Why Can’t We Hire These Sales Candidates?

Some companies don’t learn their lessons. Others don’t want to learn their lessons. Still others think that writing out a check replaces learning lessons. When it comes to hiring salespeople, most of the lessons have already been learned and are out their to be shared. We share them every day with our clients but, despite their miserable track records, some would still prefer to hold on to their favorite ineffective methods that failed them in the past, instead of just trying what would more than likely work for them today.

A recent case in point. This particular company has plenty of candidates but when they assess the candidates the overall lack of quality of the pool is quite obvious. But rather than determining that they need to do a more effective job attracting better quality candidates, they suggest that it must be the assessment. Well, the assessment is throwing up the red lights, but its their candidates that fail to meet their own criteria.

What lesson can you learn from this? When the candidates don’t meet the criteria, change the ad, the job site, or your goals. But don’t blame the assessment. If you would like to blame the assessment, do so for the right reasons. Here’s one: the assessment highly recommends that you hire a candidate and there were no conditions for hiring – the recommendation was unconditional. So you hire the candidate, provide the appropriate training and support, and where others have succeeded, this candidate fails. Blame the assessment.

The lessons and tools to consistently hire salespeople who will succeed are out there. Use them. For more information on the industry leading sales specific pre-employment assessment that has a very high predictive accuracy, see Objective Management Group’s Express Screen.

(c) Copyright 2006 Objective Management Group, Inc.<