J Patrick + Associates Blog

BEST Practices for Hiring Managers in 2023

Posted by Jarrett Zike & Kevin Seche on Tue, Dec 06, 2022 @ 12:00 PM

Interviewing Techniques 101: The Dos and Don'ts of the Hiring Process

You might knee-jerk to thinking that interviews are predominantly stressful for candidates, but this would frequently be an unfair assessment of the situation. While managers need to make good hires, they also want to leave the candidate with a positive impression of themselves and the company. 

The recruitment process can be lengthy (although it doesn't have to be), and as you would rightfully expect a candidate to come to the interview ready, you, as a hiring manager, should be equally well prepared. 

Using practical hiring strategies can change the outcome of interviews and allow you to improve your job postings, interview skills, and the thought processes behind posting a job opportunity.  Here are some effective and simple interview tips for hiring managers looking to improve their approach to interviewing. 

Before the Interview  

1. Have an idea of who you'll be talking to

  Take the time to look at any notes from HR or the person who conducted the screening interview, as well as a recent resume, LinkedIn page, and any other documents they have submitted. If the candidate’s other social media pages are public, give those a look as well. These can save you loads of time in the event of a personality lemon, and they can also provide a basis for early-interview small talk, which will be discussed in a few paragraphs. 

 

2. Learn all there is to know about the position

It's important to understand the details of the role for which you are hiring if you want to match an ideal candidate to the position.  Having a thorough understanding of role-specific skill sets, certifications, educational requirements, and requisite experience will all put you in a good position to identify the best candidates. 

You should also think about the specific projects the candidate would work on and what KPIs or measurements of success are important to the role. This information will allow you to ask better, more targeted questions of the candidate.  

 

3. Go into the interview with a plan

Interviewing a candidate without a plan is a recipe for failure, so you’ll want to map out how you’d like the interview to progress. This is especially important if you end up with a particularly charismatic or garrulous candidate. Some people can talk about anything for as long as you let them, so you’ll want to have a plan for this contingency that doesn’t require you to appear impatient.    

Additionally, if you don’t have much experience interviewing, a working outline will give you an added boost of confidence and direction. It’s something to fall back on if need be. You should also ask experienced colleagues to run a mock interview with you. This will produce valuable insights into how your interview could go and allow you to make adjustments before the rubber hits the road. 

During the Interview

4. Greet the candidate

You want the candidate to feel as comfortable as possible, so feel free to take a few minutes at the start of the interview for some friendly conversation to help break the ice.  Remember that you are the face of the company and a prospective boss to the candidate, so it is ideal to leave a positive impression whether you hire a given person or not. 

A note on small talk: While being friendly is important, you want to keep the conversation on track and relevant to the role, so err on the side of short and sweet.  

 

5. Respect the candidate's time

Things happen. Meetings run late, surprise fires need to be put out, children do predictable but inconveniently childish things. If you happen to get held up, find a way to reach out to the candidate and make them aware of the situation. You don’t want a winner walking out because you were running late and didn’t think to touch base. 

 

6. Take Notes, Listen more, Talk less

Hiring can become complex, especially when interviewing multiple candidates for various roles within your organization or team. Taking notes will help you keep track of candidates and how their interviews went. 

It is also important to let candidates answer your questions completely.  Listening and allowing them to fully answer each question will prevent you from missing details that you wouldn’t know were that important if didn’t let them elaborate.  

After the interview

7. Make a report

You will want to review your notes from the interview.  Adding notes to your company’s CRM is a great starting point, but if you have an ATS (applicant tracking system), this would be the ideal place to store notes on interviewed candidates.  

 

8. Follow up with the Candidate

Make sure to let the candidate know if they got the job (okay, most people don’t forget this step, but in the name of covering all my bases…), didn’t, or will be moving along to the next stage of the hiring process.  Hiring managers often forget to follow up when the answer is “no,” which leaves the candidate in the dark as to where they stand, stands to damage the company’s reputation, and generally adds a pinch of misery to the world that didn’t need to be there. So make sure you call back. If nothing else, it’s just good manners.   

