Welcome to our May newsletter
Best wishes to all from the Recruitment Matters team!
This is our May newsletter featuring a mix of industry news, helpful information from recruitment industry experts, tips to help you improve and grow the profitability of your business and, of course, news from ourselves at Recruitment Matters about our training courses, products and services.
More evidence of a downturn comes with news that recruitment in the banking and finance sector has slowed rapidly in the first quarter of the year, according to online advertising firm Broadbean Technology. The company noted a steady decline in banking roles compared to 2006, when there were three times the number of finance jobs advertised. The news follows the announcement of redundancies at several City banks, including Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. The building sector continues to grow, however, with a third more vacancies than in 2006, according to Broadbean.
Also, the Bank of England has warned that ‘employment intentions’ are at their lowest for more than a decade. The bank spoke to 650 businesses across the country, and found that employers are already beginning to cut workers’ hours, failing to fill vacancies and recruiting temporary staff. The figures are the gloomiest since the Bank began compiling statistics in 1997.
Meanwhile, research by the Chartered Management Institute revealed that more bosses are being made redundant than at any time in the last seven years according to the survey of 40,000 executives.
As far as we’re concerned, the rest of this newsletter is a depression-free zone. If we’re not careful, we’ll all talk ourselves into a miserable black hole from which it will be difficult to make an escape. If you feel that you’re lacking a bit of motivation or can’t quite see how to turn things around, invest a little time and money in one of our training courses – we’ll soon sort you out! Even the government are doing their bit in this regard – see the article below about employees being given the right to request training.
We are featuring a very unusual contribution this month from ‘Sharon’ who has taken the initiative to move on from her current employer as a result of some of her colleagues’ lack of respect or appreciation. We publish her email titled ‘Sugar works better than vinegar’ in its entirety. What would you do in her circumstances and what advice do you have?
We’ve also got another informative article from David Lyons, MD of eBoss Online Recruitment Solutions this time with some great advice to enable you to never lose an email again.
We have another fine contribution from our networking expert, Will Kintish, with the first of two articles on ‘How to move in then move on.’ We also have some top tips from Neil Kirby in his follow-up to last month’s ‘spring clean’ article, this time on ‘clearing the clutter.’ And, of course, we feature tips from our very own trainers, Warren Kemp and Matt Wilson. For more of our tips and advice, please visit http://www.recruitmentmatters.com/free.php .
We like this to be very much an interactive newsletter and we welcome your comments and feedback and will be happy to feature your contributions on important industry issues and your advice on how to improve the success and professionalism of our marketplace. As you now know, in return, we show our gratitude by featuring a link to your company, as a contributor to this publication.
We at Recruitment Matters have a simple underlying philosophy to everything that we do, and that is, by helping each other to improve, we all stand to benefit in this large, dynamic and ever evolving industry.
Please send your potential editorial contributions to ken@recruitmentmatters.com.
Employees to be given the right to request training
The government has introduced plans to allow employees the legal right to request time to train from their employers. In a further announcement, apprenticeships will receive a boost under new legislation to unlock the potential of individuals and businesses.
The government will now consult on how workers can be legally empowered to request time to undertake training that will benefit them and their employer. The practical arrangements which employers would follow would be modelled on the existing right to request flexible working.
By introducing a new right to ask for time for training, employees will be able to talk to employers about their training needs, and employers will become more aware of the public funds available to support training. Employers will be legally obliged to seriously consider requests for training they receive but could refuse a request where there was a good business reason to do so.
Employers will not be obliged to meet the salary or training costs to enable a request for time to train but it is expected that many will choose to do so, recognising the opportunity to invest in their business.
Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills John Denham said, "If the job prospects of our workforce are to improve and the country is to succeed internationally, we have to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to rise as far as their abilities can take them.
"Learning starts before school and it should not stop when you leave. While it is right that we consult on this proposal, I believe that skills development has to become an integral part of working life for everyone. A right to request training will help ensure this becomes a reality.
