Louise's UK Recruiter Blog

Jim Stroud Show

Jim Stroud is a “Searchologist” (someone adept at online research) and a thoroughly nice chap.

He's recently started Season 2 of the Jim Stroud Show which is a video series focused on social recruiting. He produces a new video each week and they are certainly entertaining (and informative). Topics have included Twitter, Google Plus, Linkedin, Google, Facebook, Instagram and Mobile Recruiting. Some of his video's have had over 1000 views.

As well as being useful to keep you up to date on social recruiting issues they are a great example of what you can do with video.  Check them out!

How to Measure Commercial Risk?

Today we have a guest article written for us by Jill Mytton.  Jill is a highly experienced Commercial Risk and Compliance Expert for the recruitment industry.

I have lost count of the number of client, master vendor/ neutral vendor and managed service provider contracts I have reviewed on behalf of recruitment agencies for commercial risk over the last 11 years but the number must be in the hundreds by now. Having reviewed a substantial number of supplier contracts does enable me to spot the latest third party trends for managing commercial risk.  Corporates want consistency of service and low risk so agencies that meet Key Performance Indicators on a consistent basis and are prepared to shoulder a substantial level of risk will be at the top of their preferred list. What continually amazes me is the large number of recruitment agency directors that have no robust system for measuring risk to their business. By nature recruiters have an appetite for risk, they are entrepreneurial, and sales orientated and have a “can do” attitude. This “go for it” attitude has to be tempered by a balanced business view of risk and reward otherwise the agency can be left strangled by contractual terms and unworkable penalties which can mean the end for the business.

I have a simple approach to measuring risk using a very common risk system we all know well i.e.  traffic lights. I measure commercial risk in contracts as follows:-

 “Red” for danger means a contract where the rewards have to be highly significant to the agency to make the heavy burden of risk and the attached costs of that risk worth carrying. These contracts would have a Commercial Risk Health Warning attached to them and the directors need to be fully aware of the issues they need to manage if they are to enter into these agreements.

“Amber” means caution where managing risk becomes paramount and potential re-negotiation of particularly onerous clauses needs to take place before signing on the dotted line

“Green” means good to go and these are agency friendly contracts that mirror industry recognised terms and conditions and are often for low volume supply where a number of agencies are being used to introduce and supply staff.

When I am assessing which category to put the contract in I look at required insurance cover, limits of liability for claims and losses under the contract, indemnities(financial penalties) imposed on the agency for breaching conditions of the contract, payment terms, and compliance criteria imposed by the client on the recruitment agency which is now including Agency Worker Regulations obligations.

If you never measure your commercial risk how can you manage the implications of such risk successfully? Remember not all business is “good” business and when that contract lands on the director’s desk it needs to be reviewed unemotionally and ultimately agency directors must have the courage to walk away from unworkable contracts to ensure the survival of the business.

Jill Mytton is a Recruitment Commercial Risk and Compliance Expert at her own business Parters 4 Success. She is Lead Consultant at REC Advice Plus.

Talent Development Platform Launches

Just had a press release giving the official low down on the new business which Roy Ripper and Matt Trott have established with Dan McGuire.  Here’s an overview on the business which...

“... is a game changing cloud-based Talent Development Platform (TDP) aimed at recruiters worldwide. The Juice TDP offers on-demand video learning featuring how to guides, comedic drama and practical exercises to make learning easy and fun as well as utilising online quizzes to test individual knowledge retention.  The TDP, which can be rolled out on the same day as purchase, is easy for users to understand and they can be trained on how to use it in five minutes.
Steve Carter, CEO of Morgan McKinley, the first company to implement the Juice TDP said: “Juice has transformed how we nurture our talent. It’s relevant, innovative and fun. Traditional training doesn’t always inspire or excite so combining it with a product like Juice gave it an identity within the business where people see it as an investment and not achore.”

“We wanted to create a learning environment where employees at all levels could log on and get instant access to relevant content that not only supported them in their day-to-day role but also offered them continuous development. After all, good people with the right skills are at the heart of our commercial success. The result is that people want to learn. We were able to tailor a lot of the content to be specific to our business. This is really important in helping staff to understand our corporate vision and drive the adoption of best practices across the organisation,” Carter said.

By delivering bite sized learning that can be accessed anytime by employees, Juice creates a continuous and consistent learning environment that leads to stronger and faster results than traditional ad hoc training methods.  Clients can work with Juice to create bespoke content for them featuring their own employees just as Morgan McKinley has done.

The startup has attracted investment from entrepreneur Dan McGuire, formerly of Broadbean, who joins the board as Chairman and Graham Palfery-Smith who joins as Non-Executive Director. The company will be headed up in the UK and Europe by industry stalwart Roy Ripper and in Asia Pacific by Matt Trott. 

Roy Ripper, MD, Juice said: “Progressive organisations realise that if they don’t develop their talent they risk losing their best staff and their competitive edge. The most successful people never stop learning and developing. Our view is that giving recruiters access to entertaining and engaging content when they want it will encourage people to improve and refine their skills. We all pick up bad habits and the best way to counteract that and operate at the top of our game is to continuously and consistently improve ourselves.”

I shall be having a proper delve around the site early next week and blogging in more detail about it.    If you want to take a look you can get access to the “Lite” version for free. which gives you access to the first two chapters of episodes.

Smart Social Media Recruitment Strategies

Andy Headworth really knows his stuff. I probably didn't need to read his new book to tell you that mind!

