How to ensure you get in front of a headhunter

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So, you’ve heard about a fantastic search through a network contact or found the perfect role advertised online but the first hurdle is often getting past the search provider who is handling the assignment.

“If I had a penny for the amount of time that people have told me the story of how they have found it difficult with ‘said head hunter’.”

The head hunter who doesn’t give you a look in, who always goes to their preferred list of people when you have the perfect experience for the role. You know that person, right?

In the past a job-driven market has been partly to blame – it’s given clients optimum choice, so when times are tough they can go for the safe option.

But times have changed! The job/candidate ratio has changed and the companies that succeed in hiring top talent SHOULD be looking at more diverse options when hiring (although some search providers might not get this for some time!).

But, let’s throw out some home truths…Sometimes, you won’t have the right experience for a job and there is nothing you can do about it. Sometimes, you might think you’re perfect for it, but you’re just not right and sometimes clients can be incredibly picky (which is their prerogative) and there is not a lot you can do about it!

But sometimes, people can’t see the wood for the trees – and this is where you can make a difference.

So, here are our top tips on how to take an innovative approach:

1. Don’t apply, get referred! LinkedIn makes it easy these days to find connections in common and people take more notice of a referral.

2. Get noticed. Become a ‘thought leader’ in your market and you’ll soon gain kudos.

3. Don’t be too keen! No-one likes to be hassled all the time. It’s a little bit like dating, the keener you seem for something, the less people are interested.

4. Find commonality. Given the nature of the need to deliver in roles quickly these days, clients like to hire people that can hit the ground running; so make sure you highlight that you can do this.

5. Be Boolean smart. Make sure your CV has all of the buzzwords, as it may get rejected by technology if not.

6. Think outside of the box. Whilst you might not totally hit the brief, certain sectors have a lot of common themes i.e. business services firms, logistics and construction are all typically contract led, across multiple sites and employ large workforces.

7. Demonstrate commercial impact. If you’re just good at what you do, people will overlook minor things that don’t hit the brief.

8. Go nuclear! Not my preferred route for obvious reasons but sometimes if all else fails and you are getting nowhere with said provider… go directly to a business. Sometimes, people just get it wrong or you don’t connect, but this doesn’t mean that you won’t fit with the end client.

But most importantly, don’t give up!

We’re in the midst of a changing market and those that try hardest and push the boundaries, tend to open up options for themselves.

 

To discuss further, you can email me on James@refind.co.uk.

 

You can view more about James Cumming our change and business transformation specialist here.

The role leadership plays in shared services

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The role leadership plays in shared services
The role leadership plays in shared services

What is the definition of leadership? The person who leads or commands a group, organisation, or country.

Many people ask me what defines a great shared services leader. Whilst this can encompass several different traits, there are usually a handful of personal qualities that a shared service leader should have and demonstrate. Whatever those traits and qualities, there is no doubt the role leadership plays in shared services is huge.

Traditionally, shared service leaders have been judged on their hard skills, such as cost reduction, operational excellence and delivering results. However, it’s 2019 and times have changed. More and more shared service functions require softer skills and more people related skills, to drive success. I guess this puts the saying, “A business is only as good as it’s people.” into perspective.

Communication and vision:

Creating a clear message and vision for your employees is the key to success. Just because something isn’t ‘broken’, it doesn’t mean you can’t fix it. You need a leader who takes the time to fully engage with the team, helping them understand the journey the business is on and influencing them to drive continuous improvement and change. Managing the change agenda is key, and you need to be passionate about this to engage stakeholders and ensure the right message is being delivered. I referenced the saying “if it’s not broken, then don’t fix it” – Imagine trying to change a process, when the individual has done their job like this for the past 10 years. It takes certain skills to get that person to see the benefits in the change.

Embrace technology:

You need leaders who are not afraid to embrace technology. Artificial intelligence and robotics are reshaping the way shared service functions operate. Whilst many think that AI will inevitably lead to headcount reduction, not only does it eliminate monotonous tasks and recurring processing activities, but it gives humans the chance to utilise their skills and add value in a different capacity. AI eliminates errors, increases efficiency, improves the customer experience and, over time, is more cost-effective. Good leaders need to embrace new technologies to help upskill their existing teams.

Look beyond the SSC:

Whilst the above point talks around efficiencies, leaders need to look beyond the shared service and think about effectiveness beyond. What impact does this have on the wider business, as well as your customers and suppliers? Shared services functions aren’t just created to reduce costs, they need to demonstrate high productivity and quality of service, not just internally.

Focus on talent:

Finding good shared services talent is hard. But once you have managed to secure the best talent, it’s important for leaders ensure they retain, develop and progress them.

  • Create an exclusive onboarding programme, so that employees feel valued, and have a clear understanding of what’s expected.
  • Build structured career paths. Give your employees the appetite for progression and encourage their personal development.
  • Maintain a great culture and working environment, where employees feel valued.
  • Reward success.
  • Just because it’s work, it doesn’t mean you can’t have fun along the way.

