A lot of us use indeed.com to recruit salespeople.

I am a big fan. They have the traffic and in my experience, the quantity (if not the quality) of applicants.

Speaking with colleagues, it appears others have mixed results.

So I have decided to share the results of a recent campaign I ran for one client. I think the results are good, but perhaps you think differently? I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

Hiring Salespeople Using Indeed Job Search – A Sales Recruitment Case Study

The Client: A Home Improvement Company – looking to hire Sales Designers.

Traditionally, this company had hired commission-only direct salespeople. They are continuing with that model.

However, they also wanted to test hiring salespeople on a “salary + commission” basis.

(the results of combining a commission-only sales team with a salary + commission sales team will be a post for another day!)

So we drafted up two recruitment ads – one for commission only and one for salary + commission. You can find templates for the two ads used HERE and HERE.

The budget was set at £20 per day for both Ads (£40 in total)

We had 47 responses in total.

21 Commission Only

and

26 Commission + Salary.

We had the usual mix of dud responses from people who submitted their CVs / Resumes without reading the Ad. (The advert clearly said they needed to have a driving license, but several who applied were not car drivers!)

Additionally, they had done little or no due diligence on the company. They had not even visited the company website.

Responses like this are easy to eliminate. Around 10 (20%) of the responses were like that.

Of the remaining number, following initial telephone interviews, 10 qualified for an informal interview at the company’s showroom.

Note: the company was looking to hire two individuals. (maybe three if the talent was good enough)

All 10 we moved to the next stage were of a good standard.

But as is often the case, four dropped out before making it to the interview. It is easy to take that personally, but my experience is that this is to be expected. Of the four, two had family issues come up on the day and both of those have since been interviewed. One candidate, perhaps the best one in terms of previous experience and earnings, took another position prior to the interview.

I was disappointed with that, but in recruitment as with sales, we have to move on quickly. Another equally good candidate will be along shortly!

Ultimately, we settled on 3 candidates – one commission only and two salary + commission.

We could have hired more if we had the leads and infrastructure in place to handle the business they would generate. So as I said at the beginning, I am happy with Indeed.

That said, one of the frustrations with Indeed I must point out is the number of applicants you don’t read the job specification. It seems a lot of people just click Submit CV without even reading the Ad!

But on this occasion, INDEED delivered the results I wanted at a fair price.

What is your experience?

A lot of people rate LinkedIn but I have yet to use them.

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