Using Recruiters in a Job Search

For many job seekers, searching for a job can be a long and time consuming task. You are constantly studying job advertisements, writing and sending resumes, and networking. It may seem like you have too much to do and very little time to do it. One way to make your search easier is acquiring the services of a job recruiter.

It will help you manage your time, focus on suitable jobs, and improve results. The right recruiter will have a great deal of knowledge about the industry in which you want to work and the employers. They will have industry contacts and know about job openings that may not be posted publicly. Sending your resume to a recruiter is good step to obtaining a job

What does a Job Recruiter do?

Recruiters work for employers or employment departments within a business or corporation. An employer will pay job recruiters a fee to find the best employee for their company. A recruiter does not work for you, but will match your qualifications with the type of employee an employer is seeking.

Types of Recruiters

Retained Recruiters: The recruiter has a contract with a company to fill a specific job opening. Retained recruiters tend to work with high level positions. They will advertise the position and find the most qualified person for the job. Their advertisement will contain all the essential information and requirements for the position. The recruiter will receive a retainer in the form of a fee for their service.

Contingency Recruiter: The contingency recruiter will only receive a fee if they make a job placement. The recruiter does not maintain a relationship with an employer. There may be several contingency firms competing to fill a particular position. Contingency recruiters generally work with mid-level management and professional positions.

The Advantages of Using a Recruiter

No Cost: Most employers pay the recruiter once the employee completes a probationary period. The job seeker does not pay the job recruiter.

Employer Contacts: A quality recruiter will have relationships with a number of companies. The recruiter will have unique insight into what employers value in their employees. The recruiter will have a relationship with placed job seekers so they will learn what is like working for a particular company.

Jobs Not Advertised: Because so many resumes pour in when a job is posted publicly, many employers will go directly to a recruiter to post a job instead of posting it publicly.

Specialty Recruiters: Many recruiters specialize in a certain career area. It is important to ask a recruiter about their specialty before sending your resume.

The following outlines a number tips that may be helpful when searching for a job recruiter:

- Recruiters prefer working with people who have a specific career objective.
- A willingness to relocate will attract more recruiters.
- Talk with people who have experience working with a particular recruiter. You will learn if the recruiter is dedicated to filling job positions.
- Be wary of a recruiter that approaches job seekers. Normally job seekers approach recruiters.
- Make sure you tell themyour salary history. This will let them know the appropriate salary range for your desired job.
- Always be courteous. Always return their calls as soon as possible because it shows them you are very interested in finding a job

Whether the economy is good or bad, finding a job can be difficult. Competition for jobs is steadily increasing. Using a job recruiter will improve your chances of securing your desired job.

Seeking for headhunters or want to become a headhunter Singapore,  visit Recruitplus today.

Executive Search Vs Contingency Recruitment

Executive Search Vs Contingency Recruitment

The lines between Executive retained search assignments and contingency search have blurred in the UK, this article highlights the essential differences between the two business models and analyses the weaknesses and strengths of each.

Executive Search
The client company agrees to work exclusively with a search firm.

The search firm will typically advertise through print and online media - Unlike contingency recruitment the clients identity and branding will be displayed. Print and media advertising in trade publications or broadsheets are billed back to the client.

In addition to a media campaign the search firm will carry out extensive research, analysing the marketplace, gathering feedback and putting together a target list of potential candidates from industry reports, news sources, Linked In, networking et al.

The list is then whittled down, the potential candidates negatively screened - informal referencing, client company input play a big part here. Once the shortlist is compiled and agreed with the client the search firm will make discrete approaches to the candidates.

This phone call is the traditional headhunting call, the part of the process familiar to executives across the world. First contact is often made at the candidates place of work, a polite but direct approach will establish if that individual is open to having a further in depth conversation outside of office hours.

This next conversation represents another cull and candidates are disqualified according to the clients requirements - not senior enough, not technical enough, too expensive etc. Equally many candidates will disqualify themselves if not sufficiently interested. Happy, successful executives while interested enough to take the call will rarely be looking to jump ship. This conversation represents a balancing act and different head hunters have different approaches but the overall aim is to draw as much information from the candidate and establish a match or disqualify where appropriate.

This is very much 1st date territory and no head hunter will want to give full disclosure at this stage - There are many reasons for this but chiefly you're looking to control the process not end up in a yes/no scenario based on an individuals perception of your clients brand. In any industry the top firms and executive talent swims in a very small pool and water cooler gossip and brand reputation of a client organisation or individual need to be carefully managed.

Pre conceived ideas about your clients brand can make for a difficult sell so be sure to make sure that there is a genuinely good match and that your clients proposed role has sufficient weight to attract and hold a candidates attention.

e.g A small up and coming cash rich company may be able to offer excellent prospects, be growing faster than all their competitors but if their brand currently holds all the cache value of a McJob the executives will walk away from that conversation the second you give them the client name

Of course if you're lucky enough to be conducting a search for the top tier, big four, fortune 500 type company the brand will sell itself but bias exists here but in reverse and there will often be a preference for executive talent coming from higher or at least top tier peer ranked organisations. Companies paying for retained search in general do not 'hire down'.'

If there is merit for both parties to meet and discuss things further then a face to face meeting will normally take place outside of work hours - hotel lobbies are a favourite. At this stage the search consultant will disclose the client company and a far more detailed conversation will take place.

Many modern day search firms and even contingency recruiters boast of being able to providing psychometric testing - In reality a basic tool that more often than not boxes people into four personality types through forced choice questions. If you can convince your shortlisted panel of candidates to sit such exams then they're a powerful value add for the end client but genuine top performers will need to be very keen on the role and client company before they jump through such qualification hoops.

Payment of fee: Traditionally paid in thirds. First one-third payment is due at signing of search agreement; next on presentation of shortlist and final payment due thirty days after that.

Fee: usually equal to 30-35% of the hiree's first annual compensation. That includes bonuses, perks (such as cars, club memberships, etc.) and anything else that is considered part of the hiree's first year of compensation.

Rebate, which is the search firms guarantee to the client company generally begins at one year and extends sometimes two years and beyond - depending on hiree level and prior agreements. Simply put the Search company will pay back a percentage of their fee if the candidate leaves or doesn't work out during this timescale.

Contingency search

Contingency search is the industry standard, it's cheaper and quicker although offers non of the guarantees that an executive search does. In some cases the contingency recruiter may be just as able as the 'headhunter' and the real difference is in the business model.

Often candidates are not interviewed in person (almost 100% true for interim/contract type assignments, particularly within IT) and sent to the client blind. The client will then decide to interview or not depending on the individuals CV.

Contingency recruiters do not charge a retainer fee and the client is only invoiced once the candidate starts work.

Non-exclusive which means the client organisation is free to advertise directly speak to other recruiters and in fact often actively do so to encourage competition and ensure value for money.

