Working with Recruiters Made Easy

Your average job seeker just doesn’t “get” what a recruiter does. This is apparent to anyone that’s ever heard a friend or relative complain about a recruiter “not finding them a job.” If you’re planning on working with recruiters or with a staffing firm, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Tips for Working with Recruiters

Recruiters don’t find people jobs: The average job seeker has it all mixed up – recruiters don’t go out and find jobs, recruiters find candidates. They match candidates with open positions given to them by their client companies. Recruiters are tasked with filling these job requisitions. If you’re planning on working with recruiters, understand that they are often looking for very specific types of candidates – don’t get offended if you don’t match.

Recruiters are part of the bigger picture: With this in mind, job seekers should embrace one or more recruiters as part of their overall job seeking strategy – not as an end-all solution. Professional networking, social media sites, and other job seeking channels should still be utilized to maximize individual job leads. Job seekers should recognize that recruiters can open additional doors for them and are inevitably part of the larger job market landscape.

Recruiters and job seekers need to work together: It’s all about teamwork. Job seekers should be honest about their credentials and in turn, recruiters will work hard to push their profile towards befitting opportunities. Be open and upfront about your current compensation and future expectations and recruiters will get the interviews rolling. If everything works out, the recruiter makes a placement and you get a new job – both sides win when there’s mutual respect and understanding.

All too often, job seekers throw themselves at recruiters and expect royal treatment. Candidates have a hard time accepting the fact that recruiters don’t work for them, but with them. Recruiters always have your best interests in mind (and they want you to get hired), but they can’t make individually tailored jobs appear out of thin air.

Seeing eye-to-eye with recruiters isn’t all that complicated when you use their services as one of many valuable resources in your job seeking toolbox. If you are looking for a job, make sure you pursue every avenue available to you – and that working with recruiters in the correct fashion is part of your job search strategy.

Source: http://www.recruiter.com/i/working-with-recruiters-made-easy/

NZ employees on the hunt for new jobs

New Zealand employers may struggle to retain workers over the next 12 months, with 68 percent of employees likely to be looking for a new job, according to the Kelly Global Workforce Index.

That’s just higher than the international average of 66 percent, the global survey canvasing about 170,000 people across 30 countries has found.

Out of the 3,500 New Zealanders surveyed, 50 percent said they were happy in their job, while 27 percent said they were unhappy.

“For employees, the response to years working in a sluggish economy – which has often meant coping with greater demands with fewer staff, lower wage growth and fewer opportunities for promotion – is the significant restlessness we are seeing in this new KGWI,” said Debbie Grenfell, managing director at Kelly Services.

Grenfell said as the economy begins to improve, employers are likely to find it increasingly competitive, not only to hire new staff but also to retain their best employees.

Defying stereotypes, 74 percent of baby boomers – those aged 49 to 66 – were most likely to switch jobs over the next 12 months. That compares with 69 percent of Gen X, aged 31 to 48, and 66 percent of Gen Y, aged 19 to 30.

Financial reward was not employees’ key motivator when looking for a job, with 48 percent of respondents citing personal fulfillment as the most important consideration, followed by growth/advancement on 37 percent. Financial consideration accounted for only 10 percent of responses.

“The key here is that employers need to look at a range of ways to engage their staff – giving them opportunities to maintain a good work/life balance and derive ‘meaning’ from their work,’ Grenfell said.

By Hannah Lynch (BusinessDesk)

Bosses share tips on how to win a job

Making yourself the perfect candidate for that dream role takes thought and effort, writes Tom O’Neil

Ever since Noah placed an advertisement for an animal hygiene consultant on the front door of his ark all those years ago, candidates have been trying to impress employers and convince them they are the right person for their organisation.

Sadly for many people, things don’t always go to plan. Why can some candidates consistently perform well during the screening and interview process, while many others make the same mistakes and never seem to get anywhere?

I set out to ask what other career specialists, recruiters and employers were thinking when they looked for that perfect candidate.

Best practice
Karen Shields, general manager of the Counties Manukau Kindergarten Association, likes candidates who are “well-prepared with documentation that is attractive, relevant to the position, succinct, and never has any mistakes or is incomplete. They exhibit a great first impression and all their information is positively supported by their referees.”

