Posts Tagged ‘recruiter’

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10 great reasons to work in Recruitment

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

 

This week we asked the team to give us their top reasons to work in recruitment .  We managed to rustle up 10 top  reasons to work in our industry.

These are not listed in order of popularity although the top three answers were 1, 3 and 10.

Here goes…..

 

1. It’s great to be part of the process in helping candidates find their dream job and make that placement.

2. The commission! Being rewarded  for the work you do. It is hard work, the hours can be long and it can be frustrating at times.

Nothing beats the thrill of placing a candidate in a job they wanted, the client is happy they have secured their services and you have earned commission from it.

3. The opportunity to build strong working relationships with clients and candidates.

4. The variety of jobs and people you meet and the chance to mix with different nationalities and cultures.

5. The fact that everyday is different and you are always learning from your clients, candidates and the market as a whole.

6. The dynamic, fast pace atmosphere when things are busy and everyone is on the phone.

7. Working with dynamic likeminded people.

8. The chance to make a difference.

9. The opportunity to work with some really exciting brands, learn about their sector and help them become even better by finding them fantastic people for their roles.

10. The responsibility  the role offers with the chance to manage your own desk and clients and have a real sense of ownership of the work you do.  What you put in you get out.

 

How we need to make sure we don’t fail our own industry

Wednesday, February 27th, 2013

How we need to make sure we don’t fail our own industry  

In London, the recruitment industry is usually the first industry to suffer at the hands of an uncertain economic forecast. Despite this there is still a relatively strong demand for qualified and skilled candidates within the broadcast, marketing and media job market as many companies are still keen to grow and seek to retain flexibility in their workforce.

The pressures of the economy coupled with change in the way people communicate should mean that expectations of the level of service our clients are getting from their recruitment suppliers are substantially higher. After all, it is expected that specialist recruiters provide expertise on  trends and work attitudes and continuously offer added value to a market place that is saturated with job boards.

Unfortunately we have come across an increasing number of candidates who have submitted their job application through recruiters without having met or been formally interviewed. This has had an enormous impact on the recruitment processes of a company and seriously undermines the quality and value of using a recruitment agency.  Surprisingly some candidates continue to allow themselves to be represented by these recruiters and, in some instances, we find that these applicants miss out on job roles as they have not been well represented for specific roles.

Recruitment consultants should concentrate on building their service and adding value to  the recruitment processes of clients. Unfortunately as they generally don’t get paid for their work unless they are successful at filling a job, some recruiters will try and cut corners in order to earn fees, but we all know that cutting corners isnt the best way to do business and build long standing relationships.

Unfortunately when the job market slows, som recruiters would rather sacrifice their standards in order to try and achieve a quick fix and lose sight of the importance of sticking to maintaining great customer service, even looking at ways to offer better servcie than before, so that they will continue to make a lasting impression on companies and job seekers . In return it is those companies and job seekers who shpould take some responsiblity and put pressure on these recruiters to raise their game and show them that they won’t take second best. Unless this happens then there is a real danger of devaluing an industry which is crucial to the success of our British economy.

 

What’s coming next? Protecting your Privacy

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013

 

 

There are many similarities between the market research industry and the recruitment industry. People’s desire for “privacy” i.e. to control what information is shared and with whom is extremely challenging.  In market research this is all about preferences, data, private information and in recruitment this is related to personal and professional work history, pay and related  private information.  

The Data Protection Act is all about protecting privacy and data. In addition, specific regulatory bodies are there to help ensure that information is managed appropriately. The Market Research Society (MRS) represents the market research industry and  the REC, (Recruitment & Employment Confederation) represents the recruitment industry. These bodies are helpful however much of our private online data is still managed  loosely on the basis of trust.

This is clearly not enough to prevent abuse and in response to this dilemma, the Market Research Industry  has just seen the launch of a new body called “Fair Trade” (www.fairdata.org) to support participants in market research  and help consumers recognise quickly who they can trust to hold their information.  

Unfortunately the recruitment industry is a bit behind and needs to follow rapidly.

Whilst the REC is viewed as an ambassador for the industry and thus always strives to set the standard, membership is voluntary and the recruitment industry still has issues with regards to management of personal information and restriction. I am not talking just about recruitment businesses, but the recruitment industry as a whole. Social media has played an important part in this.

Despite the clear code of conduct issued by the REC, many job seekers who work with recruiters, still experience mismanagement of their personal data, with some recruiters ( either in house or recruitment businesses) sending out their private details to the world at large, just after a phone call and basic email.  Occasionally their cv is sent out to companies via a third party, in order to boost new business without the individual being informed of where their profile is actually going. Surely this is breach of trust in every sense of the word.  There must be a way of managing this properly.  

Files are not always kept up to date, with online job site users gaining access to a broad number of personal profiles and cvs. Personal information could, quite possibly, be downloaded and stored for any length of time.  

At the moment there are still gaps in the way the recruitment industry addresses some of the concerns of job seekers, employers and agency recruiters. Currently the REC only works on behalf of recruitment agencies or businesses and  does little to advise and assist workers to manage their intellectual property and personal information across various social media platforms. It is essential that people are taught very quickly, how to ensure that the same principals of trust and data management which are used in the recruitment agency environment, are employed across the industry as a whole and particularly the online arena .

Twitter and various social network sites continuously challenge the way we are able to manage our  own data. For example LinkedIn, which is currently free at the most basic level, encourages people to put down their entire work history, their contact details and even more personal information such as date of birth, and details about academic qualifications.  Whilst many of us may not be concerned about this we cannot always be sure that our personal profiles are kept away from less trustworthy individuals. Online banking, for example, asks people for their date of birth or where they studied as part of the online security process, this information can sometimes be accessed via linked in or facebook.

