Posts Tagged ‘ applicants ’

Do You Really Need to Ask About Salary?

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In the last two weeks one thing has stood out for me, leaving me feeling slightly uneasy because I am unsure whether I am right or not, strangely despite how I feel about it.

I’ve had a view on a particular matter as a recruiter and recruitment manager over the last few years and then much more so as a candidate last year during #myjobhunt and more recently.

What do you think when you are asked “What is your current salary or package?”

Do you answer? Why do you answer?

What purpose does it serve to ask the question? What purpose will it serve to answer the question? Surely this is an irrelevant question and on one’s business but mine?

In organisations where a rigid grade or compensation policy doesn’t exist, I can understand knowing what someone is currently earning helps construct an offer and package to fit the candidate and helps to avoid over paying someone. Yet is it still relevant? Shouldn’t you know how much you want to and can pay and still achieve worth to your business? Are you not asking for a multitude of problems and challenges by making yourselves open to negotiation.

In the larger more complex organisations the compensation packages are mapped directly to the Job Families and the Grades. New vacancies are generally submitted and approved based on the budget available, grade and salary banding (the guidance received from either the Recruiting or the Compensation & Benefits departments). Offers are made accordingly to qualified candidates.

Last year it seemed that only agencies or search firms had an interest in what I was earning in my previous job. None could provide me with a good enough reason for me to give them the info. I can only assume that they preferred to take short cuts to categorise me by a job title and salary to ensure an easy deal closure, rather than my personality, achievements, competencies and potential. Whereas the expert recruiters and interviewers at prospective employers didn’t need to ask. I was assessed and judged properly.

This year is no different. In the last two weeks I have refused to give an answer to that question to three different companies. They come up with all sorts of reasons why they needed to know, one even stating that their client, an HRD in an FTSE 100 organisation, had asked for availability and salary information to be put on a cover sheet. Expectations maybe, but I cannot imagine anyone asking for current info. Why would anyone need to know this?

All the time I was looking to move on from my last job and when I finally took the plunge, I was constantly asking myself, agencies and search companies –

“Why should the limitations and salary restrictions of my current/previous employer have any bearing or influence on what a future employer might consider I am worth to them?”

Please think about it – I’d be interested to hear the thoughts of others on this.

2011
07/27
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CATEGORY
Job Hunting
Recruitment
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Why would I want to work for your company?

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“Why would I want to work for your company?” and “What is in it for me?” are two questions, we as recruiters very rarely hear from candidates and yet both of them are top of the list of questions that candidates need to ask, should ask and probably subconsciously consider when job hunting.

We ALL do it without exception when we are looking for a job and must remember to consider these same questions as a prospective employer and ask ourselves “why would someone want to work for us” and “what would they get out of it?”

A professional recruiter is tasked with promoting their employer, its values and the career opportunities it has the potential to provide to people, yet so many recruiters, HR Directors and Managers as well as hiring managers and shamefully executives too, take it for granted that if a brand or company is big enough in its space (whether that is locally, nationally or globally) it will be a magnet for candidates. Seriously though it is a common mistake that so many people (companies) make, and it can be fatal as far as candidate engagement goes. If you are a recruiter or if you are a hiring manager and fail to provide a candidate with a compelling reason to join your company they just won’t!

A good indicator about how well you are “selling” the company or giving candidates the right level of information and incentive is to look at the number of rejected offers you get and the number of people who leave your organisation voluntarily within their first year of employment. Statistics will vary dept. by dept. and company to company, but if is higher than 10% I suggest that you need to look at how well you are selling yourself and your company.

There could be any number of points that candidates might find compelling and they’re likely to be different from candidate to candidate. Earnings Potential, Team, Challenge, Office Environment, Career Stability, Career Progression……..the list goes on. They are all very personal to the candidate and each will play a part in his or her decision process. Add to them the corporate employer brand, your place in the market and you have a big big story to create.

Unless the time and effort is invested to make the candidate feel important by finding out what is important to them you won’t be able to help them make the right choice. If you have found the right person, one you and others in the hiring process know will add value, you have an obligation to give them all of the information they want, as well as information you think they should know so that they can choose you.

There is no point in just assuming because you have a job to offer and a decent salary it will be enough to get a decision in your favour. Similarly, just because you have a great product or service doesn’t mean that you have a reputation of any kind, good or bad as an employer. You have to sell the benefit and value and what it could mean to each person. Do not take anything for granted.

