Sirona Says

How delivering a successful recruitment strategy made my client very happy

As someone who consults with organisations about recruitment, there are times when you lose track of everything you have achieved on a project - especially with a large and lengthy project.

Recently I finished a large recruitment project for a household name European client (sorry I have to keep that anonymous currently). While putting together and delivering the final project presentation, the achievements made for some good reading.
Many of you reading this blog, will know that I am passionate about recruitment, and delivering quality and value (to both clients and job seekers), so I thought I would share with you some of what we achieved  on this project (just to demonstrate that blogging is not all that I do!)

Here are just some of the successful parts of the project that we successfully delivered on time and on budget:

• Initiated and implemented the company's first ever employee engagement surveys and external employer brand survey
• Re-engineered all online recruitment workflows and processes
• Introduced social media into the recruiting process
• Designed and rolled out two new online recruitment platforms, one for volume recruitment campaigns and one for multiple, multi country location recruitment
• Dramatically improved the candidate experience online, developing and improving the employer brand at the same time
• Introduction of candidate assessment filtering
• Put the business focus back into recruitment as a key business area
• Aligned the online recruitment processes with the needs of the business
• Improved recruiting and diversity reporting
• Massively increased the recruitment functionality and time saving across multiple locations
• Saved a large portion of the Rain Forest by removing paper CV's!!

I have to say that I have been lucky that I was working with a forward thinking and responsive client (they are not all like that are they?) and an online recruitment provider that was just a pleasure to work with (well most of the time anyway!), and who was as passionate about delivering success as I was.

So, onwards now into some new projects, a good number of which will no doubt be focused around social recruiting (if all the meetings I have had recently are anything to go by!).

If you are considering recruitment projects at the moment, and would like to know more about some of the things we did to deliver this project successfully, feel free to contact me for a more detailed discussion.

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.

TRULondon 2 and Unconferences - what they are all about (video blog)

TruLondon 2 kicks off in a few weeks time, and I wanted to share my thoughts on what an Unconference is all about, and the upcoming event in a few weeks time - TRUlondon 2.

So in the spirit of unconferences, I have forsaken the keyboard and recorded this short video blog instead:

Ifyou are having problems viewing, here is the direct YouTube link http://bit.ly/837ZuK

For more information on all the speakers how to attend TRULondon 2 click here.

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?

I bet you can't answer all these!! Is this the most comprehensive list of interview questions you have seen?

I was going through one of my old websites yesterday, and I came across this extensive (if I say so myself) list of interview questions I had on the website. They are aimed at both companies looking for interview help, and for candidates looking for some help to get through interviews.

So you reckon you can answer an interview question or two? Or are you interviewing people this week, and are a little short on interview question inspiration?

If either is the case, then have fun with this long list - there are over 125 interview questions here!

Achievement
Tell me about a time when you went beyond the call of duty.
Tell me about accomplishments of which you are the most proud.
What challenging experiences have you had?
What do you consider to be your most important accomplishment and why?
What is the most difficult task you have undertaken?
What is the most stimulating thing you are looking for in a job?
What were your most memorable accomplishments with your last employer?
What was your greatest disappointment?

Motivations
How important is recognition to you?
How important is responsibility to you?
What makes you put forth your greatest effort?
What motivates you in accomplishing difficult tasks?
What has your last employer done that motivated you to work harder?
What challenges are you looking for in a job?
What motivates you to be successful in your job?
How important are promotions and advancement to you?

Sense of Self
Describe situations in which you are most successful.
How do you define 'success?'
How would you describe your standards of performance?
What are some of the reasons for your success?
What does 'failure' mean to you?
Tell me about your recent successes.
Why are you better than your colleagues/co-workers?

Weaknesses
How could you have improved your progress?
What weaknesses have you overcome when accomplishing difficult tasks?

Behavior
Describe a conflict with an employee and how you handled it.
Describe a (recent) situation in which you had to quickly establish your credibility and gain the confidence of others. What did you do ?
Describe a (recent) situation when you didn't know who you needed to speak with in an organisation to get something done. What did you do ?
Describe a (recent) situation on your last job that you did not handle as well as you might have.
Describe a time when you simplified or clarified a situation by putting your finger on the key issue.
Describe how you work under pressure.
Describe how you would handle rude, difficult or impatient people.
Finish this sentence: Successful managers are the ones who....
Given a situation when you disagree with your supervisor, how would you deal with it?
What role do you take in a group situation? Give examples.
Your supervisor tells you to do something in a way you know is ineffective. What would you do?

The social recruiting battlegrounds in 2010

The last decade has, in my opinion, seen one of the biggest seed changes the recruitment industry has seen for many years. While I am referring to social media, I also combine that with the evolution (it took it's time but now has real momentum) that has  been online recruitment.

