Category: Sales Recruiting

7 out of 10 Sales Candidates Will Apply to Companies That Practice Brand Management. Here’s Why.

Posted on by hiredna

When most people think of brand management, they think of it from the consumer side of things. And they wouldn’t be wrong.

The definition of brand management, according to Investopedia, is “a function of marketing that uses techniques to increase the perceived value of a product line or brand over time.” Further, “effective brand management enables the price of products to go up and builds loyal customers through positive brand associations and images or a strong awareness of the brand.”

But as we’ll discuss in this post, there’s a heavy overlap between brand management and sales recruiting. When done correctly, brand management can be instrumental in generating high-quality sales candidates that can be tremendous assets to your team. Here’s why.

The Correlation Between Brand Management and Increased Applicants

A few years ago, extensive research was done to identify the correlation between brand management and the likelihood of qualified sales candidates applying to jobs. Their findings were interesting, but perhaps the most compelling stat is that nearly 7 out of 10 “job seekers are likely to apply if the employer actively manages its brand.” Specific examples include responding to reviews, updating profiles, and sharing information on company culture and work environment.

And this makes sense. Being heavily involved with brand management tends to create a positive impression on sales candidates and shows them a company is invested and truly cares. On the other hand, never responding to reviews, for example, would give the opposite impression that a company is simply “setting it and forgetting it.” After all, if they’re not willing to actively participate in a digital conversation, potential candidates will have to wonder how much they’re invested in their employees.

Going deeper, a separate study found that “companies with positive brands get 2x as many applications as companies with negative brands, and they spend less on employees.” So in theory, if you had two sales companies competing with one another where one had a positive reputation because of solid brand management and the other had a negative reputation because of poor brand management, the former would get double the applicants and spend less on recruiting.

It’s not rocket science. Today’s salespeople are smart and savvy, and they can easily tell which companies take brand management seriously and which ones don’t. And the companies that win in this area have a massive advantage over the competition.

Some Other Compelling Brand Management Stats

To paint an even more detailed picture, consider these other stats.

  • “62% of candidates agree that their perception of a company improves after seeing an employer respond to a review.
  • Companies with bad reputations pay 10% more per hire.
  • 50% of candidates say they wouldn’t work for a company with a bad reputation — even for a pay increase.”

By these numbers, it’s clear that focusing on brand management helps improve the overall perception of sales candidates and can significantly reduce your cost-per-hire. Beyond that, it can potentially help you be more competitive even if you can’t afford to offer the big bucks to salespeople like companies with much deeper pockets.

A Real-Life Example

To get a better idea of what great brand management looks like, let’s check out a real-life example. Asana, one of the world’s leading work management platforms, has developed an excellent reputation since its launch in 2008. They’re known for providing a simple, intuitive, well-rounded platform that makes it easy for teams across a myriad of industries to manage projects and stay on track.

Asana, for instance currently has a 4.7 out of 5-star rating on Apple and a ton of great reviews.

Besides that, Asana has also developed a reputation as being a great company to work for, with 96% of employees enjoying their experience. For comparison, that’s 39% higher than your typical company.

Here are some specific reasons why employees love working for Asana.

And if you check out the application page for a commercial account executive, you’ll see that Asana succinctly explains why candidates should be interested in working at their company.

And if that wasn’t enough, they have an in-depth careers page on their website that discusses Asana’s culture, values, benefits, growth opportunities, and much more. You can check it out for yourself here.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Asana has consistently been a leader in the work management industry and has a knack for acquiring some of the best and brightest talent. Salespeople are naturally attracted to them for many reasons, with their strong dedication to brand management being a big one. So if you’re looking for a great template to base your strategy off of, Asana is one of the best.

Brand Management: The Ultimate Win-Win

Having a great reputation is obviously important for winning over customers and establishing loyalty. In today’s hyper-competitive climate, brand management is almost always a precursor to any type of long-term success.

But it’s also extremely important from a sales recruiting standpoint. I think most companies understand this on some level, but many don’t realize just how big of an impact it has. To recap, nearly 70% of sales candidates will apply to companies that emphasize brand management, and it usually results in double the number of applications.

So if brand management is something you haven’t fully invested in thus far, now is a great time to do so.

And if you’re looking to fill your talent pipeline with qualified applicants faster, check out HireDNA. It uses intelligent matching and science-based assessments to source top talent in your industry to cut hiring time in half and lower turnover by 33%.

The Most Important Information Sales Candidates Want When Job Searching (Based on Concrete Data)

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There’s no denying that 2022 is a candidate’s market. With a huge demand for high-level talent and a diminishing number of young, qualified job seekers, many sales companies are struggling to maintain adequate manpower. While there’s a lot that goes into winning the talent war, a great place to start is creating quality job ads that include the specific information sales candidates want to see.

For this post, I’ll explain exactly what those things are based on concrete data, along with a real-life example of a job ad we created.

The Top 5 Pieces of Information Sales Candidates Want

An in-depth job search study analyzed what “job seekers want employers to provide as they research where they work.” While it varies somewhat, the data found that five pieces of information stood out above all else and include the following:

  1. Details on compensation packages
  2. Details on benefits packages
  3. Basic company information
  4. Details on what makes the company attractive
  5. Company mission, vision, and values

Now let’s fully unpack these findings.

Details on Compensation Packages

Compensation information being first on the list comes as no surprise. Research has found this is hands down the most important thing for job seekers, with 74% wanting salary information. For comparison, that’s 13% higher than the next piece of information on the list, which is benefits at 61%.

One of the things I mentioned in my last blog post is that today’s massive inflation rate of 7% (the highest in 39 years) has created a bidding war where many companies are willing to pay elite salespeople top dollar to join their sales force. So it only makes sense that job seekers will want to see salary information front and center.

