6 Bad Admin Habits Costing Recruiters Big Bucks

6 Bad Admin Habits Costing Recruiters Big Bucks Its pretty amazing what  CRM systems are capable of. Instead of having to maintain our own labour-intensive filing systems, a few quick clicks of the mouse are  sometimes all it takes to  manage your business. Thanks to tailored software systems used in recruitment agencies, you  create profiles for all the candidates and clients youve met, and store all relevant information in one place. While computers  harness the  ability to store and analyse information  in ways we could never  even come close to rivalling, the benefit you get will only ever be as good as your own input. Admin got you all, no thanks? Youre not alone. Note-taking and updating virtual resources can be extremely time consuming, but its the recruiter who doesnt slip into sloppy habits who  reaps the rewards. Coming out of a meeting or off of  a call and telling yourself youll do the admin later is a massive warning sign. Why? Because you wont do it later, and if you do, you would have forgotten half of the juicy  details  anyway so it will be way less effective. Put simply, bad admin equals wasted time and money. Here are some of the worst habits to avoid: 1.  Leaving out contact details Youre having a conversation with someone over email. You set up a time to talk, and they call you. Instead of saving the number right away, you leave it as a random number in your phone. You dont save it to their profile in your CRM system, either. Next time you need to speak with that person, you  find yourself  fishing through your call history to match up the time you spoke and length of call, with their potential number. Its a tedious, time-wasting task. Almost as tedious as reading back through an email chain  from 2014 to find a number   it has to be here somewhere!! The same goes for when you receive CVs and business cards always transfer the contact details straight away because youll end up losing  the original document, and if you havent saved the information youll be catapulted back to square one if you ever want to talk to that person again. Wasting time searching for information you once had at your finger tips is a a complete waste of time. If your agency operates on a client ownership / shared candidate model, failing to record contact details not only wastes your time, but probably your colleagues too. Be a champion for best practice! Ensuring the contact details are in one central directory  is better for everyone. 2.  Terrible tracking Youve met someone, and sat on a million calls with them, but according to the CRM system notes, youve only ever exchanged  two emails, and it was more than six months ago. Its extremely important to record your meetings, calls and emails (within reason), so you constantly pick up where you left off with candidates and clients, instead of accidentally going over old ground and making a fool of yourself. Its easy to feel like youll remember every piece of correspondence youve had with someone, but when youve had hundreds of similar meetings, everything can blur into one giant relationship and the specifics are lost. People will remember talking to you,  as youre offering them a special service;  candidates dont deal with a hundred recruiters in the same way that recruiters deal with hundreds of candidates. If you dont remember them in return, youre likely to disgruntle them and potentially lose their business, because of failing to build a genuine rapport. 3.  Spelling errors Writing down names incorrectly is risky always check this carefully! Computer software systems may be excellent at storing and sorting information, but they are not forgiving of grammatical errors! Bad spelling means your searches wont return the correct results, and you will lose people inside your CRM system.  Failing to correctly take down information also puts you at risk of submitting a candidate to a role under an incorrectly spelt name, or letting those errors seep through into letters, contracts and emails, which can make absolute mountains out of molehills, and waste you serious time. 4.  Failing to update When you find out a piece of information about someone or something, regardless of whether  its a new piece of contact information, a status update on a process, a change of job or a change of last name, updating the admin  should happen immediately.  Failing to keep information up to date means youll miss things, and slowly lose control of your network and whats going on around you. Youll always be a few steps behind everybody else, and youll waste time by covering your old ground because youve forgotten youve already been there and done that! 5.  Clueless coding CRM systems are built with excellent algorithms which allow specific search terms to sift through hundreds of thousands of profiles, and bring about the people who are  best  suited for whatever it is you need. If you dont fill in all of the fields when uploading a new contact, leaving locations, salary brackets, company or job titles blank your searches will be extremely ineffective and you will no doubt miss out on placements because of it. The people you really should be speaking to will slip through the cracks because they wont appear in any of your searches they might as well not even be in your system! 6. Rubbish  reminders Just because a contact, candidate or client isnt of use to you right now, doesnt mean they wont make you money in the future. Leaving a note with not interested next to someones name in the system without a task to follow up with them at some stage in the future is as ineffective as using a dead fish to paint your nails. The key to good admin is to do it THEN AND THERE! If you dont do it quickly, itll never happen and youll lose time and money as a result. Happy admin-ing! Image: Shutterstock