Many have formal or informal preferred supplier agreements in place with several agencies who work on a contingency basis trading limited exclusivity (2/3 agencies, direct access to roles) for lower profit margins.

The bulk of candidates submitted will come from online advertisements on job boards such as Monster, Jobsite, total Jobs, and the searching of their online CV database. Many client companies now employ in house recruiters who scour these job boards.

Job boards themselves now market aggressively to the end client reasoning that it would be a win win for any hiring company to cut out the recruiter middleman and pointing out that for the large part recruiters are simply forwarding CV's readily available to anyone with access to their database.

A counter argument of course is that Job boards can cost upwards of £2000 for a single months access and can not guarantee results - Clients pay agencies on results, job boards sell the promise of results.

Client rebate is generally up to around two months but vary from company to company.

Costs are calculated as a fee equal to the hiree's first year of annual salary. Rarely are other compensatory benefits included such as bonuses, perks, etc.

Public and Not-for-Profit: 15-20%.
Private Sector 20-25%.

In conclusion there is support for both business models, executive search may represent a more professional approach but it comes down to the individual or the firm and many 'executive search' firms now bill clients almost exclusively on a contingency basis and for far less than the industry average 30 - 35%.

Equally many contingent recruiters have excellent networks and contacts and could carry out the same services as a headhunter for far less cost, in a quicker timescale but would not back their candidates with a two year rebate. It's this provision of insurance that really marks the difference between contingency and executive search.

Looking for headhunters or want to become a headhunter Singapore, visit Recruitplus today. Click Here

Selecting the Right Recruiter for Your Sales Hiring Needs

Due to the acute shortage of experienced, good sales people, more and more companies are looking to hiring such sales people (and sales managers too) through headhunters. Unfortunately, most of the results are quite disappointing.

The purpose of companies engaging headhunters is usually to seek direct and alternative ways to source for good candidates. Alternative in the sense that the candidate will not be reading about the position in recruitment ads. Instead, companies hope that headhunters will have a large pool of ready candidates, and in lieu of that, can actually make the cold-calls and poach the right candidates from other companies.

Unfortunately, many headhunters, including some international ones, tend to be rather passive in the hiring process. If they have a good pool of suitable people, that's great. If not, they simply take out an advertisement and publicise the vacancy, something which the hiring company could have done by themselves anyway.

In many cases, the consultants working for the headhunters tend to be also very junior, and may not have the right exposure to decide what will make a good fit for the hiring company. They may be susceptible to manipulation by some candidates, and in some cases, even willfully recommend the hiring company to meet up with less-than-qualified candidates, just to prove hey are doing their jobs.

As a result, most headhunters don't really add value to the hiring companies. That's no to say that all headhunters are bad. There will be times that headhunters can save time and resources while providing candidates that fit at the same time. It's a question about how you evaluate and choose whom to work with.

Here's a list of questions that you may want to ask yourself, or the prospective headhunter, before you decide hiring them:

• How is the track record of the headhunter? How many sales or sales management positions have they filled in the past year? Can they give you references from their other clients for similar positions?
• Do they understand your business, and the qualities and behaviours needed to succeed for the candidates? Will they know if the candidate will fit into your unique sales culture?
• Do the consultants have real work experience, or are they fresh out of school? Do they have a structured interview process that allows them to identify the good-fits from the rest?
• Do they pro-actively solicit good candidates in your industry? If yes, how well do they perform for such pro-active recruitment?
• Do they guarantee you a time frame for the search?
• Will you be updated regularly on the progress?
• Do they make reference checks? How do they make them? (note: your competitor will be most delighted if you were to hire their worst performing sales person, and hence may give glowing references!)

While engaging headhunters may save some time and resources, there is still a lot of groundwork to be done in the initial process. Headhunters should not be perceived as the "all cure" that solves all your hiring problems in an instant. Instead, the good headhunters will be your partners in identifying and planning for your long-term hiring needs.

Seeking for headhunting or want to become a headhunter in Singapore, visit Recruitplus today

Recruiters at Service, Your Honour!

It's not always the white collar but the black coat rules the roost in the legal industry. Careers in law are blooming day by day. Thanks to the immense contribution of legal recruiters, lawyers are now able to attain their career goals with great success. For most lawyers, legal recruiters have become a part of life. While most of them would not like to entertain telephone calls during the wee hours, lawyers still must not completely overlook their services. Even a brief conversation with a recruiter can help you absorb valuable information on the legal market and your marketability. Besides, it always pays to build successful relations with a recruiter either for the present or the future.

Nevertheless, it is not possible to communicate with every legal recruiter. Lawyers should be able to evaluate a good recruiter and plan out a strategy to work together. This would strengthen the foundation of their relationship and assist the lawyer in stating his exact job requirements.

In order to receive some of the best job offers in the industry, lawyers need to define their career goals first. The areas in which one can guarantee 100% job satisfaction need to be outlined. Flexibility is highly desirable for one's career growth. Even a minor change can potentially increase chances of being recruited in the organization of your dreams. Besides updating one's resume, lawyers must obtain a copy of the final law school transcript.

The career success of a lawyer often depends on the kind of legal recruiter he/she relies upon. Confidentiality is one prerequisite that one cannot overlook. Prior to seeking help, lawyers or employers should demand how recruiters manage to maintain confidentiality of their customers. Your resume should not be submitted anywhere without your permission. One must also be wary of signing any contract with the recruiters. Always remember, good legal recruiters never force but earn trust. They offer adequate assistance not only to review your resume and writing sample but also help you make the right choice out of the whole bunch of lawyer jobs.

A successful relationship with a good recruiter can thus highly increase your chances of finding a satisfying position. Coming across good attorney jobs is not a daily occurrence. So the next time a recruiter calls you up, just take a moment to receive the call. You never know when you strike gold!

Looking for headhunting or want to become a corporate headhunters, visit Recruitplus today. Click Here

Performance Management - Is Your Organization Doing it Right?

When running a business, one of the key things you need to know is how well your employees are carrying out their duties. Unlike the old days when people worked on assembly lines and their work could be measured by the number of units they produced, evaluation in modern organizations is far more complex.

Performance appraisals have been a feature of most organizations for years but these have often just been administrative exercises. The modern business world demands much more and now the focus is on aligning the systems and processes with organizational strategy and goals

You need to assess such factors as overall competence with the task at hand, the extent to which the employee's skills and experience is being effectively applied, the worker's potential to gain new skills and progress, and leadership and communication skills, to mention but a few. This is no easy task.

Nevertheless, any effective operation requires a system to evaluate performance to ensure that goals are consistently being met in an effective and efficient manner, and that all work is aligned with corporate goals and strategies. If you want the corporate success that having a satisfied workforce brings, this is something you have to take seriously.

Thorough and effective performance management brings many benefits to your organization. For one thing, it creates transparency and boosts employee engagement by showing staff how their actions contribute to success.