2011
04/04
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CATEGORY
Business
Employer Branding - Good
Recruitment
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Why can’t you fill my vacancies?

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We all hear about the politicians, The REC, the CBI and other commentators that have opinions talk about The Skills Shortage, as if it is a living thing, in generalised terms, yet does anyone actually know what this Skills Shortage is that they talk about? In the real world employers do not generally tend to have too much trouble finding staff to fill their vacancies, certainly not where I have worked. However there are times when filling a vacancy does prove difficult.

I think every recruiter whether working for an agency or doing it for real in-house, as well as most HR practitioners will have come up against a specific real world skills shortage every now and then. This is typical when there is a huge demand for skills required as a result of legislative or processing change. Examples of this might be the major changes in how programs were developed in the 80’s and 90’s from linear coding to OOD (what we take as pretty standard and has moved on to how programs are written today). Computer Operating Systems changed drastically in the 90’s from mainframe and centralised computing to distributed Windows and UNIX platforms. Then you have the business applications that required major process overhauls or innovation; changes to Pensions administration in the 80’s, Y2K (this was when the dates changed from 1999 to 2000 in case you didn’t notice), SOX and more recently Solvency II amongst a shed full of others. Technical skills (not necessarily IT skills) needed to address these business processes or requirements are varied but at the time tend to be either in high demand or non-existent in the job market. But is there ever really any need for it to be this way.

One thing that has been common over the last three decades and remains unchanged today is there always seems to be a lack of planning by business to accommodate these changes. Typically changes to legislation that affect business processes come with plenty of notice to allow businesses to prepare, train and deliver. Its common sense to realise that whenever significant changes need to be implemented there is always a drastic demand for specialist skills. Yet if every company in your market space wants the same limited resources, or the specific combination of requirements that just never existed before, what are you supposed to do, as recruiters and as businesses?

I suspect that many recruiters continue to try and find that elusive candidate or two to acquiesce a hiring manager that has a wish list of demands.

I also suspect that hiring managers hold out for the perfect candidate that can perform and deliver from day one.

Recruiters – Just saying we can’t find what you are looking for is not good enough.

Hiring Managers – Just asking for experience that is not available in the market and leaving a vacancy open for longer than 60 days or more is not good enough either.

Neither attitude helps though does it? It doesn’t get the job done!

Yet despite the fact that so many companies are chasing the limited resources, how many are thinking longer term and looking at ways to actually get the job done?

I can’t understand this. Consider the cost of an empty seat for 3 months, offering zero productivity and a zero prognosis on when it will be filled as well as the impact that empty seat has on other members of the team. Then consider taking a ‘not quite perfect’ candidate and training them over the same period. Not only have you got someone who is taking some of the work now, you will have someone who will fill the seat in 3 months. Surely it’s better to train someone to be productive in three months, than it is to wait for three months then still have no one to do the job.

Very simple logic.

Whilst the hiring managers own the process of business process delivery the recruiters are responsible to ensure that the right skills are acquired for the job. Typically recruiters will have a good feel for the market; if they are doing their job properly they will do anyway. They should have the information, confidence and the trust of their customer community to advise, consult and provide the information to the hiring managers. Be brave say it as it is. If a hiring manager can’t have what they want because of non-availability of and competition for skills or money or any other influencing factor then you need to tell them. It won’t be good enough to just say it, you will have to outline the potential implications along with the options available and how you would propose to ensure that their business plans stay on track.

And just engaging with more agencies won’t work either. If the skills don’t exists how are they going to find them?
The solution however lies in the advanced notice and planning, being aware of changes and the impact to resources both in-house and in the job market that these changes will demand. In the HR community we call this Talent Demand Planning. It should be taken seriously by the business leaders and planner, by the HRBP and by the Recruiters, planning potentially up to 18-24 months in advance, yet I suspect it is not.

Why not?

Who knows? Complacency, laziness, nativity, arrogance or worse ignorance of the job market and available talent pools. A combination of the above I suspect comes close.

There is no such thing as The Skills Shortage just poor planning and limited vision.

2011
03/06
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CATEGORY
Recruitment
Uncategorized
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An old post: Will I Win? or I Will Win!

