3/5/2014 0 Comments Mind the gap....Recent intensive sessions with some of my career coaching clients have made me increasingly aware of just how out of sync candidates and recruiters can be when it comes to understanding what a CV is for, what it needs to do and just how fundamentally critical it's influence on the whole recruitment process can be. I have spoken before about the way that I work with candidates; getting them to think about themselves as a product / brand, about how to market that product / brand and then to understand that their CV is basically a marketing flier for that product / brand and an interview is in effect a product / brand pitch...so with all of that in mind and with my latest insight into the candidates perspective complimenting my 15+ years of wearing the recruiters hat; I want to explore the very real gap between what candidates offer recruiters in their CV (there must be a better word than that, it means 'the story or journey of m y life in Latin...really?!) and what recruiters really need the CV to say and do. So let's get Key Debate Number 1 out of the way immediately...the Personal Statement / Profile Statement or Introduction (I'm not married to any of those names for it really) must be in the first person, no questions, no arguments. Why? Well for me the first thing on your CV sets the tone just like the 'hand shake moment' when you are networking. So why use archaic language when you are talking about yourself and when you want to make a positive impression? When someone says "I" in their Personal Statement then the recruiter is engaged from the start, a relationships is being formed and there is somehow more validity and humanity in the words because you are owning them and not allocating them to this mysterious third person. One of my favourite personal brand words is Congruence and I am often taken aback by the absence of it; when for example I sit down with a graduate who is friendly, approachable, informal and warm and then read their CV commence with a third person description of themselves that would not be out of place in a Dickens Preface! Authentic and Appropriate (two more of my favourite personal brand words) dictate that one should be the "right sort of me" for each different circumstance and environment. Well in a CV one chance to impress type situations then surely the 'right sort of me' is the one that is natural, warm and which can create a connection with the reader? I for one am far more engaged when someone tells me in their CV...."I love the challenge of working to demanding deadlines and I get a real buzz from hitting personal and team goals" rather than "Charlotte has a passion for personal achievement and she thrives under pressure" no-brainer surely? So in short whatever the candidate calls the first bit on page one of their CV they need to understand that all a recruiter wants to gain from reading it is a sense of their personality, what is important to them, what they want in the future and whether they seem to fit the brand that the vacancy is with....they want a sense of what the candidate is all about and to give that most clearly first person and proper engaging vocabulary does it for me every time. I always try to impress upon my coaching clients after we have covered the 'intro' that they have now shaken the hand of the recruiter and said hello and that it is now time to now tell them what you can do and show them how well you can do it! Many CV's slip into the easier go to of Education & Qualifications, which I do concede in some roles is crucial but in the majority of the jobs people apply for it is the list of competencies / skills and knowledge that dictates success and usually dominates the job specification against which the recruiter is checking each CV. So if you are a candidate play to what the recruiter wants; they you to mention as many of the key competencies that they have on their list as possible and not just in a talking the talk way but very much in a walking the walk way. So it's all about listing the desired competencies, illustrating that you can do and/or have done and some tangible evidence to back it up; qualifications, training, results and promotions. Sell them you and what you can do in mutually understood language that of competencies and real life tangible outcomes of you doing those things. Finally it's the career history, education and training bit. From a recruiters point of view they are looking very much for succinct, perhaps bulleted content that tells them in concise short-hand what the candidate has done so far, who for, how successfully and for how long. CV's that go into the minutia of every role down to what the candidate did on Tuesday's and the name of every one of their managers just overwhelm and probably tired and under pressure recruiter. Again I am back to the gap between a candidate telling recruiter everything (or what you think they need to know, which is often everything) or making it easy for them to gather the information that they need to know. I am a great advocate for the schools employability workshop we run called 'You are the Recruiter' which is a part of our Employability offering to Secondary, Further and Higher Education; Why? well probably because I wrote it and it helps put bread on the table but mainly because I am convinced that being put in the shoes of a recruiter just for a few hours at the right age, where choosing between CV's under time pressure is the end game, is invaluable in helping to educate tomorrows candidates on what a recruiter looks for and needs. That knowledge is powerful. The CV game is not always about pure candidate talent in terms of qualifications, job ability and achievements sometimes (and increasingly often in my experience) candidate talent in terms of communicating with the recruiter in the right way, with the right structure, focus, vocabulary and personal brand clues is crucial. Obviously the candidate needs the right stuff to 'show off' but the fact is that many others increasingly have the same stuff; as qualification standards rise, work placements / intern-ship numbers grow and part-time work for students is more common. Back to brand of you, flier and pitch; candidates that don't 'get' this will increasingly find that the gap between them and the candidates that do growing. That's is why what I do is so rewarding; a CV rewrite coupled with coaching to help a clients to see themselves as a brand so often changes their 'luck' in the job market. Paul Goring 2014