"It will allow millions of employees to start a conversation with their employer about how they can become a more productive member of staff and in turn will encourage employers to better tap into some of the major Government supported training programmes available to them."
The plan has already drawn criticism from the EEF. Martin Temple, EEF Chairman, said, "Business will find it difficult to understand why government is adopting such a bullish approach to better regulation, whilst at the same time introducing yet more regulatory requirements which will inevitably create practical problems. It will increasingly require employers to adopt the judgement of Solomon in deciding who has time off for training."
Richard Lambert of the CBI commented, "Employers will be pleased that the government has ruled out compelling them to train staff irrespective of their circumstances and opted to introduce the right to request instead. The most effective spur for training is the mutual benefit derived by both employer and employee, not regulation."
Recruiters’ Guide to Networking
Contributor: Will Kintish
How to move in then move on (1)
This is Will’s fifth article on ‘working the room.’ During May and June, he shares more of his ideas with you on how to ‘move in then move on.’
1. “Work the room” with politeness, respect, integrity, good manners, etiquette and courtesy. Never look over your shoulder looking for others whilst in conversation…the height of bad manners.
2. Move around the room. Spending the whole time with one person is not the best use of your time.
3. Appreciate that you are not obliged, nor owe it to your fellow guests to spend the whole event with them. They will want to move on just as much as you but invariably don’t know how to do it comfortably.
4. Move on at the appropriate time; you will know when it is. This is not easy and has to be practised. “Well, Joe, it’s been great meeting you. I need to go and see Joanna over there, would you like me to introduce you?”
5. Say, “I’m going to get a drink would you like to join me?” Here you offer options, which are rarely taken up. Don’t leave people alone.
6. Move quietly and gently; don’t let people actually see you work the room.
7. Start up a conversation at the bar or near the food, always a comfortable area to get chatting with people. Offering someone a plate is always a good icebreaker.
8. Act as a host even though you may be a guest. When introducing people don’t just say “this is Joe, this is Joanna”, add interesting facts about each. You make it effortless for them to start talking, makes you more popular and easier for you to move on.
9. Ensure you never leave any guest alone when you host an event. You must have 360° vision to ensure that everybody feels comfortable and is never alone.
10. Survey the room before working the room. Look for open and closed groups and, unless you know people, don’t join closed-formatted groups.
Will Kintish and his team show people how to attract more business and clients by helping them become more confident and effective business networkers. For more information, email willk@kintish.co.uk, visit www.kintish.co.uk or call 0161 773 3727.
Sugar works better than vinegar
‘Hi Ken,
I am a secretary with a lovely company but due to certain members of the company's behaviour, I am gladly leaving in a few weeks time. I have been a secretary for over 15 years and find that the lack of respect from colleagues is staggering. Neither age nor gender has anything to do with it.
I am writing as I have received emails from you, as I am on the email list that the sales people get, and I have read what you have had to say on other topics and I respect your perspective and attitude. As a result of this, I wonder is this a topic that you could use? I feel sometimes that people only seem to pay attention to good commonsense if they pay for it.....
When I say sugar works better than vinegar, it does. The company that I am leaving had an aged debtors list of over €175k - I brought it down to €13K in less than 3 months. While this was appreciated by the company, I really don't think it was respected and rather than be yet another disgruntled employee, I am leaving. I feel that companies take titles into account far too much. Perhaps this is indicative of society as a whole, but in my experience the adage, 'be careful on the way up.....' is very true. The person that greets you on the telephone or at reception has more influence than you think. You are appealing to Sales People. An example of this is when I screen calls that come in for our MD. Depending on their attitude and behaviour towards me, they may or may not be put through. We, at the phones, are at the rock-face. We intervene and decide, in a lot of cases, if your call should be entertained or not.
It is not just on the phones. It is internally too. Sales people have got to be consistent with all levels and all their colleagues. I am saying all this from experience. The 'turning on the charm' when you want something is so transparent. Being consistently respectful and appreciating what admin staff do for you can make a world of difference to morale and behaviour. Think of that next time that you are booked into a horrible hotel. You can either go back and get very angry with the person who booked it or you can remember to say please and thank you when you deal with them again or even a genuine hello when you pass them in the corridor.
