For the last 6 months I’ve been working out in the gym, initially I got good results, saw an immediate improvement and thought by the time it comes to my holiday I’ll be in great shape.

It’s holiday time and I’m in better shape but for the effort I’ve been putting in, not as good as I would have hoped. I’ve been working hard, my commitment has been good, and I’ve been doing the programme I started out with 4 times a week for 6 months.

So why haven’t I reached my goals? That is what I just asked the trainer in the gym. The answer he tells me is simple ( I wish he told me 3 months ago, I guess I should have asked) my body has been conditioned to the workout and because there was no variety my progress has basically stopped ( what is that saying about the definition of madness being doing the same thing every day and expecting different results!)

This got me thinking about job hunting. I speak with a lot of candidates every day, some of them have been looking for a job for a long time.

Why? They are good candidates, have good experience and are very employable.

Have they fallen in to the same trap as I did in the gym, doing the same thing every day, and getting the same results.

Why not try something different, be creative!

Alec Brownstein needed a job as a copywriter.

This is how he did it

Google Job Experiment

Will this approach work for everyone? I don’t know, but it worked for him

Why not try one thing different / creative in your search this week

Written by Richard Morgan at Remit Resources

Over the last few weeks I have been advertising for an IT Manager for a small Microsoft Gold Partner based in South London. For the right person it’s a great opportunity, £45,000 salary, new technologies, plenty of project work and the opportunity for progression.

They have been pretty specific about their requirements and needed someone that has worked for a small IT solutions company with 4 areas of experience that were a must (without these they would not consider the candidate)

I set these out pretty clearly in the advert, they were:

• Leadership – Managing a team of around 15 staff, between 10 – 12 will be field based. Organising and motivating the team to ensure the “face of IT” is functioning well and delivering first class service

• Service Delivery – They operate in a competitive niche were they have carved out a great reputation and compete with far larger organisations. The way they have done this is through the quality of their service, as they expand they need to continue and improve this service and need someone that can implement improvements and structures.

• Client Management – Someone to get very close to their clients, building great relationships to understand their business, identify any issues in advance, retain their business and ultimately expand and develop the services being provided.

• Project Management – Working closely with the business to deliver multiple projects on time and against budget. Understanding what can be done (and also what can’t!). This is project management for someone who has managed large numbers (dozens) of small projects at any one time, often only 1 week projects, rather than someone who is used to managing large global projects.

I also made the point that it would be a real advantage to set out, in a covering letter where there was a match in experience.

We had 979 unique applications for this role, how many covering letters addressed this point? 1! Yes only 1 candidate.

Now, it may be I can’t write clear ad copy, maybe I should read every CV in detail and call every candidate to discuss the role in detail, but I didn’t (nobody would – it would take over 16 hours without a break to even look at 979 CV’s for one minute) Is that fair, probably not, is it reality in today’s market, yes!

Of the 979 candidates, guess who got the job (congratulations again Rob)

Was he the best candidate for the job, yes I think so. Amongst the 979 candidates were there plenty of others who could have done an equally good job, I suspect so.

The point is, personalise your cover letters and write a fresh one every time for every job. Look at the requirements, think how you match them and set this out, in pretty straightforward normal language in an email.

Most people can’t be bothered, they either don’t write covering letters at all or they have “standard” cover letters that by changing the job title and “topping and tailing” they kid themselves are tailored for the specific role.

It takes a lot more work, but what do you think will lead to getting the right job, sending out 300 applications (or applying for the same job over and over again) or writing specific application setting out very clearly how you match the requirements

I know which option I would be taking!

For a SME what have these statements got in common?

• We are recruiting direct!
• We don’t use recruitment agencies!
• Recruiters don’t understand us!
• We can’t afford the fee!

Simple, they all mean that the business is wasting money!

I understand that is a sweeping statement and pretty blunt but in this market (at least in my business) every £ of cost counts.

Just ask yourself a couple of questions

How much is one hour of your time worth?

Multiply that by the number of applications you get, phone calls from candidates, pre-screening, providing feedback, arranging interviews, negotiating job offers and then factor in that you may not be making the right decision anyway or selecting the best person for interview.

Then add the cost of advertising, across different platforms to make sure you get the widest choice of the right applicants.

What total do you come to?

