The sole objective of a recruiting process is to find and hire your ideal candidate. But what do you do if your recruiting efforts aren’t producing the type of candidates you want to hire?
The first thing you need to do is to take a step back and evaluate what you’re currently doing and why it’s not working.
There are 5 key areas you should evaluate in order to discover why you’re not getting enough good sales candidates. Identifying and fixing these problems will help you streamline your recruiting process and hire the top sales talent you need.
Unattractive Job Description
The first place you should evaluate when trying to figure out why you’re not getting enough sales candidates is your job ad. Oftentimes, the first interaction a sales candidate has with your company is through your job posting and description.
Boring or vague job descriptions with no details about the position will leave the candidate with a bad impression and ultimately discourage them from applying. Make sure to include details about the company culture, the impact the position has on the company, and benefits to help make your job description more appealing.
Not Selling the Position
Another place your hiring process can break down is when reaching out to passive sales candidates about the open position. Talented sales candidates have many options for employment and won’t jump ship for just any open position. When reaching out to these sales candidates, you must really sell them on the position.
If you don’t have an attractive pitch about the opportunity, then you’re not going to sell the candidates on the opening.
Small Candidate Pipeline
Pipeline development is at the core of every recruiting process and can be the difference between hiring an A or a B player. A large pipeline of qualified candidates can be dwindled down through the hiring process to only the best of the best. From there, you can choose from A players and decide who will be the best fit for your culture and your team.
On the other hand, a small, poorly sourced pipeline will produce only a small amount of A players. You may find yourself moving B players through the hiring process simply because there’s not enough talent to choose from.
Instead, try expanding your search to include candidates with transferable skills from outside your industry or try sourcing from job boards you don’t normally use.
Narrow Search Criteria
Another error that could be detrimental to your recruiting efforts is being too narrow when looking at resumes. Narrow search criteria can make even a large, well-sourced pipeline seem small and actually eliminate a lot of good candidates. Don’t focus on what specifics the candidate doesn’t have, but on characteristics that show they could be a potential top performer.
Identify candidates who have a similar title that you need, have great tenure, and show a great track record of upward mobility. From there, keep an open mind and give the candidates an opportunity for a conversation. You may realize that someone who didn’t fit your original criteria is actually a perfect fit for the position.
Poor Leadership
If you have assessed your job description, approach, pipeline, and search criteria and still haven’t figured out why you’re not hiring the right people, it’s time to evaluate who is leading your effort to recruit top talent. Whether it’s an internal corporate HR leader, an external recruiting firm, or even yourself, you need to evaluate if they’re the right fit for the job.
First, ask yourself if this person is an A, B, or C player. An A player is tough on themselves and will be able to evaluate other A players. Having a mediocre performer leading the recruiting effort may not be able to evaluate top talent and is more likely to select a C player. Next, does this person know where to find and source top talent? An A-player may be able to evaluate top talent, but they may not know where to find it.
This part of your recruiting process needs to be a deliberate action by someone who knows how to find high-caliber candidates. Discovering the answers to these questions will help you decide if you have the right person in charge or if you need to make a change in your leadership.
If you’re not having success finding the right candidates, then you need to evaluate your process, find out where the mistake is being made, and then make a change. There are many factors that can contribute to not finding the right candidates, but many of the most common errors occur in these 5 areas. Fixing these problems in your recruiting efforts can lead to a more effective and successful process.
