Sirona Says

How Milkround used social media to engage with generation Y graduates [guest post]

 

Graduate recruitment has seen considerable change over the last few years, and was one of the big casualties of the recent recession, as companies cut budgets and hired less. To survive in this space companies have had to embrace change and be prepared to do things differently.

Today's guest post is by Anne-Lise H. Johnsen, from the No.1 graduate recruiting site Milkround. They have had to really look at the way they engaged with companies and graduates, and chose social media as a way to do this.

Anne-Lise explains what they have done at Milkround to use social media to aid their graduate recruiting strategies:

"Our mission at Milkround has always been to assist students and graduates looking for internships, placements & graduate jobs. Throughout the last year we have realised social media has a place in recruiting, and even as a job board we can provide a valuable service through this channel. Over the last year we have introduced successful social media initiatives, however we are also realising our candidates need to be informed about how to make the most of social media when job hunting.

In April we created a survey to investigate our candidates’ social media knowledge and how they use the constantly-evolving tool. Less than a third said they use social media tools to promote themselves to new employers, while four out of five said they would be more pro-active if they had more guidance in how to use social media tools when searching for jobs.

As a result we introduced a new tool to our own communications mix: presentations direct to students. Throughout the spring and summer term, I presented on the topic of ‘How to use Social Media in a job hunt’ at several universities and fairs in the UK. Students and graduates were intrigued when they realised Facebook and Twitter were actually tools they could use when searching for a job, but they seemed confused. They did not know how to start using these tools for something else then updating their statuses, befriending old classmates or tagging themselves in pictures. This confusion reached a new level when I mentioned LinkedIn. Every session I asked, ‘Who has heard of LinkedIn?’. Usually 1/10 raised their hands. This was a scary finding. In a tough jobs market, many young job seekers don’t understand how to use social media tools to their advantage, and are not making the most of one designed specifically for job hunting.

In a bid to help teach students and graduates how to find work through social networking and move away from just how many likes, followers and connections we’ve made, Milkround places an emphasis on engaging with our social community. We now have a better understanding of what our community needs and seeks from us. We want to give students and graduates career confidence, and one way of achieving that is through focusing on engagement to prevent them from feeling more confused and lost in a competitive market.

We have seen more companies use social media as a way of promoting their opportunities. New career-focused Facebook Pages pop up, Twitter jobs feeds are created and some look for graduates on LinkedIn. However, at the pace this is evolving, candidates are struggling to keep track. Because the current students and graduates are of the ‘Generation Y’ they are assumed to know and understand every aspect of social media. The reality is that the ‘Generation Y’ can also feel lost in the circus of technology: many of the ‘Generation Y’, and also possibly future ‘Generation Z’, have not been taught the elements of social recruiting. It means many of the efforts from companies, job board and agencies are going unnoticed. We’re doing what we can to ensure they are rising in prominence and graduates don’t miss out on their dream job."

Thanks to Anne-Lise for sharing what they they are doing at Milkround, to help graduates make sense of the world of work and social media. It is clear that there are several key factors they have focused on at Milkround -  those being engagement, building a better sense of community and communication. These are all intrinsic to being successful when looking to use social media effectively in recruitment (aka social recruiting).

If your organisation has embraced social media as a way of differentiating your market position, then (as long as it is recruitment focused of course) email me with your story and I can feature it here on the blog. Don't be shy - others won't even have started using social media yet, and these stories help people on many different levels.

If you like reading this blog, then click on the orange RSS icon here and get the latest Sirona Says posts delivered to your RSS reader or your inbox the moment they come out.

Generation Y - Who, What, How

Today, I delivered a presentation to a room full of HR and Recruitment Directors from the Hotel industry, for the hosts, Caterer.com . The subject was generation Y in the workplace - their characteristics and how to engage them as employees. The hotel and leisure industry has a very high level of gen Y employees, and they are experiencing their fair share of recruitment and retention issues. There now seems to be a desire to address some of the issues - hence the presentation!

The presentation was well received, and as promised (to all the delegates) here are a copy of the slides this morning.

Generation Y Who, What, How

View more presentations from Andy Headworth.

