October 05 Newsletter

Have you ever wanted to offer a candidate a position but lost them to someone else?

It happens all too frequently, and often is not due to the package you are offering your choice candidate, but timing. Currently we are in a tight and competitive job market where good candidates are at a premium – and they know it. Those with solid track records or a defined skill set know what they are worth, and will be put off by what can be perceived as dithering by a potential employer.

Today’s market it is all about a quick turn around. Employers are struggling to secure their first choice candidate due to the time it has taken them to come to offer stage. Recruitment can be a lengthy process, and you should not rush in and cut corners. However, if you have a vacancy that needs filling, there are certain steps you can take to ensure needless delays, and that an efficient process is in place even before you brief your recruitment consultant.

If you are the decision-maker, ensure you discuss the recruitment process with your recruitment consultant. Do you like to conduct one or two interviews? What sort of testing do you require, if any? When are you available to see candidates? Your schedule may be busy, though if you can advise of suitable times to see candidates in advance, and set aside some time in your diary, this saves a lot of time. Candidates are often busy themselves, and like options. If a recruiter advises them “they can only see you at 4pm on Wednesday” this can be perceived by candidates as inflexibility, and adverse assumptions could be made by candidates as to the environment they could potentially be working in and your management style!

Feedback is all important. Often recruiters will get a yes or no answer when they ask employers how they felt the candidate went at the initial interview. This is often frustrating, for the candidate and the recruitment consultant alike. Constructive feedback will help your recruiter to fine-tune their candidate selection, and the candidate themselves will appreciate being told why they weren’t successful, so they can improve and work on their interview technique next time. There is nothing worse than being told you haven’t been successful without knowing the reasons why. Recruiters will work harder to fill vacancies they have a clear understanding of, rather than those that are vague and unclear.

Ensure the candidate understands the position thoroughly. Don’t just simply hand the candidate a job description and expect them to understand the role. Take the time to explain the role fully, how it fits into the overall scope of work, and why it is important. Also explain what the challenges are and get the candidate excited about being a part of the company solution. Seemingly minor things such as annual leave entitlements, pay-cycles, frequency of performance and pay reviews may seem trivial to the employer, though for a candidate, may be important. Providing this information early in the process will save you time. Better to know a candidate is not interested in the position after the first interview, than after you’ve made them an offer.

Culture and environment is high on candidates list of priorities. They may get to meet you in the interview, and assess your interview rooms and the reception area, though it’s unlikely they will be working there. Take the time to show them around the environment, briefly introduce them to the people they will be working with – even if you know they aren’t the candidate you are looking for within the first 5 minutes of the interview, they will at least leave with a positive impression of you and the company you represent and feel valued, knowing you have seriously considered them for the role and taken the time to show what is on offer. Word of mouth is powerful form of advertising – and it’s free!

Be as flexible as possible. From the outset, you should advise you recruiter what you are ideally looking to pay the person to do the job, though have a range if your budget allows. If someone has both the skills and experience, they are worth more in the job market than someone with academic qualifications, though no practical experience.

Try and be flexible in other ways too. For example, if you’ve identified a strong candidate, but they are looking for flexi-time, can this be accommodated? If they would like the opportunity to work from home occasionally, is this feasible? Maybe, maybe not, though a good work / life balance usually means happier, more productive employees, and could mean the difference between getting your choice candidate, or having to compromise.

Effective planning and communication is the key and if you are unsure of how to go about recruiting a position, be it you have no formal position description in place or need guidance as to how the position should be remunerated, an effective recruitment consultant should be happy to assist. – in our case, it’s the consulting in Beaumont Consulting that sets us apart.

Hot under the collar?

On a far lighter note, summer is seemingly here early. I’m sure I’m not alone finding it hard to work in the heat while day-dreaming about being on beach…not a great attitude I know, but do you find staff sickness levels increase in direct correlation to the temperature? Hmmm, strange isn’t it?

There are perhaps a few things that can be done to keep morale as high as the temperatures:

Buy your team an ice-cream – it’s cheap and cheerful and will win you popularity votes!
Relax dress codes – difficult in certain industries, though where possible, be flexible. If employees are not in a client facing position, do they really need to where a tie, stockings, etc? People walking in around in board shorts and bikini’s may not be appropriate (and you may run the risk of sending temperatures even higher!), though show consideration and acknowledge the hard work of your staff in sticky conditions.
Early marks all round! Again, depends on how much flexibility you have, and on business needs, but if it’s a piping hot day, perhaps allow people to leave an hour earlier so they can get down the beach for a few hours and chill out after a long hot day. If you can’t afford to let your entire team leave early, rotate the privilege!

A little effort and consideration on your part can go a long way with your employees…and keep your sick leave levels on ice!

Keep cool.

Discount training session with Assessment Edge

Beaumont Consulting partners with Assessment Edge and they have run a number of presentations for us as well as created a new formal / review appraisal system which is fabulous and is a real help to our processes.

Assessment Edge are offering a $50 discount for their next training session on November 16th on “Interview Essentials – Build and Enhance your selection skills” to anyone who books and mentions they heard about it through us. Drop them a line at enquiries@assessmentedge.com.au

The Workforce of Tomorrow

To give you some scary statistics ....in 2005 140,000 students will graduate from Australian Universities: in 2010, that number will be 50,000. Where is our future workforce coming from?
Attracting and retaining high quality employees has always been an organisational challenge - in the near future, it will become a top priority as acute labour shortages take hold in all Western economies.

Employers are challenged to think laterally about workforce alignment, and develop environments that engage high quality employees, as well as strategies to retain them.
We would like to invite you and your colleagues to Beaumont Consulting’s complimentary workshop on one of the most important of topics of the moment: Employee Engagement and Retention.

Sylvia Vorhauser, Director of Assessment Edge, will speak about the organisational challenges and responses necessary to position businesses for future success.

WHEN? – Tuesday 15th November 2005 - 5.30pm - 7.00pm then drinks at MGSM (Macquarie Graduate School of Management) at Macquarie University House, Level 6, 51-57 Pitt Street, Sydney.

A refreshing cold beer or a glass of wine will be served from 5.30pm till 6.00pm, the presentation will commence at 6.00pm and will last approximately 1 hour, and as usual there will be more refreshments and nibbles after the workshop.

This is an excellent opportunity to learn how you can position your company for the future, through your employees, so be quick as spaces are limited.

To register your interest please email Debbie or call her on 02 9279 2777.

Temp of the month

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

Our October Temp of the Month award goes to Leah Murphy, she has done a sterling job over at Challenger with her supervisor saying “she has been fantastic, I could not have done without her”. So congratulations to Leah.

Leah is pictured here whilst on assignment at Challenger. She gets $100 from a store of her choice.

Joke of the month

My kids love going to the Web, and they keep track of their passwords by writing them on Post-it notes.

I noticed their Disney password was "MickeyMinnieGoofyPluto," and asked why it was so long.

"Because," my son explained, "they say it has to have at least four characters."

(ok, so it might be a little tame, but it is so hard to find a clean joke these days!)

Quote of the month

I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it - Thomas Jefferson