Where have all the good sales people gone?

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With new financial year rapidly approaching, growth plans and sales revenue are high on everyone’s agenda. In order to grow sales and meet new financial goals, many organisations are focused on hiring and developing new sales staff for the new financial year.

Organisations report a multitude of challenges when recruiting new sales people, and with a typically higher turnover in the sales department than elsewhere in the business, managers and business owners can find it tough to build and maintain a strong sales presence.

In most organisations, 80% of the sales seems to come from 20% – 30% of the sales force, and while its seems like the answer is to simply recruit more top performing sales people, smaller to medium sized organisations often have difficulties attracting and targeting their marketing efforts towards high calibre candidates.

So how can your organisation attract the best sales talent in your industry?

  1. Financial rewards are only a small part of an attraction strategy. Often organisations report that they can’t compete with the salaries that are being offered by the big players in their industry. While we all know that the typical sales profile shows that financial incentives are a high motivating factor for sales individuals, other factors such as company wide recognition, company culture and flexible working hours/work life balance can be used to assist in the attraction and retention of high performing sales people.
  2. Broaden your advertising and talent pool. Placing an advert on a generalist job board like Seek or a local print ad, won’t necessarily reach your target candidates. Employment Office advises our clients to think outside of the box when recruiting for top sales talent. Our campaigns regularly consist of generalist advertising, social media strategy including LinkedIn, print advertising and industry niche advertising to get in front of the right market for your position.
  3. Ask yourself – are you hiring on experience or behaviour? We all know the personality elements that can help identify a strong sales person, buzz words like driven, hungry and competitive always spring to mind. However, often times when making the hiring decision, experience is weighted more favourably than behaviour factors, even though it’s an individual’s attitude and motivation that ultimately leads to their success. The use of recruitment assessment tools like behavioural tests, group assessment days, role plays and more, can help you identify individuals with the right behavioural skills

Healthier, fitter and happier employees

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Like many developed nations, Australia is currently witnessing a significant increase in the burden of chronic disease. A 2010 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report found that 96% of working-age Australians had at least one chronic disease risk factor and 72% had multiple risk factors.

With most Australians spending about one third of their lives at work, health bodies such as the World Health Organisation have recognised the workplace as a priority setting for promoting health and wellbeing. Workplace health and wellbeing programs not only have real potential to positively influence the health of our workforce, they also make good business sense – increasing employee engagement and team cohesiveness in the short-term, and leading to reduced absenteeism, increased productivity and improved corporate image in the longer term.

The business advantages of having fitter, healthier and happier employees on the payroll are many and varied, including:

  • Increased productivity
  • Better staff decision making
  • Reduced sick leave and absenteeism
  • Reduced long-term health problems
  • Reduced worker turnover
  • Increased ability to attract and retain new employees

Tour de Office

In 10 weeks time a number of Australian companies are promoting a healthy workplace by taking part in Tour de Office. Tour de Office is an office- based cycling challenge that enables companies all around Australia to raise funds for their chosen charity. This unique event focuses on not only making a significant contribution to a worthy cause, but also promoting a healthy and active attitude in the workplace.

After two fantastic events, Tour de Office is now in its third year and we’re continuing to spread the word, inviting other organisations to get involved and promote a healthy and active lifestyle in their workplace. Tour de Office has proven it’s not a traditional fundraising event but instead offers an alternative way to get employees moving, promote physically activity, and increase donations for beneficiaries.

It’s not too late to sign up and get involved, as Tour De Office is a ready-made initiative that can be implemented in virtually any organisation with minimum fuss.

Get your employees pedalling

Anyone can participate in this fun and exciting event. A number of stationary bikes will be set up in offices across Australia and the entire event will be streamed live via webcam to www.tourdeoffice.com so friends, family, colleagues and sponsors can watch.

With just 10 weeks to go until Tour de Office 2013 this is your opportunity to sign up and get your employees in shape!

For a single payment of $5000 you will be supplied with: 

  • A medium sized road bike valued at $1500
  • 1 x laptop – so you have a single resource dedicated to maintaining your online presence
  • 1 x wind trainer and data capture equipment – to track how far your team rides
  • 1 x high quality webcam – so everyone can watch the event online
  • Your unique webpage to host your live video feed, publish your fundraising total and riding distance stats, and give information about your organisation and riders.
  • Full IT support for the set up and duration of the event
  • Promotional, communications and marketing activities and support for the pre-event, event duration and post event stages.

The return of the Baby Boomer

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The return of the Baby Boomer – Why organisations are tapping into this booming resource.

It’s no secret that an aging population means that there are skill shortages becoming increasingly prevalent across most industries, with the community and health sectors the hardest hit. While there has been a demonstrated effort to recruit and train the next generation into these areas, it leaves a large gap in experience that needs to be filled right now.

The obvious answer to this shortage is to continue to hire and to keep older and more experienced staff on for longer. Organisations are starting to see the reward of attracting these older staff members who not only have their years of experience to offer, but also provide stability and maturity to a role.

The demographic balance of people coming into the workforce verses people reaching what is traditionally considered retirement age is shifting, and at a drastic rate. The amount of people just in Australia who are now in the over 65 bracket is growing by about 130,000 people a year, compared to an annual growth of 50,000 in the past 20 years. (Adelaide Now, Feb 2013)

Baby Boomers are the first generation who have a new “third age”, with a much longer and healthier life expectancy than ever before. They have worked tirelessly to generate a body of knowledge to continue to educate the younger generations, and although some may be ready to ease into retirement, there are plenty more out there who want to keep working, be it for financial reasons, or even just wanting to stay active and involved for longer.

