Tag Archives: recruitment

New sources of info and best practice

I’ve been doing a lot of research while I’m looking at the job market over the last couple of months and have had some good days – lots of new sources of information, leads into other new content, new authors to follow, etc. – and some very poor ones – the same old content from the same old sources, repackaged and refreshed for the latest round of posting.

Yesterday was a very good one. I revisited a few old haunts online and checked out a couple of industry-specific writers who I had overlooked when I was thinking about recruitment in months and years gone by. And there was some real gold in there.

I had shut down the part of my brain that was in research mode for a while, taking time not to go too deep into any area to see what I felt like on a lot of much broader topics that have always interested me but I have not had the time or inclination to follow up on. But I have switched back now to focussing on a small number of topics and getting to know as much about them as I can.

And it does pay off. Getting familiar and bang up-to-date on topics in a narrow sphere does feel more comfortable to me. And there does seem to be a repayment in coming across new ideas, writers, etc. when you narrow your focus that you might not spot if just skimming content. The cutting edge stuff will always be a bit harder to find and that is how it should be, but I am going to sick to this process and see where it leads.

Checklist – things to ask and consider when you’re looking for a new job

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Here’s a list of things that are worth finding out and thinking about as you go through the decision making process of deciding to take a new job or stay where you are. Got any additional ones? Please add them in the comments.

What’s the travel time and is it a decent commute.
Are there good facilities for staff in the office, eg kitchens, rest areas, car parking.
Is the salary competitive with similar roles at other local/national companies.
Is there a good benefits package – health care cover, pension provision, day off for your birthday, free snacks, etc.
Is there a solid training and development programme in place or a culture of learning in the company.
Do you get to work on any special projects outside of your role, or can you volunteer for additional work on projects that interest you.
Is there a glass ceiling or is there room to grow.
What are the skill levels and the experience of others in the team.
Is there a matrix management structure or is it a bureaucratic framework.
What’s the culture like – fun, whacky, structured, quiet, formal, etc.
What was the interview process like – really good reflection of the company in most cases.
How did the company communicate with you through the offer process – again, another great indicator to take note of.

Big10 and what it can do for your business

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(This is a blog post written for my new business and I wanted to share it here, too, in case there is any interest.)

For many businesses, recruitment is something that is seen as a necessary evil and also an expensive one. If you do it yourself or have an in-house team, there is the time it takes to make your new hires and the cost of running the team and all of its own associated costs. If you use an agency, you are also going to be looking at a bill and its size will depend on the deal you have made with your agent. You’ve also got to make sure your candidates get a great experience when they interact with you and your team and that all of your team are ready for the interview process and know the part they are supposed to play. Add to this the need to hire a new team in a couple of weeks or a decision to hit the graduate market and things can get rather busy!

This is where Big10 comes in. It is a strategic analysis tool that has been designed to assess the relative strength of your company’s recruitment process and practice and help you to find your optimum solution with a focus on cost, quality, efficiency and effectiveness. It has been designed by someone who has been in the position of using budgets both large and small to get the best recruitment results and who has experienced the range of issues faced when looking at recruitment as a strategic tool. Clients who have used Big10 have saved huge amounts of time and money with some refinement of their own strategy while still making great hires.

As the name suggests, Big 10 has ten areas of focus that have a direct effect on the results of your hiring activity. They range from attraction methodologies and assessment and selection to supplier management and the source of candidates, whatever that may be. Every element is included in the analysis and we take the time to understand how and why you do what you do. At St John, we are driven by the need to make your recruitment capability truly deliver and our success becomes your strength in the war for talent. Big10 is a great way to ensure you are doing everything you can to be successful in all of your recruitment activities so put us to the test today and see where we can take you.

http://www.sjrec.com

Hiring advice from Ogilvy

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A quick list for you from the King of Madison Avenue:

“The qualifications I look for in our leaders are these:

1 – High standards of personal ethics.

2 – Big people, without prettiness.

3 – Guts under pressure, resilience in defeat.

4 – Brilliant brains – not safe plodders.

5 – A capacity for hard work and midnight oil.

6 – Charisma – charm and persuasiveness.

7 – A streak of unorthodoxy – creative innovators.

8 – The courage to make tough decisions.

9 – Inspiring enthusiasts – with thrust and guts.

10 – A sense of humour.”

All of these are highly prized commodities in the workplace and something I spend a lot of time looking for in people. Sadly the package is not found in all that many but those that do possess it are rare birds who fly very, very high.

—

Ian Mountford is a Strategy Coach providing motivation and guidance to entrepreneurs, wannabe or fully-fledged. He draws from his own experience of building businesses from the ground up and spending many years helping clients to consistently achieve their goals and aspirations. Ian works with clients face-to-face and internationally.

Do you plan, create or do?

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Very interesting article from Metro (20 Jan) passed to me about a project that attracts school-leavers to the digital creative and marketing industries with an interesting methodology. You don’t see job details and salaries when you first land on the job board – you are instead asked to identify what type of brain you have, i.e. do you plan, create or do? The choices you make are then matched to job roles that fit and jobs are listed under the same categories to make it easy to find a good fit for you.