Graduate Puts £500 ($812) Billboard Ad in London Asking For A Job

Graduate Puts £500 ($812) Billboard Ad in London Asking For A Job By now, he is famous all over Twitter and has also been interviewed for BBC 5Live. But this is a classic case of fantastic use of social media, creativity and some investment in  job searching. Adam Pacitti  graduated in 2012 from the University of Winchester with a First Class BA (Hons) in Media Production. He has been looking for a job since then. Adam is currently looking for a job in Media, but till the age of nine he wanted to be a professional wrestler. On 2nd Jan 2013 Adam tweeted billboard is up in london. please retweet this and help me find a job. twitter.com/adampacitti/st… â€" Adam Pacitti (@adampacitti) January 2, 2013 His tweet accompanied by the image has received 6200+ retweets and 520+ favourites. He has received unprecedented support from the world of social media, particularly on Twitter. The idea of having a billboard ad seems straight out of a movie, but the true potential was reached through social media. Adam Pacitti has also got his own #hireme type website employadam.com. Employadam.com has more information about Adam Pacitti  and his video CVs. You should really watch Adam Pacittis video CVs and decide if it will impress the bosses at media organisations or not. Evaluating Adam Pacittis Billboard Method Adam Pacitti has done the right thing by being creative with his job search. He has his own website Employadam.com  and has provided his information and credentials on there. It still has to be noted that his rise to fame isnt the billboard ad, it is his use of social media, mainly Twitter. Adam Pacitti had his billboard ad RTd 6200+ times, nationally in the UK and internationally, too. You know, this reinforces the fact that social media is an increasing factor in graduates job search. OK, he is looking for a job in Media, so by default social media has to be top of the list for him. One thing Adam Pacitti has done perfectly is keeping his billboard ad simple and to the point. Same is the case with his tweet. Being precise and not overacting is the key to getting people supporting your cause and Twitterites have responded to his call for support! There are some nay-sayers on social media for the method Adam Pacitti has taken, but that is expected! Especially since not all professional fields can benefit from the use of social media and creative marketing ways. One thing is for sure, an oil and gas company in Aberdeen will not hire Adam Pacitti and he does not want to go there, so it is important to understand that use of creativity and social media in your job search should be  proportional  to your field. Good Luck to Adam Pacitti We  genuinely wish Adam Pacitti good luck in his job search and hope he gets back to us on our request for an interview ?? . Support his cause and RT his tweet. You can also show support by sharing this article and providing your view in the comments below. Do you think it is worth conducting such a campaign and would you do it? How would this affect your career once you get a job? 19

The Future of Your Personal eBrand is a URL - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

