In the last week, I polled some CEO’s I know and respect about their hiring preferences in Sales. Eavesdrop at your leisure.
“When it comes to hiring a Sales staff, what is most important?”
You get a lot of calls from recruiters. Well, guess what, I make a lot of those calls. Every morning before donning my headset I down a thermos of hot coffee. (Because showering in it would be scalding but kind of awesome.) Caffeinated and retained by an excellent client with a compelling story and value prop, I enthusiastically start talking to candidates, and I am genuinely excited about the possibility of changing lives! Maybe yours!
I sent out an email blast to my executive HR contacts last week. The position was a top rate, top level Ex-Pat job on an island in the Mediterranean. Great pay, benefits and a company paid villa on the sea. Response was overwhelming. The vast majority of respondents asked to set up a meeting.
The country is at 6.2% unemployment. The talent you want is 100% employed and happy! So please stop hiring and start recruiting.
What’s the difference? Most companies think they are recruiting, but act like they are hiring.
I know, you were thinking, “voicemail.” You are showing your age. I bet you say “rolodex” once in a while when you mean database. I bet you still dabble in appointment television and buy albums too. Its summer, so I bet you just went to an Aerosmith Farewell tour. Your fourth.
We’re that guy at the club. We have one move, we use it the entire dance, regardless of the type of music. We on occasion copy the move of the person next to us who appears to have rhythm, but the music stops just when we are getting it down. We ask you to dance when they start a slow song and we think we are safe but that was just the intro and it’s too late, we’re out there…
My reference f@*ked me and my recruiter won’t tell me who said what?!!
Situation: You are at the end of the hiring process for a job that is to die for and you give your standard 3 references and your potential future boss says he did the references and won’t be hiring you.
“I just filled the same search!”
Because we didn’t. Think of fingerprints. No two are the same, there are many similar, but no two exactly the same. Companies have different value props or missions, and even territories are different within the same company.
Okay settle your perfect self down. And don’t pout! Listen, a big part of this is the process. The line manager spends next to no time with HR discussing the need, HR writes up the posting as best they can, (or cuts and pastes from the last posting, don’t get me started) and then YOU take it literally, and shape your resume based on the posting.
My fee is $40,000 a month plus 2% equity in your company. Does this sound like an episode of Shark Tank? Well it should. That’s what many organizations are paying their already over worked VP’s to take the place of a good niche recruiter.