If you look at one of the job postings we made for our client MPOWER Envision, an Illinois-based software company, you’ll notice we included both the base salary range and total compensation range so, at a glance, job seekers could see what they’re working with.

Ideally, compensation information will be located at the top “above-the-fold” of a job ad so sales candidates can see it without having to scroll down.

Details on Benefits Packages

As I just mentioned, 61% of sales candidates want to know what types of benefits a company offers. That’s also unsurprising as sales companies can differ widely in terms of benefits and perks. If it comes down to a job seeker choosing between two companies with identical pay, nearly all will opt for the company with more robust benefits. So you’ll want to be crystal clear about what you offer.

In our example featuring MPOWER Envision, we included a fully fleshed-out list of traditional benefits, such as health, dental, vision, 401(k), and so on. Besides that, we also mentioned that employee wellness is a priority, there are ample career development opportunities, and employees can provide input and be a strategic voice.

Basic Company Information

While you don’t necessarily need (or want) to go into great detail about your company, data shows that providing a quick overview is important for helping sales candidates get their bearings. Going back to our example, we point out the essentials like when MPOWER Envision was founded and how many employees it has.

We also mentioned a bit about them, that they’re backed by a 30-year-old well-established sister company, who uses their platform, and more.

Again, you don’t need to go overboard. But offering a succinct overview helps get your foot in the door with sales candidates and ensures they don’t have to struggle to get a feel for your company.

Details on What Makes the Company Attractive

I’m a firm believer in developing a great unique value proposition (UVP). With so much competition out there, it’s never been more important to differentiate yourself from other companies. In line with that, it’s important to let candidates know what makes your company attractive.

For MPOWER Envision, we noted that they have a 4.6-star G2 rating and a perfect 5-star Glassdoor rating to instantly impress sales candidates right off the bat.

Leveraging social proof like this is always a good strategy for establishing value and showing your company is respected.

Besides that, we mentioned that the job is remote, which is highly appealing for many of today’s sales candidates in our post-COVID world.

Company Mission, Vision, and Values

Culture has always played a role in who sales candidates want to work with. But that’s never been more true than it is today.

As Natalie Baumgartner of the Harvard Business Review puts it, “candidates are seeking workplaces where they can intertwine their beliefs with those of the company, and work together on a common vision of purpose and success.” Therefore, things like mission, vision, and values are critical pieces of information sales candidates want when considering applying.

When writing the job description for MPOWER Envision, we clearly articulated this information, saying what it’s like working there, what the company’s mission and values are, and more.

Making Sure You’re Including the Important Information Sales Candidates Want

Most sales companies are up against some stiff competition in 2022, and you need to bring your A-game in all aspects of sales recruiting. One of the best places to start is to understand what sales candidates want to see in a job description and strategically hone in on those areas. That way you can grab the attention of more rockstar sales reps and fill your pipeline with strong candidates.

Looking to hire better sales talent, faster? See how HireDNA uses cutting-edge features like intelligent matching and science-based assessments to connect sales companies with the best and brightest. Brands that use HireDNA cut their hiring time in half, and 92% of suggested candidates are top achievers within their first year.

Salesperson Turnover is Up 25%: What to Do About It

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It’s an interesting time for sales recruiting. We’re at a point where the worst of the pandemic is over, and things have steadily gotten back to normal, albeit it’s “a new normal.” As you might imagine, this has created some significant changes, with the rise of remote work and video conferencing being some of the biggest.

Besides that, there’s been an alarming rise in salesperson turnover, where it’s up substantially from a couple of years ago. For this post, I’ll examine this trend in-depth to understand why it’s happening and how to respond.

A Sharp Rise, Then Gradual Fall in Unemployment

First, it’s important to understand the context of how things got to their current state. In early to mid-2020, when COVID got into full swing, there was a sharp rise in unemployment. It went from being just under 4% in February 2020 to nearly 15% by April.

At that point, many sales professionals were scrambling to find work, with many making the shift from a brick-and-mortar setting to remote. However, as things began to stabilize, so did the unemployment rate, and by December 2021 it was back to around 4%. This brings me to my next point.

A Surge in Flexible Work and SaaS Companies Hiring Salespeople Outside Their Industry

The backlash of COVID has had far-reaching implications, not all of which are currently known. But two particular changes that have impacted the sales industry are growing flexible work options and SaaS companies hiring outside their industry. With “the genie being out of the bottle” with remote and hybrid work models and stiff competition with high-paying tech companies looking for top talent, it’s created an employee market.

Now that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, salespeople with robust skill sets are looking for the best possible jobs. And this led to another trend — higher turnover.

Salesperson Turnover Increased By 25%

Under normal circumstances, the average salesperson turnover rate hovers around 10%. But that number has more than doubled over the past couple of years.

“One consistent theme we’re seeing,” writes Karin Kimbrough, Chief Economist at LinkedIn is that “workers across the globe are eager for change and are ‘voting with their feet’ by taking their experience and skills to new roles at an accelerated pace. Globally, the share of members changing roles in October was up 25% compared to the pre-pandemic period in October 2019.”

As a result, this has made it far more difficult for companies to retain top sales talent — an issue that can be frustrating and detrimental to their bottom line.

Why Has Salesperson Turnover Increased?

I touched on the reasoning earlier with the increased desire for sales reps to have more flexible work options and higher pay. But let me unpack this a bit more. According to LinkedIn, the three main reasons for increased salesperson turnover are better compensation (54%), better alignment with employee values (48%), and more opportunities to move up (44%).

It’s clear that elite salespeople in 2022 have far more leverage than they did during the height of the pandemic. This combined with the highest inflation rate in 39 years at 7% has basically created a bidding war that shows no signs of stopping any time soon. That’s why salespeople looking for better compensation is the number one reason for high turnover.

