We all worry about being interviewed but what about conducting an interview? If you're not used to meeting and sussing out potential candidates, here are my top five tips to help you get the right fit for your company:
1. The CV: often we are too quick to judge a CV. If there is something missing or it doesn't quite fit our full expectations it may be the candidate is dismissed out of hand. Wait! If you are unsure as to whether someone looks right to you either contact them on the telephone and sound them out (always worthwhile as it may be that you will find an excellent candidate who doesn't do themselves justice on paper!) or listen to the advice of your recruitment agent. This is what they are employed for and if they are doing their job properly, they should know whether this candidate is worthwhile meeting.
2. Firm hand shake, warm smile: make your interviewee feel relaxed and focused. Offer them a drink. The more relaxed the candidate feels, the more likely you are going to see their true character.
3. Results are key: in a sales driven environment it is always worth asking a candidate to back up their experience with results. Is this candidate going to achieve? Is the candidate able to do the job you have on offer? For example, ask a candidate how they would go about achieving X sales per month. They should know how many viewings equates to how many sales and in turn what their fall through percentage is.
4. Get proof: it may be a cliched question but it is a good one! Ask the question "Give me two examples of how you have made a difference to the outcome of a situation, both work related and non work related". The answer to this question will tell you a lot about their personality. A sales person should be making a difference all the time. If they know what they are doing, they should have a whole pile of examples to dazzle you with. Sales is all about being proactive. Equally, an example for their home life shows how resourceful and involved the candidate is. You can help them warm up to the subject by asking them to elaborate. Keep them relaxed and focused. If they are in sales you could say something like "have you made a difference to a sale where there was a tricky situation?"
5. Interests and activities: these give you an insight into a candidate's personality and whether they will fit in with the other characters and dynamic of your office. The idea of asking the candidate about their outside interests and activities is to give you a greater understanding of their temperament. Are they motivated, are they sociable, competitive, team players? Interests and activities can give you a bigger picture, both positive and negative and this will put you in a position to make a more informed decision.
Sunday 4 November 2012
Friday 8 June 2012
Why use a recruitment agency?
"Expensive", "over promise but under deliver", "making a quick buck", "poaching our staff". These are just a few of the phrases which have been batted around in reference to recruitment agents over the years. What do recruitment agents do for their money, anyway and are they worth it?
- Time Saving
Even if you have a dedicated HR team on the case often they are so busy they don't have the time to trawl through numerous CVs in the hope of hitting the jackpot in finding an ideal candidate. Sticking an advert in your local paper and hoping for the best isn't always going to result in the calibre of candidate you require either. Yes, you could be inundated with CVs but do you really want to go through them all, reply to all of the unsuitable candidates and still be left with nothing? This is where recruitment agencies can save you time. A good recruitment consultant should know their candidates and clients needs, who is available, what qualifications they have to fulfil your vacancy and if they don't have an ideal candidate readily available on their books they will know where to find them! - Candidates off the radar
Good recruitment agents will have some key contacts who they regularly stay in touch with but aren't actively seeking a new role. Additionally, they can tap into their existing database of candidates and reconnect with the ones who may have decided to delay a job move previously. Recruitment agents have the time, and are paid, to seek out the candidates you don't know about. - Quality candidates
If you use an agency specialising in your sector then you can be certain that a candidate put forward to you will possess the relevant experience and qualifications. Quality recruitment agencies will also screen candidates, interview them on a one to one basis in person, check the relevant documentation (such as eligibility to work in the UK) and get a feel for their personality and what sort of company they will fit in to. - Fees are only paid for a candidate who starts with you!
You could interview one candidate or twenty five candidates through a recruitment agency (hopefully it will be closer to the former!) and a fee will generally only be payable if a candidate starts employment with you. Ideally a good recruitment agent should be able to narrow down candidates so that you conduct only a handful of interviews before you find the right person. This saves you time, money and stress!
Friday 9 March 2012
Preparing for an interview: top tips
Interviews can be daunting. Especially if you've never interviewed for a job before or it has been a long time since you last attended one. Preparation is key to success but it's not just about saying the right things. It's also about how you say it and how you come across i.e. image, body language and the overall impression you create.