Upskill your existing staff:

It’s important that leaders upskill existing staff and keep them motivated. Having worked in a high-volume invoice processing role, I can relate to some shared services employees when they say their job is repetitive and sometimes mundane. The same monotonous tasks you must do, day in, day out, can be soul destroying. I had the task of solely processing invoices within accounts payable department and it was a delight when a colleague went on holiday, or there was a chance for some rotational training. When you’re given a new task, the chance to learn or simply just do something a bit different, it’s amazing how much you put your mind to it and have a different attitude towards it. As technology and AI develop within shared service functions, as previously mentioned, it’s even more important to upskill your team.

If you would like to discuss the role leadership plays in shared services further, email me at sam@refind.co.uk.

You can view more about Sam Perry our Shared Services Executive Search expert here.

You can sign up for more shared services news and updates from Sam here.

How do you get the most out of networking?

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Networking is something that gets talked about a lot in the market. Many HR professionals know they should network to further their careers but always find an excuse to shy away from it and often say they have never really benefited from it.

Others have openly admitted that they either lack confidence in large groups of strangers, have never attended a good networking event or just see if as a pointless task that takes up too much time.  At a recent event, someone said to me that they found networking difficult because from an early age, ‘they were taught that they shouldn’t speak to strangers!’.

I’ve attended many networking events over the years, some were really good and some, well, could have been better.  I must admit in my early days, networking meant pointless conversations with people that were only interested in selling to me.  I often left these events feeling a little unaccomplished, wondering why I had bothered going.

My perception has changed over the years and what I have learnt is that networking is actually a really useful and effective business tool – when used in the right way.

Networking effectively

We all know that networking is fundamental to good business but how can you take the pain out of it and make it work more effectively as a business tool for you?

1 ) Re-frame the situation

If you get put off by the word networking, then call it something else! After all, it’s merely a tool to meet new people. Networking has moved on a lot in recent years and is no longer just about attending a formal event, vying for attention, exchanging business cards and selling, selling, selling.

It has evolved to be more about providing the opportunity to meet new and passionate people. So, for me, it can be something as simple as going to see someone in another department instead of sending them an email or meeting someone for a coffee instead of the usual conference call.   It doesn’t have to be formal.

2) Confidence

Lots of people say that confidence is a major deterrent to networking and can often mean that they are stuck for conversation.  If you’re attending an event it’s natural to feel a little nervous, but you can turn nervous energy into a positive. Just remember these key things:

Relax and be yourself; you’re networking because you chose to, and everyone is probably feeling the same, so relax and remember networking is merely a tool for meeting new people.

Be prepared; do your research, take a look at the delegate list and see if there is anyone you’re keen to talk to. One way to start a conversation is through a shared connection, so research what they’re interested in and their experiences/background.

3) Set an objective

Why are you attending the event? What do you want to get out of it?

Admittedly many people only network so that they can sell and, while this may be your end goal, remember no one wants to be sold to at a networking event, this has happened to me numerous times and I was very much put off.

The real benefit of networking lies with the relationships that can be forged as a result. Remember relationships are developed over many months and years, so follow up is key.

Also, always remember the golden rule…give before you receive. Ask yourself how can you help that person and add value before you ask for anything.

4) Conversation

Networking events can be full of outgoing, confident people that love to talk, so use it to your advantage and ask open ended questions. This way people will tell you all about what they do, what they are there for and what they are looking to get out of the event. I don’t mean that you only ask one question then listen to someone waffle on forever, it’s more of an introduction to get the conversation flowing.

A good friend of mine once told me that you need a story to engage with people, a great piece of advice that has stuck with me ever since.

Think about why you are there, what’s currently happening in your market and your thoughts on it. But the most important thing is to make eye contact and smile, no one wants to speak to a miserable stranger.

Don’t forget the basics: (it’s not cool to be fashionably late!)

  • Be sure you know where you’re going and plan your journey, there’s nothing worse than turning up stressed out because you got lost on the way there.
  • Turn your phone off, concentrate on the people around you, that’s the reason you’re there after all.
  • Try not to plan anything straight after the event. This way you are free to leave whenever you want and you won’t feel under pressure.
  • Finally, make sure you follow up with anybody that you met with. If you had a good conversation with someone suggest you meet for a coffee to keep the relationship fresh.

This is not an exhaustive list, merely tips and tricks that work for me. Over time you’ll find what works for you, but hopefully, you’ll be able to adopt some of my tips to work to your advantage and get you started.

If there is one thing I have learnt from networking, it’s that it’s all about building relationships – give and enrich the experience people have with you and this will go a long way.

To have a chat about your goals contact me at carl@refind.co.uk.

