The People & Change Theatre at Digital Construction Week is all about embracing new ways of working, and we’re delighted to welcome Zetter Recruitment on board as the theatre sponsor.

We speak with Ursula Colman, Zetter’s Talent Acquisition Director, to find out more about Zetter and how sales professionals can succeed in the digital construction industry.

What’s Zetter’s story?

Zetter was set up to offer clients and candidates a one-stop-shop for their sales recruitment needs.  Our team of highly experienced recruiters have specialised in this fast-paced industry for years and understand that the way to source talent is completely different to other markets.

An extensive passive and active candidate network is a key ingredient to succeed along with the know-how of how to find the best fit and that’s what we do.

It’s the only industry where candidate personality and emotional intelligence is as important as sales experience. This is why even the strongest internal talent teams, rely on and partner with us to fill their sales roles.

How does Zetter serve the digital construction industry?

The digital construction industry is a core and growing market of ours. Over recent years, we’ve seen significant investment in this market.

Candidates from a traditional construction or software sales background find this space exciting and, with the kind of tech entering the construction space, it continues to attract some of the best talent in the market.

Construction remains the second least digitised sector in the world (MGI’s digitisation index) so there exists vast opportunities for career advancement.

What roles are you placing people in?

We recruit for a range of roles and seniority, from sales development representatives who are typically new in their sales careers and will be opening the doors through to experienced new business account executives.

When clients look to scale their teams, we source their top-level leadership teams including sales directors, VP of sales and chief revenue officers.

We also recruit for the commercial account management teams. These teams ensure that once a client is won, future opportunities are developed alongside ensuring client retention by the customer success teams.

What’s the best preparation candidates can do?

Speak with us at Zetter first! We understand what to include in your CV, the salary and package you could expect to achieve (so you don’t sell yourself short!).

We guide and help you shortlist for the most attractive and suitable roles which meet your aspirations and have access to many of the top jobs within the digital construction industry.

What are the most important skills a person can have?

Having an understanding of the construction industry is useful, or some great experience in sales or customer success from another software company.

Venture capitalists are betting big on the future of construction tech and look for previous transferable sales success in their experienced hires.

For entry-level sales roles, it’s the same as across other software industries – being articulate, passionate, committed and with a drive to pursue a career in sales is what most companies look for.

How has recruitment changed since the pandemic?

The post-pandemic era has forced hiring processes to be quicker and more flexible. Many of the roles we fill have embraced virtual interviews, which speeds up the process. It’s more time-efficient to arrange diaries for several one-hour video calls than to get several people together in one location.

It’s now very rare for us to find a construction tech company that will want someone in the office more than one day a week and many roles are now fully remote working. It’s not uncommon to see companies recruit entire sales teams within a month compared to double that time pre-pandemic.

What’s the best advice for someone starting in the sector?

The first couple of years is generally the hardest. The more junior sales roles can be a bit mundane but stick at it. Once you have done the hard yards careers can open up to the more exciting positions.

It’s tempting initially to try to rush the process of career progression and we see candidates change jobs frequently in those first couple of years. While moving roles every two-three years is fine, if you can get promoted in your first role (more than once is even better) and then look to change positions, it will help you stand out.

VC backed companies often offer the fastest career paths, as teams scale the opportunities internally can come along a lot faster.

Zetter is the go-to Sales Recruitment agency for companies including VC backed start-ups looking to source experienced Sales and C-level Executives. Representing the most driven salespeople and recruiting for the most progressive businesses in the UK. Visit the Zetter website.

Contact Ursula Colman via 01223 978202 or [email protected].