Tag: Advice

The Harrison Sands mega list of CV errors

As a busy recruitment agency we get to see a huge volume of CVs, directly submitted to us in application to the jobs we advertise or located through the various job boards we subscribe to. And it’s true to say, there really is quite a range when it comes to quality. Some CVs are excellent; really tailored to the individual application or target company, well-written, well-designed and delivering a perfect balance of background information, skills and education, responsibilities and achievements.
But for every one of these we see, there are a handful of CVs that have basic errors in them. And in this day and age with spelling and grammar checkers, and a little time invested to read and re-read the CV before sending it out, it really is unforgivable. So take a look at our guide to some of the basic CV errors we see… and make sure you avoid them in future when drafting your updated CV.
Typos, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors
Errors of this kind are unforgivable and for many recruiters and hiring managers will just mean your CV will be binned. It can signify a basic lack of attention to detail at best, and at worst show that you’re just not that interested in the business you’re approaching. With computers helping out massively in this area, there really is no excuse for submitting a CV with any of these types of errors.
No social media
Apart from in high security industries and some very exceptional cases, the majority of people have social media accounts of some sort these days. When a CV appears with no social media accounts, it can raise questions about what the person has to hide; why haven’t they developed a professional network; and really, it just looks odd. Professional networks are predominantly LinkedIn based in the UK, so even if your Facebook account isn’t something you want to share with prospective employers, a basic LinkedIn profile that at least tracks your recent career history is essential.
Lack of specifics
Your CV exists to sell you, your experience and skillset to future employers. Ultimately they’re buying in to you, what you know and what you can do – so your CV needs to explain this in some detail. If you had responsibility for a specific project then explain what it is you did and what the outcome was. Focus on achievements and outcomes and explain the impact you had, particularly in real monetary terms.
Too much detail about your education
Don’t go into too much detail about your education, because in reality no one’s that interested in your individual GCSE subjects or the modules you studied at University unless they have a direct bearing on the role you’re applying for. Do give educational highlights and accomplishments, like the degree you studied and your overall qualification. More recently any on-the-job training will probably be more relevant to share too.
Claims with no basis
It’s your CV, not a Facebook post… so claims like “salesperson of the year” that you’re unable to substantiate should be left off your CV. It’s fair enough if you’ve been recognised for something either in your business, or in the broader industry – but you must be able to substantiate and explain what this means.
Unprofessional email addresses
When you registered your first email address you may have picked something you found humorous at that time. But what was funny when you were a teenager, may not be as well regarded when using it on your CV that’s going to be potentially seen by prospective employers. If you do have an unprofessional email address, then our advice is to use a free service like Google Mail and create a new, more professional address to include in any CV-based applications.
Share your social accounts strategically
As with unprofessional email addresses, you may have a beautifully curated Twitter account sharing the latest memes, or airing your very contentious views – but all we’d caution is to think twice about whether you should share these with prospective employers. As we’ve recommended earlier, maintain a good, professional LinkedIn profile and in our view, think strongly about whether you share your other social media accounts on your CV. In most cases, the other accounts may be better off as private accounts altogether.
Poorly structure / written job descriptions
When you’re actually drafting your CV, take the time to think about and explain clearly what you did in your previous roles. Failing to do this reflects badly on the overall CV and can taint a recruiter’s view of you. Structure your job descriptions so that it clearly depicts what you did, what you were responsible for, what your team environment and structure was like, and what you achieved.
Incorrect contact information
You want a recruiter or hiring manager to contact you if they like your CV, don’t you? In that case, it’s essential that you get your own contact information correct. It sounds surprising, but it happens more often than you’d expect. A simple typo will mean a phone number or email address won’t work… so check and double-check this fundamental part of your CV.
Detailing unrelated skills
Space on a CV is at a premium as you’ve got to sell yourself to the recruiter, and do it quickly. They shouldn’t have to hunt around on your CV to find the information they need. So long lists of skills that have no bearing on the role you’re applying for is just wasted space and a distraction.