0 Comments
I guess I need to start with a list of things that events get really badly wrong to start to illustrate my answer: That all pervading smell of cheap coffee (you know they say that the smell of freshly made ground coffee its one of the best ways to sell a house? Well one of the best ways to ruin any event is that cheap coffee smell that seems to get into the very pores of the people who have been there all day!) Stale pastries (if you say breakfast mean it please - I don't want yesterdays paying customers left-over's, really!) The local 'cartel' of welcoming /unwelcoming networkers in prominent positions trying to suss out if you will be competition for them (I really hate this - I think that networking can be one of the key celebrations of local business communities but when people are cold shouldered or not engaged with as they might be competition for one of the organisers or long term group members the whole thing falls very sourly short of anything valid) Badges that you cannot read from a distance (avoids the need to waste time talking to people who you will never do business with and that awkward staring at people's chest close up thing..) People trying to sell stuff to you before they even know your name (robot salesman who have been taught their pitch word for word and sent to the event to get some 'hot leads', crass and uninteresting and always slightly awkward for everyone involved isn't it?) Forced 'elevator' pitches (people project their brand, personality and ability to connect in different ways. I know there needs to be a way for people to get started but please find a better way as this is usually excruciating) Organisers with agenda's that are eventually obvious and nothing to do with how they got you to attend ( I equate this to that horrible realisation that you have been conned into a time-share presentation / sales promotion event thinking you were attending a tapas evening. Authenticity is a must for engagement and for people to not feel you have wasted their time. This sort of thing is never forgotten.) Events that don't know if they are for business or social purposes (this is one of my pet issues with networking events; is the event an excuse for a loose social gathering with a bit of business thrown in or is it a genuine opportunity to promote your business, services and self?) So you will have gathered that I have issues with how networking events are conceived and delivered. I am really not knocking those that try to get something started and have the right intentions but to get this kind of thing right is really quite skilled; a cup of coffee, a suitably sized room and a few dozen people does not a networking event make. I love the events where there is both a purpose for attending and an opportunity to network in a natural, relaxed and professional way. I enjoy meeting people that have lots of interesting, diverse and exciting things to say about themselves and their business and I listen to people who have the ability to project and connect and who know when to move on. Networking can be a joy (if that is the right word) when it does not feel forced or hard work. Some of my best clients and biggest projects have been acquired / earned or initiated through simple one to one conversation in a great environment that has been thoughtfully and intelligently created. That's all - not difficult.... Paul Goring 2014 With social media taking an increasingly important role in finding the right career move and in being found by employers the influence of recommendations and endorsements is becoming hugely significant. I have always tried to be honest, immediate and generous with my comments about people that I have worked with, networked with, met informally and rated. Obviously it is easier if you have worked with someone for a period of time to write something very competency based and referenced into actual roles the person involved has performed. But in my experience quality and potential both shout loud when you know what to look for. I am sure that the old adage of people buying from people applies here and that trusted, experienced and well known people in your chosen field are gold dust as recommendations. Why? Well two main reasons, first they know quality when they see it because they have experience of what it looks like, sounds like and starts out being like and second and perhaps even more importantly they will not associate their brand with an individual who will disappoint, fail to achieve or not live up to expectations. So you are perhaps either starting out on your career or looking to gain an upward move or sector change; how do you reinforce what you have in terms of qualifications, attributes, competencies and skills in terms of underpinning recommendations / references from the right people? Themes I have talked about in past blogs about likeYou never know who the right person to network with is and Always being on duty for your brand are particularly relevant here. Always being at your best in networking, job