As a leader and manager of any successful business, a key component is the successful acquisition of the right people at the right time, with the minimum amount of time and effort expended.
We encounter countless fundamental errors that companies big & small make on a daily basis that are massively hampering their ability to attract and recruit the “hidden elite”. This is the top talent in any market sector. Make sure you don’t fall foul of our top 5 hiring howlers:
Job interviews are a necessary part of any recruitment process, however with the right planning and approach even the most nervous of interviewees can avoid difficult interview questions and give a good performance (see our earlier article http://www.wynneconsulting.co.uk/interview_preparation/ on how to prepare effectively for any interview).
Conversely – we regularly encounter situations where seemingly excellent job candidates have failed at an interview as a result of answers to one or two difficult interview questions.
Dealing with difficult interview questions that have a “negative” answer:
A scenario we experience regularly goes something like this. A client wants to recruit a key individual, so they assume the best strategy is to put the job out to 20 different recruiters. “Surely, if we put the job out to lots of recruiters, we’ll get a good coverage of all of the job seekers at that moment in time and we’ll then be able to recruit the best people available.”
The problem with this strategy is like you, a recruiter has to put hard work and effort into any inquiry to turn it into a result.
Any efficient, well run business knows that the key to success is to pick and choose the business they target, rather than working on every client enquiry.
Video Interviews via ZOOM/MS Teams/Skype are an increasingly common method of interview. Although they are more convenient to arrange, additional preparation should be done to improve your chances of success. We’ve compiled a list of 10 key tips to help you master video interviews’:
First and Foremost. Ensure ALL your tech is working prior to the interview. Preferably check this the day before ensuring you have ample time to find suitable fixes for any issues. This includes the Platform (ZOOM, Teams etc), mic, speakers and camera!
Minimize potential tech disruptions. Make sure you’ve powered all the devices you need an you have a charging cable to hand. If you have bandwidth heavy programs or appliances, make sure they’re shut down.
Set up your space. Ensure you have somewhere private to talk, if there is a chance of background noise you could opt for headphones rather than a mic.
Set up your camera so you’re not too close, too far, too low or too high. Ensure your video is eye level. Your image should be displayed as below.
Background. Ensure your background is tidy and organised. If you’re doing the call from a bedroom, clear any none business-related decorations off the walls.
Lighting. Ensure your lighting is good and your face is well lit. Natural lighting is best. Backlighting can cause you to look like a silhouette. Again, it’s best to check this prior to the interview so you can amend things appropriately.
Appearance. This is a common issue area as video calls made from home can be disarming. Dress as you would to an interview. Ironed shirt and business casual. It’s tempting to wear joggers on your bottom half – but from our experience, full business wear (including shoes) will get you in the right frame of mind.
Signal when you want to talk. During in-person meetings, you can pick up on visual cues to help find the right time to speak. It’s a lot easier to accidentally interrupt on a video call. Wait for a few moments of silence before speaking up in case there’s a sound delay.
Stay focused. Mute any notifications prior to the call. Be attentive and engaged during the call. As tempting as it is, try not to do any other work or read articles or send emails. If there’s a pause in the conversation because, for instance, you need to pull up an email or reference a document, make sure to communicate that.
If you do need to share your screen during a video call, take a few seconds to prepare before you hit that share button. Clear your desktop of any extra tabs or programs you may have open and make sure any private or sensitive information is hidden.
If you need any help or advice please feel free to contact us here at Wynne Consulting and we can help you out.
Despite the uncertainties from the continuing global pandemic; there are a lot of companies recruiting throughout the whole of the UK. That’s a fact. After the worst 2 years since the Second World War we are seeing strong demand from the majority of the markets that we service. So do you accept the first job you are offered?
Over the last few years, employers have held the power and have tended to be very selective in their hires; and insistent on interviewing multiple candidates for a particular role. Decision-making has typically been quite long and arduous – as hiring managers see a wide selection of candidates as a good reason to “take their time” and make decisions slowly.
Fast-forward to 2022 and we are seeing what we call “candidate short” markets in the majority of our sectors. This means that in many instances there are more jobs than candidates, and this causes employers to have a different approach.
One of our top clients came into the office this week to talk about a major project we are undertaking to set up a new business unit for their organisation. Chatting away, he told us the story of his best friend who insists on doing all of his recruitment himself to save money.
He talked about how proud his friend is of placing job adverts in lots of different media, then taking all of the CV’s from “applicants” that he receives, all the phone-calls he gets from interested people who just “want to have a chat” about the job, etc. He then spends the next few evenings & weekends going through the CV’s, calling up the 15 or so interesting candidates and chatting to them about their background, experience, etc.
I was sat in a coffee shop over the weekend and overheard two friends talking about cars.
One was exalting the virtues of his lovely German saloon, with leather interior, cruise control, faultless driving experience,etc. His friend was also exalting how cheap his car cost to buy and run, the low “upfront cost”, low cost for spare parts, servicing, etc.
Although the conversation was about cars – the two friends were coming from opposite ends of the scale in terms of car needs and wants. Kind of similar to comparing apples & pears.
This set me thinking about clients “buying” recruitment services and their wants & needs; be it “Transactional” or “Value-add”.
We are all in control of how we spend our time. After all, it’s our life and we are the ones making decisions on how we spend each and every minute of each day.
But in reality, most of us fritter away our time on many different things that truly add no real benefit to our lives.
We live in an unprecedented age of information technology. The internet and “social media” now means we could all spend 24/7 working through the mountain of information that invades our lives from every conceivable angle. If you don’t believe this – just take a look around you on the train, in the coffee shop. How many people are using the “window to the world” that is the smartphone?
With all these new distractions adding to the “old fashioned” attention grabbers of incoming phone-calls, e-mails and colleagues asking for your time – it’s no wonder anyone can actually get any meaningful work completed. So – let’s look at some easy to use ideas to double your daily productivity:
Practical Time Management ideas:
The No1 advice is to be in control of your working day. You make the decisions on how to spend your time, don’t let events overly influence you. So – don’t take that phone call, don’t look at that e-mail, don’t deal with that colleague until it’s the right time for you. It’s not 100% possible to do this, but if you work at improving your control over your time the results will be remarkable. Continue reading Timestealers – overcome your time management demons and double your productivity.
Interviews aren’t a scary experience if you focus on some simple preparation. At Wynne Consulting we have many years’ experience of helping high quality people to be successful at interview, so here are a few easy tips to help you deliver the perfect interview:
The single biggest reason clients use Wynne Consulting is our ability to find people that aren’t on the “Open Job Market”. That means we find the best people in your market sector that aren’t applying for Job Advertisements, talking to Recruitment Agencies or using CV Websites.
Growth in permanent staff salaries are also growing at their highest rate since before the COVID pandemic started in 2020.
