Time for a career change

It is often the case that we dread going back to work after the silly season.  Having a break, enjoying ourselves, spending time with family and loved ones all serve to remind us that perhaps we have lost the love for our job.

The problem usually sets in then, that we start to think about our options, we think about what we would like, why we have lost the passion for what we are currently doing.  Or as may be the case, New Year means big changes and perhaps the staff/role changes just don’t suit you.  For a small percentage of people their desire to change roles or find a new job is enough to push them along.  But for most of us, the fear grips us, we tell ourselves:

  • Well at least we are secure,
  • well at least we know what to expect, or
  • I’ve spent most of my life building this career, I don’t want to throw it away.

What if you could actually find a job where the above still remains true, where you can tap into your passion BUT find new challenges?!

There is never a better time to consider recruitment!  To be successful as a recruiter, you need certain base skills that building a successful career in a particular role or position, makes you especially suited!  The best recruiters are ones that have successfully worked in their field of choice – it makes them most suited to understanding the intricacies of a role and the key factors that make a candidate successful at it!  If you know the job well, you are able to help your employer understand exactly what they need to successfully fill the role – with skills, experience, aptitude and ability, you are able to truly understand what candidates would be most suited to an employers needs!

If you would like to know more about a career in recruitment have a read below and pop along here: Become a Wise Recruiter to apply!  Or simply drop us a comment below and we’ll get back to you!

Control your own work / Life
Earn very well
leverage your network contacts

The Wise Recruitment model
Wise Recruitment is a network of virtual, independently trading recruiters working under the one brand, sharing pooled resources and knowledge that will allow you a fast track into an unbelievably profitable & interesting industry.

The Wise umbrella provides you the trading structure, resources, formal training & follow up mentor-ing and a credible instant brand. In short everything you need to start a viable, virtual recruitment business today !

The person At about 50 you are having those thoughts about taking the monkey off your back, about being able to exercise a control over your work / life balance, still keen to earn, wanting to continue to use and grow your industry knowledge and stay in touch with your professional colleagues. You have hired staff before, you enjoy networking, need to and / or enjoy going to work and want to stay in a white collar endeavour.

The Role Launching a Wise Recruitment business is like launching most other businesses in that, at first, it is a significant B2B sales / networking agenda. A network of even a couple of hirers who are prepared to give you your first roles is key. An ability to then make contact with and sell your services into an industry then the ongoing opportunity.

You will perform the entire end to end process which process is taught to you by experienced mentors.

The Rewards The best Wise recruiter billed off $350K in his first year. The role is a virtual based business so no more daily office / home travel time, work when and on what you want, build an equity you can sell on, stay in touch with your network, enjoy the rush of assisting others find rewarding work.

Apply
Click the Apply now button below to send your resume / cv to rob@wiserecruitment.com.au

 


Why the job description matters so much

Most employers understand the value in a well-prepared job description but often, when we are called in as the recruiting experts, the employer hasn’t given clear thought to the foundation a well-designed job description gives.

For example, if we know our advertiser wants an Accounts person, it pays to actually understand what level of knowledge and expertise is required.  It is not enough to state that they want ‘an accounts person’ – they might need someone who has both Debtors and Creditors experience to General Ledger.  The same is true for any position – there are sub levels that are critically important to placing the correct person in a role!

As a recruiting company, we understand this foundation is paramount to building a successful role with a successful candidate.  This being the case, the sorts of questions we are going to want to know include:

  • What are the day to day duties?
  • What are the weekly duties?
  • What are the quarterly duties?
  • What are the yearend duties (if any)?
  • What special projects are expected to be completed?
  • What strategic projects need to be completed?
  • What planning needs to occur?
  • What are the 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, and 12 month goals for this position?

Once you have the answers to the above questions, it becomes very easy for an experienced recruiter to then successfully match a job seeker that has the skills and experience to fill the position effectively!  Another advantage is that when the foundation is clear, it is also far more likely that you will find the right person to fill the role!

From this foundation, it is then worthwhile to check similar positions on Seek or JobEzy, to make sure that you aren’t missing any critical elements of the role.

The job description now leads into the employer being able to identify the goals for the employee and to also create a review process to keep the role and the employee on track!