Concentrating on responsibilities not accomplishments
There’s a clear distinction between the responsibilities you’ve had in a previous job and what you achieved in that role. The achievements or accomplishments show a recruiter what you actually delivered in a specific position. So for recruiters, think about your GP milestones, number of clients won or retained, key contracts or PSL agreements secured, etc. All too often we see CVs focusing more on the responsibilities of a role, rather than the accomplishments they secured.
Too much jargon
In most instances, jargon should be avoided on CVs because it assumes that the person reading the CV understands what it means. And a common issue we see is terminology that’s common in one sector or even in a specific business meaning something completely different (or meaning nothing at all) when viewed afresh by somebody else. So wherever possible, we’d recommend avoiding jargon.
Too much information
Different people will give different advice, but ours is to aim for around two pages of A4 with your CV. We’ve seen some CVs come in with six or more pages and there is no way that recruiters are going to read all of that. In a time-poor environment, a recruiter is typically going to scan through a CV with a view to drawing up a shortlist of potential candidates without spending half an hour going through each CV. So focus on the key information that’s pertinent to the role you’re applying, and/or sells you and your experience and skills in the best way.
Not doing your research
If you’re applying for a specific role at a company (rather than registering with an agency) then not doing your research and failing to tailor your CV or covering letter to the role you’re applying to is another faux pas best avoided.
Using a one size fits all CV
If you’re applying for a specific role, try and tailor your CV to specifically address the requirements of the vacancy advert. Don’t make recruiters hunt around for the information they’re looking for, or try and deduce whether you’re experienced in specific areas. Lay it out clearly and concisely, and if a role is requiring a particular skill or accomplishment and you can demonstrate this, do so.
Keyword stuffing
With many CVs now being uploaded to job boards and searchable by recruiters, a practice we’ve come across is for people to stuff keywords on to their CVs – probably with the hope of appearing in more searches and increasing their visibility on the platforms. This might work in the short term, at least until the recruiter opens up the CV, but it’s a false economy and your if your CV isn’t strong enough to be a contender once it’s reviewed, then it’ll be rejected.
Excessive detail for older positions
Going into expansive detail about the part time jobs you had while at school or University is really unnecessary, and a waste of that valuable CV real estate space. Waitressing roles, retail positions and part time jobs… unless they have specific relevance to the role you’re applying for, are probably best left off your CV.
Use relevant hobbies to your advantage
If you’ve been involved in team sports, led a team, or undertaken some memorable activities that can support your application, by all means share them. But then again, all too often we see people explaining their love for computer games, the gym, socialising or travel – and in the vast majority of cases, these really don’t merit being on a CV.
Too short
We explained earlier how an overly long CV is definitely not recommended, but then so is a short CV. If you’re too brief explaining your previous roles, responsibilities and achievements, then a recruiter or hiring manager won’t be able to understand your suitability for the role you’re applying for. Make sure you focus on the right things and avoid the easy errors we’ve listed here.
A CV that’s too creative
There are lots of online tools and templates that can help you craft a visually creative CV, but our advice is to not get carried away. Creatively styled and/or laid out CVs might look impressive, but they can be difficult for people to scan through and the automatic CV parsing software that many recruiters and websites now use, typically won’t be able to cope with them. Apart from creative industries where it might be expected more, the majority of professional sectors will appreciate a CV with good quality content and clearly laid out and presented, rather than an overly creative one.
Not proof reading and checking everything… twice!
Finally, and it may seem painfully obvious, but make sure you thoroughly check your CV – and check it twice. Ensure that everything is spelled correctly, that the grammar is right, and that you’ve updated everything that needs to be updated. If possible, ask a friend or colleague to proof check it for you as fresh eyes are important… they can often spot something you’ve missed.
Most recruiters will take your CV and incorporate it into their branded templates anyway, so you need to make it easy for them to find and grab the content they need.
So, we hope you’ve found this list helpful. If nothing else, it’ll hopefully help serve as a checklist for those things you should be thinking about when creating your CV. Of course, the team at Harrison Sands are happy to help with further advice, so please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss any of this in more detail.

