Asking for a reference is so, so easy to do! So why do the majority of recruitment companies avoid or forget to do it?  Are they scared of what they might hear?

I am always of the opinion that I would rather know, than not know “what the person is really like”, “is their CV 100% correct”, “can they actually do the job for which they have applied”.

I ensure that all the team at Project Resource are trained on the importance of taking references on everyone we represent to our customers, this is basic quality control, you wouldn’t sell a car if you didn’t know the engine would start would you?  We also take references on every person we employ into our business, to ensure we and the interviewee has made the right short and long-term decision. After all, it takes 5 minutes to take a good reference which can save hours of wasted time and money hiring the wrong person.

Of the people I have recruited for Project Resource to work as Recruitment Consultants, that regrettably did not make the grade, or did not make it through the recession, or decided recruitment was not for them, I would say we have only been asked for references on a few occasions.  I know many of these people have gone to work for other recruiters, when in our opinion they should probably have not.  Why did you hire them without taking a reference?  Why take the risk?

It seems like the worst recruiters are recruiters who, when it comes to following best practice for their own business, fail to take such basic steps.  I am proud to say we have a clear interview and recruitment process, which all the interview team follow, we ensure that prior to making any new hire we have documentary evidence to support the hire.  I like to think this is why the team that we have are a great team and positively stand out above other recruiters working for competing recruitment agencies.

Enough of this, I just don’t get it.

As more and more people are made redundant the competition for vacancies has become even greater, then add to this many of them now find themselves having to cope with the advances in web 2.0, making searching for a job completely different from even 5 years ago, or even less.

In the past responsible employers would use the services of Outplacement Consultants, who would hold the hand of the candidate and help him or her get back on track, but with so many redundancies and changes within the market,  is the candidate getting the best possible value?

I suppose the answer is probably no, because with all recruitment being web based these days, it was only a matter of time when someone would bring out a web based outplacement package. Which is where www.myworksearch.co.uk comes in to play to help companies ensure they give their ex employees the best possible start in their job hunt.

MyWorkSearch are a relatively new company set up by Richard Alberg, who is probably the ideal person to develop such a specific package. Building on his success with PSL  (Psychometric Services Ltd.) an online assessment system, which he later sold to Kenexa Corporation is no new comer when it comes to knowing the hoops you need to get through these days to find a new job!

Richards philosophy is that for a candidate to harness the power of the internet in finding a job, it needed to be all under one roof, a complete package dedicated to helping the candidate find a new job. More importantly it should be available 24 hours a day 365 days a year, because the web is.

So being a fan of web based recruitment systems, I was more than keen to have a look round and give a short review.

Having had time to play around I was particularly impressed with the amount of support that was available to anyone using the system, from the many videos explaining every step, to mock interviews and of course how to harness the power of the internet. But for me what really stood out is he grasped the idea that you need to get it all under control and build a online profile separate from anything else you may do online to even a dedicated email for this one task.

For more info this video should give you a good overview or even test it free for 14 days

I was pleased to see a prolific Blogger, Mike Pegg who incidentally just wrote his 1500th on Google Maps Mania yesterday, by announcing his hard work and passion has resulted in landing his dream job at Google. He couldn’t have put it better as in his quote below.

This will be my last post on Google Maps Mania, but as far as the Google Maps API is concerned, I’m going far. In fact, I’ll be closer to it. I have accepted a (dream) position on the Geo-Marketing team at Google as a product marketing manager for the Google Maps API. This is obviously very, very exciting for me. It’s not very often that you are given the opportunity to take the personal passion you have for something and turn it into a full time job. I’m fortunate enough to be doing this now, and it feels like a chance of a lifetime.

Still I can relate to this with my Recruitment Views blog, which certainly helped me land my perfect job at Arithon two years ago. Still about then I remember writing about another A list Blogger Robert Scoble, who left Microsoft, which I am sure had a lot to do with his blog. I am pleased to see that it proved to be a good move as after 2 years he has now gone solo with FastCompany.tv. It just shows there is no better medium than blogging to get you noticed and show your passion about what you love doing.