Update your resume over Christmas

It’s coming the time for New Years resolutions – and I am sure that just about all of us can relate to this being a catalyst for assessing our careers!  So many people take some time over the holidays to have a bit of a look at job vacancies and current pay rates and update their resume.

In fact – updating your resume at least once a year is an extremely good idea!  You never know when you might want to use it and if it’s been a long time, you don’t want the overwhelm of trying to recall everything when you actually need it (believe me – there are an awful lot of people who forgo excellent opportunities, because an out of date resume makes them succumb to the fear that precedes inaction)!

So – we recommend that you take an hour or two over the festive quiet time and update your resume and here are some tips to get it right – so your resume will get NOTICED!

  1. Set out your dates roles in order with the current or latest job being first,
  2. Be sure to address any gaps – hiring managers look at the gaps and discard you if there is no tangible reason (ie: maternity leave, study leave, carers leave)
  3. Achievements mean more than responsibilities!  This is a big one – and if it has been some time since you have updated your resume, you may not know that this is the new expected standard.  If you’ve ever applied for a government job, you will be familiar with ‘demonstrating’ achievements through actual examples – hiring managers don’t want to know what your responsibilities were/are anymore – they want to know what you do and how you achieve your work responsibilities with specific examples!
  4.  WATCH your spelling – please, all Australians: understand that if you use American spelling you may just be cutting yourself out of the game before you’ve even had a chance to prove yourself!  Spell check is American, buy a dictionary!
  5. Watch your grammar and typo’s – spell check won’t pick up typos (some of my resume ‘favourites’ include: Manger for manager; from for form and there/their for they’re
  6. Make sure your font is easy to read and the layout is appealing to the eye – if it’s too condensed without enough white space it will likely be ignored
  7. Around 3 pages is a good size to aim for, but again – it is better to have more white space to make it appealing to read, so don’t squash things up, an extra page well laid out is more appealing for the reader
  8. Review the WHOLE resume – make sure past roles are in past tense, check for spelling and grammar etc, ask a trusted friend to read it over if you can!

We hope the above tips help you to get started – once you start you will find it easier than you thought (especially if it has been a while since you’ve reviewed you resume).  If you are really stuck, you can engage a professional who will assist you, but with the above tips, you will be ahead of many people who are applying for new jobs!

Let us know in the comments below if you have any questions about how to lay out your resume, or what you should be including!


The best advice EVER for EVERY employer

Ever noticed how some companies seem to flourish – they are the companies that do well, they grow from strength to strength.  There are particular companies that Venture Capitalists are jumping to support!  There are companies out there setting the bar, leading the way for other companies.  Even within companies, we can see evidence of strong teams, with strong results – made more obvious when compared with teams that don’t seem to have cohesiveness or demonstrate strong results.

What is the secret of successful companies

What makes some companies better than others?  What makes some teams perform better than others?

If you answered people, you would be correct!  If you know anything about me from my business writing, you will know that I think staff are THE most important part of any company.  But that is not just the end of it – why do some companies seem to attract great staff, have great morale and produce exceptional results?

So the big question is – how does a company find these extraordinary staff?

The Golden Rule for employers

The golden rule is very simple – hire good people!  Seems simple doesn’t it, but there is a trick to ‘hiring good people’.  This is where the shame lies – any good business book will tell you that Venture Capitalists will only deal with good managers – the product, the service, the idea, the action plan: none of them matter if the management is not top shelf.

Make sure you are always hiring someone who is better than you!  In fact – Venture Capitalist Glenn Fuhrman stated it perfectly:

“I only ever hire ‘A’ players for me and my companies. If I hire ‘A’ players, they will hire ‘A+’ people below them. If I hire ‘B’ players, they will hire ‘C’ players below them. ‘A’ players don’t get threatened by better people below them; ‘B’ players do.”??- Glenn Fuhrman (http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2011/12/14/the-best-advice-ive-ever-received-about-hiring-talent/)

This trick is the one thing that many bad managers fail to grasp, in fact many managers are so insecure or full of fear that they completely fail to build strong foundations through surrounding themselves with weak staff.  A bad hire today can lead to a legacy of bad hires for that particular company, function or group. Something not easy to undo down the line.

