A recruiter’s guide to hiring sales ledger staff

A sales ledger is an important role in a business, and is essential to the smooth day-to-day running of the accounts department. They also help chase outstanding debts from clients, making them a crucial addition to any finance team.

When looking to recruit a sales ledger, you must ensure that each candidate has strong communication skills, excellent proficiency in numeracy, a good eye for detail and an analytical mind.

Organisational skills will also help a candidate succeed in the role, and it’s a good idea to suss out their ambitions, to find out if they see themselves working for a company like yours in the long term.

Follow our tips to help ensure you are speaking to the right kind of candidates, and to make sure you hire the right person for the job.

Can they demonstrate the right skills?

As we mentioned, sales ledgers need certain skills to succeed in their role. Can the candidate demonstrate numeracy, communication and organisational skills through their past experience, qualifications and hobbies?

Ask each candidate to explain a problem they have overcome, and see if they can identify the key skills they used to resolve the issue. They might highlight exactly what you are looking for, even if it was not evident initially on their CV or application form.

What qualifications do they have?

Although there are no universal entry requirements for a sales ledger role, most employers will expect a minimum of five GCSEs, including maths and English. If your candidate has any further qualifications in regards to accountancy, numeracy or banking, take them into account too.

How computer literate are they?

Sales ledger jobs are computer based, so candidates must be completely computer literate.

A knowledge of financial accounting software, such as Sage, Great Plains and Microsoft Dynamics would be a bonus. Although, a candidate who is proficient at Microsoft Excel that can demonstrate they are willing to learn about accounting-specific software, should also be considered.

How do they solve problems?

It’s important for a good sales ledger to have an analytic mind, as they will be dealing with complex decisions and be required to solve problems logically on a day-to-day basis.

Ask candidates about instances where they have had to solve problems, and the process behind their decisions. This will give you a good indication of their decision making skills, and whether they make decisions based on the logical information they have in front of them. A good way of testing this is to ask candidates how they:

• Evaluate a situation

• Break it down into key components

• Consider ways of approaching and resolving these components

• Decide on the most appropriate of these components

The answers given should indicate what kind of thinker your candidate is, and whether they would thrive in the role you’re offering.

Sales ledgers are required to be highly skilled because they have such an influence on the day-to-day running of the business. Recruiting the right person isn’t always easy, but as you can see, there are ways you can make sure you get it right.

Find skilled sales ledger staff with Portfolio Credit Control

At Portfolio Credit Control, we are experts in finding the right candidates for your credit control vacancies. Contact us on 020 7650 3199 to speak to a member of our recruitment team for top quality recruitment advice.

For a face-to-face meeting give us a call and arrange a meeting at our Central London offices right near Liverpool Street.