You would do it if it was the MD. They put their trousers on one leg at a time too...
I hope this didn't come across as a rant, I assure you it is not. As I said, I'm leaving before it does.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Regards,
Sharon’
If you wish to get in touch with Sharon, please email ken@recruitmentmatters.com and we’ll make sure that she gets it.
Anchoring
For this tip let’s touch on a subject that can really help to secure the deal or clinch that sale. In fact it is a subject that can be used in a hundred and one sales/recruitment situations. Let us expand that thought for a second. Just about every conversation you have with someone has some sort of sales content. Even if you are in a pub with a friend, you are still trying to sell them your point of view, aren’t you?
Anyway, I digress. Let us get back to the commercial sales situation: selling an opportunity to a candidate or selling your service to a client to name but two. I’m talking to you about anchoring. Anchoring is the setting off of a trigger in either yourself or another to elicit a certain emotion. Have you ever caught the whiff of a certain perfume or aftershave that reminded you of your first girlfriend or boyfriend? That is an anchor. Heard a piece of music that always reminds you of a certain moment in time and starts you reminiscing? That is an anchor.
You can, therefore, with some forethought implant an anchor in someone and set it off at will. If you have ever watched a stage or TV hypnotist put someone out with the word ‘sleep’ or a click of the fingers or by touching their arm or shoulder, then that is a different emotion but it is also anchoring at its most powerful. To keep it simple, to start with I will concentrate on purely anchoring a client. If you then want to learn more on how to use it yourself, for example, prior to a big presentation, before you pick up the phone or for some other reasons, then get in touch with me and I will give you some more.
One of the most effective ways of bringing a client to the point of sale is to use anchoring. Anchoring is defined as eliciting memories in people using verbal or physical triggers. Put simply, with anchoring you use certain gestures or words or both so that your client associates them with a pleasurable emotion then at a critical point you bring back that emotion with a particular word or gesture that you used in your anchor. Anchoring is also good for motivation and for making yourself very persuasive. Effective use with clients will render them very receptive to you and will remind them of what is positive about your service. The best time to create an anchor is when rapport is at its peak. You can use key words or phrases, smile, point your finger, raise your eyebrows or snap your fingers and later you can bring them back to that high rapport instantly by using that verbal or non-verbal cue when the time is right.
A simple example is as follows: a man walks into a clothes shop and starts looking at suits. The salesperson walks up and engages him in conversation, walking over to where the right size of suits are situated the salesperson asks ‘what colour are you looking for?’ ‘Navy blue’ the reply. ‘Single or double-breasted?’ ‘Double’ and then the salesperson lightly touches the customer on their arm and says ‘You will look really good in that blue and especially with that double-breasted style.’ After trying on a few suits the salesperson picks a moment when a particular suit fits well and can see the customer really looking at himself in the mirror, checking for the fit and the look. At that moment the salesperson walks up and lightly touches him in the same place on his arm and says ‘you look really good in that one’. End result – sale.
Why not try to think of ways that anchoring can work for you, either in a business or social environment. It does not have to be physically touching the other person if you are a bit unsure - the salesperson could have snapped their fingers and said the same words and later snapped them again and said similar words.
If you are interested and want to know more, get in touch.
Warren Kemp is principal and lead trainer with Recruitment Matters. For more tips, advice and information on Recruitment Matters visit www.recruitmentmatters.com/free.php, telephone 0800 0749 289 or email warren@recruitmentmatters.com.
Clearing the clutter
Contributor: Neil Kirby
Clutter can divert from what you want to achieve and drains you of energy. The aim of this exercise is to enable you to get rid of the clutter, freeing up your mind to focus on achieving your goals with renewed energy. Go as far as you wish. For each of the questions, consider specifically what you do next and give yourself a timescale to complete each action. In each case ask yourself the questions “What next? By when?” and write down your answers as action points.
