…except it’s keeping talent OUT, not competitors.

You’ve seen them – sales orgs with an 8-stage recruitment process that includes 5 separate meetings. FIVE. You practically need a project management certification just to understand their hiring flowchart.

This isn’t thoroughness. It’s organizational constipation.

Let’s be brutally honest about what your marathon hiring process is actually doing:

  1. Bleeding top talent – Elite salespeople have options. LOTS of them. While you’re scheduling interview #4, your competitor just made an offer.
  2. Signaling dysfunction – High-performers look at your byzantine process and think: “If THIS is how they make simple decisions, what happens with complex ones?
  3. Burning money – Every unfilled sales role costs you revenue. Your “thorough” hiring process might be costing you a luxury car payment without a car.

The Real Problem Isn’t Your Process, It’s Your Psychology

Your 8-stage monster didn’t appear overnight. It grew like a fungus from:

  • Fear of making a bad hire (which you’ll still do occasionally, regardless)
  • Nobody owning hiring outcomes (“We all decided together!” = nobody’s accountable)
  • Random stages added over time without anyone asking “do we actually need this?”
  • Complete confusion about what predicts sales success

The Fix: A Ruthlessly Simple Framework

Stop the madness. Create a 3-stage process:

  1. DEFINE: Pick 3-5 non-negotiable traits that predict success in YOUR org
  2. DESIGN: Create scenarios that reveal those traits (not generic interview questions)
  3. DECIDE: Use a clear scoring rubric that forces commitment

My client slashed their process from 8 stages to 3 and still improved hiring outcomes. Their secret? They replaced “consensus theater” with actual decision-making.

Your company doesn’t need 8 stages to make good hiring decisions. It needs confidence, clarity, and courage.