Reference Checks

Reference Checks are mandatory in Australia. As well, references known as “back door” references which are better explained as being references the professional has not approved of or those that are not consented too are illegal.

As a Recruiter or as a Head-Hunter you must collect at least two professional references. For a Recruiter this is a great opportunity to expand that realm of influence and to expand your network either with other likeminded professionals that are potentially looking for work, or even to develop new business contacts. It’s also a golden opportunity to further gather industry information and knowledge.

To the end client though the Reference Check itself is integral to the process of hiring a new employee and when we come to the reference itself, it is only as effective as the person who's taking the reference.

As a Recruiter/Head-Hunter you’ll often walk into a firm and be given a standardised “Reference Check” form. The limitation of this approach is its lack of specificity. It comes down to questions and the line or approach which you as the person taking the reference take. If you have a 10 questions sheet which you use on every single reference I would probably have a look at what you’re doing. You're conducting a reference based upon that persons professional involvement with a particular company - why not structure your reference questions to reflect this.

Also, although it's common to stick with the referees as provided by the professional without question; why not steer this process?  Ask the professional for references that "you" think are applicable for the job at hand i.e. Leadership, ask for somebody that has reported into them, speak to their manager (though that's pretty standard), Business Development ... ask to speak to a client, manage subcontractors ... ask to speak to a subcontractor.

If at “ABC” company the professional had been involved in or led “X” project and this is listed on the professionals resume why not structure your questions around this; think leadership and supervisory skill, technical competence, even how they dealt with pressure as pertaining to that actual working environment.

The questions that you can ask are ongoing and will depend on your industry and the specific role but I’m sure that you’re starting to see the big picture that with a little creativity not only are references a great marketing and business development tools but they’re also incredibly valuable when further qualifying professionals during the hiring process.

Don't be afraid to get creative on a reference, exploring to a new level what is stated by the professional in their resume and the referees that they provide but also challenge yourself as a professional. The end client and probably the referee will appreciate you taking the time to be thorough.

Staff Retention

I will venture that a proactive approach is always better then the reactive approach. Take for instance the assumption that when someone leaves that they’re just looking for a bigger pay cheque. More often than not companies will go straight to the purse with their counter offers and to be honest that’s to be expected; especially when you look at your capabilities and resourcing only to find that you’re going to come up short, or that it will effectively take months to replace that professional.

The cost to the firm though of paying attention to details such as working culture and environment, employee satisfaction and happiness in the workplace; is minimal when compared to hiring replacement staff and taking into account the costs attributed in both money and man-hours in getting the replacement to the same level of the recently departed professional.

Having a workplace and culture where staff will not to leave and by making your firm such a choice employer of repute that your staff are recommending their friends, former colleagues and peers is the ideal scenario. They the employees are then ambassadors of your firm, they’re proud of their workplace.

There are companies out there like this; I’ve encountered them. It’s not a pipedream, a holy grail or some form of utopia. I’m a head hunter and not too bad at it; so often I’ll be ringing through reception desks and talking directly to professionals at their desks. One or two companies that I know of, their staff are so well looked after that it’s a call which is often met with a polite “thanks but no thanks”. So it can be done, it just takes a bit of time and patience to find and appoint the right people to key positions within your business, then watch your business grow with high calibre staff walking through your doors, or wanting to be apart of this little clique that you’ve seemingly developed.

Some key areas to address with professionals and their retention would be: recognition, responsibility and autonomy, encouraging a challenging and supportive workplace, as well as rewarding and recognizing innovation.

Also, be real and focus on a work & life balance if that’s what you promote, often it’s treated as a catch phrase but really there’s little substance behind it; some family orientated professionals will also respond well to more flexible hours, picking up the kids or dropping them off. Most importantly I think is to ensure that people feel they are a part of something big - namely being your business.

Certainly money is an important factor and it’s probably the easiest way for an employee to gauge how they’re valued within the business and industry at large, so many sites now have salary calculators; industry affiliated associations, recruitment sites. It’s well worth keeping abreast of changes within the industry and what’s being offered for various levels of staff.

