Author name: amy@recruithuman.co.uk

I enjoy writing about my work, almost as much as I enjoy doing it! So I when I was offered the chance to contribute to an article on Jobsite I jumped at it! Two articles appeared just before Christmas offering advice on presentation skills for interviews and character references. I’ve posted the original articles below but there’s additional advice in the articles attached. I hope you find them useful. Amy http://www.jobsite.co.uk/worklife/present-interview-18990/ http://www.jobsite.co.uk/worklife/character-references-asked-19009/

You’ve found the perfect role, been invited to interview, and passed with flying colours but now your potential future employer wants references. If you’ve been employed in the past this should be pretty straightforward, you just offer your line manager or HR manager’s details and wait for the reams of adoring feedback to arrive. But if you’ve been self-employed, unemployed or are just starting out in the world of work, a character reference might be requested. But what is a character reference? Who should you ask to be a referee and what questions will they be asked? A character reference is a personal reference that discusses your personality traits. It won’t provide a work evaluation, but can discuss your related experience. You may list family members (not adoring parents or doting Grannies), friends or other associates as personal references. In the case of self-employed applicants you could list clients, where appropriate. If you don’t have employment references, you should provide 3-6 character references dependant on the role you are applying for. If you are asked for character references alongside employment references the names of 1-2 character referees should reinforce your employment references. But who do you ask? What are the rules? Who should you ask? Good character referees are people who have been relatively close to you. If you are just starting out in the world of work, this could be a teacher or mentor. If you have been self-employed this could be a past client. Previously unemployed? Why not ask your Job centre contact or a neighbour or family friend you have a good relationship with. Equally, if you have taken part in volunteer schemes this is a great place to go to ask for character references. It’s a good idea (not to mention courteous) to ask your references permission prior to passing across their details. It also allows you the opportunity to give them a heads up on your career aspirations and the reasons you’re applying for such a role so they can tailor their responses. Who should you avoid asking? A character referee can’t be a direct family member. Of course your Mum thinks you’re brilliant and Dad can vouch for your negotiation skills but a character reference should be as objective and impartial as possible. At the same time, you shouldn’t ask people you are barely acquainted with for a character reference. If the reference comes back to your potential future employer and sounds ambiguous or lacks depth then the employer may feel uneasy about the validity of the reference. What information should be included? A character reference needs to focus more on your attitude and personal characteristics and skills rather than work experience. It is common for a potential employer to send a standard reference request form which should make your referee’s task fairly straightforward. If appropriate, the reference should then elaborate about your relevant skills and qualities. These could include; honesty, integrity, trustworthiness, work ethic, communication skills, initiative, dependability and general personality. If your referee wants to go right to the top of your Christmas list they could also suggest why these qualities might be valuable to your potential employers business. What should a character reference look like? Most employers will provide a standard template but if you really want to knock an employer’s socks off you could prepare your character references in advance. In this instance, employers might wish to talk to your referees to verify their statements. As such you’ll need to provide contact details. However, if the potential employer doesn’t provide a template you should ask your referee to include the following details: Confirm what capacity they know you in. Your character referee should be a solid acquaintance; family friend, sports coach, volunteer coordinator, teacher. Pete down the pub or the smiley lady on reception at the gym will not cut the mustard. How long they have known you for. This should be at least 3 years. That chap you met last week who said you were witty and charming, though lovely I’m sure, doesn’t fit the bill here! An overview of your character – it goes without saying but the employer will be looking for information about you and your character. Are you reliable, dependable, and hard-working? A recommendation relevant to the role you have applied for. ‘Helen is always up to speed with the latest gossip’ is only relevant if you’re applying for a role as columnist at Hello Magazine. Otherwise, try to ensure they stick to the standard qualities employers looks for; reliability, trustworthiness, honesty. How to get in touch if they have any further questions. It’s best to provide email or telephone contacts. The world moves a lot quicker than the postal service these days!