 

9. Review your work

Take the time to review your interview and how it went.  Are there things you would like to have done otherwise? Different questions you should’ve asked? Maybe you started the interview by talking about yourself, your experience, or the company and would prefer to have started with the candidate and their experiences. These are all finer points that you can hone over time, but only if you are aware of them. Unfortunately, many of the particulars aren’t that memorable unless you recount the experience shortly after the fact, so make sure to conduct a review after each round of interviews. 

 

You’re ready to start interviewing

Great interviewers earn their chops over years of experience, so don’t be too hard on yourself if it takes a few rounds to start feeling confident.  Asking the right questions can pick a needle from a haystack and land you a stellar employee, but a 30-minute conversation always risks leaving something to be desired. You’re interviewing people, after all. We’re complicated. 

So give yourself a little grace. Sometimes it will be ridiculously hard to find someone. Other times you’ll end up going with a candidate who proves less impressive than they first appeared. Then again, sometimes your intuition that a candidate is just right will prove correct. 

The longer you’re at this, the better you’ll get. But improvement, in interviewing as in all things, requires preparation and reflection.  

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Tags: HR and Hiring

What Gets Enterprise Sales-Leaders Excited These Days?  - Part 1

Posted by Alysa Wishingrad on Thu, Jan 23, 2020 @ 04:43 PM

What Gets Sales Leaders Excited_

Hiring managers and candidates alike know that recruiting and retaining an A-level sales team is key to the success of any company offering an enterprise solution. No matter how compelling the product, without top performers on your team, success is going to be elusive. Every company wants them, and yet, not every company can get them.

Certainly, considerations such as compensation, company culture, the degree to which a company is willing to invest in training, ongoing learning and career development all carry weight with candidates. But what we find is that these are not necessarily the factors that drive top talent to leave one position to take another.

What does it take to attract top Enterprise sales talent?

In a word: Pre-IPO. Well funded start-ups that have not yet gone public are enormously enticing to our sales candidates right now. And while there are risks associated with moving to a new/unknown entity, the rewards can be enormous. That is if you’re moving to the right company.

So, what is the right company?

Well, of course, that answer is going to be different for every candidate, but driven to get involved with what could be the next great technological leap, here’s what top sales leaders are thinking about when considering a new position: 

Disruptive Technologies with an Achievable Plan.

A disruptive technology is one that either displaces an existing technology or introduces a ground-breaking product that opens up a new industry. It’s exciting, it’s cutting-edge and it’s potentially important. You won’t find better salespeople than those who are looking to be engaged with the product they’re selling, who need to feel that they are helping to build something new, innovative and/or helpful. And truly, what salesperson worth their salt doesn’t want to be selling the world’s next great technological breakthrough?

But above and beyond the technology itself, savvy salespeople are considering the marketplace for this product. How corded is it? Are there too many players, is the company engaged in a red ocean or a blue ocean strategy?

Confidence.

A top salesperson got where they are based on the value of their relationships and the depth of their network. There’s no point in making a move where you can’t carry those relationships forward with you. It’s not enough to only believe in the product you’re selling, it’s vital to consider if it’s one you can sell to a marketplace/customer base you know well. How well will you be able to leverage your existing network?  And, more importantly, does this new product solve a real problem for your current customers?

Top-Level Management.

When it comes to startups, who are just as important as what. Top management leaders who’ve scaled a company before, who have the knowledge, experience and following to build a successful company are nearly as important as the technology itself. Savvy salespeople look to the management team as a good barometer for potential success. They’re looking for managers they not only they feel they can work with, but who have a track record of success and can move the company toward profit and beyond.

It’s also important to remember that more people cite a lack of faith in, or conflict with, their manager as the number one reason for leaving a position. And while you can’t know how you’ll get on with a manager, doing due diligence about the people you’ll be reporting to is a key consideration to make.

High-Scaling.

Look, salespeople know a worthwhile lead when they see it, and they can also recognize a dead-end long before it comes into view. Yes, there has to be a belief in the technology and an investment in the worth it adds to the business, or society at large, but more than that, there has to be the potential for a high return.

Always consider who is involved. Is this a purely VC backed venture, or PE? Where are they in their funding? While getting into a company while they are still in series A funding might promise higher returns later on, we are currently finding that the majority of our sales candidates are interested in series C or beyond. This may be attributable to the fact that the first quarter of 2016 has seen the lowest number of companies going public, or it may be that they are looking to move only to companies that are further along in their development. Either way, the real potential has to be there for a company to attract top sales talent.