The Future of Your Personal eBrand is a URL - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yv9VQXTHmwY] Subscribe to my podcast series The future Im still holding onto my future prediction that instead of a resume, video resume, cover letter, portfolio, paper business card, and references document, your personal eBrand will exist as a single URL. You wont be able to toss 10 different URLs to hiring managers because they dont have time to make sense of them. In your world of personal branding, you see all of these websites and blogs as assets, and I couldnt agree more. In the future, you will need to compile, centralize and store these elements into a master website (yourname.com). The future is all about consolidation of social networks and seamless integration across websites. Also, there will be heavy emphasis on mobile computing, where someone will be able to conduct a background check on you from anywhere. One URL will tell your complete story. Now is not the time When I speak about this future prediction, Im thinking a minimum of 10 years in the future because HR databases are still present and social media (despite our bubble) is still in infancy, just like personal branding. Whether its a corporate or job board database, they collect similar information from you, such as work experience, education, etc. Basically, this is the information that is included within a resume. Over time, social media will force these companies to undergo a metamorphasis. First, they will open up their boards. Second, they will capture different content, such as video resumes and finally, they will realize that with a single URL, one can experience an entire candidate. For one, there is not enough comfort around a single URL representing an individual or applicant. Also, believe it or not, only a small percentage of the population has registered theirname.com (domain name). Where this gets tricky is that everyone in the world would have to have their domain name, yet people share the same name. I get a lot of emails asking me about how to choose the proper domain name, despite some being taken. Try using either your middle name, middle initial, nickname or pick a concept and then tie your name to it in the title (in the description as well). The new HR database (In the year 2020) How to prepare for the future 1) Purchase yourname.com 2) Start a blog, either on yourname.com or yourtopic.com 3) Register your blog on Technorati.com 4) Write byline articles for online websites and guest posts for blogs 5) Become a personal PR person and pitch your story to media 6) Use Twitter and email to build deeper relationships 7) Create a website summary of your personal eBrand, which includes all of the above 8 ) Use that URL on all your promotional material moving forward The future is never certain, but by preparing today you will be best equipped for confronting the future.

A Day in the Life of a Recruitment Consultant

A Day in the Life of a Recruitment Consultant Last month I had the opportunity to take part in a training course given to our recruitment consultants. Whilst not a consultant myself, I found the experience to be both fascinating and highly valuable. It covered everything from questioning techniques to the psychology of negotiation and it really helped me to appreciate exactly what a consultant at Newman Stewart encounters every day. The course was both informative and  interactive, with a combination of written material, discussions and role-plays  (something I was personally a little nervous about). Whilst some aspects of the  training were less applicable for an administrator, there were many elements  which I have found extremely helpful, from what to look for in a CV and advert  writing, through to calling potential candidates when headhunting. There?s always more to an  iceberg beneath the surface: From a purely administrative point of  view, a large part of my knowledge about the day of a recruiter came from  emails asking me to organise an interview and add things to diaries. Whilst I  knew plenty of hard-work went on behind the scenes, I did not quite appreciate  the full extent of exactly what our recruitment consultants do. Take, for  example, an internal interview. Simply sitting in front of a candidate and  asking them a few questions about their career barely touches the surface of  conducting an interview. Consciously questioning someone using different  techniques takes a great deal of skill. As does observing minute changes in  body language, facial expression and tone. An interview over the phone, or a  conversation with a client over the phone, is completely different to a  face-to-face meeting. Before the interview, I was aware of my part of the  process: I send a confirmation email (sometimes having arranged the time for  the interview to take place as well), add the event to the diary and print out  the CV for the consultant. After the interview I scan the interview notes and  add them to the candidate?s file on our database. But again, there is more to  this process than meets the eye. The consultant has to find candidates for the  role, get in contact and ascertain interest, conduct the interview, write up  notes, compare candidates to the brief, sell the candidate to the client or  decide that they are not suitable, and then there?s the external interview  process! How can I help? Other than appreciate the time  constraints consultants? encounter, knowing the process involved in recruitment  has been extremely useful with regards to administration. It?s helped me  appreciate the importance of keeping track of the roles the consultants are  working on, meaning I can provide more support and lessen the administrative  work the consultants might be doing. For example, I can help with searches for  a role, provide a consultant with CVs and book those candidates in for  interviews. By keeping track of candidates who have recently been interviewed I  can ensure the shortlists for roles are kept up to date, making it easier for  consultants to provide information to their clients. Keeping an up-to-date  database means that consultants can search for appropriate candidates from our  own sources, rather than relying solely on job-boards when looking for active  candidates. Whos afraid of the big bad phone? I will admit there are some aspects to  the training course I was initially slightly less eager to experience. Namely  role-playing. Despite acting a lot at University and being a founding member of  an improvisation society whilst there, I can?t say I am particularly adept at  improvising, nor am I confident acting in front of people I work with. But as  it turns out it?s less about acting and more about demonstrating how you  approach a given situation. And it was extremely helpful. I may not be a  recruiter, but there are aspects of my job that rely on me picking up a phone  and calling people, usually people to whom I have never spoken. That said, I  can quite openly admit to suffering from phone phobia. Not very useful in an  administrator. By role playing every possible scenario I would encounter during  a particular phone conversation, I was able to analyse what it was that I was  afraid of, what I was doing well and what I could do better. And it was  surprisingly easy to do in front of my colleagues, I?d even say it was helpful  to do with them there as they were able to provide feedback. Since the training  I? have made a lot more calls and even thrown myself into it. I?m still a bit  nervous, but measurably better at it.  So despite the training sessions being  for the consultants, from a non-consulting point of view I can easily say that  my knowledge about recruitment as a whole, about our company, and about my role  within it are vastly improved. My message from this, other than to appreciate  the value of role-playing within training, is that training is invaluable. If a  training course is led well, as this one clearly was, it can teach not only  those it is initially geared towards, but also those supporting them. RELATED: Are Recruiters Hiding Behind Social Media?

