Interesting statistics from Selling Power’s The Fast Trend: Online Recruiting Services which references a Monster.com survey regarding online ads. Obviously Monster.com has a horse in the race on this topic, but their stats are somewhat surprising. “According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2003, 62 percent of households had at least one computer, up from 56 percent two years before, and that number is growing every day. The workforce is online. More than 80 percent of those aged 18 to 49 and 67 percent of those aged 50 to 64 are online. Online employment sites captured 22 percent of the employment recruiting market in 2004, up from just 1 percent… Read More
Continue ReadingChanging Bait
Here is an article from Selling Power that is spot on – Fishing for Recruits? The first step, says Silverman, is to get creative with your titles. “You can write a great job description, but if it’s buried under a boring title such as ‘Account Manager,’ no one is going to click on it. A good title [like a good headline] is going to create a call to action. He’s right. The days of counting words, employment ad shorthand and simple position titles are gone. I still see companies using this approach as I stated in a previous post. Stop now and make the adjustments. The only part of an… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Skills Trump All Others
There is something about industry experience that is seductive to many hiring managers. The allure of a salesperson who has been “in the industry” for some time is almost irresistible. The same infatuation seems to exist with salespeople once they are on the payroll. The salesperson’s ability to understand the company’s product and service offering is important to the position. But why are many new salespeople judged by their level of product/service understanding? Is this really the best determinant of sales success? In a word, no. At the risk of being overly simplistic, salespeople are hired to . . . sell. Their sales skills trump all other skills. These skills… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Job Search Equation
From the StarTribune’s Beyond The Basic Job Search Rules: His company (Jericho Communications) has conducted research that shows on average it takes one month for every $10,000 in salary in order to find a new job. So, if you’re looking for a $50,000 per year position, it could take up to five months €” if you work at it daily. I haven’t heard of that equation before reading this article. We work on the company side of hiring, but I suspect this equation holds water for candidates? My initial take on sales positions is that candidates find opportunities faster than this rate. Of course, a strong salesperson can find a… Read More
Continue ReadingImproving Job Ads
From CareerJournal.com’s Employers Try Plain English To Improve Quality of Job Ads: Traditional job descriptions, some recruiters say, emphasize qualifications, but skimp on describing the work, the challenges and the company culture. This topic has been a sore spot for me for many years. I read many sales ads during the week and find many of them lacking. Crafting an effective sales is difficult and takes a fair amount of work. Many ads read like 1980’s retreads. Some solid advice: The new ads can also help recruit a broader pool of promising candidates because they don’t set strict education and work-experience requirements. HealthEast Care System, a Minnesota hospital group, began… Read More
Continue ReadingEspresso U
We are coffee house aficionados as I have mentioned in previous posts. One of my goals is to be a barista some day. Now a Pioneer Press article describes a coffee university – Enrollment grows at Espresso U. I now have a new motivator! In case you doubted the appeal of coffee: Nationally, the number of coffee houses has nearly doubled in the past six years. According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America, there are almost 24,000 coffee houses in the U.S., up from 13,800 in 2001. The addition of wireless internet has made them a business hot spot. Yesterday the Rock Star and myself were working at Panera… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Balanced Decision Making
This week we look at a trait that is beneficial to both salespeople and sales managers. The ability to stay balanced in forming decisions is integral to sales success. Salespeople who can look at the entire opportunity and properly weight the pieces before pursuing it are the most successful. Salespeople who can’t often chase the proverbial rabbit down the hole. Balanced Decision Making This trait involves the ability to be objective and fairly evaluate the different aspects (people and other) of a situation. This ability includes making an ethical decision that takes into account all aspects and components. It is the ability to maintain a balance between the needs of… Read More
Continue ReadingHow Not To Deal With The Salary Question
From Foxnews.com’s How to Deal With the Salary-Expectations Question: Don Sutaria, president and founder of CareerQuest, a staffing and training firm, advises job seekers to avoid offering a solid figure. “Don’t answer the question. Say, ‘I’ll expect the fair market value. Make me an offer and we can discuss it.’ Or, ‘Maybe you can tell me what your range is?’” Sutaria adds that the best approach is to arm yourself with information. “It’s very easy to find now, based on the job title and industry, what your range is.” This is a pet peeve of mine. I don’t think candidates get anywhere by being coy about their salary expectations. Candidates… Read More
Continue ReadingResearching A Candidate Online
CNNMoney.com offers a fairly innocuous story: Survey: CEOs bullish on better economy. That is always good news and I am bullish along with them. Small and mid-sized companies are optimistic about the U.S. economy’s prospects in 2007 on the back of brisk first-quarter sales and increased revenue, according to a survey released Tuesday. But catch this little throw-away line from later in the article: Twenty-one percent of all executives surveyed report having conducted Internet searches via News Corporation-owned MySpace, Facebook or Google when researching job candidates, the survey showed. I found that number staggering – almost 1 in 4 executives are using social networking sites or search engines to research… Read More
Continue ReadingJob Board Convergence
Monster Pairs With Tech Company to Increase Newspaper Ties: Under the deal, newspapers using Adicio’s service will have several options to increase their ties with Monster, including having their own employment ads co-listed in Monster’s database and giving online advertisers an easy way to buy print ads in the paper. A good move by the fading newspapers for sure. The traditional newspaper help-wanted ad is just about toast, as it should be. Surprisingly, we still encounter companies that only advertise in the local newspaper (at confiscatory rates). The trend is clearly towards a handful of major online job boards and a myriad of niche online job boards serving specific industries… Read More
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