Searching for a new sales job is an important step in your sales career. So let’s look behind the scenes at the VP of Sales’ pet peeves when recruiting, interviewing, and hiring new reps.
Number 1: You Can’t Connect Through Arrogance
A big part of winning the job is connecting with the hiring manager. In an interview, hiring managers love confidence and hate arrogance, because arrogance destroys connections and erodes your likability factor.
What exactly is arrogance? It shows itself in many ways during an interview.
It could be the way you make it sound like you won every deal 100% alone. But very few deals are won solo. Most deals are a team effort and require many parties to collaborate.
It may be a lack of flexibility when confronted with differing opinions. Touting one sales methodology as if it’s the only way, when the VP of Sales subscribes to another philosophy, can make you seem arrogant and untrainable.
Arrogance is also on display when you’re exclusively focused on what’s in it for you. Most of the interview process is geared around your skill set, the problems you can solve, how you solve them, and your overall attitude when working with colleagues.
The employer is qualifying you, and after that stage, they’re happy to discuss what’s in it for you.
Rid yourself of an arrogant attitude by remembering that for every job opening there are hundreds of applicants. Many of them aren’t the right fit, but we’re all replaceable, and good jobs are competitive for the job seeker.
Checking your ego is also the first skill that wins over non-sales interviewers, who walk in expecting the stereotype.
Number 2: Job Hopping Hurts
Change sales jobs every year, and it’s very difficult for prospective employers to gauge your performance. Five jobs in five years makes your real success hard to measure.
Want a long-term career in sales? Work on building company tenure. It’s best to stay at least 3 to 5 years and build a track record of high performance. Software companies evolve rapidly, and this can be difficult to achieve at times, but you should have at least a few companies on your resume where you’ve developed some tenure.
Number 3: Stop Applying When You Don’t Meet 80% of the Requirements
When you don’t meet at least 80% of a posting’s requirements, don’t apply. This only creates more work for the hiring manager, and your chances of getting the job are slim.
Besides, you know what happens when you apply online.
If you don’t have the experience required in the posting, find another way into the company. Your personal network is the best option for landing interviews when you don’t meet the requisite qualifications, and your LinkedIn network is the best door-opener you have.
Number 4: Give Complete Information
We’re all trying to promote ourselves during a job interview and on our resumes. Taking this tactic too far won’t help you.
For instance, some people declare they’re the number one rep in their company, and fail to mention there are only 5 reps in the entire organization.
This is much less impressive than being the number one rep out of 300 across the country. It would be better to state upfront that you’re the top rep out of 5.
Another pet peeve is saying you hit 100% of quota your first year when you started mid-year. Better to mention you had a pro-rated quota and attained the pro-rated goal. Padded claims have a way of surfacing later in the process, and they’re one of the ways job offers get rescinded.
Because VPs of Sales can impact your sales career, it’s important to understand what they’re looking for. Learning what they find important on a resume, and the topics they want to discuss in an interview, can help you land your dream job.
Your Purpose Is to Drive Business
Keep the focus on solving sales problems and showcasing your skills, rather than putting all the attention on what you need. Employers need new clients and are eager to hire the salespeople who can help them achieve their goals.
But they also need team members who are thoughtful, intelligent, prepared, and easy to work with. If you can demonstrate those skills, and you understand what employers really want behind the curtains of the interview process, you’ll be on your way to landing a high-quality sales job quickly. Avoid the peeves and master the process with the sales interview preparation guide.
