When I first started in sales recruiting I cold called CEO's of major company's everyday until they either accepted a meeting with me or handed me down the line to someone else. One day one of those cold calls paid off and I ended up meeting with a newly appointed VP of HR for a $2.5 billion company.

At one point in the meeting he asked me why happy, successful sales reps left for new sales jobs. Being very well read and up on the industry news, I started to recite the results of a poll I had just read about this very topic. I said something to the effect of, "sales reps leave because they feel no respect from their bosses, they want more recognition, they want greater challenges in their sales jobs, they want more vacation, more flexible hours so they can be with their families."

I went on and on with this malarkey that I quite frankly didn't believe but thought was the right thing to say.

He stopped me and said, "Steve, sales reps leave for new sales jobs for one thing and thing only. They want more money!"

We wrapped up the meeting. It went well - I ended up with the account and helped them recruit on average of a sales rep a week for quite some time.

But the one thing I learned from that meeting was more important than any number of successful searches that I could ever complete.

I learned then and there to never say anything but what I felt to be the truth.

That said - I just read a post at The Recruiting Edge - one of my fellow recruiting industry blogs.

The post has survey results listed that appear to be taken from a survey completed by Careerbuilder. The results of this survey seems to be more in line with what I hear and see from sales professionals.

Here it is as clipped from the site The Recruiting Edge:

8 Hiring Trends For 2008

EIGHT MAJOR TRENDS FOR 2008

#1 Bigger Paychecks

(here's more info on this point as it was broken down at http://biz.yahoo.com)

56 percent of employers expect to increase salaries on initial offers to new employees, up from 59 percent in 2007

#2 More Flexible Work Arrangements

#3 Screening Candidates via the Internet

#4 Rehiring Retirees

#5 Diversity Recruitment

#6 Freelance or Contract Hiring

#7 More Comprehensive Healthcare Benefits and Special Perks

#8 Career Advancement

Hey, I'm no fortune teller, but it was common sense years ago that people went to work to make money. I'm just glad CareerBuilder decided to let us all know.