Tips For Hiring Superstars

Great article here from SellingPower.com – The Best Ways to Turn Off a Star.  I am a big fan of showing people how not to do something.  That is a powerful format for teaching. In that light, here are 6 tips from the article (in a “what not to do” vein): Talk about yourself and your company. You really don’t need any information about the candidates; it’s all on their resumes anyway. Wait for them to call you. Make them wait. Hey, if they really want to work for your company, it’s worth waiting through your 40-minute phone call to your old college roommate. Bribe them. Offer a free microwave… Read More

Continue Reading

Fragrance Follies

CareerBuilder.com has a post regarding an overuse of perfume and cologne by employees.  The author asks a good question: Apart from sharing the story, I’m writing this to ask how you think managers should handle “strong fragrance” issues in the workplace. It seems like a sensitive issue because people wearing the cologne or perfume must not realize that it is SO noticeable for the people around them. Let me be a little crass – I heard a funny story from a sales manager we met with yesterday.  He used to work for a company where he was a sales manager for one territory and there was another gentleman who handled… Read More

Continue Reading

Are You Really Running A Behavioral-Based Interview?

Behavioral-based interviewing has been the buzz in hiring for the past few years and rightly so.  This technique brings real-world clarity to a sales interview as opposed to theoretical, positional answers.  Selling Power provides a good article to assist you in your interview strategy. In order to ensure you are using a behavioral-based approach (emphasis mine): “A lot of people think that they are conducting behavioral-based interviewing when they’re really not,” says Wolf, who defines behavioral-based questions as questions that allow candidates to relate real situations and demonstrate how their strengths and weaknesses are exhibited on the job. “Many times hiring managers are asking theoretical questions, such as, ‘How would… Read More

Continue Reading

Finding Fibs On A Resume

In reviewing the HRGURU newsletter I ran across a good article on finding fibs in resumes.  It gives some sound advice to follow so you are not discovering these lies on the resume after a person starts.  The 5 tips: Get an early read about the candidate’s visible profile. Look for a candidate’s public profile by reviewing announcements, articles and other material that often can be found easily online. You do need to gauge how much stock you’ll put into whatever you find—good or bad—because you can’t always believe what you read. Confirm academic credentials early. Gain consensus on the reference checking process.  Who is going to perform it and… Read More

Continue Reading

Tips For Interviewing Sales Candidates

Too many times the process of hiring a sales person rarely takes priority in a sales manager’s duties – they have enough to do already.  Unfortunately, the hiring tasks get pushed to the margins of their day.  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.  Dave Stein has 11 spot-on quick tips that can help you set the right priorities and increase your success rate.  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’t lead the candidate. Push… Read More

Continue Reading

They Are Not Local

All politics are local according to the late Tip O’Neil.  The same can be said of hiring which is why this employment ad is a mistake.  The location listed for the sales position: Minnesota, MN I know they probably mean the entire state, but that is not the way to list it.  It seems like a small detail, but it does make a poor first impression.  My immediate thought was that the hiring company is not familiar with this area.

Continue Reading

Initiative In Front Of You

This is a long set-up, but you’ll get the point.  I just read an interesting Q&A article on BusinessWeek.com titled Being Pushy…or Taking the Initiative?  Here is the question posed by an office manager who is hiring for a sales position: I’m the office manager in a branch of an international PR firm with more than 50 offices in the U.S. I run the administrative processes, work as the liaison with our U.S. headquarters, and serve as the HR chief for this branch. Last week I interviewed a candidate for an account manager position. This man had applied for the job through an online job ad. I do the first-screen… Read More

Continue Reading

How To Size Up Candidates

ManageSmarter has a great article titled, The Ideal Job Candidate: Myth or Reality? that touches on a subject that we have posted on many times.  I cannot begin to tell you how many conversations we have around this subject with clients and prospects.  Jeff Schmitt has 3 points he writes about when it comes to hiring.  As a a hiring manager, I would recommend that you keep these points in mind as you begin a hiring process: Examine yourself. Look at your recruiting effort. Are you still reposting that same job description after another fruitless round of interviews?  Unfortunately, this doesn’t change one element: the problem is you haven’t adapted.… Read More

Continue Reading

The Experience Myth

As you have probably ascertained, we are strong proponents of hiring for ability/potential that matches your sales as opposed to tenured experience in your industry.  Naturally, this article – The Myth of Experience – from Managesmarter.com is right up our alley. Please allow me to reference an analogy from later in the article: Don’t fall into the myth of relying upon experience. Instead look for potential. That’s why there is always an image of flowers on a package of seeds. We don’t really care what the seeds look like. We want to know what they will become. I like that characterization even though I am not one to use “potential”…I… Read More

Continue Reading

Telecommuter-Friendly Companies

A few months ago I posted on the rising trend of telecommuting.  The percent of companies that allow working from home has gone up dramatically over the past few years.  From our experience, that trend has been accelerating in just the past few months.  More companies are offering salespeople the option to work form home a few days a month once they are through their on-ramping process.  We are also being asked by sales candidates early in the process if telecommuting is an option. Not all companies and positions have that flexibility, but that shouldn’t preclude you from looking for alternatives.  A recent article from the Workforce Management newsletter lists 7 companies… Read More

Continue Reading