Beyond that, the added leverage today’s sales reps have has resulted in them seeking employers that have matching values and more career advancement opportunities.

How to Handle the Spike in Turnover

This begs the question. What exactly should you do about this trend?

The short answer is to make sure you’re offering competitive pay. Recent reports indicate that the average salesperson’s salary in 2022 is around $60,000. However, those in the top 25% earn closer to $89,000. So that’s a pretty good range to aim for when deciding how much to pay new hires.

Keep in mind, though, that the salesperson’s salary outlook has increased significantly since 2010, so you’ll likely need to keep raising it steadily as time goes on. Besides that, it’s helpful to offer the right benefits, as this can serve as an added incentive to pull in the best and brightest in your industry. I wrote a post about the top 10 benefits today’s salespeople are looking for based on concrete data, and that’s a great starting point.

Here’s an overview for reference.

But what if offering a high salary just isn’t an option?

In that case, I recommend focusing on two key areas as selling points — schedule flexibility and advancement opportunities. With many of today’s top salespeople valuing remote working arrangements, a healthy work-life balance, and the chance for growth, this can be very appealing and give your brand a competitive edge.

Wrapping Up

COVID turned the world on its head in more ways than one. And we’re still feeling the aftershocks long after the pandemic reached its peak.

The bottom line is that salesperson turnover has reached record highs in 2022 and won’t likely change any time soon. But with the right game plan and an understanding of what top reps are looking for, you should still be able to hire elite talent, and more importantly, retain them.

Looking to hire better sales talent faster? See how HireDNA can help using intelligent matching and science-based assessments. 92% of candidates recommended by HireDNA climb to the top of their sales force within the first year and turnover is lowered by an average of 33%.

Only 16% of Salespeople Have Skills for Current and Future Roles: Why You Should Focus on Long-Term Sales Recruiting

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When you break it all down, there are two fundamental approaches to sales recruiting. One is to bake turnover into your recruiting strategy where you only think short-term and continually replace salespeople with little to no potential for internal growth. The other is a long-term sales recruiting strategy where you focus on finding quality talent with the end goal of internal promotion, providing a framework for rock stars to rise through the ranks.

For this post, I’ll explain why long-term sales recruiting is usually the best option, especially in today’s current sales recruiting climate. I’ll also provide specific tips on how to successfully adopt this approach.

Illuminating Data from Gartner

In a 2020 HR and recruiting study, technology research firm Gartner uncovered that only a small number of new sales hires are equipped with the skills for long-term growth. “Organizations are struggling to hire quality talent as only 16% of new hires possess the needed skills for both their current role and the future,” Gartner explains.

This means that for every 10 sales reps you hire, less than two will realistically have the ability to level up in their role and take on a more demanding position such as a sales manager or account executive. While that may be fine if you’re only looking for salespeople for limited roles and aren’t concerned with internal growth, it can be quite vexing if you’re hoping to create a rich culture with an emphasis on internal promotion.

In other words, this data shows that many companies end up “spinning their wheels” where they’re unable to successfully move salespeople up the ladder. Instead, they often get stuck in an endless cycle of hiring entry to mid-level reps who hang around for a while and eventually leave with no major progress occurring. As a result, these companies struggle with turnover and basically plateau without reaching their full potential.

So what’s the solution?

Taking a Long-Term Sales Recruiting Approach

It boils down to making a fundamental change in your sales recruiting approach. Rather than simply finding salespeople who match what you’re currently looking for in an entry to mid-level position, you need to think long-term and look for candidates with the potential for serious growth.

“To hire quality talent, recruiting leaders must shift their strategies from replacing the workforce to instead shaping the workforce,” Gartner writes. Recruiters “that excel in these workforce-shaping behaviors see a 24% increase in quality of hire.” And “high-quality talent can have a significant impact on business outcomes, including individuals who successfully perform in their roles 20% faster and teams that get a 19% boost in their ability to meet future challenges.”

For the rest of this post, I’ll explain exactly how to go about that.

3 Key Strategies for Long-Term Sales Recruiting

1. Clearly Define “Big Picture” Skills

It starts by first creating a robust sales candidate profile that focuses on both short and long-term objectives. Here’s an example.

Say you’re currently looking for a talented salesperson who possesses fundamental skills like establishing and building rapport with customers, successfully performing product demos, resolving customer complaints, and so on. However, you’re also looking for someone who has the talent for long-term growth as a sales manager later on down the road.

In that case, you would want to add additional skills to your sales candidate profile such as strong leadership, strategic planning, comprehensive CRM knowledge, and analytical abilities. Here are some other examples.

That way, whoever you hire should be equipped with the skills to grow beyond their initial role and be a bigger asset to your company.

2. Expand Beyond Your Traditional Talent Pool

Another way today’s companies get themselves in trouble is only targeting sales candidates using their traditional talent pool. But this approach can be limiting, especially in our globalized world where remote work has become ubiquitous. If your current sales recruiting strategies feel a little stale, it’s time to expand beyond and tap into other resources.

HireDNA, for example, is a helpful tool for filling your pipeline with qualified sales candidates at all levels. It uses innovative techniques like sourcing top talent from a massive network of top-level candidates, intelligent matching based on 20 key data points, and science-based assessments involving 21 core selling competencies.

Instead of limiting yourself to a small, local talent pool, HireDNA can help you connect with elite salespeople from all over the country.

3. Create a Strong, Adaptive EVP

In a recent blog post, I explained how to build a rock-solid employee value proposition (EVP). Simply put, this is a mix of the benefits, rewards, perks, recognition, support, and overall value you offer to your salespeople. And an EVP is something that’s absolutely vital to maximizing retention and creating an atmosphere for long-term growth.

