Recruiting the best sales people is like cooking Sunday lunch

Hiring superior sales people is a little bit like cooking Sunday lunch. Most housewives prefer eager assistants to disappear so they can get on with the job.

They know that too many people involved in doing an important job, can end up in confusion, miss-communication and possibly, disaster.

Likewise, studies have shown that once the number of people in the interviewing and hiring process exceeds three, the probability of a bad hire is greater.

There are many reasons for companies getting too many decision makers involved in recruitment.

Sometimes it’s political. Sometimes it’s practical. Often, they want to spread the risk of decision-making.

But better hiring decisions would be made more consistently if only a small number of people (In my view, 2 is optimum) manage the process objectively.

This is down to the confused objectives of having too many or inappropriate decision makers.

Having the wrong people in the decision making process is equally as risky as having too many people involved.

Most managers will claim that hiring good people is the second or third most important function they have, right behind making a profit.

So why delegate screening or interviewing of candidates to subordinates who have no real understanding of the organisation’s needs, or subordinates with hidden agendas? If hiring is one of a manager’s most important functions, he or she should take the time and make the effort to do the whole job from start to finish. How can they afford not to?

When a hiring decision needs to be made, make sure that whoever is involved in the selection decision share the same objectives. This is not the time to get people involved who may be feeling disgruntled or challenged in their jobs.

Choose the interviewers wisely, make sure that they all agree and understand the importance of getting the best person possible for the job, and keep the process tight to make sure everyone in the process works together to achieve the same objective.

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