or socially related situations gives those key people that you bump into along the way every reason to see the best in you and want to tell others about it. Being interesting and interested and memorable for the right reasons will all give you a fighting chance of leaving positive impressions however short the encounter. Linked In is perhaps a prime example of where this is most relevant in terms of social media. The programme prompts your connections to either endorse you for a skill or experience as well as giving them an opportunity to recommend you. Recruiters (internal and external) increasingly use Linked In as a source of reassurance on candidates through the medium of these two sources of information to influence how they view you. Not on Linked In? Well you need to sort that out pretty sharpish! The fact that you have a presence on the platform and most importantly keep the profile up to date and full of information says to potentially interested parties that you are serious about your career and that you know what it takes to get spotted. The absence of a profile when someone searches for you may even be the end of the search. With a growing number of connections comes increased chance of positive endorsements and recommendations and allows people like me to say good things about you. You also have the option of asking for recommendations.. I know that perhaps culturally this might feel a bit awkward. Asking someone to tell the world how brilliant you are feels wrong in some way..but if the rest of the world is doing it and gets results from it then you don't really have a choice in a competitive labour market do you? Obviously just as you might not connect with a complete stranger you should only ask those who you know will recall you, know enough to say good things and whose opinion carries weight. That's why when you network you should always make a note of people that you have chatted to and connected with - you never know when you can leverage against that relationship. People who are in positions of responsibility, power, authority however you chose to describe them; are often incredibly generous with their recommendations. That is why when you leave education, employment or even a training event you should focus on who you should ask if they would mind offering a recommendation for you. Building relationships towards the gift of a recommendation is a skill of course and you need to have performed at a level that you would want others to know about but this stuff is important as it offers a rich back drop of reassuring opinion about you from people that the people making decisions about you will read, listen to and allow to inform their decision. Marketing the brand of you is a multi layered task and the layer of recommendations is a key part in making sure that anyone you want to /need to impress can find opinion from others that under pins how fantastic you are! Copyright Paul Goring 2014 11/20/2013 0 Comments Lucid stories for interviewsSo what are 'lucid stories' in the context of being awesome at being interesting, confident and answering the questions you need to nail during an interview? The brilliant Angela Tompkins from the University of Gloucestershire first introduced the concept of lucid stories in a wider context to me and I have run with it and adapted it a little in my career coaching and employability in education work; lucid stories put quite simply are a pre-prepared collection of examples, anecdotes or recollections of times when you have been brilliant at something that the interviewer will want to know that you can be brilliant at. How does that work then? Well for me the easiest way to prepare for an interview in terms of providing yourself with a loose 'script' of things to say is to look closely at the Job Description / Job Specification that describes the role that you have been chosen to be interviewed for. Within the document, regardless of how the business structures it or describes the elements within it, there will be a list of things that they want you to be able to do to be considered for the job. Of course in your application, CV, covering letter, telephone interview you have already suggested that you can do them. Equally obviously you know that they will want more proof than your say so to give the job. So lucid stories is just the result of you creating two axis; one you call Great examples of me being brilliant at work and the other called What they need me to be able to do; I expect that you will probably find a more succinct way of labelling them . Next you add to the axis What they need me to be able to do some sub headings that are those things; project management, budget management, running meetings, customer service, managing a team, achieving goals under pressure etc. Now on the Great examples of me being brilliant at work axis you add sub-headings to describe the projects, events, job titles or situations that are your list of times you have been brilliant. All you now need to do is to sit down and for each Great example.... you need to think about which of the things they need you to do in the new job you did then, it can be more than one, and tick the boxes. So for example you ran a project to help integrate a new payments system into your company in 2012 and during that project you demonstrated project management, running meetings, budget management and delivering under pressure. So you put tick against those things on the What they need me to do axis and then you know that if the interviewer asks you a question something like 'Tell me about a time when you delivered a result under pressure' that you have your answer already sorted AND (and this is the good bit) you can also tell them about your project management, running meetings