Jim MiltonEnterprise sales reps are hard to hire. I’m going to give a sample of the job interview questions SmartRecruiters asks it enterprise sales reps so you can apply them to your own hiring process.
1. This position is about wreaking competitive havoc in an industry that is in flux; where customers are miserable and desperate for change. How would you see yourself adding to the fire and passion of our team, which is on a quest to disrupt a market while making hiring dramatically easier for everyone – including candidates, hiring managers, and recruiters?
2. We aim to replace the 1st generation of entrenched applicant tracking vendors while “leap-frogging” 2nd-generation vendors that represent only slightly cleaned up versions of the traditional ATS. How would you approach educating prospective customers on how SmartRecruiters is unique and better than other solutions?
3. Sometimes our customers come to us with a set of ATS requirements (e.g., an ATS RFP), but need help re-imagining their needs in light of new capabilities offered by a “Post-ATS,” next-generation platform like SmartRecruiters. How would you gain enough trust with a prospect such that she or he would feel comfortable partnering to reshape their requirements?
4. Why will you, given your background, experience, personality, etc., be successful in partnering with recruitment and human resources professionals?
5. What types of tangible success and value would you help create for your SmartRecruiters customers in HR and recruitment? What type of value and ROI do you think SmartRecruiters yields?
6. I’ve been imagining, building, marketing, and selling recruitment technology for 8 years and have consistently achieved success for my customers and for the companies I’ve worked for. Tell me about your track record of excellence and about key wins in your career.
7. How will you approach your first 30 days on the job?
8. How do you measure personal success in a sales role?
9. What do you need from your managers and colleagues to be successful in a sales role?
10. In your own words, tell me why you are awesome.
Bring your whole heart, your whole head, and your whole winning history to the conversation. Be yourself, and we’ll figure out together if we are each others’ kind of awesome.
Lee Ann Prescott
