Don't "Reach" When Sales Hiring Today
Record low unemployment levels have changed the face of recruiting & hiring.
With US unemployment levels holding at 3.5%, hiring has become a unique challenge for many home care and home health agencies. In most major markets, final candidates are showing up to interviews with 1,2 or more job offers in hand, and negotiating from a position of strength as never before. The past 18 months have driven up salaries in the home care sales space by 15-25% and they may not come back down anytime soon (or, any time at all).
The tendency in these situations is to try to get them before the other guy (or girl) does.....and make an offer before you're truly ready. After all, if someone else or 3 offered them a job, they must be good...right?
Not so fast.
In times like these, the most disciplined thing you can do is to stay disciplined to your hiring strategy.
Often that will mean letting a "good" candidate go take a higher offer because you weren't willing to reach for them. You might meet these candidates again on the other side, if their new role doesn't work out (often because THAT hiring manager reached for them). It's better to be patient in times of low supply and high demand. I know, it's easy to say and hard to do. When you have an open sales position the inclination is to fill it with someone, anyone, so that you can keep generating revenue. As we've discussed many times before, it's better to have no one, than the wrong one....because the wrong one can make it very difficult to win that account back in the future....long after they're gone.
On the other side, if you have a great sales team, be advised that recruiters are contacting them....constantly. They can't find many quality candidates on the open market so they are after YOUR team. In fact, your competitors are too. So, rather than pay the high price of turnover in the sales department, now might be a time to invest a little in your comp or bonus plan to make sure that your best people stay with you, and don't bother looking elsewhere.
If you need hiring help, I'm here to assist. Our hiring assistance programs will help you zero in on the people that can make a difference building your business.
Have a great week, and Good Selling!
Michael Giudicissi
