April 06 Newsletter

Effective Partnerships with your Consultant = More Successful Placements!

In this candidate-short market, it is often not just the candidate’s motivations that hold the key to a successful placement, more often than not it’s the relationship the employer or hiring manager has with their recruitment consultant that will make or break the deal.

There is perhaps a perception that it is the recruiter’s job ‘to make it happen’. Yes, that in part is true, though it can only start to happen with some commitment and quality input from the hiring manager themselves. All the relationships between the three parties (the candidate, the recruiter and the hiring manager) are critical, though perhaps none more so than the relationship between the hiring manager and the recruiter. If this is strong, the chances of success increase considerably.

It’s often amazing to hear new clients say “I’m too busy to meet up for a coffee, I’ll just send you the job spec”, when a recruiter is willing to come out, meet the hiring manager, gain a full understanding of the position and the area in which the prospective new hire will be working in, and gain an insight into the company. That perhaps sounds like a lot of time-consuming information to get through, but in reality it only takes around 30 minutes. Believe me, that half hour will save you hours of time later in the process - and possibly money as well. The essence of effective recruitment is, to an extent, risk minimization: no recruiter can give a cast-iron guarantee a candidate will prove a successful employee. People are open to persuasion, motivated by different things, and work best in certain environments. While it is the recruiter's job to identify candidates who ‘best fit’ the wish list of the client, they can only do that with a thorough and comprehensive brief.

If you were a candidate being interviewed by a recruiter, how would you feel if they were only able to provide a broad outline of the position, a vague idea as to the responsibilities of the role, and had no idea as to the personality of the person you would be reporting to and the environment you’d potentially be working in?

Meeting with your consultant and providing them with a thorough overview of the position is the first step in the process. There then needs to be an agreed way forward. It’s always advantageous to ‘pencil in’ suitable prospective interview times, even before your consultant has identified any potentially suitable candidates. Your consultant should provide you with an indication of what the market is like out there for that particular industry and position, whether they may have somebody on their books at the moment and what the advertising response is likely to be. It is dangerous to set unrealistic expectations. Occasionally clients will say: “I would like to see five resumes, shortlist and interview three candidates and take it from there”. All well and good, and we’d love to oblige, though realistically, if you are just looking to fill one vacancy, it takes just one suitable and quality candidate. While it is nice to have a comparison, in the current recruitment climate such preferences can rarely be granted. If your consultant comes up with a candidate of suitable quality, and you too feel they fit the bill, our advice is to move quickly. If you don’t, your competitors will!

Moving quickly on potentially suitable candidates applies to all aspects of the recruitment process: responding to profiles sent by your consultant, returning their calls promptly and providing them with feedback as to why you feel resumes fit or don’t fit the bill. There is nothing worse than spending time working on an assignment for a client only for them to ‘disappear off the radar’. Be upfront and honest with your consultant, if you are going away on annual leave imminently, let them know, should they hold off until you return or should they liaise with a colleague? If they aren’t hitting the mark in selecting candidates, let them know. If vacancies have been ‘put on hold’ due to internal circumstances outside your control, let them know. Frustrating as these circumstances may be for you, this frustration is exacerbated for the consultant as they are also managing the candidate’s expectations. A good recruitment consultant will tell the client and the candidate how things stand and will be transparent. While we will always present clients favourably, it can be a struggle if we are as much in the dark as the candidate is!

So, you’ve done all of the above and are keen to make a fantastic candidate an offer. What now? Assume strong candidates are being interviewed by your competitors also. Your consultant or the candidate themselves would have put you in the picture as to other things they’ve got in the pipeline, though regardless, the modern day interview is as much about the employer selling themselves to the employee as vice versa. Why should they consider your offer above all others? Money talks and will have to be right, but what else? For most, money is not the primary motivator, so don’t think because your company stumps up more dollars than your competitors, this will see things over the line. Sell the sometimes hidden benefits of your company. What additional perks are there? What are the likely promotional opportunities? If you are considered an employer of choice, then why so?