Carl Hinett is our Director & Executive Search Specialist. If you’ve got a hard-to-fill role and need some help, get in touch

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Why recruitment processes are awful (and 10 top tips on how to get it right!)

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Candidate care is important
Candidate care is important

Recently, I met with Simon Brown, HR transformation and change communications leader, to discuss candidate care for our ‘Insiders Story’ blog series. He talked to me about the less than inspiring candidate care he has recently experienced and gave his top tips for hiring managers, to ensure candidates are treated properly.

Where did it all start?

Years ago, when I was a Recruitment Director for large global companies such as GSK and Coca-Cola, we deployed something called a candidate care code. In the ‘war for talent’ it was an important differentiator.

But what about now?

Recently, I found myself back on the job market after a great two-year interim assignment as a HR Transformation and Change Communications Leader for a medical technology company. Here, acquisitions, integrations and workday system implementation were key features of the role.

I was hopeful that a new challenge would come along soon enough. But as a 2018 job candidate, I had a few surprises coming my way……

Positives in the candidate experience:

LinkedIn really helped with their jobs feature and the fact I could make my profile searchable and easy to view for head-hunters. I like that.

I could apply for roles using the Workday application process linked to company career sites or by ‘easy apply’ on LinkedIn. So that bit was generally quick and positive.

Not so positive…

The way recruiters jostled over roles, competing to get your CV to the client, and how interviewers and hiring managers were either untrained for their role or just seemed to not care. Often the process was not as smooth as I would have expected either.

Can you give some examples?

The first example was regarding a role at a leading global energy organisation.  I was approached by three different recruitment agencies for the same role, they each said my CV and experience would make me “a perfect fit “for their client. I always believe that from a perspective of integrity the candidate should go with the first recruitment agency that approaches them for the same role.  I went with the first provider and got through two telephone interviews.

I was invited to the company offices for a third interview. When I arrived, I went to reception. They were not expecting me, had no record of my name, and when I told them the name of the person who was interviewing me, they didn’t know them.

So, what did you do?

I decided to sit in reception for a while anyway to see if they turned up – they did, 10 minutes late.  They were in a hurry and could only give me 40 minutes. They’d also forgotten to book an interview room, so we had to find a couple of spare chairs in the open common area where 10 or so employees were also sitting. The interviewer spent 30 minutes describing the company and the project (all of which I had heard before at the first and second interview). They then realised they were running out of time, so I had five rushed minutes to explain why I was right for the role.  I drove home feeling frustrated about my interview experience.  I heard a week later that I wasn’t successful. Although the company is a well- known global brand, I felt relieved not to be joining them.

I hope the next experience was better for you!?

Unfortunately, not! The next role I saw was on LinkedIn – the algorithms told me I would be in the top 10% of applicants and had 10/10 of the key skills required for the role based on my profile. Great!

However, when entering the career-site, I was stumped at the first hurdle, as the ‘bot test’ didn’t work correctly. Thinking laterally, I contacted a former co-worker who was now working in HR at the company. I explained my challenge and asked her for a referral. She agreed to the referral and got IT to fix the issue. Within 3 days I received an email inviting me to a 45minute telephone interview and was told this would be a competency-based interview to see how my skills and experience matched the leadership principles of the company. (So far it was an “ok-ish” experience).

So, given the advice from the company recruitment team email, I spent 2.5 hours reading the leadership principles on the company intranet- site, identified examples from my past career experiences which would illustrate my relevant alignment to those leadership principles and read everything I could find out about the company.  I was well prepared. Or so I thought…

My telephone interviewer greeted me on the call with an introduction about themselves and told me that it would not be a formal interview, just a chat and an opportunity for him to explain the company and the role. I listened to the interviewer as they proceeded to spend 40 minutes telling me about the company and quite a bit about themselves. I wondered whether this monologue I was listening to was done to test my active listening skills (!), so I replied with timely interjections such as “yes, ok, I see, right “, etc.   When he paused, he said we had 5 minutes left, but he had my CV in front of him so could I summarise my key achievements. I did and the call ended. Two days later I received a standard letter thanking me for my interview but indicating I was not successful.

Overall, a pretty crappy candidate experience then!?

Incredibly frustrating – in both examples! As a candidate, I felt that I had not had a real opportunity to demonstrate or explain my skills and experience.  Both interviews from these top global companies seemed to have been token fly-pasts rather than engaging discussions.

When you have a bad candidate care experience, you tend to tell others about it – which I definitely did! It is important for companies to remember that candidates and their friends and family are potential customers and clients too.

I’ve also had my share of no replies to applications, and vanilla standard rejection letters. I am forever hopeful that one day I will meet a company and a hiring manager who takes the time to see I have the relevant skills, experience and wisdom to share and pass on to them.

From a candidate’s perspective, what are your top tips for hiring managers?

