Why are people using LinkedIn? And what does it mean to Recruiters and those wanting to be Recruited?

We ran a poll on LinkedIn recently to try and find out why people are using it.

We did so because we are fully aware that so many people are using LinkedIn to solve their recruitment issues. And we did so because we wanted to know if we could prove that LinkedIn is actually just becoming a Job Board as we have argued previously

We appreciate that 194 people responding to a poll can hardly be described as a comprehensive polling of the LinkedIn community but a couple of things did stand out for us.

A majority of people are using LinkedIn for reasons that are not to do with recruitment.

49% of people are looking to keep in touch with a business network

13% of people are looking to share commercial/business knowledge.

OK as a recruiter you could conclude this as proof that there is a vast untapped pool of passive candidates out there (and lots of people do).

But the other conclusion that you can draw is that recruiters using LinkedIn should be aware that 62% of people may not want to be pestered about jobs. They are not on LinkedIn because they want random recruiters (in-house and agency) to send them the “I’d like to add you to my professional network” email.

So if you are one of those many recruiters on LinkedIn you need to bear this in mind. You need to make sure that you are not just pushing job adverts out there and you are not just posting about CVs and Recruitment. You need to think about who your audience might be and make sure you respect the fact that people may not want to engage with you for the purposes of getting a job.

We would also argue that perhaps LinkedIn themselves need to consider that by pushing the recruitment angle as they so obviously do they run the risk of alienating a majority of users. They could be killing their own product if they hand over the keys to the recruiters.

30% of people are on LinkedIn and are keen to be noticed and recruited.

Consider that there are in the region of 12 million users on Linked In in the UK & Ireland. If this poll is an accurate representation then that means that 3.6 million people are on LinkedIn and looking for a job.

If you are one of them you clearly need to take some time thinking about how you can stand out and be noticed in a crowd of 3.6 million!

Once upon a time when LinkedIn  was smaller it might have sufficed to get a full profile up, select a nice photo and sit back waiting to be found. But surely this is no longer the case.

You need to be actively engaged with LinkedIn which means commenting on group discussions, sharing updates (and not just the ones from Richard Branson and James Caan that everyone else shares) and being prepared to give a little. For example be prepared to recommend people and ask for recommendations.

There are plenty of people prepared to argue that LinkedIn is killing the traditional CV but that doesn’t mean that you have to just transfer your traditional CV to LinkedIn. LinkedIn allows you to now showcase your talents and expertise in more creative ways. You can add PowerPoint slides and video. And perhaps even use your status updates as a mini blog site.

There is no doubt that Linked In is a big issue and has had a major impact on the way we behave as businesses and business people. It has certainly changed Recruitment Processes and it is not going to go away any time soon.

BUT our poll suggests that

• It is not JUST a job board and recruiters (inhouse and/or agency) who want it to be one need to think whether they are alienating a majority in doing so.
• The sheer numbers of people using it mean that it makes it difficult to stand out as much as you would like as a Job Seeker.

Also don’t forget that if this poll is an accurate representation then 360,000 (3%) of the 12 million UK & Ireland users of Linked In are on it for no obvious reason and lots of people aren’t on it at all! 

 

                                                           

Wright Solutions is a specialist HR Consultancy. We attract, place and develop the highest calibre candidates in Executive, HR and Learning & Development roles. Our service is more than recruitment with our training solutions that give Leadership and Management teams the competitive advantage for today and tomorrow.

 

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Why do Recruitment Consultants do that?

Sometimes candidates and clients must wonder what goes on in the mind of a Recruitment Consultant and why they do some seemingly ‘odd’ things during the course of a Recruitment Campaign.

We thought we could tackle some of those questions on this blog site as most of the time there is a logical explanation.

Why won’t you tell me who the end client is?

We recently took a call from a candidate who we had never spoken to before. They had seen one of our adverts and had a few questions before they applied. First question was “Can you tell me who the end client is?”. The consultant declined to answer that question and the follow up question was “Why do Recruitment Consultants not tell you?”