However, I begged him for a copy and said I'd share my thoughts.

To be honest, though, I'm not quite sure how to review the book. I can't possibly do a "little summary" of the 130 pages (50,000 words)!  However, in order to suggest what you might learn I can share with you the PR blurb....

This report provides a practical guide to getting the most out of social media as part of an integrated, low cost recruitment strategy.  Packed with best-practice tools, strategies and guidance Smart Social
Media Recruitment Strategies will enable you to:
• Make sense of the huge number of social media tools and applications available;
• Ensure your organisation is prepared for technological and cultural changes that social media is driving within recruitment;
• Identify which social platforms will be most beneficial for your organisation;
• Build a business case for using social media in your recruitment strategy;
• Identify who should be responsible for creating and managing your new social recruiting strategy;
• Understand the role of HR in the implementation and management of using social media in the recruitment process;
• Understand the legal implications of sourcing new talent via social networks;
• Measure the different levels of ROI of your social media recruitment efforts;
• Manage talent pools and communities for best effect; and much more...
Real-life case studies also demonstrate how companies like G4S, TGI Fridays, ITV, Staples, Unilever and more are successfully using social
media platforms to attract and engage with their future employees.

This book is aimed at inhouse Recruiters and HR professionals.  It will truly hit the mark there.  However, it's a book that ANY recruiter could benefit from. 

The book has got facts, case studies, anecdotes, guidance, stats and knowledge just bursting from the seams.  There are 14 chapters which work through from the "history of recruitment" to how social media is being used in recruitment and ending with "what does the future of recruitment look like". 

In my opinion it's not a book you can dip in and out of and it isn't one you can read over one weekend (I tried!), but it is one that you should find the time to properly digest. 

This is a serious business book written by a real social media recruitment expert!

Finally, the best news; there is a special offer of £100 off the book if you get it via Andy’s blog.

 

Recruitment Apprenticeships

I recently came across this brand new Apprenticeship Scheme for the recruitment industry which seems to me like a interesting opportunity for newcomers looking to enter the recruitment sector, and for recruitment businesses looking to expand their team.  Whilst there’s no shortage of training opportunities in the industry there hasn’t until now been a dedicated scheme for recruiters targeted at entry level and I think this kind of scheme could be a really effective way of helping to professionalise the industry.

The scheme is being run by Expedient Training Consultancy, who have created 150 placements spread across London, Manchester, Nottingham and Birmingham.  The apprenticeship scheme is suitable for niche boutique agencies, high street brands, global consultancies or recruitment divisions within corporations. 

The scheme funds the training element of the apprenticeships, which can be worth around £6000, and includes the REC’s Certificate in Recruitment Practice.  The employer pays the apprentice a salary (which can be at the lower end of the scale due to the regulations governing apprentices).  However, I understand that the employers that Expedient are currently working with are paying their apprentices competitively and adding in commission structures to provide an incentive. Expedient support the Apprentices throughout the 12 months with mentoring and training and the Apprentices will gain 4 qualifications. 

The apprentices are typically post-A level students (although anyone can apply but the funding contribution varies for over 19 year olds).  Recruitment companies can take on a single apprentice, or a whole team and Expedient are building a talent pool of pre-screened candidates which employers will have access to.  Interestingly, the scheme isn’t just open to new employees -  employers can also use the scheme to train existing staff who meet the eligibility criteria which could be a great way for a recruitment company to get some solid training for their junior staff at low or no cost.

There are around 50 placements remaining, and the Apprentices are due to start in September, so employers looking to expand their recruitment teams need to act quickly.  To find out more visit the apprenticeship site or call Sue Reader (for Manchester, Birmingham and Nottingham placements) or Paul Deen (for London placements) on 0800 612 5402.

5 Tips for Candidate Interviewing

In today’s market recruiters need to offer a fuller, more ‘value added’ service – not only to clients but to candidates too.   According to Recruitment Matters most active jobseekers are investigating 10 - 15 different job options at once and candidate drop-out rates are at their highest ever , so it’s vital that recruiters are probing, digging and challenging in candidate interviews.  Here, from Recruitment Matters, (written specifically for us) are five top tips for creating the ultimate candidate interview process:

1. Qualify first, sell second. Always thoroughly qualify the candidate first, before selling an opportunity to them. It sounds obvious, yet the majority of recruiters fail to adhere to this simple rule.
2. Information gather. Our job is not to know the right answers, but to ask the right questions. Probe deeply into the candidate’s background, needs, wants and motivators. The more information we have about the candidate, the better we will be at matching them to our clients and controlling the process.
3. Presentation Vs Performance. Don’t  judge your candidates just because they look good either in person or on their CV. Real superstar performers can be truly identified by behavioural and achievements based questions. Focus on examples of going the extra mile and notable achievements.
4. Your candidates will lead you to market. Candidates are your biggest source of market information!
5. Today’s candidate is tomorrow’s client.  Explain how your service works for them; manage their expectations; be honest with them, set timescales and explain ‘next steps’ at each stage of the process.

These tips were provided by Jo Gregory, associate trainer with Recruitment Matters International and come from RMI’s  new one day course ‘Candidate Interview & Screening Techniques’ which launches in September. For more information email ken@recruitmentmatters.com or call 0800 0749289.

TruGrads - Mentors wanted

One of the things that came out of the TruLondon event was that Peter Gold and Bill Boorman have created a mentoring scheme for graduates.
 
Peter explains the background on his blog post and Bill give a little more detail on his.
 
