We work with customers from around the country who sell in a myriad of markets. Some positions are far more difficult to fill than others. I am speaking in terms outside of the position itself. Some hiring managers provide difficult roadblocks to sales hiring success. One of the most important reasons for running a hiring process is to remove biases. Biases are the single largest detriment to successful hiring we encounter. We released an article last week that speaks to these gut-level decisions. There is no accounting for these biases. There is no repeatable measurement for these biases. We preach this approach constantly – run a hiring process that pushes… Read More
Continue ReadingGimmicky?
From a cover email of a technical person looking for nights or weekend work: PLEASE – no recruiters, insurance agents, or other gimmicky type people. I’m gainfully employed and simply want to put my name out to keep my skills tuned. For some reason I get a kick out of edgy cover emails. I thought this one might be a funny way to start your Monday (was for me).
Continue ReadingNiche Job Boards
Google led me to this article from onrec.com – Niche Job Boards Provide the Best Value For Employers. The niche job board topic is one of great interest to us. We typically spread our ads around to different sites including the main boards that everyone knows. Our experience with niche boards has not been as productive. This article is an opinion piece from the founder of Niche Jobboards.com so consider that fact. Yet, this stat was a bit surprising: As an example, JobsInLogistics.com, which serves the transportation and logistics industries, attracts 80 visitors per job ad over the course of a month. In comparison, CareerBuilder draws only 15 visitors per… Read More
Continue ReadingAn Open Letter to Sales Managers
Time and time again we see a similar process play out to the detriment of a company. XYZ Company determines that they need to hire a new salesperson and the sales manager is going to spearhead the search. A problematic approach. The primary focus of most sales managers is to coach, motivate and hold the sales team accountable. Part of these responsibilities includes some direct selling and some organizational tasks (sales reports, meetings, etc.). Hiring is usually not a weekly sales manager activity unless there are larger issues inside the company. So where does this menu of responsibilities leave running a sales search? Larger companies have HR personnel to place… Read More
Continue ReadingJobseekers & Sites – Take Two
About a month ago I posted on an article from Weedle’s regarding job boards & recruiting. In their latest newsletter, they have surveyed 1,063 people on how many times per month they visit an employment site on the Internet. Here are their finding’s: 35% visited a job board 13+ times/month, 20% visited such sites 5-8 times/month, 18% visited them 2-4 times/month, 17% visited job boards 9-12 times/month, 8% visited these sites 1 time/month, and 2% said they visited job boards 0 times/month. As you can see about 72% visit job boards at least once per month, 55% visit them about twice a week and 35% visit the sites roughly three… Read More
Continue ReadingOlder Workers on the Way Out?
According to Management Issues Ltd., an online site devoted to management and leadership, 70 percent of bosses in the UK say in a survey that they see no value in employing experienced older workers. This seems to be the complete opposite of what we are seeing here in the US. Many companies have initiatives around hiring and retaining the baby-boomers looking at retirement in the next few years. Even though there is much evidence stating that their will be a workforce shortage in the next few years, more than half of the UK companies surveyed said that employing those 65 or older will trigger health-related issues. And even though 3/4… Read More
Continue ReadingResume Veracity
Adria offered an interesting comment on our post regarding Resume Enhancements. Here is her comment in whole: I currently teach a Resume class in a Texas Workforce Center. I tell my attendees to never lie on their resumes. I also try to emphasize they should never put something in print about themselves which they cannot prove, or for which they cannot provide a witness if necessary. Will recruiters simply dismiss the truth in the resume style Im teaching as more embelishments or is there a trustworthy means to note integrity on a resume? First off, good news that candidates are being taught a specific manner for maintaining the veracity of… Read More
Continue ReadingCover Email Attention Getter
I’m working through some resume tasks this Monday morning and noticed an amusing line from a cover email: I have excellent customer skills and great work ethic! I do more by 9:00 in the morning that (sic) the marines do all day!! I know, a grammatical error steals some of the thunder, but I still got a kick out of the line. Note: exclamation points should be avoided at all costs. However, it is always – always – valuable to stand out from the crowd in a pile of resumes. Assuming you stand out in a good way.
Continue ReadingResume Errors
Resumes have been a popular topic for us this week. Now I just caught up to this post from Anthony Meaney over at Recruiting.com from last week: Eighty-four percent of executives polled said it takes just one or two typographical errors in a resume to remove a candidate from consideration for a job opening; 47 percent said a single typo could be the deciding factor. First off, “typo” is a bit nondescript so I would argue some typos are worse offenses than others (“alot” instead of the proper “a lot” is forgivable in my opinion). However, one axiom we live by is that the interview process is the best the… Read More
Continue Reading“Bet On Yourself”
CareerJournal.com has a long article entitled Get the Most Pay Out of Your Job. The article follows a typical format of 10 tips for employees and there are some solid suggestions. In the list, point #2 hit on a topic dear to my own belief: 2. Bet on yourself Having a bonus tied to performance goals and hitting them can get you more money annually…The key to receiving more bonus money is superior performance. If you meet your goals, you should receive your target bonus amount. But at some companies, if you exceed the targets set for you, you may receive an award that exceeds your target bonus. At Biogen… Read More
Continue Reading