Managing director of Farrow Jamieson, Iain McGibbon, agrees wholeheartedly. “It’s vital the candidate has read the advertisement or position description and replied with relevant, succinct information.” Content, not presentation, is key, as “pretty doesn’t make it relevant or the candidate competent to do the job. You must outline clearly in your CV the jobs you have done and the results/impact you have achieved.”

Kate Ross, director of Kinetic Recruitment, values “a clear and concise CV – well put together with thought and detail”. As well as this, “top candidates ensure the job they are applying for is applicable and when we phone, you are ‘on to it’ and prepared to answer the questions we need to know”.

Christopher Breen, general manager of business support services for Eastland Group, believes candidates must match their skill set with the position requirements as well as ideally “show an ‘X factor’ – something that we had not considered”.

When things go wrong …
While getting things right is important, what are some of the things candidates do to instantly get themselves in hot water?

James Cozens, managing director of IT and accounting recruiter Attwood Cozens, struggles with candidates who send a generic CV with no cover letter.

“A recent advertisement of mine had 93 responses and only 15 had a covering letter, of which five were generic. Guess which ones I looked at first!” Inappropriately using technology can also cloud a potential employee’s suitability for Cozens.

“Using text in a covering email such as ‘c u have a job 4 me’, or having an email address that is clearly inappropriate (a chartered accountant whose email address was mistressdomntricks@ … ) does nothing to highlight their professionalism to me.”

A CV that does not reflect the candidate and CVs written in the third person are a big no-no for McGibbon.

“Lack of attention to detail, spelling mistakes and cover letter addressed to a different company and/or person” do not bode well either.

You’ve got an interview!
Hurrah! You have made it through the first cull of your CV and cover letter and have been invited for an interview. What can you do now to make sure you stand out above the rest?

“Arrive on time (not too early) and never late,” says Shields. “You want to create a good first impression by being tidily dressed and exhibiting a friendly manner with a big smile.”

She also adds that you must “be prepared! Top candidates research the organisation, answer questions enthusiastically and are able to clearly articulate why they think they are the best person for this position.”

Cozens also adds: “Ask some good questions – not ‘how long do I get for lunch?’. In my personal experience, a candidate with no good questions to ask the employer is really saying, ‘I don’t care about the opportunity – I only want the money!’.”

Ross is turned off by candidates who make it to the interview stage but are “rude to our receptionist, yet pleasant to the consultant”.

I once heard of a large company which made the receptionist part of the formal recruiting process.

As the roles available were for cabin crew, the company wanted to get a “true” understanding of what the person was like when they felt the eyes of the employer were not on them. For many candidates this unexpected recruitment hurdle was the difference between a career in the skies and ongoing unemployment.

McGibbon has a warning for those tempted to “gloss over” problems or inflate their experience in their CV and interview. “If we detect a lie or the fact that you aren’t telling us something we should know, that creates suspicion about the legitimacy of other facts. Own up early and fully to gaps in your career and any errors.”

Present yourself well and be confident – not cocky!
While you cannot “judge a book by its cover”, British newspaper the Telegraph cites studies that indicate many people making recruitment decisions will make up their mind in the first five minutes of the interview. A high standard of personal presentation is therefore key to almost all interviews.

Also important is demonstrating a healthy level of confidence, not feigned humility or arrogance.

After the interview
Dick Bolles, author of the world’s best-selling career guide, What Colour Is Your Parachute, says: “Thank-you notes must be sent after every interview, by every job hunter … This is the most overlooked step in the entire job-hunting process.” Cozens agrees, saying: “A candidate who calls or emails you after you have interviewed them to thank you for your time really stands out for me.”

Don’t forget to debrief yourself as well. Think about the things you have done well and reflect on where you can improve. This will only help as you go into your next interview.

Sell yourself
Remember you are there to sell yourself professionally to the employer, whether you are a customer services consultant, plumber or chief executive. Do your research, present yourself well and respond directly to what the employer or recruiter is seeking.

