Oh… for Christ’s sake!

Firstly, apologies if I offended anyone with the title… but I didn’t want to drop the ‘F’ bomb, so you got stuck with the “PG’ version… and now, on to the post!

Seriously… I just had a candidate tell me she… or he… didn’t need me to help her… or him… uncover their next opportunity… ahhhh Wrong!

In his… or her… own words… he… or she… said.

‘Craig, I’m not sure you know your market that well. I’ve been a recruiter for over 3 years and my network is very deep. In fact I probably know more people in my niche than you do. I think from here on in I’ll just explore opportunities on my own.’

Let me give a little context before I go on.

This non-gender specific candidate does in fact have 3 years local recruitment experience… well played sir… or madam.

Buuuuuut, in those 3 years they also happen to have had 5 different employers. The longest of which was a 12 month stint in internal. Beginning to slowly nod your head in sympathetic understanding yet?

This candidate may very well have a deep network, buuuuuut if that was the case why did they reach out to me in the first place?

Before we go any further let’s talk about one of those little recruitment secrets…

I know we’re not supposed to talk about it but we all have A, B or C candidates… and we all have A, B or C clients. You know the drill… you send your A candidates to your A clients… B to B… and so on… all the way down to C to… funnily enough C.

Oh… let me pause there while any of my clients or candidates reading this begin to ponder where they fit in… ummm… you should know… A’s the lot of you…

So anyway, given this candidate’s background and taking into consideration they did in fact recruit in a high demand niche I had him… or her… pegged as a B- to C+.

I managed to get him… or her… 2 interviews with suitable clients, but he… or she… didn’t cut it.

Too jumpy, unstable billing history and culture risk were the given reasons… which I dutifully feedback to the candidate. I even met him… or her… for a coffee to discuss these challenges in person and give my advice.

Surprisingly, the candidate didn’t really take the feedback on board and projected the blame back to my clients.

The funny thing was I had just discussed her… or him… with Luke and we had agreed that I should call them to tell them we probably weren’t the right people to represent him… or her… to market. Which was what I was going to do when they sacked me… It sucks not getting in first!

‘What is my point?’ you ask.

Fair question is my immediate answer, whilst I ponder a response, (after all, it was a question without fair warning).

Ummmmm… well… I guess my point is that if a recruiter, can’t see the point in working with a recruiter to source their next opportunity… especially a pretty ordinary recruiter… (the candidate… not me…), then you guys must really do it tough with some of your candidates…

I have written posts in the past about sacking clients who won’t work with you… you know what? The absolute same goes for candidates.

Your responsibility is to give accurate feedback, expert advice and match the candidate with relevant and realistic opportunities. If a candidate can’t recognise that you are the expert, and won’t work with you throughout the process… well… then I say sack him… or her.

Only… have the intuitiveness (is that even a word? Well… spell check let it through so must be…), and the guts to do it first… not like me.

Craig Watson

Recruiter Etiquette 101

I was booked on an early flight this morning. Trouble is, I live about an hour or so away from the airport… so that meant a 4:30am start for me. No biggie. I made it with time to spare… and was milling around the gate with other commuters…

It was about 30 minutes before boarding, and then came the dreaded voice over the PA.

‘This is an announcement for passengers on Flight VA809 to Brisbane…’

‘Uh oh.’ I thought.

‘There will be a slight delay in boarding the flight as we are waiting for the First Officer. Our new expected departure time is 7:15am.’

Not so bad… just a 15 minute delay, and hey everyone gets caught in traffic once in their life…

30 minutes later…

‘This is an announcement for passengers on Flight VA809 to Brisbane…’

‘Uh oh.’ I thought… again.

‘We are still waiting for our First Officer. Our new departure time will be 8am.’

‘You are effing kidding me!’ I thought.

‘You are effing kidding me?’ The lady sporting the Louis Vuitton carry-on next to me complained.

OK, so now we are an hour late. I quickly email my client in Brisbane that I may be a little late for our meeting. Update Twitter™ with my sorry tale and grab a newspaper…

‘This is an announcement for passengers on Flight VA809 to Brisbane…’

‘Uh oh.’ I thought. Are you seeing the pattern?