I think this is a great idea.  They've already got about 20 mentors and 30 students involved.  I know they are on the look out for more mentors though.  If you are a recruiter who is prepared to do a small amount of pro-bono work then please get in touch with Bill.

PS, I borrowed the cute picture from Bill too!  
 
 
 

A Unique Guide to LinkedIn

There are lots of training documents out there about how to use LinkedIn (in fact we have a rather good one on our own UK Recruiter Plus website!).  

However, I’ve never seen anything quite as unique as this one from Stephen Hart at Edenchanges; Sun Tzu and the Art of LinkedIn.

The guide offers strategic advice on how best to use LinkedIn inspired by two and a half thousand year old military advice.

The book is free of charge – so just pop over to their site and check it out. 

If you’ve seen anything else like this that you'd like to share can you add a comment here please!

SMART 2011 Conference - Pre Event Thoughts

The latest addition to UK Recruiter's team of roving reports is Mervyn Dinnen and on 20th January he is attending the SMART conference on our behalf.  Here is his pre conference pre amble! .

On January 20th I’ll be going along to Incisive Media’s SMART 2011 conference. Entitled ‘Social Media for Business – The Risks vs The Opportunities’ this should be an enlightening and richly rewarding event featuring knowledgeable speakers sharing best practice and giving attendees the opportunity to discover how to best utilise social media for growing business.

The day will be structured to give maximum opportunity to share, learn and network, through a mixture of keynote and panel sessions, case studies and smaller workshops. I’m particularly looking forward to the breakout sessions, 30 minute concurrent groups covering Talent Management, Business Strategy and Tools & Techniques. For me, one of the differentiators with this conference, and something that I am keen to find out more about, are around the risks as well as the opportunities. Brand hijacking and legal compliance will be two key areas as well as a case study on what happens when social media strategy goes wrong.

Some great keynote speakers are lined up, and for me one of the highlights could well be the Social Media Sofa, a session featuring representatives from YouTube, Google and Mashable talking about how their channels can add value to businesses, and how they are using social media to increase revenue.

The breakout sessions contain something for everyone. I’m keen to hear Steve Fogarty from Adidas Group talk about implementing social media into recruitment strategy, Jeremy Fawcett from Yahoo talk about protecting you online brand, as well as the workshop on content creation with Peter Abraham of Econsultancy.com.

The final keynote panel includes Gurtaj Sandhu, Digital Director of The Times, and Mark Squires, Director of Social media at Nokia. Their insight on both staying current and anticipated future trends should ensure that the conference ends on an uplifting note.

You can find more out about Mervyn on his superb blog.  If you are going along why not drop him a note and maybe meet for a coffee.
 

REC Chief Examiner role

I had an email from John Cunningham (the REC’s Head of Qualifications) just before Christmas talking about how, following a major review of its qualifications’ portfolio, the REC is seeking Chief Examiners.

I thought this sounded like quite an interesting job so I’ve just had a chat with one of their existing Chief Examiners about his role.  Tony Taylor is the Chief Examiner for the REC's current entry level qualification, the Certificate in Recruitment Practice.  He is very enthusiastic about the work that he does with the REC and the benefits being a Chief Examiner brings to his business.

The actual work involved is centered around the four examinations per year. A Chief examiner is responsible for a specific unit (or units) of the qualification and has to produce the syllabus for each.  They then have to ensure that the training materials match what’s covered in the syllabus. The role involves writing the exam papers for your unit (this is probably the most time consuming bit according to Tony) and then later down the line actually marking the exam papers.

Once you’ve entered any industry it’s so easy to become static and to fall behind the times.  By being involved in a role like this you have to keep up to date with legislative changes and modern practices and technologies. This has got to benefit your own business and staff.

So the key points… you are going to need a good grounding in recruitment and have the ability to impart your knowledge and experience to other people (you don't actually need to be a trainer to apply for the role).  You’ll also need to be able to find some “free” time to get involved in the exam process and be able to make it to the REC’s offices 4x a year; this may be easier if you are the MD of your own recruitment business - but isn't going to be impossible for someone working for a larger business where you aren't the boss.

If this appeals then check out the rest of the information on the REC site.  You only have until the 19th Jan to apply!

Review of "How They Blew It..."

Recently I was offered a copy of  "How They Blew It: The CEOs and Entrepreneurs Behind Some of the World's Most Catastrophic Business Failures" by Jamie Oliver and Tony Goodwin.  David Palmer of Vacancy Clearing offered to review it and here is his review:

When I was given the opportunity to review this book I was filled with negative preconceptions. Pre-Christmas marketing! Shallow research! Tony Goodwin? Why was Tony Goodwin involved? I was going to write a withering review that would banish it to the farthest reaches of book space. Well I couldn’t have been more wrong! I read the book in a couple of sittings and found it a fascinating introduction to a subject I will now explore further.

The book covers the lives of 16 well-known entrepreneurs from their initial success and spectacular rise on the world stage to their inevitable downfall. Some died prematurely, some committed suicide, some languish in prison but all suffered the same ignominy and fate - failure.

The book is just over 200 pages and each subject gets the same 10-12 pages of attention. So it’s easy to skip through the chapters based on the same theme but each individual case is different and intriguing.

What interests me most is the portrayal of our human competitive instincts. Each of us has the instinct to survive, to provide for ourselves and to defend what we have created but in a few rare cases these instincts are honed so sharply that the individual wants to go on further than survival, comfort or even success.