24/09/2018
Tidying up your social media

Social media is increasingly blurring the lines between professional and personal lives with what people share, how they think, what they do and what they say open to increasing amounts of scrutiny. More and more hiring managers will now be including background searches against potential applicants or candidates, so we all need to bear this in mind and consider what we share and with whom. Our guide will serve as quick overview of what’s worth addressing immediately.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn has long been known as the ‘professional social media network’ and despite (or perhaps, because of) its growth to half a billion users, its 2016 acquisition by Microsoft and a number of newer entrants challenging its position, in the UK (and many other countries worldwide) it remains the go-to social media platform for business people. So it’s critical that you manage your LinkedIn profile with this in mind and ensure your online persona reflects how you want to be seen and known professionally.
Some simple tactics can really help here. Use a professional photograph, customise your profile’s URL, update your work history and be clear to explain a little about the company you work(ed) for, as well as the role/responsibilities of your position. Highlight any key achievements and be as specific as you can. Consider rich media (videos, PowerPoint decks, PDF brochures, etc.) as these can be easily embedded in your profile, making it look much more engaging.
One thing to note is that if you don’t want people to know you’re making all these changes to your profile, you need to make a quick change in your privacy settings so that others aren’t notified when you’re creating your profile masterpiece. Just change the ‘sharing profile edits’ section to ‘no’.
Facebook
To many, after MySpace and earlier social media networks, Facebook is the original social media network. But for plenty of people it differs from LinkedIn as it’s arguably much more family and friend oriented, than business focused. So it’s definitely worthwhile reviewing your privacy settings and ensuring you’re comfortable with what you’re sharing.
Some business sectors work really well on Facebook and rely on it for much of their interaction with their customers – think retail, leisure and entertainment here, for example – but maybe you need to question whether your holiday or family photos are really what you want to be sharing with the world, let alone any prospective employer or hiring manager. Whether you think it’s right or not, our advice is that it’s best to keep your profile private and maintain a professional online presence.
Twitter
As with Facebook, Twitter allows you to protect your Tweets so that only those people you permit to follow you can see what you’re Tweeting. Whether you do this depends on what you use Twitter for. If you’re just commenting on the latest Love Island or Celebrity Big Brother events, that’s all fine… but if you’ve perhaps got some more contentious views or love Tweeting after a few too many drinks, it may not be advisable sharing your thoughts with the world (and of course, any prospective employers or hiring managers).
Equally, Twitter can be a great business tool – and used properly, allows you to follow companies you admire, that you’re maybe interested in working at, and following recruiter accounts (e.g. @harrisonsandsUK) to keep abreast of all the latest jobs they’re recruiting for. It’s fast-paced and often updated in real-time by companies and individuals that use the platform well – and can be a fantastic way of reaching out to and engaging with people.
Wrapping it up
So now you’ve reviewed your social media accounts and made the necessary changes, you’ll hopefully be better prepared to be active online. But before you congratulate yourself on a job well done and move on, it’s best to test that everything looks as it should externally. Here’s where it’s helpful to ask a friend or colleague to double-check that what you think you’ve done is working as expected. Ask them to check that your holiday photos are really hidden on Facebook, or your drunken Tweets are now protected. If they are, it’s a job well done. If not, go through the processes again and make sure you’ve not missed anything.
Ultimately, remember online networking is still networking. Be proactive and cultivate the right image and you’ll be well positioned to develop the kind of professional business network that will serve you and your career well.

21/08/2018
The STAR interview technique for recruiters
As a recruiter, you’ll no doubt develop your own style and process for running interviews with candidates. But how effective is this at getting the information you really need? And the flip side of course, is thinking about how well you fare when sat on the other side of the table and you’re being interviewed for your next recruiter role? Well the Harrison Sands team are here to help by exploring the well-regarded STAR technique and explaining how to get the best out of it.
The STAR technique, for those that don’t already know is an interview technique that’s typically used to steer a conversation along a particular structure and in the process, ensure that information about a candidates’ specific capabilities – relevant to the job they’re interviewing for – are uncovered. In brief, the mnemonic STAR stands for: Situation, Task, Action and Results – and we’ll explain more about each one below.
Situation – Just as you would do when talking to someone and trying to explain something, it’s a good idea to first set the scene and describe the situation you’re about to explore further. So, give some context and background to the situation so the interviewer can understand what you’re about to tell them.
Task – This is the particular task you were presented with in the scenario you’re explaining. It’s important at this stage to focus on the task you specifically faced or tackled, rather than talking more generally about the rest of the team and what they did. Also consider explaining the importance of the task itself, and where appropriate the impact of not completing the task.
Action – Arguably the most important aspect of the STAR technique, this is your chance to shine and explain to the interviewer what it was you specifically did. You must use this part of your answer to demonstrate what you did as a person, rather than as part of a team – so it’s clear it’s your competency you’re demonstrating to the interviewer. Use plenty of detail and remember the interviewer may not be familiar with your history, background or know the company you’ve worked for in the past. Be sure to contextualise your answers and relate them back to the question being asked.
Result – In the majority of circumstances, you’d want to demonstrate a positive outcome and show where you’ve made a difference. If you can quantify the impact you’ve had, do so. In the recruitment world metrics, particularly financial ones, will go a long way towards demonstrating capability – so don’t be shy about sharing the details of your successes.
Which questions need a STAR response?
The STAR technique can be an invaluable tool in any recruiter’s arsenal, but perhaps most importantly by adopting this approach it allows hiring managers to compare applicants in a more structured manner.
To finish, it’s worth sharing our top tips for answering STAR questions.
Be specific when answering a STAR question, try to avoid being vague and don’t just talk in generalities. Quantify numbers and improvements. For example, don’t just say that your perm fees improved year on year, explain the percentage or monetary value that they increased.
Address the question. Equally appropriate with non-STAR interview questions, it’s particularly important here that when asked to demonstrate a specific competency that you ensure you answer the question being asked. Try to avoid selecting a scenario from your past and forcing a link to the question.
Think about the timing. It’s important to find the right balance in the time you take to answer STAR questions. Try not to let your answers drag on or venture off on a tangent from the competency or skill you’re being asked about. And try and avoid rushing through your answers too quickly too.
Make it free flowing. Although we’re advocating the technique to help structure your answers, it’s best to try and avoid making it overly obvious that you’re breaking your answers down into these separate sections. Doing so can make the conversation feel unnatural and can distract the hiring manager. So just be relaxed and natural, don’t rehearse answers too much and let the conversation flow.
For more help or advice about interviews, or to find out more about Harrison Sands can help you with your next career move, contact us today.
08/08/2018
Being more productive

