Screening candidates you speak to on the phone is often the first and sometimes only way you have at your disposal to establish their potential suitability for your clients’ vacant roles.

The questions you ask in these initial conversations need to be able to bring out the information you need, allow you to establish rapport, and also explore the things you already know about the candidate from their CV. They also need to allow you to get this insight quickly; so nobody’s time is wasted; especially yours!

Some CV’s can be vague at best and many great candidates don’t ‘job’ hunt regularly so their LinkedIn profile tends to be sparse; with little about how great they actually are coming through.

Time to do some metaphorical digging through asking a couple of questions you might not have used before.

So here they are; two great interview questions you can use when screening candidates for that next dream placement for them and for you.

“What sparked your interest in this vacancy?”

Asking the candidate why they were interested in the role is an effective way of finding out what their priorities are. This is really important as it will give you a great understand of their motivations.

For example if what they really want is a more senior role or better pay, or if their main priority is something else like location, size of recruitment agency, or a chance to work in a new sector. It may also prompt them to tell you about their circumstances – are they simply applying for anything they are qualified for because they are between jobs, are they cherry picking things to apply for because they are considering a move; or worse case are they jumping before they are asked to leave ?!

“Which of your skills do you think this company will be most interested in or impressed by?”

This question is a different way of asking them about their skills, because it will give you some insight into how well their idea of this vacancy matches what you know (and therefore how much you need to go into explaining the client’s culture to them), as well as which of their skills and achievements they are most proud of.

The creative and open style of this question also prompts the candidate to sell these skills to you, and it gives you a good feel for how they might fare at representing their skills to the potential employer. It is also sufficiently conversational that you can use what they tell you to open up new areas of discussion, or express interest and develop some initial rapport.

If a candidate is really serious about a role they will have done their research and understand what their potential employer might be looking for. Asking a question like this helps them demonstrate that ability to you.

Till next time,

Cheryl

If you are a recruitment consultant and you aren’t harnessing the full power of social media, you are missing out. At GSR2R we are a rec 2 rec company that appreciate how important it is to develop skills in every area especially when it comes to social networking for business.

Social media is now such a huge part of most recruitment professionals’ lives that it gives you one of the easiest and best routes to engaging with them, and it can also help you with research on your market, on your roles, on your candidates, and even on what people are saying about you and your recruitment agency!

Top recruitment consultants use social media to help then connect with; the best people, stay informed, and market themselves. You can use every social network going including; facebook and Twitter. The number one social media platform has to be LinkedIn. Want to know what to focus on?

1. Creating a strong LinkedIn network

LinkedIn is about the most perfect social network there is for the recruitment world. While on other social networks like Facebook and Twitter, anything you post is competing with all of the reader’s other interests for attention; LinkedIn is all about work and professional development.

People don’t connect with their mothers and add their holiday photos and pictures of their cat on LinkedIn. They connect with other professionals in their field, relevant service providers, people they know on a professional basis, and, in a lot of cases, recruitment consultants.

LinkedIn is also designed to make it really easy for professionals with mutual acquaintances to get an introduction to each other, and for people to endorse other people’s skills.

2. Finding candidates on LinkedIn

This means that when you add someone you have perhaps helped find a new job to your LinkedIn network, you can look at all of the people they know, see what kind of skills they have and who has recommended them, and then ask your contact to introduce you to them. Because your LinkedIn network shows you people who are connected to everyone you know, it expands really quickly.

If you find 100 people you know on there, chances are you will have an extended network of thousands or even millions of people you can search and get introductions to, giving you a whole new way to find candidates.

2. Promoting yourself on LinkedIn

LinkedIn also gives you a great chance to promote yourself as a recruiter, in a way that will carry over throughout your career, rather than just in the role you are in now.

You can join professional groups and answer user questions about your area of recruitment to help to establish yourself as a true expert in your field. You can also get endorsements from colleagues, clients and people you have helped find new jobs in the past.

