I have had an interview today for a position in recruitment for which I did not succeed. The role was heavily sales based and in giving the feedback he said, after a bit of hinting, I was too nice.
2007-10-31 05:56:47 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Business & Finance ➔ Careers & Employment ➔ Marketing & Sales
I have to tell you, it's impossible to be too nice in sales and I've been in sales 10 years. Nice is often what will get you the business. So either the company is too aggressive, the manager is too aggressive or he meant something else by nice.
I think by nice what they might have meant was lacking confidence or didn't provide enough detail. In sales you have to sell yourself, your company and your product. You have to believe. When in an interview, remember the key is to sell yourself by really selling your experience to what they are looking for. Always start out by asking what the ideal candidate will possess, then tie your skills and experience back to that. Then, after the interview, call the manager to reiterate your key points and make sure there were no lingering questions; tell them how much you want the position. This is exactly how it works in sales.
If it indeed they don't want nice people, they don't deserve you anyway. Keep being nice (you can even say no to a customer by being nice and honest about it). I doubled my number last year by being nice/sincere (and I'm actually a shy person), believing, following up and then always looking out for my customer.
A list of important sales traits: http://salesguy.org/TopSalesTraits.html
Good luck!
2007-10-31 09:24:09 · answer #1 · answered by Robert I 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Being nice means "allowing others to walk all over you"
I know this from personal experience.
In sales you will have to be assertive (maybe even aggressive) and be comfortable telling lies about the service or product.
I once left a job after 4 years because I was stressed out with always having to tell lies.
2007-10-31 14:47:04 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Being nice is not a minus, and I almost missed out on a job for the same reason.
What you need to do is sell yourself as being nice *and* assertive as well.
The way you can best do this is use your 'niceness' as a pluss, and meet it dead on.
remember nice = *disarming*.
"I've found that my easy going personality opens up venues that are hard to break into."
Use it as a strenght. Tell them that your niceness gets you past gatekeepers, puts dubious prospects at ease, and creates continued goodwill with the prospect after they become a client.
Remember this for the next interview. If you know that you have a weakness, or a percieved one, always turn it into a strength.
2007-10-31 13:04:51 · answer #3 · answered by hail_loki 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
To succeed in the role of a recruitment consultant or alike, you need to be aggressive and sometimes involve telling a bit of white lies, but not misrepresentation of job opportunities. On top of that, you need to be able to handle work stress, tremendous disappointments and surprises caused by your candidates and of course achieving sales target set by your employer. At times, you really need to be firm and go harsh on irresponsible candidates and so.... a successful consultant is usually not a 'nice' person :)
2007-10-31 13:07:11 · answer #4 · answered by SingaporeJobsMarket.com 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋
There is not a problem with being nice, you just have to make sure you are a firm nice... be polite but to the point, and always stand up for what you believe, regardless of what the other person thinks. Being too nice, usually is due to backing down and not standing up for things... just be firm and polite... Do not worry so much about what others think of you when it comes to things, just be true to yourself...
2007-10-31 13:06:18 · answer #5 · answered by CP 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There's nothing wrong with being nice, especially when it's genuine, but it's like water on a fire; you might put out a fire to be nice so a person's house doesn't burn down but for some fires it takes a lot of water. And if it isn't enough water, the water just gets consumed
2007-10-31 13:07:27 · answer #6 · answered by isis 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Don't worry about it; obviously that particular job was not for you.
When someone tells you that you are too "nice", I would be suspicious. The word "nice" is too vague for you to ever know what he really meant, but I would assume that they were looking for someone "dishonest" who could lie to a customer's face without flinching.
Run away and don't look back.
BTW, what was the name of the company?
2007-10-31 13:06:04 · answer #7 · answered by Randy G 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Nice means crap - get better and they wont call you nice anymore.
2007-10-31 13:05:13 · answer #8 · answered by richard l 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Tooo nice = lack confidence
Show him the finger.
2007-10-31 13:04:40 · answer #9 · answered by Sultan S 1 · 3⤊ 3⤋