Tom shares that as a manager, if you work in a company with resources to help you hire, you have to take advantage of it but make sure they are working with you to source your ideal candidates. If you are receiving the wrong types of candidates, work with them to refine their processes.
As a manager in a smaller organisation, you may have the mandate to source candidates.
Alongside his "student mentality" trait, Tom shared what other characteristics he looks for when hiring salespeople:
1) Optimism: Since sales is a challenging role with a lot of rejection, you must find a candidate who's optimistic, positive and can look at a situation with a glass half full approach.
2) Work Ethic: You need to be self-motivated to work in sales, similar to managing your own business. You need to put in the work to be successful.
3) Resilience: Resilience is key to success in a sales role. You must be able to pick yourself back up not only when you have a bad day but even if you've missed a month's targets or missed out on a promotion.
4) Team Player: A lone wolf that delivers results will not fit well within the team culture Tom likes to build regardless of their individual talent.
To identify whether an individual has a trait, Tom recommends asking them interview questions that prompt them to tell a story whereby they have demonstrated the trait in the past. You can then examine this story and understand if it was a good reflection of the trait you are looking for.
To assess candidates, you can make a grid of your required skills and behaviours and assign each one a score based on their answers to your questions. Ultimately, you will have an overall skill score and behaviour for each candidate that you can use to compare with the perception of other interviewers.
Check out the full Masterclass at - https://10xmanagers.com/mii-view/tom-love
