From an enterprise technology recruiter’s perspective,  Xtra Effort has seen LOTS of change.

We originally helped enterprise technology companies in the content market segment hire Sales Engineers, Account Executives, and Professional Services personnel with capabilities related to document management, workflow, and static web content.

Enterprise Portals then became all the rage where data or unstructured content from disparate silos can be retrieved by users who were internal or external to the enterprise.   This is where Xtra Effort observed a convergence of the need for content management and SOA (or web services, EAI) skills, because integration was such a huge factor in portals.

Enterprise Search technologies became a popular destination among content professionals because – similar to portal technologies – it enabled users (inside and outside the enterprise) to access and make sense of disparate data and content to satisfy their information needs.  However enterprise search allows the user to have more wide open views to content without the predefined views or self- service capabilities often associated with a portal.

Eventually enterprise social media enabled users to create content that is inherently visible and accessible to several unique parties from day one of the content’s existence, without as much need for portal or SOA technology to integrate.

Enterprise mobile computing brings all of this to the forefront, from considerations for rendering static content, to accessing legacy content stored in disparate silos, to user creation of content from their mobile devices.

And of course enterprise content security has been a constant throughout the years. Security skills have become increasing more important because social media and mobile computing technology enable users (including external users) to create and share content from anywhere device. 

Wow! So much change!

So what is constant among enterprise Sales and Professional Service personnel?  Enterprise content management has always required both the user community and IT to be concurrently involved in the discussion.  Considerations for scalability, security, compliance, and integration are very close to even the smallest move related to content management.  The result is customer facing professionals must have exceptional political and communication strength to always be balancing what is possible (users) from is scalable, secure, and compliant (IT, Legal, and Audit).     

We would suggest hiring managers specifically ask candidates about their experience maintaining this balance during their selling campaigns and delivery projects.  Candidates should be prepared to articulate their experience and position its relevance when interviewing for careers that feature new content management technologies. 

How can the term Business Intelligence be viewed? Many different technologies and projects can be tightly or loosely related to the “BI” ecosystem. 

Data needs to be extracted, housed, manipulated, interpreted, and shared.   Depending on the size of the company and project, each of these phases can represent different technologies and discussions. Traditional technologies associated with these different phases include data warehousing, data modeling, dash board, performance management, financial reporting, OLAP, and ETL.    Some aspects of this continuum include highly technical discussions and others more related to the information needs of business users.

Business Intelligence is most commonly associated with gaining access to data in a way where users can better see what has already transpired relative to sales, profits, human resources, marketing, manufacturing, etc.  However, there also disciplines within business intelligence such as “data analytics” that enable the users to interpret or even speculate about why trends are occurring and speculate what may happen in the future.   Analytics can occur outside the traditional “business” functions, such as web analytics.

“Enterprise search” has been a popular technology that enables users to apply business intelligence concepts to unstructured content, i.e., web content, documents, emails, etc.  

Candidates should be aware of where can they extend their careers across the evolving world of Business Intelligence.   Be sure to recognize where you need additional technical training or at least read publications that increase your credibility with the evolving vernacular.   Awareness precedes the next important step of communicating where you have been versus where you are going.   Communicating without initial thought and awareness sounds like senseless babble or generic blah; conversely, awareness without communication is a waste.

Enjoy the gift certificate. It is now in your email box.

All parties seem psyched.

Thanks again Kevin.

Xtra Effort.

Virtualization, Cloud Computing, Consulting Services, and Security enterprise technology companies are growing and adding headcount.

Separately, Constant Contact seems to think 22 spam reports out of 10,000 emails is too many.  Xtra Effort now needs to have all its candidates, clients, and partners proactively ASK to be on our email list.  So the ball is in your court if you want to receive future email updates: CLICK HERE.

Thank you.

Mark

This trend only seems to deepen, particularly with infrastructure technologies.  Current day examples include:

1) Database technology

2) Security technology

3) Privilege management technology

Field Sales exceptions include consulting services sales positions, such as solutions for the utility smart grid initiative,  and for Cloud Application Development. 

Companies that value the NY market, have deals that exceed $100k, and are selling new technologies, always seem to value “feet on the street” and want field sales people.  Application Performance/User Experience Management and Social Media Solutions for Banks are examples.