Facebook is continuously updating its user profiles and privacy access and now specific targeted advertising appears from the sites you have most recently visited and are displayed across the right hand side or top of your home page.  

Everyone talks about LinkedIn. Currently LinkedIn achieves revenue from paid advertising, however you can see that there will be some major developments over the course of the next 24 months which will completely transform the way LinkedIn is accessed and how information is stored.

Twitter is a great tool for many companies who want to raise their public profile however there is a limit to how to prevent the reverse occurring.  Confidentiality and intellectual property is being continuously compromised.

Where will this all go?

Who knows.  I myself am a fan of many of the opportunities that LinkedIn and Twitter create, especially  as a tool to reach markets that have been, near impossible to access.  The world is moving faster than ever and in order to protect our personal data, independent bodies need to step up to the mark quickly and focus on what  is important and critical over the course of the next 24 months and how to protect the individual job seeker even further than just within recruitment agencies. The alternative is quite frightening and we could see a surge in cases of abuse and misuse which in turn could create an even bigger risk to our recruitment industry.  

Consultant in the chair : Sophie Jones

Monday, October 29th, 2012

 

 

 

How did you get into recruitment?

 After I graduated I was not sure what career path to take, I walked into a Recruitment Agency who asked me if I had ever considered Recruitment, I started the next day and I have been a Recruitment Consultant since.

 What are the main challenges in the London recruitment market? 

The London job market is currently very competitive, more so than ever we are finding more applicants for each job, which means companies can be more selective in their shortlist and recruitment process.

What was your first placement in recruitment?

 Facilities Manager for a leading Construction company in Manchester

 What do you enjoy the most about your job?

 I enjoy meeting different people every day and obviously the great feeling knowing you are helping people find their next job.

 What are the main challenges of working in this division?

 The industry can be quite niche, so often good candidates are not on the market long. Therefore, you must be efficient, build excellent relationships with candidates and stay up to date with what is happening within the Market Research industry.

 What are the three most important qualities in a  good recruitment consultant ?

Being able to think on your feet and think out of the box

Organisation – the ability to coordinate many roles and projects at any time

Excellent at building strong, lasting business relationships

What advice would you give someone who was thinking about a career in the industry? 

Recruit in an area you have an interest in and do some prior research into the role and company before applying. You must be resilient, adaptable and understand that the role can be very ‘sales’ focused. If you enjoy building relationships and working in a fast paced environment then Recruitment could be a good industry for you.

How has the recruitment industry changed since you started ?

 Since I have only been a Consultant for the last two years, the industry has not changed that dramatically. However, using social media tools,such as Twitter,  has become more important than ever in order to build up a strong network of individual.  

 What is the biggest lesson you have learnt in life?

 Don’t worry……Be Happy!

 What would you be doing if you weren’t in recruitment?

 Being a lady of leisure

 

Recruiting yourself is not all plain sailing. So think again.

Tuesday, September 4th, 2012

There’s a common perception that recruiting junior levels of staff is easier and will require less input, time and resources, than recruiting for more qualified senior people to the business.

Certainly a large proportion of our clients start their recruitment process thinking it is more cost effective to recruit themselves , especially when looking to hire candidates with up to 18 months work experience, or even graduate trainees. They cannot justify the fees they pay to their recruitment agents as they feel that it should be easier and cheaper to recruit less skilled people.

This argument seems logical, and employers initially stick to their guns, deciding to hand over the task of recruitment to one of their internal employees who agrees to take on the task in addition to continuing to perform their usual job.

However, in reality this doesn’t always happen as easily and cheaply as anticipated.

Once the adverts have gone out one of two things often happen: the first is that there are no relevant applicants and sometimes hardly any applicants at all. This is frustrating and costly as the price of an advert has been paid for and there is no real result. In addition the recruitment process is delayed and this can be more costly to the business, particularly if there is no support function in place.

On the other hand, quite the opposite could occur. Rather than receive few job applicants, you may receive an overwhelming number of cvs, sometimes 300- 400. This is fantastic , you may think. However, once you look more closely at the cvs received you notice that hardly any, if any, have the necessary skills or qualifications you are looking for. How can this be? We specified what we wanted in our advert, surely there must be people out there for the roles want to fill ?

Applying for a job, particularly online, has become so easy now. With just a click of a button a cv could be sent to any employer. Many job applicants think they should just send their cv and see what happens, without putting time and effort into the actual application process. This can waste time for a perspective employer as they may not be getting the correct experience and background they seek.

In addition, many of the more junior roles require softer skills, or other skills which can be only found once a proper technical assessment has been made. These can be costly and other practical skills are often only found in a competency based interview. It is unfeasible to test every applicant or meet each individual to see whether the applicants match the additional expectations that the job requires.

Many times this year we have been contacted by frustrated employers, who were adamant that they should manage their own recruitment process, but after a somewhat lengthy, costly and time consuming process, have found their efforts have come to nothing, and asked us to take on the recruitment process for them.

I can appreciate that recruitment agencies can seem costly, but if you consider from the outset that ,once you add up the time taken for a member of staff to go through the recruitment process, the costs of the advert and also the possible delay in the recruitment process then the recruitment companies fees may pale into insignificance. If cost is an issue discuss this with the recruitment company when you start the process as they may be able to  offer you  a more flexible solution.

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