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Team Success – Keeping up to date with Responsible Recruitment.

The team at Direct Response had a fantastic training session on responsible recruitment which drives ethical and professional recruitment services which are good for both clients and candidates.

This ensures the team are fully up to speed with all compliance, legislation and ethical working within the recruitment sector and ensures we are on hand to offer the best professional service and at the top of our game when it comes to supporting clients and candidates.

Well done team and here’s to our next upcoming training session.

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Skills Vs Attitude

Skills vs Attitude:

When searching for that perfect new hire to join your team you of course want to ensure you make the right decision but is recruiting on skills and experience more important than hiring on attitude?

So, what is the difference?

From a hiring perspective, skills reflect the expertise and knowledge of a candidate whether this be from an educational background or experience and skills they have gained through previous employment. Such as an engineering business may be looking for candidates who have qualified with a certain technical qualification or engineering experience with a niche field.

Attitude is all about the candidate, their personality, and their willingness to learn, develop and passion for the product or the company. For example, a candidate may not have the right skills and experience but offer commitment and the eagerness to learn.

Looking at the statistics:

So, on average latest statistics show that only 20% of new job hirers are successful in the long run and actually commit to the job role and company long term.

60% of the new hirers who do not last long term is down to personality and cultural fit within an organisation. 

Whereas 14% of candidates actually leave or lose their job due to lack of experience or skills.

So, what is best?

There is no straight answer here as it is very much dependable on the role that the hirer is looking to recruit in, for example health care professional such as nurses or those within a certain discipline it will be essential that they have relevant qualifications and experience to fulfil the role and duties.

However, there is a significant benefit for hiring on attitude, Employees with the right attitude, positive mindset and passion in their personality means a better culture fit for your organisation.

Skills can be taught and anyone with the right attitude who is willing to learn and potentially moulded often prove to be more successful and more long term.

Personality and culture fit is crucial in any business, someone may have the right skills and experience on paper but having a bad attitude can prove a negative impact on your business.

Organisations will have their own methods of recruitment with each organisation taking a different approach and like above there are some roles where skills and experience is crucial to the job role, but always bare in mind that stats suggest outing attitude above skills and experience is more successful in the longer term.

If you would like some assistance with recruiting or struggling to find the right candidate please give us a call for a general chat and we would be happy to share some of our experience, advice and tips.

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What to look for in a CV

Looking through CV’s and applications can be time consuming and a lengthy process which is why a lot of companies when recruiting opt to use a recruitment agency who can manage applications and handle the recruitment process for you, saving you a lot of time in the long run. 

However, if you are finding yourself having to spend time looking through application and CV’s it is important to ensure you do not rush as you would not want to miss any suitable candidates for the role. 

Take time to review candidate’s CV’s, focusing on grammar or spelling is not essential and I think we can all be guilty of the odd spelling mistake so try not to read to much into these minor errors but focus more on their experience and skill set for the role.  

Any candidates who are not suitable, make sure you go back to them politely to give feedback on why they are not successful to ensure a positive experience with candidates through your recruitment process. 

It is also to remember that CV’s are only a snip it of the candidate’s skills and experience and can not always tell you if that candidate is right or not, so bare this in mind when selecting CV’s and if you are unsure, having a brief telephone chat with the candidate may help. 

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Job Advertising Tips

Job advertising tips in Wiltshire

A Job Description and a Job Advert often get mistaken as being the same but they are different in many ways, with a job description showing the duties and responsibilities of the job role whereas a Job Advert should focus on attracting candidates with the right skills and experience to that job and your company. 

It is important to ensure your Job advert includes the below. 

  • Key Responsibilities and Duties: 

You want to ensure you give an overview of the job duties so bullet points of the key day to day duties of the role is a must as a minimum. Remember you don’t want the advert to be to long but its important to let candidates know what the job entails so they conclude if it’s the right position for them and to ensure you are attracting the right skill set for the role. 

  • Overview / Introduction of the company:

Giving a brief overview of your company gives candidates a real insight into what it may be like working for you so include some general information about what the company do, include any information on any plans to expand or maybe how-to company has won awards for being a good company to work for etc. Let candidates know what a positive and great place your company is to work at and a feel for the working environment. 

  • Salary: 

You are more likely to attract more candidates by advertising the salary, on a recent survey 76% of job seekers missed applying for a job role due to the advert not detailing salary information. 