If you keep these principles at the forefront of your job hunt, you can’t help but make a great impression and take that next step towards your dream job.

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10787947

Social Media Profile Picture

You, Your Social Media Presence, and Gosh Darn It…That Picture You Posted…

 I’m looking at LinkedIn profiles this morning.  I’m actually re-verifying a list of candidates, the organizations they work for and Hoover’s information.  Good fun stuff early on a Friday. It’s actually pretty tedious. But as I’m clicking and cross referencing, gosh darn it if I don’t see your LinkedIn profile picture.  Post whatever you want on Facebook and use your privacy controls, but when it comes time to network on a site that labels itself a “Professional Network” aka where the people who might hire you hang out…a few common sense rules:

a) Don’t use a fake photo – be you – not Bart Simpson.

b) Look like you have clothes on.  Seriously.  The tube top is a great fashion item but not on a professional profile.

 c) No kids.  I like kids; I have some of my own.  But LinkedIn isn’t the place to feature them. Pretty simple, huh?  You’d think.  

 Some people still don’t get it.  I did a presentation last fall and was highlighting this awesome candidate I found…just the right person for the group of HR pro’s in the room and everyone got hung up on the photo.  Why? Because strapless tops have been in for a while and this woman cropped her photo just so it looked like she had no clothes on.  Totally lost the group on her fabulous credentials because she looked naked.  Ugh.

And that’s why you have to think about that photo…because Human Resources professionals are human.  Whether they want to or not, they make judgments within seconds of viewing your profile and if you’ve got a misguided photo, it may get their attention, but it may taint their review of your experience.  Because they’re human. This is just like dressing appropriately for an interview…it’s a first impression.  So clean it up or take it out.  Your call.

 Source: http://fistfuloftalent.com/2012/01/you-your-social-media-presence-and-gosh-darn-it-that-picture-you-posted.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FistfulOfTalent+%28Fistful+of+Talent%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

 

The job market may be improving, with more and more ads online

 The job market may be improving, with more and more ads online.

Latest Seek figures show job ad numbers grew by more than 9 per cent last year, on the back of positive growth in 2010.

Seek New Zealand general manager Janet Faulding says Wellington and Canterbury were the stand out performers with the southern region recording 53 per cent growth.

Ms Faulding says the number of positions available in Canterbury outstrips the number of applicants, showing perhaps new residents aren’t being drawn to the quake-ravaged region.

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10779285

Top 10 Tips for Candidates Working with Recruiters

 

1. Recruiters are paid to fill a job not find you a job. Try not to take it personally but do understand this is how they make a living.

2. Are you a good candidate? Recruiters do like to place good candidates with good companies. An old colleague of mine once said there is no such thing as a bad company or a bad candidate; you just have to match the two.

3. Building strong relationships with recruiters. Follow up once a week via a call and once a week via an email. If a recruiter has information about an interview for you or the next steps they WILL call you. More than that detracts from the recruiter doing their job…getting you the interview.

4. Keys to the kingdom. Recruiters often hold key information about positions, companies hiring, and specific hurdles hiring managers put in front of candidates.  They are always willing to share that information with the candidates they believe to be their personal top choice.

5. Preparation is the difference between the top candidate who gets an offer and the runner up. Does your resume really present you well? Do you have a plan on how you are going to be successful? Know the market, the competitors and industry news.

6. Q & A with the recruiter. This should really go both ways, but understand the recruiter is trying to qualify you IN, not knock you out of consideration for this position.  They need to know specifics and will ask hard questions. Just be truthful.

7. Compensation. This is the reason we all work. In vision your recruiter as your talent agent. They get a piece of the action because they put you in the job in the first place.

8. Not Enough Time in the Day. Some recruiters are trying to do the job of 4 people. You are looking for one job and look how time consuming that can be. Image trying to fill 30 spots, all in the next 48 hours…

9. Be nice. Be professional. Transitioning to a new job or career can be stressful, we get it. Just don’t make your recruiter your shrink. Be sure to communicate clearly with your recruiter what is the most important criteria for you to make a move.  Nothing is more frustrating to a recruiter than doing all the work required to get you the offer to have you then so no.