The Recruitment Sector is very competitive with 1000s of Recruitment Consultants out there working vacancies and building relationships with candidates and clients alike. When a recruiter advertises a job they are, of course, looking for candidates for the role but they are also alerting some of their competitors to the fact that they are working on a vacancy and that the end client in question has made a decision that they are prepared to pay an agency fee. That alert can be like a red rag to a bull!

It is therefore not uncommon for Recruiters to try and make an educated guess as to who the client is and then pick up and phone them to get their hands on the spec and permission to work the vacancy.

One of the ways that they can do that is to pretend to be a candidate and ring the consultant and ask. “Hi my name is Bob and I have just seen the role that you have advertised. Before I do so can I ask who the end client is?”. Funnily enough CVs often never materialise after you have told them!

This is far from ideal as a Recruiter but it is also far from ideal as the Recruiting Manager. Suddenly they are getting 10-20 calls from enthusiastic consultants all telling them how amazing they are and how they have just the perfect candidate. It is for this reason that we will always ask clients for permission to advertise a role and often have to reassure them that the role will be advertised anonymously and vaguely so they won’t end up being unnecessarily pestered.

Also bear in mind that the end client might not have communicated to their team and business that they are recruiting. You only need to have a look at your Linked In profile to realise that most people know someone who knows someone and the wrong bit of information released by a Recruitment Consultant to a prospective candidate might be relayed to that someone before it should be.

Having said this though, it should be very unusual for your CV to be put forward to a role without you knowing who the end client is. It would seem to be unfair that they know who you are but you not know who they are. You just might need to get to know the recruiter and engage with them before you will get that crucial bit of information.

                                                          

We will be tackling further questions like this on this blog. Your questions can be put to us via Twitter, Facebook, Linked In or the comments below.

                                                          

Wright Solutions is a specialist HR Consultancy. We attract, place and develop the highest calibre candidates in Executive, HR and Learning & Development roles. Our service is more than recruitment with our training solutions that give Leadership and Management teams the competitive advantage for today and tomorrow.

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An Open Letter : Direct Sourcing and the Recruitment Agency

Dear Internal Recruitment Manager,

We are conscious that more and more companies are looking to introduce an effective Direct Resourcing Model which focuses on the direct sourcing of permanent and senior contract hires where possible.

We understand this. It makes sense.

However we do not agree that this is going to bring an end to the Recruitment Consultancy as there are always going to be occasions where in-house teams will need additional support.

When they do we believe that they will want to work with a Recruitment Consultancy that is:

• Capable of working in partnership with your Resourcing Team.
• Capable of adding expertise and knowledge of the sector when you need it most (e.g. when you have been unable to fill a role or want to work discreetly)
• Experienced enough to challenge thinking and suggest a Plan B, C or D when necessary.

Wright Solutions is that consultancy.

We are a boutique HR, Training and Executive Recruitment Consultancy that is used to working in partnership with HR teams and professionals. We do not use Junior or Trainee Consultants but rather combine the expertise of our Senior Consultants on every assignment to ensure that you are benefitting from their market knowledge and experience. So on the occasions where you need additional support you will get it from experts that you can trust to deliver.

Our experience in the HR sector also means that your HR teams can feel confident that they are talking to consultants who understand the language and culture of HR and can respond quickly and efficiently to them.

With over 10 years of experience in we feel that we have proven ability recruiting for ‘everyday’ roles however going forward we would expect your teams will be looking to source those roles. We therefore expect to be engaged in roles where you may already have completed strong and exhaustive searches of job board and Social Media and been unable to attract the right calibre of individual. This is where we can be most supportive. With each of our consultants having over 10 years of experience in the HR sector they have extensive networks which they can tap into to source the ideal candidate that you need. The ideal candidate may not be actively seeking employment and therefore has not responded to your job adverts but they may well respond to a call from a Trusted Advisor who tells them that they have a fantastic opportunity for them. We believe that our ability to provide high quality individuals to you from a pool of ‘passive candidates’ will be of huge benefit to your Direct Resourcing teams.