I got the distinct impression that those that fit this profile are not necessarily the cleverest or even the most determined but are the ones that are not content with the ordinary and crave the drug of super-success and all that comes with it. Like any drug this can lead to self-delusion and cravings and those that want it will do anything to get it.

My particular favourite is the chapter about Mark Goldberg. Mark built MSB into a hugely successful recruitment business in Bromley, Kent, which is where I live. Mark by all accounts is a great salesman and built his recruitment firm during the boom IT recruitment years. He was then worth £40m. He then went on to spend the whole lot on a misguided and failed attempt to take Crystal Palace into the Premiership. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but even at the time most people thought he was mad.

Maybe he was mad; after all, these entrepreneurs were seen by ordinary mortals as super humans: extraordinarily powerful and wealthy but perhaps at the same time disconnected from the normal world inhabited by the rest of us. Mad too because their businesses became casinos reaching higher and higher to deliver success and keep in the game. Addictive and toxic!

Ultimately they all took one gamble too many. It does leave a question hanging which asks: if these are the ones that have obviously failed and we know about them, what about all those that are exhibiting the same characteristics who have yet to crash?

This is a book to buy any budding entrepreneur for Christmas. It is well researched and I can now completely understand why Tony Goodwin, the entrepreneur, has such a fascination with this “car-crash” subject.

If you want to review a recruitment book, DVD or a conference drop me a note and I'll see what I can sort out!

NOTE:
We have 10 copies of the book to give away.  All you need to do is email me the answer to this question, in 50 words or less; What business mistake did you learn most from in your career? Please email me by end of play on Wednesday 15th December. We'll pick winners at random and publish the answers you've given on our blog in the next few weeks. 

Stepstone Solutions Summit 2010 Review

Our newest roving reporter, Mervyn Dinnen, recently attended the Stepstone Solutions Summit 2010. Here is his review:

On Tuesday I joined a group of about 200 HR and Talent professionals braving the snow to get to the Stepstone Solutions Summit 2010 on the Changing Face of Talent Management. Host venue was luxurious and imposing surroundings of Wembley Stadium. Interesting speakers and content, superb views of the pitch in pristine condition and an excellent lunch sponsored by SHL...couldn’t ask for more!

I got to spend time chatting with four of the speakers, which helped give me a good insight into their presentations. First was Matthew Parker, CEO of Stepstone Solutions who had lots to tell about a dramatic, evolving year which included a management buyout and an acquisition. He was very passionate about the future, and about his people. I was fascinated to hear how he had taken the workforce through all of the change, incurring low levels of turnover. His commitment to an open, honest and transparent communication style coupled with a belief in having the right people in the right place at the right time, has clearly served the business well and bodes well for the future. Having all employees, at all levels, part rewarded on customer satisfaction must be a big help too.

Second conversation was with Lorraine Lopez, HR Resourcing Partner for The AA. We talked about her approach to recruitment and how she has managed to streamline the eRecruitment process, making it simpler and more engaging. Was very interested to hear how they experienced the application process through the candidate’s eyes, enabling them to make positive changes, and also how they have gained high levels of online applications within less promising workforce sectors such as mechanics. Her mantra of ‘every candidate is a customer or potential customer’ clearly helps define their approach and was one of the take away lessons of the day.

I also caught up with Jan Ryholl, Senior HR Director with global manufacturing business Danfoss. Interesting to hear about the creation and roll out of a Global Recruitment strategy, cross borders and cultures. He was very strong on making the business case for such a strategy and getting HR and the business working together, also pointing out that whilst was cost was interesting it was not the deciding factor, which was finding the best way to deliver the business strategy. The business clearly invests heavily in its people; talent acquisition alone is not the goal but the start. He spoke in detail about the onboarding and development, encouraging people to be adaptable and mobile.

Over lunch I was talking to Jef Pauwels, Head of Learning and Organisation Effectiveness for Philips. We spoke a lot about their growth and the complexities of recruiting and developing in China, and also of the difficulties in embedding social media in to the learning agenda.  His presentation dealt with the need to reward the ‘how’ as well as the ‘what’, and was very open about using a redesigned performance management cycle to drive business behaviours to achieve growth.

There were two further presentations. One was from consultant Josh Bersin, and had a clear focus on talent mobility and dynamic career development to drive engagement, and integrated talent management as the way forward. He spoke about the need for a 3 year roadmap to take you to where you want to be in talent management and had a number of examples from JP Morgan showing how closely resourcing and internal talent mobility are linked. All staff have their CVs on the internal database and managers can poach people from other teams once they have been in their roles for 18 months.

After lunch there was a captivating presentation from Ariel Ekstein, of LinkedIn. He showed research findings from a survey of 1100 corporate clients. The main ones were that most companies fear that their competitors will implement social recruiting better than they will, and that key objectives moving forward are to reduce spend on staffing agencies and improve referral networks. I think that the vision that left the most lasting impression was when talked of the end of what he called ‘the walled garden’ and of proprietary databases. He urged people to deconstruct their talent pools and crowdsource their future needs.

Final summary was from Raymond Van der Wal and Martyn Arbon, both from Stepstone Solutions. They spoke of their visions for the future, of times of turbulence and of the need for agility and elasticity, honesty and transparency and gave us a great defining soundbite in ‘Design for Talent not Process’. We also got a live demonstration of the new Stepstone app, taking the data to the people!

The day was rounded off with a well attended networking session, and the delegates that I spoke to were all very positive about the event and its learning takeaways.