Best of luck Mike

Having interviewed thousands of candidates over the years, I used to recon that I could tell someone’s personality from their handshake.

To me it was very important, as I was interviewing people for sales roles and I looked for signs of confidence and control, so a damp weak handshake just put me of straight away.

What I wanted to see was a candidate introduce themselves and take my hand with a firm dry handshake, nothing would be worse than seeing the candidate dry his or her hand on their jacket before they took mine. The same goes for recruitment consultants.

So when I saw Andy’s post “The Top Ten Handshake types and what they reveal about you” I realised I knew something after all!

To be honest it was those first few seconds when I decided whether they were good or bad, the rest of the interview was to confirm my initial gut feeling.

How consultants select candidates for sales roles these days, without meeting them I will never know.

I may not be recruiting any more but I still get that buzz when someone is offered a position they wanted and you have had some part to play. Its that feeling that has kept me in the industry for so many years, OK the money was good but when a candidates or client says thank you, there is nothing better in the world.

Just to put you in the picture, a young lady from South Africa contacted me about a week ago, via this blog asking for some interview advice on how to handle a few issues. I put my recruiter hat on again and did the best I could. Today she has contacted me to let me know she managed to get the position she wanted.

I cannot be sure if it was me that made the difference or not, but it did reminded me that recruitment consultants have the ability to make a difference in whether a candidate gets a job or not, so if you treat each candidate as a human and not just a piece of paper then you will succeed.

So thanks Marisa for making my day, there is nothing better than helping someone, even when there is no financial reward.

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As an ex recruitment consultant the question I was most often asked was how to get into Sales. Some people seem to find it so difficult and others so easy, so based on this I thought I would give a brief outline on how to get that first job as a Sales Representative.

The first thing to note is that you are unlikely to walk into a job at Mars as a FMCG Rep or Pfizer as a Pharmaceutical Sales Executive at first time of calling and if you haven’t a degree you can almost forget it.

So if you haven’t a degree then you will have to set your sites lower, well at least to start with also you will need to be at least over 21 mainly for car insurance purposes.

If you are under 21 look at telesales or you will have to look at commission only and use your own car.

Now this is the difficult bit and really is the test if you want to get into sales, you will really have to start with a commission only job such as insurance double glazing or anything you can find. The reason is they will be the only companies that will give you the experience at the start. What you will gain is experience and a better understanding of what is involved, hey if you think it is a hard pill to swallow particularly you graduates out there then just think of it a free sales training.

It is very important to note here some of the most successful Sales Managers, Sales directors even MD’s started this route

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I have noticed recently a lot of people asking for help with telephone interviews, so on that basis I have put some phone interview tips together to help you get through what I would assume is the first stage of an interview.

I must admit I didn’t realise how important this is until now, but having given this topic some thought I realise that I and other employers will pre screen using the phone.

To me the phone is my tool and I rarely get to see candidates face to face, but having interviewed candidates over the phone all these years I am sure I can get a good feel of a candidate from a telephone conversation.

A phone interview will be very similar to a face-to-face interview and in many ways you are interviewed purely based on skills than how you look. So what do I look for when I interview someone on the phone, the same as face to face I will be asking probing questions and listening to the way those questions are answered and if those answers are what I want. Exactly the same when face-to-face.

So based on this you should do the same preparation you would have done if you were face to face i.e. research the company and the role and then put together the reasons why you would be suitable for the position.

Next you need to get your personality across on the phone, which isn’t as difficult as you may think. All you need to do is be calm and comfortable and professional. What may surprise you is the way you address the phone will come across to the interviewer. If you stand while talking, you adopt a superior and confident position, if you sit you are not in control and if you are laid back they will know!

In my office my fellow consultants could always tell who I was talking to, dependant on the posture I assumed, if I was chatting someone up I was almost horizontal. When I was trying to close a deal I would stand, if I was trying to get my point across I would pace, and to take it to the extreme, if I was being aggressive and dominant I would stand on the table. (mind you I never stand on the table anymore as being agressive never gets you anywhere)

My key to a successful telephone interview is as follows:

1. Prepare for the phone interview (research the company, have a copy of your cv with you)
2. Stand when you make the call to show confidence and it helps you focus.
3. Smile because it will come across on the phone.