10. Karma and referrals. Pay it forward. Do you want to be top of mind of a recruiter? – help them with a referral. What goes around comes around. I’ll personally go out of my way for someone that has already gone out of their way to help me. 

Source: http://www.linkedin.com/news?actionBar=&articleID=5573429252029677661&ids=cjoSdPsSej8MczkOej8QcPsRdiMMdz0MdP4PdzoSdzgOejoQdzkRb34RdzsNcjoQcP4MdzoVczwSdjkId3kOej8OdjsOdjcRdj0QczsRdiMUdzATc34Mcz0N&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=eml-tod2-b-ttl-4&ut=2NWRHgyqdU1R81

7 Things Highly Productive People Do

Source: http://www.inc.com/ilya-pozin/7-things-highly-productive-people-do.html

You have more important things to focus on than, um, focusing. Get back on track with these tips.

You probably don’t want to admit it but you love distractions. In fact, just like monkeys, you get a shot of dopamine every time something pulls you in another direction. Why do you think you check your email so much?

Want to be more productive and get your focus back? There are no secret tricks here… do one thing at a time. Stop multitasking—it’s just another form of distraction.

Easier said than done, I know.

Recently I sat down with Tony Wong, a project management blackbelt whose client list includes Toyota, Honda, and Disney, to name a few. He’s an expert in keeping people on task, so I thought he’d be a good person to ask.

Here are his tips for staying productive:

1. Work backwards from goals to milestones to tasks. Writing “launch company website” at the top of your to-do list is a sure way to make sure you never get it done. Break down the work into smaller and smaller chunks until you have specific tasks that can be accomplished in a few hours or less: Sketch a wireframe, outline an introduction for the homepage video, etc. That’s how you set goals and actually succeed in crossing them off your list.
2. Stop multi-tasking. No, seriously—stop. Switching from task to task quickly does not work. In fact, changing tasks more than 10 times in a day makes you dumber than being stoner. When you’re stoned, your IQ drops by five points. When you multitask, it drops by an average of 10 points, 15 for men, five for women (yes, men are three times as bad at multitasking than women).
3. Be militant about eliminating distractions. Lock your door, put a sign up, turn off your phone, texts, email, and instant messaging. In fact, if you know you may sneak a peek at your email, set it to offline mode, or even turn off your Internet connection. Go to a quiet area and focus on completing one task.
4. Schedule your email. Pick two or three times during the day when you’re going to use your email. Checking your email constantly throughout the day creates a ton of noise and kills your productivity.
5. Use the phone. Email isn’t meant for conversations. Don’t reply more than twice to an email. Pick up the phone instead.
6. Work on your own agenda. Don’t let something else set your day. Most people go right to their emails and start freaking out. You will end up at inbox-zero, but accomplish nothing. After you wake up, drink water so you rehydrate, eat a good breakfast to replenish your glucose, then set prioritized goals for the rest of your day.
7. Work in 60 to 90 minute intervals. Your brain uses up more glucose than any other bodily activity. Typically you will have spent most of it after 60-90 minutes. (That’s why you feel so burned out after super long meetings.) So take a break: Get up, go for a walk, have a snack, do something completely different to recharge. And yes, that means you need an extra hour for breaks, not including lunch, so if you’re required to get eight hours of work done each day, plan to be there for 9.5-10 hours.

10 Things Job Applicants Should Know

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/21/10-things-job-applicants-should-know/?ref=smallbusiness

While there clearly are not enough jobs to go around, some people are getting hired. Every day, every hour, thousands of people are selected from thousands more who are ready, willing and able to work. The question is, why is it that some people get hired and some don’t?

I have an unusual perspective on this. I read several résumés a week. My human resources person reads hundreds. There are some obvious answers like education, connections, experience and even enthusiasm. But there is another reason that may be just as significant: bad résumé and interview skills, especially for applicants right out of school or someone who hasn’t interviewed in a long time. I can’t tell you how many times we have interviewed a recent college graduate who would surely get an F in Job Hunting 101.

