In an ideal workplace, you would have ample time to source top sales talent and build relationships with potential candidates, making it easy to hire and retain star sales professionals.
In reality, one or multiple new sales positions can open up unexpectedly and you’re responsible for filling these positions in a less than ideal time window. No matter how calm and collected you are when accomplishing your day-to-day responsibilities, you will definitely feel the pressure that comes with hiring a star sales rep in a short period of time.
However, you don’t have to approach this task in a frenzied or panicked state. Instead, you can approach the situation confidently with a strategic plan and processes in place to help you quickly find top sales talent, even on a tight deadline.
CREATE A STRATEGY
Once you know that you need to recruit quickly, you need a strategic hiring plan that includes milestones that can be measured and managed throughout the process.
VISUALIZE THE DEADLINE
Start with the hiring date in mind and work backwards from there. Make sure to include key dates and parts of the process such as: the time it takes to find and reach out to quality candidates, sales assessments, target interview dates, and the offer and negotiation stage.
In sales, it’s very common to hire multiple sales reps at once in different markets. In this case, it’s extremely important to lay out all the important interview dates and the deadline, especially if all your reps need to start at once for company training.
GET SPECIFIC
Another key part of your strategy is to find out the specifics of the project. Ask questions about the hiring requirements and criteria until you know exactly what type of sales candidate is needed for the position. The more specific you get, the less time you will waste on talking with candidates who aren’t a fit.
Also, these answers provide direction for the locations you want to target, the experience level of the candidates, as well as what tools you will use to source these candidates.
RECRUITING TEAM
As you create your strategy, it’s important to know who is on your recruiting team and what their roles are going to be. This will help avoid duplicate efforts and make sure you have enough staff to complete the project quickly. Also, it’s important to assign a project lead. It’s too easy for the hiring process to drag on because of other priorities that divert and distract. The project lead will help make sure the project is moving according to plan and making any necessary changes.
STANDARDIZE YOUR PROCESS
Each position you hire for is going to be different, but there are many aspects of the process that are going to be similar no matter which position you’re looking to fill. If you put together standard processes and templates that can easily be adapted for each specific role, then it will help move things along quickly.
TEMPLATES
Start by reviewing your current hiring process and identifying any areas that are a standard part of your process, no matter what the position. For example, you could create a job description template. Definitely, don’t copy the content of the job description for every job, but you can use the same structure and outline of the job description to help move things along quickly.
Another template that can be used in any role is a candidate selection matrix. All you need to change is the targeted dimensions for each job and the interviewers.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time you interview for a new sales position. You can create a list of standard interview questions that can be used no matter what the sales role. For example, asking questions about specific characteristics of motivation, goal achievement, and interpersonal skills apply to every sales position.
CANDIDATE FOLLOW UP
Even if you have a tight hiring deadline, you still need to be respectful and update candidates throughout the hiring process. If not, you risk losing out on a great candidate and even hurting your employer brand.
Instead, create a standard candidate follow up practice that your entire recruiting team adheres to. When there’s less confusion about who to follow up with and when then the process will move faster and you will create better candidate experiences for the future.
CHECK IN THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS
Once you create a detailed hiring strategy and timeline, your job is not over. You need to constantly be checking in on which deadlines you have coming up and how far along you are in the process. Also, now is a good time to evaluate what is working, what’s not working, and how you can fix it.
Are candidates interested in the position or are candidates falling off and accepting other offers? Maybe you need to review the compensation package or do a better job of communicating with your candidates. These are problems that need to be fixed at the beginning of the process, not when you’re a week away from your deadline
Also, now is the time to see how your recruiting team is performing. Are enough candidates ready to be interviewed? Does your team have enough time to reach out to candidates? If not, you may want to seek out an expert for help. A recruiting expert can help you build a pipeline of qualified candidates and help you evaluate top sales candidates.
This is especially important when making multiple sales hires in different markets on a short deadline. You need to make sure your team is communicating across different time zones, enough candidates are being interviewed for each role, and that there is enough time for every interview.
Establishing these systems take time in the beginning, but working with your team to create them is absolutely necessary, especially when you’re in a time crunch to hire new sales reps.
What other tips have helped you meet a tight hiring deadline?