If you haven’t done so already, I recommend reading that post to learn the ins and outs of constructing a winning EVP. Also, be sure to continually adapt with your EVP, ensuring it’s responsive and nimble enough to change as the sales recruiting climate inevitably changes.

Winning at Long-Term Sales Recruiting

I was personally a little surprised to find out that only 16% of new hires have what it takes to expand into future roles. This lack of talent and skillset in the vast majority of candidates imposes inherent limitations on sales recruiters and shows that the current game plan many companies use is insufficient for promoting strong internal growth.

By implementing the three strategies listed above, however, you should be able to create a better pipeline of sales talent who can grow alongside you.

Want to know more about how HireDNA uses cutting-edge technology to find A+ sales talent? Reach out to us today.

How to Build a Rock-Solid Employee Value Proposition

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A well-crafted employee value proposition, or EVP, can have a huge impact on sales recruiting and retention. Recent data found it can improve new hire commitment by as much as 29% and lower turnover by 69%. Further, it increases the chances of a salesperson becoming a brand advocate where they help recruit other A+ candidates by up to 47%.

In this post, I’ll explain everything you need to know in order to build a rock-solid employee value proposition so you can attract and retain top-tier talent in your industry.

What Exactly is an Employee Value Proposition?

Definitions vary somewhat depending on who you ask. Traditionally, it’s been thought of as the benefits, rewards, and perks an employee gets in return for offering their skills, experience, and expertise to a company. However, in the modern context, it can extend into other areas, such as the recognition, support, culture, and overall well-being an employer offers to salespeople.

I think this pyramid by Mercer Thrive Research illustrates it perfectly.

Regardless of how you define it, the core purpose of an employee value proposition is to let sales candidates know what’s in it for them. And it’s designed to maximize their potential and encourage them to operate at their peak.

EVP Examples

In terms of conventional benefits, here’s an example from Gingr, a company that sells “user-friendly dog daycare, kennel, and grooming software.”

As for other areas such as support, culture, and so on, here’s an example from data platform Splunk.

The Step-By-Step Process for Creating an EVP

Now that we know exactly what an employee value proposition is and why it’s important, here’s a simple formula you can use to build your own EVP from scratch.

Tally Up Your Selling Points

First, I suggest “doing inventory” of what you have to offer that would be of interest to potential sales candidates. Start with the fundamental quantifiable selling points like competitive salary, health insurance, PTO, holiday pay, and so on. Then, move on to the less quantifiable benefits, such as career advancement opportunities, an amazing culture, and the chance to work with other innovative professionals.

This will serve as a rough draft that you can refine later on, which brings me to my next point.

Get Your Existing Employees’ Input

A big part of nailing your EVP is putting yourself in a salesperson’s shoes. Even though most recruiters have a decent understanding of what’s appealing to candidates, even a small rift can marginalize your efforts. That’s why I suggest getting input straight from the horse’s mouth — your existing employees.

Here are some potential questions to ask to gain insights:

  • Why did you choose our company?
  • What’s your favorite part of working here?
  • What does our company offer over others you’ve worked for in the past that stands out to you?
  • What are your favorite benefits?
  • What are some benefits we don’t currently offer that you’d like to have?
  • What are the best aspects of our culture?
  • Do you feel there’s a genuine opportunity for growth?
  • What type of support could we offer to improve your working experience?

Side note: Besides helping with the construction of your EVP, these insights can help you improve operations in general and address small issues before they escalate.

Collect Data from Exit Interviews

Another way to get valuable information is from exit interviews where you find out what prompted salespeople to seek different positions. Asking a few basic questions such as the following should help you get a feel:

  • What did you like most about your job?
  • What did you like least?
  • What motivated you to find another position?
  • What does our company do well in terms of providing value for employees?
  • What could we improve on?

Synthesize Your Findings

Once you’ve tallied up your selling points, gotten feedback from current employees, and added data from exit interviews, you should have everything you need to go on. At this point, you’ll want to synthesize your findings to pinpoint A) what you’re already doing well and B) potential areas for improvement. From there, it’s just a matter of using this information to create a realistic employee value proposition.

You may, for example, want to emphasize that you offer higher than average salary, outstanding health insurance, remote work opportunities, leadership development, and so on. For inspiration, I recommend checking out HubSpot’s Sales Careers page. It’s an amazing resource that provides a detailed overview of HubSpot’s EVP and addresses everything potential candidates would want to know in one convenient area.

There’s the “How we work” section, which explains how HubSpot sets its salespeople up for success.

There’s also a “benefits” section that highlights the exhaustive perks of working for HubSpot.

So with just a little browsing, sales candidates can get up to speed and see why HubSpot is a software company to seriously consider. While you don’t necessarily need to create as extensive a resource as this (and it may not make sense if you only hire occasionally), this shows how impactful a quality EVP can be.

Improving Recruiting and Retention with an Employee Value Proposition

There’s no lack of sales jobs out there. In fact, the sales industry is booming more than ever post-COVID, which means quality candidates have plenty of choices. That’s why it’s so important to stand out from the rest of the pack and show candidates what you bring to the table — something that can be done by building a great EVP.

Learn how HireDNA can help you attract and retain A+ sales talent while cutting your hiring time in half by using intelligent matching and science-based assessments. 92% of suggested candidates ascend to the top of the sales force within just one year.

70% of Job Seekers Use Google: How to Optimize Job Posts for Search

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I don’t need to tell you how ubiquitous search engines are in our daily lives. 93% of online experiences start with a search engine, and they’re used for just about everything, including finding a job. While there are countless search engines available ( about 160 worldwide as of 2020), Google is, hands down, the indisputable leader. In fact, a whopping 70% of people use Google to search for a job. To ensure qualified candidates can find you, it’s essential to optimize job posts for search, which I’ll explain how to do in-depth in this post.