Getting in on the ground floor of a disruptive technology ensures that a salesperson is both challenged, engaged and invested in the company’s success. The only gamble, of course, is whether the tech will catch on or not. If they’ve judged well and have gone where the smart money is sitting, they can expect to find themselves post-IPO in a very comfortable position, and their reputation as a sales leader greatly enhanced.


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Tags: enterprise, HR and Hiring, Career Strategies, Career Path

HIRING: How to Get the Perfect Organizational Fit

Posted by Nicholas Stearns on Thu, Jan 16, 2020 @ 05:43 PM

How To Get the Right Organizational Fit

What is the Most Important thing to Consider when Hiring?

The most important consideration when hiring is that the candidate is qualified for the job...  Right?

Not completely. Beyond that, you have to ask yourself, “How will this person fit into my company?” You certainly don’t want to hire someone who won’t feel comfortable coming into work every day. An unhappy employee that doesn’t fit in could pose difficulties to the rest of your team by changing your carefully maintained company atmosphere. Even if you're using all of your best hiring practices, you could be overlooking something.

5 Vital Considerations to Consider when Hiring the Perfect Candidate

1. Getting their message across

Every company has its norms, its customs and habits, and how your employees communicate is a vital part of company culture. How do your employees tend to talk to each other, or with managers? Do they email, instant message, call, make appointments in a calendar app, pass notes or face time? 

Take some time to examine how the potential hire communicates. Do they seem like a good personality fit, and is are they an effective communicator? Vast differences in communication and work styles can cause disruptions with others, and lead to problems with productivity. Make sure that you screen for these things before you pull the trigger on a new hire.

2. Level of Supervision

Management style is a fundamental aspect of company culture, and it’s important to note when considering a candidate. When one of your employees is undertaking a task, how often do you or another manager check in on them? How often do you offer assistance? And how much do you expect to be contacted for help?

It’s necessary for a candidate to understand how much they can reasonably expect to be managed. Make sure that your organization's preferred method is one that the candidate will thrive under.

3. Social Time

Do your employees take breaks together, or is it an ‘every man for himself’ situation? Neither is better than the other, but if a candidate isn’t a good match, it can make for an uncomfortable workplace. Go ahead and ask them what they're used to doing on their lunch break. Do they bring food, do they like to go out with co-workers, or do they order takeout with others? Checking on these traits can make the difference between a lifetime employee and a two-year hire.

4. The View From The Bottom

A big part of a company’s culture is what employees and managers define as winning, and how that’s achieved. Make sure you know what traits are highly valued in your company. If that’s the ability to work alone and come up with a perfect product, or to be an excellent team member, then you should test your candidate for these things. Asking about their work style (if they prefer to work alone, or in teams) can be a very good indication of whether or not they are a good match for your company.

5. Is your Office Space a Picture of Harmony?

How personalized is the office? Are there pictures of your team's success, or are you as spartan as can be? Do your employees heavily customize their space, or is everything there specifically utilitarian? Having an overall pleasant space and making sure that your current employees and potential hires have similar or complementary styles can help to create a unified atmosphere in the workplace.

Use What You’ve Learned

Now that you’ve examined your company’s traits, make sure you start looking for harmony right from the beginning with a new hire. In your interview:

  • Ask candidates how they preferred to communicate in their previous job.
  • Ask how they are accustomed to being managed, and if they are flexible in their style. 
  • Ask yourself if this candidate shares your company’s values.
  • Give your team a chance to meet them, get their feedback, and absolutely let it inform your judgment.

Remember, there’s a person behind that resume, and some candidates are adept at making themselves look good on paper. Dig a little deeper and get to know who they are.


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Tags: HR and Hiring, recruiting, Career Path

5 Reasons You Should Invest In Employee Development

Posted by Glenda Gregorio on Mon, Dec 23, 2019 @ 03:54 PM

5 Reasons you should invest in employee development

In a recent survey conducted by the Association for Talent and Development of 494 employed American adults over the age of 18, 39% of respondents reported that the opportunity to advance their careers is a motivating factor at work. Providing training and development opportunities helps create a vibrant workplace for employees to grow.

Yet even in the face of these statistics, there’s a gap between companies that understand training and development is a sound investment, and those that don’t.

