People & Talent · Sales organization
Designing a structured sales hiring engine
High-volume, commission-based hiring was treated as a measurable funnel with explicit stages and rubrics.
Result: Higher-quality shortlists with less coordination overhead.
These engagements are published in anonymized form. Client names, identifying details and commercially sensitive figures are withheld at our clients’ request.
Context
A founder-led organization was scaling commission-based sales hiring faster than its hiring process could support.
The problem
High drop-off rates, inconsistent candidate quality, and no visibility into where the funnel was leaking.
What we designed
Redesigned hiring as a pipeline with explicit stages and evaluation rubrics, then automated candidate communication, reminders and status updates for both candidates and reviewers.
How it was implemented
Rubrics were written from the profiles of people who had already succeeded in the role, rather than from a generic competency list.
Result
Better signal on candidate quality, less back-and-forth coordination, and a repeatable engine for onboarding successive hiring cohorts.
Why the approach mattered
Hiring at volume fails for the same reason sales at volume fails: without explicit stages and criteria, every decision is re-litigated from scratch.
Capabilities involved
If this resembles the situation you are in, we can set out how we would approach it and what the work would involve.