Excellent event in very impressive surroundings...

...and did I mention how great the Wembley pitch looked too?!

Online Recruitment Conference: The Year Ahead – 27th January 2011

Enhance media have recently announced the date of their “Online Recruitment Conference: The Year Ahead”.  This is now in its ninth year and is the largest online recruitment conference in Europe and initial expectations are that this year’s event will be even bigger.

The headline speaker is the Head of Recruitment for the Olympics 2012; providing “unique insights into Britain’s largest ever recruitment operation”.  You can view information on all the speakers on the site, although the agenda hasn’t yet been published. 

The venue, as in previous years, is prestigious Royal Geographical Society in Central London. Tickets cost £398 + VAT per person.
 
Hope to see you there.
 

Free Webinars for HR recruitment professionals

Just got some information about a series of webinars organised by Retail Choice.  Due entirely to my busy schedule I'm posting this around the time the first one takes place (sorry to anyone wanting to hear Jonathan Exten-Wright talk about " How to protect yourself and your business from new employment laws").
 
However, there is still plenty of time to sign up to hear Any Headworth (of Sirona Consulting) talk about "How you can get the best out of Generation Y" during his webinar on the 24th November @ 3pm.  The Webinar will be looking at Generation Y in the workplace. Who are they? What are the typical traits of Gen Y'ers and what are the implications for employers when looking to recruit and retain Gen Y'ers.
 
The final webinar in the series is covering "how to work better with marketing to build powerful employer brands".  The date's not confirmed yet but it will be in early December.  The speakers (so far) are Tsz Wu from Pink Squid and Suresh from Yo! Sushi
 
You can find out more (and sign up) on the Retail Choice website 

Free eBook for recruitment owners

Terry Edwards of Drew Coaching has written a really nice little eBook entitled "7 Reasons Why Most Small Independent Recruitment Businesses Fail And What To Do About It".

Some research they did showed that only 1.5% of recruitment business owners have been taught how to run a recruitment business.  I'm not sure what the "national average" amongst business owners in other sectors is but nevertheless that means 98.5% of recruitment business owners have never been taught how to run a successful business.

So the eBook looks at 7 key areas in which recruitment business owners go wrong and tells you how to succeed instead of fail.
 
I have to say (as with most of these things) it's lots of common sense.  However, I would strongly recommend you take the time to read it.  Yes, we all know you should set goals (chapter one) but as Terry points out "despite all the information available about this subject, I’ve found over the years that in fact most recruitment business owners have not set goals for their business".

So pop over to his site, download the book and READ IT!

The Big Biller Summit

The Big Biller Summit is a collection of tele-seminars which have been organised by Mark Whitby. It's like a recruiting conference, in that he has got 20 industry experts sharing their knowledge and experience, which you attend from your desk.

Like a normal seminar the sessions are scheduled to take place at specific times (over the next week) and like a normal seminar you need to sign up to "attend". However, you participate by listening to the sessions via the phone or the webcast (I'd recommend you use headphones if you are going for this option in an open plan office!).

Speakers include some well known names from the UK, USA and Australia. Some of the UK speakers include Ann Swain, Romney Rawes, Bill Boorman, Mike Walmsley and Roy Ripper. Nearly all 20 of the speakers are people who I've come across at some point over the past 10 years and all speakers I'd be interested in learning from.

The key to this is that to hear what they say you need to sign up in advance and take part in the calls.  They are scheduled for the US (as over 50% of the audience comes from the states) but all take place at a fairly reasonable time for UK recruiters (ie, before bedtime!).

If you miss a session they are recorded... but you will need to upgrade to a VIP ticket (which costs $197). For this you get the MP3 recordings and complete written transcripts for every training session. This actually sounds like very good value if I'm honest.

If you have any available time next week - and want to improve your recruitment skills I'd suggest you sign up (it is free!).

How and why coaching works

This article is written by someone who has done some advertising with us - and I know it's obvious where he is going with the article.  But I really like it as an example of why and how having a business coach works.  Maybe if you aren't ready for formal coaching you could try and build an informal mentoring relationship with someone.
 
I got to thinking the other day, after completing my daily 5 mile run, how much my running had improved since working with a triathlon coach.  You see before I took up working with Alan, my triathlon coach, I would simply go through the motions of what competing in the triathlon was i.e. I would go swimming,  running and cycling, not always in that order.

But what was occurring was every time I was competing in an event the timings were there or there about the same. 

As a recruitment business owner does that seem like your business, that you are there or there about the same month in year after year? 

So I decided I would contact a triathlon coach.  He established with me what my goal was for the triathlon event and then he suggested what I needed to do to reduce my time and improve my performance by 20%. He told me that he was going to share with me what successful Triathlon competitors do, and if I did the same I would get similar results.

So one of the things he suggested I should do was look at the different areas of the event and improving my performance by approximately 7% in each area.  In fact he even suggested that he could improve my performance by 15% in the running event alone.

My first action step was to improve my performance when running up hills, so he got me to find a hill and run up the hill until I was absolutely shattered and I felt I could do no more.  And the first time ran up the hill and my heart was pounding, his voice went through my head and I heard him say “run on your toes and pump your arms”.  And I also was aware of the negative conversation I was having internally, i.e. “this is hard work” and “I am dying”.  Alan had pointed out that having a negative conversation served no benefit to me it was more important to have an empowering and more positive conversation, such as “the pain that I am feeling now is weakness leaving my body”, “this pain is just for a minute of my life”. 