As a parent of a soon-to-graduate student (last one, yippee!), I am thinking about the students and their parents as they enter the real world. I can easily imagine what these grads tell their parents when they can’t find a job: “No one is hiring!” “You don’t understand how competitive it is out there!” “I’m thinking of going to grad school!”

Poor dad. Poor mom. And I do mean poor. With the cost of college, parents can be forgiven for expecting their grads to be able to land a job. There’s no question that this has been as tough an economy as we’ve had in a long time, but again, even in the worst economy, some people do land jobs. Here’s my top 10 list of what you can do to improve your odds.

1. Review the résumé. Review it again. Have a grown-up review it. Would it surprise you to learn that a third of the résumés we get have misspellings? I just looked at one that listed the person’s address as Chicago, Ohio. She was from Ohio.  An honest mistake? Sure. But it shows a lack of attention to detail, and it was the first of five careless mistakes. This was for a job that requires communicating with customers and putting proposals together. I don’t understand. Have these college graduates really not heard of spell check?  If you have a pretty good idea that you can’t spell, why wouldn’t you have someone else look it over? Or do bad spellers only hang out with other bad spellers?
2. Show up on time for the interview. That means plan on getting there early. Look around. Look friendly.
3. Dress appropriately. O.K. This one is going to require some judgment. Don’t wear jeans (unless you’re applying at the Gap). Don’t look like you are on the way to the beach unless you are applying for a lifeguard job. You get the idea.
4. Know something about the company. Or, better yet, know a lot about the company. With the advent of the Internet and Web sites, many companies expect you to be familiar with what it is they do. They also expect that you will speak convincingly about why you would love to work at their company. You can do it.
5. Take internships seriously. It isn’t easy to find an internship. Many companies use them to develop a pool for prospective employees. We hired a paid intern to work in our gallery. She had a degree in art, was very outgoing and seemed to have an ability to sell. But she kept coming in late, even though she lived five minutes away. After several conversations, she still kept coming in late. We rode out the internship and wished her well. We hired someone else.  There are very few art jobs out there. My new employee is very thankful. She has never been late.
6. Don’t just look for job postings. Target companies that you would like to work for and send them a résumé. Follow up. Send one to the H.R. person, the manager, the president. Include a beautifully written cover letter. Follow up. If you do this enough, you will find someone who just happens to be thinking about placing a job ad, and calling you may make this person’s life a little easier. Timing is everything, although persistence is important, too. Talk to friends and relatives about companies they know.
7. Think about things you have done in school, in a previous job, in a volunteer position that speak to your commitment, your ability to solve problems, your ability to deal with difficult customer situations, your ability to get a job done. Work it into your résumé and your interview responses.
8. Ask questions, especially when interviewers ask if you have any questions. If you don’t, you look unengaged, afraid or uninterested. And make them good questions about what you’ll be doing on the job. Don’t ask how much vacation time you get. The primary goal of the questions you ask is to get the job, not to decide if you want the job.
9. Think before you speak. This is a skill that most of us could improve. During one interview, I asked a young woman why a reference she had listed hadn’t had much to say about her. She immediately blurted out, “I’m difficult to work with!” Of course, I hired her immediately, because everyone wants to work with difficult people! (No, actually, I didn’t.)
10. Stay in touch. If you get to be a finalist for a position but don’t get it, suck it up. Don’t take it personally. The company clearly liked you, but you were edged out. It is not easy to pick between finalists, and many times it is very close. Ask if you can stay in touch. If you get an enthusiastic yes, be sure to do so. There is a good chance that the new hire won’t work out or that another position will open up. You are close!
11. Bonus! I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people burn bridges for no reason. That doesn’t necessarily mean telling off your boss on the way out. It is usually more subtle, like not giving notice, making disparaging remarks about the company to co-workers (who can’t wait to tell the boss) or exhibiting an I-don’t-care-anymore attitude. Be smart: if you give notice and the company chooses to keep you around, stay on your best behavior. Say good-bye to everyone. It will speak well of you, and it will be remembered. It can be the difference between getting a lukewarm reference or an enthusiastic one. That could easily make the difference in getting your next job.