A New Kind of Employee-The Digital Nomad CareerMetis.com

A New Kind of Employee-The Digital Nomad What in the world is a digital nomad?Many in the business world aren’t sure what this phrase means. Terms like “telecommuter” or “remote worker” are more common.evalEssentially, they all mean the same thing: someone who does their job online When generating resources, later known as employment, became location-dependent, people increasingly migrated toward larger cities, where the majority of jobs were.So why does this trend seem to be reversing itself? It’s due to another pivotal advance in technology. The internet and cloud computing have enabled increased productivity, communication, and collaboration around the world, from buzzing metropolises to rural landscapes.People in some of the most remote mountain tops Digital nomads choose this type of work for many reasons, but chief among them is freedom.Better Personal LifeevalWhile the stereotypical digital nomad is a young, single professional, this lifestyle can suit just about anyone, and professionals in many industri es are increasingly choosing the flexibility of telecommuting.Working from a home office allows them to spend more time with family â€" gathering around the kitchen table instead of the office water cooler throughout the day, for example.Time and Money SavingsThe average daily commute in Canada is 29 minutes each way. That’s an hour per day and can total 260 hours per year. With increasing costs for gas and vehicle maintenance, that commute costs even more. Telecommuters can reduce or eliminate those expenses.Flexible HoursOften, remote positions come with the added benefit of flexible hours. This allows employees to get to doctor’s appointments or attend events with their children.Some companies allow remote workers to work the hours that are most productive for them, instead of forcing early hours on a night owl, for example. If they travel, digital nomads who work flexible hours don’t have to worry about shifting their sleep schedules in order to work hours in specific time zones.Another option for those who work remotely is to work the same hours as their co-workers Lower Overhead CostsevalThe most game-changing benefit for companies with remote employees is the reduction in overhead costs. Not having to rent, maintain, or buy office space for additional employees can save companies a large amount each month, depending on the size of your business.Those companies that require some in-office work or hours still capture some of this benefit by renting smaller offices or by saving on other bills, such as electricity and supplies, on days employees work from home.Increased ProductivityIt’s a common misconception that a company’s productivity will plummet when it allows workers to telecommute. In fact, “over two-thirdsof employers report increased productivity among their telecommuters.”More Time WorkingRemote workers generally spend more time working than other employees. They take fewer breaks, often opt to work even when sick, and have lower tu rnover rates.evalFewer DistractionsAccording to CareerBuilder, three out of the top 10 biggest distractionsfor employees are co-workers dropping by, noisy coworkers, and just plain sitting in a cubicle. These aren’t issues when working remotely.Efficient CommunicationInstead of standing around the water cooler or stepping into a manager’s office every time there’s a question, digital nomads often consolidate their communications into an email or two each day.Internal chat featuresand messaging also help teams keep in touch instantly from across the room or across time zones. Additionally, team meetings can be conducted via quick video chats each morning or week, instead of at an hour-long meeting in the conference room.Engaged EmployeesMore and more of today’s workforce seeks the freedom of location-independent jobs. Savvy employers who want to continue to capture top talent strive to accommodate the digital nomad lifestyle.Higher MoraleBetween improved