Sirona Says

Don't lose what you already have!

FACT: Your best staff are getting calls from Headhunters and Recruitment Agencies every week.

So what are you going to do about it?

Will they be saying 'no thanks' or 'tell me more' when they get the call?

Here are some questions that you should ask yourself about your own staff retention:

Hats off to Peter Gold

If you don't already know, Peter Gold is again questioning his sanity and taking part in The Jungle Marathon , running 200km in 6 days in the Amazon Jungle with all his kit on his back!! He does seem to have this strange desire to find the nastiest places in the world and run 200-300km in short periods of time......only one word and that is mad!!

The reason for me mentioning this is that he has chosen a charity very close to my heart to raise money for, for this event - Leukemia Research . My brother, David, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia at the end of March this year, which unfortunately has no current cure - they still don't know enough about this particular form of cancer to be able to save him. So as it currently stands David won't see his 41st birthday.......

Peter is looking as much money as possible, to help in the research of leukemia to be able to help other people have a chance of beating this awful illness. So if you would like to help Peter raise money for a great charitable cause you can go to his Just Giving page.

Thanks again Peter and good luck (just watch out for the snakes and spiders!!)

Influencing others, 70 years on.

Many so called industry experts are always trying to reinvent the wheel, when it comes to sales training and influencing skills. In 1936 - over 70 years ago - a certain Dale Carnegie wrote a book called 'How to win friends and influence people' . The amazing thing is, that everything he wrote then still stands up today, as it deals with people interaction and how to influence them over to your way of thinking.  As you read through the key points, just mentally tick them off - you will see that time has not effected his sentiments.

In a galaxy far, far away...................Web 2.0????

A new website called Galaxiki is taking Web 2.0 to the very extremes - it is a fictional online galaxy created, maintained and owned by its Community. You can purchase your own solar system (using Paypal) and you can even place your solar system as a widget on your website or blog!

So if you are getting bored on planet earth with Facebook, Myspace and alike, then get into your spaceship and start exploring the galaxy!!

Spinvox the great!!

I thought you might be interested in a fantastic product that I have been using for about 6 months now.  In the last couple of days several people have asked me about it, and how it works, so here you go.

It is called Spinvox and it is incredibly simple - it converts your voicemail messages into text. Then the message is either texted to your phone/pda or emailed to you (or both) immediately. It is very accurate and fast and they have now started to set up partnerships with other products such as Skype, and has recently been seen on BBC's Newsnight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5Fsru-wr7s).

It is not  a gimmick, it can be used as a true business tool, and if you are currently using one of the many outsourced call answering services, why not give Spinvox a try. We made the move 6 months ago and we made a saving of 90% (!!) as it is also very competitively priced.

Don't give us porn.......just your name!!

A little tip for the young, careferee and mad fools who thing it is funny to create a funny email address...........don't do it and use it to apply for a job..........after all, what is wrong with your name????

Over the last few weeks I have been managing a large advertising campaign for a client and I have been amazed at some of the email addresses that have been turning up in the inbox!  I felt it only right that I share some of these with you (with no domain extensions obviously). These are all genuine!!

wildgirlout21@       sexy_lady2k@     baby_bahs_moma@     Sweetie15xx@     littlemisshot@
foxylady137@       sassykitty@       greatgirlshave_XX@     sexybabe21@     babemagnet@
welshchic@      young_hussy21@      purpledeath@      i_am_a_nutter@     iamyrplaygirl@
onbendedknees@    xjust_diex@     mi5top_secret@     ilovelorrainekelly@ 

They are funny, but do you want a prospective employer to know that you love Lorraine Kelly !!!!

The need for speed.

As a recruiter, whether that be a company or an agency, as soon as you start dialogue with a prospective candidate / employee, you have effectively started the candidates countdown clock. The 'time' will tick down for two things - loss of interest and more importantly in a candidate driven market, another company getting there first!

The time you take with prospective candidates is directly proportional to the amount of candidates that you successfully recruit. If you are quick and responsive you will get them, if you are slow, with no sense of urgency, then you will lose candidates to other competitors - and that is simply unforgivable!!

Naive, unrealistic or barking mad?

The skills shortage is biting and still recruiting managers of all levels are creating job specifications that are are calling for every relevant skill known to man. In fact some might as well be looking for people resident on Mars for all the good it is going to be!
There may well be one ideal candidate in the whole of the UK that might be suitable, but wouldn't it be sensible to attempt to widen the net right at the early stages of recruitment, rather than the end when you have been looking for 6 months and give up?

Recruit the wrong person and it could cost you more than you think!

There is common agreement that the UK is currently very much a candidate driven marketplace. The consequences for recruiters and companies alike is that they are of course struggling to find the right numbers of talented people to satisfy demand. Of course companies need to recruit people into their business to grow or even just to stand still. But at what cost to the business would it be if they recruited people just for the sake of it - individuals that you would not normally even consider.

When will Companies ever learn?

In my conversations with clients over the last couple of months, there seems to be one common theme that runs through the discussions around staffing. It is that many of the companies are complaining, in one way or another, that they simply cannot recruit the staff (whether it be the calibre or volume) they need for their business,without having to pay high agency fees (which many say are getting to high for them) and they can't seem to understand why.

This is where I get frustrated because in the majority of occasions these companies are simply just not helping themselves, when it come to recruitment. They are simply resorting to agencies and alike to recruit staff for them, when with a little effort they could actually start to recruit some of these people directly themselves. To build a house you need to put foundataions in place, and recruitment is no different. You have to put some basic things in place within your company to give you the opprtunity to recruit and retain staff  cost effectively.

I have listed four areas that I feel would help companies with their recruitment, before they even need to start looking at spending large recruitment fees.

1. Company website - the primary tool.
Is it appealing to prospective employees?
Does it want to make people work for your company?
Do you use it to aid your recruitment, and if so do you have a career/jobs page (however simple)? If you have jobs placed on your site, are they selling the job or is it simply a job spec?

Looking at your website is the first thing a prospective employee will do these days, to ascertain what you are like as a company, and whether they want to work for your company - after all good candidates will have alot of choice!!

2.Your Staff - the best sales tool
Do you have an employee referral scheme in place? If so does it work?
Do you inform staff of the positions you are recruiting for? Do you recruit internally?
Do you encourage your staff to network amongst their peers? and then do you use that network to recruit through?

Your staff can be the best (and the worst) sales tool for your company, but if you trust in them and reward them accordingly (and I don't just mean cash), they will recruit people for you.

3.Sell not tell - creative writing.
Do you ever place adverts either in the press or online?
Do you simply use the job spec as the basis for the add? (don't worry most companies do!!)
Have you thought of writing an advert to actually sell your company and the role? Why don't you be different for a change?
Have you tried online advertising before? (go on it does work!)

Candidates are getting choosy, so if they simply see a job spec in an advert, do you think that it will get their attention? No of course not, but an advert that makes itself appealing and inviting will!

4. Keep what you have got - far easier to retain than recruit
Do you actually think about the staff you already have?
Do you make sure they are happy working for you? (when was the last time they were asked?)
Do you develop and train them? Do you give them the credit where they deserve it?
When was the last time you had a company night out?
Do you encourage regular feedback from your staff?

A happy workforce is a productive workforce, so make sure you think of them first as it is so much easier than having to find new staff!!

There are many other ways companies can start to be clever, but they do need to be thinking about getting some basics right first !!