To finish, a telephone interview is a screening interview and will often be short and brief and the consultant will have a specific point they will want to check before they invite you in, hence if you have the cv in front of you will be ready for the question because obviously it will be related to the cv.

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To get an interview the easiest and obvious route is to find a company that is actually recruiting at present, so you need to scour the press and the Internet.

The Internet to recruiting is the perfect marriage, it has revolutionised our industry to the point where most vacancies are now advertised. There is no need to wait for the newspaper or magazine to arrive to find your ideal role, because the job boards send the positions straight to your in box.

An important fact to note is that when it comes to finding a job, NOT all companies will advertise all their vacancies and NOT all agencies will deal with every company, so you will need to spread you net wide or you may miss some opportunities.

When it comes to the UK most agencies advertise on the web and two of the most popular are either Monster or TotalJobs or an industry specific as a general rule. Companies haven’t quite taken to the Internet as of yet, so they tend to use adverts in publications such as Newspapers or Magazines. Some companies will only use recruitment consultancies, and many will only use one, while others may use any, so if you are registered with one agency you could be missing out on some positions.

Boolean Search

I also recommend that when it comes to searching the Internet it is important to understand how to use the search function, the ideal system is called Boolean. Lets take for example if the position you want is a National Sales Manager, you need to put the phrase in speech marks i.e. “National Sales Manager” and if it is a particular market you want such as FMCG or computer’s then the use of AND is important and of course maybe location so as to bring the choice of possibilities down from thousands to a more manageable number, so the search will look like this:

“National Sales Manager” AND “FMCG” AND “Cheshire”

With this search criteria you get 431 with Google, which is down from 18,000, without the speech marks and the use of AND. Also a useful tip is to use the term NOT particularly if you get a large return for a particular area that is not relevant and you will find that some job boards also operate the same function.

In addition if you load your details onto the Job Boards then the agencies will contact you and have Job adverts emailed to you each time they are loaded onto the site that fits your requirements.

Tags: interview tips

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When you send your cv to the company there is of course no guarantee that you will even get the interview, particularly if you do not have that much experience. Hopefully though you have been getting some work experience, while you have looking for your ideal position because I can guarantee it is always easier to get a job if you are in one. It is really a process you need to go through to get that ideal role and the interview is only part of it, if you want to be a Brain Surgeon then a degree in Mathematics isn’t going to get you far. So no matter how well the interview goes you will not succeed in getting the job as a Brain Surgeon.

I know that this is obvious but you will be amazed how many people apply for jobs that they are not suited for, OK it is good to be positive but in time the countless rejections will get you down, It is important to look at where you are now, where you want to be, and then work a plan. Lets say you want to be a Brain Surgeon, then you need to find out what qualifications you need, what experience and most importantly have you the basic skills.

I have no idea what experience you need to become a Brain Surgeon but I do know it takes many years and starts from when you are at school, which sums up the dedication you need.

It is the same for any position that you apply for, experience is key and without it no matter what Job Interview Tips I give you it will make no difference at all.

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I have seen quite a few interview books that claim they have every possible interview question and although they can help, fundamentally it really is down to whether the company likes you or not, because at the end of the day no matter how well qualified you are, if they do not like you you will not get the job, it maybe just B.O. or dirty shoes but it can be enough to put the interviewer off.

Also there is something that will always make the difference is personality, in fact you can go a long way on this alone, even when you may not be suitable! There is this gut feeling you get when you interview a candidate when you know they arejust right.

I suppose the question is why? Not an easy answer but there is this quality that stands out when the interviewer just knows that this candidate is the idea fit. It is when all the other points come together, the way you dress, the research you have done and then the way you present yourself. The final key is to be confident, smile and you get on with the interviewer

As I said "if you have enjoyed the interview then so have they". You also need to remember this point, you wouldn’t have the interview if the company didn’t think you were suitable in the first place, so don’t disappoint them by turning up late, not doing your research, and make sure you are dressed smartly and finally you believe in yourself!

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