Many Recruiters Fear Sales Assessments

  • January 14, 2015
  • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
  • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

Dave Kurlan is a top-rated keynote speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and expert on all things sales and selling.

I was forwarded an email that originated with from a colleague’s client that read, “…Many candidates are advised to not take on line sales assessments before at least a phone conversation.”

Why do you think that is?

  • Recruiters don’t believe in them?
  • Recruiters think they add an unnecessary step to the process?
  • Recruiters think they are smarter and can provide better insights than an assessment?
  • Recruiters feel threatened that they don’t have total control when presenting the candidates?
  • Recruiters don’t understand the assessments and don’t want to be in a position where they must defend a finding?
You could probably make a case for any or all of those potential reasons but the real issue is this:

Most recruiters are in the business of selling sales candidates, presenting those candidates in the best possible light and hoping a client chooses one of their candidates.  OK so far. But if their superstar candidate has to take a sales assessment, especially if it’s Objective Management Group’s Assessment, the candidate will be exposed and the candidate’s ability or lack thereof to perform in that company will be revealed. Take into account that in general, about half of the candidates screened by our assessment are not recommended for the position for which they applied. For more senior sales positions, as many as 75% may not be recommended. That may help you understand the recruiter’s reluctance to allow their candidate to the assessment. After all, who is the recruiter looking out for – the client or the candidate? Well, neither. The recruiter looks out for number one.

I’ll get a lot of flack over this article. People will say that I’m unfairly characterizing recruiters as dealers of human flesh and that there are recruiters who not only use and pay for assessments themselves, but who guarantee the performance of the salespeople they place. I agree. If you must use a recruiter, use one of them!

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