work-life balance, op portunities to travel, and the potential for more family time, employers are seeing higher morale among the employees who can work remotely. Digital nomads are often less stressed than in-office workers.Furthermore, employees who work more independently also take more responsibility for projects and care more about their success. According to one study, remote workersare happier, feel more valued, and feel more productive than their in-office counterparts.Well-Rounded EmployeesDigital nomads who have settled into the lifestyle often make better employees. Even the most hands-on management style requires a virtual employee to take initiative and responsibility.They need to excel at time management, stay focused, and learn to use new technologies with ease.These are skills that are essential for management positions in any industry, so remote work can give employees the experience they need to move up in your company.Accommodating NomadsIt’s now relatively common for employers to ha ve entire teams work remotely full-time â€" more than twiceas common as a decade ago.FlexJobs reports that half of the employees have jobs that are compatible with working remotely, particularly in fields such as marketing, IT, human resources, education, health, and law.Still, many companies hold back when it comes to allowing telecommuting. Employers cite concerns over productivity and a lack of trust when it comes to time tracking.The truth is, many of these concerns are unfounded for employers that shift their mindset and adopt technologies that help them manage remote workers.With a growing nomadic trend and a long list of employer benefits, many companies are making changes to attract this wave of remote workers.Thinking DifferentlyThe same principles of management, such as support, communication, and setting and enforcing expectations are applicable to both in-office and telecommuting employees.It’s how managers go about accomplishing these tasks that change when managing d igital nomads. Instead of having in-person weekly team meetings or walking down the hall to chat with an employee, savvy managers have “face-to-face” meetings over the web.Productivity and time tracking can be challenging. Instead of accounting for every minute of an employee’s time throughout the day, remote managers tend to focus on deliverables.Did the employee hit their deadline?Did they turn in quality work?Did they solve problems before they became issues, support the team, and communicate enough?Employers tend to hire nomads as salaried employees or on a project-based rate. Most digital nomads don’t want managers counting every minute of their time.After all, freedom is the main appeal for a digital nomad, and managers who are overly focused on tracking employees’ time may be viewed as micro-managers.Technology for the Age of Remote WorkingThere are several important tools for managing remote workers. Most of them fall into three main categories: tracking, communica tion, and collaboration.CommunicationCloud-based applications, including CRM platforms, often have a communication feature. Additionally, products such as Slack, Skype, and Google Hangouts allow for phone, video, and chat communication that is quick and easy.TrackingThere’s some debate about how closely a manager should track the time and productivity of remote teams, but there are options for every management style. Simple time-punching products automatically send data to payroll, while more in-depth applications allow employees to attribute hours to specific projects and managers to look at screenshots to help ensure workers stay on task.CollaborationOne of the easiest ways to make collaboration easy, no matter where your team is located, is to use cloud-based products. Their mobile capabilities allow users to access and update the same information, from anywhere, and on any device with an internet connection. This effectively eliminates most productivity bottlenecks that stem f rom not being physically in the office.

