Posts Tagged ‘Recruitment Process’

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.

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!

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