College Recruiting: Personal recruiting is used for recruiting graduates of educational institutions. Campus interviewing is often planned as a companywide affair, because this avoids much duplication of effort. Representatives of different departments do the interviewing, and the personnel department plans and coordinates the drive. In many companies an assistant sales manager shares the responsibility for interviewing students with the regional or district sales manager located nearest the specific campus. In other cases, home office sales executives rotate campus interviewing responsibilities among themselves; sometimes each returns annually to the same campuses, thus building long term relationships.
College recruiting requires thorough planning. Statements of trainee requirements should be mailed to college placement officers early, preferably no later than January. The list of colleges, based primarily upon past interviewing experience, is updated, and interview dates are requested. The best months for recruiting June graduates are February, March, and April and March is the most in demand. If the visit comes too late in the spring, interviewers find that many of the best qualified graduates have already taken jobs. After visiting dates have been confirmed, colleges are sent letters specifying such details as salary, the training program, and starting date of employment. Some recruiters also send copies of promotional materials, company histories, and application blanks.
College placement officers schedule a 20 to 30minute interview for each student. All interested students are granted interviews, the only screening device used. The most promising candidates are invited to company offices for follow up interviews. However, some campus interviewers have the authority to hire if it appears that promising candidates will be lost through delay.
Recruiting Direct to Consumer Sales Personnel: One situation where persona] recruiting sees widespread use in the direct to consumer selling industry, crowded with companies that have a difficult time recruiting sales personnel. The type of selling, unattractive to many people, and the uncertainty of earning result in high sales force turnover rates Experience has taught many of these companies that their best source of new salespeople is their own salespeople, so many (if not most) direct selling ,companies offer bonuses (sometimes referred to as “bounties”) for each new salesperson recruited.
Recruiting Consultants: In many cities, independent firms operate as specialists in recruiting sales personnel for client firms. These consultants maintain contacts with diverse local organizations (for example, schools, and churches, training specialists, salespersons’ dub8, veterans’ associations, and alumni associations) and have files identifying possible candidates for sales jobs. Some prescreen applicants through collecting personal histories, administering aptitude tests, and so on. Companies using recruiting consultants generally provide the appropriate job descriptions and job specifications. Sometimes, recruiting consultants are referred to as “headhunters,” though this usually implies that the consultant has been commissioned to locate top ranking executives.
Indirect Recruiting through Advertisement in Newspapers
City newspapers carry numerous advertisements publicizing openings for sales personnel. Such advertisements appear both in classified (wanted) sections and as display advertising. So great is the number of prospective job candidates reached by a single advertisement that companies often try to reduce the volume of applications. If the employer publishes details about the company and job, fewer obviously unqualified persons will reply. Specific job details vary with the company and its situations, and these should be in the ad if it is to attract good applicants. Some ads give the compensation range of successful company sales personnel. Others explain that the person selected is to replace a regular salesperson in an established territory with active accounts. Still others specify that only highly qualified professional salespeople need apply. Information of this sort helps to convince promising applicants that the opening is legitimate.
Most sales managers favor open over blind advertisements, although mixed practice exists. An open advertisement reveals the company identity; a blind advertisement hides company identity behind a “box number, c/o this publication.” The company name, if well known and respected, should be prominently featured to attract the best applicants.
Location of the advertisement in the publication is important. Newspaper advertisements on sports or financial pages are usually more productive but cost more per insertion than those in classified sections. Display ads on a sports page, for example, not only attract unemployed persons looking for work but employed ones who are not in the job market but who can be attracted by better jobs.
When direct to consumer sales organizations fail to recruit sufficient sales personnel through offering bonuses to their present salespeople, they general_ use direct mail recruiting, the mailing list often consisting of the names of former company sales personnel or names purchased from mailing list companies selling mailing lists. In addition, help wanted ads are placed in local newspapers or in publications such as Specialty Salesman. As a last resort, direct selling companies, especially those with field supervisors, use cold canvass recruiting in open territories.
Recruiting Brochure’s: Some companies distribute brochures outlining sales career opportunities to applicants answering recruiting advertisements, as well as those contacted through such centers of influence as career counselors in educational institutions. Effective brochures are written from the viewpoint of the prospective sales recruit.
Besides describing the company and its history, the brochure details the qualifications required for sales jobs, and the salesperson’s duties, responsibilities, and advancement opportunities. Short write ups on those who are and have been successful company salespeople are included. Effective brochures make liberal use of pictures, charts, diagrams, and other presentations few even give the telephone number of a “hot line” where the prospect can get more information.
