Category: SaaS

Reviews are nothing new in the consumer world. 93% of people say they look at online reviews to inform their purchasing decision, and 91% trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. But in recent years, there’s been a trend where a growing number of sales candidates are now consulting reviews when evaluating prospective employers.

Recognizing this phenomenon and properly leveraging it can give you a huge competitive advantage and help win the talent war. Here’s how. 

At Least Half of Sales Candidates Now Read Company Reviews

Data from a 2018 study found that roughly 50% of sales candidates read online reviews about companies to learn about the working conditions, culture, and overall environment before applying for a job. While this data is fairly new, I would suspect that the number has increased even more over the last four years and is likely even higher in 2022.  

The bottom line is that a significant percentage of sales candidates turn to company reviews before applying. And it makes sense. With reviews so plentiful, candidates can quickly perform research to get a baseline reading of what it would be like to work as a salesperson with a potential employer. With a little investigating, they can determine whether the company is a good fit and if it’s a position they’d like to pursue. 

Sales Candidates Read an Average of 6 Reviews

In terms of the number of reviews candidates check out on average, it’s six. While most prospects won’t comb through pages and pages of reviews to get a feel for an employer, they’ll look at a handful to see what current employees, former employees, and job seekers have to say. So for reviews to be effective, you’ll need to have at least six (something we’ll discuss in more detail later). 

Most Sales Candidates Trust Employer Reviews 

As I mentioned earlier, 91% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and the same sentiment is shared with most sales candidates looking at employer reviews. While there’s some debate among recruiters as to how big the exact impact is, there’s no denying that reviews play an integral role in shaping the perspective of today’s sales candidates. Some would even go so far as to say that reviews are as important as the actual job postings themselves. 

This graphic below sheds light on how employer brand affects recruitment.

The main stats that stand out to me are:

• 90% of candidates will apply for a position when the employer actively maintains their brand
• 50% of candidates won’t work for a company with a poor reputation, even it means better pay
• 62% of candidates say their first impression improves if an employer responds to a negative review

This brings me to my next point. 

How to Use Employer Reviews to Your Advantage

Let’s recap. We’ve established that company reviews are critical for recruiting in 2022 and beyond, at least half of sales candidates read them, and each candidate reads an average of six reviews. So how can you capitalize on this trend?

Here are my three main suggestions.

First, you should get serious about obtaining reviews from current employees, former employees, and job seekers. You don’t necessarily need a huge volume of reviews. So you don’t have to worry about getting hundreds or even dozens. But having at least six can go a long way for improving your recruiting and should supply sales candidates with the information they need to make an informed decision. 

I recommend starting with your current employees and asking them to leave a review on your website, Glassdoor profile, Indeed profile, or whatever platform you’re using. From there, you can reach out to former employees — ideally, those who went out on good terms. And when you follow up with candidates after an interview, this is a good opportunity to get feedback from job seekers. 

HubSpot is a great example of a company that knocks it out of the park with its reviews. They have a dedicated careers page on their site where they offer brief clips of actual employees talking about what it’s like working for them. For instance, they discuss what it’s like to work remotely at HubSpot and what makes a career in sales at the company unique. 

Next, make a concerted effort to maintain your brand by following best practices, including:

• Establishing a presence on review sites like Glassdoor and Indeed
• Keeping company information up-to-date
• Updating salary and benefits information 

Third, be sure to promptly respond to negative reviews. With nearly two-thirds of candidates saying they have a better first impression if a company responds to a negative review, this shows you’re concerned with the candidate experience and it can minimize any harm to your reputation. Do that and you should be in pretty good shape. 

Using Reviews to Win Over Top Talent

Technology is deeply infused into the modern recruiting process, with online reviews being a prime example. While having reviews was more of a “nice addition” in previous years, we’re at a turning point where it has basically become essential. By properly leveraging reviews and getting sales candidates up to speed on what your company is like and what’s good about it, you can persuade more top talent to apply. This, in turn, should increase the quality of your talent pool and help you ultimately win over elite prospects to improve your bottom line. 

To further enhance your recruiting and find top talent using science-based assessments and intelligent matching, check out HireDNA. 92% of candidates recommended by it reach the top of their sales force within their first year, and it eliminates 96% of hiring mistakes. 

Hiring top-tier talent is one of the most essential parts of running a successful SaaS company. But of course, that takes money, and often a lot of it.

To keep SaaS sales recruiting costs down, one of the first things you need to do is figure out what your average cost per hire is and where your money is going. From there, you can determine how effective your efforts are, your recruiting strengths and weaknesses, and what adjustments need to be made. 

