Training Program (Pg 1 of 5) Our training process begins well in advance of the Student Account Executive’s official beginning day in their sales territory. For the benefit of our customers, and our bottom line, we want to experience as little “downtime” as possible in a sales territory.
Central Michigan Life
We keep a running log of the current staff’s graduation dates, and prepare a hiring plan according to the number of openings we will have available in the next two semesters. If we only have one opening, we will hire closer to an actual start date, as we have more one-to-one time with that student. When we have more than one opening, (which is usually every semester), we will fill the positions 8-10 weeks out. In a typical Fall Semester, we will begin with help wanted ads in September, interviews in October and hire at the beginning of November. The new hires will be trained for the months of November and December and will start in their territories the first week of January with the start of Spring Semester. In the spring semester, we start the process all over again with employment ads beginning in January, interviews in February and hires made before students leave for Spring break (1st week of March). When the students return from Spring break, they start the training process through March, April and early May. Our first step after hiring, is to set up training dates with each incoming sales person. Each new sales trainee is assigned to one of our 3 Advertising Managers and a Senior Account Executive. The training process is overseen by the advertising manager, and the senior account executive is who they shadow during the process. The training will begin with review of the CM LIFE Advertising Department Handbook. Each section is carefully studied, and practiced, so the new employee will be as familiar with the operation, policies, procedures and paperwork as possible. This is an ongoing process for the rest of the training period. The second step is a complete tour of the facility, with introductions to staff members and their roles in the organization. When possible, we also tour the printer’s facility so the Student can grasp the entire process involved in getting a daily newspaper produced.
436 Moore Hall, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI 48859 PHONE: (989) 774-3493 FAX: (989) 774-7804 EMAIL: advertising@cm-life.com