  1. Online career site – make it easy to navigate and read. Needs to be a quick read – not an encyclopaedia!
  2. Applicant tracking system – should not take the candidate more than 5 minutes to complete the candidate profile section.
  3. Post realistic salary expectations. Recruiters should indicate salary ranges or circa targets as this helps candidates to step back from applying, if the salary is clearly much higher or lower than their own realistic expectations.
  4. Listen to the candidate. Interviewers should be ears and eyes and not too much mouth. The ratio of talking to listening should be 20-80% for the interviewer and 80-20% for the candidate. Not the other way around!
  5. Give time to the candidate at the interview. For professional level roles where skills and experience are best explored through conversation with examples provided by the candidate, be sure to give the candidate 80% of the time allocated for the interview to do this.
  6. Follow up on progress.  Don’t leave it more than two weeks after the contact interview to provide an update to the candidate, even if someone is on holiday or a decision is not yet reached.  It is rude not to keep them posted and again reflects badly on the company.
  7. Give constructive feedback. If the candidate is not successful do take a few minutes to provide constructive information which keeps the connection and respect for the candidate and in turn the candidates respect for the company. A bland, vanilla, one size fits all message may be administratively easier for the company, but it doesn’t show consideration or care for the candidate, who may be a customer/consumer too.
  8. Recruiters should take a full briefing. A full briefing on the company and the role, not just crumbs of information passed on in a few minutes. Don’t sell roles to prospective candidates without understanding the company, the boss and the role requirements. And don’t oversell the role.
  9. Don’t put a vacancy out to several recruitment companies at once. A candidate will have a bad experience if there are several recruitment agencies competing to provide candidates for the same role at the same company. It not only indicates that the company hasn’t thought through their recruitment provider strategy, but it could lead to a candidate being approached more than once for the same role -which although at first seems flattering to the candidate, can quickly lead to a frustrating experience.
  10. Don’t flood the market with CV’s. Recruiters are often incentivised by the number of CV’s they put through. Focus on quality not quantity. Care should be taken not to put through CVs which don’t match the role brief. It is a waste of time for the client and the candidate and reflects badly on the selection skills of the recruitment agency. Don’t do it.

Huge thanks to Simon for his time and insights on candidate care. If you’d like to discuss further or if you’d like to feature in our ‘Insiders Story’ blog, you can email me on James@refind.co.uk.

You can view more about James Cumming our change and business transformation specialist here.

Nice guys finish last…or do they?

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Being kind is important
Being kind is important

It’s nice to be nice, right? I always try to help people out – in both my personal and professional life. I recently read a blog by Gary Vaynerchuk about kindness and why it’s so important in business.

He says, “I want to build big businesses and buy the Jets, but I want to do it by being a good guy. I have zero interest in building the biggest building by tearing other people down.”

And it really resonated with me – being kind and helpful is at the core of re:find and how all of us here think and work. It’s important for us to do a good job and help people. There is a stereotype in business that ‘nice guys finish last’, but I just don’t believe that’s true. We can’t physically place all of the candidates we meet, but we can help, give our expertise, or even just point someone in the right direction and this costs nothing!

Being kind is important

I think being kind is important for lots of reasons:

  • It’s nice to be nice! It makes you feel good to be kind and help people out.
  • People don’t forget your kindness. If you look after someone, they remember it – which could end up helping you out in the future.
  • Most of my clients are candidates I have worked with previously and built long-standing relationships with through being helpful and kind.
  • Employees/colleagues like and respect you. If people like and respect you, they’ll work harder, do a better job and the team will be happier and more productive.
  • It’s rewarded – someone is always watching. Even when you think something hasn’t been noticed, it probably has.

When you strip back the titles and status

When you strip back titles and status, we’re all just people – and who wants to deal with someone who’s a bit of a t***!? Being kind gets people on side, which is important in business. Whether it’s dealing with clients, candidates or team members. If you get on well with a client, they’re more likely to continue using you. If you look after a candidate, they’ll remember your kindness. If you look after your team, they’ll work hard and be loyal – people don’t leave their companies, they leave their managers.

Ultimately, we’re all human and we all appreciate someone being decent and looking after us. So, I’d encourage everyone to be kind – you get a lot more out of it than you might think!

If you would like to discuss further, email me at sam@refind.co.uk.

You can view more about Sam Perry our Shared Services Executive Search expert here.

Is there value in psychometric profiling or is it a load of bull?

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Is there value in psychometric profiling or is it a load of bull?
Is there value in psychometric profiling or is it a load of bull?

Relationships…we encounter them every day, some are good, some bad and some can be downright stressful. Wouldn’t life be so much more productive if you knew what others were thinking or how they react to certain situations? By using psychometric profiling or ‘insights’ through the on-boarding process of new hires, you can do exactly that!

Businesses are looking to get creative in obtaining this information, some have an extensive and rigorous interview process with a multitude of stages, others invite potential candidates into their offices for a few hours to experience the culture, but many are using personality profiling during the process.