Top tips for succeeding in delivering a presentation at interview. 1. Make sure you have clear instructions on what is expected of you. How long are you expected to speak for? Who will you be presenting to etc. If you’re working with a recruiter, ask them to give you a walk- through of what is and isn’t appropriate. Some clients will be looking for you to use your initiative in how to deliver the presentation. However, it’s safe to assume interpretive dance is never an appropriate format before you reach for your leotard and legwarmers! 2. Make sure you have the tools you need. Can you use their laptop? If so does it support your software? If using your own laptop will an internet connection be available? Is there PowerPoint? Have you practised your timing? Will you use a laser pointer? Will you hit enter or use a blue tooth device to change between slides? Questions, questions, questions. The answer? Expect the unexpected. Yes, you’ve charged your laptop but take your power cord too. Yes, of course your PowerPoint is all singing all dancing but print enough copies of the slides off…just in case! 3. Start at the beginning and end at the end. Sounds obvious doesn’t it? Start with an overview of points you want to cover. This will ensure your audience know what’s coming which will minimise interruptions related to topics covered on the following slides. Having a clear structure will also help you remember the points of your oh so well-rehearsed presentation should the worst happen and your mind all of a sudden resemble a barren wilderness! 4. Present don’t recite. If your potential future employers have asked you to present to them, they are looking for more than just great content and a fancy PowerPoint. They are looking for you to showcase your social skills, your public speaking ability and positive, confident body language. Make sure you interact with the panel. Maintain good eye contact, keep your body language relaxed and open, stand tall and hold your head high. Smile when appropriate. If you’re relaxed, your audience will be. Use your presentation as a visual guide to reinforce your words. Don’t read off the screen or from your notes. Equally, offer notes to the panel but as a reference guide for the slides. You don’t want them to be reading your content as you deliver it. 5. It’s all over! You nailed it! Now you can relax, right? Wrong! Compose yourself, take a breath and prepare yourself for questions. Wait until you’re out the door to pat yourself on the back. The panel may have questions you didn’t cover in the presentation or they may have questions about your presentation. Either way, you should know your content inside out and be prepared for questions. Best of luck! If you need any more help, please feel free to get in touch

In the beginning, my response to “Nice to meet you, what do you do?” was greeted either negatively, with air being sucked through teeth or sympathetically with a “oh you’re one of those” head bob but mostly it was negative. “A recruiter? One step above a grave robber, two steps above an estate agent” was the response once! Now my response and defence flow together seamlessly, “I’m a recruiter. Love my job, hate my industry”. This guide should give you an insight into why. It can be frustrating, daunting and even infuriating dealing with a bad recruiter. Dealing with a recruiter should be informative, supportive and positive. Here’s an insider’s guide to avoiding the frustrations of working with a recruiter and getting the best from the relationship. “I registered with them and spent ages telling them what I was looking for but they never called me back!” Why does this happen? You have come across a recruiter who works solely for the client. They have a brief to match and if you don’t fit that brief, that’s the end of the road. I believe this is short sighted on their part. A good recruiter will inform you that you’re not a good match and either thank you for your time or ideally speak to you about other roles or keep in touch in case future suitable roles become available. Recruitment should be about building strong, long term relationships on all sides; recruiter, client and candidate. The solution: Recruitment is not a one way street. Why wait for them to call? Keep in touch with them; send an email every Monday or give them a call on a Friday. A good recruiter is a busy recruiter. If you keep in touch and build an open, honest relationship you can avoid most if not all of the frustration of the recruiter candidate relationship. Having said this, recruiters don’t look favourably on a daily call. Weekly contact is best to keep up to date and memorable for the right reason! “I went for an interview and I never received any feedback”. /”I was sent for an interview that I was completely unsuitable for”. Why does this happen? In short you have a bad recruiter who is not managing the recruitment process closely enough for you. This is a problem for all parties involved. You become frustrated, the client looks bad and the recruiter gives both their client and their candidate a bad service. The solution: The only way to avoid situations like these is to properly vet your recruiter and ask as many questions as you can about the interview process and the client you are being sent forward to. A good recruiter should have a strong relationship