Sales Recruiting Blog

Why Won’t You Call Me Back Chris? (I applied online and left you three voicemails!!)

When you as a job seeker applies for a position that Sales Talent represents we appreciate the interest and time that you spent trying to get on our radar.  I wish that we could personally respond to every job seeker and provide meaningful feedback as to why you are not qualified for a job and how you could build your resume to be so in the future.  The simple matter of how many job seekers apply to each sales job makes that impossible.

This is definitely an area where we are open to your feedback as to how we can better communicate.  The first piece that we have done is to build a system that automatically responds to every applicant acknowledging their submission.  Each submission is forwarded to the recruiter representing each sales job and they can select accept or reject to communicate back to the job seeker whether there is a fit or not.  We try and accomplish this within 72 hours.  I want to point out that this only works if you apply via the job board on our own website.  If you apply via Careerbuilder or another online resource there isn’t the capability built in yet to respond to each job seeker.  Yes, we are working on that.

As for leaving a voicemail and not hearing back I will give you some advice on how to get a response from me (or another sales recruiter).  If you leave a generic my name is ____ please call me back I am interested in your Major Account sales job in Indy message I will never call you back.  I simply don’t have the time.  Sell yourself to me - compell me to call you back.  Briefly outline your accomplishments and why I would be excited to call you back about the sales job.  Something like, “Chris, my name is _____ and I have 5 years of b2b sales experience and won Pres Club each of those 5 years.  I would like to speak with you personally about this position and send you over my resume.”  I’m going to call you back on that message especially if you have a strong phone presence.  Don’t ramble, don’t sound soft.  Basically, impress quickly, let me know how to contact you and hang up.  This really isn’t any different than cold-calling to set up a 1st appointment with a new client.

p.s. Please read the requirements and make sure that there is a potential fit before applying for the sales opening.