This allows the development of incentive plans to allow high achievers to earn more. In any organization, you need to make sure that your top performers remain motivated, engaged in their work and are adequately compensated.

What's more, it assists in employee career development. By clearly understanding their current level of performance, staff can determine what they need to do to advance in the organization.

Another benefit is that you can create professional development programs that are better aligned to organizational goals. Programs can be tailored to areas where performance is not optimal to correct any deficiencies.

Performance management is complex and demanding, but fortunately technology has provided a rich array of tools in the form of employee performance management software. Other than producing results that engage and empower employees, this software also works to reduce administrative costs by automating the performance management process.

Using integrated software can deliver a significant return on investment when compared with standard methods. Another plus is that it ensures legal compliance by standardizing performance management processes.

Nowadays, leading firms offer performance management solutions that integrate performance management, compensation management, career development, goal alignment and succession planning into one seamless whole covering the entire employee lifecycle. Taking advantage of this system allows you to fully utilize data and make strategic decisions based on a holistic view of your workforce.

Utilizing one of these solutions offers benefits other than just with existing staff; it can also help with effective candidate sourcing. By assessing those who are the best in their role, recruiters can identify applicants with the same qualities for new positions.

The process, known as creative sourcing allows specialized firms to carry out top performer research and analyze the job market to find ideal candidates. Part of this procedure is also to gain an understanding of organizational culture to determine the best way to approach prospective new staff.

Performance management is a complex task in today's organizations. Real Performance Evaluation requires a way of determining real performance not just procedures. It requires sophisticated qualitative assessment and it also needs to cover the whole employee life cycle from hiring to leaving.

In today's competitive environment you need more than just quality staff; you also need to manage their performance to unlock maximum value. You can use the services of professional firms specializing in performance; these firms can offer modern systems and measurement compensation management tools thus allowing your organization to real achieve valid performance evaluation.

Performance management is not an event or a function; it is a process that works as a continuous cycle with the objective of corporate excellence. To bring effective performance management to your organization, take a look at the web sites of leading firms with long experience and latest methods. You can choose the right program for your operation and bring in the professionals to take charge.

Formulating a performance management tool for your company? Look for Recruitplus today, an award winning HR consultancy in Singapore, visit here.

Recruiters at Service, Your Honour!

It's not always the white collar but the black coat rules the roost in the legal industry. Careers in law are blooming day by day. Thanks to the immense contribution of legal recruiters, lawyers are now able to attain their career goals with great success. For most lawyers, legal recruiters have become a part of life. While most of them would not like to entertain telephone calls during the wee hours, lawyers still must not completely overlook their services. Even a brief conversation with a recruiter can help you absorb valuable information on the legal market and your marketability. Besides, it always pays to build successful relations with a recruiter either for the present or the future.

Nevertheless, it is not possible to communicate with every legal recruiter. Lawyers should be able to evaluate a good recruiter and plan out a strategy to work together. This would strengthen the foundation of their relationship and assist the lawyer in stating his exact job requirements.

In order to receive some of the best job offers in the industry, lawyers need to define their career goals first. The areas in which one can guarantee 100% job satisfaction need to be outlined. Flexibility is highly desirable for one's career growth. Even a minor change can potentially increase chances of being recruited in the organization of your dreams. Besides updating one's resume, lawyers must obtain a copy of the final law school transcript.

The career success of a lawyer often depends on the kind of legal recruiter he/she relies upon. Confidentiality is one prerequisite that one cannot overlook. Prior to seeking help, lawyers or employers should demand how recruiters manage to maintain confidentiality of their customers. Your resume should not be submitted anywhere without your permission. One must also be wary of signing any contract with the recruiters. Always remember, good legal recruiters never force but earn trust. They offer adequate assistance not only to review your resume and writing sample but also help you make the right choice out of the whole bunch of lawyer jobs.

A successful relationship with a good recruiter can thus highly increase your chances of finding a satisfying position. Coming across good attorney jobs is not a daily occurrence. So the next time a recruiter calls you up, just take a moment to receive the call. You never know when you strike gold!

Looking for headhunting or want to become a corporate headhunters, visit Recruitplus today. Click Here

Why You Should Be Using A Recruiter

I'm a recruiter so it probably won't come as a surprise that I'd recommend using a recruiter as part of your job search.

Rather than justify my existence, I think it would be more valuable to you the reader to understand exactly how a good recruiter can add value to your career search.

Truthfully, a good recruiter can help give you an advantage over other people looking for (and interviewing for) the same jobs you are.

1. A good recruiter can help you find jobs that you might otherwise not know about.

You may have heard about the "hidden job market." Sometimes it's so well hidden, you can't actually find it.

A recruiter has two main goals in life: to find jobs to fill and then to find the person to fill it.

So first off, the recruiter needs to find open positions that they can help a company fill. Then they look for suitable candidates like you to actually present to the company for consideration for the job.

In other words, a recruiter is a person who by definition needs to know where the available jobs are and who is hiring. They do this so that you don't have to.

2. A good recruiter should help you prepare for interviews.

I don't just mean that they email you a link to the company website and read directions to the company out to you over the phone, either...

If your recruiter just does that, get a new recruiter!

A good recruiter will shed light on specific information that will help you stand out from others who are interviewing for the same job as you but who applied on their own and won't have access to this information. This can only help you!

A good recruiter will know the hiring manager (or whoever is interviewing you) and will be able to fill you in on some information you wouldn't otherwise know about.

For example, information that I always pass onto my candidates include things like:

• the personality of the interviewer(s). Imagine if you always knew before the interview what sort of people you'd be interviewing with so that you could prepare for each person individually?
• hot buttons that the interviewer/company really wants to see ie. the recruiter tells you what to focus on during the interview so that you don't forget to mention the skills and experience that the interviewer really wants to know about.
• where other candidates who have interviewed for the same job have failed. In other words, a good recruiter will tell you how to avoid making mistakes that other candidates have already made!

3. A good recruiter will help you role-play for an interview.

In other words, they will help you prepare for the interview by mimicking how the interview could actually go. It's easy to surf a company website and think of a few ways to answer possible questions that might arise during the interview.

It's another thing altogether to actually answer questions as if you were already in the interview.

Role-playing where you verbally answer questions as if you are already in the interview is far superior to simply thinking about how you will answer the questions.

An interview - especially when it's for a job you really want - is not the time to freestyle it and think that you can go into an interview and just wing it and still win the job.

4. A good recruiter understands the importance of timing.

Often, finding a new job is (among other things) a case of being in the right place at the right time. Not only does the job become available at a time that suits you, but the company comes along with a position that requires the same experience and skills that you happen to have at a time when you just happen to be considering switching jobs.

How many times have you been happily working away and not thinking about looking for a new job when a position pops up that would interest you if only it had have been presented to you in say 6 months or perhaps 12 months from now?