If you are a Business Owner / Director, Senior Manager or a Consultant then it will add up to a lot more than a recruitment fee.

In these economic times, using a recruitment company is one of the best uses of your corporate spend.

This will allow you more time to build your own business and train your own people.

Not convinced?  Then you are not working with the right recruiter!

Build a relationship, work in long term partnership and make sure the recruiter has a stake in making sure only the right people are hired ( We provide a 12 month guarantee on every candidate , we also like to work exclusively!)

Richard Morgan at Remit Resources

One undeniable fact today is that for most jobs there is a lot of competition. 

Many good candidates, people that are very capable, will undoubtedly feel their fair share of frustration, disappointment and rejection. Plenty of times when they were a “very close second” or “pipped at the post” for a job.

Not much that can be done?

Well, there is! Make a diary note to get back in touch with the recruiter, about that position, a couple of weeks later.

When you are job hunting you are up against lots of other job seekers, some out of work, others looking for a change. Whatever their reasons, after the offer has been made and the job accepted, plenty can still (and does!) go wrong.

The candidate may get a better offer with another employer, they might receive a counter offer (increase in salary) from their existing company, another position might open up. 

If this happens, it isn’t fair to assume that you will get called, but if you follow up you are showing your enthusiasm and pro-activity.  You are also showing that you want the job, want to work for that specific company and believe in your own capability to do the job. Often your details can get lost under a mountain of other CV’s. One telephone call from you can result in additional interviews and possibly a job offer. If you are re-interviewed, often the process is shortened because of your prior interviews with this company.

Does this work, yes! in the last 6 weeks I have placed 2 candidates that made follow up calls. One was to replace someone that accepted a counter offer, the other when the employer opened up another position exactly the same. Would I have called the candidates? Probably, but quite possibly not! 

It takes a bit of effort, but its worth it. It’s also a lot easier following up with recruiters who you’ve already built rapport than only making cold calls for new jobs.

LinkedIn has over 65 million users and is recognised as THE place for professional networking online, it is a very powerful tool with very obvious benefits including (not only) getting your next job.

With any network of this size one of the challenges is accessing the information that is relevant to you and with the new “follow company” tool LinkedIn just made this a lot easier.

It’s a simple tool (the best ones normally are) and allows you to have real time, business intelligence on specific companies, in your niche that employ people with your skillset.

The advantages to this are enormous.

E.g.  If you are a Software Developer with skills in ASP.NET based in Reading it is possible to search for other people with ASP.NET in Reading, identify who they work for and then follow those companies.

• You can be updated in real time when someone gets promoted or leaves the company.
• You know specifically what skill set that person had.
• You will know the name of that persons manager.
• You will know what the managers interested in, what groups he’s a member of, what questions he has answered.

With this information it is then easy to make an approach to the company to see if they would be interested in meeting up. (Give yourself a chance and write a personalised cover letter every time) )

It also works if you have arranged an interview through a recruiter, just think of the information that is available to help you engage with the interviewer!

One further point, this isn’t a scientific one, when I’ve been looking at the companies that I am interested in and have followed those companies I notice that there are other recruiters using this tool but there are very few job hunters.

What is the best way to spend a day of your job search?

Sending off another 100 CV’s a day (This isn’t giving you the best chance of finding a job, its spam!)

Chasing all the recruiters that are terrible as they never give you feedback (They can’t give feedback to hundreds of applicants – should they, possibly – will they, probably not –that’s the world we currently live in. It is possible to make the shortlist for every job you apply for )

I know what I would be spending my time on.

Give it a try, commit to it and you will get an incredible advantage.

99% of other job hunters will not do this.

Despite the economy still being in recession, unemployment continuing to rise and some figures showing job prospects being being bleak, specifically for graduates, there are signs that the employment market is picking up with recruiters reporting signs of increased activity from employers. That said the competition for advertised vacancies is as fierce as ever.

As an example of this 2 recent roles advertised on the Internet, a junior IT Helpdesk job and another, more senior, IT Management position attracted 1250 and 600 unique applications respectively. For both of these roles the client required a shortlist of suitable candidates within 2 days!

Recruiters have invested heavily in IT systems to help manage this process but the sheer volume of applications mean some qualified and able candidates will slip through the net and there simply isn’t the time to speak with every applicant and pass constructive feedback on every CV.