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Originally posted 23 September 2009

I read a very good article this morning, one that made me think hard about behaviour, rationale and the power and control of my own mind

In the article by Peter Bregman in the Harvard Business Blog showed how simple mind games can have a very adverse affect on our personality and our lives. It is a great article and really struck home how much control we give to our imagination and creating fantasies that can all to easily become reality.

In describing the two scenarios; his own personal anxieties after being stung by a number of hornets and the behaviour and actions of his friend in the work place I am sure Peter has outlined situations that we can all see ourselves doing in our daily lives. I certainly can – it is only human nature surely.

Will I Win? or I Will Win! Exactly the same number of letters, the same number words. All that is different is the order they are in. The first has doubt and insecurity running all through it, whereas coming at the same words from a different perspective and using them slight differently they become full of certainty and confidence.

So by taking control of your imagination and reeling in the fantasy before you start living it you’ll have better options. Positive Mental Attitude is what it’s all about. And we can control that! I’m neither an evangelist nor an expert on the issues at all and don’t intend to preach but I read this article and it reminded me that by taking the positive “I Will Win!” stance is actually more enjoyable and relaxing than asking the question.

2011
03/06
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Recruitment
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How much visibility do you want / need when Job Hunting? – Day 32 #myjobhunt

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Since Day 1 I have been blogging frequently about my quest for a new job. When I started I did it purely to reflect on the day past. Within 2 days this had changed. The response I got from people gave me confidence and made me realize that this blog could be a fundamental tool in my job hunting activities. By the end of the first week I couldn’t believe the response and support I had received from so many people, some of whom I had already met, many I had not. It was however Week 2 that things really took off and by the end of Week 3 I had secured my first offer (Day 16). I think I have already written about how I got to Week 3 previously and will no doubt do so again in more detail, once #myjobhunt comes to a conclusion, if in fact it does before I lose interest in writing about it.

Since Week 3 and that offer I have come to realize something and it has been on my mind since. I have made my job hunting activities so open and visible to people, what will happen and what will people think of me if I don’t secure a job? Of course it is inevitable that people will start to wonder why people don’t want me. What will happen if I get a job and then it doesn’t work out? What if I can’t cope? What if …..? What if…..? So many what ifs? I have asked myself if writing this blog was the sensible thing to do in the first place and how can I stop without any negative impact.

Then I looked at the positives of the blog. The blog almost became my CV, the opportunities it created for me, not only actual jobs, but further discussions to take my career in a different direction have been constant throughout the last six and a bit weeks. Some are not for me, others have been too much for me i.e. I didn’t think I was ready or not likely to meet the expectations of role. Some have been great but the salary or rate and location hasn’t worked well. Others still haven’t mature yet and may or may not at all.

The blog has given me so many new perspectives on things; it has taught me some huge lessons about the market and the ability (or lack of) of the many practitioners in it; good and bad. It has made me think and be more reflective about what I want and what I can do. The good thing is that all of the lessons learned will be taken into my next job and built upon and shared with my colleagues, hopefully adding value at each step. This whole journey has taught me so much and no matter what, I expect I will still continue to blog in such a manner going forward.

This quest, this journey so far has been very emotional; worrying, stressful, annoying, humbling, inspiring, enjoyable, amusing. I have to this point, every step of the way enjoyed it immensely and I have made some terrific new friends.

Music of Day 32 – Daydream Believer by The Monkees – very loud and singing on the train!!! Oh yes I did! And others joined in!

How much visibility do you want / need when Job Hunting?

On Day 30 I got the call I was waiting for (and dreading!).

Today I accepted a job. I start 1st October 2010.

THANK YOU EVERYONE

2010
09/15
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Job Hunting
Networking
Recruitment
Social Media
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What does the Recruitment Industry Compete on?

[tweetmeme source=”GaryFranklin”]

In a departure from #myjobhunt blog series

Recently I was asked “What do you think are the key factors that the recruitment industry competes on?”

My Answer:

You have to think about what you are competing for. Are agencies and search firms competing for the potential candidates or are they competing for the actual deal with the customer? They should have both in mind always.

Of course if competing for the candidates you have to be able to present yourself as credible and effective. An agency has to present itself as knowing the market as well as the ins and outs of the customer they are representing to the candidate, without the hard sell. They have to know all there is to know to ensure that the candidate has sufficient information to determine if the job and company is suitable. Also armed with the customer knowledge the agency recruiter will be able to determine accurately if a candidate can be turned into a credible applicant in front of the customer.

