Hey, VPs of Sales – Time for a Beer!

Over the course of a week, I independently surveyed a small group of Vice Presidents that manage Sales teams in NY, MA, CT and OR. I was interested in what differentiators they look for when evaluating talent. Their answers quickly squashed my pipe dream of bringing Billy Beane’sSabermetrics® to Recruiting!

I asked each of them the same question:

“At the end of the day, when you have completed the interview process and have two to three equally qualified candidates, how do you decide which one to hire?”

You know what they say about making Assumptions – well, boy was I a big fat Donkey!! I expected any one of the following answers:

• “Whichever one is easiest to close.”
• “Whoever can start soonest.”
• “The one with the best references.”

Unfortunately there is no magic algorithm to decipher ‘Candidate A’ from ‘Candidate B’ other than…BEER. Yup, each one said: “I hire the candidate who would be best to share a beer with.”

Makes perfect sense. I mean, who is not instantly a bit more relaxed and comfortable with themselves having a cocktail in a social setting? The real person comes out during those situations and frankly, the VPs will want to hire the person that they most want to be around.

Being the inquisitive person/recruiter that I am, I followed-up with “So at which point in the interview process do you go out for a beer?” And not one of them ever had, so…

I offer this lesson to any VP of Sales positioned to make hires:

GO GET A BEER WITH YOUR CANDIDATES! – And if you hire my candidate, the beers are on me! (Well my firm anyway!)

~Don

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