These are my top tips for getting ready for an interview:
1. Presentation: you may feel what you wear and how you look really doesn't matter but it does! If in doubt always dress smart. In fact, I would go as far as to say that not dressing smart would be a major faux pas. Keep it formal and understated. Nothing too fancy. Now is not the time to start experimenting. No one wants to see joke ties or bare midriffs. Men should be dressed in a conventional suit with freshly ironed shirt and tie. Make sure your suit fits properly and is clean. Ladies, again, clean shirt with smart skirt, trousers or dress, jacket and tights in plain colours. Ensure shoes are polished (flat or low heels). Keep jewellery to a minimum (watch, wedding ring) and ditto piercings; preferably plain studs in the ears are all that is essential for presenting yourself at an interview. It is not necessary to be making statements with nose rings and tongue studs. Once you've got the job then you can find out the company's dress code and ramp up your fashion sense! Before then be conservative.
2. Prepare: think about the questions a potential employer may ask you. Practice your answers with a family member or friend by carrying out a role play scenario. Research the company by taking a look at their website and advertising materials so that you understand their ethos and what they are trying to achieve. This will also help you to assess whether the company is going to be right for you. You should also prepare some questions of your own to ask at the interview. Make sure you also know where you need to be, who you are meeting and when. Check how long it will take you to get to the interview and ensure you leave enough time to get through potential traffic and find parking.
3. Body language and demeanour: during an interview you should make eye contact and smile. Be friendly and relax. It's always worth accepting a drink when offered, such as a glass of water, so you can take sips inbetween questions, which will give you have time to think about answers and compose yourself. Be positive and enthusiastic. Think about how the interviewer feels. Would you want to employ somebody who is negative? Avoid making derogatory remarks about previous employers. This only creates a bad impression. Be polite, honest and interested and never interrupt.
4. Sell yourself: turn negatives into believable positives. Refrain from being over the top or deliberately misleading someone. Selling yourself is about being persuasive and getting others to share your views of who you are. Remember this is especially important when being interviewed for a sales position. If you cannot sell yourself this will give your potential employer no confidence that you will be able to sell their product.
For more information and full details of our interview techniques and preparation follow this link http://www.amrgroup.co.uk/career_information.aspx
Good luck!
These are my top tips for getting ready for an interview:
1. Presentation: you may feel what you wear and how you look really doesn't matter but it does! If in doubt always dress smart. In fact, I would go as far as to say that not dressing smart would be a major faux pas. Keep it formal and understated. Nothing too fancy. Now is not the time to start experimenting. No one wants to see joke ties or bare midriffs. Men should be dressed in a conventional suit with freshly ironed shirt and tie. Make sure your suit fits properly and is clean. Ladies, again, clean shirt with smart skirt, trousers or dress, jacket and tights in plain colours. Ensure shoes are polished (flat or low heels). Keep jewellery to a minimum (watch, wedding ring) and ditto piercings; preferably plain studs in the ears are all that is essential for presenting yourself at an interview. It is not necessary to be making statements with nose rings and tongue studs. Once you've got the job then you can find out the company's dress code and ramp up your fashion sense! Before then be conservative.
2. Prepare: think about the questions a potential employer may ask you. Practice your answers with a family member or friend by carrying out a role play scenario. Research the company by taking a look at their website and advertising materials so that you understand their ethos and what they are trying to achieve. This will also help you to assess whether the company is going to be right for you. You should also prepare some questions of your own to ask at the interview. Make sure you also know where you need to be, who you are meeting and when. Check how long it will take you to get to the interview and ensure you leave enough time to get through potential traffic and find parking.
3. Body language and demeanour: during an interview you should make eye contact and smile. Be friendly and relax. It's always worth accepting a drink when offered, such as a glass of water, so you can take sips inbetween questions, which will give you have time to think about answers and compose yourself. Be positive and enthusiastic. Think about how the interviewer feels. Would you want to employ somebody who is negative? Avoid making derogatory remarks about previous employers. This only creates a bad impression. Be polite, honest and interested and never interrupt.
4. Sell yourself: turn negatives into believable positives. Refrain from being over the top or deliberately misleading someone. Selling yourself is about being persuasive and getting others to share your views of who you are. Remember this is especially important when being interviewed for a sales position. If you cannot sell yourself this will give your potential employer no confidence that you will be able to sell their product.