What I find interesting about this whole experience of working with a coach is that when I did the hill work on my own I would do 5 hill runs and then run home.  However, when I worked with my coach and he was behind me shouting encouragement (at least that is what he called it) I could do 9 hill runs.  Did my heart bound? Did my lungs feel as though they were about to burst? Was I drenched in sweat? Yes I was.  But the point is with the coach at my side shouting encouragement and helping me focus on my desired outcome, my performance improved by nearly 100%. 

So let me ask you a question as owners of recruitment businesses. How much do you think your business would improve if you had a coach standing at your side shouting encouragement and sharing with you what successful recruitment business owners do?

Recruitment Juice Live DVD

A week or so ago I wrote about a funny competition from Recruitment Juice (The Beat Wayne Competition)
 
I've know the guys at Recruitment Juice for years and think they have a really good product (training DVDs).  Last year they ran their first live event and if you want to read a review you should pop over to the Recruitment Dad blog.
 
So, now Recruitment Juice has released the RJ Live DVD set.  It retails at £199 + VAT plus £5 postage.  However, I have done a deal with them to get a discount for UK Recruiter readers.  If you quote UK Recruiter when you order you can get them for £175 + VAT and NO postage cost!  You can't order through the site this way - so just send an email to matt@recruitmentjuice.com saying I sent you!
 

Ripper on Recruitment

 
On Tuesday I mentioned the Wayne Kerr competition from Recruitment Juice.
 
Today I want to give a quick shout out to Roy Ripper's new blog (he is co-creator/owner of Recruitment Juice).
 
I've known Roy since I very first started out in this industry (which is nearly 20 years ago!).  He is superb trainer, motivator and all round nice guy. 
 
His blog only launched this week but he's got a lot of really good content up their already.   I especially like the most recent post "Is headhunting sexy or wrong?" I'm going for sexy - the amount of time I've actually spent as a headhunter is actually pretty small but I like to get it into conversation as often as possible.
 
So, go check out Roy's blog - and don't be put off by the photo of him at the top looking cross!
 

Why recruiters don't take to coaching

Terry Edwards of drewcoaching advertises with us in the newsletter.  I was talking with him the other day about the work they do and the attitude some recruiters have to coaching.

He is running an offer at the moment, via the newsletter, giving away free recruitment business coaching sessions.

In my experience coaching is something that many individuals don't think they need or have the time for.  So even with a free offer they are slow to respond.  My experience has been that the main concerns are a) "it's going to take hours and hours of my time on a monthly basis" and b) "I'm going to be paying for sessions for the rest of my career".

Also, when things are tough in the economy - even with the recovery that we are seeing - spare cash is hard to come by (although Terry tells me that during the "credit crunch" they received more enquiries than at any other time and acquired more clients).

However, recent research from “The UK’s 100 best small companies to work for 2009” conducted by Best Company’s Ltd and published in The Sunday Times reveals the most successful companies whose performance goes from strength to strength despite the current economic climate. These top companies are great examples of:
 
Excellence through strength of leadership
They define leading workplace practice
And are engaging and motivating employees
 
Statistics from the study found that employees in the top ten companies feel well protected from the downturn, the consequence of which moral is high and the teams are performing well.  To survive well in difficult economic conditions requires strength of leadership, management and values. Tough times breed top leaders. These successful businesses are:
 
Increasing sales
Have good cash flow
And are improving the performance of their team
 
The idea of coaching sessions is to improve the performance of your business and give ongoing support.   The idea of offering free coaching sessions is that you get a taster for what can be achieved, and determine if coaching is for you.  During the complimentary coaching session drewcoaching will help you discover:
 
- How to generate 27 warm leads a month every month
- The 19 words you should use at the beginning of every business development meeting that increases your conversion rate (I'm signing up for my session for this alone!!)
- How to increase sales and profit
- The 7 effective methods that guarantee to improve the performance of your team
- The 3 things you must do as a business owner to reduce the number of hours you work

 One of the other interesting things about Terry (apart from the fact that he's a former recruiter who has sold two recruitment businesses) is that he won't just work with any business. You do have to meet specific criteria; he typically only works with MD or owners of recruitment businesses.

What I'm interested in hearing is why any business wouldn't give this a go.  Seriously, leave your comments here for me.

REC Reports

I've recently had a chance to look through some of the reports that the REC produce.  Perhaps if you aren't a member you are unlikely to visit their website to see the data they collect and publish.  However, there are a load of really good reports on their.

For example there are:

Recruitment Trends Report 2009

Technology 2020

A guide to adding value

All are well researched and all could help provide your business with additional data and tools to help ensure you are at the forefront of knowledge, keeping pace with your competitions and providing the best service to your clients. 

Yes, I know they all cost money, but they aren't that expensive!  I'm not getting paid to promote their reports (just in case you are wondering) but do think that the occasional peek at what the REC are doing is worth the time.

PS, if you are looking for useful recruitment data don't forget our UK Recruiter Plus site!!

DVDs for Recruitment Sourcing Techniques

I have a couple of really great DVDs for sourcers (more commonly called researchers in the UK).  They are Social Media Sourcing 101 and Boolean Strings for the Web.  I've had them for about two months and have meant to blog about them for ages.  However, two things have stopped me a) my DVD drive doesn't seem to work on my PC and b) I'm not a sourcer. 

However, I've finally got around to watching them on the laptop in the office and even without being a sourcer I can tell you they are really good training materials.

