Tag: recruitment

Entry Level Candidates Rarely Stay in their First Role….

Posted on by Naomi Marshall

Employers take note! A quick explanation as to why entry level candidates rarely stay in their first roles for 2 years anymore….

Young candidates (code for entry level or those who have very little office experience – or none at all) are simply NOT going to sit at your front desk for 2 years as your Receptionist, unpacking dishwashers, organising couriers and filing for months on end waiting for someone to notice them and promote them to their next job. Nor are they going to be in customer service roles with repetitive tasks, nor are they going to handle mundane or routine tasks over and over…and over for years on end.

This doesn’t mean that the days of ‘earning your stripes’ or ‘starting at the bottom’ are over. It’s simply to say that young candidates today CRAVE new tasks, new information and new experiences. They have access to so much more information than we ever did at school. They’re naturally tech savvy and are connected to the world in ways that we never were.

They’re prepared to do their time in the junior roles but they want recognition and attention – and they want it now!

Often clients say to me: “I need a Receptionist to sit on front desk for a minimum of 2 years before I can promote them”. Or, “I don’t want to have to keep re-recruiting that role.” And “Why don’t they stay long term anymore?”

Employers wonder why after 6/7 months she/he has left and found a job at the place down the road with their friend – with a salary increase and with a slightly pumped up job description.

In my opinion, and from my observations and experience, the days of finding a ‘stable’ job out of school or uni, staying in it for years and working your way up are over and gone. If Company A won’t coach/train/promote then guess what? They’ll just go to Company B to find it. Simple as that.

I hear employers crying out “Young people don’t stick at anything, they’re fickle, they’re just chasing the $$$”. And I am sorry, I sympathise, however I’m just here to state the facts from years and years of seeing this pattern (and it’s getting worse).

Now there is the flipside to this of course – Accept it – Don’t fight it – And come up with innovative ways to keep them engaged.

So… To The solution! What can you do?

• Knowing and understanding that they crave new tasks and new experiences, try to add in new tasks every few months (or even weeks if your new starter can handle it).
• Quite simply if they are unpacking dishwashers, running errands, filing and cleaning up the meeting rooms you can hardly expect a young, bright spark to want to do that for years on end. Even 6-12 months can feel like an eternity to a young person when they have a super sharp mind. Maybe that role is best suited to a traveler who can work a maximum of 6 months, maybe the job simply has a ‘lifespan’ of 6 months?
• If the tasks are simple and you’re consistently having turn over maybe you just need to accept that the job is boring and you won’t keep anyone there for longer than 6 months anyway.
• Discuss small salary increases on a quarterly basis, or even a small bonus. It doesn’t have to be massive. At that level every dollar is being watched so if it’s the extra that pays for their weekly travel pass or a few sandwiches in the city each week then trust me, they’ll be appreciative.
• Or consider shopping vouchers, $150-$250 Westfield vouchers can feel like gold to a young employee. They simply do not have access to surplus cash to spend on themselves when they are on minimum wages.

The short end of the story is that Sydney is a very expensive place to live. Travel is costly, food is expense, don’t even get me started on the cost of living out of home when they’re first setting up a flat.

If that young employee is truly a valued member of your team then start working ‘with them’ and not against them otherwise company B, C, D and E will happy snap them up then you’ll be back to square on training the next junior on how to book a courier……

Naomi Marshall – Director
P: (02) 9271 0011
M: 0422 139 910
E: naomi@sprintpeople.com.au

Employers Remember…The Candidate is Interviewing YOU Too!

Posted on by Naomi Marshall

At Sprint we are fortunate enough to recruit for some of the best businesses in the market (not that we’re bias at all). However, though we know they’re great and we tell our candidates that they are great, we always remind our clients to remember that in an interview situation, the candidate is interviewing them as well!

It is important for business owners and line managers to remember that as an interviewer, it is also your responsibility to get the candidate excited about the role/company etc. You can’t always rely on your brand to attract the right potential employees to your business. The way that you engage with the candidate and the level of interest that you show in them as a person could determine whether they choose another role over the one you’re offering when it comes to the crunch!

Clients often say that an hour interview is such a short period of time to try and decipher if a candidate is going to be right for their business, but remember, it’s the same for the candidate too! They want to know that you will care about them, foster learning and development and provide them with opportunities to create a true career path for themselves.

Often employers are so focused on “testing” a candidate that they forget to engage with them. I can’t tell you how many times we have had clients come back to us telling us how they really “put the candidate under pressure” or “threw the candidate a curve ball”, or “had their interview poker face on”. When the employer then comes back wishing to offer the candidate, they are often miffed that candidate declines the role because they didn’t get a good vibe from their interviewer and they felt disengaged with the process.

Yes – it’s true that there are a lot of candidates on the market at the moment, but the top quality, hard working, loyal candidates, that most employers seek are still hard to find! If a candidate is sitting in front of you, ticking all the boxes, then it would be such a shame to miss out on them simply because you were trying to trip them up, rather than engaging with them.

