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

The economy will improve and this will present challenges in both attracting talent but also retaining your existing staff.

Will your competitors be looking to attract your best staff?

Do you know the real cost of staff turnover?

The costs are often invisible and not reported but recent surveys claim that it costs 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 £40,000 the cost to the business in terms of lost productivity and profit is £60,000!

Sounds unbelievable until you start looking at the factors involved:

• Loss of productivity
• Management time
• Learning curve for new employee
• Lost knowledge
• Training
• Recruitment and onboarding

Some will say that staff turnover is necessary and unavoidable! To a certain extent that is right (and there are some staff who you might be happy to see go!!)

But which members of staff leave? Is it the talented, conscientious, IT developer who implemented a new workflow system that had a direct impact on productivity and bottom line profit? Or is it the negative, downbeat member of staff that is dragging down morale.

Put another way, when you are looking to attract staff from another organisation do you want to hire their best people?

So, how do you retain the right staff?

Surprisingly this isn’t always about salary it’s about making people feel part of something, valued and even proud to be part of your company.

What is the most important thing in your business?

Most people answer their customers. I disagree, it’s your staff, without a motivated and committed workforce you can’t serve your customers effectively. If your staff is the most important thing in the business treat them like it!

Five Key areas for success:

• Wherever possible give them responsibility, let them take ownership and trust them. I know its work, it’s got to be professional but don’t forget it can also be fun!
• For new staff its critical to make the right hiring decisions first time (make sure you use a great recruitment company!) and have an effective onboarding programme (that’s another post)
• Spend your Training Budget, that’s what it is there for!
• Speak to your staff. Most companies today have exit interviews. It’s probably too late at that stage to stop that person leaving but find out why they are leaving and do something about it!
• Also why not speak to your best people and find out why they stay? This combined will tell you what you need to do to retain your staff.

Written by Richard Morgan, Remit Resources

When it comes to finding your next career move the most important rule to keep in mind is the 60 second rule!

60 Seconds, that is how much time you have to make a first impression!

Whether you are:

• Sending a cover letter / email
• Calling a recruiter or employer to follow up on an advert
• Attending an interview

It is this first 60 seconds that will be the crucial difference in being successful or not, this is the time it takes for someone to make their mind up and make an initial assessment about you. (Often subconsciously but nevertheless a fact!)

Is this fair?

Probably not but think about it, we do it all the time, it is said that in the UK the average homebuyer spends longer deciding what suit to buy than on a house! We get gut feelings, make immediate decisions, and often find those first impressions were right (or at least we perceive them to be right as we’ve already made the decision!)

Once it is accepted that the first 60 seconds are crucial it is possible to give yourself a real competitive advantage.

We covered the 3 Key aspects of the interview process Preparation, Presentation and Performance in detail.

These points are equally as relevant when making initial contacts with both recruiters and direct employers.

Tailor a cover letter for each application you send. A recruiter will receive hundreds (and often more) CV’s every week. This is your opportunity to stand out. Use the chance to highlight relevant experience and how this relates to the job. It can be easier to do this as part of a cover letter than CV as there isn’t the restriction of chronological order of jobs or job titles!

It is important to follow up on an application, but be relevant, concise and engaging. Rather that 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)

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!

The principal here is to make the relevant information easily available to the recruiter or employer in a straightforward and engaging way.

Some readers will think this is simplistic! It is, and on purpose! The fact is the vast majority do not make the extra effort, if you do it will give you a real advantage.

Written by Richard Morgan, Remit Resources – The IT Recruiters.

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

If you’ve done the right preparation and make a good first impression you now need to press home that advantage.

Couple of obvious things first, look at the interviewer, listen to what they say, try and be open and relevant with your answers, speak clearly and let the interviewer run the interview!

There are many different types of interview both face to face and telephone. I will cover the details in depth elsewhere but they can include, Behavioural Interviews, Competency interviews, Panel Interviews, Group Interviews – if you arranged the interview through a recruiter or direct yourself, ask, in advance, what to expect.

Whatever the form of the interview, one very important thing you must keep in mind at all times, to get to this stage the interviewer thinks you can do the job!

They will use the interview to confirm this.

There are hundreds of questions they could ask you, however they phrase them, they are trying to answer these three simple questions:

1. Can you do the job -do you have the right skills and experience?
2. What is your attitude and commitment to work like?
3. Does your personality fit in to their culture?

If you have done your preparation in enough depth you will already have identified your key strengths and skills and how they relate to this company and this role. This is your chance to communicate this to a future employer.

Every answer you give and the way in which you answer should be answering one of these three questions.

You will also get the opportunity to ask questions, use this chance but think about what you ask!

If you don’t ask any questions what do you think the interviewer will think?

If you ask about the number of holidays or what the policy for sick days is, what do you think the interviewer will think?

Ask intelligent questions that you want to know the answer to that will help you make an informed decision.

We talked here about first impressions. They are very important, so are last impressions, leave on a positive note!

If you’ve read all three posts (thanks, I’m not sure how many people will have got this far!) you will notice one thing, there is no big secret! It’s all very simple stuff, prepare thoroughly, think about the messages you want to convey, be positive, be friendly and try to make friends!

Written by Richard Morgan, Remit Resources

OK, so you’ve got the interview and done your research.

The next issue is presentation.

First thing, what time to arrive?

Aim to be sitting in reception 10 minutes before the interview starts (no earlier and no later).