Understand Google’s Logic

First, it’s important to have a basic understanding of how Google decides which job posts to display prominently and how their algorithm works from a recruiting perspective. There are, of course, countless variables and complexities, but recruiting expert Mortiz Kothe explains the nuts and bolts of it by saying the following:

“Google for Jobs works by pulling in job postings from a wide range of sources and choosing which ones to display. Those sources include company career pages and over 70 job boards, such as Monster, LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, and CareerBuilder. Google for Jobs filters through all those sources and chooses just one listing per job post.”

He then goes on to say that Google uses the exact same information found on job boards and boils it down to a single job post, which is why “posting the same job on multiple job boards is now a waste of money” — at least if your primary goal is getting found by sales candidates on Google.

The bottom line here is that Google chooses just one of your job ads to post on their network. So there’s no use posting on several job boards because your exposure will be the same.

Include Critical SEO Information

After performing a ton of research and from personal experience, I can tell you that optimizing job posts for Google is pretty straightforward when compared to optimizing an entire website. With the latter, there are a mind-bending number of elements you need to address such as keywords, meta tags, internal links, external links, URLs, headers, and so on. But with job ads, they’re fairly minimal.

SHRM breaks it down to the essentials, which include:

  • Name of the brand posting the job
  • Job title
  • Job description, including responsibilities, qualifications, skills, working hours, education, and experience requirements
  • Job posting date
  • Location information for the job including full address
  • The expiration date for the job posting

Beyond that, they recommend including:

  • “The unique identifier for the job, usually the requisition number from the ATS
  • The type of employment—whether full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.
  • Base salary information in either a lump sum or range, including currency type and frequency of pay period”

As long as your job ad has this information, you should be in good shape, and it will give Google everything they need.

Connect Your Job Ad

Today’s recruiters have a significant advantage over those of the past because of one specific tool — Job Search on Google.

With it, you can connect your job postings to make sure they appear on Google. And it offers all the resources you need to do that. There are two ways to go about it. You can post from your website and use structured data that integrates with Google. Or, you can see if the third-party job board you use participates in the job search experience on Google.

If you post from your website, simply click on “Get started”…

and you’ll be directed to a page called “Add structured data to job postings.”

There they explain how to add structured data step-by-step and provide helpful tips to ensure your job ads get indexed.

You’ll also find a link to their job posting content policies and a Rich Results Test so you can see how the structured data would look in Google search results. Basically, everything you need to know is there.

If, however, you’re using a third-party job board like Monster, LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, or CareerBuilder, you’ll want to check with them to confirm that they’re participating. ZipRecruiter, for example, has integrated with Google and saw 4.5x growth after doing so.

If the job board doesn’t participate, I suggest switching to a different one that does because it’s going to be difficult to gain any real traction with Google otherwise.

Follow SEO Best Practices

The last piece of the puzzle to optimize job posts for search is being aware of SEO best practices. If you’re familiar with regular SEO for optimizing websites, this should be straightforward, as there’s a lot of overlap.

These best practices include:

  • Performing keyword research to find keywords with a high search volume and low competition ( You can use the Google Keyword Planner for this)
  • Target those keywords by using them in the job title and peppering them throughout (without making it feel spammy)
  • Use bulleted lists (these make for easy skimming for job candidates, and Google loves them)
  • Include your location and salary as I mentioned earlier
  • Write simple, clear job listings, and avoid verbose industry jargon

I personally learn the best by looking at examples. That’s why I also recommend typing in a keyword phrase your target candidate would likely search for and check out the results. This will let you see what top-ranking companies are doing so you can mimic their approach. For example, after entering “saas sales representative jobs washington dc,” here’s what popped up.

And here’s what the first job ad looked like.

Optimize Job Posts for Search to Connect with Quality Candidates

With 7 out of 10 sales candidates turning to Google to look for jobs, it’s never been more important to maximize your exposure on this search engine powerhouse. While there’s no magic bullet, following the formula outlined above should give you the absolute best chance of ranking well. And that, in turn, should help you connect with quality candidates that can be assets to your organization.

Looking to fill your pipeline with A+ candidates quickly? Learn how HireDNA uses leading technology and science-based assessments to attract top sales candidates, with 92% reaching the top of their sales force within their first year.

4 of the Biggest Sales Recruiting Challenges in 2022 (And How to Overcome Them)

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Let’s be honest. Finding quality salespeople has never been easy, and sifting a pile of resumes (the average position receives 118 applications), can be onerous. But 2022 has its own unique sales recruiting challenges that must be addressed.

In this post, I’ll break them down one-by-one based on recent data and provide actionable strategies on how to overcome them.

An Overview of the Top Sales Recruiting Challenges

In a joint study between LinkedIn and Jobvite, experts pinpointed a list of specific sales recruiting challenges based on feedback they received from recruiters. Here’s what their findings looked like.

Now let’s unpack the data from top to bottom.

1. New Hires Lacking Soft Skills

Above all else, a lack of soft skills among new hires is the number one challenge sales recruiters face in 2022 at 89%. This is something I covered in detail in my last post where I mentioned that hard skills are fairly easy to identify and quantify. But this isn’t usually the case with soft skills. In particular, soft skills like communication, collaboration, empathy, and rapport-building have been historically difficult to gauge.

Up until recently, most sales recruiters have simply relied on basic behavioral assessments and reading body language to analyze soft skills. But, unfortunately, that’s not always sufficient. Some ways to address this issue, however, are to first identify a handful of vital soft skills and make them your key areas of focus when recruiting.

There are also a few pieces of technology you can use to objectively analyze candidates. One example is eSkill which is ideal for assessing emotional intelligence such as communication and collaboration. Another is a sales recruiting platform like HireDNA which analyzes “sales DNA competencies” including emotional control, supportive beliefs, and the ability to handle rejection.

