Shaun, I work for a start up in Andover, MA. We received $7mil in funding and we are trying to build an inside sales team. I do not want to advertise on Monster because we are an open source content management software company who needs to hire 2 people immediately. Do you have any suggestion as to where I can contact sales people who are interested in start-up environment? I need someone with sales experience of 2+ years in a software development company. Anyone who blogs, uses forums, etc. is helpful because that is our business. Thank you for your help. Linda Greco linda.greco@acquia.com http://acquia.com/jobs
Linda, good question on the optimum way to quickly recruit sales talent. As usual, I have some qualifying questions: Do you have a hiring budget (i.e. headhunters, on-line posting, relocation, etc.)? Are these net new hires or replacements? How competitive is your compensation plan (base, bonus, commission, options, and stock)? As a start-up, how long have you been in business? In addition to the $7M, what is your funding? What is your burn rate? What is your company culture? Do you have an internal referral bonus program? These answers will determine and refine your optimum recruiting strategy. Below are multiple options, in my recommended order. You will often use a combination of the recommendations below:
Internal Promotions / Transfers: Let other managers, know you are hiring. Your positions sound like entry level positions but you may have a technical or support resources who would like to move into sales (or vice versa). The benefits are many: you retain an employee, they will bring the knowledge from their previous position, they already know your culture, and you will either have personal interaction with the person or with the manager. Warning, do not be known as a poacher, speak with other managers when looking for internal candidates, do not go directly to the candidates first. At larger companies, they have policies on internal hirings, including notifying their manager when internal associates apply.
Employee Referrals: Employees traditionally recommend quality candidates. Plus the employee that submits referrals are typically quality employees who like where they work. Make sure you let your employees (including board members and investors) know you have are actively hiring. If you do not have one already, set up an employee referral bonus program.
Recruiters: I personally like working with recruiters, because they will do a lot of the leg work for you and shorten your hiring cycle. They can do the initial interviews, so you can spend more time with quality candidates. Make sure you set specific hiring criteria and to get solid candidates. The downside to recruiters is they are expenses plus sometime they don’t do the leg work and only recommend candidates they have in their bag versus finding good candidates.
On-Line Postings (ex. Monster): I am surprised you are so down on monster.com and the other on-line job sites. In addition to posting jobs, Monster also offer services to search resumes in their database. You can search resumes for start-up, inside sales, drupal, boston, social networking, etc. to find candidates who have posted their resumes on monster.com and you can quickly reach out to them versus having them find you. The cost of on-line is cheap when compared to recruiters, so I do not see the downside.
Social Networks (ex. Linked In): Similar to searching the Monster resumes, you can search social networking sites (LinkedIn, facebook, etc.) for people with the experience you require. With LinkedIn, once you have a candidate, you can search for connections with your personal network.
Colleges: For entry level positions, I like college recruiting. I think of the saying from the ‘Untouchables’, “If you're afraid of getting a rotten apple, don't get it from the barrel, get it off the tree.” With college recruiting, you can mold them to your culture. There are a lot of benefits to hiring seasoned sales people but one of the negatives is they will bring the sales habits (both good and bad) with them, versus you creating their sales habits.
Industry Trade Shows: If you are attending industry trade shows to promote your solutions, also put a ‘We are hiring’ sign in your booth. I was recently attended a technology trade show and Microsoft had ‘Help Wanted’ signs all over their booth, in addition to promoting their products.
Company Website: Obviously post the jobs on your website but as a start-up do not rely on your website because candidates will most likely not be looking for your site for jobs. At bigger companies, candidates will search your corporate website for jobs.
Job Fairs: Look for local job fairs in your area. With this economy make sure the job fair aligns with your industry, because my experience with job fairs is you spend a lot of time with unqualified candidates.
Newspaper: If you do an on-line posting with your local newspaper (ex. boston.com), you usually get the newspaper too (ex. boston globe).
You have lots of options, including myself posting your company (Acquia) on this sales blog. I expect you will fill your positions very quickly.