So, the question is: Why would you invest in your employees’ development?

It Gives You A Competitive Edge

No CEO wants to be faced with the consequences of their company losing the competitive edge. You may be a leader in your field, but if you’re not investing in training and development your company runs the risk of losing employees to your competition. But, by giving your employees the opportunity to build and develop new skills, you’re not only investing in them but also your company’s operational efficiency. Company goals and objectives can be met that much sooner.

It Helps You Save and Earn Money

Believe it or not, training and development are less expensive than firing, hiring, and retraining. The Association for Talent and Development 2014 State of Industry Report determined that the cost of replacing a human resources manager is about $133,000, whereas the cost of training an employee is on average, $1,208. While training current employees can be cheaper than hiring new employees, there’s another important type of saving: time.

A well-trained and engaged employee is an added benefit to your company and a cost saver. Approximately $11 billion is lost annually due to employee turnover. With training and development, employees are more efficient and proficient.

Remember, a great employee is like money in the bank, and you don’t want to lose money!

It Strengthens Your Talent Pool

Training and development strengthen your talent pool, which reduces the risk of losing employees who are perceived as “irreplaceable.” The more highly skilled employees you have, the larger the pool you’ll have to draw from when looking for new managers. Promoting current employees to management positions is often more preferable because they know the in’s and out’s of the company.

It’s a Valuable Retention Tool

Investing in employee development helps build loyalty. It shows employees that you value them not only as employees but as individuals, you want to see them grow. Providing a challenging and interesting training programs increase employee engagement, and keep employees happy and satisfied.

It’s a Useful Recruiting Tool

Most job seekers are looking for more than a salary and some perks. The highly sought after employee wants a position that will allow them to learn new skills and build toward their future. In a recent survey, Sodexo employees named career growth and opportunity as the number one reason for coming to work for the company.

Remember that the opportunity for professional development can often be the deciding factor for a candidate who is choosing between your company and a competitor.


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Tags: HR and Hiring

6 Reasons You Should Close On New Hires Before The End Of The Year

Posted by Alysa Wishingrad on Mon, Dec 02, 2019 @ 08:55 AM

6 reasons to close new hires before the end of the year

The run-up to the holidays has begun and now begins the full-court press to the end of the year. Budget requests are either in or due, annual numbers are getting tallied and performance reviews being conducting.

Looking at the bigger picture it might seem counter-intuitive to want to get that new hire started before the end of December, but here are 6 key reasons you should be doing exactly that.

6 Reasons to Close New Hires before the end of the year

1) It's A Seller's Market

The talent pool in many IT sectors is, at best tight. You don't have to look any further than the Cybersecurity job market to know that top candidates are in demand. There's truly little need to sit around and wait for a company that's slow to pull the trigger for many IT professionals. And while you may have tantalizing benefits and enviable company culture on offer, chances so do your competitors.

2) You Risk Losing The Slot

Whether it's due to expansion in your sector, the growth of your customer base, or the loss of a team member, you have the opening for a reason. You didn't initiate bringing a new employee in on a whim, you've got a need you need to be met.

And while you may be certain that the budget for the new year includes funding this opening, just remember: the only thing you can count on is change. There are a number of unknowable variables that might affect your budget for the new year - beat the uncertainty by getting the talent you need in place now.

3) Top Talent Waits For No One

This might be considered a corollary of #1 above, but the best candidates are simply not on the market for that long. Not only do they not need to wait for an offer, but they also won't.

While it is never advisable to make hiring decisions under duress, it's equally as ill-advised to surrender to a long and drawn-out hiring process.

You've got to be willing to move decisively to get the talent you want. 

4) You Risk Surrendering To The Void

Once we hit the end of the year the harder it will be to assemble everyone you need to sign off on hiring decisions. Vacation schedules, end-of-year travel, and meetings can make it near impossible to get decision-makers assembled and focused.

It's important that you get what you need to shore up your department before everyone scatters and decisions have to be tabled.

As for candidates, conventional wisdom counsels one pull in the oars and not think about looking for a new position until the other side of January. The time between Thanksgiving and New Year then becomes this kind of looming void which top candidates and valuable talent are looking to avoid like some kind of gaping sinkhole that's temporarily swallowed up the job market.

What this means for you and your open desk is if you wait until after the holidays to start final interviews or moving toward an offer, it very well might be mid-to-late January before you get any momentum going.