I've seen that happen quite a bit, where the timing just isn't right to change jobs.

Timing really is everything especially when it comes to changing jobs.

And a good recruiter who knows you well will help you find a job within your timeframe which will save you from having to constantly keep your eyes open looking for the same positions or positions that would suit you that you didn't even know about.

The best part is that you don't pay to use a recruiter, the hiring company does.

My suggestion is to find a small handful (ie. 3-4) good recruiters (you'll quickly see the difference between a good one and a bad one...) that you trust and allow them to help you with your job search.

You should also quickly see the benefits of using recruiters at this time.

Seeking for headhunter or want to become a headhunters Singapore, visit Recruitplus today. Click Here

Recruiters Can Search For Free Resumes

One of the most tedious and challenging task that a recruiter does is search accurate resumes that fit the job requirements. The most desired candidate profile is difficult to search as plethoras of people apply for jobs every day. After the global meltdown many conglomerates have gone bankrupt, and thousands of people have lost their jobs.

Recruiters can search resumes free at many sites as well. Job portals charge for the candidate database available with them. Recruiters should work in a smart manner. They should look for various sites where they can avail a worthy and an active database of potential job seeking candidates. Recruiters should be able to rationalize that all the fee-charging job sites enjoy amazing advertising gimmicks and this attracts plethora of job seekers to apply at the job site for lucrative job opportunities.

When recruiters search resumes free at the job portal they will examine that the resumes are available in the form of directories that would help them to search categorically. For example if the recruiter has a specific skill set to search in information technology there are subheads like software, hardware, programming and so on.

Fresh resumes have the title new so that the recruiter can easily judge between the existing and the fresh resumes of potential job seeking candidates that are looking for jobs. Rather than paying an exorbitant amount to job portals they should concentrate and find the best possible candidate that would fit the bill for the job title searched by the company.

Looking for headhunter or want to become a headhunter in Singapore,  visit Recruitplus today.

Performance Management in Healthcare

According to Fowler (1990), performance management is very crucial and remarks accountability of the organization's mission, aims, and values. Following this the organization's objectives are identified and these need to be intrinsically linked to, and support the firm's mission. These objectives should be cascaded down the organization with strong links to the objectives of the various managers and individual employee. In particular, the healthcare industry mission to provide quality care to all individuals of different age, sex, caste, and demographic variation are deployed with objectives of service quality and customer satisfaction. These values are potentiated by healthcare providers (professional and other employees) managed well by the organization, who satisfy employee personal needs and promote service oriented environment in the organization.

The basic concern for promoting service oriented organization requires enhancing employee performance. The employee's competence, skills, and education contribute high level of performance standards in a knowledge based organization. Therefore performance management has positioned the process of performance appraisal for individual employee. There are two main perspectives of the performance appraisal process; one is evaluative, and the other is developmental (Anderson, 1992; Harris, 1995). An evaluative appraisal process procure judgment of individual employee performance evolved after examining employee's behavioral, social, and technical aspects of the job, and compared with previously established objectives or fore mentioned operational items on the job description. This type of appraisal links to the allocation of extrinsic rewards, such as pay. A developmental appraisal emphasis need to identify potentials of an employee, develop his knowledge and skill, and initiate career uplifts, which together lead to management success.

A number of different performance appraisal techniques or methods available, such as written report, critical incidents, graphic rating scales, forced choice appraisal, field review techniques, 360 degree feedback, and others. These methods elaborate and linked with the behavioral traits of the employees, and depend upon the subjective judging scales of human resource managers.

1. Written report: - The appraiser writes a narrative about the strengths, weakness, previous performance and potential of the employee and remarks suggestion for improvement.

2. Critical incident: - Under this method, the appraiser highlights incidents or key events that occur during the performance of the job, and rates appraiser's behavior as exceptionally good or bad relevant to the given situation. The characteristics of employees are grouped by categories, such as co-operation, timeliness, and attitude.

3. Graphic rating scales:- The performance is evaluated based on job related characteristics ( such as skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback) and knowledge of job ( quality of work,technical knowledge).The scores are tabulated through the set of factors rating them, for example, on scale 1 to 5 where the highest number would denote the best rating.

4. Forced choice appraisal: - This type of technique consists of a list of paired 9or larger groups of) statements that may both be positive or negative, or one could be positive and the other negative. An example of a pair of statements might be "always on time" and "never on time". By incorporating several question that test different levels or degrees of the same behaviors, evaluators are able to generate an accurate representation of the individuals learning ability, interpersonal competence, etc.

5. Field review techniques: - under this method, the managers ask question to the human resource specialist or the coworkers about an employee's performance, his work progress, his strengths and weakness, promotion potentials, etc. He then evaluates the report and approves for rating.

6. 360 degree feedback: -Depending upon the employee's job, feedback on the employee's performance may be solicited from patients, family, physicians, vendors, community organization's as well as co-workers. The disclosure /feedback model of awareness known as the Johari window, named after Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham represents four panes: open, hidden, blind, and unknown.

Know to self Unknown to self

Open Blind

Hidden Unknown

Known to others

Unknown to others

To access potential within us, the open pane could be expanded, hidden pane can be reduced by self-disclosure, and feedback received from others mitigate blind pane. Feedback provides an opportunity to disclose personal beliefs, values and attitudes, and to know about how others see us. 360 degree feedback perceives developmental perspective to review progress towards goals, identify training need, and reach mutual agreement on job expectations.

For healthcare professionals, General Medical Council (2003) regards appraisal as "a process to provide feedback on disease performance, chart their continuing professional development, and identify their developmental needs", and revalidation as a doctor retaining his/her license to practice.

To improve practice, appraisal needs to be seen as part of the whole professional development, and includes critical self-reflection, development and support for the individual doctor. The CMO Sir Liam Donaldson (2006), recommend in his report, those relevant to NHS (National Health Service, UK) that Re-licensure (relates to the renewal of full registration and therefore a generic license to practice) and re-certification (relates to renewal of a doctor's specialist certification) is required and remain the responsibility of the individual doctor. Effective revalidation needs to be based on a valid and reliable assessment of a doctor's everyday practice to judge the safety of their practice and about the extent to which quality is embedded in their everyday work. Indications for good medical practice (www.gmc-uk.org) envisage seven areas, such as good clinical care, maintaining good medical practice, working with colleagues, relations with patients, teaching and training, probity, and health. The report seems to hope that appraisal will be the main mechanism, but also proposes a review of many methods that are used in other countries, including credentialing; use of stimulators; regional, national, and international audits; and primary care detection schemes.

Healthcare organizations are knowledge-based and service oriented, that make necessary to provide accurate and timely information for evaluating problems and achieve better performance. The process of performance management based on the evidence of performance and practice are functioned through clinical audit, clinical assessment, and clinical surveillance formulated and governed by medical regulatory bodies.

