As a recruiter, time and time again, companies come to me with a sales job description that is not conducive to a successful hire. As the hiring manager of any particular company, upon marketing an open business development job you wish to fill, there are things that you should and should not do prior to posting the job description for the public to see. Ultimately, implementing the below advice will result in you seeing more pertinent, accurate resumes that will lend your hire to be more successful than it otherwise would have been.
Be careful with the job title:
Job titles themselves, if you’re not careful, can deter a potentially good applicant from viewing your open position altogether. You must also give the title a high enough “branding” so the job applicant feels as if they would be moving forward in their career by accepting employment with your company. Conversely, you must keep it conservative and on par with the compensation. For instance, you can’t advertise an employment opening as a “Director of Sales position” if the job is paying only $70,000. This will make your company look very bad.
Ways to formulate the correct title:
First, you must ask yourself a few questions. Who is going to be the main audience that you are targeting? Are you looking for somebody who is going to be entry-level or are you looking for a director level types sales professional?
The best trick is to take the current title you have and add one extra word to make the job seem more senior. Just as stated above, nobody wants to backtrack upon taking on a position. In the same way that you are taking a risk on the person whom you are hiring, that person is also taking a risk on you. If things don’t work out, they don’t want their resume to read that they were a “Director of Sales” at one company then, at your firm they were downgraded to being a “Senior Account Executive.” This type of backward movement, when displayed on any resume, will result in lesser pay and less interest in interviewing an applicant.
Another thing to keep in mind is that, whenever possible always shy away from using the word “Manager,” in a job title. Instead, replace it with words such as “VP” or “Director.” The latter two sound more formal and makes the job appear more distinguished, in-depth, challenging and interesting. This slight change will almost always result in more pertinent resumes received from each ad that your organization pays to list.
Sales titles to avoid at all costs:
The one sales title, upon listing an open job that you want to avoid is the title, “Inside Sales Representative.” This mistake is all too commonly made. In the sales world, business development professionals will immediately associate the job as one that does not pay well, involves telemarketing, does not give enough respect to the person for them to meet with clients, has little upside, is not challenging and is not conducive to making money and probably involves an unpleasant manager. Even if this isn’t true, job seekers, upon seeing you open listing are going to think this and not look further into the advertisement.
If you do need a sales employee who is going to be mostly in the office, then give them a normal sales title such as “Senior Account Manager Northeast.” From now on, make it a rule to avoid the term “inside” at all costs. Be more creative.
Again, we use the “Senior” because you always want the potential applicants to feel as if the job is going to move them forward in their career and allow them to take on responsibilities and challenges that they were not asked to do in their previous or current position. Additionally, avoid the phrase, “working from inside the office,” or anything similar to when writing the actual description itself.
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