For more information and full details of our interview techniques and preparation follow this link http://www.amrgroup.co.uk/career_information.aspx
Good luck!
Friday 3 February 2012
Staff: one of your most important assets
Employing staff can be a minefield. You have to review what seems like millions of CVs, interview them (and hope you can see through the messers) and then keep your fingers crossed that when you do find that perfect individual they turn up for the job, can do the task appointed to them and want to stay working for you for as long as possible.
If you've been employing staff for a number of years chances are you have now developed a strategy for weeding out the good and the bad quite rapidly. Yet employing staff extends far beyond the interview and their first day. In my opinion, retaining them long term is one of the most important factors for any business.
Having the right attitude towards your staff can pay dividends. Of course you employ individuals and pay them to do a job for you and if they aren't doing it well enough then quite rightly why should you feel that they deserve to be rewarded with extra incentives? Yet, in my experience, overlooking those who should be rewarded is one of the main issues in companies with high staff turnover. Merely thinking to yourself that an individual has done a job and done it well long term with no fuss or no obvious desire for a pay rise doesn't mean that behind the scenes they aren't wondering if the grass is greener elsewhere. Your reliable, easy to manage, hard workers deserve to be recognised. If they aren't they'll be looking for new opportunities. Which leaves you back where you started. Spending time and money sourcing, interviewing and training new people to pick up where they left off.
Consider the impact of high staff turnover on your client base. A good example are employees who manage client accounts. If your client is subjected to two or three new staff members taking on their account within the space of 12 months they may think that placing their business elsewhere would be more prudent. After all how frustrating would it be if your Account Manager was constantly being updated and you needed to explain to them from scratch how your business works or rely on them being able to do their job as well as the last person? What sort of impression does this create for your company and those you do regular business with?
So what can you do to retain staff long term? Here are my top tips for ensuring loyalty:
1. Appropriate remuneration: this may seem obvious but there is a fine line between paying staff to do a job and paying them what they are worth. Competitive pay within a market place will help you to ensure you attract the very best candidates. If you are looking to employ experienced staff at the very least you should be offering the market equivalent. Offering less than the going rate is not going to tempt a top individual away from an already well paid job.
2. Mutual respect: Put simply this is about treating people how you'd like to be treated yourself. You don't have to be best friends and you don't have to socialise with each other but talking to people like they are responsible adults rather than commodities or a number on a piece of paper will help develop mutual respect.
3. Trust: allow your employees a relative amount of freedom. Don't just assume that they are all going to be browsing the internet for personal reasons or chatting to friends on the telephone as soon as your back is turned. Unfortunately it is a fact of life that there are always going to be a small number of employees who think they can bend the rules but by punishing everyone for the stupidity of a minority can impact on how valued employees feel. It would be better to identify the disrupters and deal with them individually. The rest of your staff will appreciate you more for it.
4. Fulfilling promises: If you employ someone with the promise of giving them a pay rise in six months based on performance and they meet the criteria set for them then make sure you follow your promise through. Don't forget -set a reminder. Don't make excuses. Don't ignore the situation hoping they have forgotten. I can assure you they haven't! One of the many reasons candidates approach me is because they feel that their employer has mislead them or made a promise and didn't deliver. This creates bad feeling, tension and a breakdown in working relationships. Appreciate what your staff do for you and show it. If their best isn't ever going to be good enough why should anyone bother trying harder or retaining standards to an optimum level? If someone has done a great job, tell them so.
5. Effective management: identify valuable assets within individual staff members and capatilise on them. Staff who are being utilised properly and given more responsibility based on their abilities will be happier in the long run. Handle situations accordingly. Don't shy away from dealing with negative or disruptive influences within the office. If an individual is causing problems which aren't being dealt with this can greatly affect the team spirit resulting in demoralisation and lost productivity. If you are seen to deal with problematic issues your employees will feel a lot more confident and respect you for it.
6. Working environment: I don't know about you but dirty, unkempt office space and poor facilities (kitchen and toilets) can make life rather depressing! With the majority of our time spent at work a pleasant environment is essential to productiveness as well as happiness. You don't need to be in the best or most luxurious office space but ensuring the basics are covered is a great start.