 This representative list of recent Xtra Effort client hires includes: 

1) Candidate’s motivation for changing jobs

 2) Hiring location

3) The role

4) Compensation, including On Target Earnings

5) Miscellaneous (most often $ quota)

6) The Technology or Service offering

We hope the information helps support your 2012 planning process.

Xtra Effort’s observations:

• Change in compensation structure, culture, or executive team (most often related to acquisition, but not always) were the top reasons for change
• More technology companies are hiring candidates now than in 2010
• More of the positions are expansion positions
• Newer companies with $5m+ revenue are attractive to candidates now
• Companies that have grown to $20m+ from $10m or less in the past few years are attractive to candidates
• Companies that have been stagnate with $8m – $15m for the past few years (with diluted equity)  are less compelling to candidates
• Social media related companies are attractive to candidates
• Employers who take too long to evaluate candidates, lose them
• Security, Cloud computing, compliance, and fraud prevention solutions are hot
• 95% of candidates hired in 2011 were employed prior to being hired 

 Years ago, enterprise sales jobs often started in one of three ways (with plenty of exceptions)

 1) A college graduate with a business degree would join a large information technology company such as Computer Associates, IBM, Burroughs, or NCR. Many of these companies and Software sales jobs started in Massachusetts, with such companies as Prime Computer, Data General, Digital Equipment Corp, and ComputerVision.   This fresh college grad’s first software  sales job would include several MONTHS of training on basic information technology, sales skills, and the application/market they were assigned to. They were assigned a mentor and a territory, and eventually became Senior Sales Executives.

 2) A college graduate would join a large information technology company as a Sales Engineer, Engineer, or in a Professional Services capacity. They would eventually grow bored with too much technology immersion and want the compensation, glory, challenge, business exposure, or increased social interaction associated with Sales.

 3) A college graduate, often with a liberal arts degree,   is clueless about their career, but has a good personality and desire to make money. He or she joins a non-enterprise technology company, perhaps copiers, XYZ supplies, etc., and prove they are capable of being effective in Sales. They then join a company that is less pure technology centric, such as a payroll service, information services, computer supplies, value added reseller, IT staffing, etc., and continue to prove themselves.  Eventually they are close enough to the heart of the Enterprise Information technology ecosystem and get referred into an HP, CA, SAP, IBM, etc.

 The world has changed

 There a now fewer large enterprise information technology companies.  Market consolidation has reduced the market to BMC, Microsoft, HP, CA, SAP, Oracle, and IBM.   These companies’ growth strategy is often focused on acquiring smaller companies and integrating their technology, customers, and sales forces.  Organic growth is much less emphasized as a strategy, and there is a reduced commitment to hiring and training college graduates.

 You now have small and medium sized enterprise information technology companies who become the feeding ground for the larger companies; but the opposite is also true, where senior sales executives grow tired of the bureaucracy associated with super large companies and appreciate the visibility, impact, and speed of a smaller company.

Software sales careers now often start with a college graduate who may have any type of degree (not just business or engineering), knows somebody at a large or small enterprise information company, and gets referred into this company.

The hiring manager may have good luck with a network of friends or college, and the candidate has shown ambition throughout college, has decent grades and strong communication skills, and will work tirelessly in order to ring the bell because they made an appointment!

 The candidate often begins his or career as a “BDR” (Business Development Representative), where their mission is to qualify inbound leads from a web based lead generation system and pass them off to an Inside sales person. The inside sales person is responsible for further qualifying the lead and taking ownership of the whole sales cycle, including closing the deal.  A BDR is promoted to an inside sales role, and their enterprise software career is under way.

 An enterprise technology company’s reduced commitment to formal sales training has help grow the third party sales consulting industry.  Third party Sales Consultants are often engaged by the technology to help customize and formalize a sales process, and train the salesforce on popular selling methodologies such as Solution Selling, SPIN Selling, Value based selling, Sandler, etc..

Another more modern day development is an enterprise’s tolerance (and often preference) to evaluate and buy software in a virtual manner.  The internet enables them to conduct considerable research in advance of being contacted by a sales person.  The prospect is therefore much more informed, and face-to-face time is not required.  The enterprise does not want to waste their time or incur the perceived pressure of a face-to-face visit.  Enterprise technology companies are happy to oblige with a remote/virtual sale because it reduces the cost of a sale and often helps reduce the time of a sales cycle.   This trend is enabled by remote video conferencing, web demonstrations, etc.