And for all of you today that didn't know what a blog was......... you do now - you have just been reading one:)

If you like reading this blog, then click on the orange RSS icon here and get the latest Sirona Says posts delivered to your RSS reader or your inbox the moment they come out.

Is this the future for CV's?

This week I had the pleasure of judging  a section of the entries for the upcoming NORAS awards. I actually looked at a number of websites encouraging candidates to create different types of CV's/resumes/profiles etc. While they are (obviously) the way recruitment will evolve as the gen Y'ers and the gen Z'ers get more involved, they are still not quite 'right here, right now' - for me anyway!

Employers are currently still too traditional and the request for a document style CV is all too prevalent. So when I saw the two examples below of a 'new style' of CV, it was refreshing. what do you think of these?

Here Jonathan Kaczynski uses a tube map style.

Again on this one Kevin Wang uses a tube style map.

I know these may not suit everyone, but for me they are a refreshing glimpse of how CV's could evolve.

If you like reading this blog, then click on the orange RSS icon here and get the latest Sirona Says posts delivered to your RSS reader or your inbox the moment they come out.

Is the new Facebook Recruitment App - Work For Us - the beginning of the end for Job Boards?

 
Facebook have finally crossed the divide into recruitment with a new app called Work For Us. This new app allows companies to post jobs and receive applications via Facebook. This really is where recruitment meets with a social network to become social recruiting!

When companies have installed the app, a ‘Work For Us’ menu tab appears on their Facebook profile/page displaying a searchable list of the companies job openings. Job seekers can then apply for these positions inside Facebook. Companies can then further promote their job openings using Facebook’s ‘like’ and ’share’ functionality.

Obviously, some companies are going to get a bit twitchy with this concept, and will of course want to drive traffic back to their career sites.  But for some companies they may want to reconsider their recruitment strategy full stop, and send people to a fully social recruitment page. Many company fan pages already have jobs fed through to then via RSS feeds, which is free and trackable, so they will probably not be interested in this approach. But, for the many 1000,s of SME's out there, I am sure this would be of interest, and will only grow, surpassing the 2000+ companies that are already using it to good effect.

The costs are very low for the job ads - much, much lower than the job boards.

1 job listing - Free
5 job listing - $9
25 job listings $49
75 job listings $199
Unlimited job listings $499

With fan pages being indexed by the search engines like Google, is this a potential future body blow for job boards? Will it even scare them? Should they even be bothered?

I don't know the answer to this, but judging by the speed the Facebook juggernaut is moving, I wouldn't want to bet against them stealing a big share of the market.

What do you think? Would your company use an app like this on Facebook? (why wouldn't you, more to the point?) Does this make you reconsider Facebook as a potential bigger part of your recruitment strategy?

If you like reading this blog, then click on the orange RSS icon here and get the latest Sirona Says posts delivered to your RSS reader or your inbox the moment they come out.

The 30 sales interview questions you need to be able to answer, if you are a salesperson

 

Last week I posted a comprehensive list of interview questions. They proved to be popular, both with job seekers for interview help, and with recruiters and HR people for some interview question inspiration. So I have produced a couple of extra posts with some further questions - this one today is for sales interview questions, and another coming soon is for management positions.

So if you are in sales, and have an interview soon, or you recruit for sales people, I hope this series of Sales Interview questions proves useful to you. Or, if you are in sales and fancy a challenge, then try answering them to yourself (honestly of course!)

So here you go, see if you can answer all these sales interview questions:

Targets and Marketplace

What is your sales target and how is it established?
How much time do you spend developing new business?
How do you target new accounts for prospecting?
How do you acquire new sales leads?
Who are your major competitors and why?
What business trends do you see developing in the market?

Your approach to sales

What makes a successful sales person?
How do you define a new customer's needs and expectations?
What kind of problems do you have to solve as a salesperson?
How do you get a reading of people upon first meeting them?
How do you approach understanding your customer's needs?
How do you establish rapport with a stranger on the telephone?
What do you consider the most crucial part of your job?
What kind of rewards are most satisfying to you?

OK, so what DO you have to wear to the interview to get a job then?

Is it a sign of the times that 76% of British bosses will make a decision on your suitability for their job,  based on what you are wearing when you sit in front of them at the interview?