Job Hunters today must take personal responsibility for finding the next opportunity and must understand the new rules of job hunting

5 Things Every Job Seeker Should Know:

• The world has changed! Your approach to finding a job must also change. The old approach of putting a CV together, posting to an online job board or randomly sending to job adverts, and expecting the phone to ring doesn’t work anymore. Sure you will get the odd call, even an interview but this is luck, who wants to rely on luck? Be creative, network with everyone you know, use social media facebook, twitter YouTube etc. Don’t understand social media? Learn it, it’s not going away!

• Everyone should have a personal advert! Recruiters and Hiring Managers are facing a huge volume of job seekers, it is critical to engage them immediately. Take the time to prepare a 30 second advert, something you say every time when you meet people (in the US it is known as an elevator speech). It must be something that says who you are and what you do and it must be interesting. It’s should be friendly, positive, ideally with a bit of humour and should prompt a question from the recruiter.

• CV must sell! Nobody wants to read an 8 page document detailing every project or task you’ve carried out – it’s just not interesting! Be relevant and think about the role you are applying for, who will be reading it, what will they want to see. Highlight specific areas of expertise or areas of work that are a great fit and be specific. On a practical level, it isn’t good enough to present CV’s that are poorly formatted or with spelling mistakes (that’s what spell-check is for!) There is a wealth of information out there on CV preparation, spend some time on getting this right.

• What does your personal brand say about you? What personal brand? Exactly! Do you have a personal website, if not why not! It doesn’t cost much and can be another way of advertising yourself online. It can say who you are, what you do and what you stand for. Everyone prepares (or at least should) for an interview; do you think that employers don’t do this? Of course they do, and what do they find? What does your facebook page, twitter account, YouTube channel say about you to a future employer?

• It is tough out there, stay positive! Easy to say but harder to do when you are facing rejection. You must stay positive as your attitude is projected in everything you do, read positive books, speak to positive people and believe in yourself. Remember positive things happen to positive people. Finally when you get those interviews, prepare, prepare and prepare some more. That will be the difference in who gets the job.

It all sounds like a lot of hard work! It is, that’s the world we live in! Most people will not do these things, will not take action, and if you do you will have the advantage.

Written by Richard Morgan, Remit Resources

There are articles in the press about the job market “picking up” and whilst I’m sure this is true, it is also true that there is still a huge excess supply of good candidates for most roles.

This got me wondering if candidates are really aware of the sheer number of competitors for each position and, if so, how to make the shortlists for these roles.

To set the scene, I have just finished shortlists for three different IT roles, a Senior Project Manager, IT Manager and a Helpdesk Support Analyst.  The unique number of responses for these roles was 634, 616 and 1132 respectively

The challenge of making a 5 person shortlist is obvious.

There are steps that can make the chances significantly better.

Personalised applications – When you receive over a thousand applications, which one initially stands out, the one addressed “Hi Richard” or the one addressed to “To Whom it may concern”, “FAO HR” “Dear Sir or Madam”, “The Hiring Manager” etc. Often the advert will show the name of the recruiter, if it doesn’t it will always show the name of the agency, go on line and find the name of the recruiter or alternatively give a quick call and ask who is recruiting for the specific role.  Does this guarantee success, no! If you don’t do this does it mean you won’t get a call back, no! (Especially if your CV looks perfect for the role, these days though there are lots of CV’s that, on paper look good for a role) Does it give you a slightly better chance of a call back, yes! In this market every little edge makes a difference

Tailored CV’s / Cover letters – I understand that if you are not in work you will be sending out dozens of applications (often a lot more) some of these you will be sending “on the off chance” and maybe don’t fit the criteria 100%. I understand that, will you get shortlisted, probably not, but it’s worth a go! What about the jobs that do look a good match? Spend a little time tailoring your CV and a cover letter, think about what the recruiter wants to see, and ultimately who the hiring company want to employ. If the role asks for someone who has worked for an IT services company dealing with SME’s and has managed field support teams of 10, if you have managed this type of team then highlight it, in the CV and in a Cover letter. Don’t have standard cover letters, write them for each application. Does it take time, yes! How many of your competitors will bother, not many!

