Attitude. One word, with a big punch, and some make or break connotations for your career. How many times have you heard people extol an employee for their great attitude, no matter what, or condemn them for having a bad attitude when, by all accounts, the rest of their work performance was fine? Attitude, and other people’s perception of yours, plays a big role in the workplace.

Research suggests that 85% of job success can be “determined by ‘attitude’ and the ‘ability to deal with people,’” according to the Carnegie Foundation. Combine that with our own anecdotal evidence of people’s perceptions, and you can see how important a positive attitude is for any career—but especially in sales, where your “ability to deal with people” is critical.

Attitude in Job Interviews

Attitude is also a major factor when interviewing for a job, in any industry. Knowing all this, it seems logical that anyone pursuing a career in sales would invest in some sort of “attitude adjustment,” but that’s where it becomes tricky. What qualifies as a legitimately “bad” attitude, and what can be chalked up to personality differences? Can you be realistic, or even pessimistic, and maintain a good attitude?

We’ve all heard horror stories of customer service representatives who put their company to shame and inspire nothing but laughs at what they call “service.” But everyone has bad days, head colds, breakups and personal problems. The difference between a great salesperson and an average one really does come down to attitude: who is able to rise above a bump in the road, and who cannot.

Fake It ‘Til You Make It

You don’t have to be an Oscar winning actor to succeed at work, even when you’re having a bad day. You just need to put things in their place and focus. Bringing your personal life to work can be beneficial when it allows you to connect with customers, but on a bad day, you may need to focus just on the 9 to 5. Prioritize, organize and by all means, slap a fake smile on your face—it really can help. Then take a deep breath, and focus.

The ability to segment two parts of your life in order to regroup and refocus on one will help tremendously on bad days, but it can also have residual effects on everyday performance, giving you the edge you need. When you’re able to put yourself aside and focus on the person you’re talking to, you can’t help but do a better job. Whether you’re in sales, customer service or hospitality, people like to feel that they are the center of attention. And when you give them that sense, you’ve automatically done your job a little bit better.

Try it out: give yourself a mini attitude adjustment, and see your performance improve.

Everyone is clamoring for this recession to end--quite possibly, no one more so than sales recruiters. We want our client companies and prospective hires to do well, and that means hiring the best and brightest for employers, and landing the perfect job for employees. Media outlets have been suggesting that the recession is over, and that an upswing is on the way.  While the worst may be over, we must be careful not to celebrate too soon. [http://selectmetrix.com/blogs/2009/10/dont-trust-the-dow/] I don't want to be the one to cast a shadow on this positive outlook, but when it comes to hiring, employers (and employees) need to be realistic. And that means learning from the past, in order to secure a better future.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned from a recession, and as a recruiting firm, we might be in the best place to observe and teach what we've discovered over the past year. When times are tight, we learn to make due without some of life's little extras: bringing lunch from home, making out own coffee, taking public transportation. These little changes are common practice in our personal lives. But what about professionally? There are many recession tactics (besides layoffs) that can help you grow now, with a little caution, without breaking the bank later. Here are just a few ideas to get you started, and we'd love to hear more, so please, share your tips as well.

Focus on Employee Satisfaction

You have great people working for you now, but even with the worst behind them, they're probably still a little nervous. Or, as things start to look a little brighter, they might be grumpy and feel safe enough to complain about previous cost-cutting measures. Now is the time to make sure that your core team, your rockstars, are with you not only when the going gets tough, but as it gets better. Brainstorm some easy, inexpensive perks that will brighten their day without busting your budget. If big company lunches are no longer on the table, try offering a beer cart on Fridays, or gourmet goodies on Mondays. Provide employees with a way to unwind, and make sure they know how much you appreciate their hard work over the past year.

Maintain Flexibility for Maximum Productivity

This can help with employee satisfaction, too. Think about it: your employees are adults. Shouldn't you treat them as such? We live in a world where the Internet makes telecommuting possible, and employers should embrace that. Allow employees to work from home when the need arises, instead of faking sick. Encourage them to break outside the box of their cube and take a break while at work, and promote professional development initiatives. Work with your employees to offer them tailored perks and benefits that they really want; it could end up saving you money and making them much happier and more productive.

Value Honesty (In Both Yourself and Your Employees)

Yes, this means you, too. Change freaks people out, and being upfront and honest with your employees can go a long way to curbing rumors and keeping people on track to meet their, and your, goals. Tell your staff before things change, for better or worse, of if they are staying the same when other companies in your industry seem to be in flux. It's human nature to gossip, and once the rumor mill starts it can be hard to stop. If you let everyone know what is going on ahead of time--even if it's not great news--you won't give false information a chance to spread.

These tips are meant to help employers create a better working environment, but employees should take note as well. If you're looking for a new job, try to gauge how well a company is acting on these tips. And if you're happy in your job, see if you can suggest or implement these ideas to help everyone stay motivated.

Sales recruiting is obviously about sales, but in many ways, it’s also about marketing--as a job seeker, a recruiting agent or company. Selling yourself, even if your job is in sales, takes a certain finesse, particularly when times are tight. And this hold true whether you want to market yourself as a potential hire, your candidate as a recruiting agency, or your brand as a company.