1. Clinical Audit: - Clinical audit is the process of setting explicit standards, measuring areas of medical practice against these standards and implementing any change necessary to improve patient care. Recent development in clinical audit have been the encouragement of multidisciplinary project work and projects which follow the path of the patient across the primary and secondary care interface.

2. Clinical Assessment: - A clinical assessment sometimes refers to as a health assessment, is a documented process that is used to evaluate, diagnose, and treat individuals. These assessments provide results that only take into account the individual that is being evaluated, rather than evaluating individuals based on data that is compiled from multiple sources. It helps to determine the nature, cause, and potential effects of a patient's injury, illness, or health. Some clinical assessments are mandated by federal agencies to ensure safe medical practices, or to disburse related health benefit payments.

3. Clinical Surveillance: - A clinical surveillance (or syndrome survey)refers to the surveillance (systematic collection, analysis, and Interpretation) of health data about a clinical syndrome that has a significant impact on public health which is then used to drive decisions about health policy and health education.

Formulating a performance management process for your business? Approach Recruitplus today, an award winning HR consultancy in Singapore, visit website.

The Top 4 Challenges HR Professionals Are Facing in Emerging Markets

Much has been written about the rise of emerging markets and what they can offer in terms of talent pool. But not one emerging market is the same and one HR strategy may not fill all markets. In a changing environment, the HR strategies used to manage people in one country are sometimes ineffective in another and what worked in a country might not in another.

That is the reality many companies are currently facing in emerging markets because of a lack of preparation, anticipation and adequate talent strategies.

Generally speaking, there is no right or wrong HR management strategy. However, as an HR professional, you should be mindful of cultural differences and varying HR issues arising in the targeted country before trying to implement anything. Needless to say that developing an inadequate talent strategy in a BRICs country can be one of a most expensive mistakes for a company? Not only in terms of money, but also in terms of real and potential talent losses.

In order to avoid such error, you need to know what are the hottest HR issues, topics and trends in emerging markets that could be an obstacle to your company's development? To help you in this task, below is a list of 4 critical HR challenges arising from some BRICs countries? Memorize them? You will gain time and efficiency?

HR challenge #1: Attracting and retaining talented workers

BRAZIL - One of Brazil's biggest problems is a shortage of qualified labor. Companies operating in Brazil are demanding more skilled workers than the labor market currently offers? The shortage is especially pronounced for companies in need of technicians, engineers and English speaking managers. It is also becoming increasingly difficult to retain talented workers with 5-10 years experience because they tend to switch companies in order to advance their careers and get higher pay.

RUSSIA - Russia has a considerable intellectual capital composed of engineers, scientists and many other well-qualified people. Nevertheless, many companies reported that it is more and more difficult to find great people as the quality of staff as well as the level of education are continually decreasing. In fact, job candidates from Russia are well educated but often by universities that fail to give them practical skills? Besides, an increasing number of talented Russians have left the country to go to Israel and the USA. As a result, only 20% of Russian professionals are currently considered employable by companies.

INDIA - In spite of the huge talent pool available in India, companies have trouble recruiting qualified workers because the quality of talent is not as good as it could be. By looking closer at the workforce available, it is estimated that only 25% of Indian professionals possess the skills required by companies. Regarding to the skilled candidates, they are highly attractive, mobile and willing to switch industries in order to play different roles and increase their salary. As a consequence, HR teams waste a lot of money as well as time because of this flow of people entering and exiting companies? What is more, foreign companies operating in India have to compete not only with Indian companies but also with companies from Korea, Japan and Hong Kong who are poaching the best Indian talent. As the population of these three countries is becoming old very fast, many of companies from there are turning their attention to Indian workforce.

CHINA - Despite China's population of more than 1.3 billion, companies are struggling to find and retain employees. Even though, million of university graduates enter China's job market each year, only a small number of them are capable of working in a multinational environment. Reasons include lack of strong English language skills and none previous work experience. Moreover, only one-quarter of these graduated candidates live in a city or region where companies are located. As labor mobility is restricted by the government, few young talents are currently living in urban areas? Foreign companies operating in China face an additional problem that explains talent shortage: more and more graduates and senior executives are willing to work for national Chinese companies rather than foreign companies.

SOUTH AFRICA - It is estimated than 10% of companies operating in South Africa have had difficulties filling job positions in 2011. In comparison to other BRICs countries, this number is low. However, there is a real shortage of talented people particularly engineers, legal workers, technicians, teachers and finance & accounting workers. The main reason is that the South African people who do have or acquire these skills tend to migrate to other countries who will offer them better job opportunities. This brain-drain has a high impact on companies' businesses and needs to be addressed now if the country does not want to face a bigger talent gap in the future.

HR challenge #2: Developing effective leaders

CHINA - Developing leaders is a tough task in any market, but in China HR teams have the difficulty to adapt their talent management strategies to the country's unique business culture and values. Besides, Chinese potential candidates for leadership positions often lack international experience, innovation and an ability to assimilate into a Western company culture.

Due to their cultural background, they are not accustomed to taking risks and managing change. As a result, about one-quarter of Chinese leaders are weak in the skills most critical for success in their roles and more than one-half are inadequately prepared for their roles? There is another issue to take into consideration: working for a Chinese company seems to become the preferred career choice for Chinese executives as well as expatriates steeped in the market.

SOUTH AFRICA - It's extremely difficult to fill senior and executive management positions with top quality leader. Many of the current leaders working in leading companies are close to retirement and there is a lack of suitable 40/50-year-old candidates with a strong managerial background to replace them. To overcome this critical situation, numerous companies promote young talent to positions of leadership and offer fast-tracking careers to keep the best of them. As these new young leaders do not have enough work experience and are not prepared to handle such responsibilities, the majority of them fails or underperforms. It is vital for the success of companies operating in South Africa to invest in leadership programs in order to develop a real talented generation of leaders.

HR challenge #3: Dealing with difficult Employment laws

BRAZIL - Brazilian labor code makes it hard to use expatriates in order to fill the shortage gap. The Ministery of Labor seeks to protect as much as possible the domestic labor market by limiting the hiring of foreign workers. As a result, trying to get work permits for foreign employees is a very difficult task for any HR team. When it is possible, the maximum duration granted for a temporary work permit is 1 to 2 years but the reality is that many foreign workers can only stay 90 days within the country? With regard to national Brazilian workers, the labor code is very pro-employee and provides extensive protection to the employee at the expense of the employer. Recently, President Dilma Rousseff approved a law ordering companies to pay overtime rates for after-hours work calls or emails. This regulation reflects an existing trend in Brazil's courts: employees suing their bosses over out-of-office work.

