This fortnight we are looking at our favourite part of the recruitment process: Job Offers. We all love this part and there are some things that you should know… Watch our video blog and see what we think…
Feel free to call us on 1300558979 to have a chat about how you recruit and what would be the best way for you to attract great candidates to your business.
I am sure that we have all heard this term before and I am also sure that at least once, we have let an opportunity pass by from over-thinking or procrastinating. I definitely learned this in my early days as a recruiter when dealing with great candidates – if my client took too long to make a decision, or my side of the recruitment process was too long, we missed out on some great candidates. Don’t let it happen to you.
To change things up from our normal written Blog, we have recorded our first video blog for you to view:
Remember to always plan out your process so that you keep candidates interested. Feel free to call us on 1300558979 to have a chat about how you recruit and what would be the best way for you to attract great candidates to your business.
For both the employer and the job applicant, this can actually be a very difficult question if you looked at it in detail – for an employer: why does this person want the role or, as a candidate: why do I want this role?
We have had a range of applicants with a range of answers to this question. We have had high end executives that just wanted to win the role but would never take it, to junior level candidates that have given a fantastic answer with a real intention to create a career for themselves.
I recall when I first landed on the Gold Coast and needed a job urgently to pay the bills. I spotted a telemarketing job ad in the newspaper – ‘I can do that’ I said and picked up the phone and called them. After answering a few questions I was asked ‘Why do want this role?’ Stuck for words I said “I actually don’t know’ and the conversation finished quite quickly after that. The truth was that I didn’t want that role and my answer proved that immediately. We often hear this response and it makes us question what a candidate’s intention is.
When screening candidates over the phone or in person at interview, we always ask this question. Everyone has a reason for leaving their current role just as someone has a reason for applying for the advertised role; it’s just that 60% of the candidates that we interview don’t express the reason confidently to us.
What do you do – get your story right!
We don’t mean that you should make up a story, we mean be clear on why you may be leaving a role or looking for work.
Once you have sorted that out, work out the best way to express this so that the interviewer has a clear picture of why you are looking at their role.
Intention
Your intentions for the role are high worth to the interviewer. If you know what you can bring to the company, why you want to bring your skills and experience and what you would like to achieve in the role, this may be the tipping point that gets you over the line above the other candidates. If you turn up to the interview and take for granted that you should get the role based on having the skills and experience and don’t express a genuine interest in the role, chances are that you may be unsuccessful. The role could go to a less experienced person that has expressed a real desire to be part of the team. Sitting on interviews with our clients, we have been witness to candidates that have been so nervous at the interview as they really wanted the role to candidates that have just sat back as though the role was theirs – guess who gets the role every time? Being nervous and fluffing the interview doesn’t always mean that it’s all over. Your skills, experience and desire for the role can sometimes outshine all of the negatives and prove that you are the one. Nervousness can mean that you really, really want that role. We have definitely seen this happen before and I am sure that we will see it again in the future.
Think about this question the next time you are applying for a role; “Why do I want this job?” and write it down. Equally, as an employer, ask “why do you want this role” or “what would you like to achieve from this role” The response could be the difference between the right candidate and wrong candidate.
You recently applied for some roles that you really felt matched your experience and skill set and …. would you believe it… no phone call for an interview. Not even a response. What happened?
We have all been in this situation before and it isn’t fun. I remember when I landed on the Gold Coast in 2001. I had a ‘job’ but not in the industry I had studied and was trying to get into, which was HR and/or recruitment. I applied for in excess of 80 specific HR/recruitment jobs over a 9 month period, with not even a response from almost all but 3 employers. It made me feel really deflated and like I was doing something wrong. During that time I realised that I was not selling myself well enough and worked out a few new strategies to start getting noticed
How do you get noticed?
There are plenty of ways to get noticed, some good, some bad. We don’t expect you to hang outside the employer’s office and stalk them – you will get noticed this way but it really won’t end well. We do believe though that you should have a good strategy in place and carefully prepared tools to sell who you are and how you fit when applying for an advertised role. What we mean by this is:
Where to from here?
At the end of the day you may still put in this work and not get selected – the role is advertised in a way to outline job requirements and the needs of the employer. There are other factors that will always make up the rest of the job specification, and in the employer’s or recruiter’s eyes, you just may not fit. On the bright side though, if you do make an effort to put the above strategies into place and prepare great applications, you may see your strike rate increase significantly in a very competitive job market.
Good luck!