You can list all of your professional qualifications and have them verified, and you can post your full career history, effectively giving you a live, interactive CV complete with references! You can even link your LinkedIn account to Twitter and tweet your endorsements and other work news to your followers for an even wider impact.

Till next time,

Cheryl

Recruitment, in all kinds of sectors, is a highly competitive market where it is possible to have a really rewarding and financially secure career – if you can mark yourself out as a top biller.

Whether you are just starting out in recruitment, are looking to move on to a better and brighter position, or you just want to improve your professional skills, there are some key areas where even the best recruitment consultants can gain an edge by taking their capabilities from good to exceptional!

Here are three skills to focus on if you want to get the best recruitment consultant jobs:

Develop Advanced Interview Skills

As a recruitment consultant you spend a lot of time trying to sort out the best candidates from a pile of CVs or linkedIn profiles. This means a lot of telephone interviews. Because you have these kinds of conversations multiple times a day, it can sometimes be easy for bad habits to slip in when you interview a potential candidate.

As a recruiter, you will already have interview skills at an advanced level, but if you consider how you can really refine your questions and approach you will not only boost your productivity, you will be able to find out more about your candidates and building a better rapport with those you go on to represent to your clients.

Top tip learn some advanced influencing skills. Head over to amazon and search on the top selling influencing and questioning books. Then buy them and start learning and practicing.

Networking Skills

Networking will help you in every area of what you do as a serious recruitment consultant who wants to build an exceptional desk. Great networking will help you win new clients and potential can make you the first person good candidates think to approach for help when they start looking for a new role.

Networking isn’t just about how well you present yourself at work related events or client meetings, but about how you develop relationships that can help you professionally in every social situation.

This means you should think about how you can engage with people and foster good relationships with them at all times, and use online social networks proficiently too. There is a famous saying that your Network equals your Networth-think about that.

You might even meet a rec 2 rec recruiter who can help you get your next role!

Research and Analysis Skills

How thoroughly do you research potential candidates, clients and jobs before you get involved with trying to recruit or work with them? Do you keep up to date with all of the latest news in the industry you’re recruiting into? Do you follow what your competitors are doing?

Knowing how to find and use information is about more than just doing some light Googling about a company or reading a job spec or CV. You’ll have more useful conversations that will allow you to do better work if you know as much as you can about the people and companies you are working with.

Become really adept at finding out about people, roles and organizations using things like; LinkedIn and Twitter. Follow your clients, industry experts and even competitors on Twitter.

If you regularly recruit for technical roles, find a good online resource where you can quickly look up the geeky jargon terms so many people love to use.

These are all skills you can work on by yourself in your everyday work, but you can also find resources and even structured training to help you. If you want help getting that great recruitment Job then using a rec to rec company will accelerate the process. Here are GSR2R we can probably help! Just give us a call.

Till next time,

Cheryl

If you are currently looking for your next big career opportunity in recruitment; whatever your sector-then you might be thinking about how your skills and experience make you marketable as a candidate. The thing is with so many consultants competing for the most appealing jobs, how can you profile yourself as a truly great proposition? Working in the rec to rec field as long as we have we can certainly guide you in the right direction.

Beyond a good billing record and the right skills and knowledge, recruitment managers are looking for people with competencies and behaviors that put their heads well and truly above the  bar. Here are some of the traits and attributes that can make you a great potential hire:

1.Immersing yourself in the industry

Do you live and breathe recruitment (at least during business hours)? Recruitment managers love candidates who are conversant in all of the latest industry news. Do you know who all of the other key players in your sector are? Have you seen the latest research and statistics relating to that important area of your business?

Being an avid reader of industry websites and news, and being plugged into recruitment’s leading thinkers on social networks shows that you are genuinely enthusiastic about the world you work in and how to arm yourself with all the freshest information. There are free webinars on recruitment every week; sign up for them, learn new ‘stuff’ that works and use it.