RUSSIA - Russian labor code is extremely employee friendly and it is almost impossible to terminate an employee. However, it allows any employee - regardless of seniority or nationality - quit a job after only 2 weeks' notice and go to work for a competitor immediately. Moreover, Russian labor laws apply to all nationalities, meaning foreign employees (including expatriates) have the same rights than Russian employees. This is a standard practice in some EU countries required by EU labour law.

HR challenge #4: Managing the career expectations of Gen Y

INDIA - The Gen Y is writing the new code in Indian workforce. Mature enough to play crucial roles in companies, they can, however, be a nightmare for HR teams as they are more inclined to leave companies than any previous generation. Apart from the attraction and retention of Indian Gen Y, the biggest challenges today are communicating with them and offering them a rapid career evolution. In fact, the typical Gen Y Indian worker wants success to come to him/her fast and money faster.

As most of India's high-potential workers (around 64%) and middle managers (around 55%) are Gen Y, the future of India - as well as companies operating there - rests on its ability to engage this generation.

CHINA - Chinese Gen Y makes up about 50% of the current China's workforce. Raised to succeed, they are more educated, talented and ambitious than the previous generations. As a result, their demands, values and behaviour at work are different from those of their parents. For example, their expectations for rapid advancement and career mobility are high and they place great emphasis on salary. If your company cannot offer them an exciting career path, they will move to another company in order to have a better career opportunity and increase their remuneration as well. Being promoted is the greatest motivational factor in their career. Unfortunately, it is not always possible. So it is imperative that HR teams find new ways to motivate them.

Of course, as a global HR professional, you will never be asked to resolve ALL these issues alone! However, your company deeply relies on your HR team to anticipate any people risks that can affect its development? By having a clear vision of the issues facing by other HR teams in emerging markets, you will not only improve your global HR knowledge but also be aware of the HR differences and similarities between these different countries in terms of HR challenges. As a result, you will be able to suggest better ideas and solutions to your HR team. Developing a global mindset will also help you become an integral part of the leadership team searching ways to reduce people risks in emerging markets.

Remember what Ulrich says "Modern HR must take on many roles to demonstrate competence and effectiveness". And I am quite sure that - like any HR professional - your goal is to be better at what you do and demonstrate people that you can be a strategic business partner.

Having staff attrition situations? Talk to our talent retention & HR advisory consultancy in Singapore. Click here. A marketing strategies effort for smes by Scotts Digital.

What Do Recruiters Look For In You?

There is not one magic key that can open all the doors to a job search. As job profiles keep changing, so do the job requirements. This does not mean that fundamental qualities such as integrity, self-motivation and trade skills have lost place in the list. Still, the present-day job scene requires a bank manager to possess lot more prior knowledge and qualities than it took some 10-15 years ago.

Your enthusiasm and upbeat personalities are paramount. This is the first core quality that recruiters will take notice of when interviewing you. Think about it from their point of view - job vacancies are announced only when the going gets tough and work pressure mounts up continuously. No one else other than the self-motivated and candidates that are always upbeat in mood make it to the shortlist.

There is another vital quality that recruiters are anxiously looking for in a candidate. Jonathan Holman, a top recruiter and an HR expert says, candidates must have the know- how to make money for the enterprise; all other skills are irrelevant if this one is lacking. Obviously he is referring to candidates for CEO postings. This is as good as it can get. If you really look at it, all other jobs contribute to the enterprise in one way or the other. So it is the ability to contribute, in real terms, to the overall growth of the company which matters.

Holman ranks both personal and business integrity next only to the ability to contribute. Regardless of what position you are seeking, there are professional matters of high importance and proprietary in nature, which you will come across in the normal course of your employment. Opinions about you are collected and analyzed by recruiters. It is important for everyone, especially management candidates. Recruiters are very clear about this; they can not put their reputation at stake by recommending someone who they can not trust, despite proven analytical abilities and business skills.

The next important thing recruiters look for is character and a strong sense of ethics. Strong character coupled with professionalism determines your interpersonal skills. Your past experiences and references of your former superiors are critical aspects which typically impress recruiters. Even recent graduates wanting to score on this count could think of apprenticeships in some very large corporations such as PepsiCo, General Electric Company, Rubbermaid, and P & G, among others. Recruiters call these organizations Academy Companies.

It is especially important to be presently employed - this adds a lot of weight to your candidacy. It is true that you can explain your reasons for being unemployed, so if this is true for you, then have your answer well-prepared beforehand, because recruiters will be interested in probing soon as they see that you are out of job.

The ability to adapt to a new situation, responsiveness, flexibility are some innate qualities that make anyone an indispensable employee whom every recruiter wants to hire. A senior HR consultant, Paige Lloyd, summarizes things as "We're looking for students who take the initiative to do things that are above and beyond what is required for graduation," she says. "That speaks to us of their ability to work on different tasks."

On-campus activities, networking abilities and participation in student or professional organizations can not be neglected. The next time around, you will know in advance what to expect in an interview. Good Luck!

Searching for headhunter or want to become a Singapore headhunter,  visit Recruitplus today.

Performance Management - Getting The Most Out of Your Employees

Managing for Best Performance

In it's simplest form, performance management is a common sense set of discussions that make sure people are clear about what they need to do, have the support to do it and get open and honest feedback on their performance.

Any performance management process should answer 4 important questions for your employees:

· Direction: What do I need to do and how well?

· Feedback: How am I doing?

· Rewards: What happens when I do well?

· Support/Development: What happens when I need/want help?

Lets look more closely at each of these:

Direction

Employees are not mind readers. Just because it is clear to the manager exactly what is expected, doesn't mean the employee has the same understanding. Having a detailed discussion about exactly what the job requires and any specific priorities is the first step in good performance management. Key points to cover include:

- what needs to be achieved throughout the year

- what data or information (evidence) will be used to measure performance

- the key actions needed to achieve the desired outcomes

Both parties should have a written record of this discussion either in the form of a job description or a set of specific objectives for the next 6 or 12 months. Written documentation leaves little room for misunderstandings or confusion between manager and employee about the expectations of the job.

Feedback

Observing the performance of your employees and providing feedback about it should be a routine part of the performance management process. Feedback is most effective in making a difference in work performance when the employee has confidence in the basis of that feedback. And you as the manager will be more confident if your feedback is based on information that you can support.

For this reason the most useful feedback should be based on observed and/or verifiable work-related behaviors, actions, statements, and results. If you can provide specific examples of good and "not so good" performance, your employees will be confident that you have taken time to notice what they are doing and sincerely support them in improving. This kind of effective feedback helps the employee sustain good performance, to develop new skills and to improve performance when necessary. Feedback should be given as it is required - it loses effectiveness if not delivered at the time an event occurs.

Reward/Recognition

All employees need to have a clear understanding of how the reward and recognition system operates in your business. Most probably everyone gets paid a salary for doing their job to a certain level. What happens when an employee performs significantly above that level? How will they be rewarded, if at all? If there is no incentive for employees to be outstanding, then the likelihood is that they won't put in the extra effort. A well designed scheme will clearly identify the rewards and incentives available for strong or outstanding performance.