An exit interview is highly recommended but oddly it’s not as often done as you would think, or the people involved are not the people that can take the feedback back to the business to promote change should that be required. If you’re losing staff it’s important to know why? If you’re losing a valued professional it’s also important to understand why? Some things are for whatever reason out of your control, so don’t take it personally if someone walks out of your door … and yes, this is common too; especially in smaller firms. We’ll go further into exit interviews in a separate post in the very near future, as it is a very important tool when considering your staff retention.

Until then though I’ll leave you with this. Good staff are worth fighting for; so what if they’ve signed an offer letter with your competitor it’s not done and dusted until they’re sitting in a seat at the desk on the other side of town … dig your heels in a bit, roll up your sleeves and prepare to get your hands dirty.

In pursuit of talent

This post is born from my experience here in Australia with Australian companies especially over the past few years and predominantly, as my experience would suggest within the Engineering sector. The message of this post will also I think transfer across and into other sectors, and touches on the challenges presented in not only identifying and securing talent but I hope it will also highlight some challenges that you may face too in retaining your existing staff.

Don’t get me wrong there are companies out there that I’ve worked with who have great employee programs in place and that are assertive in attracting, interacting and engaging talent from throughout the globe, unfortunately though they only represent a small percentage of the companies that are actually out there. Many companies still believe that that highly coveted professional is lurking just around the corner of their building, begging to be given the opportunity to prove themselves to them; oh and that they’ll bring all of those highly valued client relationships with them, their current employer isn’t going to be working extra hard to retain this highly coveted professional … peace of cake.

So, what’s the problem with this thought process? Well, talent is now a global economy, so many skilled engineers now seek out and are offered better opportunities abroad, attracted by the ex-pat lifestyle and in some instances lower tax brackets offered by many countries. Australia for instance can no longer market it’s beautiful beaches along with a free and easy lifestyle; there was a time though when we could. We are not alone out there and both advanced and developing countries are offering terrific salaries, exciting and iconic projects plus the enticement of working in another country, experiencing another culture.  It’s a brief and quite simple view of the Australian dilemma in retaining professionals and why so many talented professionals head overseas but if you add to this, securing professionals to fill the gaps from abroad. As Australia’s Tourism industry has discovered we are no longer the first choice for many travellers and lets be honest we are remote, a large island thousands of kilometres from anywhere. Also, for professionals that have families or that are considering starting a family there are much closer, cheaper and more viable alternatives now available and that’s the thing; there are so many choices out there now. An experienced professional with good working experience and a few decent projects that can communicate well is sought after, they can almost pick a country and be assured of work, recruitment firms have also spread out into a host of growing countries, making this transition even easier then it was perhaps 5-10 years ago.

The hunt for talent is global. With the influx of Social Media to our culture so has a variety of mediums which now make it possible to post your professional experience and to be not only seen but also actively engaged with by prospective employers throughout the world. There are a multitude of sites that do this: LinkedIn, Naymz, XING to name only a few

Note: I’ve left FaceBook off. It’s and obvious omission, I personally view it more as a social rather then professional platform although it is used in “search” as a possible resource quite often. 

However, it is not only these sites but every bit of marketing, or project information that is put out there on the web can now be carefully scrutinised and fed through various software packages to find who is who and often detailed contact information which will help a consultant (such as myself) take the first step in identifying and engaging with that particular person on behalf of their client. You have to consider though that this is happening in a number of agencies and search firms throughout the world, this technology and method of sourcing talent isn’t by any means “new” with advancements technology it’s certainly made it easier and you no longer have to filter through dozens of search results across a variety of different search engines but it has been around for awhile, and it’s only going to become more and more common. Such methods are easily accessible to most search firms and even your garden variety recruitment agency will have some knowledge of accessing what we call a “passive” pool of talent through Social Media, some will delve into Boolean search strings, others will mine groups and company information including company websites for contacts and professionals of interest.

If you’re an employer I would recommend just as much for you to be focussing on retaining your existing staff and talent, as being seen being proactive in engaging with and attracting the best talent that you can after all “talent attracts talent”.

