How to Write a Job Description for Sales Candidates

- Hiring
- Hiring
Job postings are often boring, uninspired and even spammy, so they don’t attract the highest quality commission only sales reps. If you want to make it easier to recruit the right type of salespeople, you need to make sure you’re writing a job ad that will attract top talent.
We all know what a generic sales person job description looks like:
“Blue Widget Co is seeking motivated door to door salespeople in us in a fast-paced, challenging work environment. The ideal candidate will have strong interpersonal skills and work as part of a team. You will be expected to:
Etc.
Since you’re paying for your job ads, you want it to stand out as much as possible, and get high-quality sales candidates to contact you. Generic salesperson job postings do the opposite – They’re easily overlooked and fade into the background. How can you prevent that? It’s simple:
Some people think that a sales person job description and job adverts are the same thing and they can both help you hire sales people – They’re not. In our last article, we explained how to write a job description for the various sales rep roles in your business.
It’s important to understand that sales person job descriptions are an internal document. They’re designed to tell your sales reps what’s expected of them when they’re hired.
Time to Hire says: You shouldn’t copy the text from a sales person job description and use it “as is” for your salesperson job posting.
Instead, think of the job description as something you can use when writing a job ad. You’ll certainly want to refer to the main areas of the job description, but you’ll also want to tweak and refine the copy in your job description for sales candidates so it attracts the best commission only sales candidates.
Go through the sales person job description and copy the key areas you’ll need when writing the job ad. These are the qualities you actually want to hire salespeople for, and the skills, experience, and approach you want from the perfect candidate.
It’s vital to use the right language when you’re writing a job ad, here are some tips:
Don’t think that all sales job adverts have to be incredibly formal. When writing a job ad, don’t be afraid to inject some personality and maybe even a little humor into the writing. Think about the values and principles of your business and your salespeople – Try to bring these out in the job description for sales candidates.
Time to Hire says: Keeping this in mind when writing a salesperson job posting will help to make sure the people who apply like the tone and culture of your business.
At the top of your job advert, you’re going to describe the job role in terms of the one thing it does best. This should be focused on the value it adds to your sales business, and expressed in a simple, inspirational way. For example:
“If you know how to delight customers and keep them coming back, we want you to join us. As our Senior Customer Account Manager, you’re going to get to know our clients really well. You’ll use this knowledge, together with a bright, positive attitude, and your wide range of customer management skills to support them, every day.”
Here are some examples of “before” and “after” wordings from job adverts:
Don’t be afraid to use different types of headings in the advert. Instead of saying “Duties” and “Sales Skills,” you could say: “What you’ll be doing” and “What you’re good at.”
Use clear headings to break the job advert up into logical sections. Use short, simple, concise sentences to explain each area. Bullet points and numbered lists will make your ad easier to scan and understand.
Time to Hire says: Now you’re ready to post the advert on various job recruitment websites. Publish it, and get ready to hire.
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