Isn’t it frustrating when you contact a recruiter to help you fill a role and don’t see strong results?
As a hiring manager or an internal recruiter, when you’re looking for top sales talent, your neck is on the line.
You need to fill roles with the right salespeople quickly so you can hit your hiring and top-line revenue goals.
“Honesty is hardly ever heard, and mostly what I need from you.” — Billy Joel, Honesty
If you’ve ever been frustrated because you’re not getting the right candidates for your sales openings, here are the top eight reasons why agency recruiters can’t help you:
If you’re looking to hire a hunter who closes large deals but you can’t pay them market compensation, you certainly won’t be able to attract top talent.
Top sales professionals have plenty of choices.
They won’t be attracted to roles where the compensation rates are below market. Sometimes, compensation problems look like recruitment problems.
If this is your issue, you’ll need to adjust the compensation or your expectations of who you’ll be able to hire.
If you’re looking for Mr. or Mrs. Perfect you won’t find them.
And if you do, you’ll have to wonder if they’ll be willing to choose your role as the next step in their career.
Because textbook perfect sales candidates don’t exist, hiring expectations need to be adjusted for the region, role, and compensation.
If a handful of candidates who meet your requirements have been interviewed for a role and a decision can’t be made, the role might not be critical enough to hire for.
Or the hiring manager may have trouble making decisions. Perhaps past hiring mistakes are causing reluctance.
There are many reasons hiring managers won’t make hiring decisions, even when they want to. Regardless of what those reasons are, they simply aren’t ready. No amount of good recruiting can solve this problem.
If feedback isn’t provided by hiring managers after interviews, recruitment adjustments can’t be made.
When this happens, recruiting becomes like blind archery.
It can be done, but it’s never the best or most efficient way to go about finding talent.
Good agency recruiters will quickly move on to other searches where they have a better working relationship. Lack of feedback reduces the chances of successfully filling an opening.
If you move candidates through your hiring process slowly, you’ll increase your chances that the candidates won’t make a move, will go somewhere else, or simply lose interest in your organization.
Recruiters and candidates view silence and slow hiring as a sign of disinterest.
Recruiters will move on to other searches where they get feedback because time still kills all deals.
There are many reasons why the recruiter on your search isn’t finding the right talent for you.
Maybe they’re too busy; perhaps your search doesn’t interest them, or maybe your fee terms are barely acceptable, so your search will be put at the bottom of the priority list.
Perhaps they don’t specialize in the kind of candidate you’re looking for so they’re not up to speed on the type of people who’ll be a good fit for your organization.
Whatever the reason, it might be time to find another recruiter who can work on the search. If you’re not getting the results you need don’t be afraid to contact another recruiter.
If you have poor Glassdoor reviews, your website looks dated, or if you’ve gotten negative PR that shows up on the first page of Google, it will be more difficult to get the right candidates interested in your openings.
These items have side effects and make it more difficult to attract top talent. They can be overcome, but if you’re expecting rock stars to work on your team, you’ll have to adjust your expectations and get to work on improving your brand.
Do people have to chase you? Dodging calls, not making time for interviews, and responding slowly to voicemail/email are not effective ways to build relationships with recruiters.
If your search is a priority, it’s best to collaborate with your recruiter.
You can do this by making yourself available to answer their questions. Being responsive and reachable are good ways to demonstrate your desire to get the position filled with the right candidate.
If you go dark, it’s a sign to your recruiter that you’re not interested.
If any of these mistakes have derailed your search, you can get your search back on track. You can use this knowledge to make improvements in your hiring process moving forward.
Your ability to hire the right salespeople is what will ultimately determine your success. Getting your recruiting process right leads to promotions, financial benefits, and incredible career success for yourself and your new recruits.
Ready to get your sales recruiting process in full swing? Take action and make the necessary changes today!