Recently I’ve seen recruitment managers and businesses using results from personality profiling tools to make key hiring decisions before even meeting with a candidate. There are lots of profiling tools that can be used. They vary slightly on the results they give you, but ultimately it is down to your perception of yourself, more than anything else.

If you’re like me – a ‘people’ person and a keen people watcher – you’ll recognise that the perception that someone has of themselves, can differ to how they are perceived by others.  That’s why I believe you shouldn’t use these as part of the upfront process because you might not get a true picture of the candidate. However, I think it’s a great tool to use as part of the onboarding of new hires. I have used Insights in the past and found it to be both accurate and helpful in my own personal development.

What are Insights?

Insights start with an online, multiple choice questionnaire, where upon completion a personal profile is generated giving a detailed and in-depth insight into individual strengths and weaknesses, approach to problems and your style of communication.

There are 4 colours Insights uses to highlight the different personality and behavioural traits. They are Cool Blue, Fiery Red, Sunshine Yellow and Earth Green. We all have a different mixture of the colours, that are unique to you.

People are not often aware of their personality traits – we all know someone who says they are ‘crazy’, but there are actually very normal – the same can happen in these tests. Some could think their weakness is around leadership, but they are actually a great leader but have just not recognised it themselves. This means you may be missing out on top talent and turning away your next superstar.

This is why I don’t think you should use it as a tool for recruitment, but as a leadership and personal development tool. It enables you to understand people’s personality and behavioural traits and tailor leadership approach and development plan to the individual:

  1. Help develop leadership potential
  2. Help to onboard and maximise the talent of employees

 

Why these tools are good for leadership and personal development?

It increases self-awareness, improves decision making, communication and ultimately performance.

Understanding your colours really helps with everyday business. However, understanding what colour the people around you are, is powerful, because it enables you to be better equipped for the conversation. For example, if you’re approaching a blue, you need to be armed with all the details and the process, however a red will want an action plan and purpose.

Personality profiling can be useful for assessing what someone’s perceived strengths are compared to their strengths in practice and can also help you understand how equipped they feel to handle various workplace situations. Additionally, knowing how a person identifies their strengths and weaknesses can help you understand how best to manage and support them, in order to get the best out of them.

You could be missing out!

I don’t believe using personality profiles to help sift through candidates for a job is the right way to use them, as there is a risk that the self-perception is incorrect. But, from personal experience, I do think using them as part of a development program can be very successful.

Are you a business that uses personality profiling in the recruitment process, then I’d be really interested to find out how and why, and if you’ve been successful in using this technique to recruit and retain new hires?

To have a chat about your executive search, contact me at carl@refind.co.uk.

You can view more about Carl Hinett our Executive search of HR professional’s specialist here.

Making the most of your LinkedIn profile, part 2

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Now that you’ve got your profile looking all shiny and new, it’s time to start connecting with people and creating a solid foundation of contacts that can shape, influence and help develop your career. Part 2 – growing your online network.

 

7: How to grow your network


The easiest way to do this is to sync your profile with your email address book. This will then bring up a list of connections that you can vet before sending a connection request to.

I try to be more personal when connecting with people by sending them a message with the request. It takes no more than 30 seconds to do this and gives the person an idea of why you want to connect.

 

If someone sends you a connection request/accepts yours, don’t be afraid to send them a message to thank them for connecting. Best to not go in with a sales pitch in the first message, as this tends to rub people up the wrong way!

 

8: Request recommendations

Recommendations are as good as a reference in some ways. They are personal testimonials written to illustrate the experience of working with you. There’s a drop-down menu in the recommendations section of your profile, that makes it easy to select a contact you want to ask to recommend you. Have a think about who and why someone would recommend you and when you send the request, make it personal.

 

If a colleague, ex-boss, mentor/mentee has gone out their way to recommend you, then this is always a good sign. You can recommend them back too – but both are visible on your profile, so keep it professional!

 

I never look at people’s endorsements when I’m sourcing for a role. I’ve been endorsed by nearly 100 people for finance. None of them have ever worked for me, some never met or even spoke to me….list your skills and if you get endorsed for them, great. If not, it’s not the end of the world.

 

Creating content

Now that you’ve got the profile and you’ve got the connections, it’s time to start creating some content.

 

Having an active and engaged profile on LinkedIn is a great way to show your enthusiasm, passion and understanding for your industry, and can be perfect to demonstrate this to future employers/employees.

 

9: Share content:

Sharing news which is relevant to your industry, business or your interests can help people understand what makes you tick and what you’re trying to get from LinkedIn. This will increase profile views, connection requests and general engagement. It also shows passion and commitment to what you do!

 

10: Like & comment:

Depending on what you want from LinkedIn, it’s important to engage with content and like/comment on posts to get noticed. Maybe you’re looking for a new job? By actively showing an interest in possible employee’s content gives a good first impression before you’ve even met them! A comment expressing a viewpoint starts to establish your opinion and thought-leadership. This will encourage other connections to comment, meaning your profile becomes more visible to non-connections.