1. Write down the things that you want to achieve at work and in your private life. At work, ensure you know what’s expected of you (maybe review your job description) and any goals or targets that you or your line manager has for you. This will give you direction and enable you to prioritise.
2. Decide to take total responsibility for you and your work. Consider your capacity – how much time do you have? Do only what you can, delegate the rest. Agree only to what you know you can fulfil. Never commit to more than you know you can do.
3. Use a diary. Put in it all your meetings and appointments. Put in it all deadlines for your current workload. Identify the key tasks that you need to complete to meet these deadlines and put these in your diary. Use it as a booking-in system.
4. List all the other things that you need to do. Do they contribute to what you want to achieve? If no – then ditch or delegate. If yes – then diarise the key tasks and when you’ll do them.
5. For all work to be delegated, identify who this will be delegated to, exactly what you need to explain to them, when you need it completed and how closely you will monitor them. Brief the individual and ensure that they understand exactly what is required.
6. Make sure that you have a reminder system (perhaps in your concertina files, etc.). Is there anyone that you need to chase, or anything you’re waiting for? Make sure there’s a reminder for this in your system.
7. Set aside time in your diary to have some ‘free’ time – to plan your time, anticipate things that might be coming up, consider new initiatives, etc.
8. Clean off the top of your desk. Throw away anything you don’t use or don’t need. File anything that you don’t throw away.
9. List all the things you have started but not completed, including things that have been ongoing for a long time that keep being picked up and put down. Decide when you’ll now complete it or cross it off and decide not to do it.
10. Organise all other papers. Throw away anything you don’t use or don’t need. File anything you don’t throw away. Be decisive – act on it; delegate; file; or shred/recycle.
11. Look at your relationships with clients and colleagues. For those relationships you’re not at ease with, decide what you need to do to improve or change the relationship. For clients who cause disproportionate aggravation, consider what they contribute to your business – income, referrals, future prospects, etc., against the costs – financial, length of payment, time and energy consumed. Be prepared to purge or change the relationship if there’s a net cost to you.
12. Throw away everything you don’t wear, haven’t worn in two years, or which you’ll never wear again (better still, give it to charity!).
If you have any questions or comments on this article or issues you face, please contact me (in confidence) on 01707 395850 or email me at neil@neilkirby.co.uk. There’s no obligation.
Neil Kirby is a life coach and a leading practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP).
Never lose an email again… and other email tips
Contributor: David Lyons, eBoss Online Recruitment Solutions
Last month we explored the issue of hosted versus a server in your office, this month we look at how to manage your email effectively.
Have you ever been frustrated because you can’t find that important email? Do you have emails on different machines e.g. your laptop, your PC or your phone? Most importantly, do you get spam? I have learnt these lessons the hard way and now have a robust system that allows me to find any email whether sent or received, in an instant, without spam and access from any browser.
Here's how I did it, I use a managed email account that provides a good online interface, including calendar and contacts, all shareable with others within your domain. Then I opened a free Googlemail account which currently gives over 6GB's of free space, next I requested they set up a BCC archive and point all copies of email to the googlemail account, This means that any email I receive or send is archived for searching.
Currently, I have over 30000 emails stored, and I’m still only using 2GB's of space, 30% of my capacity. The BCC archive forwards all mails sent and recieved by my business, to the Googlemail account. This enables me to retrieve any email from any browser using the power of Google’s Search. The added bonus is that I can also search for any email via my mobile phone using the googlemail mobile phone application, fast and free! Handy if you need some information on the fly.
A good managed email service will employ the latest spam filters and rules, so your mailbox wont be cluttered with undesirable email. A good managed email service provides a synchronized service for your outlook, so when you’re away from the office your webmail will also have your appointments and contacts. I discovered this to be a far superior option to Exchange as, quite disappointingly, Exchange doesn't allow you to search for emails when accessing it via webmail.
David Lyons is Managing Director of eBoss Online Recruitment Solutions. www.eboss.co.uk, email david@eboss.co.uk or call 0845 355 0565.
Customer service
Via this tip, you and I are going to look at the overall picture of customer service within our industry – the recruitment industry.
