The recruitment process varies from organisation to organisation based on their size, requirement and departmental structure. Companies with small workforce does not have an HR department and is solely dependent on the external sources for recruiting the sales personnel but if they are a large scale company then they have a proper personnel department for hiring and screening of the candidates. When hiring sales personnel, the process becomes quite different from what it is for hiring other employees. The shiny resume and 9 CGPA mark sheet does not makes you capable of being a sales person, you have got to require skills of selling the product which can only be measured personally, in the screening process.
There are two types of recruitment process- Internal and External. The internal recruitment means hiring employees from within the organisation or the source of hiring can be internal. This helps to eliminate few steps in recruitment procedure such as documentation and the company is well versed with the candidate. External recruitment means hiring employees outside the organisation by using external sources. This is done when the company is expanding or want more capable employees.
Methods of Internal Source:
- Recommendation from company’s sales personnel
Salespersons have a wide circle of acquaintances as they meet a lot of people on and off the job and they know more people that belong to similar field. They are the best source for recruitment as they know about the company’s requirement and policies. Their recommendations are considered to be trustworthy as they are the loyal employees of the company and many of their contacts have lot of potential. The recommendation from existing employees turns out to be valuable when recruiting sales person for smaller towns and outskirt areas as they have more knowledge about the personnel than the recruiting department. - Recommendation from sales executive
Sales executive supervises the sales person under him/her knowing their capabilities very well. They turn out to be a valuable source for the company as they know the requirements of the company and thus can recommend the sales person for higher position according to his capability. This is done when there is promotion in the organisation and at that time sales executive’s suggestion becomes crucial. - Transfer
When an employee working in another department wants to move into the sales department because of his change of interest and he is also capable of selling, then the transfer takes place from one department to another. This is a very useful method as it does not require documentation and employee orientation procedures as the employee is already well versed with the company and the company also knows the conduct of the employee.
Methods of External Sources:
- Direct Applications
Every company receive applications or some people walks-in in search of job vacancies. In such cases if companies has vacancy then only they go through the applications otherwise they store it for future reference. The recruiter sometimes does immediate hiring appreciating the initiation of coming forward and seeking the job which is ultimately selling themselves. The main intention behind this type of recruitment is to see the calibre of the candidate and whether he/she is meeting their requirements. While for other jobs, the direct applications are mostly rejected because they think the source is low but this is best for hiring sales person. - Advertisements
This is a very common practice where job-givers publish an advertisement in print or hoardings, highlighting their job requirements and skills. The candidates are require to mail in their resumes and after that they are being shortlisted and called for an interview. There are chances of receiving phoney applications so sometimes it becomes time consuming and tiring while short listing from the thousands of applications. - Employment Exchange
The company hires an agency that bridges the gap between job-givers and job seekers. The agency already has a data of jobseekers and as soon as they receive the vacancies, they recommend the candidates according to their skills which match the requirements of the company. The job seekers register themselves with the company and in return the company charges a nominal fee from both the company and the candidate. - Educational institutions
This source includes B-schools, universities and colleges who organises a campus placement programme where different companies visit the institutions and their graduates apply for the given posts. This is quite a valuable source as they get fresher directly out from college who will be more enthusiastic to work as compared to experienced personnel. - Web Recruitment
Candidates register themselves on various online recruitment portals and they get a regular update about the vacancies of their desired role in different companies. As the technology has evolved so much, in spite of registering themselves with an agency most of the candidate uploads their resume on these portals and the recruiters can directly communicate with candidate instead of any third party involvement. Nowadays, companies update their job requirement on their social media handles or on their website which becomes more reliable. - Recommendations from customer
There are cases when the company’s customer suggests their employee for the given role after they have reached their ultimate potential in their company. The customer recommends their trustworthy salesperson to a better company which also boost the morale of other employees to give their best and earn recommendations.
