More Food for thought

Another site to stimulate your thinking…

New Business Ideas!

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Always interesting with great new ideas from around the world. You can even register as a trend spotter if you like!

Winning Culture…

You have to give the Warriors a big rap for their performances over the last two weeks. The most striking thing for me is how they seem so controlled and playing with with total confidence in and respect for eachother. It reminds me of sitting in the Olympic stadium watching the Wallabies knock the All Blacks out of the 2003 Rugby World Cup. That day in Sydney the Wallabies were just like the Warriors are now picking each other up after mistakes and applauding each other for the good stuff. It has a real energy about it and you could see that day the ABs did not have that same team culture!

It’s everything we aim for in our own businesses I’m sure and what better demonstration off it than in a Sports Team right in the high performance ZONE!

Well Done to everyone at the Warriors I’m loving it!

Social networking & recruiting

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4690349a28.html

Thought provoking article (link above) I thought on social networking sites being used to screen candidates. I’m a bit slow and had always seen them as a great source of candidates but had missed the screening application. Not sure I’d dismiss a candidate based on the content of their facebook site but maybe it does give a little insight into what they are all about?
22% from the careerbuilder survey reckon they have!

But how does this work if it is mostly permission based?

Habits of GREAT Recruiters…

We’ve been working up a self assessment view on the habits of Great Recruiters…

 

1)      Goal Driven:

a)      I set daily, weekly, monthly goals that focus me on results

b)      I have an income expectation and understand how much I need to do to exceed it

c)       I understand what the business expects of me

 

2)      Time & Activity management:

a)      I understand the activities it takes to be a successful recruiter and I manage my time accordingly

b)      I use Daily to do lists and they always include:

i)        Candidate sourcing/referrals

ii)       New Client calls

iii)     Candidate & Client debriefing

iv)     Client visits

v)      Referencing

vi)     General catch up calls

 

3)      Work with Team:

a)      I work with and contribute to the team to leverage all our knowledge towards improved results

b)      I use and maintain the database

 

4)      Control & Influence:

a)      I stay in constant contact with candidates, questioning & influencing their thinking.

b)      I constantly question and lead clients towards required decisions and/or for information

c)       I aim to CONTROL all stages of the process with both candidates & clients

 

5)      Communication:

a)      I exceed communication expectations always delivering either good or bad news to keep candidates & clients informed

b)      I ensure all enquiries are responded to in a timely manner

 

6)      Professional Competence:

a)      I understand and can manage all the steps in recruiting and in candidate & client control

b)      I am always listening and sharing scenarios to improve my knowledge

c)       I behave like a ‘career recruiter’ demonstrating the resilience and persistence required to be better than the average

 

7)      Market Knowledge:

a)      I continually question both candidates & clients and scan all sources to ensure up to date market knowledge

b)      I ask both candidates & clients about my competition and how I’m going

 

      Competitiveness:

a)      I understand the competitive nature of this industry and thrive in doing it better than others

b)      I appreciate the urgency required to beat our competitors and I therefore continually prioritise and do things immediately

Top Tips…(from a recruiters perspective)

From a recruiters perspective what are the top tips we would offer our clients to make recruiting a better experience? We had the following thoughts…

1. “Time kills all deals” Great candidates won’t wait.

2. Provide a quality brief. The more comprehensive the brief the better the result.

3. Choose one recruiter…and make a mutual committment to the process.

4. Open all candidate sourcing channels, press, web, referrrals etc

5. Understand the full Value Proposition you have to offer the ideal candidate as they will have choices and need to be sold on the job, challenges, rewards, recognition, package, future!  Think…”Whats in it for me?”

You have to love APPLE!

I recently visited the Apple store on Regent St in London and WOW! They really have cracked it with their retail vision. Over 50 free internet kiosks were you can try out the macbook air, a lecture theatre, a ‘genuis’ bar whereby you can spend time with a expert, live training sessions etc, etc. Service staff all over both floors they really leave you loving everything about an Apple experience. I reckon a visit to the new Sydney shop could be on the agenda or better still hopefully they open one in NZ soon!!!

Different in Europe

Having spent the last two weeks in Italy & France I notice the main difference is that the Recruitment business has a “High Street” profile. Vedior, Adecco, Manpower are in every small town and city visited with shop fronts. Why dont we do that in Nz and Australia as its great profile and exposure? I guess thats why they have grown with such enormous scale. Are we too conservative down under?

Australia Beckons?

Last weekend I spent a day at our stall at the NZ Jobs Expo and was amazed by how many people approached us asking if we could help them get a job in Australia. Last year we lost @30,000 to Australia and the trend seems set to continue upwards. Australian wages are up to 30% better and the taxes are now lower so you can’t blame people. The challenge for us is what is NZ going to do hold onto its talented young people or at least attract them home once they have done their OE?

The message matters…

You would have thought that the NZRFU largely due to the All Blacks had a pretty good employment brand. A win/loss ratio second to none in the sporting world and a population very proud of their achievements. But it’s interesting right now to observe the reaction that the man in charge of the lead brand is getting from most of the public. He is hurting the BRAND. For me its another reminder of how employers need to get the right messages out about their culture, direction, values etc as perception is reality whether your trying to fill a football stadium of hire great people!

Last Saturday the All Blacks played in front of a 3/4 full crowd. WOW – perception matters – lets be careful about the messages we put out there!