They have been put together by Irina Shamaeva of Brain Gain Recruiting.  Irina is based in the US (and yes, they are a bit Americanised but don't let that worry you) and has been a recruiter herself for a very long time.

The Boolean DVDs (which is available via her website)  includes a couple of webinars and some articles on the subject.  Basically the idea is that once you've viewed the DVD you'll be able to construct superb search strings to help find those difficult to source candidates.

The Social Media Sourcing DVD is again a webinar with "bonus" material.  The webinars covers how to search for candidates on all the social media sites (LinkedIN, facebook, etc plus how to make contact with them and/or "advertise" jobs to them.

Irinia has also done a Twitter sourcing DVD - but I've not seen this one. The two DVDs I've seen are just over $100 each.  They are probably as valuable as spending a day on a training course, as the material is very focussed, with the added benefit of being able to revisit the material as and when you need to.

What I'd also say is that I met Irina at the recruitment unconference she was speaking at.  If you do get the chance to see her in action (she may come over for a future unconference event) it's worth making the effort to do so.

4 Key Questions for Recruiters

We've got a new newsletter and emailshot advertising client called Drew Coaching.  Whilst I was discussing the various options with them I was checking out their website and saw an interview between the MD (Terry Edwards) and Mark Whitby (who is a recruitment trainer).  In this audio interview Terry is sharing with Mark four key questions a recruiter can use to block out the competition and increase conversion rates.

They are questions aimed at recruiters in the contingency market.  Despite the fact they are almost obvious in their simplicity I'm sure this eight minute "training" session will be invaluable to many.

Guest Post: Recruitment Fast Track Induction course review

Sam Woodward works for BlueSky PR.  She recently attended a course run by one of BlueSky’s clients; Lander.  Here is her summary of the event including some tips she picked up during the sessions.  Of course it’s a bit of a PR pitch – but if you are thinking of getting training for yourself or one of your team it’s a nice little review of the course.

Although my work is focused on recruitment, I’m a PR person, not a recruiter. So when I went along to a recent training course for recruiters I didn’t really know what to expect.

Lander Associatesis a client of ours and specialise in training and development for the professional recruitment sector, so last month I went along to their Fast Track Induction…with a 2010 twist to observe and see what it was all about. All the delegates were new to the recruitment game – some had a few months of experience, others as little as eight days! So in effect it was “Recruitment 101” – all the basics taught over a two day period. It was a full course but even that meant only ten recruiters – a good number for an effective and interactive experience.

Trainer Alan Clark was great – his upbeat and engaging personality meant attention was never lost, whilst he tested the trainees on what they’d learnt the day before and gave them opportunities to put into practice the skills they would need to use on a daily basis. With lots of participation and questioning it was impossible not to take part and learn something new whether it was how to organise your day or how to ask questions effectively. Not only are these key skills for a recruiter, they are valuable for any business professional – I certainly felt like I took something away from the course and I didn’t even participate!

The part I enjoyed the most was a role play Alan undertook – playing the part of an MD with a vacancy he wanted filling, Alan got each of the delegates in turn to ask him a series of questions about the position. Not only did this test the recruiters’ ability to make sure they could collect all the necessary information, it put their questioning techniques into practice and allowed them to assess each other too. If someone asked a closed question, they would get a closed answer; if they asked two questions in one, Alan would reply so that it wasn’t clear which question had been answered. It really highlighted the importance of choosing your words wisely and gave the trainees examples of what they should and shouldn’t be saying. Alan’s advice was: make the client think through things rather than making assumptions or putting words into their mouths and always ask ‘what else?’

All the delegates had positive feedback too, including: “Ask the right questions and you’ll get the right answers” and “you need to listen rather than hear”.

As Alan discussed, some of the qualities of a successful recruiter are being: confident, a good listener, organised and able to establish rapport. The course certainly addressed these skills. I’d recommend the course to any recruitment businesses looking to develop their new consultants – or to refresh the skills of recruiters who perhaps never learnt these basics. Not only will they learn a lot, they’ll have an information pack to refer back to and an action plan to start working on too.  Plus there is unlimited access to Alan, or any of the Lander team, for ongoing post course telephone advice and support – no doubt an excellent start for a successful career as a recruiter. 

The next course is on 18th and 19th May in London.  Call Julia on 01582 791 838 or email julia@landerassociates.co.ukfor more information. 

Elite Leaders - Showcase Events

You may not have come across Elite Leaders before. They run a "programme" for recruitment directors designed to increase the turnover and profit levels through peer to peer learning. Members get together monthly and meet with highest quality business and recruitment experts who share many of the secrets of their success.   The Elite groups are chaired by high-profile business people such as John O'Sullivan, Sir Eric Peacock and Ben Brett.
 
Each Elite group consists of up to fifteen owners and managing directors of recruitment companies.  Elite are now looking to expand their network and are running two showcase meetings where potential members can find out about Elite as well as benefiting from a free speaker session (with Jeff Group - ex-MD of Robert Half) and open forum session.
 
These take place on the 3rd and 11th March as breakfast meetings from 8am to 10am in London.  There is an agenda here.
 
These would be a great opportunity for anyone who is looking to further develop their business and feels they could benefit from being part of a support network with some clout! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Social Media in Recruitment Conference

Last year Mike Taylor ran the first Social Media in Recruitment Conference.   It was a really well attended event with lots of interesting speakers (I did a little write up here).