Can you really afford to wait that long?

5) Shore Up Your DNA

Keep in mind the effect an unfilled opening has on the rest of your team. The more your team members are asked to pick up the slack, the more focus gets scattered and productivity goes down. The long term effects on your bottom line can be very damaging. Remember, one of the very best retention tools you have at your disposal is keeping employees engaged and stimulated. Over-taxed is the polar opposite of what you want.

On the plus side, new hires shore up your company DNA. They inject new energy, drive and focus. The contributions they add not only help drive success and profit as a direct result of the work they are doing but also in terms of keeping your business a thriving place to work.

6) Embrace The Void

The end of the year is the perfect time to get a new hire on-board. With fewer distractions, fewer calls to be made, half the number of meetings on the docket, your new employee has the time and ability to get through the necessary training and/or certification processes they need to do their job well.

There's likely no other time of the year, not even August, that will afford you the same kind of a slower pace to get your new hires up to speed.

It's time to begin thinking of the end of the year as the perfect time to get your new hires on board so that you can hit the ground running in the new year.


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Tags: HR and Hiring

5 Hiring Mistakes That Will Cost You Top Talent

Posted by Alysa Wishingrad on Wed, Nov 27, 2019 @ 08:55 AM

Avoid These 5 Hiring Mistakes

With top talent at a premium in sectors from cybersecurity to AV/IT, hiring great employees is more challenging than ever. And the last thing any company wants to face is hiring someone who doesn't work out. After all, replacing an employee can cost as much as 6 to 9 months of that employee's annual salary.

Here are 5 hiring mistakes to make certain you avoid.

1. Chasing Perfection

All too often we see hiring managers clinging too tightly to their checklists. Of course, there are certain prerequisites of any position, but if you are too set on an ideal you run the very real risk of missing out on a truly great candidate.

Or perhaps you are set on the idea of what your team should look like, the hiring equivalent of choosing from a take-out menu: one from column A, two from column B, etc... But if you let go of pre-set ideals and consider candidates with diverse backgrounds and unexpected skills, you will enhance the team as a whole. An outsider's perspective can be refreshing and add the kind of new energy and boost your need to move the needle higher.

Remember: working with people who are different from us makes us more creative, more diligent and harder-working.

2.  Not Truly Knowing The Job

It's one thing to know what function you're hiring someone for, but it's another thing to really understanding how the role functions on a day-to-day basis.

One of the best tools at your disposal to understand any given role on your team is the exit interview. And while that might sound counterintuitive, it makes perfect sense. After all, what better way to understand what works and what doesn't than to hear from people who are on their way out?

Yes, certainly there will be those employees whose opinion you will have to take with a grain of salt, but if you take care to ask the right questions and really listen to the answers you receive, you stand to learn an awful lot about the job you are now faced with filling.

So before you go into interviews to fill a role, take the time to talk to the people who have done the job. If you do, you'll not only be able to represent the position accurately, but it will also help you look for the candidate best suited to do the job.

3. Forgetting That Time Truly Is Of The Essence

Every search has its own parameters. Some jobs demand to cast a wide net due to location, skillset or competition for talent. Others need to be filled as quickly as possible in order to ensure that critical concerns are handled. But no matter the extenuating circumstances your company needs to have an established hiring protocol.

While it may seem an obvious system to have in place, too many companies do not have clear hiring policies in place. But taking the time to build a set of protocols not only makes it easier for your hiring managers, but it also sends a stronger message to candidates that you are a desirable company to work for.

In terms of how long you should spend on a search, that will depend on the job you're filling. But take care to never allow the process to go on for too long, otherwise, candidates will either lose interest, continue to take meetings at other companies, or decide you are not interested in them and take themselves out of the running.

4. Trying To Get Away With Less

Trying to undercut the competition might look good on paper, but it will not help you to attract top talent. If you're offering compensation that is not in line with your sector you are not only going to be less appealing to candidates but you're also selling yourself short.

The best guideline to follow is a candidate's current compensation package. If you are not able to meet what they are currently making or beat it, adjust the candidates you are considering. Otherwise, you'll just be wasting your time as well as the candidates.

