovered another opportunity and received an offer. That offer was later placed on hold so he returned to my customer for an interview. They thought he would be a great fit, but the first company came back and made him another offer along with my customer. He went… Read More
Continue ReadingOffice Battles
Thanks to Sierra Miller for sharing some funny passive-aggressive office notes. Check out the photos here. It reminds me of a previous position I had in a technology company. One of the IT guys kept having a similar problem – someone would peruse his lunch in the refrigerator and help themselves to some of the food. The IT guy was a bit high-strung which probably made him a more appealing target for these hijinks. Anyway, one day he does a page all over the entire building and goes off about someone eating his lunch. This was a company with 175 employees – it wasn’t small. He ranted to the entire… Read More
Continue ReadingSourcing Stories
I have been swamped with sourcing activities over the past couple weeks as we work on multiple projects. I am definitely seeing an upclick in hiring activities which is normally preceded by increases in our assessment work. We have seen a tremendous increase in assessments so I take that as a good sign. So a quick sourcing story for you – I’m on the phone with a gentleman and we are deep into the phone interview. He interrupts me to say he needs to step away as his 5 year-old son has gone to the bathroom and the candidate needs to go “wipe his butt.” He proceeds to set the… Read More
Continue ReadingThey Always Reference The Top Salesperson
I’ve encountered a common question in recent interviews which pertains to the current level of performance from the existing sales team. This economy is wreaking havoc on many salespeople in terms of their commissions. Sales candidates are aware of this situation and are diligently asking the question regarding where the current team is performing. I find it to be a most appropriate question. The problem often lies within the hiring manager’s response. It is simply difficult to hide a grossly underperforming sales team. If the economy is cratering their success, the problem is even more difficult to contain in an answer. This usually leads to a pseudo-answer that deflects the… Read More
Continue ReadingHow To Tell You Are In A Bad Economy
From the Herman Trend Alert (emphasis mine): In December, companies with fewer than 300 employees experienced employment growth of 1.54 percent, representing the largest percentage increase since June 2010. 1.54 percent? That is encouraging? I know, I realize there has been little to no growth, but 1.54 percent is almost as miniscule as it can be. This is the largest growth in 18 months. To say it is a difficult employment market would be a monumental understatement.
Continue ReadingHorrid Business Jargon
Business has its own pet language, doesn’t it? Much like sports, there are some favorite clichés that are common speak in most office buildings. Yahoo does a good job of chronicling some of the worst. A couple examples: Synergize Say what? This word has infiltrated nearly every cube and conference room in the country. The fault here can largely be placed on one seminal advice author. In Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, the No. 6 habit is Synergize. Of the habit, Covey writes, "To put it simply, synergy means two heads are better than one." Covey readers might recall getting the same advice in simpler terms several… Read More
Continue ReadingInterview Question Psychosis
Let me be honest, I have sat in on some interviews that were borderline psychotic. Questions from left field, overt anger and emotions, lying responses that were easily observed…and those were the good ones. In all seriousness, interviewing is difficult and being a good interviewer is even more challenging. Most managers do not spend their time honing their interview skills. This fact often leads to bizarre questions. It also leads to bizarre question patterns. Every year there seems to be a list of the oddest interview questions from the year – it is a guilty pleasure of mine to read them. Perhaps you would enjoy the list also? To whet… Read More
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