We had the joy of recruiting a new staff member recently and it was great to have the feeling of not just offering a role to someone for one of our clients, but to actually offer them an opportunity with our own company. It gave me a really good insight again into the feeling that our clients get when they give someone a great opportunity to start with them, and that is why I enjoy recruitment.
How do you normally find the right one?
Finding the right person can be easy, sometimes really difficult and sometimes just down-right frustrating! Speaking with our clients and those in our network, we have heard many ways that they have recruited over the years including their frustrations. Generally, you may advertise for a role, you may know someone in your extended network or someone may approach you and they are too good to refuse, and you may have a recruiter that you trust to do the recruit for you. We have found that all of these methods work and having a solid strategy and strong recruitment process are two of the key elements to finding the right person for your role. If you don’t have a good strategy or good recruitment process, you can still find staff (especially with the large number of applicants presently in the market). However, you may not find the right one and more importantly, you may exclude or miss the best ones.
What strategy do you use?
Getting back to basics, let’s say that you have costed out and also decided that a role does exist and can be paid for. We advise to not just hit SEEK / CareerOne / other job board or the newspaper and place an advertisement. If you trawl through either one of those you will see quite a number of bland and clearly unprepared advertisements that are unappealing to good candidates and may also have the chance of attracting the wrong candidates due to an incorrect job title. We do advise the following:
Enjoy the recruitment process!
By having the right strategy and process in place, recruiting that new staff member can be an enjoyable process. Yes, people can let you down – they may have another job offer, may not be as good as their resume suggests, or may start and then leave for personal reasons. A lot of these things are just out of your control and may happen from time to time. Good processes will ensure that better applicants are selected from the beginning, having the right skills, qualifications and experience, and that they are actually choosing to work for your company or small business. The best part is that when you do find the right person, you can have that great feeling of saying “Congratulations and welcome to our team”. I enjoyed it and I am sure that you will too.
If you would like more information about our process and how it could assist your business, feel free to email or call us at any time. We would be happy to share this with you.
Speaking recently with Rita from Rita Noon Image Consulting about a candidate that was a nice kid but just wasn’t presented for interview (thongs, shorts, cigarette packet on the table), I thought that it would be great to grab her insights into personal presentation that may just help you score that next job or career move that you wanted. Rita has previously worked in the recruitment industry and has seen what we all have seen – sloppy presentation that turns you off and immaculate presentation that creates a great first impression. Rita kindly contributed the following piece for our blog:
Personal Presentation – First Impressions Count!
Just as you spend time honing and perfecting your resume and cover letter for the job or career that you want; you must spend time honing and perfecting your personal presentation to make that first impression count.
Your job application (resume and cover letter), being the perfect documents, will gain you an interview. Your personal presentation will set the tone for that interview.
If you present for the interview looking neat, professional and groomed as you should, you will immediately find yourself in “positive territory”. Should you choose to not make an effort – ie not checking your shoes (for run down heels, level of cleanliness, general maintenance) your shirt for fraying sleeves or loose buttons, your pants for loose buttons or faulty hems and your jacket for bulging pockets or signs of wear – you are telling your prospective employer that they are not worthy of your respect nor attention to detail. You are, in fact, displaying to them how you may present for work. Either in a neat, professional and polished manner or in a “that’ll do”/”she’ll be right” haphazard way.
In an interview situation, you have approximately 5 seconds (being very generous) to make a first impression. When you capitalise on that time, you can give yourself a very strong advantage over your competitors. Equally, if your waste that time you have given an advantage to your competitors. It is fundamentally important to make a good first impression as there are no second chances at the interview process!
Personal Presentation and Promotion in the Workplace.
Now that you have landed the dream role in the company, it is time to think seriously about promotion and how to make yourself stand out – in a positive way.
Everyone knows of or has worked with “that guy” or “that girl” who shows up everyday looking as though he or she slept in their clothes or has “something with sauce” for breakfast/lunch most days that drips onto their shirt. You do not want to be known as “that guy or girl”.
Maintaining a high standard of personal presentation is a guaranteed way to keep that positive first impression going. It is your opportunity to demonstrate that you take your role seriously, you are proud of your role and your employer, and you are consistently performing to a high level.
It is not about cost – some people that spend a lot of money on their clothes still actually don’t dress well for work, whereas others know how to spend cleverly and create a perfect work wardrobe without breaking the bank. Quality clothing is a career investment and can often be purchased at a very reasonable price during sales.
Your career and your day-to-day work is NOT a fashion parade (Miranda Kerr, being one of the exceptions). Your work wardrobe should be comfortable, on the conservative side and suited (no pun intended) to your employer’s brand and your workplace. Your clothes must be clean and in good repair, your personal hygiene must be exceptional and it must be so, every single day.