and budget management skills as well. So you have answered a key question with a great example and added a few other key competencies into your answer! Impressive. Anything that 'helps' the interviewer to find evidence of the things that they need to find to make you appoint-able is in your favour; very much so. Being lucid is about offering a flowing, considered, detailed and relevant example when asked under pressure for it. Many interviews fail simply because the interviewee tries to think on their feet, produces poor examples (or none at all) and simply does not do themselves justice because they do have the right answers, great examples and impressive experience but fail to translate that into their interview performance. I guess I am talking about preparing a script to allow you to perform under pressure without having to worry about what you are going to say. Most interviewers now follow a competency based interview structure and gone are the days (mostly) when you might be thrown a question like 'If you were an animal which animal would you be?' instead competency based questions that start 'Can you tell me about a time when' or 'Do you have an example of you...' are more likely and indeed more easily prepared for using this method. Lucid stories mean lucid answers to important questions and if you are comfortable with what is coming out of your mouth then in turn your physicality will reflect that with positive body language and more confident use of your eyes and smile and more animation through your hands and more expression in your voice - these all lead to greater connection with the interviewer and that coupled with great answers significantly improves your chances of success. So go start practising your lucid stories! Part of what we say when we are working with our clients in either career coaching or employability workshops is about being comfortable in celebrating your successes and being confident in sharing the good stuff; so we are following our own great advice here and offering you an insight into a selection of feedback from a group of students who we worked with in a Discussion Group Exercise Workshop last Friday! What did you expect from the day? 'Something long and mind numbing - just talking' 'I wasn't expecting group work and presentations' 'A very long lecture' 'Group discussions and feedback' What surprised you? 'How approachable the mentors were' 'It wasn't as daunting as I thought..' 'The detail to which we were assessed' 'I really liked it, engaging people/staff' What did you learn about yourself? 'That I can have a voice when I need to!' 'I am able to do things if I man up!' 'Keep confidence and eye contact - helps immensely' 'I felt more confident being away from people who already know me' How important do you think this experience will be in your ability to secure your first graduate role? 'I won't be as nervous now' '...very, I now know what to expect' '..it will be essential because it has given me an idea of what recruiters will be looking for' '..I feel I now have an advantage over other candidates' 'Invaluable, it will help me to stand out from the crowd' What was missing – is there anything we could add (please bear in mind the time and financial constraints we have to work within) 'An example of what a good team player is like' 'Just more of these fun learning events!' '..groups should present to everyone so we can see how others did?' 'More time for the presentations' 'Nothing it was really good!' What did you find the most challenging part of the exercise? 'Having to voice my opinions' 'Confidence' 'Time Management' 'The beginning part, getting over the nerves' 'The presentation at the end' 'Coping with people who are more overbearing' If you were selling the idea of attending our day to another student what would you say? 'There is nothing at stake so don't be afraid to get involved' 'It's not what you think it will be...go...the day is great!' 'Definitely do it!' 'Invaluable experience that is well worth the money' 'Training for the real world' 'A real way to boost your employability' If you were explaining the value of what we do to another university what would you say? 'It will help to make your students more successful' 'Improves employability prospects' 'It is a brilliant event' '..adds value to the person' 'Give your students that chance!' 'Makes students feel that the university is going the extra mile to help them get a job' 'Confidence for your students, amazing feedback' How can we improve the overall experience? 'More information on the company in the scenario' 'One to one presentations' 'Hard to improve to be honest, great task and honest feedback' 'Nothing needs to improve' Using perhaps just 10 words how would you sum up what you experienced? 'Informative, enjoyable, confidence boosting; gives you a better understanding of what is needed' 'A worthwhile learning experience' 'Awesome and informative' 'Really great to understand what stage you are at' 'Interesting worthwhile life experience' 'Invaluable experience finding out about myself to land that job!' 'Intense situation that helped me learn..' '...gave me confidence and hope that I will get a placement' Was our feedback fair and detailed enough? 'Yes very detailed and helpful' 'I liked the balance of group and individual feedback' 'I took the points on board as I found them beneficial for me' 'It was positive even about a negative thing' 'Yes very much so, honest both good and bad, which is what is needed!' '..it was very informative' Please rate your overall experience (1 = no good / 10 = excellent): 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.8 9 10 Thanks for sharing our celebration of a success! 