CONTENTS

• My Favourites
• Article One (Recruitment - A Job or a Lifestyle? by Gaynor Lowndes)
• Article Two (Conference Review: AESC – Researchers & Associates Summit by Suzanne Robinson)
• Don't Miss This (REC News Roundup - PR: Sicknote Season Hits Britain)
• Online Recruitment Update (Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites - Louise's UK Recruiter Blog - PR: GAAPweb sign partnership deal with Sift Media - PR: Innovative online tool for recruiter makes publishing jobs easy - PR: ProjectHouse site relaunch - Discussion Board Summary)
• Subscribe/Unsubscribe
• Feedback & Advertising Information

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

My Favourites

A few links for the recruitment industry:

http://www.bornpodcast.com/ - News and information site dedicated to the online recruitment industry

http://www.rec.uk.com - The main recruitment industry governing body.  Information on professional standards and special interest groups.  Plus a media centre with REC news

http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk - Obviously a great resource for the industry; supplier directory, discussion board, blog, networking events.  Specifically http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/suppliers/resmags.htm - a listing of magazines and publications for recruiters in the UK  

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

Advertisement

Market Leading Recruitment, Talent Management, HR and Payroll Software 

Bond International Software provide human capital management software solutions for corporations and recruitment companies of all sizes. Our industry standard products include Bond Adapt, Talent, HR and Pay. 

Bond Adapt is designed specifically for recruitment organisations and is recognised as the world’s leading platform and database independent, multi-lingual recruitment solution, meeting the needs of the entire industry. Adapt is fully configurable to clients’ specific requirements and is used by over 100,000 staffing professionals across 42 countries. 

For more information contact us on 01903 707070 or sales@bond.co.uk

Article One: Recruitment - A Job or a Lifestyle? by Gaynor Lowndes

As a trainer, having worked with the great, the good, the bad and the downright hopeless teams, I often get asked this question by agency managers and team leaders: “What do you think is the fundamental secret to a truly great team of consultants?” My answer is simple: The level of passion within the consultants is the deciding factor. Are they just “doing their job,” or is there a far greater commitment to and passion for their work?

Whenever I conduct an in-house workshop, I make the statement that “Recruitment is not a job… it is a lifestyle,” and many consultants sit in stunned, puzzled silence, some even scoff. This does not necessarily mean that they are sub-par consultants with bad attitudes towards their work; they are often the solid, skilled recruiters who simply see their jobs as just that… jobs.

And this is the problem. So many managers and team leaders employ consultants because they appear to have potential, skill and an “enjoyment” of the profession. I urge you to understand that these traits are nowhere near enough to help make your team great.

The employee who has a genuine passion for what they do, will be an asset to their team, and to their company. The same is true of any profession or industry, but this fact has a special significance to recruitment. Recruitment cannot be considered a 9 till 5 job. Candidate management and client relationship-building go far outside the realms of a standard working day. I have trained so many consultants who are quite literally disgusted when they are required to make a “counselling” call to a candidate in the evening, or when they have to make a client visit after-hours, because the decision-maker didn’t have time to meet with them during the day. 

These are the same consultants who work diligently during the day, but simply don’t understand the greater commitment involved in a profession such as this. I was surprised when a team leader I trained told me this: “My consultants work from 8 till 5 (already longer hours than most people) and they meet their KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) each week… isn’t that enough?”

Certainly not, if you want to have a team of truly great consultants. What if the team leader’s attitude was more like this: “My consultants work from 8 till 6 officially (but some of them start at 7, in order to make the most of the day, and work later for the sake of their time-starved candidates and clients). They don’t meet their KPI’s, they exceed them. And best of all, each of them realise that they still have so much room for improvement!”

When discussing this with trainees, many of them state their belief that it is quality, not quantity, that matters when it comes to the issue of service. That is, they tell me that “it’s not about the amount of time you spend on your clients or candidates, it’s about the quality of the service you provide them with.” 

Quality and quantity are both essential factors for success in any area, and I have never understood why many people believe that the former is more important than the latter. After all, what good is quality service, if no quantity of time is spent on it? What good is your quality service to a candidate or client, if you are not willing to put in the additional time to provide them with that quality service?

When I run workshops for managers and team leaders, one of the key discussion topics is value-adds – “What can my team of consultants give their candidates and clients to take their service that extra mile?” The usual ideas of chocolates, flowers and other gifts are pulled out (and they are good ideas), but I remind the group that the greatest gift they can give is their most important asset as working professionals; their time. And which of their consultants will dedicate their time to candidates and clients, even if this requires after-hours or weekend commitment? The answer is simple; those with a passion for their profession, rather than those who simply see their work as a way to “pay the bills.” 

