Sirona Says

Doctors are just like Hiring Managers!

I had the pleasure the other day of sitting in front of a consultant doctor in a hospital (not for me I might add), and observed his actions (or rather lack of actions!)
I have to say that as bright and clever as they are, I have come to the conclusion that doctors are just no different to your average hiring manager I have come across in my career.

Why? Two words - professional dis-respect

What is one of THE most annoying and disappointing things a hiring manager does at an interview (apart from not turning his Blackberry off)? They show the candidate absolutely no respect by not even bothering to read the candidates CV before an interview. They then proceed to read it through at the start of the interview, at the same time as asking the very lame, 'so tell me about yourself' question. It is so shallow and totally transparent, and yet they think it is perfectly acceptable. WRONG!!! It shows total professional dis-respect!!

Now let's go back to the doctor.
At the first meeting a few months ago, he took copious amounts of (albeit illegible) notes regarding the medical problem. For over twenty minutes he quizzed, questioned and proposed ideas. In short, he was efficient and instilled faith that he would do his best to help.
Roll on to the meeting this week with the same doctor. Can you guess where I am going with this? He proceeded to ask all the same questions again. It was so obvious that he hadn't even read his own notes, that it was just laughable! Within seconds, any credibility he had was destroyed. He just showed professional dis-respect, to his patient.

What really hacks me off with both examples is that it isn't a one off. How many times have either of these happened to you? I will bet, more than a couple!
All they would have to do is to take a few minutes before an interview or a consultation just to read through the notes or CV....that's all! Just think what the difference that would make!

So come on all you doctors and hiring managers, start treating people with respect, and we might all start showing some in return!!

Why does society accept discrimination and yet it is outlawed in the workplace?

 

I feel like I am stepping into the lions den, writing this post today, as it is on the thorny subject of race discrimination - more directly, white vs black.
Within the world of recruitment / employment / job seeking etc the whole subject of discrimination is around us. We are now subject to many restrictions about what we can / can't say, what questions we can't ask because of the risk if inference for something else, and what we are allowed /not allowed to put on career websites etc.
Even with all these legal restrictions, companies still flout the law and blatantly discriminate. So much so that the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions), recently sent out 1000+ bogus applications for jobs, with similar CV's but with 'white' and 'non-white' sounding names. They were trying to prove discrimination is still rife in the employment market - with the (mad) end goal of having nameless CV's!. In my opinion I think that sets a dangerous precedent.

What I can't get my head around is the way that discrimination by skin colour can be so public with things like the MOBO's , Black Movie Awards and (unbelievably in my opinion) the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (and for all these awards ceremonies there is no comparative white awards), and yet in the workplace it is legally outlawed.
These seem to have become an 'accepted' part of society, but do you think that the flip side would be so true? Surely if there were 'White' only award ceremonies, there would be uproar from the 'non-white' community?

So returning to the workplace for a moment, is it any wonder that discrimination still goes on, when 'society' is still giving out very mixed messages to people in a very public way?

Nice idea Monster, but a dangerous 'promise' to job seekers!

Yesterday an email arrived from Monster, promoting their new Monster Virtual Jobs Fair later this year on the 1st October. Great idea, and certainly a good way to go to try and innovate the job board market place.

That is until I saw the 'promise' message that it gives you (as a job seeker) when the page is loading......

Is this just Monster stupidity or negligence (or both)?  Access more that 120 job offers? Maybe they thought that people wouldn't watch the 'loading page' ?
There must be a better way to convey that message - maybe they have a trainee copywriter that they recruited from their own job board?

Essential tips for job seekers using LinkedIn to find a job

With jobless totals still rising, there is seemingly less advice (of the quality variety anyway) being given to job seekers. One thing that is surprising for me, is that many more people still don't use -and even worse- don't even know about the business networking site LinkedIn.
It is a great site to project yourself in the working environment, and while it may well be populated by large numbers of recruiters (a big criticism in the US I hear), is that such a bad thin when you are trying to find a job?

I have already written a LinkedIn beginners guide( Download LinkedIn for beginners here)  that will help all the LinkedIn newbies get started, but I just wanted to highlight a few tips that I find myself sharing with job seeking friends on a regular basis at the moment.