The other scenario where you may choose to engage with external recruiter is when you need to run a discreet campaign. As a company with the experience and extensive networks mentioned above we do not rely on job boards and Linked-in to source candidates and are used to recruiting quietly through direct and discreet approaches.

Our experienced consultants are also confident enough to NOT send you CVs. We understand that in your new Resourcing Model your teams are likely to have engaged in time consuming CV shortlisting and interviewing prior to engaging with us. We will therefore be keen to NOT send CVs or recommend candidates that we know won’t suit the role or the business.

We also expect that on occasion our searches will confirm that your teams have already identified the best candidate available and we will be happy to tell you this. We believe in working in partnership and not competition with in-house Recruitment Teams.

We are a team of experienced, down to earth and approachable consultants who take genuine pride in adding value to our clients and putting ourselves in their shoes. You can be confident that we will tell you if our experience tells us that you have benchmarked a salary too high, already seen the best candidate or are looking for the impossible skill set. This is what we mean when we talk about ‘challenging thinking and suggesting a Plan B, C or D”.

We would be keen to show you some of our testimonials and prove ourselves to you. 

Call us on 0121 222 5599 for an informal discussion.

 

                                                           

Wright Solutions is a specialist HR Consultancy. We attract, place and develop the highest calibre candidates in Executive, HR and Learning & Development roles. Our service is more than recruitment with our training solutions that give Leadership and Management teams the competitive advantage for today and tomorrow.

 

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The Importance of Goals: Why everyone in your team should have them

Developing an understanding of the factors that can influence an individual's goal achievement, will enable you to drive bottom-line improvements to your business performance through effective goal setting.  

There are 4 decades of research supporting the idea that effective goal setting has a positive impact on motivation and task performance. And yet many leaders and teams I come across seem to have lost sight of their most important goals.

Try this... 

In your next team meeting give each team member a set of Post-it notes and ask them to write down the top 3 goals of the team, (one goal per Post-it) as they look around the room for inspiration, tell them not to confer. As they begin writing encourage them to be as specific as possible, goals like “make more profit” don't cut it. Stick all the post-its on a wall and count up how many Top 3 goals you have and whether they are clearly defined. 

Focus on a Few Important Goals      

It’s at this point you realise the first job to be done is to define and agree your most important goals with the team. The purpose of a goal is to provide clarity, direction and purpose, having too many goals has the opposite effect.  When there are lots of goals we don’t know which to focus on or believe that the goals are unachievable. To cope with this we focus on the tasks that are most urgent whether they help achieve the goal or not.

Agree Challenging Goals

People are more likely to buy-in to a goal if it is their own or they have at least had some involvement in its development. Be wary of any tendency to set goals without including the people who have to help deliver them. Or agreeing goals that are below what people are capable of. The perceived level of difficulty of a goal impacts directly on the action taken by the individual towards achieving that goal.  Goals which are perceived as too easy can cause disengagement and low self-worth when an individual believes that little is expected of them. Conversely, Goals which are perceived as too difficult will result in dis-engagement. It is only by knowing your peoples’ capabilities well that you can agree challenging goals that have a galvanizing effect on performance.

Declare your Goals

When you have agreed the most important goals both at a team and individual level, you should be confident enough to share them with your significant stakeholders, i.e. those people who have an interest in the success of the team and/or the individual. Making a goal public will increase levels of commitment; a goal known only to an individual is much easier to abandon than one which has been made known to a significant other.  

Encourage Belief

There is plenty of evidence that supports the idea that the more capable people judge themselves to be, the higher the goals they set for themselves and the more firmly they remain committed to them. You must not underestimate the role that support and encouragement plays in the achievement of goals. Encouraging an individual’s beliefs in their own abilities and potential drives higher levels of self-motivation.