10/22/2013 0 Comments Why I love GraduateAssessment Centres: especially the Group Discussion Exercise....I love graduate recruitment. I find meeting, assessing and selecting bright new talent really inspiring. I very much like the generally uncomplicated way that the candidates represent themselves, the fact that their CV comes to life when you meet them (or sometimes proves to have been misleading!) and I am energised by their sheer enthusiasm and gusto for the day, the job and their future career. Of course being BPS / ETUC qualified I find the personality profile and/or psychometric element fascinating and hugely valuable when compared to their actual performance on the day. I also really enjoy the one to one interview and the authentic experience one gets of that particular candidate under pressure for an hour. I also find the lunch break fascinating; who knew that we would find out more about Candidate A during the lunch break (as they dined with the other 10 candidates and 4 HR people) than in the rest of the day added together?! Did they really think that lunch was not part of the day? And of course I find the ice-breaker a real source of interest as the candidates in their best interview suit and smiling nervously all begin to interact with us and each other; gradually feeling their way into the day... But my favourite, my very favourite of all of the usual challenges that we ask these brave and hopefully able candidates to face is the Group Discussion Exercise. This is of course the exercise when we all sit back, out of the groups eye-line, as silent observers and encourage them to interact with each other as if they were in a work situation usually following a meeting agenda or solving a business problem (or sometimes both). Why do I love it so much you may ask; well it is the unique dynamic that the candidates face without completely understanding what rules they are playing to and crucially without being given any guide-lines by us about what success looks like in the session so that we can see what success looks like to them. For me this is when the candidates personal brand, emotional intelligence, business acumen and humanity all must come to the fore in a way that little else we can ask them to do on the day can demand. The carefully edited CV, the intelligently practised interview answers about skills, knowledge and competencies and carefully managed personal brand projection all come under the microscope of when I guess they get to 'walk the talk'. Because this hour is the bit of the day when as purely an observer I can see how that candidate interacts with their peers; I can gauge their ability to influence, inspire, lead, organise, solve problems, support others and understand what needs to be done. It is this hour for me that tells me most about what I need to know about each of them and them as a group. We would perhaps apply the following general criteria as a basis for judging performances: · Organisation · Contribution · Team Skills · Commercial awareness · Impact Those as five component parts of a performance assessment inform the ultimate recruitment decision so much - in fact they offer a huge amount that can be projected forwards into the candidates career potential and personality: · Organisation - can they get the job done, can they organise themselves and others under time and quality pressures and get the right balance between the two? · Contribution - do they make their voice heard when they need to, do they think and then speak or just try to win on volume of words? Do they pick their moments and not dominate needlessly? · Team Skills - are they balanced between being generous by letting others contribute and keeping the group focused? Do they recognise expertise in others and use it or do they seek to lead by grabbing the pen and dominating others? · Commercial awareness - do they actually make sense? Are practical issues like resources, costs and staffing all considered? Do they have work placement experience that clearly informs their thinking? Do they understand business needs? · Impact - do they inspire and carry the group with them? Do they sell their ideas and do they do so with energy and passion? Will clients and colleagues find them memorable for the right reasons? The best understand what they need to do (sometimes on an instinctive level rather than in an overly conscious / present way) and the worst have nothing to say or have no real understanding of what is needed but the really interesting group are those in the middle. Those who are battling their nerves, struggling to get to grips with the lack of clear rules and their desire not to create conflict with strangers. For me seeing them emerge from a malaise of confusion into the dominate role once they understand that there are no rules and you only get one shot at it; is inspiring as it is often and hugely significant life moment for them. I love it! There are a few role clichés that I have identified and classified over the years that you might recognise... The Pen Grabber: This person wants to show that they are a natural leader. The first thing they do when the exercise starts is grab the marker pen and stand at the front next to the white board / flip-chart looking as 'leader-like' as they know how, writing down what everyone else says but failing to facilitate, guide or lead at all. The Wise One: Says too little probably because they are a natural introvert/analyst but when they do speak they certainly make a lot of sense often stopping others in their tracks with the clarity and wisdom of their words! Keeping Talking...It Will Be Alright: Has been told to make sure they get involved but have misunderstood that to mean talk all the time with little substance and without involving others why say 10 words when 50 will do! Often think they have done well after