A strong work ethic is a necessity in order to be successful in enterprise software sales. Sales professionals must be able work unsupervised, they must be willing to do what it takes to close deals, and they must be able to take charge of reaching their goals. In an interview, it can be difficult for hiring managers to gage these intangible qualities in sales candidates. After all, anybody can rehearse canned answers to interview questions.
If you’re looking to evaluate work ethic, you have to adjust your interview questions accordingly. Hiring teams should evaluate and edit their questions on a regular basis, to keep candidates on their toes. Get rid of stale, common questions and incorporate some questions that focus specifically on the candidate’s past experience.
Specific questions about experience force an interviewee to provide you with real-world examples of how they reached their goals or had to overcome roadblocks. Questions that start with “Tell me about a specific time when,” let the candidate know that you’re looking for details about their unique experiences on the job. Other questions that can help you evaluate a candidate’s work ethic include:
- At what age did you get your first paying job? Why did you choose to get a job and what was the job? When a person starts work in their teens, it’s often an indication of a strong work ethic.
- How did you fund your college education? Candidates who worked their way through school often possess a strong work ethic.
- How did you prepare for today’s interview? An individual who spent a great deal of time researching the organization shows a strong commitment to work.
- Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond to complete a task. Why did you go that far?
- How do you define work ethic?
- What would your last boss tell me about your work ethic?
- What would your co-workers say about your work ethic?
- If you could retire right now, would you? If yes, what would you do?
Always Follow Up With References
The truth is, sales people will be able to sell themselves to you, and while you can pick up on cues in an interview that will tell you about their work ethic, you must still verify those claims in a reference check. Candidates will provide you with references who they have vetted themselves; references who are sure to say good things about them. Specifically request from all candidates the references you prefer to check. Ask for former managers and supervisors names and numbers. If the candidate won’t share this information, it’s probably a red flag.
If your enterprise software organization is looking to improve its hiring process, the team at Strategic Search Solutions can help. We recruit exclusively for the enterprise software sector, and we have developed a recruiting, interviewing, and hiring plan that will help connect your organization with candidates who will drive results. For more information about our proven processes, contact us today.