 

12. Publish an article

In my opinion, this is one of the most underused functions on LinkedIn.

 

Publications is a feature on LinkedIn to showcase your knowledge, opinions and to give advice. They also give you a great chance to stand out from your competition. Maybe it’s an eBook or blog that you have written relating to your profession – use your expertise and interests to grow your network on LinkedIn. If people like what you write, then they will follow you to keep up with any future content you post.

 

So that’s it, my complete guide on creating a compelling LinkedIn profile! You can email me at sam@refind.co.uk.

 

To view more about Sam Perry our Shared Services Executive Search expert here.

 

How to lose friends and alienate people…

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How to lose candidates and alienate people
How to lose candidates and alienate people

We are in the 21st Century and candidates SHOULD be at the centre of what we do. Let’s be real for a moment. Candidates are key to our success – they are the one thing that stands between success and failure as a recruiter.

But I would be bold and say 40% of recruiters treat their candidates like shit. Treating a candidate badly can destroy the reputation of you/your business. Any press isn’t always good press and trust me candidates talk. And they talk even more when they have had a bad experience.

 

So, here’s what not to do:

1.   Sell them the dream…

I get it…recruitment marketing is a hot topic right now, everyone is getting training on how to write engaging job adverts, how to be witty and get candidates attention etc. That doesn’t mean you have a to be a billy bullshitter. Don’t sell the candidate the dream – unless of course, the job is Chief wine taster at an exclusive hotel in the Bahamas – because who would turn that down?

Anyway, my point is, be honest with a candidate when talking about a role. Yes, tell them all the good things about the role, but tell them all the bad things too! Talk them through the client’s challenges and shortcomings.

Jobs aren’t all about flexible working and table tennis tournaments, sometimes companies are in a bad situation, don’t have the best brand etc. and that’s ok, in fact, some people like that about a job!

 

2.   Force a candidate into a role they aren’t sure on

Picture this. After hours of searching on LinkedIn and your job boards, you come across the holy grail of candidates. Your purple squirrel, glittery unicorn, whatever you want to call them. They are the perfect candidate for your role.

You pick up the phone, excited to tell your candidate about their dream job. But to your shock, they aren’t keen.

Newsflash. Just because they are perfect for the role, doesn’t mean the role is perfect for them. Respect their decision.

Don’t try and push them into going for an interview. Don’t even push them to apply if they aren’t keen. You look desperate and pushy.

You risk them being offered the job and turning it down, or worse, you risk them leaving in that elusive rebate period. You also risk them thinking you are a bit of an idiot and that you only care about your fee.

 

3.   Drag your candidate into an ownership war with another agency

It is the most frustrating thing in the world when you spend time qualifying, meeting and briefing a candidate on a role, send them over to your client…only to get the dreaded email response.

‘ We have already received this CV from Cowboy Recruitment, sorry’.

The candidate has not been spoken to by Cowboy Recruitment about the role (they claim!) so doesn’t know how her CV is already in the process.

There are two ways of dealing with this:

–       Politely step away from the situation and allow the candidate decide how they wish to proceed in the process.

–       Demand that the candidate calls the other recruiter immediately and tell them how terrible they are, whilst simultaneously emailing you to confirm that you have the right to represent them on the role.

I advise the first. Step away and allow the candidate to decide how they process. Naturally, there is some subtle influence you can have on this, but doing the second option makes you look like a petulant teenager.

Candidates also don’t need the reminder that they are simply just a fee to you – it makes you look greedy. Show them you are supportive and have their best interest at heart.

 

4.   Call your candidate in the morning on the day they are due to start their new job and then every day for the next 3 months

Your candidate isn’t an 18-year-old teenager who may or may not turn up to work, depending on how pissed they were the night before (apologies to any sober, reliable 18-year-olds).

You don’t need to ring them the day they start their job. A simple call the afternoon before, to check they have everything they need or the following day will suffice.

Candidates are intuitive, they will sense that the fact you are calling them every day means they are a flight risk. Also, their first few weeks are really full on. Give them some space and allow them to settle in, then check in with them.

 

5.   If your candidate doesn’t get offered the job….ignore them

In my opinion, this is the worst possible thing you could do to a candidate and it is the most damaging thing for your reputation.

Nobody really likes to tell a candidate they didn’t get the job…but it is not acceptable to ghost them. Other unacceptable ways of delivering feedback include emailing, leaving a voicemail, or getting your resourcer to give the feedback instead.

Don’t be a terrible human being. Your candidate has worked hard for you, they have understood the brief, done their research, spent 2-3 hours of their time with your client to represent you to the best of their ability. The least they deserve is some honest feedback.