The recruitment industry, even if you take the lowest figures around, is valued at a massive £20 billion per year. Now that means that, as a recruiter, you are potentially sitting on an absolute goldmine. Our industry is changing dramatically, however, and during this age of corporate uncertainty it is no longer acceptable to give your client just a decent service. If you are really going to move your business forward with confidence then you need to view your clients as partners in business. As in any good partnership, you need to attract partners you can trust, that you can be open and frank with, and partners that will go out of their way to help you and you them. You should be looking for clients who offer you this and they, in turn, want a recruitment organisation that offers the very best service around and the very best candidates available.
There is no better way to obtain quality candidates than head-hunting. Head-hunting allows you to directly approach and recruit the A1 candidates that you are looking for and not second rate candidates looking for you. A survey carried out amongst Human Resource Managers asked for a list of all the top complaints they had against recruitment firms. Although the results were not surprising when we look at them in the cold light of day, they are certainly worth going through together now so that you can evaluate your own operation and plan for the future. There were seven areas of concern that arose from the survey:
1. Consultant’s conduct
2. Failure to complete assignments
3. Price
4. Client management
5. Time scale required to complete the assignment
6. Service
7. Arrogance
Which do you think were top as far as the complaints were concerned? One interesting figure that did come out was price, with only 11 percent of HR Managers complaining about price. That becomes all the more relevant when I tell you that client management and service, combined together accounted for 45 percent. Simply put, people do not mind paying a little extra if they are getting the very best of service. Now that is good news for you, and it is great news if you already head-hunt or intend head-hunting in the future.
I mentioned earlier that you should be looking for partnership relationships - preferred supplier agreements, management fees and retainer contracts are the way forward for you and your clients. Believe me when I tell you, the terms of business you agree with your clients is all the evidence you need to evaluate whether the client sees you as a partner in whom they have the utmost confidence, or simply just one of several suppliers they utilise from time to time.
Matt Wilson is a consultant with Recruitment Matters and is offering a wide range of courses for 2008. For more information on Recruitment Matters, our training courses, services and products visit www.recruitmentmatters.com, telephone 0800 0749289 or email info@recruitmentmatters.com.
Recruitment Matters news
As stated last month we’re highly encouraged by the early response to the launch of our new half day open course ‘Negotiation Skills For Recruiters’ at a fantastic investment cost of just £99+VAT “No Negotiation!” As a result we’ve added two new dates in July, see below for details. We would be delighted if you would join us.
A reminder of our summer promotional offer for ‘Gaining Client Commitment – Secure More Profitable Vacancies.’ To further encourage your attendance at this excellent half day course, we are promoting it during the summer for £99+VAT (normally £149+VAT) to anyone who attends ‘Successful Head-Hunting’ in 2008.
By the way, we don’t intend to be flippant or underestimate the challenges in the current difficult economic climate, but we do all have a choice whether to just take it on the chin and tough it out or take proactive action, whatever that may be. We certainly advocate the latter option and, indeed, are taking steps internally to work smarter and simply make things happen. If you think that we can help you in any way whether by your attendance at one of our open courses or, perhaps, by us visiting you for a ‘Company Health Check’ we would be pleased to hear from you.
As you know by now, in addition to our monthly e-newsletters we complement that with emails to you featuring information about upcoming courses, our consultancy services, training schedule, products and more. Judging by your response we certainly seemed to strike a chord last week with our flyer titled ‘Don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions’ in support of our ‘Managing Teams And Mentoring People’ half day course. If you have any anecdotes or observations that you would like to share with us on this subject, we will happily feature them in our June newsletter.
Please see below for information on all our dates and locations through to September 2008
We hope that you enjoyed Warren’s and Matt’s new tips for this month – you will find many more on our free tips page http://www.recruitmentmatters.com/free.php which is regularly updated.
RECRUITMENT MATTERS: May – September 2008 Open Training Schedule
To download a booking form, please click here.
