Talent acquisition is a lot like sales. In a sales process, you find prospects, sell a customer brand and win business. While, in recruitment you find yourself qualifying candidates, selling the employer brand and hiring top talent. In a sense, Talent acquisition and sales are like cousins. They just target different audiences. We reached out to some of the best. They have shared some of their best sales tips in the slides below. See what they have to suggest.

1. Sales: Finding prospects. Selling customer brand. Winning business.
Talent Acquisition: Finding candidates. Selling employer brand. Hiring.
There are similarities between both functions.

2. So, what is the one thing
that Talent Acquisition guys
should learn from Sales?

3. use…the thought leaders suggest…

4. “Knowing that the key to sell is authenticity.”
About Kevin Freitas, Global Head – Recruitment, InMobi
Kevin is known for building out InMobi’s employer brand creatively that helped them
save over a million dollars every year. He is vibrant in thinking of most lucrative benefits
and has attracted the best talent at InMobi. His key areas include building recruitment
strategies, handling compensation and benefits, managing talent and engaging
employees. Prior to InMobi, Kevin worked with Flipkart and headed C&B and HR
Operations.
He is a Chartered Accountant and an MBA from XLRI School of Management. Having
worked at Hewitt Associates, the HayGroup and Procter & Gamble, he is backed with a
great network and experience.

5. About Pruthvi Nanjappa, Vice President – Human Resource, Ness
Technologies India
Pruthvi is a seasoned HR Leader with over 17 years of Industry Experience and many years as
an Entrepreneur prior to joining the corporate. An MBA graduate from Xavier Institute of
Management & Entrepreneurship – XIME. He has held positions supporting Employee
Engagement, Learning & Development, Compensation & Benefits, Talent Acquisition &
Development etc. You will find him connecting to “Only the Paranoid Survive”, a book by Andy
Grove on a professional level. He is also a coach to many budding professionals &
Entrepreneurs.
At Ness, he Heads the People Function for India & Singapore. He is seen as a trusted partner
to Business & has a keen eye for sustainable Business Growth.
“Talent Acquisition refers to the ability of a company to
“WIN” worthy candidates on right terms & in right
timeframe. TA Professionals need to develop compelling
propositions to attract, convince, onboard & retain the best
talent. A constant evaluation on how TA impacts Biz &
profitability is imperative & akin to what Sales does.”

6. “The importance of ‘Going back to basics ’ and delivering
with speed i.e. sharply identifying the critical desired role,
incumbent requirements, basis business and team context;
passionately pursing the search for the right candidates
and delivering on the same with ‘speed’.”
About Zenobia Madon, Director – Human Resources, Philips
At Philips, Zenobia leads the People and Talent strategy for the Personal Health business
in India. Over the years, she has gained diverse experience in Human Resources, having
done various roles spanning across Talent Acquisition, HR Business Partnering, Mergers
& Acquisitions, Talent Management and HR Transformations.
Prior to Philips, she has worked with leading organizations like Johnson & Johnson and
AstraZeneca in India and has also undergone a few stints working overseas in US &
Singapore.

7. “Understand business outlook, proactively reach
out to qualifying candidates and close the deal
using influencing and negotiating skills within
stipulated SLA.”
About Veena DSilva, AVP – Talent Management, Ugam
With over 16 years of experience in the HR and Staffing domain, Veena possesses strong
and diversified expertise in strategic and operational areas like Performance
Management, Employee Relationships, Compliance Management, Compensation &
Benefits, Talent Management, Coaching and Mentoring, Talent Acquisition, Change
Management, Employee Engagement amongst others.
A go getter by nature, she is highly energetic which has helped her to lead and motivate
her team. She has the ability to deal tactfully with employees and has demonstrated
excellent people management skills thus achieving the business goals of the company.

8. About Harlina Sodhi, Head – Human Resources, Reliance Ind. Ltd.
Harlina is a professional with 22 years of experience across various HR domains -
Employee Engagement, Leadership Recruitment, Organization Effectiveness, Capability
Building, Learning and Development, Communication, Diversity and Inclusion,
Performance and Talent Management. She has the ability to align people practices with
business imperatives and successfully leads large scale operations.
At Reliance, she establishes employee engagement framework, designs and delivers high
impact internal and external communications, and sets up diversity and inclusion
practice for the company.
“Sell B of the FAB (Feature–Advantage–Benefit)
& Use SPANCO (Suspect–Prospect –Approach–
Negotiate–Close–Order) model with candidates.
Always works!”

9. Have a sales tip you
used while recruiting?
Share it in the comments below!