Its no secret that its a buyers market out there right now and the buyers in this economy are job seekers, who are in a position to be very choosy when it comes to deciding which job they take and what sort of compensation theyre going to accept. As the job market tightens, there has been a monumental shift towards the candidate being in a controlling position of deciding what sort of job opportunity to take. Every company is looking for top talent in sales and marketing for their businesses to grow. And to the extent that they can find it and retain it, they can grow. In this tight job market, traditional recruiting techniques no longer work. If you are an employer looking to recruit top sales and marketing talent, consider some of the following innovative ways that you might go about recruiting people: Tap The Power of Your Network First of all, remember that the most important tool that you have at your disposal for finding top talent is your network. When you start thinking about hiring new sales and marketing people, plan and execute a communication strategy to all of your friends, associates, and colleagues throughout your inner circle, as well as all of your industry contacts. Develop a job posting for the positions that youre looking for and send a personalized email with the attached posting to all everyone in your network. Ask each person personally for their help in recommending any individuals who would fit the specific position that youre trying to fill. Ask each person to forward your email on to their friends and colleagues who might know of individuals who are searching for a new opportunity in sales and marketing. This technique seems simplistic, but it works. What youll find is by going out to your network in this manner, youll be able to tap a very effective resource, since most great recruiting is done through your friends business colleagues. Promote Your Great Opportunity Second, consider ways to more attractively promote the position that youre offering through your company. Its no longer sufficient to provide a job description to potential candidates. When you post on monster.com or hotjobs.com, think about the posting process as one of proactively selling your company, your vision and a great opportunity to top candidates. How can you more attractively position your company as the leader in its field? Whats the managements vision to achieve market leadership? What sort of goals do you have for growing the company? What sort of enthusiasm and excitement can you weave into a job posting so that it will catch the eye of top candidates and attract them to apply for a job with your company? We see lots of companies who provide very flat, unexciting advertisements about their positions and as a result they struggle to find the kind of candidates that theyre looking for. Make sure that when you develop a job posting, that it actively challenges top job seekers to want to enquire about the opportunities without your company, by the way you describe the position and the opportunity. Grow Your Own Sales & Marketing People Another way to think about recruiting new sales and marketing talent to your company is to grow your own. Growing your own is a longer term strategy, but it can pay great dividends for your company, particularly in a sustained long-term growth phase of your businesss life cycle. Most people want to find opportunities for career advancement and growth inside a single employer, so if your company can develop career growth paths, define them to employees and provide the training for growth inside your company, that will be very attractive to most job seekers. If youre going to pursue this route, youll need to focus on looking for candidates who have the most important skills and traitsthe DNA for your position, even if they lack the relevant industry or technical experience. Find talent thats a little younger and less experienced. Attracting smart, articulate, ambitious, energetic people who are willing to learn and who desire to grow, is a great way to build your company. Weve had many experiences building top talent in our businesses while reaping the rewards of that investment over time. What is your company doing in this area? Is there an opportunity for you to recruit raw younger talent and groom them? Think about that as a potential strategy for overcoming the short-term problem that we all face a shortage of sales and marketing talent. |
