Last week I put up a second post, What Candidates Look For In A Job on a webinar conducted by Monster and DDI. In that post I highlighted the disconnect between what the candidate is looking for and what the employer believes they are looking for. Age is a factor in the responses and I promised to share that information with you. So here you go, the top 4 reasons by age group in order of importance: Less than 20 Years Old A creative/fun workplace culture. A compatible work group/team. A good manager/boss. Opportunities to learn and grow. 21 to 30 Years Old Opportunities to learn and grow. Opportunity to… Read More
Continue Reading2007 Salary Trends
Salary.com put this article out earlier this month. It is a lengthy article written to employees in regards to 2007 areas of compensation, but there are some points to keep in mind not only as you are hiring staff this year but in retaining your current team. These points are complementary to one of our earlier posts on the top reasons why candidates take a job. If you haven’t read this post, let me highlight the top 4 things candidates are looking for in jobs: A good manager/boss, opportunity to advance, opportunities to learn/grow and balance between work and personal life. Salary.com’s article aligns with 3 of the 4 points… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat Candidates Look For In A Job
A few months ago I posted on Why Salespeople Leave which discussed the disconnect between how a company compensates their salespeople and what the salespeople view as a reward. Last week I attended a webinar jointly presented by Monster and DDI and was amazed at the disconnect they found in their research between what employers think candidates desire in a position and reality. Employers, or more specifically hiring managers, listed these items as the top 4 reasons why a candidate takes a position: A good manager/boss. Opportunity to advance. Opportunities to learn and grow. Balance between work and personal life. However, here is how the candidates responded in the survey:… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Phone Screening Essentials
I have read numerous article over the past few weeks about phone interviewing or screening sales candidates and every one of them miss the mark. Instead of going at what is wrong with each of these articles, I will give you some essentials that make this an effective step in our hiring process. These are the steps we incorporate into each recruitment process we run for our clients. These techniques have been developed through conducting thousands of sales interviews and phone screens over the past few years. What are the main requirements of the job? I am not talking about the job description. Instead, think about a wish list, so… Read More
Continue ReadingHow Interviewers Affect Candidate Decisions
Yesterday I attended a Webinar from Monster and DDI titled, “Thanks, But No Thanks: Keeping Top Prospects From Turning Down Your Offer” that not only echoed many of the points from this Selling Power article, but had the data to support it. There were numerous points that I wanted to share with you so I’ll post on them in bite-size pieces over the next few days. In our previous post, point #4 talks about trust. A candidate forms their opinion about trust in 3 areas with the interviewer being the first mentioned. I’m sure some of you thought that may have been a bit far-fetched but take a look at… Read More
Continue ReadingYou Can Ask Me Anything – Just Email Me.
I am currently sourcing candidates for a customer with these requirements: technically savvy, results oriented, efficient sales skills with good phone & writing skills. My interaction with this candidate started via email, which is great because I could get an idea of his written communication skills. His first emails were to find out a little more about the company and a lot about the position responsibilities. We emailed back and forth several times in which he asked some great questions. After I had answered his questions, he sent an email stating that he was interested in the position and would like to take it to the next step. I emailed… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Top 5 + 1 Reasons Why Candidates Say “No”
I found this article in a recent Selling Power Newsletter that piqued my interest. After reading it, I found that the author touches on some very good points to remember when making an offer to a candidate. It is a very short read and well worth the time. The author, Craig Silverman gives these 5 reasons you will get a no: Need – If your message isn’t compelling enough, they won’t feel the need to make a change. Motivation – You have to understand what motivates the candidate before you offer the position. Once you find out, build it into your offer. Compensation – Most salespeople don’t want to make… Read More
Continue ReadingFree Tools for Researching Leads
I follow some of the career articles that the Star Tribune writes and found an interesting one titled New Year, New Career: Nine Tools for Researching Leads. You are probably wondering why would I reference a career newsletter? Well, let me tell you it has some great free resources for your salespeople to use in researching their business leads. Please allow me to highlight those that would be relevant to almost any sales team. Just Sell – Sign up to receive detailed information on at least 50 companies that have experienced a major event in the last 5 business days which will lead to future growth… delivered straight to your… Read More
Continue ReadingTips for Effective Listening
If you have been in sales for any length of time you have probably heard something to this effect – “If you’re talking, you’re not selling”. I came across an article at Salesopedia that provides 10 tips for effective listening. Now the article is not written directly for salespeople, but there are some great points that are good reminders we can apply to our everyday sales life. Face the speaker. Sit up straight or lean forward slightly to show your attentiveness through body language. Focus solely on what the speaker is saying. Try not to think about what you are going to say next, if you do, you may not… Read More
Continue ReadingEmployee Retention Wake-Up Call – Part 2
A couple of months ago we posted on an article from the Pioneer Press titled Speaking Up Helps Keep Star Workers. One of the surprising findings was that 47% of the 16,273 stellar workers surveyed are mailing out resumes, going on job interviews, even contemplating other offers. I just recently caught up to an article from a WorkForce Management newsletter of a survey Yahoo HotJobs conducted on 5,300 people. They found that nearly two-thirds are open to switching jobs, with an improving job market cited as the chief cause for such optimism. Here are some interesting points they found: 39% cited unhappiness with wages as the chief issue 75% cited… Read More
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