There’s always an opportunity for recruiters to start working more productively. Working smarter, rather than simply harder, should be a goal of any good recruiter… but what does it actually mean?
For us, there are lots of different ways a recruiter can make themselves more productive, but we’ve outlined some we’ve found can really make a difference.
Automation
Sending emails to your contacts individually certainly works when you want to communicate specifically one to one with someone, but what happens when you’re trying to contact lots of people at the same time with a similar or identical message? You might have a list of ‘hot candidates’ or ‘latest jobs’ that you want to share with a group of people.
Copying and pasting recipients into Outlook is an inefficient approach and probably won’t look very professional either. So using an email marketing tool like Mailchimp or Dotmailer can allow you to build some standardised, on-brand templates and re-use them every time you want to send mass emails to your distribution lists.
You can even set up trigger points so that the systems will fire out regular emails based on certain activities or dates, e.g. anniversary of registering with your agency, date of birth, whether they opened your last email or not, etc. Remember, work smarter not harder, and let some systems do the grunt work!
Reduce distractions
Multitasking can work for some low level tasks, but if you want to truly be more productive you need to cut out the distractions. This means setting self-imposed limits on the number of times you look at your social media accounts and feeds, for example. Or limiting checking your emails to once an hour, perhaps. And, do you really need to check news sites quite so often? Probably not… and doing any of these only serves to distract you from what you’re supposed to be doing.
The Harvard Business Review published an article “You can’t multitask, so stop trying” which stresses the importance of making an effort to do tasks one at a time, sticking with one item until completion. And we’re inclined to agree with them. Focus, without distraction, and you’ll likely achieve more.
Using the right tools
We touched on the benefit of using the right tools earlier, with Mailchimp and Dotmailer, but they’re not the only tools out there. And whilst tools may vary from industry to industry, there are some core tools that will really help you be more productive. For example, managing your own PR and being active on social media definitely has its place in your workday (just not as a constant distraction).
So being able to schedule activities in advance allows you to promote your business, the roles you’re recruiting for, the clients you’re representing or the services you’re offering.
Using a tool like Hootsuite or Buffer, can be a really easy way of streamlining your social media activities. Both have pros and cons, and even their free offerings are arguably better than logging on individually to each of your social accounts. But the real advantage here, is being able to queue up a range of material in advance, knowing that while you’re busy on the phone, interviewing, meeting clients or candidates, that your social channels are still being populated with relevant content.
Compartmentalise
The fact is there are only a fixed number of hours in the day. You have to sleep, eat, travel, and attempt to have a personal life too – so that only leaves so many hours to actually work.
We find breaking down your work day into chunks of time and then focusing on specific tasks really helps with productivity. Compartmentalising and structuring a day this way is a great way of reducing distractions and in half hour chunks, you’ll be surprised what you can achieve.
Be more structured with this too and write a physical list (or use an online tool to manage your to-do list) and you might be surprised at how this approach can help you focus on the things that will make a difference, rather than seeing you working on the things you like doing or find easiest. It just helps focus the mind a little more.
Remember the basics
Finally, it might sound counterintuitive, but remember to take a break every now and then. Burning out isn’t funny and definitely won’t help you be more productive! Besides that there are simple things we find help us be more efficient.
Creating some stock responses can be a real time-saver too. You know when you get a candidate application that’s clearly not suitable for the role, don’t write out a fresh email each time to reject them (and don’t ignore them either). Simply copy one of your stock responses and let them know they’re unsuitable. You never know whether they may be suitable for other roles and it’s good business practice to at least respond, only this way, you’ll save a ton of time by re-using existing content you’ve already written.
Finally, think about your physical environment. The price of computer monitors has come down significantly in recent years, so multiple screens can be a godsend for productivity. We could go on, but with the aim of being more productive, we’ll stop distracting you now!
So they’re our top tips to being more productive. Have you got any you’d like to add? If so, comment on our LinkedIn page and let us know!