the exercise finishes and are sadly wrong. Clichés Must Work: This candidate is a cliché for using clichés....probably under confident about how their practical experience matches up to others in the group and so decides to go with the tactic of trying to sound like they know alot by throwing every cliché they have heard 'business people' mention into the mix in the hope that some work. Often challenged by more confident group members on what they mean which is usually curtains for them. Loud is good right? Another classic behaviour type that emerges in group discussions is the candidate who decides that being a leader, being decisive and being inspiring are all basically about being the loudest most confident person in the group. Sadly only rarely does this work and it needs substance in there somewhere to have a chance. I Agree... This type is probably just not into conflict and whose confidence does not stretch to debating with a complete stranger about a concept that is alien to them in a game with no rules. You never see or hear enough from them because they constantly just agree with the majority and step back in to the shadows - can be frustrating to watch. I Am Not Playing Any More.. Sad but true I have observed candidates who sulk because they have failed to get their idea accepted, because they wanted to lead and someone else is or simply because they just don't feel they can win the game and so opt out rather than getting beaten by someone else - a pretty damning reaction that says a lot for how they would handle real life situations.. There are more but those are the ones I see the most often. So yes I love graduate recruitment and find Assessment Centres fascinating but my own particular favourite for all of the above reasons is the Group Discussion Exercise; it's like a an hour long soap opera with all of the twists and turns and subtle plot elements to make them compulsive viewing and also, let's get to the crux of it, a very telling, reliable and authentic litmus test for a candidates ability to walk to the talk. Paul Goring Copyright 2013 After spending a hugely enjoyable and productive afternoon with three graduate trainees last week; it has inspired me to want to talk about the powerful experience that we shared when talking about their personal brands and exploring their communication styles at work. I have in the past blogged alot here and elsewhere about Personal Brand mentioning the work I did with Angie Belcher at The Brand Button on developing the Personal Brand Wheel, which you can see here also; but the immediacy of a training session really brought home to me the ultimate questions that those of us seeking to understand, connect and influence others should be asking...’how does the world experience me’ ? The first stage in the this exploration is of course to ask that question – if you are not bothered enough to ask the question then you will not be receptive to finding out the answer and that is the key to the whole piece. I guess the simplest comparison is that when we talk, act or communicate in any way imagine that we are throwing a pebble (or huge boulder!) into the ‘water’ that is around us; that water could be the team, office, company or industry we work in. Now for some people that ‘pebble’ will cause some slight ripples that they understand and are prepared to work with because it’s you and they know what the authentic you is...however for others even the smallest pebble can create a tidal wave of emotional responses that can cause damage, of either short or long term impact. What understanding how the world experiences you is about is knowing that ripples are caused and then doing something about it if indeed something needs to be done... That kind of metaphor is all very good but what does it mean in real terms? Well let’s look first at Personal Brand. Being you authentically is great – people get you and know what they will get from you. Those who know you that is...what about poeple you are meeting for the first time? People who do not have a track record of experiencing you? That is when the second crucial A-word of personal brand comes in to play – Appropriate....that is all about turning your control dials up or down to make sure that the behaviour / message you are communicating is right for the circumstances. I guess that people who say ‘well that’s just me take it or leave it’ will have stopped reading already or maybe they haven’t, that would be great! So it is what others can expect from you that matters; if you are always in the middle of things at a party but are found alone in a corner others will certainly ask ‘are you ok?’ even if you are fine; you have created a brand that brings with it expectations from the rest of us. The same thing applies when we write a CV, complete an interview or perform in an assessment centre probably more critically than if we have a longer time to express our brand....people build expectations on the clues you give them and then expect you to meet them. OK so those of us that are interested in this will understand that as a brand we bring a package of behaviours and styles that others will learn to understand and expect. But the biggest compliment we can pay someone else is to think, ‘I am not like you and I want you to feel comfortable / understand me / connect with me and so I am going to be flexible to help that to happen’ but how.... This is where the communication styles work of Bolton and Bolton comes to mind. You have your Drivers, Expressives, Amiables and Analysts all with a style, needs and priorities. Understanding who you are communicating with and what they need is crucial to the generous act of flexing your style. DRIVERS: Fast paced decision makers, impatient with those that can’t keep up. They