7. Incentive schemes: offering schemes to your employees in order to reward top performers should help to encourage everyone to strive to be better as well as pin point those who aren't pulling their weight. These schemes need to be properly executed and operated over a period of time in order to be effective (e.g. measured on a year of performance levels).
8. If your staff do leave don't take it personally! If you have done your best by them but it's genuinely time for them to move on then it's the right thing to let them do. Allow them to leave and be gracious about it. If it is appropriate there is no harm in keeping the door open by saying "we'd always be happy to welcome you back". This says a lot not only to the leaver but also to your remaining staff. I once had a boss who felt that openly branding any leavers "back stabbers" and then calling them this throughout the period of their notice was a way of properly conducting himself. Essentially it was quite embarrassing and did nothing to encourage anyone to feel like they'd either want to return or recommend the business to others as a base of excellent employment or a company to do business with. More importantly it undermined my boss and showed him as insecure and childish. See above point in relation to mutual respect. Your company's
reputation extends far beyond how you treat your clients.
If you've been employing staff for a number of years chances are you have now developed a strategy for weeding out the good and the bad quite rapidly. Yet employing staff extends far beyond the interview and their first day. In my opinion, retaining them long term is one of the most important factors for any business.
Having the right attitude towards your staff can pay dividends. Of course you employ individuals and pay them to do a job for you and if they aren't doing it well enough then quite rightly why should you feel that they deserve to be rewarded with extra incentives? Yet, in my experience, overlooking those who should be rewarded is one of the main issues in companies with high staff turnover. Merely thinking to yourself that an individual has done a job and done it well long term with no fuss or no obvious desire for a pay rise doesn't mean that behind the scenes they aren't wondering if the grass is greener elsewhere. Your reliable, easy to manage, hard workers deserve to be recognised. If they aren't they'll be looking for new opportunities. Which leaves you back where you started. Spending time and money sourcing, interviewing and training new people to pick up where they left off.
Consider the impact of high staff turnover on your client base. A good example are employees who manage client accounts. If your client is subjected to two or three new staff members taking on their account within the space of 12 months they may think that placing their business elsewhere would be more prudent. After all how frustrating would it be if your Account Manager was constantly being updated and you needed to explain to them from scratch how your business works or rely on them being able to do their job as well as the last person? What sort of impression does this create for your company and those you do regular business with?
So what can you do to retain staff long term? Here are my top tips for ensuring loyalty:
1. Appropriate remuneration: this may seem obvious but there is a fine line between paying staff to do a job and paying them what they are worth. Competitive pay within a market place will help you to ensure you attract the very best candidates. If you are looking to employ experienced staff at the very least you should be offering the market equivalent. Offering less than the going rate is not going to tempt a top individual away from an already well paid job.
2. Mutual respect: Put simply this is about treating people how you'd like to be treated yourself. You don't have to be best friends and you don't have to socialise with each other but talking to people like they are responsible adults rather than commodities or a number on a piece of paper will help develop mutual respect.
3. Trust: allow your employees a relative amount of freedom. Don't just assume that they are all going to be browsing the internet for personal reasons or chatting to friends on the telephone as soon as your back is turned. Unfortunately it is a fact of life that there are always going to be a small number of employees who think they can bend the rules but by punishing everyone for the stupidity of a minority can impact on how valued employees feel. It would be better to identify the disrupters and deal with them individually. The rest of your staff will appreciate you more for it.
4. Fulfilling promises: If you employ someone with the promise of giving them a pay rise in six months based on performance and they meet the criteria set for them then make sure you follow your promise through. Don't forget -set a reminder. Don't make excuses. Don't ignore the situation hoping they have forgotten. I can assure you they haven't! One of the many reasons candidates approach me is because they feel that their employer has mislead them or made a promise and didn't deliver. This creates bad feeling, tension and a breakdown in working relationships. Appreciate what your staff do for you and show it. If their best isn't ever going to be good enough why should anyone bother trying harder or retaining standards to an optimum level? If someone has done a great job, tell them so.
5. Effective management: identify valuable assets within individual staff members and capatilise on them. Staff who are being utilised properly and given more responsibility based on their abilities will be happier in the long run. Handle situations accordingly. Don't shy away from dealing with negative or disruptive influences within the office. If an individual is causing problems which aren't being dealt with this can greatly affect the team spirit resulting in demoralisation and lost productivity. If you are seen to deal with problematic issues your employees will feel a lot more confident and respect you for it.
