Sales Recruiting: How to Find Superstars in Large Applicant Pools

When it comes to sales recruiting, finding the superstars who will take your organization to the next level can feel like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. After all, you have these large applicant pools to choose from so that you can hopefully hire faster. But with more applicants comes the burden to screen good candidates in and bad candidates out.

Applicant tracking systems can do some rough screening based on keywords in resumes, but this has proven to be spotty at best. As a result, good candidates get lost in a sea of bad ones. In a previous article, we identified 8 practical strategies to expand the applicant pool for open sales jobs. But once you’ve done that, how can you find exactly what you’re looking for efficiently and in a timely manner? 

It’s time to win the war for top sales talent

The Great Resignation has triggered a war for top sales talent that we’ve never seen before. And the proof is in the numbers. According to our State of Sales Hiring Survey, participants told us that it generally takes 100 applicants to hire three B2B salespeople. 

That’s a huge disparity, and the results are a combination of open sales positions that don’t get filled quickly and bad hires because we are settling just to get a warm body in the role.

Download the full survey report here!

This is where predictive simulations like the Sciolytix Sales Performance Predictor (S2P2) can help. S2P2 uses 3D avatar simulations to put candidates in customer-facing situations that they will face on the job. A predictive simulation is different from traditional multiple-choice sales assessments that measure personality traits and cognitive ability and correlate these scores with job fit or potential. Predictive simulations measure actual performance in the job, giving you a much clearer picture of a candidate’s strengths, weaknesses, and readiness for the job.

Our software scores their interactions as they navigate through each scenario, and those scores enable our AI engine to evaluate all candidates consistently across 13 measures of sales performance and provide an overall predicted quota attainment score. Having this information enables you to sort candidates and identify the true superstars. 

Additionally, you can drill into each candidate to get specific performance area scores. This insight is very helpful for preparing hiring managers for interviews and focusing coaching efforts during onboarding and beyond.

Simply put, S2P2 screens out 95% of the low performers and screens in 87% of the top performers. This reduces your fear of missing out on the best and saves time and effort from screening and interviewing those candidates who never make the grade. You should use it as early as possible in your sales hiring process and you should use it with every applicant.

What are you doing to find sales superstars in large applicant pools?

For B2B sales organizations needing to minimize the risk of bad hires and move fast to land the best applicants, the Sciolytix Sales Performance Predictor (S2P2) is a next-generation talent assessment that quickly and accurately predicts quota attainment while delivering an engaging, differentiated experience for candidates.

Bottom line, we are revolutionizing the way organizations hire, onboard, develop talent, and create a fair hiring process for all. Predictive simulations are the latest enhancement we’re adding to that arsenal of products.