‘Due to a crew change we have a new expected departure time of 8:45am. Please stay close to the departure gate for further announcements…’

Riiiight… a crew change… Read old mate First Officer is so hung over he failed the pre-boarding breathalyser…

I hate to think what the lady sporting the Luis Vuitton carry-on was saying now… Wait a minute… I can hear her from over the other side of the departure lounge…

‘90 effing minute delay and not even an effing apology! Think they would’ve held up the effing plane if I was late?! This is an effing disgrace! I want to speak to someone in charge! NOW!!!’

Fair play to her I say. I mean, we all made the effort to get here ahead of time… we were prepared… we were patient about the first delay… even the second… to an extent… not so much the third. But the point is there was no apology whatsoever… and only 3 updates in 90 minutes.

I’m sorry, but that is shit customer service.

Which segues me beautifully into today’s post. I have read countless blogs on tardy candidates… hell I’ve written a couple, but let’s just for today hold up the mirror to our ourselves…

Put your hand up if you have never kept a candidate waiting in reception. Not you Luke… I know you’re perfect… and no… there’s no prize… But seriously, it’s just common decency isn’t it?

After all, we’re asking our candidates to come and meet us in an environment totally alien and intimidating to them. We expect a level of preparation, promptness, and an appropriate appearance. We are going to ask them uncomfortable questions about their work history, skills, personality and motivation. We are going to appraise them in a very short space of time on their suitability to what may very well be their dream job… it’s bloody scary… just like flying.

When was the last time you were a candidate? Remember the nervousness, the concern about your coffee breath, the sweaty palms – that no matter how many times you rubbed them on your pants – they got sweatier? (PS. my word of the week is sweatier… see how you can fashion it into a conversation with colleagues, bosses, strangers… go.).

You absolutely dreaded the interviewer coming, because you didn’t want to shake hands with sweaty palms that were only becoming sweatier (see I used it again…), and being judged. Not nice is it?

So, my very simple piece of advice to all recruiters is:

Don’t be an arse. Don’t keep your candidates waiting in reception… It’s not cool… it’s rude. Get the interview off to a great start. Help the candidate feel comfortable… not angry. And if for any reason you are held up, offer a sincere apology.

Unlike @VirginAustralia whoops… did I say that out loud?

Craig Watson

 

Recruiters… maybe my hips do… but the stats don’t lie…

So… we’re all sick of being told how crap we are right? Next to politicians and Lindsay Lohan… and maybe the Bieber, recruiters are right up there at getting a pretty universal bad rap…

I hate it… I hate the fact that a very small percentage of bad recruiters spoil it for the rest of us… I include me in the ‘us’, but you can make up your own mind…

You see those bad recruiters have a very loud voice. Like the NRA in the States… or Malfoy in Snape’s potions class… or Miley Cirus at the VMA’s. They kinda drown out the good stuff. But that’s ok. It just means that the silent majority need a voice… and I want to provide it… partly because I’m running out of blog ideas, but mainly because I think it’s important to promote good news stories for our industry.

Sure we’ll get the usual suspects attempting to knock us down… (you’ll find those negative Nellies in the comments section… too lazy to write their own blog… too cynical to accept that maybe… just maybe recruiters offer a valuable and positive experience… and too caught up in their own ego to be gracious… whack).

Anyway, I’m prepared to open up our blog (probably should have run this one past Luke first… sorry mate!), to those of you out there who have changed a life, provided a client with a solution that changed their business… or have used your recruitment skills to benefit the community… here is your chance. Feel free to leave your stories in the comments section… or email me craig@watsoncollard.com.au.

Over the next 6 months I will be reaching out to some of you and carefully packaging your stories (in my own little style), into some positive blog posts!

Take that Haters!

On another note, I wanted to share with you some of the statistics and trends we have collected in our Consultant Census. With over 1000 respondents the data is very telling and gives us insight into where the industry is… and where it is going…

I’m actually presenting them tomorrow at the RCSA conference, so here’s a sneak peek!

What are your thoughts on the stats? Agree? Disagree?

Of course this data is very generic, and there are many unique aspects that present around specific sectors…

So… I tell you what… if you want me to produce a set of data relevant to your business and more detailed than above let me know… there is a cost, but it will be worth it!

We’ll be back next week… with a real blog post… Until then send me your feel good stories…

And whilst you are here, check out this months Agency in Focus …if you are looking for a different type of recruitment opportunity this might interest you.