6. Working environment: I don't know about you but dirty, unkempt office space and poor facilities (kitchen and toilets) can make life rather depressing! With the majority of our time spent at work a pleasant environment is essential to productiveness as well as happiness. You don't need to be in the best or most luxurious office space but ensuring the basics are covered is a great start.
7. Incentive schemes: offering schemes to your employees in order to reward top performers should help to encourage everyone to strive to be better as well as pin point those who aren't pulling their weight. These schemes need to be properly executed and operated over a period of time in order to be effective (e.g. measured on a year of performance levels).
8. If your staff do leave don't take it personally! If you have done your best by them but it's genuinely time for them to move on then it's the right thing to let them do. Allow them to leave and be gracious about it. If it is appropriate there is no harm in keeping the door open by saying "we'd always be happy to welcome you back". This says a lot not only to the leaver but also to your remaining staff. I once had a boss who felt that openly branding any leavers "back stabbers" and then calling them this throughout the period of their notice was a way of properly conducting himself. Essentially it was quite embarrassing and did nothing to encourage anyone to feel like they'd either want to return or recommend the business to others as a base of excellent employment or a company to do business with. More importantly it undermined my boss and showed him as insecure and childish. See above point in relation to mutual respect. Your company's
reputation extends far beyond how you treat your clients.
Friday 20 January 2012
Getting your CV right
Curriculum Vitaes. You may think they're just a piece of paper to blanket drop to every possible potential employer and recruitment agent but getting your Curriculum Vitae just right makes all the difference in the ever increasing competitive employment market.
I must screen hundreds of CVs every week, which are sent to me via various communications. Like the rest of the working world I'm a busy person. I need to be able to pinpoint from the second I open the document whether somebody is suitable or not. How I feel about a candidate, my impression of them, whether I feel they are worth speaking to is all on a piece of paper they've sent to me. Yet it surprises me how little time many job seekers spend on their CV. Even down to spelling every element of your CV is important. The CVs I love? Short, sweet, to the point, outlining achievements, well presented and easy to read. The ones I loathe? Pages and pages and pages and pages of detail and information, millions of borders (especially twee little picture borders), tables, numerous different fonts. I don't want my eyes bleeding! You get the idea anyway?
Consider your CV a first impression. Much like an interview, 80% of it is the overall impression you create. Of course, this is not to say you want to start making up elaborate stories. Be honest, clear and concise on your CV (dishonesty and edits are bound to be found out eventually no matter how hard you try to cover them up to me or anyone else out there - this includes fooling yourself!) but you also need to present it in the best way possible in order to sell yourself and to make it easier for any potential employer to open and say "Yes! I want to meet this person."
My top recommendations for creating your CV:
1. Always start with your personal details at the top. Remember to include a personal profile. A short description of yourself is great. I must mention here that I see many CVs saying "I am able to work to my own initiative but also as part of a team". That's fine if it's true but try to be more original. You're aiming to convince an employer why you are better than every other person who has applied for the role that day/week/month. Think about who you are. What are your key strengths in a working environment and shout about them!
2. Put your employment experience in chronological order! It never ceases to amaze me how many people start with their oldest job first. I want to know what you're doing now. Not what you were doing 5 years ago (even if this is relevant to the role you are seeking, I can find this out as I read down your CV).
3. Always, always, always list your achievements at each role. This is particularly important if you are working in a target based/KPI style job. Think about the person you are trying to impress. They want to see the hard facts and figures about what you can do. Not what your job description is! So if you are a Sales Negotiator tell me about how many viewings you book on average, your average monthly sales figures, whether you are a top performer on a company's league table, won awards, sold so many financial services/conveyancing packages etc. Anything and everything which is relevant to performance and achievement! You are employed to make money. Make it relevant to their bottom line. They want to see you have done the job but they always want to know that you can DO the job! Then be prepared to back this up with evidence at an interview.
4. Limit your CV to two A4 pages. Keep it simple. Use point formats when listing information under your previous employment.