If you are a team leader, I urge you to lead your team with an emphasis on recruitment as a lifestyle. Am I suggesting that you and your consultants should have no life outside of work? Absolutely not! I am simply stating a fact. If you are passionate enough to go the extra mile you will get results. Some of your consultants will not be able to cope with this greater commitment and will resign. Don’t be concerned about this, instead be glad, because this gives you an opportunity to replace those “9 till 5” consultants with people who have true passion and commitment in their work. Those who resigned were doing nothing but holding your team back.

As a team leader or manager, simply ask yourself, “do I want a good team, or a great team?” Jim Collins tells us that “Good is the enemy of Great,” because “Good” creates a complacency that stifles passion and improvement, whereas “Great” acknowledges and fulfils the concept of “going the extra mile, because I truly love what I do!” 

Remember, nothing is more profitable than a team of professionals who truly love what they do! 

Gaynor Lowndes, the Managing Director of The Recruitment Training Company, has over 18 years recruitment experience, gained in both Australia and the UK. If you liked this article, consider Gaynor’s highly successful book “The Art of Recruitment”. Visit www.trtc.com.au to place your order.

Advertisement

Not just a FREE TRIAL - It's next month's placements! We will even help you search our database of over 550,000 live CVs! 

To access your free fully account managed trial just visit http://www.cv-library.co.uk/trial or call 01252 810995 and we'll set you up straight away. 

Once you have finished your fully managed FREE TRIAL you will then have the option to subscribe to our excellent value package, which gives you full access to our CV Database, watchdog filters, company profile, Branded vacancies with your banner and we will also circulate them onto 14 other job search portals! 

For more information visit http://www.cv-library.co.uk/trial or contact us directly on 01252 810995 or sales@cv-library.co.uk 
 

Article Two: Conference Review: AESC – Researchers & Associates Summit by Suzanne Robinson

This year’s AESC (Association of Executive Search Consultants) conference was held in the Imperial War Museum; showcasing many military artefacts and bustling with lively groups of students and visitors viewing the splendid visual displays.

The conference had a good International representation, including over 100 researchers from Europe, Americas and Australasia. 

Peter Felix – President of AESC in New York gave the Summit Welcome. Throughout the day’s agenda we shared further insight from prominent figures in the Search & Research industry. Sponsors included The Cluen Corporation, Dow Jones & Company, Executive Grapevine International Limited, The Executive Tree, Hunt-Scanlon Corporation, Kroll, TheLadders, Phoenix Executive, Speak First, Talent Technology, and ZoomInfo. Here is my precis of a number of the presentations from the day:

ZoomInfo product demonstration made by Tad Goltra, VP & GM Recruiting Market, Boston, USA (www.zoominfo.com)
· ZoomInfo is a Business Information Search Engine used to quickly find information related to industries, companies, people, products and services. 
· It currently provides access to 38 million people, 3.5 million companies, and is used by recruiters to both locate top talent in any industry and to reduce sourcing-time. 
· It has the ability to export data into almost any Applicant Tracking System or Customer Relationship Management system. 
· The search engine is moving towards nightly profile updates. 
· The company have a strategic partnership with XING, thereby further increasing profiles. 

“Sourcing and Qualifying Skills” presented by Rachel Roche, CEO Smart Search, USA (www.smartsearchtraining.com)
Rachael designs search-skills’ programmes and enjoyably engaged us in an effective, inter-active 1-hour workshop: “The X-factor – The Search for a New Judge”. Using the well-known TV music talent show to illustrate a fictitious scenario of one of the judges moving on, the formidable Simon Cowell, we had the daunting challenge of ‘conference audience role-play’ to scope finding another high-profile judge! Rachel fictitiously chose Gordon Ramsay as a strategic starting call, followed by Elton John and then Brian Eno. 

Various real-world sourcing issues were raised:
· Think consciously about how we address names – business: Mr/s or first name.
· Research contact name before calling (eg by using using Zoominfo)
· Decide whether you need to conceal client’s name, and whether you need to be secretive.
· Perhaps focus conversation with contact name on something about them; perhaps offer a future contact call. 
· Find out what opportunity factors would be enticing to make them move, get people to talk about their strengths. 
· If asked ‘what does it pay?’ answers could be such as ‘we don’t know yet’, or, ‘very early in the process’, or, ‘help me understand where you are’. 
· Mention ‘location’ later in conversation. 
· Need to get candidates to understand they have to get past us, before client contact.
· To be successful will depend upon a combination of how qualified they are, and how interested they are in the role.