Good Recruiting and let us know how it goes! Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give Linda additional information on 'Recruiting’ and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun P aka CloserQ
Linda, good question on the optimum way to quickly recruit sales talent. As usual, I have some qualifying questions: Do you have a hiring budget (i.e. headhunters, on-line posting, relocation, etc.)? Are these net new hires or replacements? How competitive is your compensation plan (base, bonus, commission, options, and stock)? As a start-up, how long have you been in business? In addition to the $7M, what is your funding? What is your burn rate? What is your company culture? Do you have an internal referral bonus program? These answers will determine and refine your optimum recruiting strategy. Below are multiple options, in my recommended order. You will often use a combination of the recommendations below:
Internal Promotions / Transfers: Let other managers, know you are hiring. Your positions sound like entry level positions but you may have a technical or support resources who would like to move into sales (or vice versa). The benefits are many: you retain an employee, they will bring the knowledge from their previous position, they already know your culture, and you will either have personal interaction with the person or with the manager. Warning, do not be known as a poacher, speak with other managers when looking for internal candidates, do not go directly to the candidates first. At larger companies, they have policies on internal hirings, including notifying their manager when internal associates apply.
Employee Referrals: Employees traditionally recommend quality candidates. Plus the employee that submits referrals are typically quality employees who like where they work. Make sure you let your employees (including board members and investors) know you have are actively hiring. If you do not have one already, set up an employee referral bonus program.
Recruiters: I personally like working with recruiters, because they will do a lot of the leg work for you and shorten your hiring cycle. They can do the initial interviews, so you can spend more time with quality candidates. Make sure you set specific hiring criteria and to get solid candidates. The downside to recruiters is they are expenses plus sometime they don’t do the leg work and only recommend candidates they have in their bag versus finding good candidates.
On-Line Postings (ex. Monster): I am surprised you are so down on monster.com and the other on-line job sites. In addition to posting jobs, Monster also offer services to search resumes in their database. You can search resumes for start-up, inside sales, drupal, boston, social networking, etc. to find candidates who have posted their resumes on monster.com and you can quickly reach out to them versus having them find you. The cost of on-line is cheap when compared to recruiters, so I do not see the downside.
Social Networks (ex. Linked In): Similar to searching the Monster resumes, you can search social networking sites (LinkedIn, facebook, etc.) for people with the experience you require. With LinkedIn, once you have a candidate, you can search for connections with your personal network.
Colleges: For entry level positions, I like college recruiting. I think of the saying from the ‘Untouchables’, “If you're afraid of getting a rotten apple, don't get it from the barrel, get it off the tree.” With college recruiting, you can mold them to your culture. There are a lot of benefits to hiring seasoned sales people but one of the negatives is they will bring the sales habits (both good and bad) with them, versus you creating their sales habits.
Industry Trade Shows: If you are attending industry trade shows to promote your solutions, also put a ‘We are hiring’ sign in your booth. I was recently attended a technology trade show and Microsoft had ‘Help Wanted’ signs all over their booth, in addition to promoting their products.
Company Website: Obviously post the jobs on your website but as a start-up do not rely on your website because candidates will most likely not be looking for your site for jobs. At bigger companies, candidates will search your corporate website for jobs.
Job Fairs: Look for local job fairs in your area. With this economy make sure the job fair aligns with your industry, because my experience with job fairs is you spend a lot of time with unqualified candidates.
Newspaper: If you do an on-line posting with your local newspaper (ex. boston.com), you usually get the newspaper too (ex. boston globe).
You have lots of options, including myself posting your company (Acquia) on this sales blog. I expect you will fill your positions very quickly.
Good Recruiting and let us know how it goes! Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give Linda additional information on 'Recruiting’ and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun P aka CloserQ
Comments
I like the response. For this person and her situation I would heavily use LinkedIn and any networking possible to hire quickly. In addition, employee referral networks work well too as you mentioned. There is a company in Cambridge, MA, H3 (www.H3.com) that specializes in internal and external referral networking and has a unique technology that enables the process. Check it out.
Moreover, I understand her stance on the general boards like Monster and Career Builder, but I agree with you that she should not discount them as they do offer screening technology to get to the right candidates quicker via postings and resume search. Craigslist would also be a great source and in most cases it's free.
You talked about industry trade shows which are good. I would direct her to industry blogs, industry periodicals/websites and local industry groups to network and advertise with too.
Lastly, money is always an issue but think of the opportunity cost/lost sales days of not having sales people. For this, I would use recruiters from multiple agencies on a contingency basis. It can prove to be a quick solution. It doesn't cost anything unless they make a hire.
Ryan