Recruiting is Sales Webinar

Feb 25

Matt Schalsey (CEO of Perfect Hire and co-founder of The Enablement Squad) opened his February webinar with a simple but spicy premise: recruiting and sales are running the same playbook as sales, they just call the stages different names. And if you’re in enablement, that overlap matters more than most teams admit.

Matt’s core message: your enablement outcomes (ramp time, productivity, ROI) are only as strong as the talent coming into the org. If recruiting “fails” you — or more accurately, if the hiring process fails, your metrics can get skewed before onboarding even begins.

Below is the recap, including best practices, key takeaways, and what to do next.

The big idea: Recruiting pipeline = Sales pipeline

Matt mapped recruiting stages directly to the sales funnel:

Sales: Lead → Discovery → Demo → Closing (managed in a CRM)
Recruiting: Sourcing (headhunting/job posts) → Screening → Hiring manager interview → Offer/negotiation (managed in an ATS)

The implication: recruiters need the same enablement we give sellers. They need to be equipped with process clarity, stage definitions, and better messaging.

Best practices

1) Treat recruiting like a managed pipeline (not a loose inbox)

Recruiters are “working the same pipeline from a big funnel all the way down,” and candidates should be handled with the same rigor you’d use with leads.

Enablement angle: if your sellers live and die by defined stages + exit criteria, your recruiters should too.

What good looks like:

Clear stages with consistent candidate movement
Standard “exit criteria” for each stage (what must be true to advance)
A system that supports visibility and follow-through (not scattered tools)

2) Personalize candidate engagement (ditch the generic templates)

Matt called out “meaningful interactions instead of the generic templates,” with tailored communication that shows you actually researched the candidate and the role fit.

What to implement:

Candidate outreach that references specific experience → specific role needs
“Why you / why now” messaging (like you’d coach an SDR to do)
A consistent cadence so candidates don’t go dark

3) Build relationships to reduce candidate drop-off

Matt noted that a large portion of candidates drop during the process because it’s too long or because they don’t feel a real connection. He also prompted the group on the very real experience of being ghosted during hiring.

Enablement angle: candidate experience isn’t “HR stuff.” It’s conversion.

4) Align impact measures with onboarding and repeatability

Matt framed “impact” as a critical stage: the hiring process should evaluate outcomes that are:

aligned to the job description
realistically attainable
repeatable into onboarding so enablement can reinforce and ramp effectively

If you take only one thing: help define the right assessments so the job doesn’t start with a mismatch.

The MERIT Methodology

Matt introduced MERIT as a recruiting qualification methodology inspired by sales approaches like MEDDICC/Challenger, but tuned for candidate conversations. MERIT stands for: Mindset, Engagement, Relationship, Impact, Trust.

Here’s how it translates into practice:

Mindset: recruiters operate as strategic partners, not note-takers; focus on value and what makes a candidate right, not just “passed the test.”
Engagement: personalized, researched outreach over cookie-cutter messaging.
Relationship: consistent communication and nurturing through the process to keep candidates warm.
Impact: evaluate outcomes/skills in a way that connects directly to onboarding success.
Trust: the foundation—candidates must trust the company and the process; the team must trust the candidate can deliver.

Key takeaways
(for Enablement leaders and practitioners)

Enablement starts before Day 1. If the wrong people are hired, enablement gets blamed for ramp and ROI even if the real problem began upstream.
Recruiters need enablement too. Teaching recruiters the same fundamentals you teach sellers improves candidate quality and hiring velocity, which protects enablement outcomes.
Candidate experience is conversion. Ghosting, long cycles, and weak relationships create fallout.
Design assessments for onboarding continuity. Hire for what you can reinforce, coach, and scale.

Actionable next steps (what to do this week)

1) Run a “Recruiting = Sales” pipeline audit (30 minutes)

List your recruiting stages and define exit criteria for each one.
Identify where candidates stall or drop.

2) Build a candidate communication cadence (today)

Define touchpoints between steps (e.g., “you’ll hear from us within X days”)
Create 3–5 templates that are personalization-ready (not generic blasts)

3) Align hiring assessments to onboarding (this week)

For each role, document the impact outcomes you want from a new hire
Ensure your interview project or questions map directly to those outcomes and can be reinforced in onboarding

4) Do one “recruiter enablement” mini-workshop (45 minutes)

Teach recruiters: