Warning: Recruiters may not like the content of this post!

8 02 2010

As you may know in around 10 days time I’ll be co-track-leading at Bill Boorman and Geoff Webb’s Recruitment Unconference.  One of the tracks I”m leading is titled “Who Cares What the Candidate Thinks?” a subject close to my heart as I’ve spent many years working with and advising businesses on the Candidate Experience.  However, as the MD of my own business, it’s been a long time since I’ve experienced being a candidate myself.

So it’s with this in mind that I’m writing.

Around Christmas time I got my CV up to date (slapped wrists as it had been a little longer than I advise others…) and started to research and apply for one or two roles that matched my skill set and expertise.  These varied from in-house roles to Consultant projects across the UK.  I wanted to see what the experience of being a candidate was actually like.

And do you know what…

…It was TERRIBLE!!!!!!!

It really does seems that noone cares what the candidate thinks!  From HR departments to Recruitment Agencies, I was staggered by the response that I got to my application for jobs!  Here’s a few titbits of what happened:

  • I was invited to attend an interview for a job I didn’t apply for by a well known US company – Data Protection???
  • One job application form, to be completed prior to any contact with the business, was so longwinded I gave up after 20 minutes trying to complete it
  • I was promised a call back from one very well known recruitment agency which failed to happen … ever
  • When scheduling an interview for another company, the lady took my availability and then didn’t get back in contact for 10 days – even then this was by email with one slot that was the following day.
  • Spot the reason why this email I received was below par from another recruitment consultant:

    “Hi Michelle
    Could you send through your interview availability for this week”

    Erm… Have I gone bananas?  Where’s the “How are you…”  ”Please could you…”

So, in a nutshell my experience was rather different to what I was expecting!  Goodness knows how those out of work feel when subjected to such bad practise if this is a reflection of the way things work in this job-poor climate.

If you’re a job seeker reading this and you have any feedback for me on your job hunting experience then please post your comments here.  Recruiters I’d like to hear examples from you too of what you’re doing when it comes to managing the Candidate Experience.

Let’s kick the candidate experience back into touch!





Love Balls update – Raffle & Auction Prize List so far…

5 02 2010

As you know we’ve been asking for prizes for our Love Balls event in 2 weeks time, and have been staggered by people’s generosity. To give you a flavour here’s some of the prizes that have been donated for our fantastic raffle and auction!

So far we’ve received, in no particular order…

  • x3 spa days at the Chewton Glen
  • 1 months membership plus 3 personal trianing sessions, a rucksack and booklet from Fitness First
  • A fantastic hamper packed with tasty treats and goodies from Olives et al
  • A signed photo/stamps by Peter Alliss – pro golfer and TV Commentator
  • A signed copy of Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels – donated by Orchid’s founder himself Colin Osbourne
  • A signed book and photos from Bob Champion (care of Steve Mills @ perception)
  • A Colour Analysis by Sandra Attril from the House of Colour
  • 4 weeks worth of Bootcamp in Weymouth with Train with Charmaine
  • 4 tickets to the BSO event the day after Love Balls with DJ Danny Rampling c/o Strawberry Fields Presents
  • Either 4 private Pilates lessons or 26 classroom Pilates sessions with Olga from the Russian Ballet
  • A 2 day meal plan and some brilliant flapjacks from Barbara Cox at NutriChef
  • A bottle of Champagne from Dave Dobbell of Quality Solutions
  • A 10′ by 8 Canvas of your photo by Karen at Happy Heart Canvases
  • A 5 page website designed by Tasty Marketing
  • A Digger the Dog from Mark at The Present Finder
  • A signed football from AFC Bournemouth

And that’s not to mention the various other prizes that we’re waiting for from other generous donors, or those at the TRU London charity auction tweet up on the 18th either – which I’m told will be one of the worlds first ever Twitter Auctions!!  I’m looking forward to seeing how that goes!

If you’d like to donate something to the event, please get in touch with Michelle on 07786 622344.  Every little helps!

Many thanks.

The Love Balls Team!





What I learnt about The Talent War from The Band of Brothers

3 02 2010

Back in the days before Crunch and Credit were in the same sentence, many of us were talking about a War for Talent. In fact I recall going to a conference about it with Gladiators handing out canapés at the Trocadero in London… I digress.

