We are in the midst of one of the busiest Decembers in my 26+ years of recruiting.
Who knows what the future holds but the hiring market is still strong. Reps selling quality solutions are still closing deals and making money.
Yes, there have been some major layoffs -Much of it year-end cost-cutting. Sunsetting product lines, and just plain old cutting the fat. So many companies grew so fast and just had thousands of useless people at all levels. Yes GOOD people do get caught up in the riffs, often because of lazy managers who are to busy to really look at the data they are given….
The point is if you are looking – the market is not in bad shape as of today.
If you are hiring stop looking so hard as to what people have done wrong but for what they have done right.
The avg salesperson stays in place for roughly 14 months.. it sucks!! In tech, this is too common, especially for those who have a hunter and builder mentality and a passion for the start-up world,
Can you blame a rep for:
Being misled
For a territory cut while increasing the quota
For multiple leadership changes
Failing product or install issues
Financial issues
Change in sales strategy
Acquisition
etc etc.
Reps should do a better job of showing how they tried to overcome hurdles and what they added/ learned, but certain items it doesn’t make sense.. If you are starting over and given no incentive to stay what’s the point?
Hiring managers need be realistic. People in general DONT stay at companies forever anymore. If you are a startup do you really want the 20 yr Oracle or IBM lifer? If you are a growing company why not understand the reasons for candidate moves before eliminating on a few outdated criteria? You may actually be surprised and see your team and career flourish.
Be realistic and stop with the crazy job descriptions – Below is really not far off from roles I have turned down of late
Does anyone have a Sales rep who has done multiple startups,
only picked the right companies,
of course, has a track record of blowing out quota,
is willing to take an avg salary and below avg commission plan;
Can’t have any jumps, a
We should have some mutual connections to back-channel them …. Anyone Anyone…
oh and we prefer them to be a diversity candidate and born on a Tue or Thur before 1:25 pm est.
We are a great place to work, and super flexible we dont even care if they are a righty or lefty, as long as they are a lefty
