No question it is hard to find a good sales rep.  All candidates look good in a suit and mill around smartly.  Some can even sell.

But if you have to evaluate candidates, here are a few things to look for.

1.  I love ex-athletes.  Not the Geico-caveman sort, but the sort of person who excelled on his or her team.   There is something about learning to play a sport at a high level that makes a great sales rep.  At the beginning none of us could even catch a ball, or balance on the high beam….to gain a sporting skill, it requires discipline, practice and and an ability work hard.  I like that in sales people.  Corollary:  THE best candidate, an ex-coach.

2.  I love people in the band.  Seriously.  I mean, who picks up the tuba in the fifth grade and stays with it through high school.  If he or she can play the violin or tuba or piano, they have most of the attitude skills it takes.  They can learn sales.  Tamborines don’t count.

3. THE best candidate is someone who has joined a direct sales company like Tupperware or Amway.  I don’t like these companies, but I love the people who are confident enough to pay MONEY to join those companies and who buy their products to sell.  There is nothing that teaches sales skills more than walking past a garage-full of nutritional supplements.

4.  I have told this story before but it does make a point.  I interviewed a nice young guy once, with absolutely no sales experience.  I almost begged him to tell me something that would suggest to me that he could sell.  ”Well,” he said, “I married the prettiest girl in my little town.”  I hired him.

Company A has a policy of constant and regular feedback for its employees.  Managers ask co workers to evaluate other co workers, you know, to “help” them get better, yadayadayada.  They CANNOT only have positive things to say, either, they MUST find at least one area of development need.

So, the conversations go something like this:  ”But isn’t there one thing about Bill that you do not like?”  ”No, not really, he is easy to work with, and does a great job.”  ”Not even one little thing?”  ”No, I like what he does and how he does it.”

“Surely, there is one thing.  Does it upset you that he is always early to meetings?”  ”No, that is good.”

“But doesn’t that show he is trying to show the rest of you up, you know, to make points with the boss?”  ”No, I don’t think so.”

“Don’t you think that others might see his always being early to meetings as a sign he has his eyes set on a higher position.”  ”I don’t think so, no.”

“But don’t  you see how someone MIGHT think that way?”  ”I guess so, yes.”

Later:

“Bill, people are concerned that you are too much on the lookout for your own career.  That you are always bucking for a promotion.  And that you are a brown-noser.”

Riddle me this.  Do you think Bill is more motivated today as a result of this feedback?  Or less.  Don’t bother telling me this does not happen.  It happens every day.

School is starting.  For most kids, big whoop.  But for some, a real and true Big Whoop.  I don’t know what to make about education nowadays.  We are spending more money on it, so I know we all care.

I know venture guys who are big backers of online universities, like DeVry, Capella, and Phoenix.  And I know people in HR who are dismissive of each when they try to fill all those open jobs.  I think these schools must still be finding their way.  In a decade or two,  more of us will come to understand how good an education can be like this, even online.

And then I read that Bill Gates, HIMSELF, is a big fan of something called the Khan Academy.  Evidently, Bill and his kids review these videos on a consistent basis.  They are so well done, I am thinking about watching the video on quadratic equations…just to see how much I have forgotten in 10, 20, 30, 40 years.  Realistically, though, something tells me that Bill’s kids are going to be smart enough, no-matter-fricking-what, but it is is noteworthy that he uses this free resource to help his kids get prepared.  Beats reading THE CAT IN THE HAT every night at bedtime.  Or does it.

Related sidebar–When I mentor young folks on entrepreneurship, I always mention that most start up people I know have a combo gene of Urgency and Delayed Gratification.  Urgency because one must have a ‘git-r-done’ mentality and Delayed Gratification because often the payoff is years ahead.  Sometimes the two don’t mesh very well.  Education is like that.  The pay off is years ahead.

So this brings me to the other hot button of mine, as it relates to job seekers.  I am amazed at the little things that job seekers do NOT do.  Basically, most are ill prepared. The stats are that job seekers spend way less than one hour a day job seeking.  So, I guess it is not realistic to give advice like I  have in the past, suggesting that they practice answering interview questions, or practicing their self elevator pitch.  Few do.  Again, job seekers, practice this stuff…it is even legal to do this before your interview.  Enough.