No interviewer wants you to arrive earlier than 10 minutes. People are busy, it’s inconvenient and sub consciously what does it say about you!

Being early is great, I recommend it, but wait outside their office.

On this point, (I know it’s obvious but so many people do it!) don’t be late. There are no excuses, if the train was late, the traffic was bad it doesn’t matter to the interviewer. Think about how you are going to get to the interview, parking, train times etc. in advance. In my experience 99% of people who are late for an interview do not get the job. If there is any chance you are going to be late you must call ahead to let them know ASAP .

We’ve all heard the clichés “you never get a second chance to make a first impression” or “first impressions count”. Overused, yes! True, yes! There is also a fact about 93% of communication is non-verbal of which 55% is visual, I’m not sure I agree with those numbers but I think the message is loud and clear – first impressions count!

This doesn’t mean you need to be in a Savile Row suit but you do need to be smart, suit shirt tie (top button done up!) clean shoes, tidy hair! The rule here is dress smart and professionally, the dress code might be casual when you start work but you can’t be overdressed for an interview (again it goes without saying but you’d be surprised how many people don’t do this).

Be friendly! To everyone, you never know who you might meet. Be especially friendly to the receptionist, they can have an influence. If you are sitting in reception for 10 minutes speak to the receptionist, you might find out something interesting about the company, you will definitely get a feel for what it’s like to work there and a friendly 5 minute conversation really does calm the nerves!

Greet the interviewer with a firm handshake (I know another cliché!), make eye contact, smile and be friendly! To repeat, first impressions count, whether you believe the stats or not the fact is they are going to make their mind up pretty quickly if they like you or not. These initial exchanges make the differences between a relaxed successful interview or not.

The interviewer will normally ask “How are you?” the answer “how do you think I am, I was made redundant 6 months ago, can’t find a job, we’re in the worst recession on record and I’ve been stuck in traffic for the last 30 minutes and don’t get me started on house prices” whilst quite possibly being technically correct isn’t as effective as “great thanks how are you”.  Be positive, people want to work with positive people!

This also might be a chance to show some of your preparation, you might want to comment on a news article or award they have just won (something positive!). Think about this part of the interview, it’s often an area that gets forgotten but it is your chance to make that first impression.

If you prepared properly you will have a fair idea of the first couple of questions and you will be well on the way to getting the job!

Written by Richard Morgan, Remit Resources

Three Key Aspects of the Interview – Preparation

OK, so you’ve done the hard part and secured an interview.

Now for the easy part and getting the job!

Once you’ve secured the interview the first thing you must do is prepare

It is hard to believe it (unless you’ve spent a lot of time interviewing) but 80% of candidates do little or no preparation before an interview! No prizes for guessing how successful they are!

You can almost guarantee that the first question you will get asked in an interview is “What do you know about our company”. If you respond with anything other than a concise, intelligent summary of their business you are not going to be successful in this interview!

It is the least you can do, it breaks the ice, relaxes you and gets you off to a good start in the interview (the other questions will be tell me about yourself, and what do you know about the job – again very straightforward questions and by the time you’ve answered them you should be in your stride and ready to tackle the tougher questions!)

One of the challenges in an interview is engaging with the interviewer. If you have prepared effectively you should have discovered a couple of facts that make this a little easier:

OK, so how to prepare

• First port of call has got to be the company website. Print a couple of pages and take it to the interview (this shows that you’ve prepared!) Look at the news pages, find out what they are saying about themselves. Look at any case studies and print them, if there’s anything you don’t understand that could be a good question (far better than “how many days holiday do I get”!)
• Google! Obvious yes but don’t just look at their website, look at the news on the company, try searching for the person who is interviewing, they may have given a presentation or written an article recently, something you could use to break the ice! Depending on time to interview setup Google news alerts and get the latest information emailed to you
• Social Media, search on LinkedIn, there is a huge amount of information available, it tells you who works there, what they do, what events are coming up, and it gives recommendations. LinkedIn tends to be social media for business. Don’t limit your research to this though, do they have a Facebook page (have their customers set up pages, good or bad!), what’s on YouTube about them, what are people saying on Twitter. How about forums? What are their customers saying
• Networking. Do you know someone who works there? How about someone you know who knows someone that works there! Starts to get a bit complicated but again LinkedIn does this for you. Don’t just make connections use them!
• The recruiter. Doesn’t replace any of the above as you must do your own research and preparation but the recruiter will know the client, they should understand the business, they should be able to tell you about the interviewers, their style, and the types of questions they ask. If they don’t offer this information then ask them, if they don’t know ask them to find out!

So that gives you background on the company.

Now think about the questions you might be asked.

You can’t control the questions that you will be asked but you can still prepare

• If you were interviewing you, what would you ask?
• What is it about you that is most relevant to this job, where can you add real value? Think about these things and bring them into answers to the questions
• If it’s on the CV be prepared to talk about and expand on it. This is all the interviewer knows about you and it will often form the structure of the interview
• Think of scenarios you have been in and give real examples of situations you’ve been in, how you dealt with it and the outcome. (Once you’ve got 3 or 4 of these they can be tailored to be the answer to almost any question)

Whatever anyone says, everybody is nervous before an interview. If you have prepared thoroughly it helps!

I started this post by saying that 80% of candidates do not prepare for interviews, 95% of people wouldn’t have done all of the above – I wonder who’s got the best chance of getting the job!

Written by Richard Morgan, Remit Resources