However, graduate vacancies require a host of more complex questions to be asked; there is no guarantee that a person with a degree qualification has the necessary tools to succeed in the role, purely because they have a degree.
The ability to deliver results is the key decision maker in deciding whether someone is suitable to fill a vacancy or not. Transferrable skills or experience might be enough to justify employment. However, in my experience there have been countless examples of people with apparently all the desirable qualities, who simply don’t perform in graduate vacancies.
To succeed in a graduate vacancy, there needs to be a level of motivation which enables the person to achieve targets on a regular basis. Many people may appear to have the attributes of a good salesperson, but simply lack discipline and desire to consistently hit targets. The answer to how soon a person will get ‘bored’ of the position relates to invisible factors from their past and present. Divorce, bereavement, health issues, personal issues are all common causes of demoralisation.
The first rule of recruitment is that the past affects the future. For example, if an individual has had a number of sales jobs lasting no more than 3 years each, then the odds are that you’ll be employing them for the same amount of time. The crucial question here is that does 3 years of employment justify you recruiting them?
Filling graduate vacancies with the best suited staff is very tricky if you lack have sales experience yourself. You might be an expert in your field, and have set up a business using your skills, but to expand you need someone to sell your product or service. It’s a crucial investment that needs to succeed, but how can you be positive about getting it right. Many graduates are often outgoing persuasive people. I have seen many a sweet talker full of hot air and utterly lacking in substance. It is imperative that you must stick to sound basic principles.
Make sure you understand what you need in an employee. Look at the problem from all angles and make a description of the perfect person you would like for the role. Think about their personal characteristics, basic experience, time management skills etc. It is important to almost be scientific in your approach to filling a graduate vacancy: you have your aim, your job and person specifications and you know what results and conclusions you want. You need to probe for evidence that the person has the characteristics or experience you need. Get to know the person as best as you can. See if you can find out if they grind out results when the going gets tough, or if they balk at a challenge. Dig for information to see if they are honest and have achieved what they are telling you. And most importantly search for information that shows if they are winners, a salesperson with a winning mentality is priceless in a graduate vacancy.