prefer speedy actions based on their opinions and will rectify mistakes later. They are practical, calm and get things done quickly. Seen by others as demanding and always goal/work orientated. May need to listen more and slow down sometimes.... EXPRESSIVES: Fast moving and adventuresome and they like new ideas and creativity. They prefer to create a vision and then persuade others that it is the right one. They are energetic, enthusiastic, entertaining and risk takers. Seen by others as gamblers, impulsive, high speed and persuasive. May need to accept rules, deadlines and real world factors more.... AMIABLES: Considerate and supportive of others; they want time to build rapport and focus on the team. The seek agreement and broker solutions with the group – they want everyone to be happy. They specialise in compassion, loyalty and building trust. Others see them as trustworthy, kind, strong on people skills and not self-promoting. May need to think more about their own needs and deal with conflict better? ANALYTICALS: Cautious and thoughtful; they like to have all of the facts before committing to an action. They seek to minimise risk by being thorough before deciding what to do. Specialists in precision, accuracy and objective thought; can be seen by others as a little detached sometimes, rational and cool but always reliable and accurate. May need to learn when to pick up the pace and trust more. Think about the times when you have been which ever one of these that you usually are; I know its simplistic but bear with me and now think about whether you could have been more flexible and achieved a better result by trying to understand what the other persons' natural style was and what was important to them? I am not preaching at you but just introducing the idea that an authentic and appropriate personal brand is hugely important but so is being a generous and flexible human being and I guess I am saying that if you can combine the two then you have got something special going on! 5/28/2013 0 Comments Employer Branding...I am often staggered by the imbalance between the huge amount of money, man hours and effort that is spent on marketing, branding and selling product compared to the same process for careers in many businesses. Yes the easy answer is that there is a lot of talent to pick from just now but the best talent have a wide scope options for their career path and career partners. Generation Y particularly (and the Gen X talent who share the Gen Y career values of mobility, training, social conscience and career chapters of two years at a time) want to connect with an employer brand that they can relate to, trust and believe in. The brutal truth is that your recruitment web-page, career fair presentation, advert in that grad magazine or flier must quickly create an engagement and must communicate the right messages to your target talent and this is where relying on having famous, elite or successful sales and product brand is not enough. Employer Brand, Employer Value Proposition, Attraction Strategy...they all eventually merge into one simple question; What is it like to work here? And the challenge is whether we as employers can represent that answer honestly, clearly and attractively to those that will be asking it. Short films of your staff telling their stories and enjoying their work embedded into your recruitment web-site will work brilliantly if done well – if done badly they can blow the hole deal – authenticity is key here. Show how it really is, not a saccharin rose tinted version because for one after 3 months your recruited talent will leave and you’ll have to start over! Try augmenting your main brand with something specific to your employer brand – a strap line that compliments the main product / client brand but also retains an identity that can be communicated to the talent you need. The best company web-sites winning the NORA Awards each year have an energy, freshness and a genuine feel about them that succeeds in really engaging with their target talent. Social media means if you get it right then people will know about it very quickly! Then once your chosen talent is in the door you start working even harder to prove that you can walk the talk and deliver on the promises you made in attracting them. Cost per head is important for sure but of all the recruitment metrics for me its the most short sighted; tenure, turnover and exit interview analysis tell you so much more in a period when candidates are very picky about who they associate their brand with, are happy to walk away if you don’t do your part of the bargain and can tell others in the most powerful way ever. It is I guess really important to ensure that anything you do in this space you do with 100% commitment because the whole rounded, detailed, authentic and considered brand that you represent to the candidate world has to work, has to make sense and stand the ultimate test – someone joining you and work for you. Just as with your product brand there is no point saying that you make the best shoes in the world, comfortable, good looking and well made if they fall apart after a few miles of walking! |
Paul GoringAGR MIPR BPS Lvl B+ Archives
November 2018
CategoriesAll Appraisals Career Career Advice Career Coaching Career Decisions Careers Advice Career Support Coaching Communication Confident Interviews CV / Marketing Flier Education Employability Employers Events Grad Careers Internships Interview Performance Interviews. Interview Advice Interview Tips Job Advice Lucid Stories Management Skills Networking One To One Meetings Personal Brand Personal Development Presentations Reflective Learning Returning To Work Staff Development Student Employability Understanding The World Of Work Your Own Career Manager |