Please no more new year, new career job adverts

I am not one to rant. My blog is me, I am my blog etc. etc. but please everyone, as an industry we can do better than ‘New Year, New Career’ job adverts can’t we? I know it’s tough to write original copy for a decent job ad, you only need to read some of mine in the past to realise how tough I find it to0.

But please, please stop.

You know who you are, don’t make me list all the ads I find here… Get creative, think like a candidate, you WILL get the benefits and it is the originality that will be rewarded.

Rant over. Normal service will return.

If you liked this blog (The Human Face of Recruitment) then you can could have voted for it at the UK Recruiter blog of 2009 competition but it’s closed and I didn’t win – watch this space for the 2010 awards!

To talk more about this or any other people related topic contact Martin Dangerfield either on 0161 955 3647 or email martin.dangerfield@mckinleyresource.com.  As well as being a Regional Director for the IRP, Martin is Director of the innovative search business mckinley|resource, a freelance people consultant specialising in talent attraction, assessment and recruitment and a provider of business coaching for high growth entrepreneurial organisations.

Search for ‘People Consultant’ or go straight to www.martindangerfield.com

Can friends be clients?

I don’t know about you but in my twenty something years of work I have met hundreds of people, some have become friends.  Some have become very good friends, friends I have known for many many years, friends who have been there for me when I need them.  However their very friend nature now stops them from being clients, so how do I maintain the friendship but also get them and their organisations to spend money when I know I can help.

I will pick on one of them.  Sorry Paul, but you’re it! Paul is a director at a global IT Outsourcing business, we met some fifteen or so years ago in a similar global IT outsourcing business and have remained friends ever since.  But Paul struggles with me as a recruiter.  That sounds wrong, it’s not the recruitment part that challenges him more that as a friend we would be having a commercial conversation and that in some way would compromise him and me?

This isn’t some behind the scenes deal, naturally there would be a commercial agreement in place protecting both of us. What it really comes down to is that he cannot disconnect the friend part (better looking, ability to out drink him etc etc.) with the very commercial recruitment professional that I have become.  What I think he forgets is that if I do a bad job I won’t get paid, more importantly if did a bad job then I wouldn’t get more business from him and his organisation and most of all he is my friend and I don’t want to let him down (or any client for that matter, but you know what I mean).

So how to bridge that gap?

Actually for all my talk i’ve not got the answer to that one.  I have tried over the years by gentle nudging, making sure he knows what I do, how I do it, who I do it for but ultimately I think he stills sees the cocky 20 something manager I used to be rather than the people consultant I have become.

So does business and in particular recruitment mix with friends?

Answers on a postcard please?

If you liked this blog (The Human Face of Recruitment) then you can vote for it at the UK Recruiter blog of 2009 competition at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=5I7nj4XcJTnymnXnZYjYzQ_3d_3d

To talk more about this or any other people related topic contact Martin Dangerfield either on 0161 955 3647 or email martin.dangerfield@mckinleyresource.com.  As well as being a Regional Director for the IRP Martin is Director of the innovative search business mckinley|resource, a freelance people consultant specialising in talent attraction, assessment and recruitment and a provider of business coaching for high growth entrepreneurial organisations.

Search for ‘People Consultant’ or go straight to www.martindangerfield.com

Keep looking over your shoulder my friend…

For much of the last year we have all been tracking the recession, trying to second guess where the bounce is going to be.  The recruitment industry plunged off the cliff fairly early on.  In my own business permanent placements almost stopped, partly supplemented by an increase in interim assignments and my personally delivered consultancy but it remains tough and I am working harder than ever to deliver the services my clients want rather than the ones I think they want.  It means I am talking to more people and having more open conversations as at last my potential clients are seeing me as more than just recruitment.

However, I’ve found myself making comparisons with this time last year, this time the year before etc.etc.  I need to move on, stop looking back and look forward but that is  easier said than done and I don’t think I am alone in that.

I say this as I recently received some advice from someone that thinks he knows me.  He half knows me, whilst we have met neither of us remember it.  He recently wrote to me reassuring me that he knows my car (yes I have a car! Green update soon!) and where I live.  He wrote to me at home.

If you are thinking stalker then you could well be right.  For arguments sake lets call him Gary.  That suggests his name isn’t Gary doesn’t it.  Not quite true his name is Gary but let’s pretend it isn’t.

Anyway his advice to me was “Keep looking over your shoulder friend…” which got me thinking.on several levels.  Clearly the first was great Gary has written to me, he shouldn’t have, complete with sinister label on the envelope to add that certain something.  Seriously Gary if you are reading this (and I know that you are) you shouldn’t have.  The letter whilst constituting a direct threat bothers me less.  The threat isn’t new just the means of communication.  No what bothers me is that Gary has decided to follow me, is it just me or is that just ever so slightly weird?

