Spring forward into recruitment

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Don’t hold the key to the golden handcuffs

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PR Steady and Design on the Up!

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AF Selection does work - and here’s the proof.

IN OTHER NEWS

Let’s just talk!

So we’re maybe starting to sound like we learnt our craft in the ice age or had to use carrier pigeon to get our mail to its intended destination - but bear with us, because we aren’t as old as you may think, but we’re very experienced. When it comes to communication in an age when many have probably learnt to email and text before they could walk, sometimes the best thing to do is get out your dialing digit and speak to someone.

To coin a phrase from the old BT advert with Bob Hoskins - It’s Good to Talk! And it could pay dividends:

For example, if you are expecting someone in for an interview and the potential employee takes the time to pick up the phone and tell you directly why they are unable to make it and asks for a re-schedule, we believe this pays dividends, and is far better than an informal text or email saying they aren’t coming.

Simon Pettigrew, director of AF Selection said: “Not only does a call show more honesty, it also shows that they cared about the meeting and have taken the time to explain why they can’t make the appointment. While a text or an email can do that too, it is the person-to-person contact which is going to stay in the mind if it comes to the point where you are their next boss. It’s given you the opportunity to see their sincerity and also book the next appointment to meet when it would be more convenient for the both of you.”

Dry January

Many of you will be pleased to hear that Simon Pettigrew completed a whole month of Dry January. After a long and drawn-out celebration of Christmas with plenty of festivities, Simon decided to start the new year afresh and not drink. Which he succeed, despite that for much of the month he was battling man-flu and would perhaps not have been able to stomach an alcoholic drink.
Debra would like to note, for the record, that she did not take part in Dry January, and made sure it was a very enjoyable month.

Sell yourself, and your skills!

We are sure there have been many employers in the same situation. You have a position vacant within your firm, however you are struggling to fill it. The people coming in for interview are just not quite hitting the mark, or their CV’s are so far away from being what you are looking for you can’t believe you are ever going to find someone who is perfect for you.

However, AF Selection believes the secret to filling the position fast is to look at the problem from a slightly different angle, to find the perfect solution.

Emma Tee from AF Selection said: “The key is to look at a few different options. Firstly there are people out there who have a lot of transferable skills that shouldn’t be overlooked. Perhaps they have great writing skills, take immaculate minutes, have the creative mind that you can harness or have never missed a day off work and pride themselves in being on-time for everything. They all count and should get a great big tick when you look at their CV. So while they may not fit the bill to what you wanted exactly, these could be people you want on your team and can train up to be the perfect fit.”

She added: “There are also other options. Mothers coming back to work after a short period of raising their children are also great to employ. Not only do they get the work done, and on time, because they know they have to be picking up their child at a certain time, but they also are keen to get their own confidence and identity back, and more often than not, prove to be very flexible and willing to learn. There is also the option of the job-share, so look at creating two part-time positions, rather than just the one so you can have the best of both worlds.

“We believe looking at those with transferable skills and having a great work ethic, will pay dividends in the long run,” she said.

Don’t hold the key to the golden handcuffs

With spring just around the corner and everyone thinking of having a sort out of their homes, now is the second time in the year there is a surge of interest in getting a new job, and some employers are bracing themselves for another round of staff deciding they have itchy feet and want to move.

Imagine the scenario. You have just scored yourself a big client and are looking to your team to provide the support you need to carry the business forward and make 2015 the best yet.

Your company is settling down after anyone who jumped ship in the New Year, and in your eyes, everyone is happy and focused on the job in hand. You have not heard any rumblings that anyone is wanting to leave. Until that afternoon when you have just got back in from lunch and are about to wade through the piles of emails that have accumulated in the past thirty minutes you were away from your desk, when one of your team approaches you, timidly and white-faced with envelope in-hand, and asks for a quiet word in the boardroom. Let’s face it, we all know what is going to happen, for inside the white envelope you know is the letter of resignation and the excuses are ready to flow on why they no longer want to work for the firm.

Imagine that perhaps this isn’t the one person that you had hoped would leave because their time-keeping isn’t the best or their attitude needs some work.

Think for a moment this is one of your best employees, and they have worked their socks off and quite frankly, you will be ‘gutted’ they want to leave. What do you do?

