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Recruiting the right people for your organisation always entails some risk – both for you and for the candidate and clearly minimising the risk factor is extremely important. So how can we minimise this risk?

 How many middle & senior managers (not in HR) are actually trained on interview techniques? Sadly not many and we can end up learning poor techniques from our peers. Hopefully these tips and our Interview Guide may help.

• Thoroughly interview – sounds obvious but sometimes people get so into selling their company they forget to ask enough questions of the candidate – and really listen to their answers – don’t accept at face value but re-question to dig deeper.
• Ensure you are not interrupted by phone or people.
• Get a 2nd opinion – big companies have the resources to do this but probably even more important for smaller companies to get someone else involved for a 2nd interview.
• Take up references – ideally talk to previous employers (we can do this for you) and ask the right questions. Written references tend to be pretty non-committal and tell you very little.

There is a link to our Interview Guide for Interviewers and one for Interviewees .

 Social Media now gives us other ways to check out potential employees by looking at Facebook, Linked In, Twitter and other sites – but how far should we go?

 Some companies are even asking candidates for their Facebook password! Ethical or not? I think not – surely we all have a right to some privacy – would you like an employer to see your Facebook page?

Linked In is different as this is definitely business based so candidates should be pleased that a potential employer is looking at their profile – you don’t need a password to do this.

 Twitter can also be enlightening but is this a step to far? I’d be interested to hear what you think as social media is here to stay.

Recently read an interesting article by Facebook’s COO -Sheryl Sandberg, regarding leaving work at 5.30 p.m. every day.

There have been discussions about work-life balance for many years now and it affects most of us – male & female and at all levels within the organisation. Let’s face it we know we are more productive if we aren’t tired, we know that it is great to get home and have more time in the garden, kitchen, bath or wherever – but what stops us?

In our 20s and 30s the career minded are pushing boundaries, showing the boss how hard they work and how good they really are to ensure they get that next promotion or pay rise and again in our 40s it is often about the next promotion. In our 50s and 60s it may be to prove we can still cut it and prove that our energy levels are as high as the young turks out there!

The culture of the organisation can help to promote a work life balance – it’s not about the hours you put in but what you put in to the hours that matters. Quality over quantity is what I say.

An old boss of mine – name check, John Tucker – used to take out his diary at the beginning of every year and plan out his holidays. We were working in a large corporation at the time, and as he said – “Pat no one will ever say ‘Pat Deeley was great, she never took any holidays’.” He’s right and I’ll never get those missed holidays back!

As a business owner, of course I have put the hours in over the years – in my last company I was first in every day at 7.30 a.m. to 8 a.m. so that I could leave at 4 p.m. Did I ever leave at 4 p.m.? Rarely, usually after 6 p.m. Work life balance? No. Who’s fault? Mine and mine only.

Now at AV Jobs – I get in at 9 a.m. and I leave at 5 p.m. and I work from home every Friday. Do I get as much done? I think so – possibly more because I get more quality work done. It does’nt mean I never work after 5 p.m. sometimes I have to and yes it’s nice that I get the choice. (And the rest of the staff work flexibly too – it makes for a happy office and we definitely have that).

What do you think? Have you got the balance right? Has your company got the balance right?

AV Jobs launches new Executive Search Division – Tech Exec

 AV Jobs – Europe’s leading Audio Visual Recruitment Company has launched their new Executive Search division for Senior Executives and Board members –Tech Exec.

AV jobs has been in the business of recruiting successful people within the Audio Visual and related industries for over eight years. As the business has grown -to include recruitment across EMEA – so has the demand for executive search and so the launch of Tech Exec.

With their success recruiting in the Audio Visual & Unified Communications industry across UK & EMEA, the new division is seen as an obvious next step in offering a full range of services to the industry.

Pat Deeley – AV Jobs’ Sales & Marketing Director commented – “We have successfully placed a number of key directors and managers within the industry and want to ensure that clients and candidates are aware of how we can help.”

“Confidentiality is of the utmost importance at any level of recruitment, but even more so at the top end. Understanding the different skills required at a strategic level puts us in a prime position for selecting the ideal candidate who can make a difference to the business – whether that is in sales, marketing, technical or operations.”