Support and Development

This aspect of managing performance focuses on current and future skills, behaviours and knowledge. Firstly, the discussion should focus on what training or other support the employee needs to be the best in their current job - identifying skills and behaviours that need to be improved. If you can support the employee in doing their job better, they will have reassurance that their contribution is valued by the business. The discussion should also focus on where the employee would like to go in the future and how you can help them achieve their longer term career goals. If they are being considered for other roles in the business then you will need to identify what new skills and behaviours they need and help them to develop those.

If you are managing people, then people management activities need to take up the majority of your time. Each business can only be as effective as the people that work in it. One of the best ways to ensure your employees are being effective is to monitor and provide feedback on their performance. Setting goals, making sure your expectations are clear, and having regular discussions will help people perform to their best. The payoff for the business is increased employee productivity, knowledge, loyalty and contribution.

Creating a performance management system for your business? Look for Recruitplus today, an award winning hr advisory, click here.

What is Executive Outplacement

In a world which is economically recovering but still in shock, the size and scale of the number of redundancies is still yet to be fully felt. This is particularly true of the Executive sector, where the number of Executive Outplacement services provided is still rising.

This will continue for a while, with different countries taking different long or short term priority economic views. While in the priority in the United States and parts of Europe is sustaining short term growth via the need to borrow, in the UK where growth is seen as long term is the priority will lead to some dramatic government spending cuts to avoid boom and bust.

Therefore, the question for the Executive faced with release or redundancy, is whether they need executive outplacement, and if so what?

Executive Outplacement services
Outplacement services address the needs of soon to be or former employees of a company, and aim to help them transition from one piece of their life/employment to a new stage, both personally and career wise. In theory, outplacement goes beyond just a careers service, but encompasses the whole person and gives you a hand on which to lean for guidance.

Outplacement services were originally developed in the 1960s, around providing an alternate office and facilities from which the ex-employee could undertake a job search. Today most outplacement services don't concentrate on the physical process of getting a job, but facilitate you doing that through offering: clarity (of what next); support (in getting through the adjustment of leaving to job search); and settlement (in your new life).

Executive Outplacement firms
Many blue and white collar outplacement services for cost reasons are hence generally always volume process driven and systems supported. However, most Executive outplacement services are personalised around you, with virtual-dedicated access to certain resources. Dedicated access to a senior consultant seems to be the most used phrase in the Executive outplacement field!

Operators in the present £4Bn field of outplacement services always have a dedicated Executive outplacement service, and include: Right Coutts, RMS and Penna. While the average cost of outplacement for non-executives costs £2500/$4000, Executive outplacement can cost between double and treble this to your former employer.

Senior Executive Outplacement
My own experience of senior executive outplacement was interesting, and like many who went through such outplacement services in both the post-2000 dot.com bust, and the more recent 2008 global financial meltdown, not a happy or fulfilling one.

Firstly, having chosen to exit my former corporate employer, I was introduced to an executive outplacement service provider before I left corporate employment. Our first meeting was in their offices, and I was given a guided tour which included being shown how to operate the coffee machine, and where the dedicated job seekers desks were placed. I was also given a four meeting programme, and then a menu of optional but paid for by my employer services, from which I could choose three options before having to pay for additional modules myself.

At our second meeting I was told that this was the second of our eight sessions. This surprised me, but is quite typical of all outplacement. While as a senior executive I got eight sessions with the outplacement service, junior members of staff got either four or six sessions. As all I learnt at the first was that my consultant was a pleasant lady and how to operate the coffee machine, I was disappointed! For the rest of the session as the programme dictated, I was run through a series of psychological assessment and analysis tools, and was told that I would get the feedback at our next session.

While driving away that day, I also concluded that I was being pushed through the process like a sausage, over being coached or talked to. In part on reflection I can understand why, in that my employer wanted a fixed cost solution, and the outplacement services provider wanted me happy, not necessarily employed. They had hence structured their programme like a treadmill to both give you momentum and keep you moving.

The instant sales pitch hence half way through session three didn't surprise me! I was told from the output of my psyche analysis that I needed counselling, and as I would need six sessions of counselling at minimum I would need to buy an extra three sessions. I told them that I would think about it, but wanted to get on with job seeking: how could they help me with that? OK, suddenly I needed to either read 20 books in my own time, or buy a CV Writing session with one of their people.

Outplacement service fail?
Whilst driving away from session three, I conclude that senior executive outplacement was not for me! Much of what I experienced was like a developed version of what I got when I left school and later university (twice). On all three occasions it involved too much navel gazing and personal psych assessment, and too little action.

As a recruiter I now know that HR professionals look at the last five years of work as a guide as to what you could do next, other wise you are into career transition. So really, either you want to do more of what you have done for the last five years, or do something completely different: psych testing over!

Unfortunately, the surveys of all types of job seekers made redundant from the corporate world in 2008 under various outplacement services, match my unfortunate experience. In a large part this problem was volume related: the world just stopped, and the dole queues tripled over night. But many executives want assistance in job seeking, not assessment of whether they should have been a CEO in the first place.

Executive CV Service
Most of the executives we talk to and help through career transition with our executive cv service, are at a stage in their career (not an age), where either they want to develop their career further, or step back from day-to-day operations and deploy their knowledge into others people and companies (ie, a consultant). So with a few select psych tools and getting them to read through some specifically written eBooks, we get them to clarify that future employment vision.

Secondly, we use our knowledge of the recruitment market place to give them a job application advantage. I see too many executive outplacement services offering CV distribution and recruiter meetings. When 90% of executive jobs are never advertised, and looking like a desperate job seeker will get you rejected, what's the point in those services? Through deploying our knowledge as recruiters in your executive job search, we hence delivered happy - and employed - executives.

Executive outplacement in theory should help you transition from one job and stage of your life to another. When too many concentrate on the "who are you" over the getting things done action of of executive job seeking - and don't accept the need for tactical change in executive job search - you can see why so many who have transitioned through executive outplacement feel dissatisfied.

If you know what you want to do next, and are offered executive outplacement, think about what the service provider paid for buy your former employer is offering you. If you know what you want, then a good Executive CV Writer should be able to help you transition quicker than Executive Outplacement.

Good Luck!

Headhunting for job consultancies in Singapore or executive search Singapore,visit this page. A marketing strategy blog article by Scotts DIGITAL

Employee Performance Appraisal - An Ideal System

In America's best-run and most-admired organizations, employee performance appraisal is a vital and vigorous management tool. No other management process has as much influence on individuals' careers and work lives.