2. Create opportunities for the business

Anyone who thinks about the vision and direction of the business and uses their own ideas and connections to proactively draw opportunities towards their employer adds value well beyond simply doing well at the role they are hired for.

Beyond creating opportunities with clients and candidates, you can really impress if you are somebody who is motivated to help the business in new and interesting ways.

Is there a software tool you have used in the past that you could help bring in here? Do you know of some good training that might help your new team? Are you connected with people who can help get your company better publicity?

Demonstrate how you can, and will use your knowledge and network beyond the requirements for your role. Make suggestions, and offer ways to help.

3. Mentoring and coaching skills – regardless of your level

Employees who can lead by example as well as bringing a positive, motivational attitude to their peer group boost any team; no matter what level they are at within the business.

Beyond this, being able to help cultivate skills in other team members and giving them the encouragement to develop is not something that is reserved for supervisory roles – good coaching and mentoring skills are something recruitment managers and directors look for in all potential employees.

Essentially, these three behaviours all come about as a result of a person being highly motivated, and enthusiastic about what they do. Being proactive is a word that is thrown around a lot in business.

The proactive recruiters are always the ones that get the best placements, smash their billings and as a rule of thumb get promoted faster.

As a rec 2 rec agency with an outstanding reputation we want to place amazing candidates with our clients. Over the years we have found that consultants who demonstrate these skills on a consistent and regular basis are the ones we can place easily and who get the jobs of their dreams.

If you want to know more about our list of current vacancies in many different sectors give us a call or email hello@gsr2r.com

Till next time,

Cheryl

According to statistics, employers everywhere are using more complex convoluted processes than ever to identify the people they want to hire. I am sure as a recruitment consultant you know this anyway. As a help we have listed down a few examples of the process that many companies go through.

This is useful information for recruiters who need to manage the frustrations of the candidates they are placing who may get disheartened at the long process that can be involved in getting that new role. By having this knowledge at your fingertips it is then easier to explain to candidates the whys and wherefores of how the recruitment process works in 2013 and beyond.

In the UK, the number of interview stages a candidate has to go through has risen substantially over the past few years, with research by Ranstad showing that where a junior role would have had an average 1.6 stage interview process just five years ago, the average is now 2.4. Candidates looking for senior roles would now have to make it through 3.4 interviews, compared with 2.4 half a decade ago.

Across the Atlantic, stories of US companies routinely putting candidates through eight or nine interviews is becoming the norm. As a result the average time it takes to complete the interview process in America stands at 23 days; often longer.

For the candidate, it can be a frustrating to have to attend several interviews, and can be hard to organize for them especially if they are still working at their current job while trying to get a new one. If they don’t get the job, it can feel like a lot of wasted hours and travel. As a recruiter you need to be aware how the candidate perceives this process.

Generally as recruitment consultants we might not have totally thick skin! And yet we understand the ups and downs and importantly know how to handle it. Often the candidates we work with don’t.

As far as everybody involved is concerned, these long interview processes are not ideal. They take up a huge amount of the hiring company’s time and financial and man power resources.

Of course, the reasons why they exist are because companies care about getting the best and most well matched people on board. The process often becomes long when the hiring company researches and assesses individual candidates at various stages along the interview process.

The challenge for many companies is finding a balance between making well informed hiring decisions all stakeholders are comfortable with, and avoiding expensive and frustrating processes.

There is no ideal “one size fits all” interview process, because different roles and different company cultures all demand different things. Some roles can be hired effectively with interviews only being carried out by senior management, whereas more technical roles can often require a peer interview and/or test to ensure that the sector  technical skills required are at the right standard to plug into the team.

Some companies like all hires above a certain level to be approved following an interview with each of the directors, whereas others don’t find this necessary or appropriate.

As a professional recruitment consultant how you help your candidates through this process in important for your credibility. The first step is to find out the exact process your clients use within their organisation.

