We often hear from our clients that one of the job types they find most difficult to recruit for, is sales. The challenge spans across so many industries – construction, mining, manufacturing, finance, travel – and it appears there is a major shortage in Canada of talented salespeople who are willing to put in the hard yards for success.

Based on this feedback, we asked Susanne Mather (one of EO’s co-founders and Directors) for her tips on recruiting sales staff. She described 3 key elements to the successful recruitment of sales talent, as “LIKE them; TEST them; PROFILE them”:

LIKE THEM

I used to struggle with the concept of 'liking them'. If I interviewed a salesperson who ticked most of the boxes, but I personally found them to be unlikeable (you know the type – arrogant, unfriendly, just plain rude) I’d find myself battling a personal dilemma – “who was I to say ‘no’ to them purely on the basis that I didn’t like them and my gut told me they wouldn’t fit in?”. Years of experience has told me that often your gut feeling is correct. I still get a 2nd or even 3rd opinion if I don't get a positive vibe from someone, but if two or three of us find the sales candidate to be 'unlikeable' we tend to assume our prospects will feel the same way. And if we and our team like the candidate, they’ll probably like us – crucial to getting new employees through the vulnerable early ‘attachment phase’, thereby minimizing attrition.

TEST THEM

Although this may appear to refute my first point, don't rely on your personal instinct alone. When recruiting Sales & Account Executives at Employment Office, we first test our candidates' communication skills right back at point of application, long before we speak to them, through our first-round screening process (the same process that our clients utilize when they use our services). Secondly we check their ability to show up to an interview on time and dressed appropriately. We evaluate their corporate nous and common sense at interview – if they swear, blaspheme, or ‘diss’ their current employer inappropriately, they've failed the common sense test and have insufficient corporate nous. Next we test their mental agility and ability to think quickly (crucial to any sales role) through the McQuaig Occupational Test. Finally, we assess their computer skills and perform a phone-based role-play.

PROFILE THEM

We ask all our candidates to complete an online behavioral survey (McQuaig) that benchmarks them against the psychometric profile of our successful Sales & Account Executives. This generates a comprehensive report that we print out and bring to interview in hard copy. Even if the candidate isn't the right fit for our role, we like to give them this report to take away with them for future job applications. We really appreciate peoples’ interest in our business and the time they invest in our recruitment process, and we make an effort to treat them properly.

Finally, we never approach recruitment of salespeople solely from our perspective. We’re really conscious that in bringing someone on board, we're changing the course of their life. We hate messing them around by making hiring mistakes and we do everything in our power to minimize incorrect recruitment decisions. I believe this is especially relevant in sales recruitment, where candidates are often taking a risk by accepting a lower retainer / commission-based role (often with a higher opportunity-to-earn).

All these elements are important parts of our recruitment process to fill our sales roles, which are niche roles in that they’re hunter style, outbound, phone-based yet corporate. Our recruitment process ensures we minimize as much as possible the inevitable attrition that comes with sales recruitment, and that we successfully onboard and retain the sales talent that’s absolutely crucial to our growth.