Malcolm Gladwell in OUTLIERS wrote about the 10,000 hour rule.  Basically, it takes about 10,000 hours to become expert at anything.  Wow.  But.  True.  What is that like?

Much of our success is really based upon practicing our skill whether it is critical thinking, dribbling with our left hand, drywalling or how to be more likeable.

Scott Adams, the Dilbert Guy, may have stumbled on to a big idea here, without realizing it.  Maybe someone today will read his essay today, and put two and two together.  That’s still four, right?

Here is his essay in its entirety cuz I know you are too busy to make the jump.

Let’s say that you and I decide to play pool. We agree to play eight-ball, best of five games. Our perception is that what follows is a contest to see who will do something called winning.

But I don’t see it that way. I always imagine the outcome of eight-ball to be predetermined, to about 95% certainty, based on who has practiced that specific skill the most over his lifetime. The remaining 5% is mostly luck, and playing a best of five series eliminates most of the luck too.

I’ve spent a ridiculous number of hours playing pool, mostly as a kid. I’m not proud of that fact. Almost any other activity would have been more useful. As a result of my wasted youth, years later I can beat 99% of the public at eight-ball. But I can’t enjoy that sort of so-called victory. It doesn’t feel like “winning” anything.

It feels as meaningful as if my opponent and I had kept logs of the hours we each had spent playing pool over our lifetimes and simply compared. It feels redundant to play the actual games.

I see the same thing with tennis, golf, music, and just about any other skill, at least at non-professional levels. And research supports the obvious, that practice is the main determinant of success in a particular field.

As a practical matter, you can’t keep logs of all the hours you have spent practicing various skills. And I wonder how that affects our perception of what it takes to be a so-called winner. We focus on the contest instead of the practice because the contest is easy to measure and the practice is not.

Complicating our perceptions is professional sports. The whole point of professional athletics is assembling freaks of nature into teams and pitting them against other freaks of nature. Practice is obviously important in professional sports, but it won’t make you taller. I suspect that professional sports demotivate viewers by sending the accidental message that success is determined by genetics.

My recommendation is to introduce eight-ball into school curricula, but in a specific way. Each kid would be required to keep a log of hours spent practicing on his own time, and there would be no minimum requirement. Some kids could practice zero hours if they had no interest or access to a pool table. At the end of the school year, the entire class would compete in a tournament, and they would compare their results with how many hours they spent practicing. I think that would make real the connection between practice and results, in a way that regular schoolwork and sports do not. That would teach them that winning happens before the game starts.

Yes, I know that schools will never assign eight-ball for homework. But maybe there is some kid-friendly way to teach the same lesson.

When I was about 22 or so, I had a car with an 8-track tape player.  I had a mini-suitcase full of 8 track tapes that held about 20 tapes.  It rested on the console, all that music, pre-cassettes and certainly pre-CD’s.  Steve Jobs was in high school and ITunes was decades away.  Still, in the early 1970’s, my 8 track tapes were pretty cool.

Monster is selling 8 track tapes and hoping people don’t find about iTunes.  In this case, LinkUp is iTunes.

Let me explain.

Monster came on the scene and converted all those Help Wanted newspaper ads to the internet ads.  They spent zillions on TV advertising so that countless HR professionals and their bosses “made the jump” to Monster.  The reasoning was simple, now everyone could find your job openings online, via Monster.

Instead of paying $300 per week for a paper ad, you now paid about the same amount for your internet ad.  It was simple, fast, quick and easy.

Too much success spoils a good thing.  Soon there was an online job board for every city, state and industry niche.  I joke that there is even a site for Left Handed X-Ray technicians located at www.lefthandedtraytechnicians.com.  Someone wrote me and said that the link must be bad.  Can’t take a joke, I guess.