with the clients they represent and at the very least they should have visited the company, ideally have met with the line manager, seen where the team works and have a very clear idea of what will be expected of the new recruit. They should also have a clear picture of what the interview process will look like. Of course things change and feedback is never guaranteed to arrive when expected but your recruiter should have time scheduled to speak with the client to gain feedback on your interview and to offer your feedback to the client. “They always lie about having suitable vacancies to get people through their door to register”. Why this happens: Some agencies give their consultants targets for the number of people they have to register in a week. This is to try and ensure that if a vacancy does arise that they can react quickly for their client as they have already registered potential candidates. The solution: Ask your recruiter for information about the role they are considering you for. If you speak with a recruiter and feel like you can work together well, there is an argument for allowing them to work proactively on your behalf rather than waiting for a job to become available and registering then. However, if you do not want to do this you should question your recruiter thoroughly about the role they are recruiting for, the recruitment process, why they think you would be suitable and why this opportunity is a good fit for you. If they can answer these questions, chances are they are serious about putting you forward for the role. “I’m not going through an agency! They’ll take part of my salary!” This is the biggest untruth connected to the industry, aside from the fact we’re all money grabbing ‘so and so’s!’ A recruiter working on a permanent vacancy is, 9 times out of 10 working on a commission calculated as a percentage of your starting salary. This amount comes out of the clients’ recruitment budget not out of your ‘salary pot’. A good recruiter will know and understand the marketplace and should be able to advise clients of the optimum salary bracket to find the balance between an attractive offering and the clients’ payroll budget. “They make thousands of pounds for doing nothing but pushing CVs around!” If that were true everyone would be doing it and I would be driving an Aston Martin! Sadly, it is not and I’m stuck with a trusty Ford! The recruiters’ commission is only paid once you begin your role and there’s a whole heap of work that happens before that point, much of which goes unrewarded! Unless a recruiter is successful in fulfilling the clients requirements, they don’t get paid so all their costs for advertising the role, meeting with candidates, their time interviewing, testing and helping you to prepare for your interview all go unrewarded if you are not successful. This is yet another reason why it pays to build trust with your recruiter. A good recruiter should always have yours and the clients’ best interest at heart. Our role is best rewarded when we work for mutual goals and have long term benefits at the heart of what we do.

Written by Lou Adler Created on Wednesday, 01 August 2012 Here are some basic truths about people regarding hiring and getting hired: 1. There are very few people who have an economic need to look for another job, are willing to take a lateral transfer, and are high achievers. Yet most companies spend most of their time and resources looking for these kinds of people. 2. The military has a tough screening process for selecting officers. But once selected – and with no experience – they are given some serious training and responsibilities far in excess of their current ability and are asked to deliver extraordinary results. Most of them succeed. Yet these same people when they leave the military aren’t given a fair chance because they don’t have the “right” experience. 3. There has been more research done on why people perform at peak levels, why they underperform, and why they leave jobs, but much of this is ignored when it comes to assessing competency and fit. Very little has to do with their level of experience. More of it has to do with their determination, discipline, motivation, and success doing somewhat related work in somewhat similar environments. Contact us if you’d like to apply this concept in your hiring process. 4. Candidates who are too eager turn people off, and those that aren’t eager enough turn people off. Companies that are too eager when they find a hot prospect either turn them off, or pay too much to hire them. Asking insightful questions is a better way to demonstrate interest, whatever side of the desk you’re on. It’s best to demonstrate eagerness by asking insightful and challenging questions. 5. Cultural fit is critically important – but few companies actually define it, and even fewer know how to measure it. For proof, ask the next 10 people you meet at your company to define its culture and how they would determine it during an interview. This is a good way to determine if your company’s culture is real or imaginary. If you’re a candidate ask every interviewer the same question. 6. Most managers would hire a top achiever who is a little light on skills and experience and modify the job accordingly, but their hiring systems prevent them from ever seeing these people. 