30/01/2018
5 reasons not to give up job searching at Christmas

In a competitive market, finding a job – let alone the right job – can be hard. And logically, you might think that finding a new role at Christmas will be even harder. But we’re here to tell you that there are some very good reasons why you should not give up job searching at Christmas.
1. Take advantage of budget deadlines
Whilst we know that companies often have different financial periods, there’s still a significant number that align with the calendar year. And this means that as we approach the end of December, many businesses are sat on unspent hiring budgets that they risk losing in the following year. So as a recruiter, if we can find good people still actively searching for their next role during the festive period – these will often get priority treatment from hiring managers. What’s not to like about that?!
2. Beat the competition
It’s practically a tradition to consume too much, overspend throughout the festive period and then make a load of resolutions come January that you may or may not stick to. In amongst those resolutions, there’s almost always something career related… whether it’s getting a new job, getting a pay rise or getting a promotion. And all that new found enthusiasm for addressing career situations means there’s almost always a flurry of activity in the New Year.
This means that if you wait till January to ramp up your job search again, you’ll be competing with a horde of other people doing exactly the same thing. So why not steal a march on them, and beat the competition? Carry on searching and applying for new roles right the way through the festive period. You’ll likely be at the top of any recruiters hit list as a result.
3. Improved opportunities
In many ways, the festive period represents a golden opportunity for temporary or seasonal workers that are drafted into businesses to cope with the extra demands the season brings. But for companies outside the logistics, retail or hospitality industries that aren’t typically as busy, it’s actual a great opportunity to fast-track the hiring and training process, as they may be less busy than at other times in the year. All this means that we see companies actively looking to take on new recruits and get them through inductions now, so that they’re ready to hit the ground running in the New Year.
4. Choose organised companies
It’s a common misconception that businesses will put their hiring on hold over the festive period. Just as we’re advising job seekers not to pause their search, so more and more companies are realising they can beat their competition and continue hiring right the way through the festive period. We work with a large number of such companies right across the UK, so can help ensure your CV and application is put before those hiring managers that are ready and waiting to take on new recruits.
5. Take advantage of seasonal goodwill
Christmas tends to put most people in better moods. Whether it’s the mince pies, the festive tipples or the thought of an extended break from work and lots of presents – there’s no denying that everyone’s a little happier at this time of year. So why not take advantage of this? Recruiters and hiring managers are human after all, so catching them in better moods (unless you’re interviewed the day after their Christmas party!) surely has to be to your advantage.
Collectively, what we’re trying to say is that with a strong CV, good experience and the right Rec2Rec agency (like Harrison Sands) representing you, then the festive period is arguably one of the best times to push on with your job search. We’re happy to help and discuss this further with you, so please don’t delay in getting in touch with us.

07/12/2017
Fundamental CV writing tips
Writing a good CV should be a priority for any jobseeker. It’s typically the first opportunity a recruiter or employer has to interact with a jobseeker, so conveying the right information, clearly and concisely is of paramount importance.
Our team come across a wide variety of CVs, dealing with hundreds or even thousands every week. As such, we’re pretty sure we know what makes the difference between a good CV and a great CV. But even more fundamental than the polish and design you can add to your CV, there are some essential elements that we see overlooked so often.
To help, here’s a rundown of the top 10 things you need to think about when writing your CV.
Check your contact details
Make sure all your contact details are on the CV and be conscious of what your email address says about you.