Soon everyone was going to the job boards and applying for jobs no matter what just because they can.  “Can you tell me what a RN does again?” a hospital HR person was asked by a applicant.  It is so easy to apply and to resume blast that Monster has resorted to other sexier revenue ideas.  Bigger companies do this: they don’t fix core ideas, they add features and services, adding complexity, cost and commitment to the old model simply because they cannot do otherwise.  It is a cultural thing, baked in deep and hard.  Plus we all know what the Monster brand means, really.

Here is what is happening.  The biggest growth area for advertising is pay per click.  This is where companies pay only when a visitor or, in this case, the job seeker, clicks on your ad.  Now, with LinkUp, this has the recruitment advertising business model going through a serious transformation.  Recruitment agencies are fast converting their clients to this new method.  And why not, companies only pay per click on a specific job.  They do not pay for all those un-interested and un-qualified readers.  It is a much more efficient model.

The company simply pays out of their account, much like Google Adwords, when the job is clicked.  The job searcher is taken directly to the company’s own website and ATS.  This is where the selling should take place, where the company can control its own branding.  At LinkUp, we do not capture any job searcher information.  We do not want any security breaches or issues, like Monster has had every few months.

But HR people are still using Monster.  My prediction is that within a year or so, they will convert their help wanted advertising plans to LinkUp.  After all, no one uses 8 track tapes any more.

What is really happening in the interview is actually quite simple. There are only two questions in the mind of the interviewer:

1. Do I like this candidate?

2. How can this person impact my department, company– can he/she do the job?

Most of the interviewer’s questions are designed to help them find out the answers to these questions.  Smart candidates, on the other hand, will use every tool at their disposal to serve up the answers at every opportunity.

For example, if every job candidate would find out more about the company and what they do, they could be better prepared.   They should bring a HERE IS EXACTLY HOW I CAN HELP YOUR COMPANY plan, documented with ideas and action steps. All it takes is a bit of work, and some presentation skills.

Same idea with the bigger question of DO I LIKE THIS CANDIDATE?  But, even this is in the control of the candidate.  I am not suggesting undertaking a personality transplant, but I am suggesting that you think a bit about how to come across in a more likeable manner during the interview.  Here is one of my posts on making yourself MORE LIKEABLE.

Humans tell stories.  We have since the first caveman told Thor where all the bears were hiding and how to make fire (again).  What is your story?

I suggest you prepare a short elevator pitch on several topics that are sure to come up during the interview.  When the interviewer asks a question, then, you are prepared with a story to tell that answers the question, but you are going to tell it in a compelling, interesting manner.

Let’s say the interviewer asks you “Do you have any experience working with outside contractors?”

The aveage candidate says, “Yes, at my last company we worked with xyz company, and I was in daily meetings with them, presenting our changing issues.” Good enough.

Or the candidate, having done some research and knowing that this job does work with outside contractors, but mindful of the always present DO I LIKE THIS CANDIDATE question—prepares another answer:

“Yes, I have. (leaning in, because visual clues help) But, you know, I really have never thought of them as outside contractors, to me they have always been part of the company, they are that critical to most companies’ success. They are insiders, at least to me.  For example, we had a high level project due on Monday and on Friday, a key spec was changed. I don’t need to tell you what that can do to planning and scheduling.  I was able to call our outsiders-insiders– in over a weekend to help us get the job finished, on time.   Frankly, I think our work surprised everyone.  It wasn’t me, even though I got the credit, it was my outside team.”

Sure, the story is longer.  It might take you more work to prepare, but  prepare it you must.  So much of it has to do with not only the words, but your manners in telling it.

Some hints to make you more likeable as you prepare the story—see if you can find them in the above example.

Hint 1:  Make it more compelling by looking at the issue from a different angle. Maybe the interviewer has never thought of the issue in those terms.

Hint 2:  Relate it to a real world situation that the interviewer can relate to.  Make it real.  Be specific, not general.

Hint 3:  Be humble.

Hint 4.  Get engaged about your story. Practice it. Smile. Lean in.  How would an actor like Tom Cruise tell this story to make the audience believe it.

