In reading through more sales ads this morning, I kicked up an example of an ad without clarity about the position. Here are the qualifications:<\/p>\n
-Hard working and dependable
\n-Sales experience is necessary (____________ industry, preferred)
\n-Must have no travel restrictions in covering assigned multi state territory
\n-Must be computer literate
\n-College Degree preferred
\n-Strong Relationship building skills<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That is it. The remainder of the ad is filled with the compensation and benefits the salesperson will earn in this role. The few bullet points provide no specific traits or skills for a candidate to qualify. I suspect that almost every salesperson who reads the ad will believe they fit these qualifications.<\/p>\n
The net outcome of a poorly constructed ad is voluminous responses from grossly unqualified candidates. Hiring is only a “numbers game” when you don’t know what you are looking for. Successful hiring involves writing an ad that eliminates the unqualified and clearly describes the ideal candidate. This ad lacks that clarity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In reading through more sales ads this morning, I kicked up an example of an ad without clarity about the position. Here are the qualifications: -Hard working and dependable -Sales experience is necessary (____________ industry, preferred) -Must have no travel restrictions in covering assigned multi state territory -Must be computer literate -College Degree preferred -Strong Relationship building skills That is it. The remainder of the ad is filled with the compensation and benefits the salesperson will earn in this role. The few bullet points provide no specific traits or skills for a candidate to qualify. I suspect that almost every salesperson who reads the ad will believe they fit these… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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_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":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-employment-ads"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-eV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":982,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/06\/be-specific-in-your-requirements\/","url_meta":{"origin":925,"position":0},"title":"Be Specific In Your Requirements","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I just read an employment ad for a company looking for a top-level salesperson. The over-written ad lists \"Required Qualifications:\" A bachelor's degree in business or marketing and a minimum of 5 yrs of related experience; or, in lieu of the degree, a minimum of 9 yrs of related experience\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Employment Ads"","block_context":{"text":"Employment Ads","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/employment-ads\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":773,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/03\/ad-writing-essentials\/","url_meta":{"origin":925,"position":1},"title":"Ad Writing Essentials","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"March 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the past week there have been more articles than I care to count on how to write an effective job ad - none of which are written with sales positions in mind. When it comes to sales, you need to think a bit differently. Let me give you an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Employment Ads"","block_context":{"text":"Employment Ads","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/employment-ads\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":678,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/02\/the-contradicting-ad\/","url_meta":{"origin":925,"position":2},"title":"The Contradicting Ad","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I read a short sales ad for a Sales Rep that was only 7 sentences long. But the brevity of the ad did not stop the author from being unconsciously contradicting. The open: Person must be an achiever, with excellent communication skills. Previous Marketing and Sales experience is a must\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Employment Ads"","block_context":{"text":"Employment Ads","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/employment-ads\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2199,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/12\/swamped-by-applicants\/","url_meta":{"origin":925,"position":3},"title":"Swamped By Applicants","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"December 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I am hearing more discussions about incredibly large responses to sales job postings in this present economy.\u00a0 Some of the companies I talk to are overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of resumes they receive.\u00a0 I went back to look at an old article we wrote back in 2005 when the\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":1999,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/04\/chaotic-freedom-in-sales\/","url_meta":{"origin":925,"position":4},"title":"Chaotic Freedom In Sales","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"April 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I read this line from an sales employment ad this morning: Reps are NOT restricted by territory. The unrestricted territory seems innocuous enough\u2026maybe even valuable.\u00a0 It usually isn\u2019t.\u00a0 As a salesperson, I would read this ad with some skepticism in that the company may be trying to add salespeople without\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Employment Ads"","block_context":{"text":"Employment Ads","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/employment-ads\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1041,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/06\/sales-ads-that-include-excel\/","url_meta":{"origin":925,"position":5},"title":"Sales Ads That Include Excel","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I wouldn't recommend this tact to a sales ad: Are you the candidate we are looking for? If you are very familiar with Excel, have good organizational skills along with verbal and written communication abilities, you may just be the future (salesperson) for our growing business. Leading with Excel and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Employment Ads"","block_context":{"text":"Employment Ads","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/employment-ads\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}