Back on track to how his advice impacts my business.  As I was saying I look backwards and find it really hard to look forwards.  In my consultancy work I get people to look 3 years ahead, creating a vision of what will be, rather than a retrospective view of past performance.  The recession has shaken things up and maybe, just maybe things won’t be the same again.  Certainly it is my belief, and luckily a number of others, that the recruitment industry won’t be the same as it was and that is both good and bad news for us all.

The good news is that i believe the market will be client driven, that they will demand true consultancy at a senior level and an ethical, clean transaction at the volume end of the market.  It will be bad for some businesses that haven’t moved away from the dump 300 CV’s on a client, don’t tell the candidate the CV has gone etc. etc.

But for us all to succeed we need to stop looking back at what was and work to create a new future for ourselves.  Get more collaborative with each other (other industries seem to manage it why can’t we – another blog, another day) and get more involved with clients.

I’m working on my 2010 business plan (more than happy to share once it’s done?!), there are cash-flow challenges and Q1 looks really tough but at least I’m starting clean rather than looking back to what I used to do.  As for Gary?  This latest letter will i’m sure not be the last and looking out my window now and there is something in the bushes… probably just a cat but you never know…

If you liked this blog (The Human Face of Recruitment) then you can vote for it at the UK Recruiter blog of 2009 competition at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=5I7nj4XcJTnymnXnZYjYzQ_3d_3d

To talk more about this or any other people related topic contact Martin Dangerfield either on 0161 955 3647 or email martin.dangerfield@mckinleyresource.com.  As well as being a Regional Director for the IRP Martin is Director of the innovative search business mckinley|resource, a freelance people consultant specialising in talent attraction, assessment and recruitment and a provider of business coaching for high growth entrepreneurial organisations.

Search for ‘People Consultant’ or go straight to www.martindangerfield.com

Grab your talent while it’s hot

Even or maybe because of  the current economic downturn, the demand for talent remains high on the list of organisations’ concerns.  What is often missed is that those organisations that move now, taking advantage of others misfortune are most likely to thrive in any emerging new economy.

In short, now is the time to innovate your recruitment processes, embrace the new and potential ‘game changing’ solutions that will drive your business forward.  The employment market has moved from a scarcity of good candidates last year to a situation where there is an abundance of candidates in a very short space of time.  Those ‘passive’ candidates that people like me would hunt down are sitting tight, waiting for the large redundancy payment or not keen to move to an untested new employer.

So my thoughts… organisations need to take stock now, assess their requirements, look at the potential to invest in candidates that would otherwise not be available in the market but at the same time adjust their recruitment approach to ensure they investing in the wrong areas.

Organisations that invest now can take advantage of the fact there is less competition for that good talent, sure it is more difficult to help candidates make that move but that is where recruitment professionals like me can help.  Investing in my time now will reap dividends when you scale up as we emerge out of recession.

To talk more about this or any other people related topic contact Martin Dangerfield either on 0161 955 3647 or email martin.dangerfield@mckinleyresource.com.  As well as being a Regional Director for the IRP Martin is Director of the innovative search business mckinley|resource, a freelance people consultant specialising in talent attraction, assessment and recruitment and a provider of business coaching for high growth entrepreneurial organisations.

Search for ‘People Consultant’ or go straight to www.martindangerfield.com

 

Will work for coffee…

Depending on how I have worked with you will alter your view point on what you think I actually do for a living?

Primarily I work as an executive recruiter in the EMEA IT, Outsourcing and technology market places.  I have worked with many of the EMEA’s major Outsourcing organisations at a senior level as well as a number of non-IT commercial organisations where technology or change is a key requirement in the management of their business.  I take my recruitment seriously and am proud to contribute to REC as a regional director of the institute of recruitment professionals.

As an adjacent service however, some of you will know me as a people consultant exploring how you assess, develop, train and recruit talent.  Whilst I can do this for any business I am starting to focus on the markets that I know in roles that I understand.  Sales is a big thing for me.  The white paper on how you can create game changing outcomes is almost ready for publication (there will be an update here shortly).

I also work for the NWDA delivering business coaching to a number of high growth entrepreneurial businesses helping to create a business vision, strategies to deliver on that vision and the tools to make it real, tangible and achievable.  So why am I telling you this?

Well I want to meet more people, I want to get a better understanding of you and your business, looking at the people aspects of what you are trying to achieve.  Now in some cases talk of money in these recessionary times puts people off, so to make it easier, let’s meet, we can have a coffee (skinny cappuccino please) and see what comes of it.  The most you have to lose is an hour of your time and the price of the coffee.

