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How do you measure an entry-level candidate salesperson otherwise though? In CS you can ask theory questions and ask them to program something for you. In sales

• jacoblyles 18y ago
  Traditionally in sales you hire a ton of candidates, give them hefty performance goals right out of the gate, and then fire over 80% of them in the first month. Rinse and repeat until you have your organization staffed. It's a brutal field.
  • bd 18y ago
    We're adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize? ... Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104348/quotes http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104348/quotes
• Brushfire 18y ago
  As another poster mentioned, sales is very performance oriented. Either you make your numbers, or you dont. This sounds like a bad way to hire, but actually it works very well and is fair. Also, per your own example, they ask you about theory questions. This is, in some sense, a job-sample test. Many developers are asked to write code during an interview. That is a job-sample. Salespeople are often asked to sell something arbitrary. Job-samples are VERY valid predictors.
• philwelch 18y ago
  Hypothetically, just interviewing the candidate at all should be enough, since a job interview is just an opportunity for the candidate to sell themselves. If they're good at sales, they'll sell themselves and make you want to hire them. Interviewing CS folks is hard in comparison because selling yourself in an interview is a talent that has almost nothing to do with making software.