RECRUITING
5 Questions to ask yourself
when recruiting Millennials
Millions of educated and ambitious Millennials are about to be unleashed on the working
world. While there’s plenty of advice out there for candidates, there’s not much guidance for
the person interviewing them. With that in mind, here are five critical questions to ask yourself
when recruiting a Millennial into the industry.
#1 How are their communication skills?
You can look to their past experience and job history for clues. Did they wait on tables,
acting as the single point of contact for customer service? Did they lifeguard during summers,
which involves decision-making and addressing conflict? Or, did they simply put on a set of
headphones, mow lawns and disconnect from the world?
Look to see if they can verbalize with professionalism what they can offer your company. Do
they listen well? Do they make eye contact? Did they come to the interview with a pitch about
themselves, or instead, with great questions?
#2 Have they demonstrated accountability?
What have they done in the past that required accountability and dependability? Did they
take on group projects in college classes? Assume leadership roles on sports teams? More
importantly, can they tell their “accountability story”?
#3 How’s their personal energy?
The sales role is an energetic one, so soak in the energy of recruits as they sit across the
desk from you. Do they seem engaged? Were their college years filled with extracurricular
activities, volunteer services, or internships? Always remember — intelligence is important but
so is passion.
#4 How do they deal with rejection?
In work as in life, you win some and you lose some. In insurance, managing rejection without
having it drag you down is particularly critical. When asked, candidates should be able to
discuss with credibility and professionalism how they’ve handled rejection, citing an example or
two. You’ll want to understand how they dealt with it and came back even stronger.
Stephen Tarr, CLU ChFC, CAP, RICP
is Senior Vice President of Financial
Services Practice for Sandler Training.
Stephen worked in the field as a
producer and agency leader, as well
as a corporate executive and Senior
Vice President at The American
College.
48
Perspectives
Q1 2020
#5 Have they gotten the fundamentals right?
Nailing the fundamentals is one of the easiest and most important parts of interview
preparation. Unfortunately, it’s the part that most often gets ignored. For that reason,
candidates who pay attention to the small details really stand out.
Take notice of how they carry themselves. Did they come prepared? Did they research your
company? Did they appear interested? Did they bring a portfolio with a list of topics to cover?
Did they take notes?
After the interview, did they follow up with a thank-you note? Did the note mention small
connections they made with everyone they spoke to from your team?