From there, HireDNA will provide you with a list of qualified sales candidates that are interview-ready.

2. Hiring Salespeople Who Didn’t First Appear to Fit

The second biggest challenge involves selecting candidates that didn’t initially seem to be assets to a company. According to the study, “77% of recruiters go back and hire candidates who at first didn’t appear to be a fit.” The issue is coming up with an effective way of pinpointing individuals who slipped through the cracks at first and incentivizing them to come on board.

As I mentioned in another article, there’s a small window of just 10 days on average in which you have to hire elite talent. After that, most have already found another position. So to be fully transparent, there will be many cases where the ship has already sailed and it’s simply too late.

That said, reaching out to quality candidates as soon as you realize their potential can sometimes lead to a hire. I also suggest focusing on the following incentives, if possible, as data shows they are the main things that attract candidates to new organizations.

3. Candidates Changing Their Minds

Here’s one of the sales recruiting challenges that can really drive companies crazy. You find A+ talent and get something lined up only to have a candidate change their mind at the last minute. And it’s an issue that happens more than you may think with 75% of sales recruiters saying they’ve experienced it at some point.

While there’s no magic bullet for ensuring this never happens to you, there are a few ways to reduce the likelihood of candidates changing their minds. First, be sure you have adequate incentives in place — ones that specifically zero in on what attracts candidates to a company (see the graphic above I just mentioned). Next, provide candidates with a clear outline of what the onboarding process looks like and make it as streamlined as possible. Third, maintain close communication with candidates from the start, making sure to “read their digital body language” so you can address any potential problems before they escalate.

Besides that, it’s helpful to have at least one backup in place just in case someone drops out unexpectedly.

4. Finding Quality Entry-Level Sales Reps

Finally, there’s the issue of attracting entry-level candidates, with 41% of companies saying these are the hardest positions to fill. Two main reasons why it’s notoriously difficult are because 1) entry-level positions don’t usually pay as much as more experienced positions and 2) candidates often lack the ideal skill set and experience a recruiter is looking for.

So what do you do about it?

When it comes to the pay, I suggest thoroughly analyzing what your competitors are offering for similar positions and either match or exceed it, if possible. You can find more information on current salesperson salaries here.

If that’s just not possible, here are some potential workarounds:

  • Offer plenty of advancement opportunities giving entry-level salespeople the chance to progress
  • Create an amazing culture, and emphasize it in your recruiting
  • Offer flexible work schedules and remote working opportunities as this tends to be effective for recruiting younger reps

As for addressing the issue of limited skill set, it’s all about finding the diamonds in the rough. This, of course, is easier said than done as many candidates will have minimal experience, but there are tools that can help. HireDNA, for instance, can come in handy here because it can be used to objectively screen candidates and predict their likelihood of success. In turn, it’s much easier to identify candidates that will thrive in your specific sales environment.

Overcoming Today’s Unique Sales Recruiting Challenges

To recap, here are the top challenges for sales recruiters in 2022:

  • Candidates lacking soft skills – 89%
  • Hiring candidates who didn’t first appear to fit – 77%
  • Candidates changing their minds – 75%
  • Filling entry-level positions – 41%

While these can be tricky to navigate, each problem has a corresponding solution, and implementing the right one should help your company thrive in today’s recruiting climate. To learn more about how HireDNA can help you select elite talent in your industry, get in touch with us today.

89% of Recruiting Experts Say Bad Sales Hires Lack These Skills

Posted on by hiredna

Selecting salespeople based on hard skills is pretty straightforward. You see that a candidate clearly has the quantifiable abilities and experience required for a sales position, and often, you can easily verify it. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for the other type of skills I’ll discuss in this post — soft skills.

According to an in-depth study by LinkedIn, 89% of recruiting experts say there’s a common denominator between most bad sales hires. They lack the right soft skills.

LinkedIn’s Findings Behind Bad Sales Hires

In 2019, LinkedIn performed an exhaustive report where they surveyed over 5,000 talent professionals across 35 countries and analyzed comprehensive behavioral data. One of the primary areas they focused on was soft skills, as they found that it was the number one trend transforming the workplace that year. In fact, 91% of talent professionals agreed that soft skills were “very important” to the future of recruiting.

Going one step further, LinkedIn wanted to determine the impact soft skills had on the long-term success of candidates that were hired. And it turned out that the impact was quite immense, with their data finding a lack of soft skills to be a key contributor to most bad sales hires.

According to their findings, only 11% of recruiting experts said bad sales hires lack hard skills. However, 45% said they lack soft skills, and 44% said they lack both soft and hard skills. Put that all together, and 89% of recruiters said bad hires lack soft skills.

Why Soft Skills Are So Important in Sales

As you probably know, there is a wide range of factors that determine how successful someone is at selling. Obviously, having hard skills like product knowledge, knowing how to use a CRM, and performing sales demos is important. But this doesn’t always translate into success. To truly predict how good a candidate will be at their job, you need to see the big picture and also take soft skills into account.

Some examples include:

  • Collaboration
  • Communication
  • Rapport-building
  • Empathy
  • Quick problem-solving

Beyond that, it’s important for a salesperson to be nimble and think on their feet. You could even argue that having a certain level of likability is critical to building relationships and winning over customers. But there’s a problem.

Assessing Soft Skills is Notoriously Difficult

As I mentioned earlier, evaluating a candidate’s hard skills is fairly simple. A quick glance at their resume, for example, will usually give you a basic idea of what they bring to the table. You can also have them perform a test on their product knowledge, see how well they understand a particular business platform, perform a mock product demo, and so on.

“Identifying poor soft skills, however, is much harder, which is why they’re often discovered too late, after a hire has been made,” LinkedIn explains. “But as the data shows, bad hires are almost never a matter of hard skills alone.”