Don’t waffle on
Be conscious of the amount of pages you use. If you can get everything on two and it’s easy to read, then that’s perfect. Anything above four pages and you’ve likely lose your audience’s attention.

Tailor your personal statement to the job you’re applying for
Make sure your personal statement is relevant to the role you are applying to and highlights specific skills mentioned in the job application.

Organise chronologically
Ensure your work history starts with your most recent role.

Check your LinkedIn and CV align!
You LinkedIn profile should reflect the same work history as your CV.

Make it make sense – be clear and organised with the layout
Your CV needs to be easy to navigate and follow a logical structure.

Describe your achievements, not just your skills
State your success in every role. So, not just listing your responsibilities, but explaining what you’ve achieved.

Bullet point your job description, don’t have long lengthy explanations
When discussing your role ensure it’s easy to understand what you actually do. Don’t always assume the audience knows the company you work for, so a small company statement might help them put your work experience into context.

Keep older jobs short and sweet and concentrate on your most recent and relevant jobs
Don’t be afraid to condense listed duties on your older jobs, if you’ve stated the same tasks in a more recent role.

Save and send as a Word document
Keep and send your CVs in Word format, as opposed to PDF. They are easier to open and if you are using a recruitment agency they will type up interview notes and add on to the CV.
It might not seem like much but making it easier for time-poor recruiters, often inundated with applicants, to filter through candidates and understand all the important stuff about each as quickly as possible – will help recruiters no end. And if you’re making life easier for a recruiter and you’re suitable for the role, you’ll be considered in a favourable light and go on to the shortlist quickly.
09/11/2017
Productive home working tips
As more and more employers provide flexible and home working as a regular option, it’s worth exploring some of our top tips for productive home working.
The reality is that a recruiter is no different to any other home worker, albeit they may spend more time on the phone than other professions. The typically quiet home environment should present an ideal set up for most, as long as the IT equipment is configured correctly and the following tips should help you make the most of this approach to working.
Go to work! No, we’re not saying that you should actually go into the office, but you should designate a space at home, either a specific room or area of a room that is your workspace. Being able to separate your work and home environment will be crucially important.
Be mindful of your working day. We know that working from home means you can be more flexible about how you manage your time and what you do throughout the day, including whether you can make those all-important calls after hours to catch that elusive client or candidate – but it’s important to be able to know when to switch off too.
Be contactable. Although you’re out of the office, it doesn’t mean you should be out of contact with your work colleagues. You’ll naturally miss the chats over coffee, but that informal networking can be invaluable. Finding out about a new client, contract or industry news through your informal networks internally is important, so make time for it and make the effort to stay in touch with colleagues, be available for calls and be responsive.
Online networking. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or are the world’s worst recruiter, you can’t have helped notice the growing importance of social media. Building your network and candidate pool via platforms like LinkedIn is vitally important and can be easily managed via five to ten minutes each day. Keep on top of it and share, like or comment on other’s comments and you’ll soon find your online network growing.
Structure your day. Creating structure to your day, just like you would in the office can help you avoid distractions. You might find the mornings are the best time to make your client calls, whereas lunchtimes are the best times to add your jobs to the job boards and your own website – so if that’s the case, structure your day accordingly. Don’t get distracted writing blog posts or browsing LinkedIn if you know you should be doing something else. Applying a little self-control can work wonders here.
Make it harder for yourself to procrastinate. Whilst some social media use can be an essential part of a recruiter’s day, too much can lead to massive amounts of time wasting. To help avoid temptation, even the simple act of removing the social media icons and links from your toolbars and burying them in a folder can work wonders.
Communicate with your housemates. Whether you’re sharing your home with your family, friends or lodgers, you need to let them know that just because you’re at home when they are during the day, that you’re not there for casual chats and watching TV! Set boundaries, let them know that you’re ‘at work’ and have calls to make, and that you shouldn’t be disturbed. By all means arrange a coffee break or lunch break with them, but be strict with yourself over timings.
Take a break. While we’re talking about breaks, it’s important to remember that you should take breaks when you’re working from home. It’s all too easy to just get up, get dressed and work all day long – but that’s not healthy and not going to be a productive use of your time. Get up periodically, stretch your legs and walk around when making a phone call, and remember to take regular breaks from your screen and your work, keep refreshed and have a break for lunch.