There are a few options. Read the letter, accept their decision and start the process of replacing them immediately. Or you can ask about the job they will be going to, what the salary is, and decide to up the offer and ask them to stay.

The statistics show that over 50 per cent of people who are at offer stage of a job have been tempted back to their original place of work by better pay and conditions. For the employee it is both tempting and flattering that you want them to stay, and maybe the nudge they needed to stay because it wasn’t that they didn’t like the job, they just needed that pay-rise and the validation they are valued member, and want to work hard to rise through the ranks.

However Debra Bullmore-Dunn, director at AF Selection has said while this is quite a common-place scenario, it is important that the employer thinks long and hard before offering the ‘golden handcuffs’ to an employee.

“What you need to think carefully about is how invaluable this employee is to you and your company. If you can afford it, and you don’t think anyone else could possibly do the job, then offer them a pay increase. You don’t want to be left with a bad taste in your mouth that this person doesn’t want to work for you. Because if they have gone to the trouble of sending their CV and going for an interview, the chances are they don’t want to work for you any more, and so think long and hard before you ask them to stay, ” she added.

Top tips for not offering golden handcuffs:

* Assess what is really right for you and the company. If it is just the payrise they are after, look to see if you want to keep them and can afford to keep them.

* Before walking into that boardroom, anticipate this may happen. But have a response in mind just in case, even if it is ‘please give me 24 hours to think about accepting your resignation’.

* Perhaps this could be a ‘blessing in disguise’. Fresh blood in the company may help it grow in a way you never thought would be possible.

* Make sure you can honour your promises if you do offer the payrise / extra training / company car. Because it will soon backfire if you can’t and don’t.

* Think about your other employees. If there are issues amongst staff, is now maybe the time to do some digging, see if there are any fractures and even invite people in for an informal review, so you don’t have lots of people jumping ship once one person decides to leave.

*Don’t be the one holding the key to golden handcuffs, it may only be a short time before they’re wiggling to get out.

PR Steady and Design on the Up!

We have witnessed a paradigm shift in the recruitment practices of some of the mid-sized agencies across the North West and The Midlands with a 25 per cent increase in the number of roles registered at AE and SAE level. We think agencies are beginning to see the light that it can take up to three months to source candidates at a more senior level and have decided to hire at a junior level and train instead.

Whilst PR still leads the field on the recruitment front for roles being registered with us; it has not been as frantic as the early part of 2014, however, the availability of skilled candidates remains a significant concern and businesses are already fiercely competing to secure top talent.

We are still seeing credible candidates with solid agency based experience receiving more than one offer but not as frequently as we witnessed in the first half of 2014 – this is most likely due to the availability of both permanent and temporary candidate supply deteriorating further. The availability of experienced personnel to fill job vacancies, in particular, at account management level.

On a positive note, it is nice to see an increase in the number of senior design roles registered with us since the start of 2015 and more heartening to witness creative roles that require conceptual print based creatives as opposed to purely digital.

With pay inflation still apparent, it still seems that employers are continuing to use a high salary as the main draw, but focusing on a more holistic approach to attracting candidates may be the key. Softer benefits such as flexible hours, free parking, paid training and development can sometimes have a more positive effect on attracting talent.

Some agencies are seeing some roles at account management and director take up to three months to source experienced personnel. We still see candidates rejected with credible in-house experience so may be it is time to consider non-agency based candidates?

AF Selection does work - and here’s the proof.

Clive Reeves MD at Clive Reeves PR.

Good recruitment is at the heart of any people based business and in a small team like ours getting the right people is particularly important. There's no place to hide someone who's inefficient, grumpy or who is perfectly pleasant but doesn't really have the skill set you originally hired them for.

I have a great team. Some of them hired from CVs sent directly, others through AF Selection. In the most recent round of recruitment I decided that I'd try social media to get the vacancy noticed. It had worked once, when I recruited a friend of a competitor. That was a fluke.

After being bombarded with some of the most ridiculous applicants you can imagine I picked up the emergency hotline to Debra at AF. In my early career (and hers) I'd trusted Debra to find me a job, so AF was the natural choice for me as an employer. As any creative type knows, the best briefs are ones created with a clear idea of what you want achieve, including all the relevant information. It's exactly the same with recruitment. I knew the skills my new recruit needed, I knew the sort of qualifications they'd need and because Debra knew me, it was easy to describe the environment they'd have to survive working for me.