Working with a good sales recruiter is every salesperson’s dream. It eliminates anxiety and the candidate is able to rest easy, knowing that the sales recruiter has their best interests at heart. While this recruiter-candidate relationship is highly beneficial, it is the process leading up to the formation of the relationship that is often tricky. This is where both the recruiter and sales candidate are sizing each other up in order to determine whether or not they are a good fit for each other. During the formative stage of this relationship, the most important component is information. Here are the top three pieces of information that recruiters are looking to find about the candidate:
1. Their Personal Brand
It is essential for sales recruiters to determine what the candidate’s brand is. This encompasses certain aspects of the candidate including:
- Who the candidate is
- What the candidate has versus what he/she wants
- What does he/she bring to the table?
- What are the candidate’s goals and aspirations? (both professional and personal)
- What are the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses?
- What sets them apart from other candidates?
In order to provide the recruiter with a comprehensive view of one’s brand, one of the most important things that the candidate needs to do is update and revise their profiles across all social media platforms. The goal of this is to ensure that all the information accessible online about the candidate provides an accurate depiction of their brand.
2. Their Personal Culture
Even though the candidate’s skills and qualifications are important when sales recruiters are looking to place them with a company, they are not the only considerations. Another major question that the recruiter has to consider is:
– Is this sales candidate a good fit for this particular company?
This is because every company has its own culture and there are cases in which a highly qualified candidate is not able to fit in and excel at certain companies. In determining whether a candidate is going to fit into the company’s culture, here are the main points that the recruiter considers:
- How does the candidate work best? E.g. in a team or by themselves?
- What serves as the candidate’s motivation?
Motivation in a sales environment describes the conditions in which the candidate excels the most. Some candidates are better motivated by deadlines, numerical values and competition, while others are motivated more by the company’s values, team spirit and team activities.
3. Level of Commitment
Another important piece of information during the sales recruitment process is the candidate’s commitment to serve at that particular company in the long term. Candidates who seem to hop from one company to another are considered to be flaky and viewed as not having a good idea of what they want. The recruiter therefore needs to know that the candidate can be of benefit to the company over the long term.
Among sales recruiters, the most popular means through which to acquire information on candidates is by asking open-ended questions. This enables them to get a better read of the candidate. An important tip for candidates therefore, is to be truthful in all things; because even in cases where questions are answered with half-truths and out-right lies, the recruiter still finds out the truth as they go about their research and this does not reflect well on the candidate.