The result is a modern phenomenon of career inside sales people, who never become field sales people.  The field sales position was previously a natural stepping stone for inside sales people.

 Enterprise Field or outside sales positions are now more associated with deals that exceed $150,000 or include newer technologies that represent too great of a learning curve to sell in a remote fashion.  Exceptions include more mature and popular technologies, where an enterprise technology company can afford to have one or more software sales people in the field for each city, because every city has so many enterprises that need this common technology.  Data storage, enterprise security, and Managed Services are examples, particularly with Value Added Resellers.

 Sales Engineers and Professional Services personnel still often migrate to Sales position, but may first sell or manage existing clients in a “farming” capacity before becoming “hunters”.

 A qualified sales recruiter can help candidates and clients (hiring employers) navigate this changing landscape by identifying the various stages of a candidate’s growth and interests, and match them to an employer’s strategy for sales execution.   A Sales recruiter may often make suggestions to help employer widen or alter their criteria to find the largest and most qualified pool of talent – depending on their targeted geographies, price point, or technology maturity.  Candidates can also benefit from increased exposure to roles that satisfy their unique preference, an example is a need to sell twenty $50k deals over the phone versus two $1m deals over 30 face-to-face visits.

Sales Engineers are in great demand because have developed both technical acumen and communication skills. The more current a Sales Engineer’s technology skill sets, the greater the demand for his candidacy. Earnings potential is driven by the candidate’s sales and business acumen and business acumen, but you first must ante up with the technology and communication skills.

Sales Engineers careers had stereotypically been associated with a utility role, often only performing demonstrations and answering technical questions. Now Sales Engineer careers often include more ownership of the prospect relationship and sales cycle.

Today’s PreSales Engineers more often are considered partners to the sales force, with participation in meeting quota and defining sales strategy for a particular client. The biggest distinction from sales is not being involved in the prospecting or initial qualifying of an account, and not having to close the account. Some sales engineers want this increase in responsibility, while others prefer the more traditional role.

Smaller and newer companies often require PreSales Engineers to perform a greater breadth of responsibilities, including needs analysis, technical needs analysis, solution configuration, solution presentation, proposal preparation, proof-of-concept technical work, proof-of-concept management, and the post-sale implementation. The rewards can include more equity, visibility, and variety.

Larger and more established companies, particularly those with bigger price points, often have 2+ tiers of Sales Engineering Jobs: a) those that help with sales strategy, functional needs analysis, proposal preparation, and conceptual solution overview, and proof-of-concept management; b) and another more technical tier that performs the more detail technical analysis, detailed technical demonstrations, technical proof of concepts, and possibly the post-sale technical implementation. The rewards – depending on the tier – can include greater focus on the technology itself (technology does not talk back, change its mind, etc.) OR the business (ambiguity, change, budget, etc.).

Some employers insist on Presales Engineers having CS degrees, while others insist on real world practical experience within a particular application (i.e., marketing analytics), industry (i.e., financial services), technology (i.e., SOA, XML, virtualization etc.), or business function (i.e., risk management, on boarding, order management, provisioning, supply chain, etc.)

In general, the more sophisticated – and better paid – sales engineers are closely aligned with specific clients and sales people. They are capable of performing a well synchronized dance with sales people in asking the right questions at the right time, and deliver the right messaging without sharing too much information or providing free consultation.

Sales engineers can have the drudgery of lots of travel and demonstrations without the glory, compensation, or account control often associated with sales, but they do get to be more immersed in the solutions themselves; and have less risk, pressure and exposure associated with owning a quota. They are also absolved of having to ask the hard questions, such as closing the business.

Travel is lessening because prospects have greater tolerance for remote needs analysis, web based demonstrations, and proof of concept work. The bigger factors that drive excess Sales Engineering travel are poorly qualified deals; the complexity, cost, and risk associated with the technology being considered; the strength of the sales person, and the maturity of the company and technology category you are representing.

Sales Engineers need to find satisfaction in receiving recognition for their ability to address a wide variety of business and technical questions, and being considered the “go to” person when persuading a prospect that the technology “works” and is relevant to their needs.