When it comes to promotion time or even at your annual reviews – you want to be the person who is consistently good at their job, has an excellent attendance record AND represents the company in a professional and positive manner.
Your personal presentation can be your advantage in your career. Make it a priority!
Thanks Rita
We would like to thank Rita for her contribution to this week’s blog. Visit her website at www.ritanoonimage.com to pick up some tips on how to dress appropriately for that next job or career move.
As the year draws to a close today we would like to reflect on the year that has been 2012. For both clients and candidates we have seen a positive shift for the Gold Coast in terms of jobs and growth this year and already have placements and job orders lined up for January to kick off the new year. If we are recruiting, we see it as a good thing.
Clients
There have been a lot of things written and said in the media regarding the economy – one moment it’s fine, next thing we’re on the verge of another collapse. Looking at the Gold Coast from a recruitment perspective, it has been the busiest year that we have experienced since 2008, with a good shift occurring in March this year including a large number of new clients. It is the first year since 2008 that we have worked alongside current and new clients without any of them closing their doors for good due to a downturn in business. Whilst we are not all in the clear just yet, it’s good to see some positive things happening locally.
Speaking with clients (new and current), we found that most job orders were for new roles that had been created due to growth of individual businesses rather than just filling roles due to turnover of staff.
Candidate and resume services
Whilst we have personally experienced a positive outlook for jobs on the Gold Coast, we can report that we have seen a slight increase in candidates coming our way seeking work. This has been especially true for those from the Government sector, where redundancies have hit hard. Having said that, we have seen a good jump in administrative, sales and IT-related roles that have come our way this year and expect even more in 2013.
Our resume and application services have been very busy this year with a regular flow of jobseekers requesting assistance in re-creating or constructing a new resume to present themselves more professionally in the market. What we have found is that most jobseekers have a resume and it presents well but doesn’t work for them in today’s competitive market.
2013 – what will it bring?
We already have orders for January as well as projected orders for the first quarter from current clients to start the year off well. It looks like it could be a good year ahead for those looking for work.
For New Point Recruitment, we are continuing with a regular Blog with a new twist, there is a new office on the horizon including new staff on board before the second quarter, and we will be expanding further into the Brisbane market. We have some new and exciting products that will come online for both candidates and clients that will enhance your user experience of our services and we have also partnered with Fresh HR Insights to offer a complete HR and payroll service to our clients.
Again we would like to thank all of those that support us in our network and also to those that use our recruitment and candidate services. We wish you all the best for the New Year and may 2013 be the best year yet for all of us!
The hot debate with every recruit that we do always comes down to skills, experience and personality. Does our client like our candidate enough to accept that they may need some mentoring or guidance at first or do they need to absolutely hit the ground running? What would you prefer if you were to recruit right now – all the skills and an OK personality or enthusiasm and a slightly lesser skill base?
Your wish list
When you are creating a job and person specification before hitting the market with advertising, you are essentially creating a wish list. Some of those traits and skills an applicant will have, some they will need to learn in the role. You should write down everything that you want that person to have, then highlight the skills that they really need to perform effectively in the role – your essential list. Everything after that point is secondary and are skills that can be learned if the person has demonstrated the aptitude to do this. Focus on the essential list when screening applicants – this is the minimum standard for the role and then look at the secondary skills and experience to screen further. Time and time again it has proven to be the most successful process. The failure with screening too heavily in the first round, generally results in having candidates that are typically from your industry, have been working for your competitors (which isn’t always a good thing) and are people that you may know of and don’t want working for you. This is very true for tight industries and we have had those experiences to back this up.
Ambition versus enthusiasm
Once you have determined your short-list and start meeting with candidates don’t mistake ambition with enthusiasm. There is a massive difference. We have interviewed candidates previously that have seemed highly enthusiastic only to find that they were highly ambitious – to the point that the most likely scenario was that they only wanted to know that they had won the job (and didn’t take it). This can be a real time-waster from a recruitment perspective as you essentially have to start again. There is a real art to focusing on a person’s intention – why do they want it, what will it do for them, what do they want to do with the role, where will the role take them (is it a stepping stone to something else), why would they relocate (if they have to). This is where you can often pick up signs that there is an ulterior motive, or on the flipside, really find out that they are enthusiastic about the opportunity being presented to them.