So here are my key tips for using LinkedIn to help job seekers looking for a job:

1. Don't sign up with LinkedIn unless you are committed to spend some time making it work. Networking is about investing your time, and if that is something that doesn't interest you, or you can't be bothered, then stop now, buy a book and sit on the beach all summer waiting for a job to come your way! (You will have a long wait!)
2. Profile. This is absolutely essential and something that you shouldn't take lightly. It should effectively be your online CV, and with this - unlike a paper cv - make sure you upload a decent looking photo  (headshot) of yourself. Make sure you have all the correct dates for your work history, and that it reads well with NO TYPO's! Don't forget, many employers check for online profiles before they interview people (whether they should, is a different conversation!), so you don't want any glaring mistakes making their decision for them.
3. You need to expand your LinkedIn network with as many people that know as possible. Get all you business cards out, go through your email contacts and spend some time writing down all the people you have interacted with, directly and indirectly. Then search for them on LinkedIn and invite them to your network. Size matters with LinkedIn - the bigger your network, then the bigger you 2nd and 3rd level search network will be. For example I have 872 connections which makes my overall search network 15,500,000 - quite a powerful tool isn't it?
4. HOT TIP! Make sure you join a number of the groups (that are relevant to your sector), as these will become part fo your search zone as well. Many groups can be joined simple by requesting to join. Once accepted (usually very quickly) the people in that group will become part of your search network!
5. Make sure you tell people that you are actually looking for a new job. You have two opportunities to do this on LinkedIn -in your personal profile, where you can explain what you are (by red line in example), and then in the status section (by green line) where you can update you statuses as often as you like. It may sound obvious, but if people don't know you are available, then they won't talk to you about opportunities!
   
6. Ask current/previous colleagues for recommendations. Fortunately, LinkedIn makes this easy, and takes you through this process well by prompting you. This is a great way of adding to your credibility, and your online profile by showing your strengths, and the fact you were a valued employee (well hopefully anyway!). Also if you are/were a manager, recommendations from your staff is as equally powerful.
7. Use the power of LinkedIn to help you find the people you need to speak to. Hopefully you will have highlighted a number of companies that you want to work for (if not, don't worry, I will cover this aspect soon in this blog). These may be entirely new companies to you, and you will have no names to start with. There are three things to do next:
   
   • Look at the 'company profiles' of the companies you want to work for. Find out what the background are of the people who work there. Have you got similar skills?
   • Find out where current employees have previously worked - check their profiles - have you worked for a similar company?
   • Find the names of hiring managers, or HR staff that work there. You probably will have to contact them offline, but having the contact name will be a great start.
8. Do it now! If you are currently working, don't wait for you to become unemployed to start using LinkedIn, start now! Build your network before you need it, then when you need it, it will be one less area to get started.

LinkedIn is a brilliant tool, and combined with other social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, it then becomes a very powerful tool to help find a job.
Don't forget to link up with me, if you haven't already done so - I will happily accept!

How do you successfully extract people from 'happy jobs' to fill your role?

This week I have had three particular conversations with people I know well that have all ended with me (for once) being lost for an immediate answer to their problem!  The cause for my dilemma has been the current employment landscape!!

All three conversations have been along the same lines, so let me para-phrase the scenario:

Large blue chip company looking to recruit senior sales and marketing roles. They are well established, have a solid financial track record, have a good reputation and are paying good salaries. They do have high standards (as you would expect) but not unrealistic, and there is proven career progression.
These companies have been trying to recruit these roles for several months, and have even got to offer stages (all of them), but were all counter offered, and subsequently lost their candidates.

The question I was asked was this, "What do we have to do to find great people that actually want our jobs, and extract them from their current employers?"

Now as you might expect, I have covered many things with them in trying to help them understand why they are having problems such as; salary, package, location, spec, profile, company profile, brand, career, training, development, employment brand, understanding candidate motivation, approach of the recruitment agencies, which agencies they use, products they are selling, travel, market perception etc etc

I would just like to say that they are all being realistic and prepared to be flexible where they can, but there does come a point where you draw the line!
The impression that these people have been left with, is that yes there are many candidates 'looking for a job', but when it comes to the crunch they won't make the ultimate commitment and leave, citing the economy and 'maybe in six months time' as reasons.

WHY?

This is where you come in!
A question for all you recruiters or candidates out there - how do companies like the ones above entice people away from a good job? What can they do to make them take the final step and actually leave their current company?
I would really like to hear your ideas?

When you have a hidden video camera at the interview, you get great tips - and humour!

The mighty Seth Godin recently highlighted the site Howtonailaninterview.com on his blog, and being an avid Seth reader, I knew he wouldn't be wasting my time ....and he wasn't!!
Steinar Skipsness embarked on a project to establish what is it that certain people say or do during a job interview that makes them stand out?
First he created a "corporate presence" with an office and a secretary. Next, he posted a job on craigslist for a marketing coordinator at a "soon to launch" web company. Literally minutes after the posting, resumes poured in, 142 on the first day, 356 in the first week. Everyone who attended the 'real' interviews were asked to sign a disclaimer "some company meetings will be filmed and we needed proof you'd be comfortable appearing on a video blog if hired."

This first clip is just quality!!

They just get better..the Facebook objection

And better...Sasquatch???

Steiner goes on to put together 22 tips from the 28 interviews that he carried out, and to be honest they are all very good indeed,and what's so great about them are that they are not written by a recruiter or HR interviewer - which makes them very powerful indeed.
Here are just 10 from his list

Who is actually helping the unemployed find a job?