Is this really a surprise? I don't think, so as employers have been doing it for years. In candidate driven markets they have had to 'scale down' their expectations and would overlook dress codes (especially when recruiting gen Y'ers). But now the landscape as changed (albeit temporarily), and the hiring companies feel that they have the control back in the interview, which of course they do!

According to this recent Ladders survey of 500 senior bosses from UK companies, over a third of interviewers have cited bad interview appearance as a primary reason for candidate rejection!! Blimey!!

So what should you avoid wearing at an interview?

Ok Men here you go with your no-no's!

1. No tie (52% say fire)
2. No jacket (50% say fire)
3. Chinos (50% say fire)
4. Polo shirts (66% say fire)
5. Jeans (82% say fire)
6. T shirts (88% say fire)
7. Leather jackets (70% say fire)
    

Here you go ladies, don't feel left out...

1. Short skirt (60% say fire)
2. Low necklines (95% say fire)
3. Sports shoes (91% say fire)
4. Dangling jewellery (99% say fire)
5. Bare legs (94% say fire)
6. Big shoulder pads - ala 80's style - (97% of bosses say big shoulder pads are wrong for interview)

I haven't finished yet, as there are more no-no's.....

1. 59% of interviewers, stains and dirty marks will see you out of the interview room immediately
2. 36% of interviewers see co-ordination of colours and styles as an important indication of the candidate’s personality
3. 75% of interviewers will look at whether your clothes are “appropriate for the circumstances”
4. 33% of interviewers said they would consider whether the candidate’s style suited their organisation
5. 95% of interviewers said orange was an inappropriate colour to wear to an interview, with red (84%) and pink (83%) coming in closely behind orange

What have the interviewers got against the 80's? People did get jobs then even with the fashion mistakes you know!!

So after all that, what should you be wearing to your interview?

1. Tailored navy single breasted suit (51% hire)
2. White or blue long sleeved shirt (48% hire)
3. Black leather shoes (56% hire)
4. Black socks (77% hire) (too right here, seen white socks making a comeback again !!)
5. Low key tie (35% hire)
6. Cufflinks (37% hire)
7. and no handkerchief (35% hire) (Come on, who wears a handkerchief in the top pocket any more?)
8. A mid-length black skirt or dress (64% hire) (women, obviously....)
9. Long sleeved and collared shirt or blouse (42% hire)
10. Tights (94% hire)
11. High heels (69% hire)
12. Pearls (56% hire)

Well it seems that we have returned to traditional boring conservative Britain again!! 

The sooner the employment market gets back to normal, and the gen Y'ers can (and maybe the gen Z'ers) can start to break the mold the better! Seriously, do we all have to dress like shop dummies to get a new job?
Well obviously at the moment, while the companies have control, then I am afraid if you want your next job, you better get shopping!!

Arrgghh! Why are candidates still being muppets at interviews?

This a mini-rant is born out of frustration and disbelief! Yesterday I spent the day with a client during one of their interview events. What I witnessed at the actual interview stages, was both unforgivable and unbelievable - from the candidates being interviewed -  in this current climate of large amounts of unemployment.
As a 'recruitment dinosaur' (someone who has been in the industry for 20+ years!) I have briefed more candidates than I care to remember on interview techniques and expectation - you could say, I tend to overbrief candidates - although you can never give a candidate too much information! So when I sat there yesterday listening to the responses to some standard 'every interview has them' questions, I was completely stunned with the answers given....or rather lack of answers!! And bear in mind here, that 99% of the candidates interviewed all had 2:1 degrees and above, and all really wanted it as their dream job!

There were three questions that nearly every interview asks, and yesterday was no different:

1. What are your strengths and/or weaknesses?
2. What motivates you? (or What gets you out of bed in the morning?)
3. Why do you want this job?

The answers varied from bad to awful to zero (Yes! One graduate couldn't even unbelievably answer the second question!!)

So my message is a simple one - if you are attending interviews for a new job, make sure you PREPARE FOR THE INTERVIEW otherwise you are completely wasting both yours and the company's time by even attending in the first place. You might as well just go and sit on a park bench and talk to the ducks, for all the good it is going to do!