Used well, employee performance appraisal is the most powerful instrument that organizations have to mobilize the energy of every employee in the enterprise toward the achievement of strategic goals. Employee performance appraisal can focus each person's attention on the company's mission, vision and values. And ideally, the process can answer the two fundamental questions that every single person in the organization wants the answers to: What do you expect of me? And How am I doing?

But most folks scoff at the idea that there might be a perfect system for doing employee performance appraisal. They think that since their organization is "unique," then their system for analyzing employee performance must be unique, too. How foolish.

Don't scoff -- there is an ideal method for the assessment process. In organizations that take employee performance appraisal seriously and use the process well, the system functions as an on-going process - not merely an annual event - by following a four-phase model.

Phase 1 -- Employee Performance Planning

At the beginning of the year, the manager meets with each person for discussion on the planning piece of the employee performance appraisal process. In this hour-long session they discuss the "how" and the "what" of the job:

o How the person will do the job (the behaviors and competencies expected of the company's members), and

o What results the person will achieve over the next twelve months (the key responsibilities of the person's job and the goals and projects the person will work on).

They also discuss the individual's development plans. This discussion immediately generates improved employee performance because people know exactly what's expected of them. And as the manager, you have just earned the right to hold people accountable at the end of the year by making your expectations of them clear from the start.

Phase 2 -- Employee Performance Execution

Over the course of the year, employee performance should be focused on achieving the goals, objectives and key responsibilities of the job. The manager provides coaching and feedback to the individual to increase the probability of success and creates the conditions that motivate and resolve any performance problems that arise.

Midway through the year -- perhaps even more frequently -- they meet to review the individual's progress toward the plans and goals discussed in the employee performance planning meeting. And the employee is responsible for certain elements of that progress - seeking out coaching and asking for feedback are two key examples.

Phase 3 -- Employee Performance Assessment

As the time for the formal employee performance appraisal approaches, the manager reflects on how well the subordinate has performed over the course of the year, assembles the various forms and paperwork that the organization provides to make this assessment, and fills them out. The manager may also recommend a change in the individual's compensation based on the quality of the individual's work.

Best practice calls for the appraiser's boss to review the completed assessment form before discussing it with the assessed employee. One key here is not falling victim to the "myth of quantifiability" -- the erroneous belief that in order to be objective you've got to have numerical data to prove your assessments. Nonsense! An employee performance appraisal is a record of a manager's opinion of an employee's quality of work, so don't shirk from candidly providing that opinion.

Phase 4 -- Employee Performance Review

The manager and the subordinate meet, usually for about an hour. The employee performance appraisal form is reviewed with the self-appraisal that the individual created assessing her own performance. The manager and employee talk honestly about how well she performed over the past twelve months: Strengths, weaknesses, successes and areas needing improvement. At the end of the review meeting they set a date to meet again to hold an employee performance planning discussion for the upcoming twelve months, starting the process anew.

This four-phase performance appraisal process not only transforms employee performance management from an annual event to an on-going cycle, it tightly links the performance of each organization member with the mission and values of the company as a whole. And that's the real purpose of employee performance appraisal in the organization. The real value is focusing everyone's attention on what is genuinely important -- the achievement of the organization's strategic goals through demonstration of the company's vision and values in each employee's day-to-day behavior.

Formulating a performance management process for your business? Look for Recruitplus today, an award winning HR consultancy in Singapore, click here. A b2b marketing blog for small business by Scotts digital.

Keys To Dealing With Recruiters

Your resume can get you an interview, but if you tackle the interview in the right way, it should get you the job. But not so fast - before you even get to the interview, you will probably have to get past the recruiter first.

Today, recruiters are usually the first ones to contact you for a particular job. They often decide on whether you are suitable for the job as soon as your resume reaches the hiring manager's desk. It is very important to understand how recruiters work if you want to get through the interview successfully.

There are some things that you should avoid and never ask a recruiter.

Don't Cross the Line

Recruiters are usually warm and friendly - but don't be over friendly with them, as it is their job to put you at ease and guide you through the hiring process. They are true professionals and not your colleagues or friends, and it is crucial that you don't forget this. Think of the recruiter as a respected person in the company and treat them accordingly.

You can be friendly with them, but never over friendly. It is always wise to keep some things confidential; therefore, don't disclose anything that is not applicable to the job at hand. Recruiters aren't really interested in what clubs you belong to or if you are a single mom - so keep these things to yourself.

Career Coaching

The recruiter's job is to guide you through the hiring process of specific companies. Recruiters are not career coaches, so it is inappropriate to ask them to guide you with writing a cover letter or resume. You have the freedom to ask them about the company in general, but keep your questions related to the specific job that you are discussing.

Save your more detailed questions for the hiring manager, as that's the person you will ultimately have to impress.

Insider Information

It is absolutely OK to ask the recruiter how many other candidates are being considered for the position that you are applying for. In fact, they are probably expecting you to ask. If you don't ask this question, you run the risk of looking uninterested or unambitious.

Recruiters are used to fielding questions from candidates about the competition they face - so don't disappoint them.
Don't Expect Too Much

Though you may wish to be treated as special, you are not probably the only candidate for the job. Many recruiters may treat you very well, but that's their job and they are quite happy to make you comfortable. Their aim is to project your good qualities to the hiring manager. Keep in mind, though, that they work for the employer and their objective is to fill the position - whether with you or someone else.

Looking for headhunter or want to become a Singapore headhunters,  visit Recruitplus today.

Why Does Employee Retention Matter?

Most companies these days realise the long term benefits of attracting and retaining high calibre employees although having done the hard work of recruiting industry top talent many suffer significant financial consequences from having high employee turnover rates.

According to a recent report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the costs of labour turnover per employee range from £20,000 for senior managers and directors to £2,750 for manual and craft workers which equates to an average of £5,800.

To put this into context, a call centre with 300 employees and a turnover rate of 25% would incur costs of £435,000 which are directly related to employee attrition. Reducing the turnover rate to 20% would result in a cost saving of £87,000 due to lower training and recruitment costs e.g. less advertising for vacancies, fewer interviews and assessment centres.

The company also benefits from the retained knowledge and experience of its employees which may otherwise be lost by companies with high levels of employee turnover. Employee morale and motivation can also be significantly damaged by high attrition rates as strong colleague relationships often take time to develop and grow.

Having a competitive benefits package and ensuring that your people feel valued are vital ingredients in the ongoing war for talent. Just as it makes good business sense to hold onto your existing customers due to the high cost of obtaining new ones, the same is just as true for your employees. Companies are relying on excellent customer service to differentiate themselves in competitive markets and organisations with employee retention problems will find it increasingly difficult to meet customer's rising expectations.

As 2009 draws to an end and the economy continues to improve companies will have to work even harder at retaining their most important assets as more and more job opportunities arise to tempt dissatisfied employees away.

Having staff attrition situations? Talk to our talent retention & HR advisory consultancy in Singapore. Click here.