The Pre-recruiting Reservoir

Because of uncertainties as to when new sales personnel will be needed, many companies have a pre-recruiting reservoir. This is a file of individuals who might be recruited when the need arises. The names of individuals added to the reservoir come from diverse sources. Some come from “volunteer walk-ins”-people who come by the sales department inquiring about job opportunities. Others come from chance re-marks made by people with whom the sales executive comes into contact—at professional meetings, in conversations with customers, over cocktails at the club, seat partners on planes, and the like: Still others come from “centers of influence” that have been developed by the sales executive-the center of influence is a person who occupies a position in which he or she meets many individuals who have high potentials as possible sales personnel and who often are seeking suitable job opportunities. Examples of centers of influence include the: university professor of marketing and sales management, the trade association executive, the placement advisor of a university or community college, and vocational advisors in other educational institutions. Names in the pre-recruiting reservoir should be reviewed periodically. Those that become badly dated should be culled.