Lastly, if you find this job opportunity via LinkUp, one of the best job search engines around….you will be able to click around and find out more about the company because you are taken directly to the company’s own website, which contains countless clues for you to tell a  better story.

I do Twitter.  I do blog.  I do email.  I don’t do webinar.  Until now, er, next Tuesday, March 9th, with my friend J.T. O’Donnell of Careerealism and JTODONNELL.  Anyone who goes by their initials is a friend of mine because we have heard it ALL—”How do you spell GL?” or “What is your real name?”  I can only imagine what JT has heard.

Anyway, next Tuesday at 2 pm EST, I will be on the computer talking with JT about some lessons I have learned in doing startups.  Some were very expensive, some are counter-intuitive.  If you expect something all textbook-y and venture capital-y, this is most likely NOT the webinar you should spend any time with next Tuesday.  But, on the other hand, if you would like to hear some real life stories from Moi…after about 25 years in the startup trenches…then dial in. Or sign in, whatever you have to do.  Have you noticed how EVERYONE wants to be in their own business nowadays?

BTW, it is completely FREE.  All you have to do is spend your time.  And, just so you know, I am not in the least bit nervous about doing this.  JT is a great host and will cover up if I stutter or otherwise make a total fool out of myself. Plus what is the worst thing that could happen?  You might have experienced some of what I have over the years, so it is a do-over for you.  I will work very hard to give you something that is definitely worth your time.  Free makes it easy.

I used to tell myself  the worst thing that could happen was that they could shave my head and send me to VietNam.  It has been all upside since then.

Here is how to sign up.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention I wrote a book about this.  Find out more here.

This month’s #careercollective question was How To Overcome the Negativity of a Job Search.  Evidently, hunting for a job turns out to be a tough, stressful and hard job in and of itself.  Who knew?  Here are some very bright folks in the industry and how they can help you.  My own post is at the end.  Thanks as always to Miriam and Jacqui for organizing this effort.

@MartinBuckland, Job Search Made Positive

@GayleHoward, Job Search: When It All Turns Sour

@chandlee, Strategy for Getting “Unstuck” and Feeling Better: Watch Lemonade

@heathermundell, Help for the Job Search Blues

@heatherhuhman, 10 Ways to Turn You Job Search Frown Upside-Down

@KCCareerCoach, You Can Beat the Job Search Blues: 5 + 3 Tips to Get Re-Energized

@WalterAkana, Light at the End of the Tunnel

@resumeservice, Don’t Sweat the Job Search

@careersherpa, Mind Over Matter: Moving Your Stalled Search Forward

@WorkWithIllness, Finding Opportunity in Quicksand

@KatCareerGal, Job-Hunting in a Weak Job Market: 5 Strategies for Staying Upbeat (and Improving Your Chances of Success)

@ErinKennedyCPRW, Dancing in the Rain–Kicking the Job Search Blues

@keppie_careers, What do do when you are discouraged with your job search

@DawnBugni, It’s the little things

@ValueIntoWords, Restoring Your Joy in Job Search

@jobhuntorg, Just SO VERY Discouraged

@barbarasafani Making Job Search Fun (Yeah, That’s Right!)

@expatcoachmegan Getting to the source of the problem.

@LaurieBerenson, Ways to Keep Your Glass Half Full:

@JobHuntOrg, Just SO VERY Discouraged,

By CAL, Curmudgeon at Large

How to Overcome the Negativity of a Job Search

Let me hold your hand.  Not.

Let me tell you it will all work out for you. Not.

Let me share some positive stories with you.  Not.

Let me teach you everything that’s wrong about you. Not.

Let me do the work for you.  Not.

Let me go back and help you re learn math and English.  Not.

Let me go back and show you how to pick employers.  Not.

Let me agree with you about how this all sucks.  Not.

Let me buy you coffee when you call me for ‘networking.’  Not.

Let me sort out your resume, overlook the typos and the coffee stain, and figure out exactly how and what it is you are good at doing.  Not.

Let me tap you on the shoulder and give you more salary than what you can do for me.  Not.

Let me put up with your whining and complaining when you worked here before.  Not.