7. In the first 5-10 years of a person’s career, people who get promoted more rapidly or assigned to the toughest projects tend to have less experience than those who don’t. Yet when we hire someone from the outside we want more experience. 8. First impressions and interview presentation skills do not predict on-the-job performance – even for sales positions – but most people think they do. Worse, we are all subconsciously affected by this whether we like it or not. With these basic truths in mind, here’s my quick list of corrective actions for recruiters, hiring managers, candidates, and everyone else on the interviewing team: 1. If you don’t know what it takes to be successful on the job in your company, don’t interview any candidates until you do. How else are you going to determine competency, motivation, and fit? Here’s an article that will show you how to figure this out. 2. If you’re a candidate being interviewed, and the person interviewing you doesn’t know the job, ask this question: “What does the person taking this job need to accomplish in the first 6-12 months in order to be considered successful?” Then ask: “Why is this important and what resources are available to pull this off?” If the person interviewing you is the hiring manager, and doesn’t know the answer, or stumbles about, I would be concerned about taking the job if offered. To gain a sense of how concerned you should be, ask everyone else on the interviewing team the same question, and if each person gives you a different answer, be very concerned. If the recruiter doesn’t know the answer, don’t trust the recruiter to give you other honest information. It will be equally superficial. 3. If you’re a recruiter don’t present an opportunity to anyone unless the hiring manager tells you what it takes to be successful on the job. If you do, you’ll waste your time screening people on the wrong criteria. 4. If you’re a passive candidate talk to every recruiter who calls and see if they understand the real job, its importance to the company strategy, and how well the company is doing overall. Make sure you ask about the real culture, and get examples for proof. Make sure you ask these questions before you ask about the money or the location. If you filter jobs out too soon because of the money, you’ll never get a chance to hear about true career opportunities. Most jobs can be scaled up or down to meet the needs of a top achiever, but you’ll never get the chance if you measure opportunity by the wrong criteria. 5. From a career growth standpoint it’s better to be underpaid than overpaid. Compensation increases always follow performance, not lead it. So if and whenever you get the chance when changing jobs, don’t fight for a big short-term compensation bump. Instead ask for a six month review based on your ability to hit challenging performance objectives. 6. If you instantly like a candidate, force yourself to ask the person tougher questions. If you don’t like the candidate right away, force yourself to assume the person is extremely qualified, treat the person as you would a consultant, be respectful, and listen carefully to everything said. If you do this for just 30 minutes you’ll be shocked. For one thing, you’ll discover many of those you thought were initially tops are more personality than performance. Even better: there will be a few who initially turned you off who are great. These are the people that everyone else overlooked. From what I’ve seen over the past 30+ years, most hiring problems can be attributed to the

This week I joined a BNI networking group in Sheffield. They are such a great team and I am grateful to be accepted into their fold. As I stood and talked with my new associates many of them told me they had invited recruiters to their meetings before, many of which came as visitors, few who officially joined and committed to the 6.45am start every Thursday and even less who saw it past 6 months. I asked why and was told that many recruiters had offered the feedback that they, “weren’t getting anything out of it”. This started a discussion about networking being far more of a farming process than a hunting expedition. It got me thinking about the quick win mentality that prevails, not only in my industry but across the board. I can’t help thinking that if many working within the banking sector were less about the quick wins (bonuses) and more about sustainability, a lot of the issues we and the rest of the world are dealing with could have been avoided or at least the consequences would have been less far reaching. Applied to recruitment, this applies to both candidates and clients. Could I submit a well prepared, but poorly matched candidate to interview? Yes. Would that mean that a client might offer an otherwise unsuitable candidate? Possibly. Would I gain financially? Yes. But, once that client has wasted time employing my unsuitable candidates and negatively impacted their team, will they call me with their next vacancy? No. Once, I’ve wasted the candidates time and negatively impacted their career, will the candidate recommend me to friends and colleagues? No. It really is a ‘no brainer’. If we all started valuing sustainable partnerships over quick wins sooner rather than later not only would my industry change, but yours too. However…I’m not holding out any hope for the Banking Sector just yet!