To get in touch, call me in the office +44161.955.3647 or email me, martin.dangerfield@mckineyresource.com or you want to see my brochure go to www.martindangerfield.com.

Is it time to licence?

When you think about other professions you think about standards, their governing bodies.  Recently the recruitment industry trade body REC launched their new individual membership proposition the institute of recruitment professionals with some mixed results and feedback.  What has been missed is the bigger picture, membership of a professional body is the start point and my biased opinion a good start point (contact me for membership details) but why stop there, why not take it further and ‘licence’ recruitment consultants.

Now whilst I’m not suggesting for a minute the role of a recruitment consultant is life critical or impacts on society in the same way as a lawyer it does carry far greater responsibility than is generally acknowledged.  But the idea of a licence isn’t new. In medicine for example, a nurse or doctor has to show how they have kept their knowledge up-to-date, something that REC/IRP is also pushing for all but what if we took it to the next level.  The need for a licence before you can recruit?

So if you start with a blank piece of paper and decide to create a programme to licence consultants, where would you start and what would it cover?  For me It’s about structure and standards.  Our profession is based on the commercial realities of the businesses we work in.  My executive search business would be run differently to say a provider of manufacturing temps but the basics are the same, the need for a professional approach, understanding of employment law etc. should be the same.

It also makes sense to me that you can measure capability based on licence qualification, demonstrable experience etc.  But it would be easier for individual consultants to prove they had the knowledge and understanding and some form of log maybe to record continuing professional development (CPD).  It would also allow consultants to demonstrate capability across in-house and external roles and potentially make it easier to move between the two?

I do see the need to make it an active registration approach, the need to re-register every 3 or 5 years, would help to ensure that all consultants keep their practice up-to-date and continue to develop professionally.

So what do you think, good idea or not, what are the pitfalls and given the recent comments about REC who would manage and govern the process?

For more information on IRP go to www.rec-irp.uk.com or contact Martin Dangerfield either on 0161 955 3647 or email martin.dangerfield@mckinleyresource.com.  As well as being a Regional Director for the IRP Martin is Director of the innovative search business mckinley|resource, a freelance people consultant specialising in talent attraction, assessment and recruitment and a provider of business coaching for high growth entrepreneurial organisations.

www.martindangerfield.com

My multipreneur life – how to brand?

Slightly off my ‘core’ recruitment focus but linked in that it is about me and my professional life which I have recently discovered has a name.

Multipreneur.

Whilst this might sound a bit american (and it is?) it does describe my new working outlook.  I own the innovative executive search and recruitment business mckinley|resource, I am a business coach for the NWDA high growth programme, I provide job search advice as part of the job centre plus and last but not least I provide interim recruitment services for corporate organisations.

This multi-faceted DNA has always been at the heart of my work life. Throughout my career I have always strived to avoid being pigeonholed and now I am carving out a unique role as a business juggler, keeping several separate yet interlinking activities on the go.  In the main I love it, it works well for me, allows me to collaborate with individuals, SME’s and corporates, making me more rather than less employable as I never lose touch with any one sector or size of business.

However I’m struggling.

Let me be more specific i’m struggling to describe what I do, how I do it in a simple concise way that covers all aspects of my career.

What I would advise any of the businesses or individuals that i work with is to look at their strengths and unite each of the elements of their portfolio under a single unified personal brand.  So in true cobblers shoes style I have started this and begun to develop a brand equity that conveys my value and purpose.

Phase 1 has been the re-launch of www.martindangerfield.com.  That has helped clarify what is in, what is out and what ‘my brand’ could be.  However as we are all aware, branding is more than a website, it’s more about what I stand for, how I deliver the services I do and most importantly why you should engage with me for all your people needs.

So over to you, I need your help, what next?  What logically comes next for you?

Email me at martin.dangerfield@mckinleyresource.com, call me on 0161.955.3647 or get me on Twitter

Standards, Standards, Standards

Slightlly different format as I’ve written my blog for ukrecruiter – the UK recruitment community site www.ukrecruiter.com

http://ukrecruiter.typepad.com/uk_recruiter_blog/2009/09/standards-standards-standards.html

Let me know what you think?

For more information on IRP go to www.rec-irp.uk.com or contact Martin Dangerfield either on 0161 955 3647 or email martin.dangerfield@mckinleyresource.com.  As well as being a Regional Director for the IRP Martin is Director of the search business mckinley|resource, a freelance people consultant specialising in talent attraction, assessment and recruitment and a provider of career and business coaching.

www.martindangerfield.com

Applying the personal training approach to your job search

You might have guessed that i am on a bit of a mission, trying to get the new DWP support for newly unemployed professionals a bit of momentum or at least get more people involved and getting the benefit of some coaching, sharing of information and focus.