Remember to eat. Just like you would do in an office environment, breaking for lunch is vitally important. You’ll not be distracted by hunger and you’ll perform better once you’ve eaten. And just like you might do in an office environment, consider a packed lunch of sorts and make your lunch the evening before. It’ll stop you having too much downtime prepping your lunch during the working day.
Dress for work. One of the most contentious points regarding home working and also one of the most common myths, but homeworkers typically don’t spend the day working in their pyjamas! We’d advocate going a step further and dressing for work too. That doesn’t mean you put on a full suit, but dressing smartly helps. You’ll feel smart, you’ll talk differently and if that impromptu video conference or Skype interview is dropped on you, you’ll look the part when the feed starts up.
We really could go on writing about productive home working tips for recruiters all day long, but the long and short of it all is to just use common sense. Working from home isn’t an excuse to not do any work, go shopping, sort out all your chores, or hit the gym – but it can be a great approach to improving or managing your work /life balance.
If you’d like to explore what home working recruitment roles might be available to you, then get in touch with Harrison Sands recruitment to recruitment specialists today.
29/08/2017
Maximising recruiter productivity
The difference between being a good recruiter and being a great recruiter is usually defined by little more than the amount you bill. So how do you go about maximising your productivity and ensuring you’re the GREAT biller that you know you are?
The team at Harrison Sands have put together some top tips for maximising recruiter productivity, that they’ve collated from their time as recruiters and from working with an extensive network of recruitment specialists. Some of the tips may seem like common sense but are often easily overlooked or forgotten, so applying discipline and remembering this checklist can really help.
Focus. Whether it’s writing that important job description for your next advert or reviewing the latest batch of applicants for your urgent role, being able to focus without distractions is critically important. There are simple approaches to helping you achieve that focus too, ranging from turning off unnecessary notifications on your computer, to closing down your additional browser tabs or locking yourself away in a meeting room for an hour. Distractions are the enemy of true focus, so minimise them wherever possible.
Use the right resources. It might seem obvious to some, but using the right resources can be a big time saver and a great way to maximise productivity. Whether that’s using an email tool like Mailchimp to send out your hot jobs list, or an SMS tool to reach those candidates by text, wherever possible try to avoid doing things manually that can be automated or simplified with technology and tools.
Think about your audience. Inevitably, much of your time as a recruiter is spent communicating with others – whether that’s clients or candidates, by phone, email, text, Skype or face to face – so you need to think about what the other party wants to ensure you get the most out of the interaction. Think about the time and place that’s going to provide the best environment for getting the result you want. For example, there’s no point meeting a candidate in a busy bar at lunchtime if you need to have a confidential, detailed discussion. Equally, there’s no point trying to have a telephone interview in the middle of a morning when your candidates are likely busy with their existing job. Pick your time, location and communication medium that suits your audience and your productivity will rocket as a result.
Steer clear of social media. Obviously we all need to use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels for work. They can be a great tool to build and develop an extended network of contacts. And they can be a great source of information too. But all too often they’re like a sink hole for your time, as it’s so easy to get distracted by what your friends and family, or Kim Kardashian and the like, are up to on social media. So our advice is that unless it’s necessary for the task at hand, simply close down your social media tabs and avoid those phone notifications.
Metrics matter. Everyone seems to put so much effort in to writing that perfect job advert, reviewing CVs, carrying out interviews and calling clients and candidates that it’s easy enough to get caught up in the everyday routine. But it’s important to review how effective this all is too. Look at the metrics. Are your response rates what you expected for your job adverts? If not, can you improve how you’re writing the adverts, or do you need to advertise elsewhere? What about the ratio of CVs submitted to interviews arranged or placements? Is this high enough, or is your quality filter not strict enough… or even too strict? Reviewing the metrics periodically will help you baseline your performance and adjust your tactics and strategy accordingly to ensure you’re getting the best return on your investment.
Prioritise. You might have a task list as long as your arm and it seems to never get any shorter, so it’s essential that you can prioritise those items that are going to make a difference to your bottom line, versus the others that can be either postponed, delegated to others or trashed altogether. Is agonising over that latest blog post going to deliver more of an impact than writing that killer job advert, for example? Or will your next five calls to clients be more impactful than five calls to candidates? This will vary from sector to sector and consultant to consultant, and will be influenced by whether you’re in a candidate or client driven market – but the point is that before you crack on with your daily tasks, it’s often beneficial to lay them out and prioritise them, focusing on the really important tasks first or at the right time of the day to suit your audience.