Every single day in the media there is news of more redundancies - even the BBC have put a job loss tracker on their website - but have you ever taken a minute to think who is actually helping these people find a job. And when I mean helping them get back to work, I don’t mean assistance in filling in a form at the local Job Centre!

What I mean is proper and honest advice from professionals that can actually help and advise these people that have lost their jobs - people that can actually add some real value to helping the unemployed find work.

This post came about from an article of Fistful of Talent that I read earlier today concerning the trend in the USA for people to charge circa $2000 to write CV’s for executives looking for work. This particular post started my cogs going and I then started to think about the UK, and how people are actually going to find work again.

So what are the ways that people can get help in writing a CV, interview skills, using the internet job boards as well as many more areas of job hunting? Where do they go and what chances of success should they expect?

So who is helping the unemployed find a job?

Schools/Colleges career advisors
Suffice to say that, in my opinion, the majority of these people are just way off the mark. I have seen the advice they have given out to a good number of people and quite frankly, it is mostly common sense and a waste of time. They are usually too far detached from the real world and the harsh realities of the working world. There will of course be some very good advisors out there who care passionately about their students finding work, and if you have been exposed to them then you are very lucky.
Chances of them helping you with finding your first job – Nil – zero. (But they can recommend a nice university course that will put you £15k in debt though!)

The 10 ways to manage your workforce in a recession, courtesy of a CIPD & ACAS JV

Thanks to a CIPD and ACAS joint venture on the subject of helping companies during the recession, they have produced their official guidelines to managing your workforce during a recession. It is an excellent checklist for helping your business through the recession and out the outher side in the best possible way for the stability of your company.

1. Think long term

• Think creatively about how to reduce employment costs, such as new ways of working and work reorganisation.
•  See CIPD Research Insight Smart Working: The impact of work organisation and job design
• Remember that making people redundant and recruiting again later when the market picks up is expensive. 
• Protect and make the most of the training budget – focus resources on key areas such as improving line management capability and customer service. 
• Bear in mind your long-term reputation and responsibility to act as a fair employer.

2.  Maintain employee engagement

• Redouble your efforts to boost or maintain employee engagement.
• See CIPD Research Insight Employee Engagement in Context
• Manage expectations and set a clear sense of direction.
• Keep employees in the picture even when there is little concrete news. 
• See Acas guide Employee Communications and Consultation 
• Use all available media to beat the rumour mill.
• Think about creative, non-financial ways of motivating employees such as recognition schemes, team-building days and employee awards.

3.  Strengthen line management capability

• Support your managers so they are better able to operate in periods of traumatic change.
• Brief line managers in full on developments so they can talk to their teams – face-to-face communications are best.
• Recognise the vital role that line managers play in every aspect of the employment relationship – make sure they are properly trained in day-to-day people management skills.
• See CIPD guide Line Management Behaviour and Stress at Work 
• Line managers also need support and leadership from senior management and from HR to equip them to manage difficult situations and avoid burning out.

4. Support employees’ health and well-being

• Recognise the psychological burden and impact that can arise in a recession – make sure workplace support and occupational health provision are in place to prevent high levels of work-related stress.
• See Acas guide Health, Work and Wellbeing 
• See CIPD Research Insight What’s Happening with Well-being at Work? 
• Where possible provide opportunities for flexible working to help employees balance their work and home lives.
• See Acas guide Flexible Working and Work–life Balance    
• Ensure you have mechanisms in place to deal with workplace stress and potential conflict at an early stage.
•  Acas guide Stress at Work 
•  See CIPD/Acas guide Mediation: An employers’ guide
• Recognise the potential negative impact of ‘survivor syndrome’ if your organisation has made redundancies – employees that remain in organisations where there have been job cuts often suffer from guilt while coping with increased workloads.

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?

Are Job Seekers now having to deal with Interviewers that have returned to the Dark Side?

Just like Star Wars has been enjoying a resurgence of popularity with the good that is, Luke Sywalker fighting the evil that is, Darth Vadar, it seems like the Evil has returned to the job market!

There is one simple reason why this is happening - the global credit crunch.
The unfortunate effect of the recession is that many more people are looking for, and applying for jobs. And this has given the interviewers too much choice!

So why is this a problem?

Many interviewers - and I include both corporates and recruitment agencies in this - don't possess a fantastic array of interviewing skills. They have probably taught themselves through experience, and it is unlikely that they will have had much training at all. For approximately 12 months prior to the start of the credit crunch, these interviewers were really 'trying hard' to up their game when interviewing new candidates - they had to as there were very limited job seekers out there. So we saw them working hard at learning new skills like competency interviewing, taking advice from colleagues and, dare I say it, actually doubting whether they had the skills to be able to interview in the first place! Then came the credit crunch......

Now there is more choice and some ugly habits have returned!