Sirona Says

Urgency = better results, so please speed up!

Recruitment and 'sense of urgency' are synonymous with each other, correct?  Well wrong -  it seems that it is more like a myth!!  Companies, large and small, are still taking way too long to do anything that is related to recruiting new staff - a previous post I wrote previously highlighted this. They will of course tell you how urgent it is to get the new people on board as quickly as possible, but how many times is it that the recruiters are having to chase for feedback on everthing in the whole process.

Talent Management - 10 simple questions to ask yourself

After conversations with many different companies over the last few weeks, it is surprisingly still the case that many of them still don't have an understanding of talent management within their own companies. Strategy just seems to go out of the window, and they simply respond to problems with knee-jerk reactions. Of course these quick reactions inevitably cost them alot of money, whether it be going straight to an agency to recruit a replacement, or bringing in contractors / interims to fill an immediate need.

So Mr Client, here are a ten simple questions that you should ask yourself with regards to your own talent management. If you can answer yes to five or more, then start taking this subject seriously, otherwise your problems are just going to get worse.

The Top Five Social Networking sites

For all the hype around Facebook recently it is somewhat suprising then that they are not top of the table with internet users. A very recent survey by emedia has produced the top five social networking sites most popular amongst users:

1st - Friends Reunited (47%) ; 2nd YouTube (42%) ; 3rd MySpace (39%); 4th Facebook (26%) ; 5th Linkedin (19%)

Also 50% of users find advertising on these social networking sites intrusive!  And if you are planning a newsletter advertising campaign from these sites don't........72% opted out of email newsletters from these sites and 93% opted out of newsletters from third parties.

What a retention problem to have??

Just imagine for a minute, that your manager has just resigned or been sacked (nobody is sure!). You were very loyal to him and had been one of his team key members for 3 years, achieving unparalleled success for your company. Three or four of your colleagues were feeling the same way. What do you do now?

(The one thing I forgot to mention here is that you earn £130k a week and that you play for Chelsea!!)

Dot-Com problems have returned again

Recruiters that experienced the dot-com years (seems like light years ago now!), enjoyed massive highs and lows with recruiting staff for fast growing and expanding companies - and many companies have short memories! One of the biggest problems for companies at the time was holding on to their staff amidst salary and share option mayhem. Good members of staff (and quite a few poor ones), regularly received calls from recruiters offering them untold riches with 'unlimited' share options. Companies of course countered, with larger salaries and promotions, but still lost their trusted employees.

Something sounds familiar doesn't it!

Radio Headhunters - more Brighton than Borneo

While having breakfast the other day listening to the radio, there was an advert over the airwaves claiming radio to be the new passive headhunting channel. The radio station in question is SouthernFM . The radio advert was 'branded' as a SouthernFM advert, and was obviously trying to generate business with local companies who are new to the words passive recruit and don't really understand what they mean. It got my interest, but maybe only because I am recruiter and intrigued about new ideas.

Recruitment video without the word recruitment

A corporate recruiting video, that doesn't use the word recruitment! How refreshing.........  The link below is I think a good attempt at 'showing' what the job is and what it is about, rather than giving the giving you a 'why you shoud work here' pitch. These are starting to become more prevelant now, and I believe it would benefit many companies to produce not just one, but several covering different roles within the business. Using YouTube like JPMorgan have done, provides the medium to get it online easily and cost effectively (although JPMorgan probably spent £zillions on this particular filming!!).

Improve Manager’s hiring successes by limiting their mistakes

Finding good staff in today’s job market is hard. So why do companies make it difficult for themselves?  Managers are making basic mistakes during the interview process and are either hiring the wrong person or more importantly putting off good candidates.

Scissors, Paper, Rock - recruitment style!!

   A slight change from the traditional game! Silly I know, but amusing for a Friday!!

       Scissors = Candidate

       Paper = Client

       Rock = Recruitment Agency

Usual rules apply - and no I am not going to explain them!!  Some ideas from me though:

Rock (Recruitment Agency) Vs  Scissors (Candidate).........Recruitment Agency rejects candidate's CV

Paper (Client) Vs Rock (Recruitment Agency).............Client hates Recruitment Agencies

Scissors (Candidate) Vs Paper (Client)..............Candidate took a different offer

You get the idea, and of course feel free to customise your reasons each time!!!

The IRS Recruitment and Retention Strategy Conference 2007

Having attended the IRS Recruitment and Retention Strategy Conference yesterday, it was obvious how much of a problem recruitment still is for many organisations. There was in excess of 120 people attending across a very wide range of companies, all looking for the magic answer. The question is, did they find it at this particular conference...................I am not sure they did.