Telephone calls – Everyone says it is important to follow up with a telephone call, it is! But what is the best approach. Some try calling 10 times a day, checking to see if an application has been received, could you tell me a bit more about the role. In an ideal world that would be fine (apart from calling 10 times a day, that’s stalking!), you would get through to the recruiter they would confirm receipt of your CV, go through it in detail,  provide feedback, talk you through the role and so on. This isn’t an ideal world, no one can do that hundreds of times for each job, now some will argue (not you I’m sure) that recruiters should do this, often they are the same people sitting complaining about no feedback, that recruiters are terrible, they never return calls (trust me they are returning calls, just not yours!) The way to make these calls is simple be relevant, concise and engaging. Rather than call with the opening line “I just wanted to call to see if you received my CV” or “Is the job still available” why not have a few sentences about how your experience relates directly to that required in the advert. (Similar to what you would say in the cover letter) Or be creative, why not leave a message saying “I just wanted to tell him one thing about that role”, if you are original and engaging you will get call backs (remember the 60 Second Rule )

LinkedIn follow ups – I think it is fair to say that most recruiters use LinkedIn and most recruiters like to build big networks on LinkedIn (5 Tips for using LinkedIn ) Why not send them an invitation to connect? Once you are connected you’ve got another method of communication. Its different to a contact through telephone or email, not many people are doing it and it might give you an edge.

One very important, simple and often overlooked tip – once you have engaged the recruiter and shown that you have the skills for the job, it isn’t difficult to work out what the first couple of questions are going to be, have the answers ready. Think about what you are going to say in advance and practice. It’s not easy to ad lib when the pressure is on!

Written by Richard Morgan, Remit Resources

#remitresources #jobs #interviewtips #rulesofjobhunting

5 Tips for using LinkedIn

I’m sure you’ve heard of it, probably got an account, but how many are using LinkedIn (effectively) as a tool to find their next opportunity

What is LinkedIn?

In brief, it’s the No 1 Professional Networking site, its social networking for business!

Similar to other social media sites (FaceBook / Twitter etc.) you create a profile, invite your connections and build your network (just like in the real world but with more coverage!)

Whilst it wasn’t originally designed with recruitment in mind, this is one of its main uses and LinkedIn is also now the UK’s most visited recruitment site (source Hitwise , 02/01/2010)

Recruiters are using it to source candidates, employers are using it to hire, there’s 55 million people using it – surely they can’t all be wrong!

If you haven’t got a profile on Linked in, it’s time to get one!

5 Tips for using LinkedIn

Your profile is your online “CV”.  It’s far more effective than a traditional CV as in effect it’s “real time”. Got a new qualification or Job, just add it, actively looking for a new role, change your status etc. This takes away the need to upload multiple documents, sending updated CV’s to recruiters and deleting outdated files  - will it replace the CV, maybe one day but the CV will be with us for some time yet I fear however more and more recruiters are using LinkedIn!

Build your network before you need it! In a tough job market (I would also argue in most markets) networking is the most effective way to find your next role. Encourage people you know to join the network, look up people you used to work with, people you currently work with and add people once you’ve spoken to them. There are arguments for and against; my own view is to accept all invitations, bigger is better!

Long term relationships. It takes time to develop a network of contacts. If you are only doing this when you are looking for a job then it can be very time consuming and slow. LinkedIn allows you to easily keep in contact with the network at all times, if a contact has moved on, their profile will show this and saves time trying to locate useful contacts

Recommendations. Encourage your contacts to write positive recommendations about you. Recommendations are proof, and far more powerful than claims you make. Which do you think is more effective, a couple of lines on your experience that you have written or your previous IT Director saying how valuable your contribution to delivering the XYZ projects was!

Contribute. As with all social media “you get out what you put in”. Join groups that relate to your industry or the type of roles you are interested in. Join in the discussions, answer questions, demonstrate your knowledge and become an expert in your sector. Add people that communicate with you and your circle of relevant connections will grow quickly.  Remember, it’s not about who you know but who knows you!

You’ve secured the interview, researched thoroughly, thought about how to present yourself, got interesting questions to ask, put on your best shirt and tie, arrived early, your preparation couldn’t have gone any better – in short your ready!

What can possibly go wrong?

Nothing?

Not quite, what if the interviewer isn’t prepared for you?

