5 Ways Hiring Managers Can Partner Effectively with Sales Recruiters
Partnering effectively with sales recruiters is paramount to your team’s success. You’re not alone. However, if you’ve ever found the recruiting process frustrating, hiring managers are often irritated with recruiters and, let’s face it, the entire recruitment process.
Tired of Lackluster Sales Candidates? Partner with Sales Recruiters to get Better Results
#1 – Develop a Clear Position Profile and Communicate “Top Three Candidate Must-Haves.”
Recruiters identify sales talent based on the information they gather from their hiring managers. However, given that most executives are extremely busy, it can be tempting to rush or skip this step because it takes extra time.
It’s natural to wonder why your recruiter can’t read the job description and figure it out. Unfortunately, although this seems efficient, it won’t deliver the outstanding results you deserve.
Making a solid match for your team means recruiters must know precisely what they’re looking for. They need more information than the job description to identify and recruit the right sales candidates. Remember, your recruiters are going after passive candidates.
If you want the attention of the best sales candidates, the mega-achievers, your headhunter will need more insight into the position than can be found on a job description.
They will also need a deep understanding of the critical components and skills you’ve defined for the role.
Striving for clarity and accuracy at the beginning of the search process will bring big dividends.
One way to do this is to define your Top 3 Must-Haves.
Defining your must have will force you to prioritize requirements and ultimately save you and your talent team hours of time during the recruiting process. In other words, when your priorities are clear, you’ll see more on-target candidates who match your ideal candidate profile.
Let’s look at an example.
Here are three sample MUST-HAVES for a mid-level sales professional.
The first requirement: sales math must match. (Sales Math: average deal size, market targets, territory, first-year quota, compensation targets, and base salary range.)
The second requirement: sales attributes match. (Attributes include high energy levels, the drive to find new business, persuasive presentation skills, the ability to sell on value, and selling by following a systematic sales process.)
For each key characteristic you’re seeking, define a question your recruiter can ask the potential sales candidates to assess for the characteristic. It’s also helpful to describe the kind of answer you’re seeking.
The third requirement is: specific skills match. You may require expertise in your industry, target market, or sales process. For example, you may want to see candidates who have sold a particular technology or who’ve given their demos. On the other hand, maybe you’d like sales candidates with engineering degrees. Whatever your requirement is, to move a candidate into the interview process, it’s mandatory.
#2 – Provide Timely Feedback
It takes hours to recruit passive sales candidates. Your feedback as a line manager guides your staffing team and directs the types of candidates they attempt to recruit.
Your recruiter will be empowered to produce better results if you can communicate what makes a candidate a strong match. Conversely, your talent team will likely move to other open positions without feedback.
Headhunters have multiple jobs to fill at all times, and they will move on to openings with responsive hiring managers. They may not tell you they’re putting a soft pause on your position, but executives who are attentive and make it a priority to give feedback have the deepest talent pools.
#3-Partner with Your Recruiting Firm or Talent Team to Create a First-Rate Candidate Experience
Collaborating with your recruiter to create a positive candidate experience helps the entire department attract higher-quality candidates.
Not to mention, today’s job interviews are part of the public record. Unfortunately, less-than-stellar Glassdoor reviews and negative interview experiences hurt the team’s chances of attracting high-performers.
Often, recruiting departments take the brunt of public criticism for not getting back to candidates with interview feedback. However, if you communicate feedback to your recruiter, they can relay the information and share timely updates with all candidates.
Without exception, updated candidates are happy candidates. The better the overall experience with your organization, the more likely new applicants will be interested in interviewing with your sales organization.
#4-Arm Your Talent Team with Powerful Word Tracks
Attract better recruits by partnering with your sales recruiter to wordsmith why top performers should leave their current job to join your company. President’s Club achievers and other high-performance sales talent have more job choices today than they’ve had in over a decade.
If you want to attract performers, partner with your recruiter to develop accurate and powerful messaging to win the attention of the most successful sales professionals.
#5-Develop a Standard Interview Process
An essential step to a successful search is to map out the interview process before interviews begin. Then, develop an interview plan and share this blueprint with the hiring team. This will give all parties a clear sense of the following steps, the interview timeline, and the team involved in the decision-making process.
With a clearly outlined interview process, headhunters can manage candidate expectations and recruit the candidates your team is most interested in hiring.
Building a Trusted Partnership With Your Sales Recruiter is the Way to Better Sales Talent
Exceptional sales teams are built with effective teamwork. Collaborating with your talent team is your secret weapon to recruiting all-star sales talent. Jerry Maguire states it best: “I am out here for you. You don’t know what it’s like to be me out here for you. It is an up-at-dawn, pride-swallowing siege that I will never tell you about, OK? Help me, help you.” Want to capture your sales recruiter’s attention? Show them you’re committed to giving them the resources they need to recruit and attract high-impact sales professionals.