Competing at the customer level we look for agencies or suppliers that will be able to represent our brand, our company and the position we are recruiting for as if they work for us; much like a sales channel does for products. If a search firm or agency can show they have the ability to understand our business, our processes and our culture then they will be equipped to sell our proposition to each candidate and be of greater service and thus value to all parties.

To compete we all have to be in the position to represent ourselves to each other and meet the expectations of all involved. If as a customer I respect the agency or search firm – and more importantly the person I am dealing with – I will invest the time to educate them and equip them to better represent me. In doing so the agency or search firm will be armed to earn the trust of the candidate. The candidate will have confidence that they will be represented to the customer and the customer will have the confidence that their brand is in safe hands. The customer will appreciate that candidates from that particular source will be thoroughly vetted and closest to the mark.

So answer to the question; the industry competes on knowledge and credibility……………oh yeah, for the poorly managed in-house PSL structures its all about price and not quality of service and the poorly equipped agencies all compete on speed of service rather than quality.

I welcome thoughts and comments on this one please

2010
09/10
POSTED BY
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Employer Branding - Bad
End-to-End Recruitment Lifecycle Management
Recruitment
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Job Hunting is About Making Right Choices for the Right Reasons – Day 27 #myjobhunt

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This is Wednesday and Day 27. I’ve been unemployed for 2 whole weeks now. Gone in a flash! Feels like the first push has come to a head now. For the last week this was always going to be a big day for #myjobhunt with two final, or at least that was how they had been billed, interviews.

So before I get into the events and thoughts of today, let’s have a quick look at yesterday. As you have read in this and other blogs a few friends had a camping expedition in Devon over the weekend. It was one of the most relaxing and fun filled weekends I have had in a long time, maybe because there was very little pressure and the only expectations that had to be realized, were we would laugh, have a lot to drink, get very wet surfing and not have nearly enough sleep. The big point of this for me was the laughter and the relaxation with friends that have cared and have supported me throughout #myjobhunt. Talk of work was avoided and only touched upon in general or lighthearted banter. With sixteen very noisy, confident and extrovert people in a reasonably close environment you would have thought that I wouldn’t have had time for serious reflection, yet this is exactly what I was able to do, albeit briefly.

On Monday of this week I had a long conversation with Mrs F about the progress of #myjobhunt. No concerns apart from making the right choice. It doesn’t necessarily come down to choice and in this particular case – I’ll get there in a moment – it wasn’t about choice.

Since Day 1 I have been pursuing a job with an American technology company and have had a number of interviews, all of which have been blogged about here. I had a supposed final interview last week which resulted in another final interview to be had this week, today in fact. At this point I didn’t have a choice. As I mentioned very early on in Day 1 or Day 2 a candidate needs to get an offer to make a choice. Well that is not entirely true. I had the choice to withdraw my application altogether, didn’t I?

And that is what I did; I withdrew my application after 6 interviews. Didn’t see that one coming did you?

Why? You may ask. There were number of reasons if I was being really picky and critical, however the key deciding factor was that I did not have a good feeling about it. I didn’t have a bad feeling either. This means I had no emotion attached to it and to pursue a job that, if I got it, would have meant a 130-mile round trip, which I was poorly motivated by would have been wrong; not only for me, but to them too. Also after 6 individual interviews for the same role I was pursing it, they were not pursing me. I don’t want that to sound arrogant but they hadn’t once called me after an interview to ask me for my feedback, nor had they given me any feedback or a compelling reason to want to work for them. It won’t therefore surprise you; it didn’t me, to know that all they said when I called to tell them was “thanks for letting us know”! (WTF???) I think that response justifies and verifies that I had made the right decision to pull out.

I know! I know! They may have had that response because I was not the person they wanted anyway. But please???!! They and we have to give a candidate a better experience than that. It wasn’t a bad one and it won’t change my views on their products, but it wasn’t good enough for my requirements as a candidate, or by my standards as a Recruitment Manager.

Dusted down and moving on.

I was also contacted directly by a couple of members of The FIRM who proposed ideas to me or wanted to explore my interest or availability. Another couple of online contacts had put resourcers at other companies in touch with me and these need to be followed up.