The problems with enthusiasm
The one problem with an enthusiastic candidate can be the interview itself – have you ever really wanted a job, got to interview, should have “nailed it” and walked away kicking yourself, thinking that you did a terrible job at the interview – your enthusiasm may have got in the way. We like to interview away from a desk or formal setting as it relaxes the candidate and allows them open up to have a conversation rather than feeling like they are being drilled. It is still structured of course but engages better. If you have a panel interview setting, this is quite difficult to manage however, try to have this at the second interview stage and watch the results. One other problem with enthusiasm is that the candidate may have done a lot of homework before the interview to understand your business, researched the role thoroughly and could give you answers that sound right rather than giving you examples of what they have actually done that are related to the role. This could be really clouded in their enthusiasm and it is best to have structured questions that specifically identify whether a candidate has actually done the task or not.
Be calculated in your approach to recruitment, work out what you need now and what can be learned and then focus on getting the right team fit for your business. The wrong personality with a great skill base is not always the right answer.
Quite a number of years ago I had a friend in the retail sector that always had a couple of made-up stories to use in an interview to showcase his skills… and they worked! Firstly, I would like to say that we don’t agree with making up stories however, the science behind his approach is excellent and I have used it as a training tool for candidates throughout the years.
Why are stories good?
People relate to stories. It gives them a picture of what you have done and helps them to picture you doing similar things in their role. When you think about it, you have already been selected based on your written application. This means that the employer or recruiter has already made the decision that you have some or all of the skills and experience that they are seeking. Now it is up to you to provide examples of where and how you have demonstrated this when asked questions about your skills and experience at interview.
What kind of stories do you tell?
When we say stories, they need to be short and to the point – think more about them as a paragraph rather than a page-long story that puts the interviewer to sleep. Going back to my friend’s approach, he was in retail and thought about the questions he was always asked – customer service, sales targets, process improvements, conflict resolution and communication skills. Whilst he went ahead and made up short stories for each one of these, he could have easily found examples in each category and created a real story for each.
Examples to think about
Here are some examples of likely scenarios that you may have encountered in your job :
It doesn’t matter what job or role that you have been in or are applying for, this strategy can work for you. If you can think of examples of your work for the type of questions that you have previously been asked, you can create a short story around each one. Then you can hone it to be exactly what the interviewer needs to hear to help them picture you in the role.
Don’t fake it, use good and factual stories in your interview that your referees can back up when asked. Good Luck!
When you have been called by an employer or recruiter in response to an application that you submitted, have you ever been asked the dreaded question: “What salary range are you seeking for this role? If the answer is yes, and you never heard from them again, there is some important information that you need to know.
Why we ask?
There are a number of reasons why we ask this question:
• We need to qualify you for the job specification from our client. They have set a range based on budgets available, what they believe the role is worth and the type of skill/experience required
• We need to see what the market is currently paying or expecting for this type of role so that we can compare this with what was specified originally and then advise our client on the expected range from applicants
• We need to know where you actually sit in your predetermined worth as a candidate – you have skills, experience and qualifications that have a value
How to be prepared?
Start doing some research. Even if you have already started sending out applications, spend some time looking at what the market is currently paying. Some salaries have slipped whilst some more in-demand roles have risen. Write it down and note what each role is asking for in qualifications, responsibilities, skills and expertise, then compare this with what you bring.
How do you find this information?
At least 60% of jobs advertised don’t have a salary or hourly rate listed. It is not a trick or the fact that an employer or recruiter doesn’t want to reveal their cards too early, it is simply an attraction strategy to keep the salary open for a range of candidates of varying skill and experience levels. You can find out a salary range that is being paid when viewing jobs that are posted online through advanced search functions, which you should do before calling a recruiter or employer. Take SEEK for example, when we load a job into their system, we must indicate a salary range for the job to upload. The range can vary but it is generally fairly close to the mark. The exception to this is in cases where there are bonuses/commissions – it may be the base or a target range selected instead. We then select whether to display this salary range or not. For you, this means that you can go to SEEK and use the advanced search function to narrow your search based on a salary range as well. Try it for yourself, go to the advanced search function, fill in the usual details that you would and click the search button, write down the number of jobs that appear and then do the search with a salary range that you are seeking and note down the number of job that now appear – there should be a difference. When you find a job that you like, keep playing around with the salary range selector until your job disappears, then you will find out where it sits, and hopefully it will sit where you hoped!
The phone call
If you research better and know where you sit, when you get (or make) that call it will be for a job that you targeted in your range and the person at the other end of the phone won’t have a heart attack when they hear you say a figure $10,000 above their target. The best part is that if you are getting the phone call, they are interested in you, and if you meet that salary range, an interview could end up being the next step!