 

6.   Give vague feedback

Almost as crappy as giving no feedback, is giving vague feedback. If you are giving feedback on your opinion to a candidate, don’t be afraid to tell them the truth.

Think their CV needs some work? Tell them.

Don’t think they interview well? Tell them.

They don’t have the right skills for the role? Tell them.

You get the gist.

A separate challenge is when a client gives vague feedback about a candidate. It is ok to push back on your client and ask for further detail or examples of what the candidate did.

Feedback should be constructive. Tell them what they did well, where they fell down and how they could improve.

Candidates may not always agree with the feedback, but they will be appreciative of the feedback nonetheless.

 

7.   Only communicate by email

If you are afraid to pick up the phone to speak to a candidate, you are in the wrong job. Pick up the phone and speak to them, what is the worst that could happen? It takes as much time and effort to speak to someone on the phone as it does to type out that email.

Contacting people exclusively by email is impersonal, impractical and to be totally honest, just bloody lazy! I don’t care if your candidate isn’t based in the UK and there is a time difference, or if they are travelling, or you are ‘super busy’…pick up the phone!!

Now I’m sure some of you are reading this, thinking it all seems pretty obvious. I’m also sure a lot of you reading this are guilty of doing one of the above things.

We are all guilty of letting standards slip from time to time, but let’s do our best not to become one of the clichés in those recruitment bashing posts we see on Linkedin!

 

 

For all things interim management, change & transformation, get in touch with us via the info form below, and if you would like to feature in our ‘Insiders Story’ blog, email me on kate@refind.co.uk.

 

You can view more about Kate Wass our executive interim specialist here.

Insider Story – Resourcing Transformation at Gowling WLG

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For August’s instalment of Insider’s Story, I met up with not only one of my favourite HR professionals, but one of my favourite people in general, to talk about ‘resourcing transformation’.

The wonderful Jo Franklin, Head of Resourcing for Gowling WLG, agreed to sit down with me and have a chat about the huge ‘resourcing transformation’ journey they have been on.

She explains how they have transformed their resourcing strategy and well and truly stepped out of the ‘Wragge & Co shadow’.

Gowling WLG has been on quite a ride over the past few years…

What was once Wragge & Co, then Wragge, Lawrence Graham & Co, (before joining forces with top Canadian law firm Gowlings) and finally Gowling WLG was born.

Jo joined the business post-merger in the early part of 2016. They had gone from being in the Top 25 to overnight becoming a part of a major international law firm. As a result of this, their resourcing and talent strategies needed some serious development and she was in responsible for resourcing transformation.

“ It was a testing period”, Jo admits “as I joined, three of my most experienced team members were going on maternity leave. All of that knowledge and experience leaving at a time of considerable change!”

The Transformation

The vision was clear; to make Gowling WLG a recognised brand in the marketplace, to compete against the top law firms and to secure the best talent across lateral, business services and early talent.

The perception that the resourcing team was very much an administrative support function was something that Jo wanted to change. As around 60% of the team’s time had been spent on recruitment admin, they wanted to adopt a business partnering approach and get more stakeholder facetime.

Jo says, “We wanted to have a position in the market where we could source directly, because of our reputation.”

To put this into perspective in the legal sector, agency hire rates sits at around 60-70%. Jo had set herself a target of direct sourcing at 60%.

In order to achieve this, the team needed to look at a number of things including Employer Brand, EVP and Internal Engagement.

How did you do it?

One of the key pieces to landing any big transformation is to engage with your people and to take them along on the journey. They wanted to focus on their people, rather than the work they do.

Gowling decided to undertake 360-degree feedback to determine their true employer values.

This consisted of 12 workshops with people across the brand, from trainee to partner level. It also involved leadership interviews and market research to understand what made working at Gowling WLG different and unique.

From this developed an employer value proposition (EVP)framework upon which the new careers site would be based.

Headed up by the team members returning from maternity leave, they employed the service of two specialist agencies to convert their EVP into attraction messaging and built their careers site around this.

In order to meet their own challenging direct sourcing targets (60% of all offers), their social media and direct hiring activity needed to be supported by a creative, informative and content-rich careers website.

This is Gowling WLG’s first full careers site. For several years, the firm has had an early talent website, but the offering for fee earners and business service professionals was limited, and the team was keen to promote their new enhanced apprenticeship programme. Now they have detailed information on the firm, its culture and all the different job families in one place, which is presented in a creative and engaging way.

‘You can’t just tell people what your values are’

A common mistake that many organisations make is just announcing what their Values and EVP are, rather than engaging with people, which can alienate people and leave them feeling unsure of their identity.

Rather than just announcing firm values, it is far more effective to live and breathe them, and they slowly infiltrate into the business as usual.”

There must be a mindset change for any transformation to be implemented successfully.