Many managers are reluctant to be involved in the hiring process, preferring to delegate it to the Human Resources and Recruitment professionals within the business. Think, how would you like to be engaged as a professional? I’ve seen offer letters that have taken weeks going on months to be generated and interview feedback that’s also taken weeks to be relayed back to the professional; if relayed at all. I doubt that anyone reading this would like to be engaged in this way as a professional and just think what this also portrays in so far as your companies brand to the industry; brand image is crucial in attracting quality professionals, be decisive and be transparent. Also, if you are using recruiters or search consultants take the time out to meet with them or to chat with them on the phone. It’s tempting to keep them at a distance but these people will be communicating the most with the professional that you are perhaps looking to hire, believe it or not “you” offer an important insight into the culture of the business and may also help quell concerns; should a project be running late and is reported as having problems which in turn effects the company, or should there have been exodus of professionals from the business two years ago. More often then not professionals will talk amongst themselves regarding a business, and as with everything the negative points are the most commonly raised. This presents a golden opportunity for you step in and put those little spot fires out, that is of course if you’re “engaged” in the process, else you can stand on the sideline and let the dice role … personally Id rather be engaged and taking some control of the information provided and the image of the business that’s portrayed.  

In getting out of your comfort zone, start thinking outside of the box when interacting and engaging with talent; does every interview have to be in an office, why not a coffee downstairs, a more relaxed setting, grab breakfast or lunch? If you’re interested in hiring someone, don’t wait until they start in the office; go out to lunch or dinner with the you and a few of the team members, engage with them at the personal level, don’t even wait for the offer letter and ink to dry, do it before … it might make the difference between your offer of employment and that of your competitors.  Think “what would make me feel wanted, and valued as a prospective employee“ and leading into my next post … this doesn’t stop once the hiring is over.

The next post will touch on retaining your existing staff …

Off and travelling ...

Hi Everyone!

I hope that everyone is keeping well.

Sorry I'm not neglecting my blog or other bits of social media responsibilities. I'm in Vietnam at the moment fighting off mosquitoes. I'll be back in Sydney on the 16th of May 2011 and blogging, tweeting, Facebooking (? is that the term) and posting job adverts etc again; hopefully all refreshed and relaxed.

The Interview

Perhaps the most daunting aspect of the job seeking process is the actual interview be it in person, by phone, or via a video hook-up; the interview is seen as “do or die” for many job seekers.

You can eliminate a lot of the associated stress though; as they say “prior preparation prevents poor performance”. Ideally, you should have begun preparing for your interview a few days in advance. You will want to know things such as:

·         Who is the company, are they private or public, any parent or sister companies or are they a stand-alone?

·         Where within the company will your position sit?

·         Why is the position open?

·         Who you will be reporting to?

·         What is the proposed role and what will the responsibilities be; what’s expected of you?

·         Why are you being interviewed for the role, what experience or qualifications identified you for this particular role?

·         Any pertinent company information such as; working environment, restructures, mergers and financials?

·         Where is the interview, best method of getting there (parking), who do you ask for and at what time is the interview?

Some of this information will be important when you embark on your pre-interview research. Use the web, there are a multitude of tools and social media sites that can help you; Google, LinkedIn, Naymz, Xing, ZoomInfo, Ibis, Hoovers etc. I would utilise these sites not only in researching your prospective new employer but also to look at who will be interviewing you, who you may be reporting to and who’s running the business, General Managers and Directors for instance.

Aside from researching for the role you should also be preparing “yourself” and by that I mean putting together a detailed and current resume and if you’re using a folio to show your works, start working on this so that it’s coordinated with your resume. Also, don’t forget to update and I would advise mirror your work history on any Social Media that you may be using such as LinkedIn or Naymz. Now is also a good time to consider “scrubbing” your online profile, I’m talking about things such as Facebook; as an example un-tag any photo’s which may not show you in a favourable manner, that big birthday bash with you passed out in the corner although perhaps memorable should really go … you can’t lock down social media, what you put out there pretty much stays out there and stays there for a very long time but you can control it to a degree.

