Good sales people were hard to find, however, following the economic downturn, businesses are now taking advantage of an abundance of sales professionals back on the job market.

Recruitment marketing specialists, Employment Office, say leading clients have begun building their sales teams by snapping up the best candidates in preparation for the market upturn.

Managing Director, Tudor Marsden-Huggins, said the influx of sales professionals has been clearly evident in recent recruitment drives.
“The number of high quality candidates applying for sales roles has increased significantly over the past few months”, he said.

“The number of applications for a Sales Consultants role with Victory Curtains and Blinds this month has almost tripled when compared to the same campaign in September last year.

“This surge of sales applications has also been evident in recruitment campaigns we’ve run across a diverse range of industries”.
Global travel giant, Flight Centre, received 208 applications for a Travel Sales Consultant role, based in Brisbane, last month.

Additionally, Australian-grown construction equipment company, Total Hire & Sales, received a strong response for an Area Manager Technical Sales role, with six candidates successfully reaching the final stages of the campaign.

General Manager, Ray Klane, said he was confident that the right candidate would be found, despite the specialised nature of the role.

“We need someone with technical knowledge of design, forces and structural mechanics, as well as strong sales skills. Fortunately, due to market conditions, we’re finding candidates that fit this criterion”.
However, plucking the best sales candidates from a wealth of sales seekers is not an easy task.

With so many applicants jostling for vacant positions, businesses have become swamped with a deluge of resumes, presenting a fresh challenge for those keen to make the right choice.

“In a market where numerous highly-experienced people are competing, it is essential that you locate and select the best candidates,” Mr Marsden-Huggins said.

“In the current climate, the traditional method of screening candidates by the amount of skills they can squeeze onto a resume is no longer adequate”.

Having received 80 applications for their latest recruitment campaign for Sales Executives, Employment Office has developed a number of effective strategies to help their clients optimise the recruitment process and hone in on the best candidates.

This step-by step recruitment method will not only ensure that the best candidates are found, but also significantly reduce the amount of time spent on locating and hiring the best person for the job.

Step 1: Advertising the Role

The first, and perhaps most important, step is letting job seekers know that a role has become available. This is no longer a matter of contacting the local press and placing a single advertisement in the positions vacant column. Candidates use a multitude of sources to search for jobs, including traditional print, online job boards, industry newsletters, niche websites and the latest recruitment phenomenon, social networking platforms. By using a market-savvy mix of these advertising outlets, employers can not only reach a broad talent pool of sales professionals, but also reduce their in-house recruitment costs by finding the right candidates the first time round. Knowing where sales professionals are searching for jobs and aligning your advertisement budget with this industry knowledge, will ensure you target those with the skills and professional experience your company needs.

Step 2: Attracting the Right Candidates

When describing a vacant position, the essential information includes the overall primary responsibility of the role, the specific duties associated with that position, and the qualifications and experience required. However, although these basics are the foundations of any job advertisement, they are not enough to entice the tops sales guns to join your team. A successful attraction strategy is appreciating, and acting upon, what sales professionals want. Instead of focusing on what the client should bring to your company, you need to state what you can offer them by clearly articulating the benefits of the role. Salary, uncapped earning potential, internal advancement, a dynamic organisational culture and ongoing training opportunities will certainly capture the attention of sales professionals preparing for their next career move. More importantly, in the current market, job security is high on every sales professional’s wish list. As the market loses buoyancy, raw sales skills are not always enough and qualified leads, stable company growth and brand recognition among clients, have become increasingly attractive.

Step 3: Candidate Management

Once the recruitment campaign is underway, a system should be put in place to manage the volume of applications. Over the past few months, some sales roles are attracting three times more candidates than they were before the economic downturn. For example, a Flight Centre Travels Sales Consultant role based in Sydney received 330 applications. Wading through a seemingly endless stack of applications is a daunting prospect for any employer, and a strategy needs to be in place to cope with surplus of job seekers.

An online Candidate Management System (CMS) is the most effective way to achieve this. By channelling candidate information into one central system, companies can easily navigate online to rate, manage and contact candidates, allowing Human Resources professionals to actively monitor and manage the progress of their campaigns. Using a CMS, applicants are tracked throughout the recruitment stages, from the initial application, to scheduling interviews and providing feedback on the final decision. This online recruitment tool is a cost effective and time saving alternative to shuffling resumes, and has been since been adopted by companies worldwide, including the global travel giant, Flight Centre.

Step 4: Distinguishing Between Candidates

As the recruitment market becomes increasingly crowded with more job-seekers bottle-necking for vacant positions, choosing between highly qualified and experienced sales professionals has become increasingly tricky. The time-old method of scrutinising resumes and following up with a 45 minute interview is simply no long adequate when faced with a cascade of candidates. Professionally written resumes, combined with online job boards that allow applicants to fire off applications in five minute intervals, clutter the recruitment process and make it hard to distinguish which candidates are serious about the position, and which are simply seeing what’s out there.

The solution lies in updating the initial application process. By asking candidates to answer a number of first round interview questions when they apply for the position, the employer can not only compare candidates on an equal footing, but can also weed out those candidates who are simply placing an expression of interest. Ask candidates why they are interested in the position, what specific experience and industry knowledge they have, and what examples they can offer to illustrate their assets.

Step 5: Strategically Short listing

Once you have compared the initial applications, you will have a firm idea of which candidates are suited to the position. Now, it all comes down to determining the right cultural fit by getting to know your candidates. The final interview often falls short of this goal due to time-constraints and a tendency towards generic, and ultimately ineffective, questions. Businesses are now responding to this challenge by hosting multi-level Assessment Days, which allow employers to evaluate candidates based upon behavioural assets, occupational knowledge and industry-specific skills. Candidates are also asked to carry out workplace scenarios and give impromptu presentations, enabling the employer to get close and personal with the individual’s skills set. These days enable businesses to avoid wasting time on ineffective hour-long interviews that simply churn out clichéd answers to mundane questions. During the Assessment Day, employers can uncover subtleties, identify cultural misfits, and obtain a thoroughly clear view of up to twenty applicants in one day – the time leverage is invaluable.

As the job market continues to evolve, internal recruiters must respond to change by adopting new methods of finding, managing and choosing candidates. As more businesses use the steps described above, recruitment costs fall, time efficiency improves, candidates are found, and strong sales teams are built.