What to Do if a Company Asks for Your Facebook Password in a Job Interview - CareerEnlightenment.com

But when Justin Bassett, a statistician based in New York, was asked for his Facebook password he refused. And so should you. Many states are already in the process of introducing legislation against this practice, and if you live in Illinois and or Maryland, such legislation already exists.How to Protect Your Privacy in a Job SearchAs our economy makes its baby steps towards recovery, chances are that fewer people will “need” to find a job that desperately. Assuming your situation is not dire (and it’s probably not, the unemployment rate for people with bachelors degrees or higher is only around 4.5%), here are some responses you can memorize and use in an interview just in case they ask.I take my agreements very seriously. And it is against Facebook’s user policy to share my password with anyone else. I’m going to have to respectfully decline your request.I’m sure your firm has a social media policy. Well, it is my own social media policy to use Facebook for personal re asons. I mean no offense, but I’m going to have to decline.Privacy is a very serious matter for me. Should I be employed with your organization, I would honor private company information just as seriously as I honor my own. Even if this means losing a great opportunity for me, I must refuse your request. And know that if I were presented with a similar situation with your private information, I would respond in the same way.I wouldn’t want to jeopardize your organization’s standing with  OFCCP’s regulations about asking about kids or other protected private matters in the course of an employment decision. Therefore, if you don’t mind, I’d prefer to keep my Facebook profile private. However, should you and I become friendly after my employment, I would have no problem having you in my  network. (Note: please see my post on  how to deal with nosy bosses on Facebook)I will leave you with one final thought. Never forget that Facebook owns your data no matter what â€" and it takes up to seven days for them to remove deleted information from their database.When you use social media you are a publisher. Never forget that. When people complain that they now have to “watch their step” with every post, welcome to reality. That’s the way it always was. And I think these issues are arising precisely because we are all maturing in our use and our understanding of social media.

Have You Used Geo Location Apps On Your Job Search

Have You Used Geo Location Apps On Your Job Search 35 Flares 35 Flares   In the present economy, finding a job that’s ideally suited to your skills can be quite overwhelming, and if you want to take the lead in today’s job market, you might feel that have to keep vigil twenty four hours a day, which as we all know can be a daunting or impossible task. It can be pulled off, however, but only with a little bit of technological assistance, and geo location apps especially could represent your only salvation. By utilizing the GPS technology that has been built in to many of today’s smartphone devices â€"iPhone, Blackberry, Android, geo-location apps enable users to  check in to a location with just a click of a button rather than manually keying in the entire address. Tips and Advice for Using Geo Location Apps in Job Search Geo location smartphone apps help recruiters to source ideal candidates, based on both experience and location, whilst job seekers can apply the technology to access a reliable job listing in their local area. For instance, if a candidate is in search of a retail or restaurant job in a given location, the activity stream of a location feature indicates which retail stores or restaurants are the most popular in the area, thus enhancing the users employment prospects. A smartphone user can also load a company’s geoâ€"location tracker applications onto his or her device, and if the impulse strikes, take a job nearby anytime of the day. Some location tracker apps also include a feature that identifies, firsthand, open jobs on company webpages and matches such opportunities to a job seeker’s location, presenting them too with an online map for easy and efficient use. Top Geo Location Apps to Help Users with Their Employment Quest Job Finder:  Search opportunities from various job sites without having to sign up to them. Job finder makes finding a dream job a breeze, as it offers users the option to enter their preferred city, along with a number of other preferences, like; the type of job, proposed salary, and so on. This app is compatible with smartphone devices such as iPhone and Android. iJobs:  iJobs is a great way to get hundreds of thousands of fresh open jobs delivered direct to your device. It includes a location detector that organises the job listings in order of their distance to your home, and also presents the option to search for jobs based on description, keywords, zip codes, salary, and so on. Arranging your job search on the search list couldn’t possibly be any easier. Craigster:  Craigster (on iPhone or Android) enables users to browse through various job categories as well as bookmark and email certain posts, hence making the job quest a whole lot easier. It also presents the option of marking locations on a map, enhancing the efficiency and user friendly nature of the service. Finally, there are numerous other geo location apps that can assist you in minding your ideal job, based on your skills, qualifications and requirements, such as Job Compass, which Rich mentioned in The 5 iPhone Apps That Every Job Seeker Needs. Most of these apps are either free or cost less than a dollar. For such a small price, thy really can make a huge difference, and in today’s competitive market, it is increasingly important to stay one step ahead of the game.