So whilst the pipeline is not as long as it was previously it is still there. But it needs me persecute it and not let the opportunities slip me by. It is important that I follow all of these up to be sure I am not overlooked, nor show anyone any disrespect. If I have done this to you already I apologise.

Onwards and Upwards – Day 27: I travelled into London with my usual tunes on my iPod – yup you guessed it Genesis, Suppers Ready – for an interview in the City. I love the City, as I do most of Central London, but the City is special and was looking forward to this one having had a great call with both the recruiter and the hiring manager last week.

(SIDE NOTE -Trouble was the Tube strike hangover today. Now do they think us stupid? “signal failures” crippling the network the day after a strike. Says much about the intelligence somewhere in that mix! The irony is that they are striking over the possibility of maybe 800 jobs being cut and yet their laziness and not going to work today was delaying me for an interview. Lazy work-shy b#@*&$+s)

Where was I? – oh yeah stuck at Baker Street. I got to the City in the end in plenty of time – my usual 30 minutes safety window intact. The interview seemed to go well, but I think they are always difficult to read. That is all I will say. I am very keen on this one and don’t want to tempt fate. True to their nature the recruiter called within 2 hours to ask me for my feedback; however that call turned into another interview of sorts. This recruiter is awesome and asked me questions about the questions I was asked in the interview proper. What a way to make sure I had been focused, paying attention to the key points and taking it all in. So now I have the wait to hear. This is the worst bit. I am tight with anticipation on this one.

Music of Day 26 – Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd
Music of Day 27 – Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones

The one big downer of the last few days is the news that Connaught, the housing facilities maintenance company has gone into administration. There are a few of their recruiters in The FIRM that are likely to be affected or at least left worrying in uncertain times. I mention it because it means that potentially a large number of people – 4500 reported – could be in the same boat as me soon. It is not nice and I wish them all success in finding replacement opportunities soon, should they need to. One of their number, a recruiter and a member of The FIRM contacted my directly on Twitter yesterday, thanking me for this blog! He has taken something from it and reported to me today that he has already arranged two interviews on his Day 1– so I have competition in #myjobhunt eh? Seriously this is great news and of course I am glad I help in a small way – who would be?

What was also interesting is that he has been able to do this using his network of contacts and not relaying on the traditional and “so last year” approach of calling the agencies.

So if anyone reading this is looking for a technical recruiter in the Thames Valley, Surrey, Hants or London please give Jon Harrison aka @jonnieboyh a Tweet. Let’s see if we can take this social media networking thing to the next level shall we?

I want a job and that is till my #1 priority but if I can help others find jobs and if I can help companies find candidates by Paying it Forward, then I will.

And NO NO NO I am not starting my own agency again!

It’s called Social Recruiting

Just in case you are wondering what my background is my LinkedIn profile is a click away

or at

in the About Me page above. My contact details can be found in the Contact Me page and am open to any type of conversation that will help me or help you.

Thanks for reading

2010
09/08
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CATEGORY
Job Hunting
Networking
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Poor Job Descriptions Damage Employer Brand – FACT it happened today! – Day 21 #myjobhunt

[tweetmeme source=”GaryFranklin”]

Yesterday was a long weekend Bank holiday in most of the UK and with Friday of this week being the first day of #SocRecCamp, this week was always going to be a very short week and as such I had resigned myself to taking it relatively easy. This was further justified by the fact that today would likely be the first day back into the office after the summer holidays for many. Sound reasoning and I was sticking to it.

Shame others didn’t read the same script. (haha only kidding!). Still it did stop me from getting out of bed until nearly 10am making and having my morning coffee sitting in the sunshine. When I did login (in the sun – I am allowed to gloat aren’t I?) I noticed that two emails had come in from recruiters at companies that didn’t have the luxury of the three day weekend. One was of particular interest. So I did after all have an email or two to send today and a couple of calls to make!

Therefore at a little after 10.30am I took my coffee up to my “office” at the end of the lane and had two very interesting calls.

It is worth pointing out that over weekend I completed posting notifications of #myjobhunt to other online communities and replicating my blog on http://www.ere.net for good measure. It was from these extra efforts that three of the calls I made today came about.