In this post, I’ll explain exactly what cost per hire is, offer a simple formula for calculating it, and provide actionable advice for reducing SaaS sales recruiting costs. 

What is Cost Per Hire?

“Cost per hire,” simply put, “is a recruiting metric that measures the costs associated with the process of hiring new employees,” writes AIHR. There are two main types of costs involved here — internal and external. 

Internal costs can include:

• In-house recruiter salaries, benefits, and performance bonuses
• Referral bonuses for employees who recommend candidates
• Interviewing expenses
• Money spent on onboarding, training, and development
• Administrative costs, including office equipment and software 
• Compliance costs for ensuring laws and regulations are met

External costs can include:

• Recruiting agency fees
• Job advertisements (posting ads on job boards or social media)
• Marketing expenses (SEO, social media marketing, and company branding)
• Candidate screening costs (time spent contacting references and performing background checks)
• Technology expenses such as an applicant tracking system
• Job fair expenses

How Do You Calculate Cost Per Hire?

The formula is quite simple. Add up your internal recruiting costs and your external recruiting costs within a particular period (e.g. a year). Then divide it by your total number of hires during that same time period. 

Here’s what the formula looks like. 

Say, for example, you spent a total of $40,000 on recruiting, including internal and external costs, during the course of a year. If you hired 10 salespeople during that time, your cost per hire would be $4,000.

And while making calculations is pretty straightforward, gathering information on all the costs isn’t always so easy. In fact, it can be quite time-consuming, especially if there are a lot of moving parts involved with your recruiting. To streamline the process, I suggest first identifying all of your internal and external costs during a specific period of time and writing them out in two separate columns. Then, go through it one by one working with your finance and accounting team to pinpoint each cost as accurately as possible. 

From there, it’s just a matter of figuring out how many new salespeople you’ve brought on board during the same time period.

What’s the Average Cost Per Hire?

Now that you know how to calculate cost per hire, you may be asking, “How does it compare with other brands?” While there’s a lot of data out there from countless studies, the average cost per hire for SaaS companies across the board is $4,425. 

Keep in mind that it costs significantly more to hire someone in a higher-ranking position like a sales account manager as opposed to an entry-level salesperson. But when you crunch the numbers, it comes out to just north of $4,000. So that’s a good benchmark to shoot for. 

If your cost per hire is significantly less than that, you’re doing great and probably don’t need to make any major changes. On the other hand, if it’s significantly more than that, changes are likely in order, and you’ll want to analyze your SaaS sales recruiting process to identify inefficiencies. This brings me to my final point. 

How to Lower Your Cost Per Hire with a Sales Recruiting Platform

Let’s say your cost per hire is more than it should be. How can you lower it?

While there are numerous strategies that can help, pound for pound one of the best is using a sales recruiting platform like HireDNA. This utilizes cutting-edge technology and a proven methodology to connect with leading SaaS sales candidates and successfully hire them while dramatically streamlining the process.

Here’s how it works:

1. Create an account and work with a talent advisor to develop an ideal candidate profile based on specific hiring criteria.
2. HireDNA then uses intelligent matching and science-based assessments to find a pool of active and passive SaaS salespeople that possess critical core selling competencies and that match your unique hiring criteria. 
3. Candidates are screened to narrow it down to the best of the best and ensure they’re the right fit for your company. 
4. Qualified candidates are sent to you for approval and feedback.
5. You then interview and hire the candidates you like best. (HireDNA even offers onboarding and training).

This provides a straightforward framework that allows you to save money by shaving off many expenses like recruiting agency fees, job advertisements, marketing costs, and candidate screening costs. And because this platform looks so closely at key data points and core selling competencies, you know for certain all candidates match your role and hiring criteria. In fact, 92% of SaaS salespeople recommended by HireDNA reach the top of their sales team within a year. 

Final Thoughts

Cost per hire is one of the most fundamental yet important metrics in SaaS sales recruiting. It tells you how much you’re spending on average to hire a salesperson and provides key insights into your strengths and weaknesses. If your cost per hire is on par with the industry benchmark of $4,425, you should be in fairly good shape. If, however, it’s considerably more than that, you’ll want to look for ways to lower it, and using a sales recruiting platform is one of the most effective ways to go about that. 

Learn more about HireDNA and book a live demo here. 

The New Year is upon us! It’s always an exciting time for SaaS sales recruiting because there are new patterns, new trends, and new opportunities. 