This War for Talent, a term coined by McKinsey in 1997, hinged upon a few pivotal themes, in short:

  • The need for great Talent is important
  • Demand for this Talent outstrips supply
  • The stakes are high
  • Companies are not prepared
  • The war will persist

With the job market starting to show some signs of improvement in specific skill-based areas, it’s clear that there remains a skills-shortage and that the Talent War is back on many businesses radar.

Recently I watched the Band of Brothers. I’m not normally into War programmes so I was surprised at the impact that this 10-part Mini Series had on me and my perceptions of wars. And it’s with this theme in mind, I thought I’d share some of my reflections on what we could learn from “Easy” Company that could easily be transferred to our very own War for Talent.

  • Great training and concern for the wellbeing of others means that you’ve a better chance of survival, even under the most trying of circumstances
  • Every single person has a vital role to play
  • Use all the resources that are available to you
  • From hardship stems remarkable teamwork
  • You need to believe in your leader to do great things
  • Sometimes the impossible is possible
  • You can be too involved in the action. Sometimes you need to step away and get some perspective

Do you have any reflections on this? Do you share my views?  I’d really welcome your feedback and any additions.

You may also like to know that I’m talking about the Talent War amongst other tracks at The Recruitment Unconference later this month. Why not come and discuss your thoughts there?

I’ll leave you with a quote from the series itself:

2nd Lt. George Rice: Looks like you guys are going to be surrounded.
Richard Winters: We’re paratroopers, Lieutenant. We’re supposed to be surrounded”





Social Media & Recruitment Report

2 02 2010

Well, Linda and I have finally completed the report and you can download from the website to read at your leisure. It threw up some very interesting findings as well and certainly lays down a challenge to the Recruitment industry about how they could (or is that should) be taking the opportunities that seem to be developing around Social Media far more seriously than they may well be doing.

That is not to say, of course, that in some quarters a lot of ground is already being gained by those innovative enough to take the plunge and embrace the changes that are taking place.

Some of the main findings included:

  • Despite the vast amounts of money spent on advertising the availability of radio for recruitment – only 3% of our respondents had used in the last 12 months
  • Social media was 6% MORE popular than traditional advertising
  • Almost 70% of the respondents reported that their cost per hire was less than £1000
  • Unsurprisingly perhaps, this reflects the reduced costs were cited as the biggest drivers towards the use of Social Media

I hope that’s given you an appetite for more, and if so why not download the complete Social Media in Recruitment Report now

Best wishes

Michelle & Linda





Love Balls – Our Fundraising Update

29 01 2010


Thanks to all of you who’ve so generously helped us raise awareness and money on behalf of Orchid, the Male Cancer Charity.

So far we’ve raised over £125 via our Just Giving site – www.justgiving.com/loveballs – please help us make it to £1,000!

We’ve sold almost 100 tickets for the event we’re hosting at AFC Bournemouth on 19th February – that’s not enough – we can still fit a lot more people comfortably, so please help us get the spaces filled and book tickets now or pass this on to someone else you think might be interested. After all, it’s a great excuse for a knees up and all in a very good cause.

On the night we can promise you:

  • Funky Jazz to dance to from our band Saxuality http://www.myspace.com/saxualityjazz
  • Street dancing and firethrowing
  • Hand and neck massages
  • FANTASTIC auction prizes (many of you have been so generous!) – from month long bootcamps, to spa days at the Chewton Glen, Signed memorabilia and clothes, there really will be something for you to enjoy so don’t forget your cheque books!

And a whole heap more.

So what are you waiting for.

  • Donate money to our justgiving.com/loveballs page
  • Email rsvp@tastymarketing.co.uk and let them know how many tickets you want
  • Send a cheque, payable to LOVE BALLS EVENT to Anne Orchard, 3 Downside, Old Lyme Road, Charmouth, Dorset, DT6 6BQ
  • Finally forward on the information about this event and the reason why we’re hosting it.

Then sit back and think about what you’re going to wear??

Michelle, Emma & Anne.





Am I the only person in the world who hasn’t discovered Wordle???