NEGOTIATION SKILLS FOR RECRUITERS (half day)
Trainer: MATT WILSON
Jul 24th – London
Jul 31st – Birmingham
Investment £99+VAT. "No Negotiation!"
Link
RECRUITING IN A TOUGH MARKET (half day)
Trainer: WARREN KEMP
Jun 20th – Manchester
Jul 11th – London
Aug 20th – Birmingham
Sep 19th – Manchester
Investment £99+VAT
Link
BUILDING & RUNNING AN EFFECTIVE SEARCH DESK
Trainer: WARREN KEMP
Sep 23/24th – London
Investment £595+VAT
‘Bring A Friend’ £495+VAT
Link
SUCCESSFUL HEAD-HUNTING
Trainer: WARREN KEMP
Jun 3rd – Birmingham
Jun 10th – Bristol
Jun 17th – London
Jun 25th – Manchester
Jul 2nd – London
Jul 8th – Edinburgh
Jul 22nd – Birmingham
Jul 29th – London
Aug 8th – Leeds
Aug 19th – London
Sep 2nd – Birmingham
Sep 9th – London
Sep 12th – Bournemouth
Sep 16th – Bristol
Sep 30th – Manchester
Investment £325+VAT
‘Bring A Friend’ £245+VAT
Link
HEAD-HUNTING FOR RESEARCHERS AND RESOURCERS
Trainer: MATT WILSON
Jun 5th – London
Jul 2nd – London
Jul 8th – Manchester
Aug 5th – London
Aug 14th – Birmingham
Sep 2nd – London
Sep 16th – Manchester
Investment £295+VAT
‘Bring A Friend’ £225+VAT
Link
TWO DAY INTRODUCTION TO RECRUITMENT
‘Induction for new recruits'
Trainer: MATT WILSON
Jun 10/11th – Manchester
Jul 22/23rd – London
Aug 6/7th – Birmingham
Sep 3/4th – Manchester
Sep 17/18th – London
Investment £495+VAT
‘Bring A Friend’ £425+VAT
Link
INTERVIEW SKILLS FOR RECRUITERS
Trainer: MATT WILSON
Jul 3rd – London
Jul 29th – Birmingham
Aug 27th – Manchester
Sep 30th – London
Investment £245+VAT
‘Bring A Friend’ £195+VAT
Link
WINNING NEW BUSINESS
‘Telephone Skills For Recruiters'
Trainer: MATT WILSON
Jun 17th – Manchester
Jul 9th – London
Jul 16th – Birmingham
Aug 28th – London
Sep 11th – Manchester
Investment £245+VAT
‘Bring A Friend’ £195+VAT
Link
GAINING CLIENT COMMITMENT (half day) (Previously, Winning Retained Assignments)
'Secure More Profitable Vacancies'
Trainer: MATT WILSON
Running Time: 9.30am - 1.00pm
Jun 6th – London
Jul 10th – Birmingham
Aug 29th – London
Sep 5th – Birmingham
Investment £149+VAT
'Bring A Friend' £129+VAT
SUMMER SPECIAL!!! £99+VAT if you book on ‘SUCCESSFUL HEAD-HUNTING’ in 2008
Link
TIME MANAGEMENT FOR RECRUITERS (half day)
Trainer: MATT WILSON
Aug 13th – London
Aug 20th – Birmingham
Investment £149+VAT
‘Bring A Friend’ £129+VAT
Link
MANAGING TEAMS AND MENTORING PEOPLE (half day)
Trainer: MATT WILSON
Jun 25th – London
Jun 26th – Birmingham
Sep 23rd – London
Sep 24th – Birmingham
Investment £149+VAT
‘Bring A Friend’ £129+VAT
Link
For more information on these courses and our other services and products, visit www.recruitmentmatters.com, email info@recruitmentmatters.com or call Emma or Ken on 0800 0749289 or, if you’re overseas, 0044 1483 755559.
Contact us
Recruitment Matters
2 Oakfield Road
Coventry CV6 1ED
UK
Tel: 0800 0749289
Fax: 01483 761709
Email: info@recruitmentmatters.com
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