Don't be a muppet - you know these questions (and other obvious ones) will be asked of you, so make sure that have thought about it, and what you are going to say in reply. These are basic, bog-standard interview questions, they are not exactly a curve ball question - but many many people sitting in an interview screw them up time and time again!  If you are really stuck (or being really thick) then Google it - many others have written the perfect answers for these questions.

Answer them well, and it will impress the interviewer;  answer them badly and you can go back to talking to the ducks - again, again and again!!

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?

Ten things you MUST understand when looking for a job.

Here is a reality check for anybody looking for a job at the moment - and this isn't recession focused, but good 'advice' I have been giving job seekers for years.
These are some things that job seekers have to realise when they enter the job searching process, and they are based on many years of experience recruiting.

These are about understanding the process, focusing on the achievable target only and not assuming anything at all.

So here are my ten things job seekers MUST understand when looking for a job:

1. Sending a CV or an application form WILL ONLY ever get you an interview, it won't get you the job. So focus on that fact and that fact alone.

2. When asked to participate in a telephone interview, remember it is a screening process only. It is a way of saving time for the companies (and a good idea). Here you will only get screened out, not screened in. Those that are not screened out will by default go to the next stage, as the ones that are left. So again a telephone interview is only a route to a face to face interview.

3. You don't get the job at the first interview, but like No 2, you can lose a job here. The second (and in some cases third) interview is the decision maker from a companies perspective. So the goal of the first interview is ONLY to get to the second interview.

4. If you don't ask, you don't get. It is what your Mum told you when you were a little child wasn't it? The same applies with getting a job - at the end of each stage 'ask for the job'. This can be couched in many ways, but the bottom line, asking for the job shows desire and intent to want the job.

5. Follow-up everything. Following up every stage is essential, if only to know you were not successful. It may make the difference when a company is deciding who to invite back for the next stage. If you find out you have been unsuccessful, then at least you can then focus on another job and not waste your time.

Ten Ways to use Facebook to find a job

There are many tools out there in the social media space, and you could be confused by trying to cover all of them - especially if you have recently lost your job and need to find a new one. But for me it is about getting a balance with using a smaller number social media tools that stand the most chance of being effective AND suit you to engage with on a regular basis.
So for me they are LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogging and of course Facebook. This then gives you an even spread across the business focused LinkedIn, the immediacy and 'freshness of Twitter', the personal brand building of blogging and the social networking that is Facebook.

Up until recently Facebook has been the preserve of social networking only, with any overt activity on the job front being somewhat frowned upon. However, two things have changed that - the first being the recession and the need for many people to find new employment, and second, the sheer speed at which Facebook is growing globally - literally millions every week! So now individuals, companies and recruiters are becoming more focused on using Facebook, both from candidate searching and job finding perspective..

I have looked at how you can use Facebook in the most effective way to to help job seekers find a job, and recruiters find the job seeker - both of which are very important in the proactive part of the job marketplace.
So here are ten ways to use Facebook to find a job:

1. Don't forget the public nature of Facebook
While I am sure you do appreciate the public nature of information on the internet, don't forget that just because you are looking for a job. You must assume that everything you write is available for public consumption, and that means any future employers. Many companies now do some internet searching and check the validity of their future employees - yes I know they will all tell you they don't, but I can confidently tell you that's rubbish, they do!
So if you have a profile on LinkedIn and other sites, make sure they all tell the same story! Also make sure your details are all accurate. As I tell everyone, don't put anything on your online profile that you wouldn't want an employer to see.

2. Pimp your profile.
You need to ensure that you have a full profile, and that it reads akin to a CV or Resume.What you must remember is that when companies or recruiters are searching for candidates, they are 'conditioned' to view prospective candidates in a traditional way (right or wrong). So in the art of stating the obvious - give them what they expect.
It is important to highlight your assets and project an accurate representation of yourself. Make sure your education history is correct, with correct dates; your employment history need to be correct, again with correct dates - and just in case you think you can get away with changing the dates, don't even bother - it is very easy to check! ; list any volunteer work or work done through your degree (sandwich courses); check your group memberships  -you may want to remove some of the more 'seemed fun at the time' groups you joined - would you want an employer to see them?