He is running the second event on 22nd April at the British Library in London.  He has another great line up of speakers:

Strategies for using LinkedIn as part of your online recruitment plans
Mike Pilcher-  Director of Corporate Solutions, LinkedIn Europe
 
Key strategies for using Twitter effectively in recruitment, including the use of automated tools.
Andy Headworth – Owner – Sirona Consulting Ltd
 
How online communities can play a part in your attraction strategies
Lisa Scales – Director – Talent On View Ltd
 
2009 Success Stories
Elkie Holland – Director – Prospectus IT Recruitment
Jonathan Hart Smith – Director – CK Clinical
 
Social media strategies for "Generation Y" job seekers.
Lucian Tarnowski - Founder – BraveNewTalent.com
 
How to maximise the use of Facebook pages as part of your recruitment mix.
Peter Gold - Founder – Hire Strategies Ltd

The legal issues surrounding social media and employment.
Adrian Marlowe- Director – Lawspeed
 
Insights from Google to help you recruit using social media.
Luke McKend – Industry Head of Careers at Google UK
 
Social Media Panel Discussion –
Alan Whitford – Founder – RCEuro.com (Panel Chairman)
Louise Triance –  Managing Director – UK Recruiter
Matt Alder – Founder – MetaShift
Bill Boorman Managing Director – Bill Boorman Ltd

Apart from the end bit when I'll be on the  panel I'm very much looking forward to attending and hope to see you there!
 

If  you sign up before 31st January you get a £75 discount

Review of Recruitment Juice Live

 

I was very disappointed to be snowed in and thus miss the Recruitment Juice Live event held recently.

 

I was even more gutted when I heard what a superb event it had been.  I had planned to write a review of the event but luckily "Recruitment Dad" has done a superb round up here:

 

I'll be first in line to sign up for the next event if/when they run one!

 

Recruiting Unconference

Bill Boorman is organising a "Recruiting Unconference" on the 19th November in London.  The idea of an unconference is that whilst there are presenters there are no presentations, no formal agendas and absolutely no PowerPoint presentations. 
 
There are "tracks" and these include sessions from Matt Alder on social media, Alastair Cartwright and Alex Strang on recruiting technology, Andy Headworth on blogging, Katharine Robinson on sourcing and Mike Taylor and Lisa Scales on video technology.
 
I would write more but two of the conference speakers have written blog posts already; Matt Alder and Andy Headworth
 
If you want to attend Bill is offering UK Recruiter readers a £25 discount if you use the code Bill01 when you book. 
 
PS, It's the recruitment tweetup (organised by Matt Alder and Jamie Leonard) on the evening of the 19th and you can register for that here.
 

CareerSiteAdvisors - Recruiter Live Cast Session

CareerSiteAdvisor is a site for jobseekers which categorises online career and job sites.  Over the past few months they have run Career Advice live video "casts" which are live interview/discussion sessions around typical job seeker questions (preparing a CV, posting a CV to the web, etc). 
 
However, tomorrow they are running their first recruiter session - “Recruiter Cast TV”. 
 
On this and subsequent monthly shows, Recruiter Cast TV plans to answer the questions that many recruiter’s need answers to and debate the topics that are current and relevant.  This week the experts participating in the livecast include Keith Robinson (who is the lovely chap who runs CareerSiteAdvisor), Colin Minto (who will be giving a monthly round up of “Recruitment technology news” and Tim Forster (talking about “What makes a great In-House Recruiter”).  There will also be a panel debate entitled: “Post Recession, Post Social what will the Job Board of the Future Look Like?.  The (rather large in my opinion!) panel consists of Martin Warnes (MD – Reed.co.uk), Simon Lewis (Editor – Onlymarketingjobs), Alex Hens (Director – 3D Marcomms), Colin Minto (Recruitment Technology Advisor), Tim Forster (Recruiter), Matt Alder (Head of Product and Strategy Director – Penna Barkers), Richard Tyrie (Co Founder - JobsGoPublic), and Martin Cerullo (Director – Resourcing Communications – Alexander Mann Solutions).
 
To see the Livestream on Wednesday 23rd at 12.30 go to  http://www.careersiteadvisor.com and see the TV panel to the right of the homepage.

World Leaders in Recruitment Conference

Thought I'd give a quick last minute reminder that David Head's well respected annual conference takes place next week.  The World Leaders in Recruitment Conference is probably recognised as the UK's most established event for the owners and directors of recruitment businesses. 
 
This year's event takes place in London on the 10th September.
 
The morning session features:
 
Pat Fitzgerald - CEO - Premier Group
Kate Bleasdale - Executive Vice Chairman - Healthcare Locums plc
John Foley - Chairman, Penta Consulting and NED of Servoca
Dermot McGinley - Chairman - McGinley Support Services.
Jim Albert - President & MD - Modis International
 
As part of the mornings programme there is also a unique chance to find out exactly what the prospects are for the UK recruitment industry as well as the global economy from 3 highly respected industry followers:
 
David O'Brien - Analyst - Altium Securities
Charlotte England - Relationship Director - Barclays Bank plc
James Wellesley-Wesley - Partner - Wyvern Partnership
 
The afternoon session considers "what might the world look like under the new Temporary Agency Workers Directive?"; taking the form of a full panel questions and answers session with expert opinions from:
 
Iain Newton - BIS
Kevin Green - REC
Ann Swain - APSCo
Neil Carberry - CBI
Mike Emmott - CIPD
Hannah Reed - TUC
Paul Whitehouse - GLA
 
For more information or to sign up pop over to Recruitment International's website.