Full details can be found here: www.creativepioneers.co.uk

Using a consultancy to provide talent is about so much more than just paying fees

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New post by me over at the 6Talent blog:

“Many organisations are doing their own hiring today because they don’t want to pay fees to agents. Many brands and businesses big and small have had bad experiences with, or feel they haven’t got value for money from, an agency and I can understand that – sadly there are many bad eggs out there and that will always be the case. Very few arguments any better than the fees one have really found their way to me and it is often the only factor against them wanting to do business. My question is, why use your own time to search for and hire people when you can partner up with a consultancy and let them help you to grow? Hiring is a skill that everyone thinks they are great at but the facts simply don’t bear this out. And getting it wrong is a huge expense, whether you have found staff yourself or not. The true cost of recruitment can be £000’s and if you make poor hiring decisions as you’re learning how to do it on your own these costs just get larger and larger.

If you have staff within your team who are key administrators or are in HR and have a bucketload of everyday work to do, is it really a cost-effective use of their time to also try to do your hiring? And if you’re a small business owner with a to-do list as long as your arm, is it really the best use of your time to be trawling LinkedIn when you could be doing chargeable work and driving new business into your firm? If you need a website, you go and get one built for your business by an agency that knows how it’s done, rather than asking your team to have a go. If you need a new car, you don’t buy it from Ford directly, you go via a dealer, and so on, BUT in each case you are paying a price and the same applies to searching for and delivering talent.

A good consultancy providing talent is a partner to your operation and is putting a great message about your business out there for all to see, promoting you at every opportunity. A good consultancy gives you market knowledge and keeps you up to speed on your industry and knows as much about it as you do. And – the big one – a great consultancy helps you make the right decision on a candidate. They help you to find the right talent for your team and assist on the process of recruitment as well as simply handing over CVs – they have this at the heart of their operating model as it’s the only thing that works. It builds a stronger relationship, strengthens the partnership and makes the process of growth so much easier for your business. You can then stick to the things that make you money and keep doing what you do best.

Is this something that’s been on your mind? Are you and your team spending huge amounts of time in trying to source candidates without hitting the mark? 6Talent are at the forefront of this service-based approach and we deliver the highest quality service to our clients and get results. If you want to put us to the test and make big long term savings, please get in touch.”

“Anybody can Join…”

Interview no-shows

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Over the years I have heard the full range of reasons for people not arriving on time or turning up late for interviews. Issues with pets, leaking washing machines, keys locked in cars and accidents and emergencies of all kinds. Many are, of course, entirely genuine and many are not, but I’ve noticed another thing on the increase and it’s not a very good sign at all – interview no-shows.

At 6Talent we take a lot of time to contact candidates and make sure they are still fully committed to the role they have applied for and ready for their interview. We have some fabulous roles that we are hiring for and we make this very clear to candidates. We call them the day before the interview in many cases, too, just to be on the safe side. But then they don’t turn up and, in many cases, don’t even have the decency to let us know.

Do these people actually want jobs or are they playing the system? Is it too easy for them to stay in bed rather than work? Why does this happen so much? Is my telephone technique losing its touch? Who knows. But what I do know is that this is a very sad and disappointing trend. Life for candidates is not going to get any easier as we see growth in many markets and competition for roles gets tougher.

What can be done to reverse this trend? One idea mentioned was to take deposits for interview slots that are refunded when you show up. I just might have to start doing this and use the (sadly inevitable) profits for the Christmas party.

Getting back to the old ways

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I’ve seen some really bad examples of service and communication this year, in many areas from day-to-day retail banking (an area I have worked in) through car dealerships and restaurants and many more. It has moved me to write a few notes on this and I feel it’s an area that needs some attention. My own area of focus is HR and recruitment and I feel that this is also a sector that needs to stop and take stock of how it does in this area.

The basic statement I am making is that we need to ‘get back to the old ways’ and I’m going to try and sum it all up below and add a few things to think about:

Quality

It’s a highly used word but does it really mean anything any more? What does it stand for now? Who’s accountable? It starts with us all. Get some standards. Define it for yourself, seek it out, cherish it, support it.

Meaning

Bigger, faster, stronger, more expensive, wilder, more extravagant, more… Give your life some meaning and purpose – does it have any now? Relationships, work, experiences, evidence. Originality – thoughts, plans, new friendships… Define it for you.

Relationships

Very easy to make, very easy to break. Longevity is key. Sharing is good. Embrace the differences. Show you care. Give and receive.

Service/services

The basics are the only things that matter. Simplicity over ‘empty’ promises. Be thankful for the opportunity. Build relationships and give value. Treat those who serve you like gold. MASSIVE opportunity in getting it right.

Say what you mean

No bullshit, ever.

Be a communications ‘pro’ – listening and speaking.

The time before email and phones

People spoke face to face a LOT more. Communication was formed upon civility. Messages were written and a lot of time taken in making sure they were right. Reading and writing mattered. The world still moved forwards and the pace was acceptable to us all.