Obvious points of preparation such as what you’re going to wear should also be considered a good day or so before you interview, just in case all of your shirts are out at the dry cleaners or those shoes that have been so comfortable for the past 5 years are showing some adverse wear and tear. I’d mentioned preparing a resume earlier, also print out a couple of copies for the interviewers in case they’ve come from back to back meetings (you’ll look efficient and organised). As well, while you’re at the printer, print out a couple of copies of your academic qualifications and transcripts to take a long with you. Familiarise yourself with your resume; projects (size, value, client) and companies that you’ve been a part of, who you’ve reported to, why you’d left, what was good, and what was bad (advice: sugar coat this bit, slating a previous employer in an interview is a big “no”). On the subject of resumes and folio’s; if you are going to use a folio to showcase designs or concepts that you’ve been a part of firstly make sure that you have permission to do so and is your name actually on the items being presented. While you’re familiarising yourself with your resume also start working in your folio to your presentation so that you easily reference items on the fly during the actual interview. Organise your folio in a way that works well in the interview; be it by project type, or historical. This is to save any fumbling around during the interview, treat it like a presentation, practice it while you’re doing dry runs for your interview questions.

Have a friend, partner or flatmate go through some interview questions; take a good 30 minutes to an hour. There are plenty of examples on the web but “screw” down on the companies and projects that you’ve been involved in; size of projects, value, any direct/ indirect reports (how many), who did you report to, who was the client, did you have any difficulties and how did you overcome them … don’t answer questions in the third party or hypothetically, answer them from real experience. Also, highlight for your faux interviewer (dry run) some company information regarding your prospective new employer; how old is their business, when were they established, how many employees do they have, what sectors are they involved in, what do they do etc. You may also be asked about your salaries in the interview; be honest and transparent, there’s a good chance that either Human Resources or the Interviewers already have a fair idea of what your remuneration package is.

I won’t go into a lot of depth about the actual interviewing, personally I have over 100 questions which I juggle around depending on who I’m interviewing and at what level they’re being interviewed for. There are a couple of well used methods; one is the Experience based interview where you will be asked about your experience to date and to chat through your CV and the other is the behavioural (or competency) based interview where you will be asked questions based on specific behaviours that an employee would like to see demonstrated in the position. In reality, many recruiters use a mixture of both techniques to interview candidates. Be sure to have some insightful questions ready for your interviewer at the end of the session. These should demonstrate your knowledge of the company and convey a genuine interest in the role. Questions regarding the remuneration package should be left for the second interview.

On the day of the interview after a good nights sleep you will arrive at your prospective new employers’ offices. This is now the time to switch on (if you haven’t already); everyone from the foyer through to the elevators and lobby is a prospective manager or colleague. You will arrive at reception announcing your arrival and asking for whoever you will be meeting with. Be courteous and polite to the reception staff, a canny manager may even ask the reception staff what their thoughts were regarding you as a potential new employee. I’ve known of companies that have moved their entire offices so that the Reception team were more integrated into the rest of the group, throughout the day everyone has some sort of interaction with the Reception team; this is meet and greet central for both the internal and external traffic of the business.

If I can emphasise anything it would be; for you to be on time, be prepared and to present yourself in the best possible light. Be confident and friendly, engage with the interviewer/s but remember and keep in mind that this is a professional meeting. If there is more than one interviewer remember to involve everyone in your responses.  The key is to engage and communicate effectively throughout the interview … and last but not least “Good Luck”.

The Application

My thoughts are that if you’re serious about the job which you’re applying for then the application should be serious, well considered and thought out. Like most things the “Garbage in, Garbage out” rule applies.

Often I’ll be working on a particular role and see an application come through which raises the question in my mind “have you even read the advertised role … “ I think some people do take a hopeful shotgun approach to applying for a job rather than the surety which can achieved with a rifle. This experience should lead us into the first consideration of applying for a job and that is “Are your skills and experience relevant to the role which you’re applying to?” There is a lot of talk about transferrable skills but this I think is best approached with some common sense; a refrigerator mechanic for instance isn’t going to be given the opportunity to work on a HVAC system going into a 5000sqm commercial building. However, I have seen engineers that have been a part of designing and assembling aircraft bodies transferring across to designing and assembling passenger rail carts, and power transmission line design engineers transferring to overhead line design for rail projects etc. In saying this though many roles will detail what is called “essential” which is pretty much mandatory skill sets and others which are ”ideal”, or nice to have in conjunction with the essential skill sets. If you don’t have what’s listed as being essential then I think, as a rule of thumb that that’s pretty indicative that the role isn’t for you and to continue looking, be patient there’s something out there for everyone. If in doubt contact the recruiter or the hiring company for greater clarification.

