Why Use a Hiring Profile?

Do you even have a hiring profile? What is a hiring profile? Why is it important? So you might be reading this saying to yourself, “Time to find another blog – I simply make my hiring decision on whether I would buy from him/her after the interview…….” But WAIT – don’t change that blog! If that’s you talking, stop and remember that sales people are good at selling themselves during the interview. They better be! If this is your only criteria, the candidate will win the job every time, and you will or you do have a revolving door of entering and departing sales people.

A hiring profile is critical to your revenue generation efforts because, if properly deployed, it will increase the chances of a strong hire ten-fold. Not only will you be more likely to make a strong hire, you’ll find:

• Faster ramp times for your new hires
• More productive discussion amongst the team interviewing the candidate – individual evaluation is no longer gut instinct, it is based on common evaluation criteria
• Less attrition and less of the painful costs that go with attrition
• More time in your day to focus on areas other than recruiting

A hiring profile is a list of competencies required for success in your open sales role. Competency can be defined as a skill, knowledge area or attribute that belongs to the successful sales pro in your organization. In the profession of sales, one skill might be “negotiation skill”. A knowledge area for a sales pro might be “product knowledge”. An attribute of a successful sales pro on your team might be “creativity”.

The difference is in the objective vs. subjective evaluation of that competency. Consider that skill and knowledge are fairly objective criteria. The candidate either has the required skill/knowledge or they don’t, and it is fairly easy to evaluate in a candidate through behavioral interviewing, experience, role playing etc during the interview process. Attribute, however, is much more subjective. The attribute indicates the candidate’s motivation to apply that skill or knowledge. It is often difficult to evaluate during the interview process, but it is critical to do so.

I like to determine five objective competencies, and five subjective competencies for my successful sales pro. I determine these competencies from my already-successful performers, AND their customers. I provide a ranking scale of 1 to 7 next to each competency. I list the objective competencies on one page, the associated ranking scale and room for comments, and I do the same on page 2 for the subjective competencies. Then I give the tool to each interviewer in our interviewing process, and I cross my fingers!

Herein lays the biggest challenge of a hiring profile – compliance amongst your team with the tool during the interview process. Many won’t use it at all. Most will use it, but put little thought into it. Team members may not use it to guide their questions and/or they’ll provide little to no feedback on the tool. In smaller organizations, I’ll typically hear this, “s/he was pretty good, you’re the sales guy, it’s your decision.” Ugh!!

If that is you during the hiring process, sell your boss on the potential impact of the hiring profile and watch compliance improve markedly! Above all else, at least build the tool and use it for yourself. You’ll be much more comfortable with your decision when the interviewing team says, “it’s your call!”

HUMOR: I once interviewed a sales admin candidate who spent her career in the construction industry, an industry far from mine at the time. But her experience and interview answers led me to believe she had many strong skill and knowledge areas for our position. As I probed for the attributes she possessed, I asked, “Why have you spent an entire career in the construction industry?” She quickly and assertively replied, “Because I love men!” The interview ended quickly!