In this post, I’ll share with you the latest SaaS sales recruiting stats in 2022 to guide your strategy and give you a competitive edge. Let’s jump right in. 

98% of Today’s Top Companies Use Recruiting Software

While you may not surprised that a lot of companies use recruiting software to streamline the process and find quality candidates, you probably didn’t expect it was this many. But according to recent data, nearly all of today’s Fortune 500 companies now use this technology — a stat that shows how ubiquitous and effective it is. 

Platforms like HireDNA take the guesswork out of SaaS sales recruiting, helping you attract elite candidates based on a wide range of core competencies, fill open positions faster, and reduce hiring mistakes. The key is using cutting-edge technology like intelligent matching that analyzes 20 key data points and science-based assessments to predict success. 

And with 33% less turnover, you can build a stronger, more loyal team of salespeople that are in it for the long haul.

88% of Companies Now Use AI for Recruiting

Another form of technology that’s rapidly expanding in SaaS sales recruiting is AI. Studies have found that, globally, 88% of companies are currently using it, with a staggering 100% of Chinese companies doing so. 

In terms of specific applications, some of the most common include “using chatbots to engage with candidates during recruitment (41%)” and “screening and assessing candidates during recruitment (40%).” For an in-depth list of other ways to leverage AI for recruiting, check out this resource. 

86% of HR Experts Say Recruitment Has Become More Like Marketing

SaaS industry growth is a bit of a double-edged sword. While it means increased opportunities and a larger customer base, it also means more competition. And with widespread talent shortages, the competition will be even more fierce in 2022. 

To keep up, 86% of HR experts say you need to approach recruitment like a marketing campaign. In other words, it’s no longer sufficient to haphazardly put out job ads and expect an overflowing pool of qualified candidates. Rather, you need to strengthen your brand and work on growing your presence across multiple mediums. 

This brings me to my next point. 

68% of Millennials, 54% of Gen-Xers, and 48% of Boomers Say They Evaluate a Prospective Employers’ Brand on Social Media

One of the main mediums in which candidates evaluate SaaS brands is social media. Over two-thirds of millennials do so, as well as many Gen-Xers and Boomers. And while this particular study doesn’t include Gen Z (candidates 24 and under), it’s safe to assume they use social media to check out prospective employers as well. 

The takeaway here is that SaaS companies need to have a strong social media presence, and it’s key for winning the competitive battle. As for the most popular social networks, here’s how that breaks down.

The main networks to focus on in 2022 are Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn. 

Having a Strong Brand Image Can Reduce Your Cost-Per-Hire By as Much as 50%

Piggybacking off that, research has found having a strong brand image can dramatically lower your cost-per-hire, with some estimates being as much as 50% lower. Why?

This naturally helps you acquire higher-quality candidates and spares you a lot of recruiting expenses that SaaS brands with a poorer brand image have to deal with. If, for example, you’re an industry stand out like HubSpot, many top-tier candidates will come to you organically rather than constantly having to funnel money into recruiting. 

That’s why it pays to always look for ways to strengthen your brand image and provide a great employee and candidate experience.

Including a Video in a Job Posting Increases the Application Rate By 34%

I’m always a fan of simple recruiting techniques (hacks, if you will) that have a huge impact. If you’re looking for a straightforward way to significantly increase your application rate that doesn’t require an exorbitant amount of effort, including a video in your job posting is it. In fact, studies have found this results in a whopping 34% more applications on average. 

And that’s not surprising given the massive success of video platforms like YouTube. As of 2021, it had 1.86 billion users, and that number should only continue to increase into 2022 and beyond. 

52% of Applicants Say a Lack of Response From Employers is Their Number One Frustration 

Finally, it’s important to know the biggest sources of friction in the SaaS sales recruitment process. According to recent data, the main issue candidates have is not receiving a sufficient response from employers, with over half citing this as their main frustration. 

This shows the importance of being as communicative as possible throughout recruiting and not leaving candidates hanging. While you don’t necessarily need to fill them in on every last detail, it’s nice to let candidates you’re passing on know when you’ve decided to move on and keep those who’ve been shortlisted in the loop. Doing so sets the tone for a positive candidate experience and should help improve your brand equity as we discussed earlier. 

Starting 2022 Out on the Right Foot

From leveraging technology like recruiting software and AI to approaching SaaS sales recruiting like marketing to building a strong brand image to lower cost-per-hire, these stats paint a clear picture of what to expect in 2022. By making the right adjustments and focusing on core objectives, your SaaS company can start out on the right foot in the New Year. 