5. Forgetting You're Also Selling

It's easy to forget that while you're vetting a candidate, they too are interviewing you. They're looking to see if your company supports a culture where they'll feel at ease, supported and can foresee an upward path for themselves. Since more of our time is spent at work than at home with friends and family, the contemporary worker wants to know that they'll be spending their time somewhere they'll feel valued.

Just as college recruiters have become marketing machines, pitching students why they're the best choice for their education, you too have to sell candidates on why your position is the one that they should take.


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Tags: HR and Hiring

5 Pro Tips for Recruiting Top Talent

Posted by Glenda Gregorio on Wed, Nov 20, 2019 @ 08:45 AM

5 Tips

Every company wants to hire the best, most dynamic and highest performing talent they can. But when unemployment is hovering around 5% and the IT sector is in a growth phase as it now, you have to make sure you are on top of your game if you want to attract top talent. Candidates have lots of options available to them, and you have to make sure that you stand out from your competition. So, how can you improve your hiring strategy to attract top candidates?

Check out these 5 ways to attract top talent for your openings!

Turn Job Descriptions into Stories

A good job description needs to tell a story. Savvy candidates are looking for more information than the standard listings of responsibilities, they want some insight into the heart of the company. Use words that evoke emotion, not corporate jargon. Appeal to the candidate’s desire to connect with their employer, to be a part of a culture they can believe in, and not just punch the nine to five. You must think like the candidate. Remember, your job description is as much a sales pitch as your marketing materials are.

Define Exceptional Performance not an Exceptional Person

Many hiring managers think they should only be looking at candidates that meet each and every one of the listed job qualifications. But by doing so, are you limiting yourself by looking through too small of a looking glass? It is crucial to widen your scope and avoid overvaluing your hiring checklist. You need to focus on the abilities and past performance of the individual, and how these correlate with the position you are looking to fill. Remember, that the candidate who meets all your desired traits may not necessarily mean that they’re the best match for your open position or your company.  

Refer to Your Network

You’ve built a large network of connections, and now is the time to make it work for you. Post job openings within LinkedIn groups and keep your eyes open for interesting prospects at conferences and events. You should be looking for top talent wherever you go. But, most importantly, if you aren’t already doing so, you should be working with a recruiter. Recruiters offer specialized experience and a database of contacts in your industry.

Streamline the Hiring Process

It’s a seller’s market. The last thing you want to do is deter candidates with a difficult hiring process. Job candidates, especially the top 25%, know their worth and they know there are many opportunities available for them. So, if your company takes too long to respond, or the application process is too difficult, candidates will most likely move on to the next opportunity. It is crucial to maximizing the candidates’ experiences throughout the entire hiring process by making the process faster and easier.

Show Off Your Company’s Value

An interview is as much for the candidate’s benefit as for yours- they’re weighing the benefits of working for you against other potential employers. Compensation, company culture, available training and opportunities for advancement are important to potential candidates. You want to show off the perks that your company offers to employees. Define the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) to capture the attention of top talent.


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Tags: HR and Hiring

To Hire The Right Candidate, You Need To Do This First

Posted by Dylan Rivera on Fri, Nov 15, 2019 @ 08:45 AM

How to Hire the Right Candidate

Hiring managers know that filling vacancies can be time-consuming. Reading through resumes, conducting phone interviews, and vetting potential candidates can end up taking you away from your other responsibilities.

But taking the time to get the job done right from the very beginning, even before you start collecting resumes, can end up saving you time, money, and headaches. Spare yourself the struggle and do it right the first time.

Here are some important aspects to consider before you start seeing candidates for an opening.

Understand The Company

Let your mission statement be your guide to success!

A well-crafted mission statement, one that reveals the character of your company is one of the best ways to attract desirable candidates. Make sure that the key qualities that your company values are easily identifiable in all of your materials. If a company’s main focus is “Going Green” and the potential candidate disregards the practice of taking care of the environment, then maybe they're not the best pick for the position. When interviewing a candidate, ask how their personal goals intersect with the company’s goals. If both are in alignment, you could have a very good match on your hands.

Understand the Role

Before the interview process, it's important that you understand the open position and obligations that are embedded within it. Any vacancies should be thoroughly explored before you hand a job description off to human resources. Discover faults or pain points in the role. Find out why the position requires certain specifications.

A study from the National Business Research Institute has shown the two leading factors that attribute to a failed hire are poor skills match and unclear performance objectives.

