Relying on the interview, benchmarking top performers, cloning yourself…these are all common mistakes that lead to bad sales hires. These 9 mistakes are provided by ManageSmarter.com’s article: Mistake 1:Relying only on interviews to evaluate a candidate Mistake 2: Using successful people as models Mistake 3: Too many criteria Mistake 4: Evaluating “personality” instead of job skills Mistake 5: Using yourself as an example Mistake 6: Failure to use statistically validated testing to predict job skills most critical to success Mistake 7: Not researching the reasons that people fail Mistake 8: Relying on general “good guy” criteria Mistake 9: Bypassing the reference check That is a solid list of common mistakes. … Read More
Continue ReadingGen Y’s Favorite Cities To Work
The Herman Group’s weekly newsletter (sorry, no link) covers what young jobseekers want and that is a specific urban area. A just-released study from the Segmentation Company, a division of the market research firm Yankelovich reports that 65 percent of 1,000 respondents aged 24 to 35 said they preferred to “look for a job in the place that I would like to live,” rather than “look for the best job I can find; the place where it is located is secondary.” The most popular qualities of a city (78 percent) were tidiness and attractiveness; the characteristic €œwill allow me to lead the life I want to lead€ was a close… Read More
Continue ReadingHiring Outlook Still Strong
The hiring outlook for the remainder of the year is being bandied about by the media, but the latest Manpower survey paints a fairly clear picture of a strong market: Of the 14,000 U.S. employers surveyed, 27% expect to increase their workforces during the fourth quarter of 2007, while 9% expect to trim their payrolls. Fifty-eight percent expect no change in the hiring pace, and 6% are undecided about their hiring plans. The seasonally adjusted survey results show that in the majority of industry sectors the hiring pace is expected to remain steady during the final months of 2007. Employers in Construction, Durable and Non-Durable Goods Manufacturing, Wholesale/Retail Trade, Finance/Insurance/Real… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Automatic Cover Letter
From my junk mail: Stop writing cover letters the hard way. _____________ helps you quickly and easily crank out a killer cover letter that is guaranteed-to keep your phone ringing. With just a click-of-a-button, fill in the blanks and in just 3.5 minutes out pops a brilliantly worded and perfectly crafted cover letter – 100% customized for you. I think “customized for you” needs further clarification. We are receiving a handful of cover letters with the exact same wording in each of them.
Continue ReadingTelecommuting = Retention
This isn’t shocking news, but telecommuters are more satisfied with their work when compared to the traditional office worker. CareerJournal.com’s Working From Home Fosters Job Satisfaction does provide some detail to this difference that I found noteworthy. First the background stats: Seventy-three percent of the remote and home-based workers surveyed said they are satisfied with their company as a place to work compared with 64% of office workers, according to the survey in June of about 10,000 U.S. workers. But here is the section that points to retention (emphasis mine): Some of the differences were striking, Wiley said, pointing to the 10 percentage point difference between the 54% of telecommuters… Read More
Continue ReadingSourcing Without A Surplus Of Candidates
5-6 years ago sourcing was a much different market for sales candidates. The economy had gone into recession and there were many talented salespeople looking for an opportunity. We used to run ads that required candidates to call in on a certain day between certain hours. We would then schedule them for a phone screen. We didn’t even offer an email response option though some would still respond that way. My how times have changed. We used to get 50 to 75 call-in responses to our ad. Today, we get 20 responses almost all via email. Job postings used to be all that was needed to find numerous candidates. Today,… Read More
Continue ReadingIt’s All About Talent
We beat our heads against the wall sometimes when we have to remind our customers that hiring experience is not a strong hiring strategy. More times than not, all you do is recycle mediocrity from within your industry. What truly matters is to hire talent and skills. Experience does not equal success. For instance, pro football returns this weekend so can you tell me what these players all have in common: Chad PenningtonGiovanni CarmazziChris RedmanTee MartinMarc BulgerSpergon Wynn Still wondering? All of these quarterbacks were selected in the 2000 draft ahead of Tom Brady. Tom Brady has won 3 Super Bowls, 2 Super Bowl MVPs, invited to 4 Pro Bowls… Read More
Continue ReadingCrashing On A Cold Call
Cold calling is a disappearing art, but still a needed component of any sales position. I have made my share of truly cold calls especially as a young salesperson. I was awful (and still am today). So any help in this area always catches my attention. ManageSmarter.com has a terrific article that dissects a poorly executed call – How not to Handle a Cold Call. I strongly recommend the article, but just to give you a taste of the tips: Mistake 1: Forgetting to PrepareThe person who called me did absolutely no preparation before she dialed my number. A quick Internet search would have shown her that I have a… Read More
Continue ReadingTalk About Experience
Ok, bit of a laugh here from an ad I read this morning. The ad doesn’t mention the company name and lists 10 bullet points describing the position’s requirements. The last bullet (and line) in the ad caught my attention: Experience in sanitation or portable toilets business is a plus Do you think maybe the author was attempting to sneak that point through like a Phil Niekro fastball?
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Realistic Goal Setting For Others
As the unfortunate recipient of some heinously impossible sales quotas in my day, I am most intrigued by this week’s trait as it pertains to Sales Managers (and a few from my past that I would enjoy assessing on this topic). Realistic Goal Setting For OthersThe ability to set goals for others that can be achieved using available resources and operating within a projected timeframe. This trait includes the ability to utilize previous measurable performance in the establishing of goals and/or quotas. A sales manager with strength in this capacity is adept at understanding the potential of another individual, weighting the requirements of a job against their abilities and setting realistic/attainable goals for… Read More
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