What is your management structure like?  Are you managers confident in their own unique abilities?  Are they able to work with brilliant people without feeling threatened?  If not, you have some work to do!  Next time you are hiring staff, ensure that you are seeking the person who will raise the game!


Tips to avoid crossing the line in Social Recruiting

When it comes to using social media websites for recruiting – what we call social recruiting – how far is too far? Beyond learning the hard way what works and what doesn’t, there are some best practices emerging to help recruiters know when they’ve pushed the proverbial envelope too far. And hiring professionals are discovering a new line of recruiting applications and tools built into applicant tracking software to help them rise above the same old hashtag to better identify, connect with and place viable candidates.

For all their good intentions, many folks using social media in their recruiting efforts are running into the same issues. Here are the top three:

  • Spamming job posts. Want to render your social recruiting efforts ineffective? Spamming people with your job opportunities is a surefire way to do just that. The key to social recruiting is to be social and engaging. Share industry news and articles of interest, exchange personal messages, etc.
  • Prying rather than researching. Some positions require a flawless social media presence. For the rest, you shouldn’t be digging too deeply into their profiles. Screening should be focused on general impressions of candidates to see if they would fit within your company culture.
  • Penalizing candidates for level of access. It’s not unusual for candidates to deny recruiters access to their Facebook profile, inviting them to connect via LinkedIn instead. Many people use Facebook for personal, rather than professional networking – especially in Generation Y. Don’t write off candidates for showing a bit of backbone and managing their public image – it’s hardly something to penalize.

Lessons Learned from the Trenches

Some people are experiencing more success in social recruiting than others, and have picked up a few tricks worth sharing. Carolyn Betts, CEO of Betts Recruiting, is one such person, and was recently featured in a New York Times article, for leveraging social media to grow her recruiting success. She and I chatted last week, and she shared some lessons she’s learned from the trenches.

  • Focus on strategy. You won’t be able to make the most of social media if you’re going into it blindly. You need to have a plan for how you want to accomplish your goals. Betts suggests starting with one social media site, familiarizing yourself with it, then growing your presence gradually.
  • Have realistic expectations. When you consider the industry you’re in and the position you’re hiring for, are your deal-breakers realistic? You need to determine upfront how much weight you are giving a candidate’s social media presence.
  • Leverage the right apps and tools. Many successful social recruiters know that in order to make the most of your social recruiting efforts, you need to leverage the right tools. Why go it alone when there are applications with built-in best practices for recruiting more effectively?

Software Expanding Recruiters’ Reach

Human resources software is growing to help recruiters make use of social media in their hiring strategy. But before recruiters can fully harness these helpful tools, they must determine whether or not they are in the right social media playground.

According to a recent study, approximately 85 percent of U.S. companies used LinkedIn for recruiting last year, though only 30 percent of active job seekers are on LinkedIn. As such, many recruiters are finding LinkedIn a bit overcrowded. Where are the candidates? The large majority of them are on Facebook.

Because the data recruiters are looking for is a little harder to find on Facebook, however, many miss the sourcing opportunity this vast network provides. Fortunately, there are third-party software developers devising methods to put actionable candidate information into the hands of recruiters quickly and efficiently. Some of these recruiting solutions are standalone applications that leverage recruiters’ networks. Others – like Bullhorn Reach – are applications designed specifically for automating social recruiting.

For further reading, check out this original article at: http://blog.softwareadvice.com/articles/hr/social-recruiting-how-far-is-too-far-010271/

 

About the Author: Kyle is the HR Analyst at Software Advice – a company that reviews human resources and applicant tracking software.

 


Top 5 ways to lose your best employees

There’s no denying that staff costs are one of the highest expenses for a business and indeed finding new staff members can cost a company 50% to 200%  of the cost of the annual wage.  So it’s no surprise then that it is a great idea to keep good staff.  In fact it is something that businesses should be actively paying attention to!

Last Christmas I had just the same idea on my mind (Christmas is a fantastic time to show our staff how much we appreciate them!), see our post about How to show your staff you value them.  But it is not just about ideas to reward staff – companies need to be aware of the mistakes they are making that cost them their good staff!