This isn't to say that you need your human resources department to become experts on all company roles. However, you do want them to be familiar with the tasks that are performed during an average day, so the filtering process can run at a much more efficient pace. Putting yourself in the shoes of the candidate could further help your search to find the most qualified employee.

Also, take the time to understand why this certain position was left vacant. See if you can look through old employee concerns and reports. If you can assign a problem, then you can apply a solution. 

Now, Take Your Time (But Not Too Much Time)

Hiring managers need to strike a balance between finding qualified candidates and doing so in an efficient and respectable amount of time. Taking too long to close a hire can result in the loss of a worthy applicant, and rushing the process can lead to a bad match. According to the National Business Research Institute,  43% of employers cited that filling vacant positions in a limited amount of time resulted in unfit and unqualified hires.

You can think of the hiring process as oddly similar to the dating game. In a technical aspect, two parties engage, shape a bond, and establish goals that pursue together. When a company hires someone, they are granting them access to numerous resources and assets. An unsuccessful match can result in loss of time, money, and in some cases, can lead to security vulnerabilities.

Having to refill a position after a failed hire is a time consuming and costly endeavor. Find your balance and place the right candidate the first time.  


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Tags: Job Interviews, HR and Hiring, recruiting

Cyber security Sales Engineers Are in High Demand

Posted by Alysa Wishingrad on Tue, Jul 23, 2019 @ 02:31 PM

Cyber Sales Engineers are in High Demand.png

  

“There is a zero-percent unemployment rate in cybersecurity and the opportunities in this field are endless” - Robert Herjavec, CEO at Herjavec Group

 

Cybersecurity Ventures predicts there will be 3.5 million unfulfilled job positions by the year 2025. Due to the dramatic rise of cybercrime, the malicious malware epidemic, and the increasing amount of severity attacks on consumers, businesses, and government institutions; cyber security is predicted to cost trillions of dollars annually by 2025.

 

In essence, bad news for the security of our information is good news for sales engineer employment. And where there's a boom, there's a demand for talent. One field that's feeling the full effects of this expansion is cybersecurity sales engineers.

Cyber Security Sales Salary

With an increase in cyber security sales engineers, demand comes an increase in salary range. In 2022, the average American Cyber Security Sales Engineer's salary was between $80-$150K, with experienced professionals averaging over $120K. And in an environment where talent is at a premium, and the demand is outpacing the supply; candidates who are in the job market often are fielding competing offers, as well as counter-offers from their current employers.

Cyber Security Sales Engineer Path

What the increase of hiring means is, if you're in cyber security presales, you have the opportunity to exercise agency over your career by taking the offers that you feel stand to most enrich and add value to your career trajectory.

Hiring Managers

If you're a hiring manager charged with hiring cyber sales engineers, you already know that the competition for talent is fierce. You also know that you might have to push your budget to get the level of talent you need to keep your company's and/or your customer's data safe. And you probably also understand there's tremendous value in interviewing candidates even when you don't have an immediate opening. But there are a few other key issues to keep in mind.

Lose the Checklist

When you're faced with a competitive market and top talent comes at a premium, you have to be willing to look beyond your checklist. The best candidate may not carry all the certifications you want to see, or they might carry ones you never considered important. They might come from a different sector or not have the years experience you're looking for, but the overabundance of open cyber security sales engineer jobs needs to be filled. This means that you need to develop a technique for evaluating the kinds of non-technical skill sets that will stand you in good stead when making a hiring decision.  

Understand the Power of Soft Skills

As the bridge between the technology and the customer, a sales engineer's ability to manage and communicate effectively with customers needs to be a prime consideration. Since they are in daily contact with customers, they are your eyes and ears in the field, and having someone who is an agile communicator of human experience (as well as technical expertise) is invaluable to you. While you will directly experience a candidate's interpersonal aptitude in an interview, you can also ascertain the nature and extent of their skills by having them complete a respected psychometric exam like the O.C.E.A.N./Big 5 personality indicator.   

Hone Your Game

And speaking of soft skills, in order to attract the best talent, you need to have a company culture in place that both values and invests in their employees. We already know that the best retention and recruiting tool is to make employees and candidates feel valued. Determine what your ideal candidate would need in order to feel like a valued member of your team and actively develop those aspects of your business. Always keep in mind that--now more than ever--the proverbial "ball" is in candidates' courts. Top talent will carefully weigh the prospect of working on your team against that of working for your competitors.  

