Talent Acquisition Manager Question:

Most sales managers have worked their way up from a sales rep position, and this question gets at the heart of a very important truth: many great sales reps turn out to be terrible managers. While a sales rep turned manager can certainly put themselves in a sales rep’s shoes and therefore understand their motivations, an ideal candidate will know that the skills of a sales rep are very different from the skills of a great manager. While sales reps are often responsible solely for their own goals and accounts, a manager must think about his or her team as a collective entity. Rather than being competitive and hands-on, they must be able to step back from the limelight and concentrate on helping others succeed. An ideal candidate will be able to give specific examples of their motivations and skills as a sales rep, and understand that those skills and motivations will have changed when they became a manager.