Sales Engineering can lead to career opportunities in Sales Engineering Management, product management, or Sales. Often times Sales Engineers will take an interim step prior to Sales by managing and growing existing accounts, or channel sales. Both roles are less transactional and more relationship oriented – but they still own a quota and are free from being the “demo dolly” that burn out so many sales engineers.

Each Presale engineer has different preferences for which type of company and role they prefer. Experience, self-reflection, honesty with yourself, and having a good mentor (or recruiter) can help you find and evaluate the most rewarding role for you.

Xtra Effort is growing because our client base is expanding. We are therefore looking to hire a recruiter from the technology sector with two to ten years of professional experience since graduating college, including two years of commission based recruiting or sales experience.

We need your assistance.

 Would any of your recruiter or inside sales acquaintances appreciate a firm with a favorable reputation for subject matter expertise and integrity, a progressive culture and investment in search technology, a rich compensation plan, and a Westford location?

Below is LOTS of detail about the company, role, and compensation. Please share.  

See Xtra Effort Candidate Referral Program: $500 Amazon.com Gift Certificate Card!

Thank you again.

Mark
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Xtra Effort Solutions, Inc. candidates may find Xtra Effort to be desirable because:

• Ten year history of creating very satisfied Xtra Effort clients, candidates, and recruiters
• Competitive salary, benefits, and generous commission plan
•  Ample clients and hiring requirements
•  Use of www.SendOuts.com, a leading edge SaaS Applicant Tracking solution
•  Comfortable offices with privacy for phone calls
•  T1 internet connection for a speedy connection to the internet
•  Dual monitor PC’s for maximum recruiter productivity
•  Relaxed, non-political environment
•  Reimbursement for cell phone expenses
•  Premium LinkedIn accounts
•  Database of candidates that is organized and tagged by skills, tenure,
  industry expertise, compensation, location, communication skills, travel
  tolerance, etc.
•  Patient, resourceful and supportive leadership team
• Plenty of parking and services at our Route 110, Westford, location
• Subscription to professional online recruiting training

Candidates must be self-motivated and have an academic and professional history
of above average performance.
Range of Responsibilities (with proof of competency):

• Train and learn about Xtra Effort best practices and systems; and our market segment’ s terminology, values, and priorities
• Search within our database and other resources for candidates who are suitable for current client hiring requirements
• Engage candidates (web, in-person, phone) to discover and document their backgrounds, communication skills, motivations, industry knowledge, skills, etc, and determine if they are a fit for immediate or future Xtra Effort client need
• Introduce candidates to clients, manage the client evaluation and hiring process.
• Meet (phone and in-person) with clients to insure their satisfaction with recent Xtra Effort recruits, identify and document additional hiring requirements, and recruit accordingly.
• Develop new clients

Xtra Effort is a place for you if:
• You work intelligently and diligently
• Enjoy humor

• Are Ok with lots of outbound phone calls (120+ per week)
• Want to work with high growth enterprise technology companies as clients
• Want to work on several considerable client hiring opportunities, many in an exclusive fashion
• Want to be treated fairly
• Want to receive above average compensation for intelligent work and results.

 
A recruiting career with Xtra Effort can be rewarding because:
• You work with companies who are hiring and growing
• Your clients and candidates represent diverse work cultures, technologies, and personalities
• You make a significant and favorable impact on your candidate’s lives, and your client’s operations
Xtra Effort Solutions, Inc. compensation plan
Compensation Plan A: 100% commission with recoverable draw, and no health insurance
35% commission on candidate placement
45% commission if the recruiter also sourced the candidate (as  opposed to a  candidate previously in the Xtra Effort database) OR if the recruiter created the job order
60% commission if the recruiter sourced the candidate AND created the job order

Example:

$20k placement fee would = up to $12k in commissions
15 placements would =   up to $180,000

Compensation Plan B:  $50k Salary, and health insurance
25% commission
30% commission if the recruiter also sourced the candidate (as  opposed to a  candidate previously in the Xtra Effort database) OR if the recruiter created the job order
35% commission if the recruiter sourced the candidate AND created the job order

Example
$20k placement fee would = up to $7k in commission
15 placements = up to $155,000, including salary

I suspect some of you will say “duh”, while others – like myself – may say “Aha”, now I (further) get it.