We are back after a scorcher of a Memorial Day weekend here in Minnesota (record highs this past weekend). Instead of overheating as I read more candidate interview preparation articles, CareerBuilder.com finally chimes in with some tips for the interviewer with Top 10 Interview No No’s. We do enjoy top 10 lists here at the Hire Sense! Good fundamental advice in this column that are always a good refresher. (You cannot ask about race, age, religion, etc.). Point #3 cannot be stressed enough: 3. Avoid Closed Ended Questions – The first type of question to avoid is one that can be answered by a “yes” or “no”. Even if you… Read More
Continue ReadingAnecdote – Fast Talkin’
Here’s one for the long holiday weekend. We were interviewing an internal candidate for a sales manager position and were sitting across from a pegged out High I. He spoke at a frenetic pace and at great length. To top it off, he rarely offered a cogent thought. So you can imagine there were many moments of silence as we sat there stunned at his performance. During one of those moments, out of the blue the candidate states, “I may talk fast, but it’s slow in my head.” He didn’t get the position.
Continue ReadingInterview Questions
Monster.com continues their interview prep series with Interview Questions, Part 4 (I wonder when it will end?). I think most people who hire have an affinity for interview questions. There is one question that we use extensively: What is your management style? Intent: This is a classic question for management-level candidates. The interviewer’s intent here is threefold: to find out if your management style fits, to determine if you have management ability and to probe how much you understand your own work style. The author is insightful here. We use this question in a different manner in that we have already assessed the management candidate using our online tools. We… Read More
Continue ReadingAnecdote – The Bewildering Email
Here is a recent one for your reading pleasure. Over the past couple weeks I have been sourcing for a territory sales position and had the following email exchange with an applicant. Apparently he felt unencumbered by the specific instructions provided in the online employment ad. Simple instructions – all applicants were asked to either email their resume or to call. From the applicant: is new business coming from advertising agencies also clients who use your services in the new york city marketplace important to you? (Unsigned, no number provided.) My response: I apologize, I am unclear as to your inquiry. If you are interested in learning more about the… Read More
Continue ReadingInterview Tips – Part 4
As an employer, how much prep time do you put in before interviewing a candidate? Candidates have thousands of resources available to them through articles, books, coaches and websites (as we have pointed out in numerous posts). Monster.com offers multiple resources to the job searcher, from industry specific advice for job searches/career pathing to basic tips on resume writing to answer strategies for interview questions . In monster’s Self-Assessment Center they have a Random Interview Question Generator that not only generates questions but provides specific advice on how to respond to the questions. The site also provides advice on how to handle illegal questions like, “Do you have children, and… Read More
Continue ReadingA Worthy Cause – Operationheroforhire.com
Kudos to CareerBuilder.com for launching the website Operationheroforhire.com. You can read the press release here. Essentially, they are attempting to connect soldiers returning home to employment opportunities. We plan on supporting this initiative and hope that you will too.
Continue ReadingTop 10 Sales Traits
We assess sales candidates on over 60 different Aptitudes in our assessment stage which provides some fine detail about their natural talents. We adjust our focus on these aptitudes based on what the position requires. However, there are a certain group of aptitudes that are consistently critical in any sales position. Hence, I give you our top 10 list (we love lists): Handling Rejection Results Orientation Influencing Others Goal Achievement Personal Accountability Persistence Objective Listening Empathetic Outlook Initiative Emotional Control If you visit our web page, you will see the definition for each aptitude along with the reasoning behind its inclusion in our list. I realize there are many other… Read More
Continue ReadingCrafting A Value Proposition
Grab Your Prospect’s Attention by Crafting a ‘Compelling Reason’ challenges War and Peace for length. It is a LONG read, but a good one that covers many selling topics. There are 6 pages to the online article so I will simply hit on some of my favorite points. The author’s main treatise is to define a process for defining your company’s “compelling reason.” Consider it your value proposition to use a different euphimism. He states that you will know you have driven deep enough into your compelling reason when it passes the “so what?” test. When I asked her to list the benefits of her service, she responded with the… Read More
Continue ReadingUnderstanding & Using Communication Style
Here is a different link for a post – a good audio segment on SalesRepRadio. The featured segment this week is a broadcast (is that the right word?) named Outcome Focused Selling. The speaker, Anne Warfield, discusses a different approach to selling. Instead of being focused on solving problems, salespeople need to be focused on finding solutions. When I first heard this phrasing I wondered what is the difference? Warfield went on to say that trying to “solve problems” unintentionally focuses the salesperson on features and benefits selling. I’ve seen this type of selling first-hand and it mostly leads to a data dump of marketing information on an disinterested prospect.… Read More
Continue ReadingTruth is Always Stranger Than Fiction
I kid you not, check out this story from ABCnews.com’s Working Wounded Blog – Biggest Job Complaints. The post references a previous online survey the blogger performed and I’ll steal his thunder and reveal the biggest complaint: …people who steal food from the company refrigerator Are you laughing yet? It’s true. It keeps going: She described in painful detail about how her thief opened a box of chicken wings, ate half of them and then carefully put the bones back in the box and resealed the container. I’m laughing, but I have been a “victim” of this corporate crime myself. The blogger references another study of a similar ilk. The… Read More
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