AA-ISP Boston chapter had a fun event last night at Workable about Hiring, Recruiting, Onboarding & Retention. 

These were some of my favorite takeaways from the speakers: 

Rachel Bates (Workable)

Rachel shared some of her favorite questions to ask a candidate, like:

“What’s your favorite part of the sales funnel?”  

This gives you insight on if the candidate leans towards generating pipeline, building relationships, or engaging in complex closing activities. 

Another great tip is to make note of the questions the candidate asks you in return.

Are the questions seemingly canned? Or was it a nice follow up to something you were discussing? This can give you a sense of how well the candidate listens and reacts to the conversation, both of which are very important in a sales role.

Lori Richardson (ScoreMoreSales)

Lori talked about how pre-hire assessments can make hiring practices more standardized and objective.

The key is to do the assessment as early in the process as possible.  Don’t wait until you have your final two or three candidates, run all applicants through the assessment.  There are a lot of great 3rd party tools that can help you get started.

I noticed that led to a lot of talk about the success people have had with The Predictive Index.

Gail Milton ( The Bridge Group)

Gail walked through how to properly onboard new hires. We all joked about how most of our experiences with onboarding (if there even was such a program) felt like an afterthought.

Onboarding should be carefully planned and calendar-driven. You need to engage with leaders early and mentors early.  No one likes to be surprised with last-minute shadow duty.

The final tip, be sure to schedule daily debriefs with the new hire and make yourself accountable for the candidate’s success.

Carole Mahoney ( Unbound Growth)

Carole covered how coaching should be a part of the process on Day Zero. That means you should start coaching in the interview process.

Have the candidate present on a topic.  Give them feedback and have them immediately present again.  This is a great way to evaluate the coachability of the candidate.

Continuous coaching is the best way to tap into the full potential of your new hire.

Jaime Diglio ( SomethingNew LLC)

Jaime shared how you must always be working to retain your talent. Don’t forget, it’s a “candidate” friendly environment out there.

A great way to do this is to make goals specific to the individual not just for based on the role.  You can do this by asking:

“How much money do you want to make this year?”

Try to get into the detail on WHY your employee is reaching for that goal. To pay for college tuition? Take a dream vacation? Purchase a new house?

These are the motivations that make a goal personal rather than something that’s just passed down onto them.