29 01 2010

Today a question was answered.

For a while now I’ve seen these really wonderful word pictures and always thought to myself, “Wow! Aren’t they cool!”

Today I finally found where they come from! Here’s a Wordle taster of our Social Media and Recruitment report which will be published in early Feb.

Wordle: Social Recruitment Research

Isn’t it funny how simple things make us smile!





How to write an effective Job Description and Role Profile

26 01 2010

So, you know you have a space in your office, you have some tasks that want doing and you even have a little spare cash to pay someone too… but, how do you write an effective job description?  One that really gets to the heart of what you need?

Before any job is recruited for or advertised it is essential to identify what exactly your need is, what skills and behaviours are required for a person to be successful in the role, and to establish what you can afford.  From there, you can then produce or update your job description and role profile.

Is there a need?

Recruitment can be a costly activity; therefore it is essential that you ensure that you are channelling this activity effectively and not over-resourcing.   This can be established by asking some basic questions;

  • Has the need arisen by someone leaving?
  • Has the role changed? Has it been influenced by new products, services or changes in technology?
  • Have work patterns changed?
  • Has an exit interview been conducted? This could highlight important points about the potential vacancy.
  • Could the role be broken down and key tasks distributed among the team?
  • Is it a new role?
  • Does it fit in with budget?
  • Will it be cost-effective? Do the benefits justify the expense?
  • Should it be full-time, part-time or contract?
  • Could the work be distributed among the current team? Can individuals be trained? Could technology make an impact? Could shift patterns be altered?

Once you have established that there is a specific need for a new recruit, the next stage is to update the current Role Profile and/or produce a new one if necessary.

Role Profiles/Job Description?

The term “Role Profile” is a blend of both a Job Description and a Person Specification or outline of the type of person who would fit the role.  Role Profiles are simple documents which demonstrate clearly the relationship between specific activities/tasks and the personal attributes required to undertake them.  In short it describes a job, and the personal qualities required to do that job well.  The job is usually described in terms of the purpose, responsibilities and key deliverables of the job, and the personal qualities required are described in terms of the knowledge, skills and behaviours that are necessary to perform the job well.  Role Profiles provide clarity (both to those doing the job and to managers) on what is expected from people doing the role. They focus people’s attention on the key factors required to deliver results.

They provide information that enables:

  • A much clearer understanding of what the role holder is being asked to do.
  • More effective appraisal, against a clear benchmark.
  • More effective recruitment, against clearly specified requirements linked to business objectives.
  • More effective development of people, focussing learning on the areas that will bring most business benefit.
  • More effective promotion and career development, where people can see what they need to do to fulfil a future role, and in turn the organisation can assess people’s capability more accurately.

Key benefits businesses gain from using Role Profiles as opposed to Job Descriptions include:

  • Increased effectiveness from jobholders who are more focussed on what success looks like in their role.
  • Reduced recruitment and retention costs, with people better matched to role requirements.
  • Reduced training and developments costs, with learning targeted on activities with defined business benefit.
  • More successful promotion decisions.
  • Fairer, simpler and more transparent grading structures

Producing Your Role Profile

If you need to produce a Role Profile, it should be clear, concise and include the following:

Job Description
Job title A named role and location. The job title should communicate the function and status of the job.
Reporting line The person to whom the individual will be reporting. It is important that this is clarified particularly where there may be more than one reporting line for different issues.
Job purpose A simple statement to identify clearly the objective of the job.
Key accountabilities This details what actually needs to be done. The duties and expected outcomes.
Knowledge/experience/skills This section is used to identify the overall expertise needed to perform the job to the required standards for example: Knowledge of specific procedures (e.g. computer systems and software for an IT programmer) Experience in working with Microsoft packages The skills to apply computer knowledge, skills to work as part of a team
Person Specification
Qualifications Academic/vocational/professional.  Outline the minimum requirement for the jobholder and what is ideal.
Work Experience The amount of experience in a specific environment at a specific level
Knowledge Specific background/essential knowledge needed to do the job i.e. working practices
Skills/Abilities Skills and abilities required that are specific to the role i.e. numerical/verbal/communication   It is recommended to identify a minimum level of skill and also a maximum level of skill to indicate development
Personality/Motivation What motivates the candidate is the role likely to restrict someone who enjoys working with people if it is one which has limited contact with others.
Circumstances Availability/mobility i.e. is the candidate able to work the hours required, or can they travel to the work location.
Competencies/Behaviours A description of which core competencies are required for the job

It is also useful to identify:

  • Your essential criteria (skills, experience, attributes) which must be available to undertake the job
  • Your desirable criteria (other abilities, attributes, further experience), that would enhance the quality of the candidates.