Ian Yates, Chief Executive of the Council on the Aging (COTA), said, “The cultural mythology of workers and employers mutually agreeing to a retirement in their 60s should be abandoned. The employee doesn’t realise what they are giving up, and the employer doesn’t realise what they are going to miss as that experienced worker walks out that door”. (COTA, May 2013)

While employers may not be able to offer lucrative salaries, it is becoming clear that what the Baby Boomers really want is flexibility. Having dedicated their lives to their jobs for so long, they now want to spend some of their time with their family, their grandchildren, seeing the world – all the things they didn’t do before they began their careers.

“At present, too many well qualified people find it difficult to find or retain work as they get older. We’ll likely see this situation reverse in the coming years – with clever employers recruiting mature workers on a flexible hours basis to ensure they have the skilled workforce they need.” Ian Yates (COTA, Feb 2013)

So what can employers do to attract these staff that can already do the job while bringing a wealth of knowledge? The key to is offering flexible working hours, maybe that means finishing at 3pm so they can pick up their grandchildren from school, maybe it means offering the role in a part time capacity. If you can be flexible to the needs of this generation, you will be vastly rewarded with experience, maturity and loyalty.

Lie on your resume and you could be slapped with a $5,000 fine

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Job seekers be warned.  It’s now more than your reputation on the line when you lie on your CV, with some employers enforcing hefty penalties for providing false and misleading information when applying for a job.

In an effort to crack down on the estimated 25% of applicants guilty of including embellishments and falsehoods in CVs, some employers are establishing fines and penalties when candidates are untruthful.

Local councils are among a growing number of employers who have had enough. In particular, Western Australia’s Local Government (Administration) Regulations have provided the state’s local governments with the authority to impose a $5,000 fine on applicants for CEO roles who provide false or misleading information about their qualifications in the application process.

Employment Office client Shire of Halls Creek, recently cited the legislation to deter any dodgy applications for their recently advertised CEO position.

Employment Office Managing Director Tudor Marsden-Huggins says a large percentage of CVs include some form of untruth, overstatement, omission of fact or inaccuracy, however the severity of the false information provided varies considerably.

“Sometimes it’s something relatively minor like changing the wording of a job title to make it closer to the role being applied for, but in other instances there are major discrepencies in the skills, experience and qualifications listed in the CV,” he said.

“We are seeing a steady rise in the number of employers requesting pre-employment screening, vetting and background checks to uncover any untruths.  Employers are definitely becoming more cautious about whom they hire, and with approximately a quarter of candidates putting false or misleading information in their applications, they have good reason to be wary,” he said.

Unreliable information in job applications often includes the embellishment of previous job titles and responsibilities, overstating the amount of time employed in previous roles and falsely claiming to have completed qualifications or educational courses that have only been partially undertaken.

It can cost a company anything from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars to hire a new employee.  For some high level positions, the on-boarding cost can even swell to over $50,000.  An initial investment in pre-employment checks can save employers from wasting their money, in both the initial hire and to hire a new candidate when the person’s deceit is uncovered.  It’s really no surprise that employers are taking action and looking to deter candidates from providing false information in their applications.

What candidates have to realise is that sooner or later, false information provided at the application stage will be tested against your practical skills and knowledge.  If an employer discovers you have lied to get the job, even months or years into the relationship, your employment can be terminated immediately.  Losing your job in these circumstances could damage your reputation irreparably, making it impossible to find work in your chosen field or location.

Even if your employer doesn’t fire you, you will still have to endure the embarrassment of your boss and possibly your colleagues knowing you lied.  In many cases this makes moving up the ladder exceeding difficult, and often the position can become untenable.

“The digital age we live in makes it relatively easy to dig up the truth about claims made by potential employees.  Considering the serious and far-reaching outcomes of lying to a new employer, it’s hard to believe anyone would take the risk, but more and more of our clients are concerned about the accuracy of candidate information, and want to safeguard themselves against it,” Marsden-Huggins said.

As a general rule, lying on your CV is not a criminal offence, however there are a few situations that could land you in hot water.  For example, it is fraud if you present false documents to back up claims of qualifications or educational standards.  It is also against the law to impersonate a doctor, a police officer, and various other occupations.

In one case, a worker in the UK received a six month suspended prison sentence for lying to her employer about having obtained a university degree, several college certificates and being part way through another course.  The worker was ordered to reimburse her employer for paying her fees and time off work to study for courses she was not attending.  She was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of community work.

CommSec Entrepreneurs – Tudor Marsden-Huggins

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Tudor Marsden-Huggins, Employment Office Founder and Managing Director being interviewed for CommSec’s Entrepreneurs series.

Employment Office began in 1999, starting with a simple but effective idea that streamlines the recruitment process, building clients a talent pool of candidates that can be simply and intelligently sorted using the latest technology.

The innovative idea was the brain child of Tudor Marsden-Huggins, who at the time was a business owner frustrated with the difficulties inherent in advertising for his own staff, versus the expense and lack of choice and control involved in using recruitment agencies. He and Susanne Mather formed a partnership to commercialise the concept and bring it to market and the company was incorporated as The Employment Office in March 2003.