Sales roles: video recruitment.

Organisations looking for candidates to fill sales positions could find the costs and time spent finding the right person ‘cut dramatically’ with the introduction of video-based applications via the web, according to the founder of a new website.

Presentation skills

Sales Pro founder Russell Margison, who has over 18 years experience in the sales industry, claims that, as presentation skills are particularly important for sales roles, using video as part of the recruitment process could cut search to appointment time by as much as half.

For candidates, the ability to upload a 60-90 second video profile to support their application enables candidates to demonstrate their presentation skills as they would at first interview, says Margison, so increasing the chances of securing a first interview. Meanwhile, recruiters are instantly able to see far more about the candidate than a written CV alone would provide; this helps ensure they select the most appropriate candidates from the onset.

Video vacancy

Recruiters and employers can upload a 'video vacancy' to Salesprorecruitment.co.uk, enabling them to 'bring the job to life as well as increasing the quality of applications, saving them valuable time and money'.

Sales recruiters can forward candidate details (with embedded video included) to their clients, allowing the hiring manager to see how that candidate presents him/herself visually. Margison reckons this would work particularly well when recruiting for international sales Jobs, as they would be able to view the candidates profile before flying them several thousand miles for a face-to-face interview. 

High fees

'Having spent many years involved in recruitment and paying unnecessarily high fees to some of the major job boards, I felt there had to be a more cost-effective option for the sales industry.  With the world shrinking around us, video is everywhere now and the next generation of sales pros are used to networking through social sites and communicating using tools such as video,' Margison declares.

Questions & Comments

• 

  Dont know why this wasn't done before

  Online video job applications sounds like a great idea especially for international job applications. For some reason people seem to shy away from video conferencing and its not really taken off as yet so it will be interesting to see if this form of video does.
  Ive often thought video email would have taken off years ago as its easier to say than type it in most cases.
  
  How much does it cost for the companies/employees in this model?
  Posted by Oliver Webster on 09/11/2011 06:08 PM

• 

  Getting around and getting known - online and offline

  Thanks for picking up on this one Oliver. And, whilst you and I are here, and given that I haven't sorted and simplified all the site navigation issues yet, let's also point people at a few more useful links and views of what's changing here. Here's Sales Pro Recruitment, for example...
  
  http://www.salesprorecruitment.co.uk/
  
  Here's Russell Margison...
  
  http://www.linkedin.com/pub/russell-margison/7/184/757
  
  Here's a major training / recruitment / technology / presentations series of links and discussions I put together in our LinkedIn Group...
  
  http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Sales-technology-training-Is-anyone-1328087.S.75460179
  
  ...which includes the PEOPLE and the companies / products / services who can help us all.
  
  And here's LinkedIn's own view of a possible future...
  
  https://developer.linkedin.com/
  
  ...which probably has more traction in the USA than the UK / EMEA, for now...but for how long?
  
  And then, when we've gone to all the trouble of web-camming or more professionally including our talking heads into our "live" online CV's and work connection histories, and we roll up at some Dinosaur Head Office, where "modern" is a bit of a shock to their system, HR has hardly got the coffee machine to work, and yet they still seem impressed to have a "bright young thing" applying for that major sales role, what CAN we do then....
  
  http://www.modernselling.com/work-tools/presentation-skills-services-products/win-or-trial-free-pico-pocket-projector-engage-wow-sales-prospects-and-training-education-ideas-oliver-webster-20114041.aspx
  
  ...to "brighten their day"?
  Posted by Neil Warren on 10/11/2011 10:16 AM

My Question / Comment Is...