Hiring skilled sales professionals is more challenging than ever. A variety of reasons may be contributing to this issue. Perhaps your employer brand needs work. Maybe your candidate experience requires improvement. Focusing on these areas can lead to an increased pool of high-quality candidates.
Follow these guidelines to break through the struggle of adding talent to your sales team in 2022.
Attracting the Right Candidates
Be clear about the requirements in your job ads and give a concise view of the role. Use an application form with great questions to directly address your key concerns. For example, need someone with specific sales experience? Include a yes/no question asking candidates if they have that particular experience. It’s a fast way to screen out people who aren’t suitable for the role.
Hiring Timeframe
Are you trying to find candidates quickly? Most candidates today have more than one opportunity they are interviewing for. Look at your hiring process and ask yourself: are all the hiring stages required? Do we communicate quickly with candidates and with each other? Communicating with candidates on your time frame is very important and will keep that interested candidate engaged in your process.
Communicate, communicate, communicate
Discuss with any candidates your time frame to hire and start date. Email them, call them, LinkedIn message with them to keep them in the loop of your process EVEN IF you don’t have a definite answer. If you don’t, this is where candidates tend to ghost you. Constant communication and transparency help keep the candidate involved throughout the process.
Improve Your Candidate Experience
Most job seekers will not work for a company that provides a bad candidate experience. Those who decide to apply may drop out during the recruitment process or turn down a job offer. The candidates also might share their experiences on employer review boards and social media. This can discourage other job seekers from applying with your company.
You can create a more positive candidate experience by maintaining regular communication throughout recruitment. This includes notification that you received the application, where a candidate is in the hiring process, and information about the next steps and preparation. You also should make your recruitment process as short as possible. Because the best candidates typically are off the market within 10 days, you need to make fast decisions to move forward quickly.
Are You Looking to Build Your Sales Team?
If your industrial safety or PPE manufacturing company is looking for top-tier sales talent, talk to The Charis Group. As the premier recruiters in the industry, we help sales leaders build effective, lasting teams. Contact us today to learn more.