Sirona Says

Are Job Seekers wasting their time with Recruitment Agencies?

Every day now there are seemingly endless amounts of people ending up in the queues at the Job Centres. Even today, the Government are trying to help the middle classes who have found themselves out of work in this recession, with special initiatives to help them find work.

So, as someone who has spent their career in the recruitment sector, I find myself asking questions of the industry and whether there should be some evolution in the way that job seekers are advised to find a job. 

I have recently questioned if it is right, to pay a career consultant to help find a job, which prompted some interesting discussion.

Today, I want to focus on recruitment agencies - are they a waste of time for job seekers?

'Superheads' - THE most important Talent Managers?

There has been much debate about the pay of Head Teachers, especially with the news that 'Superheads' - managing large grammar schools - should expect to earn circa £200k for the work they do. So, what is the problem here, and why are so many people so shocked?

We have a 'talent crunch' (sounds better than talent shortage doesn't it!) occurring at the moment that will only get worse over the next few years. The school population is absolutely key to employers over the next few years. Everyone goes on about generation Y and generation Z, and how they are going to deal with them, but they are already being managed now - in the Schools!Head Teachers and 'Superheads' are managing our future talent for us - no one to my knowledge has yet to define how old talent is - and with 'Superheads' managing schools with as much as 1500 pupils + staff in (that's alot of potential talented people!), why shouldn't be rewarded with a market applicable salary? If you were a CEO of a 1500 strong company I would like to bet your salary would definitely exceed £200k anyway!!

The aptly named Mr Ed Balls - the Labour Schools Secretary - should be applauded (just for a change) for trying to ensure that these important Talent Managers stay within education. (Now Mr Balls, can you set about the rest of the education system please!!!!)

Let me explain more with a video...

Some of you may have seen the yellow graphic in the sidebar to the left, some of you may even have linked through to the site as well. Jobinablog.com is a forward thinking website aimed at SME companies who fail to use their own website to recruit staff (shame on you!). Of course they are happy to moan about the fact that they can't recruit staff, but they never do anything about it. So last year I combined the idea of this opportunity, with the power of the blog to create Jobinablog - I call it a career site with a difference. So for an easy explanation I have produced a video presentation explaining how it works in a very easy way!! Here goes:

By the way, how do you like the Kyte interface - I like it and it's a bit different!

How to say, "I like you" without even speaking a word

Getting it right will win you business, but get it wrong and you can kiss that deal goodbye! What am I going on about? simple really, body language. This follows on from my previous post, and shows you all the positive and negative indicators that will show you where you need to improve, before you go into that 'big meeting'. Positive body language is all about how you make other feel. The most 'attractive' people in a room know how to make everyone else feel attractive and interesting, but the converse is unfortunately also true! Body language centres around clusters of gestures and expressions. These patterns of movement can be most revealing and show our true inner feelings. Test yourself - imagine the most recent meeting and see whether you are more positive or negative when it comes to other people.

Here are the positive body language movements that say "I like you"  - it will also tell you if they're interested in you as well.

Are you a sloucher, a baboon or just plain pushy?

I recently wrote a post about handshakes and their meanings, that attracted an incredible amount of interest, so I thought I would continue this theme. We all meet people everyday, whether it be candidates, colleagues, clients or or even prospective employers. We usually get just one chance to make that impression, and while many people focus on what needs to be said, there needs to be equal attention paid to your body language. Whether you are a blinker, a sloucher, a baboon or simply pushy, you need to aware of the characteristics that you are showing physically. This post deals with the body language we all use every day - some good, some bad! My other post on this subject shows the positive and negative indicators of body language.

There are ten main areas, defined by Robert Phipps that will identify your own body language and what you should be doing to make that right impression.

The Seven Deadly Sins when applying for jobs

Both HR professionals and recruiters are busy people and haven't got time to act as a nursemaid / psychologist / English teacher etc when reviewing CV's for a role. You get one opportunity when applying for jobs, so you want to make absolutely sure that you get it right.
What you don't want to do is to commit one of the seven deadly sins below when it comes to applying for jobs!!

The top 10 most irritating types of work colleagues!

So which one are you? Are you a Shirker, a Screamer, a Gossiper or even a Megaphone?

A recent survey by Ceridian, has collated the top 10 most irritating types of workers, according to their colleagues. It is the Shirkers  - colleagues who seem to find excuses to avoid work - who come out on top as most hated by 21% of their UK colleagues!

Below are the The 10 most irritating types of workers from Shirkers to Sneezers:

The Top 10 Handshake types and what they reveal about you, your clients and your candidates

Recruiters are meeting people all the time (or they should be anyway!), and one thing we all do as a matter of course in the greeting is shake hands with people. Wouldn't it be great to actually know more about the person you are meeting? A sales expert called Dr Gregory Stebbins has written a book that helps us understand the people side of sales. So primed with this new found information you will be able to learn the hidden messages with your clients or your candidates.

Below are the Top 10 Handshake Types - and what they reveal about your client or your candidate:

Don't bash agencies before you put your own house in order!

Here we go again, recruitment agency bashing.....

1. "Agencies will lie about candidates receiving better offers to ratchet up their salaries and their own potential fees"
2. "There is a lack of customer service, lack of professionalism and lack of focus on filling more difficult posts"
3. "They need to meet our needs and listen to what we want,but they don't. They phone constantly and get quite rude with staff when we won't take their calls"
4. 80% of the companies believed agencies offered a poor or average service!
5. 60% of the companies said that agencies poached staff from each other.
6. 60% thought agencies fees were excessive.

Source: A recent report by the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE).

Yet the spokesman for ACE said that recruiting through agencies is still the preferred route to fill (or not as the case may be!) their vacancies.
One simple question....ARE THEY MAD OR JUST SIMPLY ALL HYPOCRITICAL? 

Recruiting Robots doesn't work

Good staff within the higher turnover sectors such as retail and restaurants are notoriously difficult to recruit for. But when they do, why do many companies specify that they must have relevant experience? Do retail or restaurant companies want to employ a 'robot' and simply reprogram them accordingly with their brand? (unfortunately many do!) In a service industry surely a character and personality are more important, especially as they provide the customer experience. So how do you recruit these types of staff?