The majority of people you see for interview won’t be professional interviewers, they may be the Managing Director, IT Director or Manager, even the HR Manager in anything other than large companies (and even in some of those!) may not necessarily be trained in how to carry out effective interviews

The person you see will undoubtedly be busy, they may have forgotten your appointment, maybe they can’t find your CV, maybe they haven’t prepared questions, are inexperienced or are just not very good at interviews!
What should you do?

If you are well prepared you can turn this situation to your advantage, but you must prepare for this eventuality (it happens often!)

As with every interview, the message you need to leave is simple. How their company will benefit by employing you?

Think about this in advance and have 5 pieces of information (as a minimum) that communicate this, if possible, get them in to your answers. If not bring them up yourself!

Here are a few scenarios:

Unprepared Interviewer

Challenge

The interviewer has forgotten about your meeting, they’re uncomfortable and can’t find your CV. On top of this they haven’t read your CV or prepared any questions (what a great start!). When this happens the interviewer often buys time by talking, at length, about their own experience and company.

Solution

Remember that you only have limited time to make an impression, make it easy for the interviewer and focus on your performance

When you have relevant information, bring it in to the conversation e.g. “it’s interesting you mention the customer service award as in my current role I was involved with a CRM implementation that improved my companies Customer Service Index by 20%!”

If you are positive and proactive the interviewer will settle down and will be encouraged to ask follow on questions about you

Closed Questions

Situation

You have prepared thoroughly, you’ve got engaging information that will impress and be interesting but you can’t get them into your answers as the interviewer is asking closed questions. The answers you are giving the interviewer are correct but you’re not building any rapport with the interview or doing anything special that will make you stand out to the interviewer.

Solution

Just because the interviewer is asking closed questions doesn’t mean you have to give Yes / No answers. Be expansive (but relevant), use the information you have prepared and bring this into your answers

Yes / No answers to closed questions are wrong and they will not give you the opportunity to impress the interviewer.

Interruptions

Challenge

The phone keeps ringing, there are several knocks on the door, you have to change your meeting room etc

Solution

Use the times when you are being interrupted wisely. These interruptions should give you time to prepare and think what information you can give next or think of a follow up to the point you were making. Make sure the interviewer remembers what you were talking about by reintroducing the conversation like this,

’as I was saying…’ or   ‘In relation to the point you were making…’

Negative Approach

Challenge

The company or interviewer may have been trying for a while to find a suitable person to fill the position or the job might have a high turnover of applicants. They may be frustrated with the whole process.

Solution

Dealing with a negative interviewer is not an easy task. You first need to make them relaxed and reassure them you find it easy to adjust to new work environments, enjoy getting on with people, and most importantly that you can do the job well that you have applied for.

It would be good to hear any comments on bad interviews / interviewers and how you’ve dealt with them!

Written by Richard Morgan at Remit Resources

Are staff really your best asset?

In businesses large and small we will often hear the statements “our staff are our greatest asset” or “we couldn’t do it without our staff”

This is a widely held belief (or at least a widely stated belief), but is it true? And if it is (which I believe 100%) how does this relate to the process of hiring staff (and not surprisingly from my point of view, relationships with recruiters)

I’ve posted elsewhere some issues around retaining staff and onboarding (and will be following up on these with other posts shortly)

In this post let’s look at recruiting new staff.

The cost of replacing staff are said to be 30% – 50% of the annual salary of entry level employees, 150% for mid level employees and up to a staggering 400% for specialised executive level employees!

On that basis for every mid level member of staff with an annual salary £50,000 the cost to the business in terms of lost productivity and profit is £75,000!

It is also said that in the UK that 75% of new hires fail to meet expectations.

It is therefore essential to have an effective talent management process in place. This needn’t be complicated but it does take time and planning.

Think for a moment the process that your organisation would go through before a £50,000 software implementation.

I’m sure this would involve an RFP with a detailed requirements analysis and in depth selection process. Once this was in place each vendor would be considered with advantages weighed up carefully. Once a vendor was selected there would be an implementation team to work with the vendor’s implementation team and a project manager to work with the vendor’s project manager. Following this there would be training and maintenance / support contacts put in place. (This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list but I hope makes the point)

How does this compare to the last £50,000 employee hired?

Are staff really your best asset?

Written by Richard Morgan at Remit Resources