Here are my top 5 ways to lose your best employees:

  1. Lack of personalisation: Probably the worst mistake a company can make is to create rigid bureaucracy.  There’s no argument that systems and processes are paramount for a company.  Measurement, growth and improvement is all made possible through implementing systems and processes, BUT the big problem is that systems and processes should be for function and therefore can’t always be applied to people.  Remember that people need to be treated as individuals.  Respect processes, but don’t expect people to be treated like a number.
  2. Lack of challenge: the one thing I notice again and again with top talent, they thrive on being part of something huge!  One thing many companies lack is the ability to find out what drives their top talent and then ensure they are offering these challenges!  Find out what your best employees are passionate about and find a way to include those passions in their job functions/roles.
  3. Lack of communication: it does surprise me how poorly some companies perform at communicating with staff, meetings become long and boring and lose touch with their meaning, annual reviews are considered to time consuming to interfere with the running of the business.  Managers actually need to schedule time with their people, not to just fill in an HR form – but spend time discussing work, output/results and personal satisfaction, remember employees are people who need to be treated as individuals (see point 1 above!)
  4. Lack of vision: there are 2 elements to lack of vision, employees need to have a global vision for the company and it’s goals and they also need a local vision for their own progression and contribution to the overall scheme.  Make sure that you are firm in your company vision and are able to communicate this and also make sure that your staff members know how you see them contributing towards this (and see point 3 above – don’t forget to ask HOW they want to contribute!)
  5. Poor management: In my honest opinion, this is one of the BIGGEST mistakes companies make.  Many managers may be fantastic sales people, or top accountants, or fantastic operationally – but that doesn’t mean they should be managing people!  Great managers inspire, they provide focus and goals and should assist their staff to achieve.  Poor managers tell people HOW to do their jobs, they show lack of trust in an individuals innate talents, lack of vision and communication and indeed allow poison to flow in a team.  Fear is not a motivator for great talent.  Trust and respect are required to build a good team and a manager who encourages individuals to shine, to be responsible and to excel is the perfect manager for top talent!

If you want to attract and retain great employees, you need to make sure that you don’t fall into making the above mistakes.  If your staff turnover is less than satisfactory, time to check the above list and make improvements, so that you can keep the top talent you have!  The snowball effect is that you are then considered a top employer and great talent will come looking for you!


The top 7 workplace issues – Christmas/New Year period

It’s nearly that time of year!!!  The silly season is nearly upon us – the time of year that all employees love and all employers dread!  On the opposite end of the scale that this time of year produces an awful lot of happiness and frenzied productivity there are the issues that everyone employer faces (eg: absences & managing skeleton staff).

What are the common issues for employers and what can you do?

  1. Absence before/after a public holiday: many employment contracts state that attendance before/after a public holiday is a condition of being paid for that day, but be careful of the changes made under WorkChoices, which states entitlement of pay if the holiday falls on a ‘normal’ work day.
  2. Increased Annual Leave requests: employers should expect that many employees would like to take advantage of the Christmas and New Years public holidays at take the time in-between  – leading to a longer break.  In advance employers should decide how many staff they require to keep essential operations running.  Some employers also ask staff to nominate preferences so they can plan for this in advance – be careful though that you are not showing bias when choosing whose requests will be granted and whose won’t.
  3. Closing down: many businesses choose to close in the quiet period and direct an employee to take forced annual leave.  Again this requires some management in advance to ensure staff are aware of the need to accrue sufficient leave.  Employers may also choose to allow their staff to use some of their upcoming holiday leave in advance, NB: the arrears may not be collected back from staff should they leave before their accruals have built up again.
  4. Additional award holiday: employers and staff may agree to transfer the ‘holiday’ to another date – PLEASE GAIN THE CORRECT ADVICE before implementing this idea (usually most suited to retail environments).
  5. Rostered days off (RDOs): RDO’s may be transferred to best suit the employer and employee!
  6. Time off in lieu of overtime: this method is a preferred one of many employers allowing an employee to accrue overtime and then redeem that overtime at a time suitable to all parties.  Employers should be aware that overtime can attract higher rates and some employees would prefer the rate of pay than the time in lieu – it is recommended that this should be discussed before decisions are dictated to employees as overtime taken as time off in lieu during ordinary hours is usually at the employee’s ordinary rate of pay, ie. an hour for each hour worked, although the employer should check this by referring to the applicable industrial instrument.?
  7. Refusal to work on a public holiday An employer may require their staff to work on a public holiday, due to the nature of the business.  However if the employees refusal is reasonable (eg: it is not a normal work day for them, they have family commitments and/or additional remuneration or benefits is entitled, the amount of notice given AND many other factors) the employer may have to recognise this right.