When planning your application, everything should be taken into consideration. I would even go so far as to create an email account with your provider or Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail for instance solely with the express purpose of applying for work. Use a semi-professional naming convention such as firstname.lastname@mymail.com or initial and surname jsmith@mymail.com put a “.” or an “_“ in there to break it up if need be; just avoid those emails which you may have thought fun five years ago but aren’t really something that you’d pot on a business card … there have been some doozies and I dare say that there’s a few recruitment firms out there with a white board listing the most inappropriate email addresses listed by seemingly oblivious job applicants.

The Subject Line and the Body of your email are vitally important in the application process. If you’re under the impression that your application is one of a few, try one of hundreds and then multiply that by other roles which the Recruiter or Internal Recruitment staff are also looking after; this makes what I say next quite poignant. The Subject Line should identify the actual Job Title and Job Number (if quoted) and personally I think that you should also add your name to the Subject Line as well for easier differentiation. Often the Subject Line acts as a quick reference allowing the Recruiter or Internal Recruitment staff to quickly identify and organise applications for open roles, depending on the time available they may also at that moment open your email and peruse your Resume with regard to the role which you’ve applied to and/ or forward your details onto the hiring manager. Making your application orderly and easy to identify considerably speeds up the process and takes the guess work away from the Recruiter or Internal Recruitment staff.

The Body of the email should I believe identify “who you are”, “what role you’re applying to” and “why you’re applying for that particular role”. This is also an opportunity to introduce any extra files which you may have attached such as appendices; again we are trying to be intuitive and take the guess work away from the recipient. A tip on files is to name them accordingly such as; jsmith_resume, jsmith_coverletter, jsmith_appendix1, jsmith_appendix2. I recently had a coffee with a friend applying for a role internally within her existing company and we had discussed Appendices and where do we put them, separately or at the bottom of the Resume. I think that either is fine but I do believe that the Body of the email represents a good opportunity to introduce the existence of these appendices or other supporting documents to the intended reader. This is also a good time for those of us who are a little bit tentative about having recruiters or prospective employers calling us in our current workplace; you can indicate a best time/day and number for them to give you a call should they be interested. Most recruiters and internal recruitment staff are quite good anyhow but at times you can get the overzealous type that will jump on the phone at any time of the day without too much of a thought.

I’m not going to go into writing a resume as this can be contentious and there’s a million different ways. In a very simple overview I always have “Education”, “Summary”, and “Work History” sometimes I’ll finish off with “Hobbies & Interests” as it’s good to see that people also have a life outside of work and that they have some balance. If you’re using LinkedIn or such sites, keep it on the straight and narrow, don’t embellish your career, make up titles or have friends give you false or overly grandiose recommendations. It should be a mirror, perhaps in summary so a little shorter but quite close in comparison to your actual resume. You will more often than not find that someone within the company potentially hiring you has worked with you before or knows somebody that knows you, transparency and honesty will go a long with your application and as well we hope with your soon to be new employer. There are professional Resume Writers out there in the industry and I won’t get into a spat with them as somewhere along the line they serve a purpose. However, I would personally prefer that someone made the effort and attempted for themselves to write a Resume and Cover Letter, for me it represents your ability to communicate, not just the written word but also communicate your actual experience so it should have your voice. You will certainly need to demonstrate suitable communications skills via email, a tender or slideshow, perhaps even in written form at some stage in your career and this will be seen by staff both within the firm and outside the firm.