Chances are, if you think they are fantastic, other employers will too! So don’t miss the opportunity to tell them how amazing their life is going to be if they choose you. At the end of day, given multiple options, candidates will most likely choose the employer that;

  • Was friendly in the interview and made them feel comfortable
  • Showed genuine interest in them and their development
  • Moved quickly
  • Gave the impression that they would really add value to their business and that they were excited to have them on board.

Yes, it may very well be your brand that made a candidate apply in the first place, but as they sit in front of you in an interview situation… all nervous and excited… subconsciously (or sometimes even consciously) they are waiting for you to sell your company back to them.

Negative Nancy’s rarely get the job!

Posted on by Naomi Marshall

As a recruiter I have met HUNDREDS of people!!! While everyone is different i.e. different skills, appearances and backgrounds, what do you think is the one quality that makes a candidate stand out from the masses???…………………………..POSITIVITY!!!

As an interviewer, no matter if you are an agency recruiter or an internal hiring manager, the most frustrating interviews are held with those that have a negative view on life. The ability to turn negatives into positives is a rare skill, but something that I think everybody should strive towards!

When I ask “Why did you leave your last job”? I am really not looking for any of the following answers;

  1. “My boss was really negative all the time, and I didn’t like him/her”
  2. “I had no friends in the company”
  3. “I haven’t been promoted”

While these things may be true, sometimes it’s all in the delivery of the answer that can make or break your chances at interview. Therefore before you answer, put yourself in the interviewer’s shoes. What are they likely to think of the above answers?

  1. Why was the manager negative towards this candidate? Was it because they were a poor performer?
  2. Why did she have no friends? Concerning.
  3. Were they not promoted because they were a poor performer?

Even if the last company you worked for was the worst company on the face of the earth, it is important to explain to the interviewer the positives that you got out of working there. Honestly, try to avoid even mentioning the negatives if you can help it because when you leave an interview, you want that interviewer to think positive things about you and your experience. You want them to be excited about the possibility of offering you (or helping you to find) a job. I can guarantee you that if you make even one negative comment without turning it into a positive; you will be remembered by the negative -even if you gave 10 other very positive answers.

You don’t want to be remembered as the candidate “that hated their boss”, you want to be the candidate that “was so positive and engaging that I want to hire him/her!”

You may think that you can rely on your skills and experience to get you over the line… however I cannot even count the number of times that I have chosen to put a person forward to a client with a positive, friendly attitude that is lacking the right experience, OVER that negative Nancy with the perfect resume!

Some food for thought…

 

7 Tips to Help Your Resume Stand Out From the Crowd!

Posted on by Naomi Marshall

As a recruiter I often hear horror stories from candidates about how they have sent their resumes in for multiple jobs and never heard back. Application volumes (particularly for junior roles) can be HUGE! While I will concede that there should at least be some communication from an agency or company back to every applicant, the simple fact is that there is sometimes just not enough time in the day to get back to every candidate individually.

However as a candidate there are some things that are in your control and the main one is your resume and its presentation. In most instances your resume is the only piece of information that a recruiter or hiring manager has about you – and first impressions count – so take the time to get it right! Find my top 7 resume tips below.

  1. Employment history – Your employment history should always be listed with the most recent role at the top! The average recruiter spends less than a minute on each resume they look at, and if the first role they see is working at a McDonalds or something else not at all relevant, you may get overlooked for a role simply because the recruiter missed the part of your resume where your relevant experience is listed.
  2. Dates of employment – Every single role should have the starting and finishing, month and year listed. There is no need to put exact dates, but simply putting the year is not enough information! Some candidates only state the year and when I delve into how long that they were at that job, their answer can be anything from 1 day to 12 months.
  3. Duties – Recruiters find it hard to read long arduous paragraphs about what you did in your last role. So that they don’t miss anything crucial dot point your tasks and responsibilities with the most relevant points for each role at the top. These points should be able to easily account for what you did on a day to day basis, what systems you used in doing so and whom you interacted with (e.g. clients, customers, direct reports, suppliers etc.)
  4. Gaps between roles – One thing a recruiter looks for is gaps between employment. If you were unemployed for a period of time, it is important to account for it. It is better to state that you went on a 6 month holiday than to put nothing at all (for all we know you were sitting on your couch watching “Oprah”).
  5. Photo – Only include a photo if it is professional one! Bare shouldered, glassy eyed, drunken party shots do not make a good impression!
  6. Correct spelling and punctuation – In this day and age with “spell check” at your disposal there are simply no excuses for spelling mistakes. As a recruiter there is nothing worse than opening a CV in Word to find half of it underlined in red squiggly lines! In many cases recruiters will not even read your resume when this happens.
  7. Contact details should be current – I know what you are thinking “What dummy sends a resume through without the right contact details attached?” – The answer is MANY! Some resumes don’t even have a phone number listed!

Don’t miss out on your ideal role simply because you have failed to make one of these small changes to your resume. You may have the right experience for the job, be the friendliest person in the world, and have a great attitude towards work, but if a recruiter can’t quickly identify a reason to call you then then you may never get the chance to show them how great you really are.