In all elements of these issues, keeping the lines of communication open is usually the best way to ensure that things don’t escalate out of control.  Please be aware that it is the employers obligation to ensure compliance with the correct legislation in all of these matters.  Obtain advice from an HR specialist or your local chamber of commerce or compliance expert!

Christmas is a time of year that everyone should be able to enjoy – with a bit of pre-planning and thought, it can be for employers too!


Are your staff goofing off?

Do you monitor your staff social media use??  I read with interest the results of a joint study conducted by Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology and online security company MailGuard, which measured the internet usage of 50,000 people over a six-month period.  According to the study, workers spend an average of between 30 to 60 minutes online for personal reasons every day, while the heaviest users spend up to two hours online.  Social Media sites and online shopping sites rated highly as well as news, sports, weather, transport and personal banking (not necessarily in this order btw).

The good news for employers is that only 20% of those surveyed were classified as ‘heavy explorers’, ie: exceeding a baseline of ‘normal’ activity set at 200 wesbites/month.  Interestingly it is at this level that staff productivity is considered to deteriorate, NOT BEFORE!

What is ‘normal’ online behaviour

A Swinburne lecturer (Rajesh Vasa) said that users typically glance at social media sites for only a few seconds at a time, furthermore – the behaviour in general being engaged in, are normal workplace socializing as has always occurred, but has simply migrated to a new medium (on-line instead of the water cooler!).

What does the study reveal?

MailGuard chief executive Craig McDonald says employers can rest assured that most people are doing the right thing, labelling heavy explorers as the exception rather than the rule.

Vasa says a lot of workers identified as heavy explorers held less important positions, such as temps, who don’t always have a large workload anyway.

McDonald says rather than introduce a “blanket policy”, whereby the use of social media sites is completely banned, employers should discuss excessive use with their staff. (reference here)

What can employers learn?

Firstly the study (as well as several others) points to the fact that complete blocking of staff access to social media and websites tends to have a reverse impact on productivity – instead of increasing efficiency it tends to incite rebellion that reduces productivity.  The other thing the study points to is that it is better to measure productivity, heavy users may also be those who achieve high productivity and manage multiple tasks!  The last important issue I wanted to address is that fact that a blanket no Social Media policy because of a few ‘squeeky wheels’ is not fair to the vast majority of staff who don’t take advantage.

What can employers do?

Software solutions are a fantastic idea – companies such as MailGuard or NetBoxBlue offer software that allow for usage that is restricted in some ways, eg: particular words can be banned or monitoring software that notifies staff when their internet usage changes.  This equates to showing staff that you have a level of trust and respect their ability to manage their own time.

One workplace I know has a couple of dedicated PC’s in the lunch are so that staff can access them on their break.

Which ever options you decide upon, it is best to speak with your staff – explain to them that you accept there will be some usage and you will allow this as long as it is not taken advantage of – a workplace with a friendly, co-operative and social atmosphere is much more effective at gaining great productivity – social media is one of the ways to increase your staff feelings of wellbeing!

We’d love to hear from you – do you allow social media usage? Have you got some good or bad case studies you’d like to share with us?!


How to network successfully

Last week we discussed that networking is THE most successful way to find a new job, in fact over 75% of jobseekers use this method successfully!  Quite simply an employer is FAR more likely to hire someone who has been referred to them over a stranger.  Networking and creating meaningful business connections is the best way to make sure you are at the forefront when applying for a job!

Last week, I touched on the fact that there is a right way and wrong way to network; this week we’ll give you some great tips and advice to make sure you capitalise on your networking experiences!