The first call of the day was a follow up to an approach made to me on Day 20 by an agency that had been given my details by one of my friends from The FIRM. They have an interesting, role that having glanced at the formal job description needs time to read and digest properly. On this issue, this company and its job description, as with others I have reviewed over the last few weeks, needs some serious work if they want candidates to take them seriously. This one is 6 – yes 6! pages long and has so much corporate bollocks in it that they embarrass themselves. Sorry it has to be said. Still it will get read, digested and understood if I can. I would love to name this bank, just to open a discussion with them. I know I could do a better job than they have. Another future blog – when names will be mentioned.

I have yet only seen one clear and proper job advert from a large company that actually inspires me to want to read it. This is quite educational seeing this all from an applicant’s perspective considering for the last few years I might have written some of these same absurd descriptions or what might pass for them thinking that they do the job. I hope I didn’t

Job descriptions need to advertise and inspire. The only objective, yes the one and only one objective is to stimulate an application from the candidate. Anything else is corporate overload. Someone in HR and legal will point out that they have to cover bases, however this can be done in a formal situation or as part of a contract I am sure.

I digress on a mini-rant. Sorry.

The second call of the day was very refreshing. Not only was the job itself almost a perfect job for me but the recruiter I was speaking to was almost perfect in every way. This was by far the best telephone call I have had with an in-house recruiter EVER! Detailed, knowledgeable, thorough, persistent, courteous, interested, managing the conversation for her goals and also setting my expectations correctly. If every member of my team was like this person we would be setting all of the standards for others. I hope one day I get to meet her.

So 1 hour in the “office”, with all of the usual harvest time farm vehicles going past, kicking up clouds of dust as they go and I have a permanent job and one interim opportunity onto the pipeline.

On getting back to my laptop I had received confirmation of a final interview for tomorrow afternoon.

I have been since last Wednesday, the day I finally left my job, been feeling a tightening across my shoulders and in my neck. The tension of being unemployed was there. Not sure why given that #myjobhunt was progressing pretty well. It might have something to do with the pipeline drying up a little as mentioned last week. There are always doubts, concerns, insecurities and a dampening of confidence in any quest. This is no different. But now I have left the company it is all very very real. Also as I get close to the final interview planned for tomorrow, a decision process could be very imminent. There are now 2 or 3 really exiting jobs in the pipeline but only one of them is advanced and with the others not likely to happen fast they are not going to figure onto the decision grid in the same time frame, if I am in the fortunate position to have to decide. That’s a new day though, a lot can happen yet.

Of course I may not get offered the job I am interviewing for tomorrow; therefore I have to keep seeding the pipeline. But in doing so there is a risk to being attracted by the glow coming from over the horizon. Let see what happens tomorrow shall we?

To add to my confusion I get a call later in the day from a company, in response to interest expressed to a role posted on The FIRM’s job listings. This one too sounds as if it could be a role that will offer me the challenges sought. A few hurdles (hopefully not roadblock) to overcome on this.

So tomorrow is going to be another big day in #myjobhunt. As I stated in Day 1 it is my objective to get an offer so that I have a choice, by having a choice I am able to make a decision and thus be in control. I have been fortunate to have had a choice already during the last four weeks, if all goes according to plan I am hoping to have another as a result of tomorrow.

Music of Day 21 was Asylum by Disturbed

So aside from a final interview for a very good job tomorrow I have Robert Plant in concert on Thursday evening and then off to #SocRecCamp on Friday.

I will explain in detail what #SocRecCamp is in anther posting, however as a taster it is a group of Social Media enthusiasts, all of us involved in recruiting, (Consultants, Agency, In-house, Press, Software), who having met via Twitter over the last year have decided to go camping, yes in tents, and surfing in Devon over the coming weekend. There is one of the 16 who hasn’t met any of the others yet but most of us are comfortable enough with each other from online interaction and phone discussions we know what to expect. Laughter!

2010
08/31
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
#SocRecCamp
Job Hunting
Networking
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Job Hunting, must be Deliberately Deliberating – Day 20 #myjobhunt

This is the end of Day 20 and Week 4 of #myjobhunt – I am now unemployed!

[tweetmeme source=”GaryFranklin”]

The good news is that I can start the job of my choice immediately. The bad news is I don’t have a choice right now and can start work immediately.

