{"id":1759,"date":"2008-10-22T08:59:17","date_gmt":"2008-10-22T13:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/10\/tips-for-interviewing-sales-candidates\/"},"modified":"2008-10-22T06:08:56","modified_gmt":"2008-10-22T11:08:56","slug":"tips-for-interviewing-sales-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/10\/tips-for-interviewing-sales-candidates\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips For Interviewing Sales Candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Too many times the process of hiring a sales person rarely takes priority in a sales manager’s duties\u00a0– they have enough to do already.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the hiring tasks get pushed to the margins of their day.\u00a0 Any sales manager knows how important it is to hire strong sales people, but it all too often doesn’t get the attention it deserves.\u00a0 Dave Stein has 11 spot-on quick tips<\/a> that can help you set the right priorities and increase your success rate.\u00a0 His tips are:<\/p>\n

Give the candidate feedback.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
I agree with Dave that it is extremely difficult for people to stay objective during the interview.\u00a0 He makes a great point in that you need to act like a doctor when they are taking your medical history or reading your EKG.\u00a0 Too many times a hiring manager will get emotionally attached to a candidate and lose the objectivity\u00a0needed to make the\u00a0best hiring decision.\u00a0 First impressions are important, but don’t allow that to cloud your judgment and write off what could be a\u00a0strong candidate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I have been in interviews where the hiring manager didn’t think that a candidate was outgoing enough, made the decision they were not a fit and just went through the motions to fill the remaining time.\u00a0 The candidate did well answering the manager’s questions and then\u00a0the time for the candidate to ask questions arrived.\u00a0 They were prepared with questions to\u00a0discover information about the company and sales department, the challenges it was facing, why the position was open and what the hiring manager was looking for in an ideal\u00a0candidate.\u00a0\u00a0Yet the hiring manager had already made up his mind and determined that the candidate was not the right fit.\u00a0 He had disqualified them.<\/p>\n
The ability to stay objective and to gather enough information is critical to making a strong hire.\u00a0 Be conscious of quick decisions and do not fall into the trap of prejudging a candidate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Too many times the process of hiring a sales person rarely takes priority in a sales manager’s duties\u00a0– they have enough to do already.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the hiring tasks get pushed to the margins of their day.\u00a0 Any sales manager knows how important it is to hire strong sales people, but it all too often doesn’t get the attention it deserves.\u00a0 Dave Stein has 11 spot-on quick tips that can help you set the right priorities and increase your success rate.\u00a0 His tips are: Make sure you know what you are looking for. Prepare your questions in advance. Remain objective during the interview. Trust but verify. Don\u2019t lead the candidate. Push… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,16,10],"tags":[257,1762,1050,446],"class_list":["post-1759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hiring","category-hiring-salespeople","category-interview","tag-hiring-sales","tag-hiring-salespeople","tag-interview-tip","tag-sales-interview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-sn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2289,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2010\/03\/hiring-like-a-detective\/","url_meta":{"origin":1759,"position":0},"title":"Hiring Like A Detective","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"March 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, the title is a bit quirky, but it is true.\u00a0 A significant portion of successful hiring involves being a good detective.\u00a0 I have always taken that approach when helping our customers find the right salesperson for their position.\u00a0 To be a good detective, you need to be a bit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Assessing"","block_context":{"text":"Assessing","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2230,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2010\/01\/interview-myths\/","url_meta":{"origin":1759,"position":1},"title":"Interview Myths","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"January 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This article from Yahoo\u2019s Hot Jobs contains 5 hiring myths designed to help candidates perform better in an interview.\u00a0 Myth #1 is excellent for the hiring manager: Myth #1: Be prepared with a list of questions to ask at the close of the interview. There is some truth in this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hiring"","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2543,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2013\/07\/how-gpas-matter-in-hiring\/","url_meta":{"origin":1759,"position":2},"title":"How GPA’s Matter In Hiring","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"July 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"They don\u2019t.\u00a0 That is the conclusion from Google based on their own internal research.\u00a0 Some info from the New York Times article: \u201cOne of the things we\u2019ve seen from all our data crunching is that G.P.A.\u2019s are worthless as a criteria for hiring, and test scores are worthless \u2014 no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hiring"","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/05\/more-from-monstercom-interview-cheat-sheet\/","url_meta":{"origin":1759,"position":3},"title":"More from monster.com – Interview Cheat Sheet","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"A cheat sheet from monster.com that is fairly comprehensive. These tips and prep questions are all excellent from the candidate side of the equation. These items become more troublesome when hiring salespeople. Even bad salespeople have some rapport-building ability that they incorporate into the interview process. There isn't a hiring\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sales Candidates"","block_context":{"text":"Sales Candidates","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/sales\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1654,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/07\/quality-of-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1759,"position":4},"title":"Quality Of Questions","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"July 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a sales candidate ask an excellent, subtle question yesterday - \"What other positions is this company currently hiring?\"\u00a0 Again, the subtlety of this question provides a view into a company's needs, growth and possible turnover.\u00a0 It is an excellent question to ask in any interview. The second part\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hiring Salespeople"","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":800,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/04\/hiring-tips\/","url_meta":{"origin":1759,"position":5},"title":"Hiring Tips","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"April 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Ok, earlier today I posted on mistakes made by candidates in the interview.\u00a0 Now it is time to look at mistakes made by hiring managers in the interview.\u00a0 From CareerBuilder.com's article Five Common Hiring Blunders and How to Avoid Them: Experience is important, but life experience is sometimes better Yes,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hiring Salespeople"","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/windowslivewriterhiringtips-b7d7number-1-thumb3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}