This story is from Forbes.com – Seven Deadly Interview Sins: David Hoffman (CEO) recalls taking a candidate out for dinner for the final interview. The candidate impressed the hiring committee throughout several rounds of interviews and he was their choice to become a senior consultant…This informal meeting was the final hurdle. The candidate drank so much scotch that Hoffman had to call an ambulance and the candidate was taken by stretcher to the hospital where he was treated for alcohol poisoning. “You think I’m embellishing but I’m not,” says Hoffman. I shouldn’t laugh but I keep thinking of the CEO having to call an ambulance at the restaurant.
Continue ReadingDumb And Dumber Interview Moves
I have a weakness for lists -they make good link bait, too. CNNMoney.com offers up 10 dumbest job-interview moves. It is a quick, entertaining read. A sample: The job hunter… 5. “… drafted a press release announcing that we had hired him.” 7. “… delivered his entire cover letter in the form of a rap song.” 9. “…brought his mother to the interview and let her do all the talking.” My mouth is still agape after reading number 9.
Continue ReadingWho Doesn’t Like Interview Questions?
I found a pile of papers on my desk that contained a few sheets of interview questions. I don’t know where they are from, but I found myself reading them today. Aren’t interview questions interesting to read? I think most people like to see if they can find a good question to take for themselves. At least that is my approach. Some standard questions: Why do you want to work here? Where do you see yourself 5 years from now? What good books have to read lately? Why should I hire you? (I despise this question) That is all pretty standard fare. But I did find a few more interesting offerings:… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Right Perspective From Customer Service
I interviewed a customer service manager candidate this past week who had a good approach to her job. I asked her as a manager how she wants her reps to handle customers. Her response, “Like eggs.” She went on to explain how she would personally handle the difficult customer situations and so forth, but I thought that initial, quick response was quite good. And obviously memorable.
Continue ReadingQuestions From Left Field
I have a weakness for bizarre interview questions so Yahoo’s Oddball Interview Questions was a must read. Apparently these questions are couched as a method for determining if a candidate will fit into the corporate culture. Right. Anyway, the article provides more insight into how to handle these questions as opposed to the actual questions themselves. Still, a couple of dandies are in there: “What would I find in your refrigerator?” “What did you want to be when you were 10 years old?” You know, some times just having an open, clear discussion with a candidate will accomplish more than some loaded, oddball question.
Continue Reading2 Keys To Finding Sales Stars
ManageSmarter.com offers up an article I cannot resist – Find Your Next Sales Star. We’re going to start a 10 part series on this article. No, we’re not (though I would like to). I’ve written about this topic in the past (emphasis mine): Chet Bloom isn’t a big believer in tests and intellectual assessments. The president of HFBC Ltd., a staff and recruiting firm based in New York, goes with his instinct. “A test will never show a person’s eagerness and motivation,” he says. For him, it’s all about impression, such as how an interviewee dresses, if he shows up on time, and his confidence level. Education is meaningless to… Read More
Continue ReadingBeing Qualified
A strong candidate is going to ask strong qualifying questions. I mentioned earlier today a good qualifying and influencing move by one of our candidates interviewing at one of our clients. Another strong qualifying position is for the candidate to ask about a company’s financial situation. The candidate who wants to know about a company’s financial situation should not be off-putting to a hiring manager. Interestingly enough, I have seen this happen in mid-sized, private companies. Public companies are easily researched and smaller companies seem to be less concerned about this question. But hiring managers at these mid-sized companies seem to bristle, at times, with these qualifying questions. They are… Read More
Continue ReadingA Strong Candidate Shines
Great move from a candidate yesterday at his interview with one of our clients: His first move: “What would you say is a profile of a good salesperson for this position?” He followed that question up with: “How well do you see me fitting that profile?” That is some straight influencing of a hiring decision. Beautiful.
Continue ReadingCultural Fit Questions
We write often about the interview stage of a sales hiring process and how to use it effectively. One of the best uses of the interview is to determine the sales candidate’s fit to your company culture. In that light, Selling Power offers an article with some good questions to ask during the interview. These questions start the culture discussion and will be helpful in your hiring determination: €¢ What is your understanding of sales culture? €¢ How would you describe the sales culture of your present employer? €¢ Specifically, what do you like best about that sales culture? What do you like the least? €¢ If it were up… Read More
Continue ReadingSell Me This Pen
Here is a good post from Ed McLean on his Sales Itch blog – Sales Dilemma No.1: There€™s a story in sales job hunting folklore where the smugly smiling interviewer plucks out a pen from his jacket pocket and say, €œSell me this pen€. What would you say? Here are the options I came up with: You will have to read the post to view Ed’s excellent options. Believe it or not, I actually encountered this interview approach when I was a young sales rep. I sat in the office of a salty old sales manager who told me to look under the chair I was sitting in. There was… Read More
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