The primary change is that we're no longer just regarding them as recruitment experiements, they are now primary recruitment channels. Online recruitment systems (ATS's), job boards and social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and even Facebook have quickly become established candidate recruitment channels. And for me, this has led to the biggest change of all - increased candidate expectation!

The companies that have not yet embraced social recruiting, via the sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube (not forgetting blogs), will need to take a long hard look at themselves, as these platforms will become the recruiting battlegrounds of 2010.
Companies and recruiters that have been sitting at the head of the curve, have already created successful communities on specific platforms - like the already very successful Mya4e Community site, based on the Tribepad platform - and will they definitely yield recruitment success from these recruitment communities (the caveat being that whatever the platform, they need to be maintained and effectively managed to yield desired results).
Some companies and recruiters are already actively building effective communities, on the likes of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Many companies towards the end of 2009, finally realised that they need to be in the social recruiting space, and have started to explore it further.

Building your online community - whether it be via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or a blog - will be absolutely crucial to success in social recruiting. Recruiting is all about relationships - with clients and candidates alike - and using social media tools are fantastic ways to initiate and develop relationships with them. So, by building your own communities (on individual or multiple social channels) with interesting, compelling and relevent content, companies and recruiters will both start to create a social recruiting brand that they will certainly need in the years ahead.

Battlegrounds inevitably have casualties scattered around them. So, if candidate expectation (around using social media in recruiting), continues to increase the way it has in 2009, then be prepared for the consequences, because, if as a company or a recruiter, you choose to ignore social recruiting as a channel for 2010, then you will be watching your competitors take control of the recruiting battleground for good!

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.

So what does a Director of Social Media Job look like then?

Some of the 'big brands' are now accepting that the world of social media needs to be taken seriously. While there are already senior social media positions in some companies, I think 2010 will see a proliferation of new social media jobs within the corporate world (my first prediction for the New Year!), as many companies play social media catch-up.

So I was interested to see how one of the worlds biggest brands - McDonalds - classify a job title such as Director of Social Media.

The advert was placed on Careerbuilder, and the content of the role is as follows:

Director of Social Media

McDonalds is the largest and best-known global foodservice retailer with more than 30,000 restaurants, serving 46 million customers each day in 121 countries. Our outstanding brand recognition, experienced management, high-quality food, site development expertise, advanced operational systems and unique global infrastructure position us to capitalize on global opportunities. We plan to expand our leadership position through great tasting food, superior service, everyday value & convenience. Visit our web site to learn more about us.

Reporting to the Director of External Communications, the Director of Social Media will be responsible for developing and leading the social media strategy to support the McDonald's U.S. business both at the national and local level.

In this role, the Director will develop and proactively counsel business partners on the strategy that guides McDonald's USA program activation, as well as in crisis and issues management within social media, effectively reaching and engaging defined audiences in addition to driving awareness and trial of new food news/promotions and protecting/enhancing the overall brand.

Specifically, the Director will develop and execute the social media strategy for the U.S. Business inclusive of social networking, blogger relations, micro-blogging, crisis/issues management, brand engagement, etc.

The Director will also align the social media strategy with supported U.S. Business and global departments (e.g., Marketing, HR, corporate communications, corporate social responsibility, etc.) and with other U.S. Communication departmental areas (e.g., media relations, third parties/public affairs, external, internal and management communications).

Requirements include:

    * BA degree in communications, marketing or public relations
    *  At least 5-8 years total communications experience required. At least 2-3 years of that experience must be in social media - i.e., developing, implementing and measuring social media strategy and programming for consumer brands and at least 3-5 years of that experience must be in public relations and/or marketing.
    * Strong leadership, communication and relationship-building/collaboration skills
    * Strong written and verbal communication skills
    * Strong working knowledge of social networking, blogs, microblogs, mobile, user-generated sites, etc.
    * Demonstrated experience in applying new technologies and trends to brand's social media strategy and activation

What do you think? Is this reasonable expectation of experience? Do they want someone who has just got the 'time served' approach to experience ( ie 2-3 years of social media experience)? Do many of those exist? I think we know the answer to that one! I think they are looking for a 'golden nugget' there!!

I think Ronald should apply for the job!!

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.

Three more really good NEW Recruitment and HR blogs for the UK

The number of good Recruitment and HR blogs in the UK have been a little lacking when compared to the prolific numbers of great blogs in this sector in the US. It is strange when we have such a strong recruitment industry in the UK, with a fair number of strongly opinionated people in the industry, and blogs being a great vehicle to share knowledge and opinions on industry topics.

A few of weeks ago I highlighted two new recruitment blogs that have started in the UK recently, and I am pleased to say that they are already attracting comment, opinion and disagreement - just what we want in the blogging fraternity!

Well, great news, because here are three more blog newbies that show the promise of being excellent blogs with great HR and recruitment material on them. So here is a quick heads up on three blogs you need to plug into your RSS reader:

Wendy The Recruiter

Wendy Jacob is a seasoned recruiter with eight long years under her belt. She has been around the Twitter world for a good time now, but has finally taken the step to share her opinions and experiences on recruitment and alike.