In the last 24 hours I have probably had more new job vacancies come my way than in any other 24 hour period since I started #myjobhunt; all of them contract, with the exception of one permanent job. Unfortunately none of them fit with what I am looking for at this time, or I have been warned away. Of course this may change as time goes on, but for now I am not panicking and am being deliberate about what I am looking for.

To recap:-

I am looking for a Talent Attraction or Acquisition management position that will allow me to create, implement and then deliver against strategies. Or as a Recruitment Process Project Manager.

Areas of specialization: – don’t ever expect me to use the word EXPERT or GURU. In my experience those that call themselves gurus and experts just aren’t.

– Reducing agency spend through direct sourcing channels – managing the change
– Strategic planning and delivery of time challenged projects
– Creating and building online candidate communities
– Social Media & Online Recruiting tools
– ATS/CRM/CSM evaluation, selection and deployment

Now that I have the promotion bit done. What was Day 20 all about then?

I cannot believe how quiet it has been this week. But then it is the last full week of August, it is a long holiday weekend in most of the UK and schools go back next week. So it is the busiest holiday week of the summer.

Deliberately taking it easy today. I spent a couple of hours in LinkedIn, replying to inmails and approving or declining applications to join The FIRM. I was meeting someone at 1pm for a coffee so decided to get organized and go and sit in my “office” for an hour.

I parked up and there were two voice mails for me. One was a third or fourth round of telephone tennis and the other was about a job I had been pursing. I’d already had a couple of qualifying calls with their TA team and was pretty interested to find out more. Alas it was not to be – the company had decided they needed to focus on Germany and therefore moved the position out of the UK. Shame, but understandable. Germany is most certainly one of those countries you have to be in to recruit for. The recruiter at this company is a member of The FIRM and he was very helpful pointing in the direction of a couple of opportunities he’d heard about and chatting about the blog. Great guy, and hope you have a fantastic time on holiday in Switzerland.

I then decided to call some of the people I owed calls to. In particular, Matt Alder of Metashift. I met with Matt on Day 5, I think it as. We’d discussed an idea that had really excited us then and because of Twitter DM’s we both knew we should follow up. However as soon as we started speaking it was clear that neither of us could remember what it was. We got there in the end and agreed some action points. It is all around candidate communities – something that sits perfectly with what I do and what I enjoy. There will be more on this, either as part of the #myjobhunt series or outside of it, as we progress.

So off to meet with Katie McNab @Recruitgal at PepsiCo for coffee. I’ve known Katie for nearly two years through The FIRM and having met her previously this will be the first time that we could just chat 1-1. I was surprised at how keen she was about my job hunting journey and how much of an avid reader of the #myjobhunt series she was. It was also interesting to hear her thoughts on some of the instances detailed in the blog, none of them far removed from my own, but then I’ve read many of her postings on The FIRM’s discussion board and shared a panel with her so had a good idea that we shared the same views on much. They have a Starbucks in their offices in Reading. I thought I’d been spoiled with a Costa at my last place. One interesting fact is that they work summer hours which allows them to go home at 1230 or thereabouts on Friday through the summer months. Now that is a company that looks after its people.

On my way home I called in at my “office” parking place and left messages for a couple of people I should have called back earlier in the week. It’s a holiday weekend Friday – no one around.

I have to be honest I was a bit nervous of the Day 19 posting. Though fully justified in everything I said I am still looking for a job and I cannot afford to antagonize my potential future employers. Yet the emails, tweets, DM’s and conversations I had with other recruiters, both in-house and agency all agreed with my comments and concerns boosting my confidence no end. What was very interesting as well is that some of the people it was pointed at had sent me LinkedIn inmail messages and emails overnight. Very interesting that is too.

In one of the conversations I had today I was reminded of something that I had overlooked. I am so involved with The FIRM that I sometimes forget it is not the only HR or recruiting community that I spend time in. Why hadn’t I posted my availability to those? I have now – some of them at least. Will do the rest over the weekend or next week.

Music of Day 20 was The Hebrides Overture, Fingal’s Cave and the Scottish Symphony by Felix Mendelssohn ……….this was the first piece of classical music I ever bought when I was about 17.