The Ladders product demonstration: Alex Douzet (www.theladders.co.uk)
· The Ladders has just been launched in the UK to replicate the very successful US service. Their particular niche is an online career resource for professionals placed at £50,000 salaries and companies looking to recruit them. 
· They attract both active and passive job seekers. 
· They have 9 skills divisions specifically targeted. 
· They have strategic partnership alliances, such as the Wall Street Journal, and 30% - 40% profiles are from referrals.
· For the moment their online service is free to both candidates and recruiters. 

“The Future of Research” - panel discussion made up of Caroline Mills (most recently Regional Research Coordinator for Europe and Asia, A.T.Kearney and now own business), Karen Blakeman (trainer and information consultant), Vera Klaus (Partner Phoenix Executive, International Research), Jill Fenton (business researcher at Fenton Research) and David Howells (researcher at The Curzon Partnership) 

The topics discussed included:
· The internet; the quality of information on the internet, checking internet data validity, the use of internet v. traditional methods regarding obtaining the best results. When using the internet keep to the 5 minute rule or risk ‘wilfing’ (what was it I was looking for?)
· How can a researcher stay on top? – various awareness tools were mentioned: Newspapers and newsfeeds from www.newsgator.com. Tales from the Terminal Room (www.rba.co.uk/tfttr), UK Recruiter (www.ukrecruiter.co.uk) including links to Louise’s blog, US based AIRS (www.airsdirectory.com), Factiva ‘Companies and Executives’ from Dow Jones (www.factiva.com)
· The future of generalists v specialists? How specialists are more affected by “off-limits” agreements, that clients expect a great depth of specialist understanding.
· 60% global companies have own in-house headhunting.

“Knowledge Hunt” interactive quiz-game. Sponsored by Kroll (www.kroll.com)
Various clues were given to each ‘audience table’ forming competitive teams.
The games loosely related to Imperial War Museum and clue-solving necessitated team members working together and using various research skills, with the winning team receiving Ipod Nanos.

The final session of the day was a panel entitled “Consultant’s view of: what makes an outstanding researcher?”. The panel was made up from senior recruiters from Korn/Ferry International, Odgers, Ray & Berndtson, Neumann International, Russell Reynolds and Heidrick & Struggles

The topics and summary of discussion was 
i) - The consultant is the researchers’ client
ii) - The researchers role is business development
iii) - Measuring the success of the researcher

This was a fast paced and interesting session. Whilst there was universal agreement that all researchers should be blessed with exemplary interpersonal skills, there were also some variations depending on the ‘culture’ and ‘offering’ from the search company. This could be the ability to produce detailed Industry Analysis and Competitor Analysis reports to support an assignment; participating in a ‘pitch’, or phoning your consultant when you hear of ‘moves’ so as to be ahead of the curve to chase the business etc. There were some piercing questions also received by the panel, such as, “Would you ever give research to offshore companies?” and “What typically is the capacity of searches, researchers are expected to work on?” 

At the end of the conference the presentation of AESC Researchers Award for Excellence and professionalism in research was awarded to Carole O’Driscoll of Russell Reynolds. She was commended for personal attributes, including recruiting other researchers and being their coach and mentor; and for playing a strategic role in company’s global knowledge management capability. 

After the conference there was a pleasant hour or two spent socially, at a nearby Bar with wine and canapés, courtesy of the AESC. This was a further chance to network with colleagues and to feel re-energised after such a research knowledge-intoxicating day!

It might have been insightful to have discussed further the plethora of technology advances and how the benefits of these are being taken up . Not wanting to get left behind, I think many researchers would welcome a ‘continuous improvement’ topic with hands-on knowledge of ‘results formulae’! Overall the conference touched on many areas so there was probably something for everyone, and for next year I’ll want to play for some i-phones!

Suzanne Robinson (FREC) has over 20 years recruitment industry experience spanning contingency, search & selection, and executive search. Her company currently focuses on International Appointments and HCM services and she can be contacted on sr@izatu.com or 07041 514171.

Advertisement

AlljobsUK.com will announce the winners of the seventh National Online Recruitment Awards (NORAs) on Monday 29th October

We have received over 41,000 nominations this year, for 504 separate sites. These were reduced to finalists for the 10 awards, which are then scored by our distinguished panel of judges. The awards recognise the continuing achievement in online recruitment by not only Job Boards, but also traditional recruitment firms, employers, national and industry publications. We have a new award this year, which will recognise the Best Innovation in Online Recruitment. 

For more information please contact Stephen O’Donnell, stephen@alljobsUK.com 0870 7460400.