What is networking?

Simply speaking networking is connecting with people with a view to mutual interests.  This is quite an important distinction – to be successful at networking, you need to really grasp that it is a two way street.

Why is networking a failure for many people?

If you go into networking only talking about and thinking about yourself, you can pretty much rest assured that people won’t want to help you.  Too many people go to networking events and functions and spend the whole time talking about themselves.  This actually stops you from being memorable – people remember people who make them feel good about themselves!

How do you network successfully?

The BEST way to do this is to get people talking (lets face it, no matter how shy or outgoing we are, we are all flattered when someone wants to know about us or our opinion!).  So ask questions!  Just remember that personal questions are confronting for new people, start with work or industry related questions and then adapt to the conversation – that is, as they talk about something, ask them to elaborate!

What are some great networking tips?

  1. Approach networking with genuine intent to connect, if you are fake or pretentious or insincere, forget it.  For networking to WORK you must be genuine!
  2. If you are shy – use social networking, FaceBook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all good ways to find people with similar philosophies!
  3. Capitalise on networking, remember the concept of 6 degrees, the person you are talking to might just know another person who can help you (or whom you can help!),
  4. Attend events – I know, this seems self explanatory, BUT what I mean is a networking event can lead to a social situation, as much as you may feel nervous or self conscious, do your very best to accept invitations that your gut tells you would be good. Shake off the nerves – even the most confident of people have them!
  5. Be generous! The best way to start networking is to think of ways you can help others!  I am a genuine believer in Karma – your expertise or assistance will be rewarded!
  6. Follow up and keep in touch – now this is a delicate balance, don’t drive people insane, but if you say you will do something, be sure to follow up!
  7. Lastly, the best start you can make networking is to ask the question “tell me about you, what do you do?”…  it’s a great conversation starter!!

Although many people feel shy and apprehensive when they first start networking, it is definitely one of the best things you can do for your career!  My jobs have always been word of mouth because sales is a networking industry – don’t get me wrong, even though I am an extrovert, I still get nervous and self conscious, but the best way to overcome this is to ask others to tell you about themselves!!

Got any tips that you would like to share with us?  How have you successfully used networking?  We’d love to hear your success stories!!


What 75% of successful job seekers do

There are many different ways to find a new job, from online seaching (eg: Seek) to mobile alerts (eg: www.jobezy.com.au), from recruitment agencies to government schemes, but there is one method that time and time again works as THE most successful tool for securing a new job!  In fact study after study lists networking as the dominant method used by successful job seekers – more than 75% of the time!

Think about it from a prospective employers’ point of view, if you had a choice between:

  1. a stranger: someone who has responded to an ad, who interviewed well and seems to have the right qualification and experience.  They have good references and their work history seems pretty stable, OR
  2. a referral: someone that a co-worker has worked with before.  Your co-worker can vouch for their strengths and abilities, the person is well respected and has a good reputation.  They also interview well, have the right qualifications and experience, good references and stable work history.

Who Would You Hire?

The simple fact of the matter is that hiring someone is a massive cost to any business and even worse if the new hire doesn’t work out.  Employers will always hedge their bets!  You can bet that an employer is always going to choose someone when they know more about their suitability to the company and the role, the known is always safer than the unknown!

How do you start to network?

This is the part that can be most difficult if you have never thought of networking to find a new job.  But it is really easier than you think!

  1. Tell a trusted friend or colleague in your industry that you are perhaps on the lookout for a new job, if you know that it can be kept confidential from your current employer – tell more than one!
  2. Find out what events are attended by people in the same industry/roles you are interested in and go along!
  3. Ask your recruiter to steer you in the right direction to events or groups that would assist you in your endeavours!

What is the secret to successful networking?

Once you have found some events to attend or people to connect with, the most important thing is to ensure that you maximise your time networking.  The BIGGEST mistake people make networking is going into it thinking it is all about them.

REMEMBER: networking is a two-way street!

Remember that networking is about listening as much as talking and about helping others as much as helping yourself and you will always find that networking is enjoyable and beneficial!

Come along next week when we’ll give you specific steps in how to network successfully!


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