I had what I thought was a brilliant idea to summarise the main points from our recent Recruitment Directors event. However, it appears that in order to get the most from it you had to be there! I will do my best to share the essence of the afternoon:
Mastermind Sessions
We ran two mastermind sessions; one was a detailed discussion around building a senior management team and the other a swift chat around PSLs.
These were the key shares from the first (thanks to Tom at RIDA group for note taking);
- Growth brings different types of pain at different stages
- Lots of planning is necessary, years in advance if possible
- Families working together can cause problems
- Do bring in non-executive directors to build up team externally
- Wait for around 60 consultants before hiring non-billing managers
- Question of bringing in new staff as managers or developing existing staff? The possibility of resentment from overlooked staff vs the advantages of a new set of eyes in the business.
- Succession planning cannot accommodate all of your existing staff. Any major changes will result in the loss of some staff.
- They highlighted the irony of the common recruiter’s mistrust of R2R. If recruiters don’t believe in hiring external specialist recruiters, why should other HR teams?
On the subject of “working around” PSLs
- PSL’s don’t always necessarily exist, HR can use them as a tool to push recruiters back.
- Best advice is to try and talk directly to senior managers and cut through the system.
- Bypass HR and slowly build a rapport with the senior manager. Make sure it is a friendly relationship and you are not too pushy.
- However one of our groups disagreed entirely and said that bypassing HR could cause resentment there, that would mean unless you were fortunate enough to become friendly with a senior manager, you would be ‘blacklisted’ from that company.
- Here is an article which might be of interest; 7 Tips for Getting Past PSLs
Speaker Presentations
We had three great speaker sessions from recruitment directors talking about their own experiences.
- Jon Dweck of Pod talent talked about how the story of his businesses amazing debt free organic growth (set up with £70k 39 months ago and currently at 20 people) as well as their 100% staff retention for the past 15 months. His attention to detail in busines planning and hiring is amazing and they look like truly a great business to work for and with.
- Martin Anderson of Carrot Pharma talked about how their approach to recruitment is a little different from that of many recruitment agencies. From a great brand and traditional recruitment methods to social media and technologies such as augmented reality and QR codes, they are always searching for the next thing that keeps them up to date and helps them stand out from the crowd. He spoke about their #DistinctlyDifferent campaign (check out their Pinterest page for highlights)
- Nick Broughton is MD of Co-Venture Limited; a specialised Coaching & Selection company that runs the revolutionary SuperGrad Programme. Nick feels strongly about letting go of the outdated sterotypes when building the right recruitment team and why the “you’ve either got it or you’ve not” mentality is utter BS. If you wnt to get a feel for his style check out SuperGrad’s YouTube channel dedicated to the interview process (for candidates).
Despite the pesky tube strike this was one of our best Directors Events. The next one is on the 1st October and you can book early bird tickets now.
