Texting Is Trending

Derrick MoeNo Comments

Texting is becoming the best communication channel in the business world.  It seems that phone calls are answered less often even when considering business lines.  The backdoor, surest communication channel is the cell phone and, specifically, texting. Texting/app messaging is the preferred communication tool for younger workers.  When you are hiring today, you need to keep this fact in mind.  I still find LinkedIn messaging to work well.  However, nothing works as well, or as quickly, as texting.  The response time is typically minutes or less.  The ability to send attachments and links has improved also. So is it a trend when dealing with Millennials?  According to HR Executive it… Read More

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The Stressful Interview = Real World Sales

Derrick MoeNo Comments

The BBC provides a look into a “stress interview” which is an interview approach that places an inordinate amount of stress on the candidate.  The goal is to learn how the candidate handles the pressure in an unexpected environment.  This approach should sound like a sales call.  It does to us and that is why we use some of these techniques in our structured interview process. From the BBC article(emphasis mine): “There are certainly different kinds of stress associated with many positions – achieving results, meeting deadlines, dealing with difficult clients, for example,” says Neal Hartman, senior lecturer in managerial communication at MIT. “The stress interview can create conditions to… Read More

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4 Pillars Of Successful Sales Selection

Derrick MoeNo Comments

Successful sales hiring, in any company, is one of the most difficult tasks in which to achieve repeatable success.  From unexpected outbursts to terminal tardiness to woeful incompetence, every company has a sales hiring horror story regarding employees who interviewed strong but performed poorly. Perhaps a subtle, but more dangerous occurrence is the all-too-common hire who performs their job in the gray twilight of mediocrity.  They never rise to the occasion and they never catastrophically fail.  They interviewed well but now simply perform their role in a nondescript manner within the company. Amass too many of these employees and your company will be overwhelmed with mediocrity…or worse.  How do you… Read More

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Should You Involve Customers In Hiring?

Derrick Moe2 Comments

Quite the question, don’t you think?  That is the title of this article from Selling Power.  I have to confess I was perplexed by the entire thought – how would you as the hiring manager benefit from having your customer help you hire the salesperson?  I see nothing but pitfalls in this approach. My first thought is mentioned in the article: “For example, the customer could be shopping around for someone he could squeeze on margins,” she says. “It’s more that they are looking for an easier mark, and that’s not to anyone’s advantage in the long run.” No kidding – there might be a great advantage to the customer… Read More

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Customers Are Pigs

Derrick MoeNo Comments

I have a new favorite title for a sales ad: Territory Manager, Swine-Minnesota I’m not making that up, it is an actual title.  This seems remedial, but employment ad titles do matter.  Most of us remember the days of looking at ads in a paper where space was limited and costly.  Titles were less important then because the ad was still displayed.  Not today – I only see the title of the ad and the company in the electronic format.  The title has to be strong enough to elicit the click. I think there are many companies that still miss that critical point.  And the major culprits are companies with… Read More

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“Stable” Sales Recruiting

Derrick MoeNo Comments

There is a common marketing approach used in recruiting that states some form of “we locate the candidates who aren’t looking.”  I suppose the hook is that we can find amazing candidates that you can’t find.  It’s a hook, I guess.  Anyway, here is one I received in an unsolicited email: What we do is go after the best candidates & the elite that are not currently looking for a job as they already have one. We personally present and sell your specific company’s opportunity to their individual needs. Our clients find that these hidden candidates are more stable, more qualified and haven’t been interviewing all over town. Stable?  More… Read More

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Proper Interview Follow-Up

Lee Fratzke1 Comment

As an employer what type of follow up should you expect from a candidate?  Should you receive a thank you?  Should that thank you be a hand written mailed thank you, an email thank you or a quick text on your cell phone? Did that last one get your attention?  It did mine as I read a post from Steven Rothberg.  The post used a couple of quotes from hiring managers that were offended by candidates sending out an email from a blackberry within minutes of the interview and a text message to the managers cell phone.  The hiring manager that received the text felt her “personal space” was infringed on.  If… Read More

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Tips For Hiring Superstars

Derrick MoeNo Comments

Great article here from SellingPower.com – The Best Ways to Turn Off a Star.  I am a big fan of showing people how not to do something.  That is a powerful format for teaching. In that light, here are 6 tips from the article (in a “what not to do” vein): Talk about yourself and your company. You really don’t need any information about the candidates; it’s all on their resumes anyway. Wait for them to call you. Make them wait. Hey, if they really want to work for your company, it’s worth waiting through your 40-minute phone call to your old college roommate. Bribe them. Offer a free microwave… Read More

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Hiring Obstacles

Lee FratzkeNo Comments

According to the most recent Workforce Recruiting newsletter (sorry no link available), 1,100 employers were asked what the main reason was for them not being able to hire their top candidates over the past two years.  Their responses were as follows: 35.9% – Said they went elsewhere for higher perceived pay. 15.5% – Said they went elsewhere for better perceived career development opportunities. 8.0%   – Said they went elsewhere for better perceived work/life advantages. 7.1%   – Said they went elsewhere for higher perceived long-term incentive/equity compensation. 1.5%   – Said they went elsewhere for better perceived benefits. 31.9% – Said they were able to hire the majority of their top candidates.… Read More

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