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| 'SALESFORCE' Article - June 2004 |
Mark Edgeworth, Managing Director, Proem IT Recruitment
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The IT recruitment market is back with a vengeance.
The long awaited recovery is here and its foundations are strengthening.
Great news you might think? If you are one of the many IT sales or
pre-sales professionals considering your New Year career move at the
moment it certainly is a great time to look for that next step –
but beware! Competition has never been so strong between candidates
looking for the top jobs with the traditional and emerging top IT
companies. The chasm between the average and the excellent is widening
and only the well prepared and well trained will win.
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Its not the buyers market of three years ago but
the top salespeople, who do their research and perform on the day
are getting back some of their power and can make demands on their
potential new employers that were laughable only a few months ago,
but what separates these top flight individuals – the people
that secure that new job with the £20k basic salary rise, in
only two days? Well, from the third party perspective its simple –
preparation, research and training.
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If you want to be separated from the crowd now is
the time to shout about your formal structured sales training. If
you are a Blue Sheet wizard make sure your Miller Heiman courses are
listed in bold type on your CV, if you are TAS or SPIN trained –
make sure its right at the top of your CV and if you are ex IBM or
Xerox –so much the better! If it’s between you and the
other guy with the same experience, this will win the day. Secondly,
you might be the most successful sales person in your company, well
trained, parking space by the front door, qualified for the achievers
club so often you need a new passport, but all this means nothing
if you don’t prepare for the interview as if it’s that
final ‘do or die’ presentation to the board of that multinational
you have spent 18 months pitching to. The IT Sales recruitment world
is littered with tales of successful salesmen approaching job interviews
with all the skill of a used car salesman – as if the result
is already a foregone conclusion.
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As an ex-software salesman, I can say with absolute
certainty that 2004 is the year of the IT career. If you are looking
for a move, now is the time to do it - but don’t follow the
mistakes of the masses, shout about your training credentials and
prepare like this is the tender of your life and you’ll stand
out from the crowd.
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