This will give you an outline your ‘ideal’ candidate for the vacancy which will enable you to evidence a fair and consistent recruitment process through the shortlisting phase of your recruitment.

It goes without saying that the effectiveness of your JD or Role Profile can only really be measured by what you do with it next, and  how you engage with potential candidates, shortlist and select them through to hiring them.  Good Luck!

The above excerpt is taken from a module of Creative Leadership’s Recruitment Training Programme for managers. For further information please email us at info@Creative-Leadership.co.uk or call 01202 853647.





New to Social Media and want to know which sites to use?

24 01 2010

Over the past few months a lot of people have asked me “I have no idea what to do when it comes to Social Media or which Social Media sites to subscribe to – what do you recommend?”

Generally, after an initial conversation about what they’re looking to achieve from Social Media, what it is and what it isn’t, I’ve pointed them in the direction of the usual suspects – Linked In, Facebook etc and one or two others and encouraged them to explore for themselves the evolving world of online networking and communication that is Web 2.

So, for those of you who have the same question too, here’s some very general recommendations of which sites you might find useful and which I’ve encountered on my own journey with Social Media.

Social Media the very basics

Linkedin.com

The Social Networking site for business networking.  A place to showcase your experience; what you’ve done, do and are interested in and all with regards to the world of work.  Also offers employers/clients the opportunity to recommend your work and for recruiters to post jobs.  I particularly like the Q&A section for finding out relevant answers to questions I have.

Facebook.com

Most people use this site for informal social networking, however increasingly it’s being used by businesses both small and large, to promote their products, network, market events etc.

Twitter.com

The ultimate social conversation site arguably and a great way to see what’s going on In the world.  Follow and be followed, tweets, #, twibes … both your vocabulary and the way you think about “chatting” to other people will change once you start getting into Twitter.

MySpace.com

Again, once confined to the arena of informal social networking, this is increasingly being used by businesses and professionals alike as a place to meet and communicate with others.  Particularly associated with music and film media.

Next Steps

Once you’ve started communicating, here are some tools to help you manage this communication, and also to help you listen.

Blogger.com/WordPress.com

Create your very own Blog for free, where you can communicate with the world whenever you want and about whatever you want.

TweetDeck.com

Manage all your social media networks in one place.  Stream conversations, search # links and cross post to Facebook and Twitter at the same time.

Ning.com

Ning Networks are online communities created by individuals or organisations who wish to create their very own social platforms, a bit like personalised Facebook or Linked In Groups.  Great for SEO (search engine optimisation) there are more and more groups popping up every day.

Twitteranalyzer.com

Claims to be the most advanced Twitter Analytic System in the world and will let you view details on what you and other people are doing on Twitter including what you’re talking about, your popularity, followers etc.

Twitterfeed.com

This useful site feeds almost 1 million feeds (Jan 2010) from blogs to Facebook and Twitter and also provides stats too.

Openid.net

Increasingly SM sites are requiring new members to sign up using more secure OpenID log ins and passwords.  You benefit from not just enhanced security, but one log in and one set of passwords.

SlideShare.net

You can upload and share your PowerPoint presentations, Word documents and Adobe PDF Portfolios on SlideShare either publicly or privately.  If you add audio this turns it into a “webinar”.  Also link your SlideShare account to Linked In too.  Very useful tool!

Digg.com

Digg is a place where people share what they consider to be the best content from anywhere on the world.  A community collaboration, essentially people collectively determine the value of content, changing the way people consume information online.

Google.com

There is so much to do with Google once you’ve set up your account via google.com.

As a very minimum I recommend:

1)    Alerts – set these up for your name/company/keywords…the list is endless…and decide how often you want to know who’s talking about what you’ve searched for.