She has written a couple of great starter posts covering subjects like Google Wave CV's and The personal benefits of social media. So make sure you put Wendy's blog in your RSS reader.

T Recs

Mervyn Dinnen is a seasoned recruiter ( I think that means he has been recruiting since the Model T came along ), that specialises in HR recruiting. His blog T Recs, is alluding to the dinosaurs of recruitment (I think), but to be fair, his extensive experience brings with it some superb blog posts. I echo the sentiments of one of his posts Do recruiters get social media, and find Recruiters need to get smart to win the generation game, a great insight into the future of recruiting. So again, put Mervyn into you RSS reader, you won't be disappointed.

Norton Folgate: The Recruiting Unblog

Bill Boorman may already be well know to you all, because he is a prolific Twitterer ( let me define that for you - well over 100 tweets a day!! and yes he is seeking help for it!) Bill has been in recruiting for way too many years (like me), and has been inspirational this year fro bringing something really radical to the UK conference scene. He set up TruLondon - The Uk's first ever Recruiting Unconference. After a really successful event, he has now gone Tru global, with events going to appear all over the world (and if Bill has anything to do with it, on the Moon next year as well !!)
Just to add to his hectic workload, he also started blogging, and has already caused controversy with posts such as Don't follow me and There is no recruiting god. A definite candidate for your RSS reader if ever I saw one!

Here are three blogging newbies, but don't forget there are other great blogs in the UK in the HR and recruiting space. You can vote for the Best UK Recruitment Blog of 2009 here - oh yes, and did I mention this blog is in the voting? 

I am really keen to promote other excellent newbie blogs in the recruitment and HR space so let me know if you see any you like!!

Are recruiters apathetic, confused or have they got their heads stuck in the sand when it comes to social recruiting?

Over the last few weeks I have presented at two different REC events - the Executive Recruiters Autumn Congress and yesterday at REC's first ever Annual Conference, as well as the cleverly titled Recruiting Unconference. The audiences have therefore been a good selection of the recruitment industry.

I have been very surprised at the very small numbers of them that say they are using the different types of social media to help them in their recruitment jobs.
Yes, the majority have a Facebook account, but that is solely for their friends and family networks. Many have LinkedIn accounts, but very few are using them properly to help them with their day job. I met with a recruitment industry salesperson yesterday at REC, who didn't even realise that they could source target companies (recruitment agencies) via LinkedIn. And when it came to Twitter, I might just as well have been talking about the anti-christ!

One of my slides when I have been presenting, includes the images below. For me recruiters fall into one of the three categories:

Total Apathy.

Confused about which way to go.

Simply sticking their head in the sand.

I actually think it is a bit of all three!!

I guess what I have learnt is that the majority of people in the recruitment industry just don't get social recruiting yet!!

I have already had feedback via Twitter (yesterday when I posed a similar question), that we should equate this whole social recruiting thing to job boards and the time it took for them to be accepted. Well that may be the case, but I think things are changing at a much faster rate! I was around in recruitment when job boards first arrived on the scene, to fanfares and ticker tape parades. It took years for recruiters and companies for the online penny to drop (and some still don't believe it works now!!), so we know it will take time.

But, and it a very big but, social recruiting is no respecter of time. The companies and recruiters that have 'got it' are already reaping the benefits. They are accessing and engaging with candidates like they have never done before, and are finding it to be truly revolutionary for recruitment.

And do you know what?

Candidate expectation of companies and recruiters using different social media channels to communicate and engage with them, rises every single day. It is they who will be the drivers. They will dictate how recruiters and companies will succeed or fail within social recruiting.
Why? Because social media has no respect of reputations. Big or small - it doesn't matter who you are; by not getting involved sends a bigger message out than getting involved and making some mistakes. Candidates will be attracted to companies and recruiters that they can engage, communicate and build a relationship with via social media, not the ones don't even try!

Now you may be thinking that it doesn't matter at the moment, because of the recession. Yes, there are loads of candidates out there at the moment, but that will start to change....and it will start to very soon. If as a recruiter you have been 'toughing' it out, waiting for the good times to roll again, think again.
The recruitment landscape has now changed for ever.

Social Recruiting IS HERE TO STAY. The quicker you get started the less ground you are going to have to make up with your competitors!

So if you need  help in 2010 with understanding the benefits of social recruiting just ask - I will be happy to oblige!

When I grow up I want to be a .............recruiter. Yeah, right!!

When did you EVER hear someone say that when they were a kid? Let me guess.....never?

Check out this excellent (if somewhat idyllic) video.......

I guess all of us in the recruiting and HR industries can always dream that the youth of today, will actually say this one day..............but I don't think we should be holding our breath!!