There is much to reflect on from this one week. The power of social media and social networks as a recruiting and job hunting tool. The power of openness and honesty and the willingness of people to help. I learned that the people I interact with daily are very much on the same wavelength and share the same opinions – it is as if we’ve been drawn together byh some strange force. Could it be integrity? I have also come to recognise that despite a self-perceived air of superiority by the in-house recruiting community, including myself until recently, over agency staff, there are some in-house recruiters that just don’t do themselves, their colleague or worse their candidates and employers any favours. And there are some people who work for agencies who are a credit and pleasure to deal with and know.

That’s it. Thanks for reading. Have a good weekend. Day 21 will be Tuesday.

2010
08/27
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Job Hunting
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Recruitment
Social Media
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Job Hunting Optimism is Essential so long as it’s not Fantasy – Day 17 #myjobhunt

As #myjobhunt has progressed I have been considering options and opportunities in Central London. I have not worked in London on a daily basis since 1986! Back then they still had horse drawn carriages, smog and the Thames was frozen! For anyone too young not to remember 1986, I’m only kidding, but it was a long time ago. Canary Warf hadn’t been built; PC’s were so new that some companies had one! The world has changed, and so have I. Definitely older and hopefully wiser. Back then I was in IT, in a real sense, I was a techie, working in what we used to call datacentres, rooms the size of football pitches to house computers that had less power and storage than my iPhone.

So having decided that I will consider London for the right opportunity I am trying to spend a day a week if I can, meeting people or interviewing at companies in London. Day 17 was that day this week.

I had four meetings/interviews lined up for Day 17; the first one to start at 10am and the last one to start at 6.30pm, so a long day of 4square check-ins and coffees ahead of me. I was quite excited about the day and in particular two of the meetings.

The first meeting didn’t go well at all and it was my fault. I hadn’t engaged my brain properly until I got to speak to the third person in that company and am afraid I didn’t “sell” myself very well to the first two. By the time I met the last person I was with it, but I fear I may have compromised my chances. Disappointed to say the least, but the conversation has given me thoughts for further blog posting once I have a job.

The second meeting was a treat and a real surprise. I’d love to speak freely about this person and his company but I would be breaking his confidence and that’s not good practice. The whole meeting had me on the edge of my seat the enthusiasm, the knowledge around Social Media and new technologies and the expansive thoughts and plans. Hopefully more to follow up on with that one. Could lead to something in the longer term as well. Exciting stuff.

Meeting three was at LinkedIn. I was aware from speaking with them previously that they were looking for a Head of Resourcing, however the role is based in Dublin and therefore ruling me out of consideration. Anyone interested in this one let me know and I’ll put you in touch. So my hopes were up because of my relationship with LinkedIn over the last 3 years, but it was not to be. For someone like me who is a big advocate of the power and value of Social Media, the prospect, no matter how slim, of a job with LinkedIn was going to get me excited. Anyone who has read other posts in this series and the very first one I wrote in Sept 09 will know that I created a social network for in-house recruiters called The Forum for In-house Recruitment Managers – The FIRM – all of it within LinkedIn and thus have always a good relationship with them, in this country and in the US, and it was good to catch-up and share thoughts on the general impact of Social Media on both recruiting and job hunting.

The final meeting of the day was again full of promise but the more we spoke about the proposition the more challenges I could see and the more issues I found in it. This is not being critical of the idea or the business proposition, nor its need. It was purely the risk factor for me at the moment. However I did like what I heard, hope it is a successes and that can play a part in it – if of course I am not otherwise engaged when it matures.

During the day I was able to confirm a 5th telephone interview – yes the one I’ve been trying to have for over a week, the 6th interview which will be a meeting and the 7th and final with the big boss flying in from the USA next week. All extremely exciting.

So why was did I feel disappointed then? I don’t really know. I was sitting on the train home at 8.30pm feeling a bit deflated. It took a 30-second reality check from my Twitter buddies and my wife to make me realize that I was disappointed because I had unrealistic expectations of the day. That and the disappointing performance in the first meeting.

Music of Day 17 was The Rover by Led Zeppelin

What did I learn today? Don’t go to a meeting or interview with my head up my arse, get it turned on and tuned into the mood and tone of the meeting and be thoughtful about responses and answers. I’ve learned with The FIRM that for every thing I know and can pass onto others there are 100 other people who know things I don’t and from whim I can learn. Have to listen and learn. I forgot this yesterday. And of course have realistic expectations. Optimism is essential so long as it’s not fantasy.

2010
08/25
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Job Hunting
Recruitment
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