 

When you're hunting for top talent in a crowded field, always make sure that you have the best position on offer.

 

Looking for a cyber security sales engineer to join your sales team? Click Here, and a recruiter will reach out to you within 24 hours.

 

Are you looking for an account manager, pre-sales, post-sales, systems engineer, sales executive, sales manager, solutions engineering, or either security systems or security services position? Click Here and search our current openings!

 

Talk to us today!

 

 

 

Tags: HR and Hiring, cyber-security, cybersecurity

3 Recruiting Models: How To Get The Best Fit For You

Posted by Alysa Wishingrad on Tue, Jul 23, 2019 @ 12:00 PM

Is the Hybrid Recruiting Model right for your business

You contract an executive recruiting firm for the benefit of their expertise with top talent and the quality of their relationships. You know working with recruiters may cost you more than your in-house HR department, but they're worth the price. But, just as there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all hiring practices, there isn’t just one engagement model.

Knowing the difference between contingency search, retained search and the new, innovative option known as the hybrid recruiting model, can mean the difference between making the right hire and losing time and money on an unproductive search.

3 Recruiting Models

CONTINGENCY SEARCH

You're No-Risk Option.

Signing a letter of agreement for a contingency search is binding only IF the search results in a hire. Yes, you’ll have agreed to a percentage of the closing salary, but if the recruiters don’t bring you the A-level talent you’re seeking, then the search doesn't cost you anything. You’re not bound by an exclusivity agreement and can work with multiple search firms at once. And most firms offer a guarantee period, anywhere from 30-90 days. The recruiters carry all the risk- if they don’t deliver, you don’t pay.

But Nothing Is Truly Free.

The contingency recruiter search process can often be costlier, carrying higher percentage fees. And what you might not get is fully-dedicated resources or the full force of the search team’s focus to fill your positions. With no guarantee of payment, a contingency search firms will only dedicate so much of their time and resources to your search.

RETAINED SEARCH

We’re There For You.

There are some hires, such as C-level suite and marketing manager level positions, that are just too important to leave to chance. You need a focused search dedicated to building your team. When you engage a recruiter in a retained search, they’ll be looking not only for the candidates with the right resumes, but also mining for hidden talent -- candidates who are primed to take on new challenges but may fly under the radar. This is where the recruiter’s reach and relationships come into play. You get all their time and attention focused on your search by paying them an exclusive, pre-determined percentage of the final salary. Usually payable in three installments (1/3 at the time of engagement, 1/3 at an agreed-upon point in the middle of the process, and the last installment rounded out based on the actual salary). With a retained search consultant model, you know your money is hard at work for you.

What Will It Cost You?

Retained searches are structured to mitigate the risk for both you and the recruiter. However, in the event that the search does not end in a successful hire for either internal or external reasons, that first 1/3 of the fee is non-recoverable - though many firms will apply it to a future search. This is the time to work with a search firm whom you trust and who has a solid, long-standing reputation in your business sector.

THE HYBRID RECRUITING MODEL

Quality Service At A Discount.

You need quality talent, and you need it fast, but you’re not looking to pay premium recruiting fees. You may be a start-up needing to fill out staff, or an established firm looking to test the waters with a new recruiter. Either way, the Hybrid model may be the perfect solution for your staffing needs. You’ll pay an engagement fee, but in exchange for a small outlay at the beginning, you’ll get treated like a retained client AND you’ll pay a discounted rate. The upfront fee is deductible from the final percentage based on starting salary. Think of it as a down payment. Recruiters like it because they get a targeted search that’s more than likely to end in a hire, and you get exclusive service at a discount.

Is There A Downside?

Sure there is, but it’s pretty slim for you. The only way your engagement fee won’t go to work for you is if the recruiting firm can’t fill any of your staffing needs within the agreed-upon specified time, and even then the fee can be applied to a future search.

There are, of course, other models for engagement, solutions that are tailored to special needs, such as filling out a new branch or for contracting short-term hires. If you find yourself faced with one of these situations, talk to your recruiter and explore what works best for you.


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Tags: HR and Hiring, recruiting