Jo and her team did this through empowering the people around them.. Rather than focussing on what was wrong with the current approach, they demonstrated how great things really could be by sharing knowledge and helping people to understand that there are other ways of attracting great candidates…

Jo says, “Don’t tell people, let them experience it”

Developing a ‘Dream Team’

Jo recognised that in order to truly provide a value-add service to the business, developing her team’s offering was key.

At the time of joining, their agency spend was substantial…

Due to previously having a limited view of forthcoming requirements, the firm had become used to a reactive approach to recruitment and this was going to be a huge change for them.

Proving the model worked and providing tangible results in the first few months was vital, both in the quality of candidates introduced and time to hire.

One of the key hires to the team was Chris Lake, who had an exceptional track record in direct resourcing, having worked for a legal agency for 6 years prior to joining Gowling WLG.

Jo empowered the team to start taking a more forward-thinking approach. They began to identify and map the key markets within the firm’s key sector areas, understanding the active candidate market but more importantly building a picture of passive candidates that could be developed into a talent audience for the future.

The resourcing advisors started to build trust with key stakeholders and taking time to understand their business objectives and working with managers to plan for skills gaps and provide competitor insight and analysis to build credibility.

‘This wasn’t an original solution’

Now Jo, whilst undeniably fantastic, isn’t a part of some kind of secret recruitment magic circle!

The direct sourcing model isn’t an original solution, however, it’s usage within the legal sector is limited within the Top 100 law firms. In addition to this, varied results and methods are evident across the sector – i.e. direct sourcing limited to business services/non-fee earner roles or paralegal level recruitment in some firms.

What is clear, however, is that Jo has opened her stakeholders’ eyes to ‘what could be’ if they trusted in her and her team.

By really engaging with your people, being armed with knowledge and taking a genuine interest in your stakeholders, you can build fantastic relationships.

This doesn’t necessarily happen over-night. Jo herself will admit it has been in huge part down to her teams’ sheer persistence, determination and energy to truly add value that this transformation has been such a huge success

Where are they now?

12 months after Jo and Chris joined the business, Gowling WLG had succeeded in reducing its cost per hire by 41%. The time to hire for the new direct talent strategy 30% lower than for previous hires through recruitment agencies.

The success has continued with the team meeting their direct hire targets year on year, producing real and credible savings on agency spend, whilst still focusing time on building relationships with their key agencies to help with niche roles. By April 2018, they had exceeded their initial 60% goal.

The team were also delighted to receive a prestigious HR in Law award in May for their careers site, which they are now extending out to their international offices, the first being Dubai.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to Jo Franklin for taking part in my Insiders Story series! To find out more about life at Gowling WLG, visit their careers page at: https://gowlingwlg.com/en/careers

For all things interim management, change & transformation, get in touch with us via the info form below, and if you would like to feature in our ‘Insiders Story’ blog, email me on kate@refind.co.uk

You can view more about Kate Wass our executive interim specialist here

Shared Services, want to attract the best talent to join your business?

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Shared services
Credit: The Office, NBC

I recently published an eBook called “Why Top Performing Shared Services Talent Won’t Join Your Business & What To Do About It”. In this eBook, I explain why it is that big reputable brands (which have world-class shared services centres) still find it difficult to recruit and retain the best talent. Even though these brands may believe that “everyone loves our brand and it’s a nice place to work…” this isn’t necessarily the truth.

Is that the message you are giving off to a passive candidate market?

With over 75% of shared services professionals passively looking (and not actively seeking) a new role, then it’s no wonder that it’s difficult to attract and retain the best talent!

Delivering the right message to shared services professionals

Candidates are being increasingly selective over their future employer, and considering that Monarch Airlines, Carillion, Toys R us, House of Fraser, and Maplin (just to name a few!) have gone into administration during the past year, why would you want to leave your cushy job where you’ve worked for years, and where Betty knows how to make the perfect cup of tea, for somewhere that isn’t as secure and may be at risk of joining all of the companies mentioned in the previous sentence?

It’s important that shared services give off the right message, follow the right process and keep up with their competitors when it comes to recruiting.

The most desired Shared Services assignments in the past 12 months that I’ve managed have been within newly created roles. But why is this?

Is it because there isn’t an expectation there, or because they feel the company are performing well by creating these new roles?

Newly created positions offer a chance for candidates to put their stamp on a role and make it their own. As these positions are created due to demand for a certain skillset within a business, they also provide candidates with a sense of feeling wanted and allows them to see these roles as a challenge and the chance to pursue something new.

It’s all about how you deliver the message, and how this message is perceived by your potential future employees!

So the big question is, how do you excite people to work for your shared service centre if the role is replacing someone who lacked motivation, was bored and didn’t enjoy coming into work….

It’s all in your message.

How you get this right in your Shared Services team!

And I have just the thing that can help you with this… In my free eBook, I examine the steps you can take to stay ahead in the field.

If you would like your free copy, email me at sam@refind.co.uk

You can view more about Sam Perry our Shared Services Executive Search expert here