Tech Exec are also available to offer consultancy and training on key issues that middle and senior management require such as:

Succession Planning

• Successful Interviewing techniques
• Utilising Psychometric Testing effectively & Pre-employment screening
• Outplacement

To arrange a meeting or discuss a situation in confidence please call Pat on 0844 884 9150 or email her pat@techexec.eu.com

www.techexec.eu.com

Newpapers, TV and radio have all been reporting on unemployed job seekers in the last couple of weeks. Why people aren’t getting interviews even though they have a degree (in some cases three degrees!), the fact that no-one gets back to them after they have applied for jobs,the number of jobs people have applied for being in 100′s and so on and so forth.

Having been in the same situation myself, I know that it is a frustrating experience and receiving no communication is just one of those frustrations – probably more frustrating than receiving the dreaded “No thanks” letter or email. Looking for a new job whilst you are unemployed is almost a full time job in itself and it really has to be worked at in the same way i.e. with diligence, committment, purpose and a positive attitude.

So how can  you avoid some of the pitfalls and ensure you target job vacancies effectively? First thing is to ensure your CV is up to date and relevant for the job you are applying for. Read the job description  and then read it again and get the boxes ticked e.g.

• Can you really, honestly do the job you are applying for?

Sounds pretty obvious but you would be amazed at how many CVs we receive where the candidate has no experience whatsoever of the job they have applied for.

• Do you have all of the skills that the company is looking for?

Again be strict with yourself – is it wishful thinking on your part or can you really prove that you have the skills to succeed in the job role advertised.

• Have you worked in that industry and in the same sector and discipline that the company is in?

For example you have worked as an engineer in the AV industry but have applied for a job in AV sales – how realistic is this if you have never sold before? Think of the calibre of competing candidates who have a successful track record in AV sales – aren’t you setting yourself up for rejection?

Less is More

If you send out applications for 100s of jobs you are just setting yourself up for rejection time and time again. Why? Because you haven’t really targeted your job marketplace. You must ask yourself what are you offering a new employer? Where do your skills lie, what is your relevant experience, which industries have you worked in, what transferable skills do you have, how can you help a new employer to add to their bottom line, improve productivity, cut costs, save time and so on and so on……

By targeting your vacancies effectively you will be sending out many fewer applications but to people who really do need your skills and experience. As you are targeting your market you can ensure that each CV is tailored towards the job you are applying for as well as ensuring a good quality, relevant cover letter or email is sent with it telling a prospective employer why you are worth interviewing.

I’ve said this before but not ashamed to say it again – check your CV and letter and then check again and then get someone else to check it for you.

There are no excuses for spelling mistakes, grammatical errors or sending the wrong letter – all of these will count against you. Examples we have seen include a letter beginning “I have always wanted to work in Financial Services…” when they were applying for job in Audio Visual.

• Keep your CV to two A4 pages
• Highlight the reasons you would be successful in the new role
• Show what you have achieved in your last position(s)
• Don’t just list job responsibilities – show how you improved things.
• Highlight your soft skills -
  • problem solving
  • communication
  • team player skills
  • conflict management
  • interpersonal skills
  • planning and organisation
  • leadership and motivation skills
  • initiative

  etc., these are all transferable skills but don’t just list them, show examples.

One Degree Under

As a Graduate job seeker you will be in fierce competition with others who have more experience and, of course, you need the experience to get yourself on that career ladder. So – highlight the work you did whilst at University (both paid and voluntary, as well as your course work) what skills this gave you. Tell your prospective employer (on your CV or covering letter) what you can do for them, what your ambitions are and what you have achieved so far in life. A degree on its own is just that – a degree. Well done on achieving it but you need to add your personal skills into the mix to prove to a prospective employer that you are worth employing.

It’s Good to Talk

If you’re not used to communicating by phone start practising, because very often the first point of contact is by telephone – either from the recruiter or the employer – so be prepared to listen and to talk confidently about yourself and the skills you can offer.

Communication is key – don’t send out emails, CVs or letters using text speak! Be professional, that way you will be treated professionally and this goes for employers and recruiters too – communicate. Send rejection emails or letters to all applicants – from a jobseeker’s point of view it is better to receive some communication than none at all. Return phone calls and emails as soon as is reasonably possible and, for jobseekers, understand that the employer or recruiter is busy and they will get back to you as soon as they can. We get back to all applicants within 7 working days whenever possible, though we accept we’re not perfect but we do try!

Good luck in your job search and if you would like to comment please do.

2011 that is? With a shaky economy and doom and gloom emanating from all quarters it would be easy to dismiss the year and just look forward with some alarm. However, that’s not necessarily how it is – sure there are doom mongerers out there and always will be,  but the sun is shining somewhere!