I know that can change and yet make sure you have it to hand, especially if you are a new recruiter in your current company and have never worked with this client at all.

Of course ask the other consultants on your team, though don’t rely on this. As a tip contact the client and get the full brief and process. This puts you in a strong position with them and also helps you prepare the candidate for what is coming. Do this on a consistent basis and you will soon stand out to both candidates and clients.

Till next time,

Cheryl

The market is growing and there are more vacancies available and placements to make. Great news for everyone. The current buoyant situation means that your clients are recruiting and great candidates are now feeling secure and more willing to consider opportunities you put in front of them.

In theory then candidates ‘should’ be easier to place? Perhaps; the truth is ‘the times they are a changing!’ As we move out of recession the companies we serve as recruiters have also changed and there criteria for new employees has had a shift.

Want to know the current buzz word? Expertise. Broad I know and that is a key criteria that many organizations crave. The last few years has not exactly resulted in a ‘brain drain’ though what has happened is organizations have been stretched. As a result ‘expert knowledge’ in important business functions has been lost.

Here is an example for you. In the engineering and manufacturing sector the UK is suffering a major skills shortage. So much so that the government is funding various initiatives to help stimulate more school leavers to take up engineering as a career or to sign up to the various apprentice schemes that are popping up across the UK.

Let me ask you then; what is happening in your recruitment sector? I suspect whenever you find an awesome candidate with all the key skills and knowledge you are one happy recruitment consultant-evidence that expertise wins the day.  Provided they ‘sell’ themselves at the interview? They do don’t they? Are you absolutely sure?

In today’s recruitment world many consultants don’t interview face to face anymore. A telephone conversation or two, some research online, a quick look on LinkedIn is all that many people in our industry do. If you fall into this camp and you are still making a couple of placements a month, it’s obviously working and you have found candidates that can sell themselves.

If not then you might need to rethink your process; because the candidate has all the credentials yet somehow your client doesn’t get that. You could say well, “that isn’t my issue”.

Stop it is. Let’s step back and look at a definition. We all like to be called recruitment consultants don’t we? Our trusty friend Wikipedia gives us the recognized definition of the word consultant: ‘is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area.’ Now advice is a broad word; take it as meaning help, support and a bit of coaching and training when necessary.

It is a common fact that many of the candidates we place don’t tell us everything that they have been involved with in a work context. At the end of the day they are human after all and they will not have the same insight that you do about what is important to your client and their hiring manager.

This is where your own expertise is vital. Make sure you have taken a full brief from the client in the first place. Ask plenty of questions so you get a real handle about what the ideal candidate will look and sound like. You then have information that will help you tease out from your candidates the skills and expertise they must get across.

Taking the initiative on these two simple steps could make all the difference to your placements moving forward.

Till next time,

Cherly

OK I admit it I am a huge Richard Branson fan. I know I have mentioned him before-mind you he is a multi-millionaire and pretty successful, so worth listening to don’t you think?

Back to Richard. I am an avid reader of blogs, tips, and advice on recruitment and generally how to be a worthwhile human being. Last week I was browsing on line and discovered some ideas on using social media from the man himself. Well, maybe his team!? Anyway they made sense and it made me wonder how this can translate in the context of social media for recruitment consultants.

As a well-known recruitment to recruitment agency based in London we talk to a lot of savvy recruiters who are always looking for new and different ways to stand out when they go for new roles. Bringing knowledge and skills on social media might just be one of them. With that aim in mind here aresome ideas on how to use social media translated for recruiters.

1. Tell stories

We all love stories, it is wired into us from birth. Going back over twenty thousand years stories are how we communicated with each other in our bijous caves. Paintings dating back thousands of years were discovered and point to how we communicated with each other. All well and good though why do they work?

Researchers in Spain discovered that when we are being told stories various parts of our brain are activated that never light up when we are watching a boring power point presentation. So start sharing and telling stories on social media and watch the magic start to happen. Send a link to a post on your website; with today’s technology that is pretty easy to do. Every recruiter has hundreds of stories to share.