Your Cover Letter is similar to the Body of your applications actual email but expands into much greater detail discussing your skills and experience as it fits the requirements of the role, arguing why your application should be successful and why you’re the best person for the job … in reality this is your sales case for the role, you can’t do this in your Resume, a Resume simply states and maps your career experience from the start of your working history to now, what you’re doing currently. I would do my research on the company and projects that they’ve been involved in, projects that they’ve recently won and explore avenues so that you can build this information into your actual application and Cover Letter, show them and demonstrate to them that you’ve researched the role and the company themselves. It can be a page or longer but make it concise, don’t just add paragraphs for the sake of adding paragraphs. At the level of staff that I work with I will pay attention to the Cover Letter and what has been written, have they put the effort in, or is this document a generic letter which has been copied down off of the internet as a “filler” in the application. A good well constructed Cover Letter will always demonstrate to me someone that not only communicates at a high level but also someone that’s a thinker and has considered the role and the actual company that they are applying to, effectively detailing and confirming to me their understanding.

Not everyone is a great writer. I’m certainly not one; this blog is more a vehicle which allows me to share my personal experience and knowledge with Job Seekers and Hiring companies alike. If you do lack confidence or haven’t picked up a pen in a while, or perhaps English isn’t your first language, go and do a creative writing course or at the very least pick-up a couple of books. One book that I highly recommend is “Eats, Shoots & Leaves” by Lynn Truss you can buy this is most bookstores or on amazon. I have a copy and constantly find myself thumbing back and forwards in its pages. Unfortunately the digital age makes it all a little too easy on many of us but not necessarily better especially when it comes to communications. Let’s face it there’s a very very good chance that you will be expected to communicate both with internal and external assets on projects, or tasks in your workplace. It’s better to acknowledge communications as being a potential weakness and working towards developing those skills more, just as you would any other skills which you rely on for your work and to progress your career then to rely on someone else doing it for you. It just takes some time and solid application.

Note: Our next blog will be on the Interview itself, going over some preparation before you walk through the door or take the phone call … thanks again for taking the time to read my blog and I hope that it’s been of some benefit to you.

I'm looking for a job ...

Often this is done on a whim, an advertisement gets your attention and you apply, either that or you receive a call or an email from a Headhunter and you’re about to meet a complete stranger and start talking about your career and what you would like to achieve with it.  

Careers are personal; one step in the wrong direction or without adequate consideration could see your short and long term plans thrown into disarray. However, a well considered and planned approach should bear you some nice results. Is it ever too early to change jobs? Common sense says “Yes” that jumping around every few months isn’t a great idea unless you can quantify this, for instance; you may only work on a specific aspect of a project, and you’re only engaged for that period.  You can cover yourself in these situations with references relating to your role and professional conduct.

For the most of us though a move shouldn’t be based upon time but more environment and opportunity. It’s more beneficial to be moving in an upward direction with your career, taking on increased responsibilities, pursuing better companies and leading bigger projects then to move moving in a flat cycle with much the same responsibilities, type of company and projects … all that moving hasn’t achieved too much, perhaps monetary but saying “they paid me more” isn’t going to endear you to your next employer … it’s a bit mercenary.

So, when you’re looking at a new opportunity take your time and do some homework. There are a lot of tools available now to Job Seekers. The Web is a blessing to check up on companies and social media sites such as LinkedIn and Xing. They are great for looking up and further investigating such things as: who’s approached you, who do they work for and just how much experience do they have in their industries; particularly if you’re dealing with Headhunters and Recruiters. LinkedIn also has “recommendations” these are like referrals. For instance you’re looking at a Recruiter who’s approached you, do the recommendations come only from other Recruiters and Headhunters? Or, are they also recommended by Clients and Professionals that have used their services in the past? It’s well worth knowing who you are dealing with along with their professionalism and reputation in the market.

Where you can meet with people do so, either drop by their offices, grab a coffee or a bite to eat with them. I often meet with the people that I’m working with, Hiring Companies I’ll come by their offices and get a feel myself for their environment and in regard to the job seeker or “Talent” which is used in Heahunting circles, I will meet them for a coffee whenever possible.

 This also gives you the job seeker an opportunity to engage with them and develop some rapport. Ask questions: Where is the job? Who will you be reporting to? Why is this role open? What is the working environment like? How busy are they, new project coming on, projects completed? What is their staff retention like, have they let staff go or has staff left and why?

This should get us started though! Next week will be the actual application and things to consider as a job seeker applying for a job.