Here is the deal.

Know that grade school trick your momma taught you, that when you point out someone else’s flaws to look at your hand and notice how three of your fingers are pointing back at you.

You can feel all negative.  Depressed even.  But, at the end of the day, it IS all about you.  You might have to move.  Might have to figure out a new career.  Work for less.  Sell Amway.

But others have done it with far, far less than what you most likely have.  (just saying, cuz you are reading this.)

Go have some fun.  Make some waves.  Try harder.

Therein lies today’s PUMP UP speech.

(And HEY, it could be worse.  You could be that Dutch Skater’s coach who told him to switch lanes, losing him the gold medal.)

But the most common reaction, remember over beers, so it was one we never actually did, was “We should call his/her parents and tell them that no matter how much college cost them, they got S C R E W E D.”  Quite the laugh.

“My girlfriend lives in Baltimore and she told me she was going to Washington for the weekend to see the Smithsonian.  She is lying to me.  How could she drive across the country for the weekend??”

Clearly something has to be done.

Two buddies Nick Corcodilos and Steve Roesler, who know something about this topic, wrote complementary pieces yesterday about this.  Great minds.  Please jump over and read Steve’s “We Don’t Need As Many College Grads As People Think”  at his blog ALL THINGS WORKPLACE.

And Nick Corcodilos, the worldclass headhunter, wrote his piece “College Fail How” on his Ask The Headhunter blog here.

After the session I received a call from a CEO in our industry, who runs a legit operation, thanking me for how we had the nerve to go after the bad apples in our ‘space.’  I appreciated the call.

Toby does a much better job of addressing some of these issues than me.  His post yesterday on Diggings explained the Money Mules concept running rampant on typical job boards.  All I can say is:  Pass It On.  Please.  Here is part of his post, but jump over and read the entire article if you have a moment.

Lest anyone accuse us of hyperbole, I thought I’d write a post about ‘Money Mules.’

Money mules are people that unwittingly use their bank accounts to help criminals launder money. Money mules are recruited through work-at home job postings on Monster and Careerbuilder with titles such as ‘Financial Manager’ and a job description that involves ‘moving money for an international company.’ These new recruits then provide their bank account information to their ‘employer’ and are told to withdraw cash that has been deposited into their account at a specific time and wire it abroad via Western Union or Moneygram.

Brian Krebs, a reporter at The Washington Post from 1994 to 2009 has written extensively on this issue and has exposed hundreds of these scams. I would strongly recommend that anyone looking for a job online as well as those offering advice for job seekers take some time to read his outstanding work highlighting this fraudulent activity. A few of his blog posts can be found here and here and here. I’ve also included portions of those posts below that relate to the scam listings on Monster and Careerbuilder:

“…Money mules are recruited through work-at-home job offers that arrive via e-mail, usually claiming that the prospective employer found the recipient’s resume’ on careerbuilder.com, monster.com, or some other job search site. Recruits are told they will be helping to move money for international companies, and are asked to provide their bank account and routing numbers so that they can receive incoming transfers.”

“…The Sanford mule — who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals by the hacked company and perhaps by the hackers themselves — said the Scope Group approached her via e-mail, saying it had found her resume on Careerbuilder.com, and would she be interested in a work-at-home job acting as a “financial manager”? Having worked as a payroll manager in a previous job, the mule said she thought it was a perfect fit. Besides, she said, she’d been out of work since March.”

“…This type of crime is impossible without the cooperation of so-called “money mules,” willing or unwitting individuals typically hired via Internet job search Web sites to act as “local agents” or “financial agents” responsible for moving money on behalf of a generic-sounding international corporation, legal experts say.The mules are then instructed to withdraw the cash and wire it via Western Union or Moneygram to fraud gangs overseas, typically in Eastern Europe. It is not uncommon for a single cyber robbery to depend on the help of dozens of money mules…”

Fraudulent job listings on traditional pay-to-post job sites are a serious risk, and the industry has to be more vocal about educating the public about using sites such as Monster, Careerbuilder, Indeed, and Simplyhired.