2. Don’t use social media as just another job board       

Before you shout; “rubbish” hear me out. Social media and particularly social networks are great ways to ‘engage’ with potential clients and candidates. There is a saying when it comes to doing business with anyone in today’s new economy, people need to get to know you first, then they like you then trust happens and only then are they  more likely to ‘buy you’ or your recruitment company.

By just posting jobs this won’t happen. Nobody likes to feel pressured all the time. Recruiters that just post jobs and nothing else are surrounded by a terrible smell; it’s called desperation and the best clients and candidates can sense it a mile off.Yes post jobs, just make sure you post other content as well.

3. Choose your channel-LinkedIn, facebook, Twitter

For many of us LinkedIn is our main social networking marketing channel. It makes sense to stake your claim there. Twitter is on the rise now as a serious business tool. Refer to number 2 here please! The minute I connect with you don’t say;” please like my facebook page or check out our job board”.

I am an open recruiter who is used to getting pitched and that approach turns me off totally. Many clients and candidates will be switched off by that approach, so think about how you start the communication piece on Twitter. What about facebook? It depends on your market. I know of quite a few recruitment companies that are rocking it on facebook. Why? Because that is where their market it is.

Next steps then. Think before you post and have a plan; it really is worth your time.

Till next time,

Cheryl

The latest data on current economic growth is positive for recruitment professionals like you and I in the UK; here is an interesting fact for you to share in your local pub quiz. Did you know that the UK is second only to Japan when it comes to the number of recruitment companies? I know that surprised me too. Here is something else that is significant. Pre the downturn in 2008 the recruitment sector was the second fastest business growth area in the UK; this had been maintained over an outstanding 15 years.

So what is the current state of the nation when it comes to recruitment in the United Kingdom? Well the economy is improving and along with it the growth in our particular business sector.

Some interesting statistics from the Institute of Recruiters states that,the recruitment industry annual growth in the current financial year is expected to double the 3.6 per cent growth enjoyed during 2011 and 2012.All good it seems for our industry? Maybe and maybe not. The challenge is any industry needs to grow. For that to happen potential employees need to be encouraged that choosing recruitment is a worthwhile career not just a job.

As a rec to rec company we are having conversations with recruitment consultants everyday who do ‘get’ that recruitment can give you a rewarding career. Yet some of the recruiters we speak to don’t appreciate the career path they can take and the huge opportunity they potentially have laid out in front of them. It is not uncommon with; some guidance and support, to start as a trainee consultant and rise through the ranks to director level within a matter of a few short years.

Just last week I was talking to a consultant who had just hit £600k in billings for the first time ever. Recruitment was proving to be a great career move for her. The even better news was that this particular individual wanted to know what she needed to put in place to develop even further.

If you are in it for the long haul and that would be my recommendation, then you need a plan and a career path. As you grow and develop you are likely to outgrow your current company unless you are lucky enough to join a larger organisation from day one; who can give you ongoing development and importantly opportunities to be stretched in different parts of the business.

The good news is our industry is taking this seriously so much so that the IOR –Institute of Recruiters are mapping out a career path for ambitious recruiters and HR professionals.

This ranges from external courses and qualifications through to encouraging recruitment consultants to invest in their own development by experiencing different roles within a recruitment company.

What next? First of all decide what you want. Hint, aim high because anything is possible. Let’s face it recruitment is a commercial environment where consultants are rewarded on performance and skills; both of which are easy to develop with some application and a positive attitude.

Till next time,

Cheryl

As recruitment consultants with many years of experience we appreciate the value of a great job spec. As a rec to rec agency we always aim to get a full and detailed job description. Now in the ‘real’ world that many consultants work in that is not always the case. Job descriptions can be loose at best with minimal detail on specifics or the culture and team work fit that is increasingly important in today’s working environment.