5. Be selective about where you send your CV and how you send it. This may be a revelation to you but blanket dropping your CV to the whole world with a standard template email or letter is not going to work and will not paint you in the best possible light. If you see a job you are interested in, call the number. Speak to the person offering the vacancy (be that a recruitment consultant or company). This will instantly make you stand out from other candidates who are relentlessly pressing the "Apply" button on every vacancy ever emailed to them via various job board subscriptions. I receive hundreds of emails each month, many from candidates who have obviously not read the job description fully. Not the best first impression to be sending. Finding a job takes time. Be prepared to commit. Make it your job to find a job. If you're not willing to do that, think about whether making a move at this moment in time is the right thing for you (nobody likes time wasters and burning your bridges with any recruitment agent or potential employer is never a good idea).
Finally. If you're unsure get some advice. From family, friends or your recruitment consultant. AMR are here to offer career support. We are always happy to assist our candidates with improving their CVs or interview skills. If you are currently working in the property industry and are looking to make a move or simply want to ask for some advice call 07737 867550 for more information.
I must screen hundreds of CVs every week, which are sent to me via various communications. Like the rest of the working world I'm a busy person. I need to be able to pinpoint from the second I open the document whether somebody is suitable or not. How I feel about a candidate, my impression of them, whether I feel they are worth speaking to is all on a piece of paper they've sent to me. Yet it surprises me how little time many job seekers spend on their CV. Even down to spelling every element of your CV is important. The CVs I love? Short, sweet, to the point, outlining achievements, well presented and easy to read. The ones I loathe? Pages and pages and pages and pages of detail and information, millions of borders (especially twee little picture borders), tables, numerous different fonts. I don't want my eyes bleeding! You get the idea anyway?
Consider your CV a first impression. Much like an interview, 80% of it is the overall impression you create. Of course, this is not to say you want to start making up elaborate stories. Be honest, clear and concise on your CV (dishonesty and edits are bound to be found out eventually no matter how hard you try to cover them up to me or anyone else out there - this includes fooling yourself!) but you also need to present it in the best way possible in order to sell yourself and to make it easier for any potential employer to open and say "Yes! I want to meet this person."
My top recommendations for creating your CV:
1. Always start with your personal details at the top. Remember to include a personal profile. A short description of yourself is great. I must mention here that I see many CVs saying "I am able to work to my own initiative but also as part of a team". That's fine if it's true but try to be more original. You're aiming to convince an employer why you are better than every other person who has applied for the role that day/week/month. Think about who you are. What are your key strengths in a working environment and shout about them!
2. Put your employment experience in chronological order! It never ceases to amaze me how many people start with their oldest job first. I want to know what you're doing now. Not what you were doing 5 years ago (even if this is relevant to the role you are seeking, I can find this out as I read down your CV).
3. Always, always, always list your achievements at each role. This is particularly important if you are working in a target based/KPI style job. Think about the person you are trying to impress. They want to see the hard facts and figures about what you can do. Not what your job description is! So if you are a Sales Negotiator tell me about how many viewings you book on average, your average monthly sales figures, whether you are a top performer on a company's league table, won awards, sold so many financial services/conveyancing packages etc. Anything and everything which is relevant to performance and achievement! You are employed to make money. Make it relevant to their bottom line. They want to see you have done the job but they always want to know that you can DO the job! Then be prepared to back this up with evidence at an interview.
4. Limit your CV to two A4 pages. Keep it simple. Use point formats when listing information under your previous employment.
5. Be selective about where you send your CV and how you send it. This may be a revelation to you but blanket dropping your CV to the whole world with a standard template email or letter is not going to work and will not paint you in the best possible light. If you see a job you are interested in, call the number. Speak to the person offering the vacancy (be that a recruitment consultant or company). This will instantly make you stand out from other candidates who are relentlessly pressing the "Apply" button on every vacancy ever emailed to them via various job board subscriptions. I receive hundreds of emails each month, many from candidates who have obviously not read the job description fully. Not the best first impression to be sending. Finding a job takes time. Be prepared to commit. Make it your job to find a job. If you're not willing to do that, think about whether making a move at this moment in time is the right thing for you (nobody likes time wasters and burning your bridges with any recruitment agent or potential employer is never a good idea).
Finally. If you're unsure get some advice. From family, friends or your recruitment consultant. AMR are here to offer career support. We are always happy to assist our candidates with improving their CVs or interview skills. If you are currently working in the property industry and are looking to make a move or simply want to ask for some advice call 07737 867550 for more information.
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