Report on progress

Now is the time for honesty, think about all the times you set goals or the team agreed goals that were never reviewed or were looked at just before the annual performance review, or were quietly dropped when they seemed a bit tough to achieve.  If you truly want to achieve the goals then you have to create a culture of high standards and accountability. Break the goals down into manageable milestones. I quite often work with teams on 6 week sprints encouraging a focus only on what is achievable in that timeframe and insist on a team report out. This keeps motivation levels high and increases the accountability individuals feel when reporting on their progress on a regular basis.   

Celebrate Success 

Deliver some quick wins and celebrate them, people like to be part of a winning team. This fuels the motivation and belief that drives further goal achievement.  When you have achieved what you set out to do share it publicly with those same stakeholders you were brave enough to declare your goals with.

One final thought, when you have achieved the goals don't be surprised if expectations of future success increase.  Embrace the challenge...

Steve Bussey* – Business Coach (& Guest Blogger)

*Steve is an experienced Business Coach and partners with clients such as Microsoft, BaxterHealthcare, Pfizer, and BT, and is primarily involved in supporting individuals, leaders and their teams to deliver higher performance. Steve has extensive experience working with other global professional services, training and development companies such as FranklinCovey and worked with a variety of clients in the private and public sector. He is an accredited coach and is currently completing a Masters Degree in Coaching and Mentoring Practice at Oxford Brookes University.

He is one of our Lead Training Consultants. For an informal conversation with him about what he can do for you and your business call us on 0121 687 4040.

The Rules of Engagement

Sometimes phrases like "Employee Engagement" sound so vague and "corporate speak" that many cynical operational managers just don't want to get in to an initial discussion with HR about how they might tackle these sort of issues.

With this in mind we asked a previous Engagement Manager at Morrisons Supermarkets (who incidentally we placed!) to come up with a simple introductory document regarding Employee Engagement that would outline the key elements of how to go about building "Engagement" in your organisation.

It is a simple guide, it is supposed to be, but if you want to have a more detailed conversation with our contact please do let us know (0121 687 4040)

The Rules of Engagement

Having an engaged workforce is proven to increase productivity and revenue and reduce sick leave and staff turnover. It is also intrinsically linked to good customer service – if you’re happy in your work, your interactions with customers will automatically be more positive than if you’re merely going through the motions.

More and more businesses are starting to understand the value of engagement, but according to recent studies, the UK is still behind the rest of Europe. Your business is only as good as the people who work for you - if you don’t engage your people, they will either leave in search of an organisation that truly values them, or they will ‘quit and stay’.

Here are some of the key elements in building engagement in your organisation;

Individuals – All your employees have a life outside work! Understanding this and recognising that they have families, friends, needs and interests away from the workplace will help you understand their motivations, development needs and preferences.

Alignment – Do your employees fully understand the goals, values and strategic direction of the business? In reality, very few employees can even cite the company's objectives, much less articulate how their work helps achieve them. But it is crucial that everyone in your organisation understands this connection.

Trust – If you treat people like grown ups they will probably act like grown ups! Creating policies and procedures that must be rigidly adhered to may seem easier than coaching and managing performance, but inviting discussions about these rules lets people know that there is a degree of flexibility to allow for common sense and this increases engagement.

Communication – it is important to communicate in a transparent, open and honest way to keep employees informed and up to date with the needs of the business, but communication has to be a two way thing. Giving your employees a voice and really hearing what they have to say is also a key factor in engagement – and you may just learn something.

Leadership – an employee’s relationship with their manager is one of the biggest single factors in employee engagement. Equipping your managers to coach and support their teams, set clear goals and praise good work will result in employees who willingly give discretionary effort and know how to apply it.

It’s not usually large complex things that affect engagement. It’s mostly about the management style – energising the human side of your organisation and creating a passion, not just handing out tasks. Encouraging people to enjoy coming to work will build team working and morale and finding out about each individual person to see what makes them tick and what motivates and drives them – because we are all different!