The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012 has 7 European countries in the top 10 countries worldwide – Switzerland at No. 1 and the UK at No.10 with Sweden, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands and Denmark in between. The report is published annually by the World Economic Forum.

Now I agree that this is just one report and I certainly don’t want to get into macroeconomics (what?), but the year has been profitable and productive for many companies in the Audio Visual marketplace across Europe. When the number of jobs is increasing and the roles include Project Managers, Installers and Technical Architects, then that tells us sales have been made. New jobs coming in over December has been record breaking, with Sales & Marketing positions leading the way, suggesting a positive outlook for the New Year. Here at AV Jobs we saw an increase of over 70% in the number of job vacancies across the UK this year and even higher in Europe (where we have not marketed before).

So what will 2012 bring? Well the economic forecasters vary country by country but the Eurozone issue remains a major focus on whether there will be a “double dip”. Northern European countries (as can be seen in the GCI report above) are certainly better placed to avoid this,  with Business Week, confirming “ German business confidence unexpectedly rose for a second month in December as two economic institutes predicted Europe’s biggest economy will stave off the debt crisis and avoid a recession in 2012.”

However, the UK economy is predicted to shrink by 1.3% in 2012 and more likely to go into recession than Germany. This is clearly not great news but as a growing marketplace, the Audio Visual industry is better placed than most to overcome such obstacles. Some  UK companies are looking to profit from the expanding market for Audio Visual in China and Russia but the vast majority will still be working in the UK and closer to home in Europe.

Maybe we are all optimists  in the AV & Technology marketplace as a recent poll on InAVate shows that when asked “What are your expectations for business in 2012?” – 50% said conditions would improve and 50% said remain the same. No one believed that conditions would deteriorate. (Ok I don’t know the polling numbers!)

So my view for 2012? I believe the first half of the year will remain on a par with 2011 (which is not bad in my opinion) and will start to grow from the end of the 2nd quarter to see a positive outcome for the industry and the AV jobs market as a whole.

What are your thoughts?

We have been training sales people for many years and have recently joined forces with another successful trainer Mark Boardman.

Mark is a UK Sales Trainer and has helped Salespeople, Sales Managers,Sales Directors and Business Owners to increase their sales performance by an average of 30% within three months.
He has recently launched a sales training course called The Secret Sales Formula. It addresses three of the biggest challenges in the sales profession.

1.  Generating enough of the right kind of sales opportunities to create a strong pipeline.

2. Ensuring that the right people in the account are engaged, in particular those with the authority to place an order.
3. Closing a good percentage of the opportunities in the pipeline.

As you will know any increase (or decrease) in any one or more of these variables can dramatically affect sales results.

We realise that you may already have either in house or sub contracted sales training programmes in place,and will be constantly addressing those three big challenges that we all face in the sales profession.

However, we wanted to introduce you to a range of sales training programmes as they take a different approach to any type of training you will have experienced before. They address these three challenges in new and more effective ways than traditional sales courses.

Mark wrote The Secret Sales Formula after he had spent two years researching what the world’s best salespeople do differently to the rest.
One of the outstanding differences he found was how the top sales performers use specific sales techniques to generate far more sales opportunities than their peers.

Additionally, once they are in a sales cycle they use a selling system that gives them much more control over it. They get contact with the right people so that they close a much higher percentage of orders than their colleagues. Surprisingly the sales techniques are not complex. In fact they are very simple to learn and to implement. Any salesperson has the capability to use them.
Mark used the techniques in 2007 and his business profits almost doubled. That was when he decided to write the course and called it The Secret Sales Formula because many of  the sales techniques used by the world’s top performers are not to be found in any sales book or course you may find. In addition to using the sales formula himself he has trained individuals, teams and companies to use it.
One of his clients has over 200 salespeople and his sales increased by 42% in 3 months. Another one of his clients saw an increase in her sales pipeline of 70% in 6 months. They are his two best results – his average delivery across all clients is a 30% increase in sales within 3 months. The lowest figure is an 11% increase.

For information on our Sales Courses please email Pat or Mark quoting “AV Sales Training” for a special discount on any booking made before January 2012.

Do ask for us for details of our full range of services or check out our new website www.avjobs.co.uk Employer services

We have so many jobs on at the moment that this is the busiest August we have seen as a company. No complaints there of course! We had already taken the decision to recruit a Graduate Trainee for AV Jobs and I thought I should share some of the issues we have seen – particularly from Graduate applications, but often from others too.