The consultant is there to handle salary negotiations and put the offer to candidate. This can be a difficult and delicate process and good consultants will know how to go about this and attain a positive result that both parties are happy with. Don’t be tempted to try and low-ball the candidate, as it can lead to various complications and ultimately de-rail the entire process.

So, the deal has been done and they’ve accepted. Well done! But wait… There’s more! - One last tip that can put the seal on the deal. Once your consultant has called with the great news that the candidate has accepted your offer and has confirmed a start date, why not phone the candidate yourself to express your delight in getting them on board? This goes down really well with candidates and usually further confirms they’ve made the right decision in their mind, extinguishing any lingering doubts they may have. It also implies a degree of loyalty. As previously mentioned, people can change their minds, be counter-offered, and have second thoughts. While your consultant will be doing everything to ensure there are no hidden, last minute surprises and everything goes to plan, a simple phone call will go a long way!

More information can be gained by attending Beaumont Consulting's Recruitment and Selection Training Workshop, a half day course designed to cover many of the topics covered in this article – and a whole lot more! For more information, please contact your consultant.

Care to dance?

Beaumont Consulting is interested in hearing from companies who would like to partner with us to create synergy and add value to our service offering.

If you have a product or service that can help our candidates fast track their careers, we would like to hear from you. Please email us at philippa@beaumontconsulting.com.au

Partner of the Month
BrainCorp International has created an online platform allowing business and individuals to select their preferred topics and learning styles on a per head basis. BrainCorp boasts an extensive list of 3000+ Online and Classroom training courses, Certifications, Diplomas, Skills Based Testing, Psychometric assessments and languages across most industries and job roles. They have been generous enough to offer our candidates free courses and we have recently partnered with them and are now listed on their website on Tips for Job Hunting

Help! It’s a whole new world out there – with some burning workplace issues

Landmark changes to workplace relations laws
Rapidly increasing pressure in the employment market
Ever increasing calls for transparency and accountability
Staff, managers, shareholders all seeking clarity

Business leaders and managers must be armed with the latest knowledge on current issues - and be prepared for tomorrow's issues as well. The latest learnings from Leadership Management Australia's annual LEAD survey reveal all. Powerful information and insights about emerging workplace issues and trends in organisational management and their implications will be discussed. At the upcoming LMA seminar breakfast hear what's in the heads and hearts of Australian employees, senior managers and business leaders. You might be shocked at what you hear but at least you'll know what's coming.

Registration includes breakfast and handout materials
Date: Friday 12 May 2006
Venue: Hilton Hotel, 259 Pitt Street, Sydney
Registration: 7:00am for 7:30am breakfast.
Session to conclude by 10.00am

Enrolment Form/ Tax Invoice
RSVP to LMA - Shearman Read
Phone: 02 9552 1559
Fax: 02 9552 1520
Email: ken.shearman@bigpond.com

Temp of the Month

Outstanding performance from our temps doesn’t go unnoticed. We truly appreciate their efforts and therefore would like to acknowledge the great work they are doing for us.

Our March Temp of the Month award goes to Julie Berger . Julie is currently working at Digicall, where she has received glowing reports.

Julie is pictured here whilst on assignment at Digicall. She gets a $100 voucher from the store of her choice.

A month in the life of a Beaumont

It is with sadness that I inform you of the loss of our fabulous Office Manager Debbie. Debbie has left us after 2 years of fun and frivolity with Beaumont Consulting. Anyway, enough tears because we have had the lovely Pip on board for the past 3 weeks and she has been doing a smashing job!

We also have added another recruiter to the Beaumont team! Joining the team is Claire Mahomet – welcome to you both Pip and Claire! Have a look at our The Team page to learn a bit more about our newcomers.

Quote of the month

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
Winston Churchill