2)    Reader – great for when you see something interesting but don’t have time to read it, or if you want to follow updates from particular blogs and the like.  Simply save these to Google Reader and come back to it at your leisure.  It’s almost like a daily newspaper subscription.

3)    Wave – relatively new to the Google suite and currently in Beta form and “by invite only” as the early adopters try it out and feedback glitches to Google and suggest new functionality.  Wave is a real time conversation where you must be invited to join a conversation and then can communicate anything you want to and in real time.

4)   Analytics – useful for those with websites to enable a better understanding of what’s being read, by whom and when.

As I mentioned, this is basic list of sites I think you may enjoy exploring.  As you progress on your Social Media journey you’ll find plenty more!  Indeed almost every day a new site is launched – see mashable.com if you like this sort of thing.  I encourage you to play with the technology for yourself and post more links here that you think might be useful to others.





And the winner is…

22 01 2010

After some delay thanks mainly to busy diaries and the snow prohibiting travel between Poundbury and Poole in Dorset, Linda Parkinson-Hardman and I are thrilled to announce the winner of the Champagne draw for contributors to our Social Media & Recruitment Survey

We wanted to make sure that it was fairly drawn and and so to enable this we took it to an event we both attend regularly - Business Exchange, Dorset’s brilliant multi-sector networking club.  Today, over 60 people witnessed Laura McHarrie, the event organiser, pull the winners’ name out of our hat (AKA the brown envelope)!  Thank you Laura!

So, we’re thrilled to announce that the winner is….

Drum Roll please….

Bill Boorman, AKA @BillBoorman and organiser of TRU – the Recruitment Unconference!  Bill, a bottle of champagne will be winging it’s way to you at Tru London 2

Linda and I would like to thank all those of you who contributed again.  Your input has been invaluable.

For those interested in the research findings, you’ll be glad to know that we’re just putting the finishing touches to our report which we will publish in early February and in advance of TRU 2.  If you’re interested in receiving a copy of these then please get in touch.





The CIPD’s view of the Horizon for Employment Law in 2010

20 01 2010

Here’s details of what can be found at the following link from the CIPD outlining their view of changes to UK Employment Law in 2010.

In February

  • Compensation limits for unfair dismissal will go down (for the first time ever) from £66,200 to £65,300 – from 1 February 2010. (The maximum weekly pay to be taken into account when calculating statutory redundancy payments, and the basic award in unfair dismissal claims, was increased to £350 in October 2009 and is not changed again.)

‘Early’ in 2010

  • Following a consultation process in 2009, proposed regulations on union blacklisting are expected to come into force.

‘Spring’ 2010

  • The Social Security (Medical Evidence) and Statutory Sick Pay (Medical Evidence) Amendment Regulations 2010 will introduce new ’fit notes’ that will replace sick notes in England, Wales and Scotland.

From April

  • Statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay – the standard rates of SMP, SPP and SAP will increase to £124.08 a week. (The standard rate of Statutory sick pay(SSP) will remain unchanged at £79.15 a week.)
  • Following consultations in 2009, amendments to the Conduct of Employment Agencies Regulations are expected to come into force.
  • Regulations are expected to come into force which will allow parents of children due on or after 3 April 2011 to transfer part of the mother’s maternity leave to the father.
  • Under the Apprentices, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009, after a minimum of six month’s service in organisations with 250 or more staff, employees will have the right to request time off for training which they believe will make them productive and effective at work. As in the existing arrangements covering flexible working, employers will have a duty to consider seriously any such request. There will be no requirement for an employee to pay for the training or time off. (The right will be extended to all sizes of organisation from April 2011.)

From October

  • Provisions of the Equality Act expected to come into force.

From November

  • Under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, people seeking work in a ‘regulated activity’ must register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), although they may register from 26 July 2010.

Other developments

  • The planned review of the default retirement age (DRA) has been brought forward to 2010. In October 2009 the Government called for evidence on the DRA to feed into the review to be submitted by 1 February 2010.

The CIPD highlight that these changes may well take on a different direction depending upon the outcome of the General Election this year and also that  in some cases, the Scottish and Northern Ireland situation may differ from that in England and Wales.