It’s no surprise that job seekers need to market themselves, both to a recruiter and to hiring managers or other people along the interview process. By extension, recruiters often need to help sales candidates by selling them in a slightly different way. But recruiters can and should sell themselves, and therefore their candidates, by focusing on the right kind of marketing for their recruitment process and track record. Companies aren’t exempt either; they need to work with a recruiter to create a triple-win situation.

Here’s some advice for all parties that will lead to better candidates, more accurate placement and higher job satisfaction all around.

Be Professional

You’d be surprised at how often professionalism flies out the window when dealing with hiring, even among those looking for a new job. Everyone involved in the hiring process should use polite conversation, and job seekers especially should be sure to dress the part; casual attire may fly for those who work there, but you need to impress at an interview. And please, refrain from slamming companies on social networking sites; it will come back and bite you. Same goes for interviewers and recruiters; never trash other candidates.

Be Honest

Honesty may seem counter-intuitive to traditional marketing advice, but it plays right into the need to be professional at any and all levels of a job search, no matter what side you’re on.  Job seekers, be upfront and honest about your resume and experience; never lie to fill in the gaps. Likewise, HR people need to provide accurate job descriptions and requirements. As for recruitment agents, we often have an insider perspective into companies where we’ve placed people, and that feedback is valuable to both applicants and hiring managers.

Be Promotional

If you’re in sales, this goes without saying, but it holds true in any interview situation, and on both sides of the table. And while it may be your job to sell for the company you want to work for, or to sell your candidate to the HR manager, you often need to sell yourself first. The trick is to demonstrate your skills and abilities without bragging or inflating them; see the above two pieces of advice if this is unclear. Examples and track records work great here to prove your point. If you’re just starting out, doing your homework can go along way to tailoring your pitch to exactly what they need.

The bottom line? To be in sales, you need to be able to market. At least yourself. And whether that means building a reputation as a recruiter with great placements, earning the esteem of recruiters with the badge of a “great place to work” or showcasing yourself as a necessity for your next employer, sales and marketing skills go hand in hand.

You may be one of the many sales professionals who just lost their jobs, or maybe you’re hanging on to your job, but are understandably nervous!

The same old rules apply. Revise that resume. If you’re still employed, seek out more ways to bring value and $$$ to your company. If you have gotten out of the habit, start networking NOW.

Network the Right Way

Remember, good networking etiquette is important. Don’t just attend that industry meeting to pass your resume around, expecting a good connection without paying your dues. Instead, join a committee. Value these new connections, by volunteering your talents, your time, your sales knowledge, sales recruiters and company contacts or your advice. Then, when the time comes that you need referrals, they will gladly help.

Facebook – One Way to Find More Industry Contacts & Sales Professionals

Another way to network is by joining Facebook. Originally a social media site devoted to the 18-year- to 34-year-old market, Facebook’s fastest growing segment is the 30+ market. Currently, it has about 175 million active users.

We think Facebook is a great way to connect with other sales professionals and sales recruiters, friends and family and communicate with them. But when you sign up, we think you should keep each of these categories (sales pros, friends, family) as separate groups. Why? You wouldn’t share the same information with your family that you would with your boss, would you?

Keep Your Business Hat On

Always act professional and don’t "over-reveal" yourself like many students have mistakenly done on Facebook and MySpace. Your boss or prospective employer does not have to know that you do a mean tango, or enjoy fine red wine…either does your mother!

Be careful about the information you do include on your profile. (Again, if your mother would be shocked to hear about it, do not include it! If you wouldn’t put it on a sales resume, then delete it.)

Be Selective – Make Facebook Work for You

Facebook is one place to start networking with other professionals in your field – people you know and then colleagues and peers of people you know. We suggest that you be selective about whom you invite to join your "pro" list. The goal is to get more meaningful professional sales contacts, including sales applicants and sales recruiters, not just a huge list!

You can even share electronic samples of your portfolio on Facebook with interested companies, if you don’t have access to an FTP page.—Just make sure you respect your company’s confidentiality agreements and copyrights.

Facebook is just one social network media site to explore and use. Next time, we’ll discuss two other ways to network your way to your next sales position – through LinkedIn and Twitter .

Target Consulting Group, LLC is a well-established sales recruitment and placement firm providing all kinds of companies and organizations in New England and nationwide with top performing sales professionals. They offer both commission-based placement and retainer search for companies.

With the baby boomer generation quickly approaching retirement, the face of the workforce is about to change dramatically, and many employers are not prepared. A recent survey by Manpower shows that only 21% of companies have developed incentives to keep these valuable employees in the workforce.

 

Senior employees “approaching retirement are simply looking for different things than younger ones,” as Sara Birkman-Fink, President and CEO of Birkman International, an executive development firm, points out.

 

Older employees have well-established patterns and work styles, and are looking for sales job opportunities to match. Any successful Massachusetts job placement agency needs to realize that at this stage in life, these employees are not relocating to New Hampshire without incentives specifically geared for their age group.

In order to stay competitive and prevent a severe skills drop-off, sales job recruiters must develop personality assessments to determine what will keep a baby boomer in the workforce, and then create benefit packages that reflect these desires.