Want to learn more about how HireDNA can optimize your sales recruiting? Get the full details and see how 92% of recommended candidates reach the top of their sales force after working with HireDNA. 

SaaS sales has one of the slowest times to hire, according to recent data from LinkedIn. Their study found this industry has a median time to hire of 38 days, which means it takes well over a month for most SaaS companies to fill vacant positions. 

But what do you do when you’re in a rush and need to find qualified SaaS sales candidates in a hurry?

Here’s a proven strategy that can slash your hiring time in half.

Pre-Screen SaaS Sales Candidates

There’s a lot that goes into making the right hire. For example, you need to look at hard and soft skills, previous experience, education, core competencies, and so on. This, however, presents a problem because it can quickly become overwhelming to sort through all of this information manually. And many SaaS companies simply don’t have the bandwidth to devote to intensive recruiting. 

One of the best ways to filter through a high volume of applicants and narrow it down to the top contenders is through pre-screening. This is where you gather critical qualification information about candidates so you know who meets the necessary criteria and who doesn’t. That way you can quickly determine who to move to the next round of hiring and who to pass on.

When done correctly, this can expedite the hiring process dramatically.  

But There’s a Caveat

There’s just one issue. The pre-screening systems that many SaaS companies currently use often fall short.  

“The problem with most pre-screening processes is they are misaligned with your company’s needs related to missing skill sets, knowledge, or experience,” writes Murray Newlands in Forbes. Also, “antiquated pre-screening techniques could be prone to human errors and those involved in this part of the process may not be trained to make the right decisions.”

In other words, failing to have the right pre-screening system in place can actually do more harm than good. And if it’s not having any tangible results, what’s the point?

Use a SaaS Sales Recruiting Platform

That’s where a SaaS sales recruiting platform comes in. This software uses a proven, repeatable process that enables you to quickly find top talent that’s interview-ready without having to manually sift through dozens or even hundreds of candidates yourself. More importantly, it takes into account all of the essential qualification information necessary to ensure you make the right hires. 

Here’s how it works. 

First, you define the skills, competencies, and characteristics you need in a sales candidate —  their “DNA.” Next, the software uses powerful technology to pinpoint a list of active and passive candidates that perfectly match your criteria. HireDNA, for instance, taps into a verified national network sales talent to generate a pool of top-tier candidates. 

From there, candidates are screened and assessed using the OMG Sales Candidate Assessment which uses quantifiable data to predict success before being hired. HireDNA uses intelligent matching that analyzes 21 key data points to determine role, culture, and experience fit. This ensures every single person who makes it to the interviewing round fits your ideal candidate profile and has the core competencies needed to thrive in your SaaS selling environment. 

Here’s an example. 

At that point, the best of the best candidates are delivered to your inbox where you can conveniently manage them and decide who you want to interview. It’s then just a matter of going through the interview process and selecting new SaaS salespeople for your team. Platforms like HireDNA even include onboarding and training programs to get new hires up-to-speed quickly and have them hit their quotas in a shorter period of time.  

Additional Benefits

While results will vary, many SaaS companies are able to slash their hiring time in half with this pre-screening process. So, if you’re frustrated with your current time to hire, a SaaS sales recruiting platform is definitely something to consider. Besides the impact it can have on hiring duration, it offers some other key benefits as well. 

Perhaps the biggest is that it allows you to attract higher-quality candidates. Research has found, for example, that utilizing the OMG Sales Candidate Assessment can reduce hiring mistakes by 96%, and 92% of recommended candidates reach the top half of the sales force within their first year. Enabling SaaS companies to swiftly navigate through the process without running into any major glitches. 

Finally, there’s a correlation between using a SaaS sales recruiting platform and higher retention. In fact, turnover decreases by more than 33% with HireDNA — a trend that’s largely due to the industry-leading assessment science. By building a stronger team of sales reps that are naturally a great fit for your company, you can keep more of them around for the long haul and often set the stage for internal promotions. That way you’re not stuck in the endless cycle of finding and onboarding SaaS salespeople, only to wind up needing to replace them.

Drastically Reducing Your Time to Hire Without Sacrificing Quality

With 38 days being the median time to hire for SaaS companies, it’s definitely an area that needs some improvement. After all, if a key position is sitting vacant for over a month, this can take a chunk out of your productivity and profitability. Developing an efficient, pre-screening process, however, ideally with a technology sales recruiting platform, can dramatically reduce your time to hire by as much as 50%. 

Want to learn more about how this technology can accelerate your SaaS sales hiring?. Reach out to HireDNA today!