The number of times I have seen an application to a job where an applicant has clearly done a cut and paste job and not made it relevant to the job they are applying for – too many to count! Some examples just from today:

Applying for a Graduate Trainee Recruitment Consultant role:

I am an extremely responsible youth willing to accept position to gain experience within a realm of retail-banking customer services.

I am looking to further my knowledge within accounting or information systems.

Dear Miss Baker (we don’t have a Miss Baker!)

So not a good start.

Spelling mistakes – too numerous to mention. If you’re not a great speller then Spellchecker won’t always help as the spelling may be right but for a different word in a different context – so get someone who is good with words to check your CV before you send it.

Examples: There and their. Roll instead of Role. Loose instead of lose.

Affect and effect – affect is a verb as in “Your ability to communicate clearly will affect your income immensely.” Effect is a noun as in “The effect of global warming is immeasurable.” You can’t put a “the” in front of a verb so this should help you decide which word you need.

Grammatical errors – now here I do accept that I am a big fan of Lynne Truss (Eats, Shoots and Leaves) and have even been called pedantic (moi?) but I do believe people should get these things right in something as important as a job application.

The apostrophe! There when it shouldn’t be and not there when it should. The apostrophe is a raised comma ‘ – it is used to show possession or contraction e.g. The dog’s tail (possession), it’s a lovely day (contraction).

Common misuses – It’s and its – It’s is a contraction of “it is” as in “it’s lovely and warm today”.  Its is a possessive pronoun as in “the car has lost its shine”.  An easy rule of thumb is to say your sentence out loud using it is and if this sounds ridiculous then use its (no apostrophe).

Your and you’re – again your is a possessive pronoun as in “your wife”, you’re is a contraction of “you are” as in “you’re messing up your CV if you use your when you really mean you are!”

It’s often incorrectly used when the word is a plural – job’s instead of jobs.

Using text speak in your letter or CV – this is fine when you are sending a text or emailing friends but has no place in business correspondence.

“i am sending u my cv 4 the job ad on AV Jobs ref AV8777.”

“I am sending you my CV regarding the job advertised on AV Jobs – Ref.AV8777″.

So end of rant – but I promise if you take more care with your CV and covering letter (if you enclose one) you will not fall at the first hurdle. Just take more time in reviewing what you have written and get someone else to check too.

What do you think?

Whilst most job candidates are reasonably well versed in the questions that a future employer will ask them at an interview, very often they forget that they should be asking questions too.

Asking questions shows a sign of interest and when a hiring manager asks “What questions do you have for us?”, they won’t be impressed if you say none!

It’s a two way interview, you are assessing them as much as they are you – are they the sort of company you want to work for, can they offer you the career path you need, can you see yourself fitting in with the team? This is no time to be shy and reticent, the employer expects you to ask questions so don’t let yourself down. Always ask an open question – which will elicit a full answer rather than a closed one which can only be answered by a Yes or No. i.e. all open questions begin with How, What, When, Where, Who or Why.

And don’t leave your questions until the end of the interview – make sure you are really listening to the employer’s questions and where necessary ask them a question back i.e. to seek clarification and ensure your understanding.

Ask several questions on different topics i.e. the job, the company, the prospects, the process and really listen to the answers, show interest and ask another question leading from the answer if you want them to expand on this.

Here are some questions you can choose to ask at your next interview (but not all of them!) -

“How would you describe the responsibilities of this role?”

“How would you describe the company’s management style?”

“How would you describe the company culture?”

“What exactly are looking for in the successful candidate?” * If you ask this one early enough you can ensure you offer them the perfect candidate!

“What are the most important skills required in the job?”

“What are the prospects for career advancement?”

“What are the priorities in this job?”

“What are the most challenging aspects of the role?”

“What do you like about working here?”

“What don’t you like about working here and what would you change?”

“What are the company’s plans for growth & development?”

“What is the next stage in the recruitment process?”

“When are you looking for someone to start?”

“What would keep you from offering the job to me now?”

“Are there any other questions you need to ask me to convince you I am right for this role?”

Questions NOT to ask:

“What does your company do?” – you really should have done your research prior to the interview.

“I’ve got a holiday booked for next month – are you OK with that?” – discuss things like holidays etc., after you have been offered the job.

“How long is the lunch break?” -  :-/

“Are the working hours flexible?” – asking questions about the company benefits is not relevant at this stage, it’s about the job.

“How does you sickness benefit work?” – red flag alert – how are often do you expect to be sick?

This is obviously not a list of ALL questions you should or should not ask but hope they give you food for thought. Let us know if you have any other questions you feel are worth asking (or ones you should never ask).