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 ReadingRequired Skills-Sales Ability
From an ad for a National Sales Manager: Required Skills: 1. Product knowledge. The ad lists 3 other “non-sales” skills. Sales is that strange position where many hiring managers focus on skills other than selling. Is it any wonder there are so many sales hiring horror stories?
Continue ReadingPersuasive Tips
Persuasion is a key ability of any successful salespeople. Think of the worst car salesperson or door-to-door salesperson you have encountered and you will know why this ability is so critical to success. CNNMoney.com’s article – How persuasive are you? – interviews an individual who runs the Persuasion Institute who brought up this fine point: Let’s take, for instance, how we handle objections, whether from a customer or some other audience, such as a boss we’re asking for a raise. Early on in life, we learn to perceive objections as opposition, so we get defensive. An unskilled persuader, often without realizing it, will show tension, uneasiness, or irritation when someone… Read More
Continue ReadingWhen To Test
Selling Power’s Hiring Newsletter takes a look at assessments used in the hiring process. This is a topic near and dear to our hearts in that we assess sales candidates with online tests. One paragraph jumped out (emphasis mine): According to Whittle, the average test runs around $200, but there were some tests that tacked on extra costs for interpretation up to $600 to $900 extra. Her company usually conducts the tests after at least two behavioral interviews to save time and costs. However, Whittle reminds us – the cost of testing is nothing compared to the cost of a bad hire. “We conduct the tests to validate what we’ve… Read More
Continue ReadingYou Must Have…
Red flags should go up if those words appear in a cover letter. These sentences are from a recent graduate’s cover letter for a sales position: Please do not contact me if the position is commission based, or involves cold-calling. Also your company must have a valid website that can help me to identify what your company does. I will be following his clear orders and not contacting him.
Continue ReadingFunny Resume Title
I had to share this one: Offshore Employee – No Accent. Excellent. Memorable.
Continue Reading2 Jobs In 1
The Wall Street Journal offers an article about companies combining 2 jobs into 1 and then hiring based on the lower level job. The author explains it better than me: Some job hunters have been encountering a new kind of downsizing: companies that aren’t eliminating positions entirely, but are combining a mid-level position with a more junior one — then advertising it as a junior slot and offering a lower salary. I’m not sure this is the best approach to hiring in that you often get what you pay for. One of my suggestions would be to assess the candidates if you go this route. There are many talented, young… Read More
Continue ReadingA Candidate Shortage
CNNMoney.com reports on a specific area that is experiencing a hiring problem – lack of candidates: Despite the slump at lowlier levels of the job market, there’s currently a war for senior management talent. In fact, 70% of executive recruiters surveyed by networking organization ExecuNet (www.execunet.com), say there’s a shortage of people who can step in and run things. We’ve seen this shortage first-hand in the sales arena. Strong sales leaders are in demand right now, especially in one corporate segment (emphasis mine): Companies doing the most executive hiring aren’t necessarily the biggest, the ExecuNet study found. Employers with revenues between $51 million and $200 million are expanding their senior-level… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Best Social Networking – In-Person
I don’t think this is a big surprise, but in-person networking is the most important. From the Career News newsletter (sorry, no link): While the execs expected the importance of online networking to grow from 24% now to 38% in two years’ time, that’s still less important than developing personal contacts (81%), contacting recruiters (63%) or using job boards (51%). Some 93% of the senior executives surveyed said putting time into developing their ‘personal brand’ was a wise career move. While some three-quarters said this was best done offline, two-thirds said they do use social networking sites to look good. Commenting on the findings, Carol Rosati, director at Harvey Nash,… Read More
Continue ReadingWatch The Writing
I would not hire a single salesperson without first seeing a writing sample of some sort from them. The information age has made writing a priority skill in communicating with prospects. This cover letter sentence makes me lose my faith in proofreading: I relocated down south due to my wifes job and the maeket for my construction managment was not very good so I ventured in to new firlds. There are different levels of errors within cover letters and resumes. This example would fall in the “very bad” error pile.
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