The scheme has been running since April but is still not that well known, certainly the job centres I have spoken to don’t refer many people on to it and I would like to see more coming my way as I know I can help them.

Sure enough like all good coaches I’m not going to tell people what to do but help them get there themselves, allowing for the fact we are all individuals and have our own approach to how we do things.  However there are some common elements and I have started to think of the coaching in a similar way to personal trainers in a gym.

Think about how many people sign up to go to the gym each year with the objective of getting fit, or lose weight etc. but find that at the end of the year they haven’t achieved what they set out to do?

Certainly from my personal experience (I have been there) one of the main reasons why I failed is the simple fact that I would go once or twice in a month, when I could find the time but never really build enough continuous momentum to make any significant difference.

Surprise surprise it is exactly the same in any job search.

The key is to have a plan, generate some momentum and maintain that momentum, something that is very tough, especially in this market.  Some people find it easy, having a natural ability and if you are one of those people then great.  You will still need a plan (and I can help you with that) but for most of us it is an approach we need to work at.

As with many thing in life, we need to picture our goal, visualize the end result as well as the milestones that get us there.  Without a realistic goal, with some timescales it becomes much tougher.  Equally important is the role I would play as your coach, giving you a nudge on a regular basis to see where you are with your plan and giving you a slightly hard time if you have done nothing about it.

We all have busy lives but the things we do expand into that time, so we all need to set aside proper time for the job search both in the initial discussion and review and on a daily basis so that we actually do see some progress.  We all spend time on ‘escape’ activities, searching the internet for that elusive new job and whilst some of the time we will come up with something, a lot of the time we won’t as we get diverted by youtube, facebook, twitter etc.  Now all these things can help you find your next job but if they are not part of your plan they are a diversion.

So as well as a plan you need to be good with your time, using it like you would any other hour in your day if you were at work, with the kids, down the pub etc.  Getting a new job today is going to be tough you need to engage and think of the experience as productive, worthwhile even fun!!

Like going to the gym there are days when you just can’t be bothered, that cold wet monday you said you would go for a run.  Well i’m afraid you are going to have to get out of bed, get those shoes on and run, but not on your own I can help.
So putting my money where my mouth is… I can help you if you are a newly unemployed professional – get to your job centre, ask about the programme and then get them to contact me to refer you.  If you aren’t unemployed then I am going to run the same programme but make a charge for it.  How much that charge is will depend on levels of interest and whether I can groups of 6 to 10 into the same location, but think it’s possible.

Email me at martin.dangerfield@mckinleyresource.com and I will send you the flyer for the programme, call me on 0161.955.3647 if you want to talk through the programme and how it could work for you.

Bit of self promotion but with good reason…

OK well this is self promotion but as the title says with good reason.  It’s a tough old world out there right now for job seekers and I want to push the mckinley|resource workshops for newly unemployed professionals that are available free if you are referred to us by your local job centre plus service.

Securing the right job has never been easy. It is also true to say that there are fewer jobs around in these difficult times.  Getting your CV seen and how to make it (and any application) sell you in the best light in such a cluttered market is tough especially now we are in a climate where even getting an interview amongst such huge competition should be celebrated.

As part of the DWP initiative to support professional people get back into work we have developed a one day programme split into two equal halves.  The first part is a workshop with a group of people in a similar postion, but not so many that there is no opportunity to ask questions or get some real value from the experience.

On leaving the workshop chances are that you will have some ‘homework’ to do before coming back for the 2nd part of the programme.  This is a 1 to 1 bespoke coaching session aimed at building upon the areas covered in the workshop but tailored to your individual needs.  The output is an action plan with a focus on the practical and achievable steps needed to implement a successful job search strategy of your own and because we are mckinley|resource we will provide ongoing email and phone support until you are back in work.

Now I know there are people offering this service on a commercial basis, charging something like £250 to £300 per person per day.  We are doing this for free BUT only if you are referred to us by your local job centre plus service.  Whilst we are based in Manchester and have a number of workshops planned up in the North West we can deliver this anywhere in the UK as long as we can get a minimum of 6 people, maximum of 10 in a location for the workshop.

So, as a next step talk to your local job centre plus about how you can be referred onto this free programme and say you want mckinley|resource to deliver the programme for you.  Also get in touch with me, Martin Dangerfield and I will email you a flyer for the programme that goes into more detail.

Contact:
Martin Dangerfield
mckinley|resource

martin.dangerfield@mckinleyresource.com

0161.955.3647