The principles above are intended as guidelines to recruiters that know they can do more, believe they are better, but feel constrained by the daily task list. Simply thinking about these things is an important first step. Implementing them is the next step in the process and one that we’ve found, time and time again, really helps.
14/08/2017
Why counter offers rarely work
Regardless of which sector or profession you work in, it’s a fact of life that most of us will be on either the receiving or delivering end of a counter offer. In our experience, and from the anecdotal feedback we’ve had from clients and candidates over the years, it’s a simple fact that counter offers don’t work long term.
It seems strange that with such overwhelming evidence, articles such as this one and general anecdotal feedback, that counter offers are just as prevalent today as they ever were. It seems so counter-intuitive to go through the whole to-ing and fro-ing involved in a counter offer that we’re genuinely confused as to why it’s still such a common practice.
How to decide if a new job is right for you
It’s rarely an easy decision for a happy employee to choose to hand their notice in and go somewhere else. In many cases, we find something has happened at work that made you decide to go through a selection process to get a job offer. And although each individual case and reason will be different, but drawing up a list of pros and cons of your current workplace versus your potential future employee may help crystallise ideas in your mind and help you understand your deeper motivations. And it’s absolutely critical that you do all of this BEFORE you hand your notice in.
Despite all our warnings, counter offers do occur but you need to be comfortable with the risks associated with accepting them. We can only think of a handful of reasons why you may want to consider accept a counter offer:
Pay rises are on hold, but a competing job offer can release that restriction
You never intended on leaving, but now have market pay rates to convince your boss to pay more
If you’re faced with a counter offer, what are the things you need to think about:
Consider whether you should share details of the new job with your current employer
Don’t overlook the reasons why you started looking for a new job in the first place
Evaluate whether your job will be on the line if you decide to stay
Will you be treated any differently if you accept the offer and decide to stay
Are you really valued as an employee? In which case, why didn’t they pay you more in the first place (assuming money / promotion is the prime motivator for a move)
How you can turn the job offer down without burning bridges
How you can turn the counteroffer down without burning bridges
It’s not always about the money. Culture, flexible working, career progression, commuting distance, other perks and benefits all influence whether a new role is right for you.
What happens when you hand your notice in
First and foremost, your company may now see you as an ‘unsafe’ employee. Even worse, you may now be viewed as a ‘traitor’, particularly in smaller, family or lifestyle businesses. In this scenario, if you accept a counter offer you may be internally blacklisted and over time, engineered out of the business at a time that’s suitable for the employer rather than your own timescales.
Your action can have a damaging, detrimental effect on other employees. It can cause them to think about their own roles, their worth in the marketplace and whether they can do better elsewhere. For this reason alone, management can often want to avoid the whole counteroffer scenario because someone who has threatened to leave once may be considered more likely to do so again. And whilst they’re within the ranks, they can cause unrest amongst their colleagues.
The only way that a counter offer usually works is if you have a strong relationship and open communication style with your line manager or senior management. Managers that have high levels of emotional intelligence will understand the factors that have motivated you to get to this point, yet will potentially understand your motivation to stay. It also depends on how valuable you are as an employee. If you’re a high biller, or have excellent candidate and client networks, an employer may be tempted to counter offer and secure your services for longer.
The role of recruiters and counter offers
A good recruiter will have explored your motivations for moving prior to submitting your CV, way before you go to interview and certainly well in advance of handing your notice in. Recruiters invest a lot of time and effort in sourcing the right candidates for the right roles. They don’t want their candidates to accept counter offers because that’s not only lost business and time, but it can negatively impact the client’s view of the recruiter. They could also have submitted another candidate for the role too, one that wouldn’t have accepted a counter offer!
So a good recruiter will talk through your motivations and want to understand why you’re looking to move roles. They’ll need to know if the role or roles they’re working on are likely to tempt you away from your current employer. And they’ll need to understand that they’re not wasting their time with you.
Agencies and recruiters naturally want to find a good fit between candidates and clients, so a little time invested up front to explore motivations will hopefully avoid the difficult counter offer scenario. As we’ve hopefully shown counter offers don’t really benefit anyone in the end.
Harrison Sands has a lot of experience with recruiters at all levels and can offer practical advice and insight into the state of the UK recruitment market, helping you understand your worth in the market and working with you to uncover your likely motivations. Talk to us to find out more and see how we can help you with your next move in the recruitment industry.
24/07/2017