Don't Miss This (sponsored by http://www.alljobsUK.com "The UK’s Jobs Portal")

REC News Roundup
These are links to a selection of press releases the Recruitment Employment Confederation (REC) have produced since the last newsletter was sent.
xc- Domiciliary care in the spotlight at REC conference
- Points based system will not ease skills crisis
- REC calls on members to join campaign on benefits of temporary work
- Agency Workers Bill debate in House of Commons deferred

Press Release: Sicknote Season Hits Britain
“Research from fish4jobs (www.fish4jobs.com), the UK’s largest recruitment website, reveals a staggering 80% of the country’s workforce admit to pulling a ‘sickie’ on a regular basis. In fact, ‘Sicknote Brits’ are particularly prone to faking it at this time of year as the 24th October – 1st November period marks the longest stretch that we work continuously without having a bank holiday to look forward to. The fish4jobs.co.uk survey also highlights the top five reasons that we offer our employers when validating our sickies.” You can see these reasons at Louise’s Blog on HR Circles: www.changeboard.com/hrcircles/blogs/recruitment/ 

This section is sponsored by http://www.alljobsUK.com "The UK’s Jobs Portal"

Online Recruitment Update (sponsored by http://www.broadbean.co.uk for "the UK's favourite job posting system")

Hitwise top 10 Recruitment Sites, week ending 20th October 2007
The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk, www.totaljobs.com, www.jobs.nhs.uk, www.reed.co.uk, www.monster.co.uk, www.jobsite.co.uk, jobs.tes.co.uk, www.linkedin.com, www.s1jobs.com and www.axcis.co.uk. Hitwise don't aggregate data from sites who form part of a network such as fish4.co.uk For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Louise's UK Recruiter blog
Since the last newsletter I've posted the following: 
- New Niche Job Boards
- Global ERE Recruitment Expo 2007
- Interview with a blogger - Mark Hobson
- StaffBytes - New Site for Recruiters, Sourcers & Researchers
- Elevator Pitches and Recruitment
You can read Louise's UK Recruiter blog at http://ukrecruiter.typepad.com  You can keep up to date with other the recruitment blogs from the UK via the UK Recruiter blog watch page at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/blogs.htm.  

Press Release: GAAPweb sign partnership deal with Sift Media 
"GAAPweb, the leading specialist jobsite for finance and accounting professionals, has signed a partnership deal with Sift Media, one of the UK’s leading online business-to-business publishers. The partnership will help to extend GAAPweb’s reach across the finance and accounting recruitment audience, focusing particularly on Sift's well-established AccountingWEB.co.uk, Finance Week and PracticeWEB communities." www.gaapweb.com

Press Release: Innovative online tool for recruiter makes publishing jobs easy
"Recruitment services company Workstation Solutions launched Jobshout in the summer which has taken the market by storm. Designed by recruiters for recruitment agencies it offers the chance for SME’s to compete against larger organisations on the web. It not only gives you a fully searchable and branded job section to your site but also optimises all the job content helping push your website up the rankings in Google. Jobshout also offers recruiters the ability to track where clients and candidates are coming from and what keywords were used on Google to find them. Jobshout is offering a 2 month free trial with no fixed term contract." www.jobshout.co.uk

Press Release: ProjectHouse site relaunch
"Midlands based recruitment software providers ProjectHouse have launched their new website. It offers existing clients faster access to support and communication services, as well as a comprehensive Knowledge Base. Prospective new customers can register for an online demonstration and find out more at www.projecthouse.com"

Discussion Board Summary
Don't forget to visit The Discussion Board. Current topics on the site include:
- Minimum standards from recruitment agency
- Commission Payout Scam
- RPO
- Web Design
- Split Fees - Canada
- Job sites for Secretarial Staff
Any postings you or anyone else makes will be included in the weekly digest. Sign up for the free digest here or hit reply to ask me to include your email address.  It is free to use the discussion board and you don't have to register to view messages. Visit the site, ask questions and share your knowledge

This section is sponsored by http://www.broadbean.co.uk; "the UK's favourite job posting system".

Subscribe

Don't forget to let your colleagues know about this newsletter. Anyone can subscribe - it's completely free of charge - all they need to do to receive their own copy of the ukrecruiter newsletter is complete our simple form 

Unsubscribe

To unsubscribe from the ukrecruiter newsletter please reply to this message with the subject line "unsubscribe".

Feedback

Please feel free to email me your comments on the newsletter: the sort of articles you like, the sort you don't read, new features you'd like to see, etc.  Feedback from everyone is always welcome!  

Advertising

If you are interested in advertising a product, service or internet site in the newsletter please contact me by email

If you want see back issues of the newsletter visit http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/recnet

NOTE: This newsletter may be copied and distributed free of charge in its entirety. Individual sections may NOT be copied or distributed without the prior written agreement of louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk.

Copyright (c) 2007, UK Recruiter Ltd