  • Benefits and Hours: 

Include information on the hours needed to work for the role, any flexibility in hours or remote working, holiday information and any other benefits such as discounts, Perks, cash back health plans or insurance. This may seem trivial, but benefits play a crucial part in candidates deciding whether the company is right for them or not. 

It is also important to ensure you include any information about development and career progression opportunities and ensure grammar and spelling are checked before posting.

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Interview Tips

When it comes to an interview, you can never be too prepared. 

Being selected for an interview is already a success – you have been chosen amongst many candidates, who applied for the position, so research and preparation is essential to for interview success.

To help you organise and plan ahead, we have come up with some useful tips to help you along the way and ensure your interview gets off to a great start.

  • Do your research.

Find out as much as you can about the company – start few days before the interview. Go on their website, find out what sector they specialise in, have they recently completed any major projects?

Does the company have a page on social media? If yes, have a look at posts, feedback, reviews so you can see what the company and its employees are talking about.

Make notes, read them couple of times before the interview and memorise the information. This will help you to be more confident when talking about the knowledge you have of the company.

  • Read the job advert:

Have a look at the job description again to refresh your memory. It is vital you explain why you think you would be suitable for the position and whether you match the qualification and skills required.

  • Common Interview Questions:

Google some of the most common interview questions and write down some of your answers, this will ensure you are prepared and ready to answer. Common questions such as describing yourself, focus on positive points and skills which are relevant for the job. Don’t go into too much detail just a quick summery is enough.  Ensure you write down your strengths for the role and any weaknesses, this is often an awkward question but think of positive ways to overcome these weaknesses to finish on a positive note. 

Some other important points include:

Outfit – many companies still expect interviewees to dress smartly, so make sure your outfit is suitable.

Punctuality – make sure you arrive at least 15 minutes before your interview to avoid your stress level going up and giving the employer a bad impression.

After the interview – give the interviewer a firm handshake and thank for the time and opportunity to attend the interview.

As you can see interviews can be less stressful if you take time and effort to thoroughly prepare. If you have any further questions, please feel free to comment below or email us.

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CV Writing Tips

Writing your CV is an important document when job hunting and its important that this is kept regularly updated and is written clearly and easy to read by potential hirers. 

We have included a quick guide to help you in getting your CV in tip top shape. 

  • Use bullet points.

This is a great way to break up text and make it more readable for employers. You do not want to end up with long and detailed sentences that take half of the page, so use bullet points to outline your duties/responsibilities in a simple and neat way.

  • Keep it to two pages.

The most effective CVs are not just informative, they’re also concise. Try and get straight to the most important points, and ideally take up no more than two sides of A4, 3 at the max. If you have had had a long career history focus on the last 10 years. 

  • Include a personal statement.

A significant number of people neglect to include this at the start of their CV which is a big mistake, as this can be the selling point. Write few sentences right at the top of the first page, illustrating your unique skills that make you a perfect match for the role. Ensuring you update this for every role that you apply for. Clearly outline the kind of role you are applying for and why and try to include the top three most relevant skills very briefly.

  • Work in chronological order.

Whether you are writing about your experience or your education, the most recent information is the most important. Always put it first.

There is also some common mistakes to avoid when creating your CV which we have detailed below. 

  • Do not choose inappropriate font and size.

Times New Roman is one of the most commonly used fonts, but you may find that Cambria or Calibri are better options for you. The ideal font size is 11 – remember, the hiring managers will be scanning your CV, so it needs to be nice and easy to read.

  • Do not Include irrelevant person information.

You don’t need to include your nationality and you definitely don’t need to mention your age. Although employers aren’t legally allowed to dismiss your application based solely on how old you are, you’ll never know if that’s the reason they rejected you, so it’s best to avoid mentioning these types of details.

  • Do not Include negative information.

If you are thinking of putting on your CV reasons why you left your previous positions, or perhaps that you have driving licence points or that you failed exams – forget it now. This is something you can explain in a job interview, so make sure you don’t include any negative information that would discredit you.

Once you have completed your CV, don’t forgot to read through and double check, use spell check to correct any spelling mistakes and ask a friend or family member to look it over. 

If you are struggling to write you CV there are services out their which can assist, most known job sites have a free CV builder tool or the national career services can assist for free.