Let’s map out the ideal scenario. You have managed to start working with a new client- potentially a great partner where your mutual relationship can grow from strength to strength.

First steps would be to find out the process they currently have in place. What has happened in the past? What relationship have they had with recruitment consultants? Have they ever been asked for a detailed and comprehensive brief before? Be prepared that the level of detail you are about to ask for might be different to what they are used to.

Next step is to look at the role in depth and what you need to find out:

a)      Is it a role that is already in place in the organisation or is it brand new? If so do you have the old and new job description (hint this can give you a useful insight into the organisation and what they now need.)

b)      Main tasks and KPI’s of the role-in detail plus any other additional expectations that are not glaringly obvious

c)       What are the company vision, values and mission statement

d)      Who is their ideal candidate

e)      On a scale of 1-10 what are the key attributes a candidate must have

f)       What does the recruitment process entail

g)      What are the time lines

h)      Is there training and development in place

i)        What about an induction process

j)        Precise timings across the process

k)      Who gives feedback and when does this happen

l)        What is the hiring deadline

m)    Has this role been agreed with all stake holders- sometimes people change their mind so make sure it has sign off

n)      What is a typical career path in this organisation

o)      Ask for examples of what that might look and sound like when a client is talking about particular skills

p)      Who are their ‘star’ employees-any chance you can talk to them

This is not an exhaustive list. You might even have some of your own questions that you have found vital. One consultant we know even checks out the website to find out what the look and feel of a company is. Social media is a useful tool. Looking at how an organisation engages with clients and the media will give you valuable insight into how they are likely to treat their employee’s.

Once you have compiled this list you will have a lot of information. Information that can help you match the dream client with the desirable candidate.

Till next time,

Cheryl

Let’s face it all of us wonder, at some time or another whether making the change to a new recruitment role might be something to consider. As a rec 2 rec company many recruiters ring us for a chat and to pick our brains about; the current options available, timings and hot positions that recruitment companies might have in the pipeline.

The good news is that as we race towards the end of 2013 the UK is leading the way in Europe when it comes to advertising spend on jobs, which for recruiters is a good thing. The overall increase in job spend is 4 %,( this is an indicator of job availability) which is significant considering what has been happening over the past few years.

More job vacancies indicates a buoyant recruitment market and therefore more possibilities to place candidates.

No one wants to leave a recruitment company; no matter how fed up they are if a great opportunity in a growing sector isn’t available. We have established that the recruitment market is growing again; it is a common theme in recruitment that; we are the first in and the first out of a recession!

So thinking along that line what are the growing sectors in the UK that you might want to consider moving your recruitment career too? It is pretty easy to find out what they might be just hit Google and you will find your answer.

From our own experience the top three areas where you can see considerable growth are; Engineering, Energy and Oil and Gas and surprise surprise; information technology- including of course all things digital. Pretty predictable or maybe not? A lesson to always be aware of what is happening in the global economy.

Remember though if you move into major growth sectors like this you too need to be a recruitment consultant willing to learn and develop and grow with the developments that happen within that sector. Consider that just a few short years ago, six to be exact, the iPhone wasn’t available and here is an unbelievable fact for you; the most recent launch of the iphone5 made over 9 million sales in one day. So be prepared.

Engineering on first glance might not appear the sexiest of niches yet in the UK the trend is up. As an example the auto industry is a key growth sub niche with; BMW, land rover and Nissan all reporting increased job opportunities.

Finally there is energy oil and gas. With the UK and global demand to look at alternative energy sources someone has to come up with new and different ways to provide our energy; enter a few thousand bright engineers sourced by some equally bright recruiters and we should be OK!

You may laugh at that and I read a report last week where Lloyds banking group found that oil and gas firms had the opportunity to create over 30,000 new jobs over the next 24 months. No company no matter how efficient they are could deliver that without some external recruitment help.

Till next time,

Cheryl