The main issue sales recruiters run into is that they lack a formal approach for assessing soft skills. In fact, 68% say they rely on basic behavioral questions or simply reading body language. “She seemed upbeat, so she’s probably a good collaborator; he seemed nervous, so he’s probably not a good leader. The problem is that these perceptions aren’t predictive, and worse, they’re often unconsciously biased.”

Given the inherent limitations of this commonly used approach, it’s unsurprising that so many sales recruiters struggle to accurately gauge soft skills in candidates. This brings me to my final point.

How to Effectively Evaluate Soft Skills

Given how tricky it’s been historically, how exactly should you go about assessing soft skills in sales candidates?

Here’s a four-step system that I feel is highly effective:

  1. Identify essential soft skills – Pinpoint four or five specific skills that are a must for being a successful salesperson at your company and make them a top priority when recruiting.
  2. Leverage assessment tools – Back in the day, recruiters had to primarily rely on behavioral cues and body language, but now there are several objective tools like eSkill and Pymetrics that can provide you with quantifiable data. eSkill, for instance, allows you to measure emotional intelligence to ensure candidates have a high level of communication and collaboration.
  3. Be aware of unconscious bias – LinkedIn found that unconscious bias often gets in the way of recruiters assessing candidates. You may, for example, be inclined to like a particular candidate because they have a similar personality as you. But keeping this in mind can help steer you away from this issue.
  4. Standardize your interview process – “Train interviewers to ask a standard set of questions suited to the skills you’re targeting. This allows you to easily compare evaluations, even if they’re done by different interviewers.”

Beyond that, many companies can benefit from using a sales recruiting platform like HireDNA. It uses science-based assessments that look at core selling competencies like motivation, desire, and coachability to predict success and can quantify what used to be unquantifiable.

Avoiding Bad Sales Hires

Having the right mix of hard and soft skills is critical to making good hires and building a strong team of salespeople. Unfortunately, the latter is more difficult to evaluate and has created a consistent problem for many brands over the years. Further, nearly 9 out of 10 recruiting experts say bad hires lack soft skills.

While assessing soft skills will, admittedly, always be trickier than assessing hard skills, it’s certainly possible. And the four-step process outlined above should help.

To learn more about HireDNA and how it can dramatically improve your sales recruiting, reach out to us today. 92% of candidates recommended through this platform become top performers within a year.

Sales Rep Salary in 2022: How Much Should You Be Paying?

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How much should you pay your salespeople? That’s one of the most important and most commonly asked questions among recruiters. And it’s one you need a definitive answer to.

After all, understanding the average sales rep salary provides you with a tangible benchmark so you can identify how much competitors are offering. It also ensures you’re offering enough to pull in elite talent but not so much that it hurts your profitability.

In this post, I’ll provide a clear breakdown of sales rep salary in 2022 based on recent data to help you find the sweet spot along with other actionable advice on attracting top-tier talent.

What the Data Says

For my research, I looked at data from two different sources. One is the salesperson salary in the US based on over 3,700 salaries on Indeed. According to their findings, the average base sales rep salary in 2022 is $58,106.

The other data came from US News and World Report Money which looked at the median salary of salespeople. After crunching the numbers, they found the average sales rep earned $62,070 in 2022. This was nearly $4,000 more than what Indeed suggested, but it’s certainly still in the same ballpark.

So between these two reports, we can surmise that most sales reps will earn around $60,000 in 2022. Also, it’s worth noting that the top 25% highest-earning salespeople earned $89,030, while the lowest-paid 25% earned $43,580. This is something to take into account if, for example, you’re hiring an entry-level sales rep who’s fresh out of college, as they may command less than a bonafide vet who’s been at it for 10+ years.

Higher Earnings Post-Pandemic

Another interesting trend to point out is that many qualified sales candidates currently receive multiple offers and earn significantly more post-pandemic than they did pre-pandemic. In a recent article, I explained there’s a high demand for skilled salespeople, but many (especially recent grads) are reluctant to get into sales. This phenomenon is largely due to the perception among many young professionals that salespeople still sit behind a desk all day, cold calling leads and using high-pressure sales tactics.

You can get the full details here, but the bottom line is that it’s “candidate’s market” in 2022, and that’s unlikely to change any time soon.

As a result, it’s common for top-tier candidates to get multiple offers and earn $10-$20K more than they did before COVID. This means talented individuals could easily earn $70,000 or $80,000 per year rather than the baseline of $60,000. There are numerous factors at play here, but my point is that many sales recruiters are willing to shell out larger than average pay to attract and retain top talent. And that may be something you need to do as well.

Looking Beyond 2022

Besides simply knowing the average sales rep salary in 2022, it’s nice to see the bigger picture and what the overall trajectory is. And the data from the US News and World Report Money provides insights there as well with this graph.

As you can see, there’s been a steady increase in salary since 2010. It went from being around $63,000 in 2010 to $68,000 in 2016. From 2016 to 2017, it decreased slightly but quickly picked up steam from there. Based on this trajectory along with the current shortage of highly qualified sales reps like I discussed earlier, I can only imagine that this trend will continue into the foreseeable future.

It’s clear that industry rockstars are in high demand, and sales recruiters are willing to shell out good money to land them. This brings me to my next point.

Two Quick Strategies for Improving Sales Recruiting

For the final part of this post, I’d like to share two last insights for increasing your odds of landing elite sales talent based on recent data.

One is to act quickly. According to SmallBizGenius, “top talent gets hired by recruiters within 10 days.” And that’s not surprising based on the current landscape. While you don’t want to be hasty and overlook other qualified candidates, it’s clear that you should pull the trigger if find top talent and pay them what they’re worth. Otherwise, there’s a good chance a competitor will swoop in and snatch them up. Considering the average time to hire is 24 days, keeping it under 10 days can give you a significant advantage.