It is more competitive than ever. Rise to the challenge. This may not help the unemployment rate, but it could  help you. In Real World 101, that is the goal.

 

 

New jobs up 9.3% on last year

A quieter finish to the year is not on the cards for the employment sector in 2011, as the SEEK New Job Ad Index shows a 2.2% growth in new job ads in November. Over the last month all regions have posted an increase in new jobs, bar one, and there has been a national increase of 9.3% over the last 12 months.

“Surprisingly, Wellington has driven this growth notching up their biggest increase in new jobs since June with an impressive 6.7% rise,” says Janet Faulding General Manager of SEEK New Zealand.

“Canterbury continues their strong performance with a 5.2% rise in November, their eighth month of growth over the last nine months, and an incredible 52.9% increase over the last year. It’s Auckland who is bucking the trend with a slight drop of 0.4%”.

Most importantly, the growth in new job ads hasn’t been outweighed by the growth in applications which points to improving job seeking conditions for Kiwis. The SEEK Employment Index (SEI) measures the ratio of new job ads placed on www.seek.co.nz the country’s largest job source, to the number of applications for those jobs. Over November the SEI increased by 2.5%, showing that new job ads grew faster than applications for those roles.

“Auckland performed well in the SEEK Employment Index this month, posting an increase of 2.3%, despite a dip in new job ad numbers. This means there was an even bigger drop in applications so competition for some roles will have improved over the month – positive news for job seekers,” notes Ms Faulding.

Contrary to popular belief, New Zealand is also experiencing stronger growth than Australia. Since January new job ads have risen by 4.5% in New Zealand, compared to a decline of 2.0% in Australia.

Job Applications

November’s top five most competitive occupations:

1. Retail and Consumer Products – Retail Assistants
2. Administration and Office Support – Administrative Assistants
3. Information and Communication Technology – Help Desk and IT Support
4. Manufacturing, Transport and Logistics – Warehousing, Storage and Distribution
5. Hospitality and Tourism – Chefs/cooks

Retail Assistant roles remain the most competitive jobs in New Zealand, receiving more applications per job advertised than any other on www.seek.co.nz. Those rounding out the top five most competitive occupations are reoccurring placeholders except for cook/chef roles.

November’s top five most sought after employees:

1. Healthcare and Medical – Physiotherapy, OT and Rehabilitation
2. Engineering – Civil/Structural Engineering
3. Government and Defence – Government
4. Accounting – Business Services and Corporate Advisory
5. Trades and Services – Automotive Trades

Those working in Physiotherapy, OT and Rehabilitation roles remain the most sought after employees in New Zealand for the second consecutive month. These roles receive the least number of applications per job advertised, meaning employers find these positions hardest to fill.

 

Source: http://www.hainesattract.co.nz/article?id=02d560f6-3773-43aa-b804-95ff31eb5d4d

What is the 90 Day Trial Period?

The 90 Day Trial Period is a voluntary arrangement which means that, in addition to other requirements, the employee has to freely agree with the employer for a trial period to be included in their employment agreement. It has to be set out in writing. From 1 April 2011, all employers can rely on one. For employees hired before 1 April 2011, only those employers with 19 or fewer employees could include a 90 Day Trial period in an employment agreement. Employers can also choose not to include a 90 Day Trial Period in Employment Agreements.

It is important to point out that although it is often referred to as the 90 Day Trial Period, a trial period in these circumstances can be agreed for a shorter period. 90 days is just the longest trial period allowed. If an employer wishes to dismiss an employee during a trial period, the employer must give notice of dismissal to the employee before the end of the trial period (even if that dismissal does not actually happen until after the date on which the trial period ended). If the employer waits until the trial period has ended before dismissing the employee, the employee will be able to challenge the dismissal by bringing a Personal Grievance if he or she wishes to do so. For more information, visit the Employment Relations website (http://www.dol.govt.nz/er/minimumrights/trialperiods.asp) or the Citizens Advice Bureau (http://www.cab.org.nz/vat/eb/fw/Pages/Trialperiods.aspx).

From: http://www.cab.org.nz/vat/eb/fw/Pages/Trialperiods.aspx#1