By Julie Ballard-Lebe, a 19 year veteran of CBS Television Stations and former Senior Vice President/Director of Sales managing 7 of their10 national sales offices. She's now running Ballard Executive Search in LA (www.BallardExecutiveSearch.com).
Yesterday, Julie discussed why hiring the best employees has to be the single most important and most challenging responsibility facing media sales management today and began her list of good tips in the process (08/07/06 RBR #152).
• Check the references provided: "Oh, I just love Sally...she e-mails me the inventory sheet and rate cards and lets me do whatever I want". OK...well that's one reference that speaks loud and clear. I don't think I'd hire this candidate as a salesperson and would hope that she stays put at the competition. But then you have another client that says "Oh, Jane. She's OK I suppose, not my favorite...she stops by my office to see me regularly and tries to sell me new opportunities on her stations"...now that's someone I want to take a serious look at.
• Keep your mind open and do not jump to any conclusions of who you will be hiring until you've seen every candidate. More times then not, I think I've got it all mapped out of who I'm going to hire and wham a new last minute candidate surfaces that would make a very interesting hire. What you do not want to do is ever give the indication that you will offer the job to anyone, no matter how perfect you think they are for the job, until after you've checked out their references thoroughly and you've seen all of your candidates.
• The candidate's follow-through is key. You never want to "sell" anyone into taking a job. Not following up after the interview says one or two things: either they are not interested in the job or they don't have the professionalism you're looking for.
• Look for honesty and integrity. This hire represents you and your company. No matter how qualified the candidate is, if you sense for a single moment that you're getting "salesspeak" and not an open and honest dialog, then move on. This person is not the right choice. Asking the candidate what their weaknesses are can be an enlightening question.
It's not IF you're going to find out what the candidate's weaknesses are it's WHEN. I respect a candidate that is forthright and speaks honestly about what their true weaknesses are versus the ones that are trying to blow smoke up my skirt.
• Don't feel like you have to rush and hire someone. Take your time and make the right decision because you will end up paying for it dearly trying to correct your rushed mistake.
• Don't get cocky! Like clockwork, if I take any short cuts or don't conduct a thorough reference search (of my contacts, not necessarily theirs) wham...I've ended up making a bad hire. It never fails. Great hires don't fall from the sky and just land on your doorstep. Like the old saying goes: "if something seems too good to be true"...it usually is just that...not true.
• "I have several good choices. Which one do I choose?" The answer is right there inside of you. What I do in this case is leave the office with my notes from each interview and my pages of reference comments.
I write the reasons why I should hire the person and the reasons why not for each of the finalists. Your instincts will guide you if you are 100% honest with yourself and you listened for all of those "clues".
Tomorrow: People drop clues. It's up to you to pick them up and listen to them.