The other strategy is to fully optimize your interview process. A+ salespeople don’t have time for inefficiencies and redundancies during interviewing. So if your interviewing is needlessly complex, convoluted, or you’re asking candidates the same questions over and over, you’re almost guaranteed to lose out to your competitors. That’s why I suggest objectively analyzing your interviewing process and continually looking for ways to improve it.

Sales Rep Salary: Finding the Sweet Spot

Throwing out an arbitrary number based on what you feel sounds “about right” is never a good strategy for deciding how much to pay a potential sales rep, especially someone who could be a major asset to your company. Instead, you need to know what the industry average is and what the current pay trajectory looks like while taking other factors into account like sales rep demand.

To recap, most skilled salespeople will earn around $60,000 in 2022. But when you factor in that many receive multiple offers and take in $10-$20K more than they did prior to COVID, you may need to pay more like $70K+ to bring in the heavy hitters.

Looking to hire better sales talent, faster? Learn how HireDNA uses intelligent matching and science-based assessments to attract and recruit better talent. 92% of candidates recommended through it reach the top of their sales force within their first year, and it eliminates 96% of hiring mistakes.

Elite Salespeople Get Hired in Just 10 Days: The Importance of Acting Quickly with Sales Recruiting

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There is a wide range of variables that contribute to successful sales recruiting. Creating a compelling job ad, efficiently filtering through candidates, and optimizing interviewing, for example, are three areas where recruiters place a lot of focus. But one aspect that doesn’t necessarily get as much attention but needs to is acting quickly when you find a strong candidate. 

For this post, I’ll explain why speed is so important in our current sales recruiting climate and provide you with simple tips for streamlining the process without compromising your decision-making. 

The Average Time to Hire is 24 Days

Although the data varies slightly from study to study, research indicates the time to hire for most sales positions is between 20 – 30 days, with an average of around 24 days.

So, there’s a period of about 3 ½ weeks between the initial screening of candidates and them accepting a position. And that’s fine for average salespeople who aren’t in high demand. Because they typically have limited offers, odds are most will still be available if you wait 24 days. However, this won’t usually cut it for elite salespeople, which brings me to my next point. 

Top Sales Candidates Get Hired in Just 10 Days

Research has found the most talented salespeople get snatched up much quicker in just 10 days. “High-quality candidates with loads of experience, robust soft skills, and a network of contacts have an average job search time of only 10 days,” explains SmallBizGenius. And this makes perfect sense. 

Individuals at the top of their industry will naturally have more options and be in much higher demand than their run-of-the-mill counterparts. Because of this increased demand, they don’t stay in job search mode for long. “HR managers should take this into consideration when they spot a promising candidate, SmallBizGenius adds. “If they want that candidate to join the company, they need to act quickly.”

So, if you wait around, triple-check a candidate’s credentials, agonize over their experience, perform several more interviews, and so on, with an extended period of time elapsing, you can’t expect the candidate to still be available. In fact, there’s a good chance they’ll already receive an offer from a competitor. 

Time is of the Essence with Elite Salespeople

While every situation is different, 10 days is the quantifiable timeframe you usually have to work with before making your final decision and giving a highly-qualified candidate a formal job offer. If you wait too long, there’s no guarantee an A+ candidate will still be around. That’s why it’s so important to A) recognize when you’ve got top talent on your hands and B) make your offer as quickly as possible.

Here are some strategic tips for doing this to ensure you secure the right salesperson who has the potential to be a strong asset to your company. 

Don’t Overthink It

Let’s say you’ve found a home run candidate who you’re almost sure would be an amazing addition to your sales team and has the “it factor.”  But you hold off on pulling the trigger right away simply because you’re wondering if there’s someone out there who’s even better. After several more engagements with other candidates to satisfy your curiosity, you realize that the rock star candidate is in fact your best option. However, once you circle back and give them the offer, they’ve already been taken by someone else. 

Overthinking it like this is one of the most common mistakes sales recruiters make and one that often costs them. I’m not saying you should be overly hasty and not consider anyone else for the position. But if it’s clear that you’ve got a big fish on the line, nine times out of 10, they’re the candidate you should choose. So keep this in mind and be willing to commit when the time is right. 

Don’t Bypass Rockstars Because They Lack Industry or Product Experience

In a previous post, I explained why selling skills are often more important than industry/product experience. And that’s a topic that’s super applicable here. Many recruiters get caught up in only hiring sales candidates with direct industry or product experience, and they end up missing out on great talent as a result. 

While having this type of experience certainly helps, at the end of the day, what’s most important is being able to sell well. If a candidate can do this, they can always learn your industry and product. My point here is that high-level sales skills are transferable. So if you find a candidate that checks all the right boxes but doesn’t have the exact industry/product experience you’re looking for, it’s by no means a dealbreaker. 

Set a Definitive Deadline to Make a Decision

Finally, you can often prevent heavy hitters from slipping through your fingers by having a firm deadline in place when making a hiring decision. While this probably won’t apply to all candidates across the board — especially the mediocre ones — I suggest having a maximum of a 10-day deadline to make a final decision with rock star candidates. However, even less is better, and if you trim it down to 5 days or fewer, that would be ideal. 

Acting Quickly When You Spot Talent 

Let’s recap. The average time to hire is 24 days. But elite salespeople get hired in just 10 days. This two-week gap can create issues if have a top candidate on your hands but fail to act quickly enough. That’s why it’s essential to pull the trigger when you find top talent and wait no longer than 10 days to give them a formal job offer. 

Want to cut your hiring time in half and find pre-screened, qualified, interview-ready candidates? See how HireDNA can help.