Craig Watson

 

7 Traits of Great Recruiters…

So… you want to be a recruiter… or… you want to be a better recruiter?

Well listen closely my friends…

I speak conservatively to 5 recruitment people a day – Consultants, Managers & Owners. Well I don’t speak conservatively… I conservatively speak… if you get my drift… Geez… how 70’s is that? Drift…

These Consultants, Managers & Owners come from different niches and from different sized companies. That means over the past 5 years I have spoken to in excess of 5,500 recruitment professionals… OK… I may have spoken to a couple of you more than once, but it is still a shit load of recruiters in anyone’s language…

So, you know what? Over the journey I’ve kind of worked out the magic formula… the traits and idiosyncrasies that all of the very best recruiters possess. Forget about the process, your social media coverage and market reach… forget about the number of times you pick up the phone in a day… and forget about your ability (or lack thereof) to update the database and complete reports. *Disclaimer… when I say forget about the above I mean forget about them for the 3 minutes and 42 seconds it takes you to read this blog…

Come along for the ride with me… look at the list below and ‘tick off’ the ones you have… and work on the ones you don’t.

1. Commercial Acumen – To be a great… a truly great recruiter you need to understand business. You need to be aware of the commercials behind your desk. Break-even points. Profitability etc. I’ve banged on about it before in other posts, but it’s key and will help drive other areas like urgency, activity & time management…
2. Passion – You need the fire in the belly! The desire to wake up every day and work your market. Passion feeds you the energy you need… and you need a butt-load (not sure there is a hyphen in butt-load… but… anyway), you need a butt-load of energy to be a successful recruiter. If you don’t have the passion and drive to be successful you need to find it… or get out.
3. Resilience – The best recruiters have this in abundance. The number of things that can… and do… go wrong in a day in the life of a recruiter are many & varied (and I’m putting that nicely). Resilience is a magical trait that allows you to move on from disappointment and tackle the next assignment with the same vigour and positivity.
4. Empathy – Guess what? It’s not all about you. It’s about your candidates and clients… and if you don’t understand their drivers and motivators you just can’t be the best… sorry you can’t.
5. Bull Shit Radar – No hyphen there… you know what? Candidates and Clients lie… not every time… not even most times… It kinda feels like most times, but believe me it’s not… stats show that clients and candidates lie to you about 36.87% of the time… I made that stat up, but I’m tipping I’m pretty close to the mark! Fact is you… yes you… need to be able to sort out the bull shit from the truth. The best recruiters can do this. How’s your Bull Shit Radar?
6. No Fear – Most deals that don’t happen can be avoided. I think I said that backwards… what I meant was… You can avoid most deals falling over… no actually the first time was better… Most deals that don’t happen can be avoided. ‘How?’ I hear you ask… Well funny you should ask, because it’s all about asking questions. If you ask the tough questions early in a process you can control it much… much better. Sometimes the answers aren’t what you want to hear… which is why many recruiters are too scared to ask them… but wouldn’t you want to know a deal is dead in the water early in the process – rather than later? It gives you more time to focus on the real deals. In my opinion (if I was cool I would have said IMO), FEAR or lack of it is one of the absolute must haves for the very best recruiters.
7. X-Factor – Do you have it? What even is it? If you ask Danni Minogue, Redfoo or any of the other judges it’s the ability to juggle flaming samurai swords whilst riding a unicycle and singing Ava Maria. But for me it’s a combination of points 1 to 6 coupled with a knack for getting things done. If you have 1 – 6 you will be a very good recruiter… throw in the x-factor and you become great!

There you have it. My 7 Traits all Great Recruiters Have… If I were really smart I‘d make it into a sexy acronym… say… like… FREXCAPB and make a fortune on the e-book deal… but clearly I’m not.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on what traits or attributes define a great recruiter.

Have I hit the mark… or am I way off? And more importantly… Do you have FREXCAPB? It’s starting to grow on me…

Craig Watson

HR is from Mars… and Recruiters are from Venus…

*Disclaimer… This blog is NOT about ‘in house’ recruitment teams… they are from Uran… I mean… Neptune…

I’m serious. Corporate HR departments and Agency Recruiters have about as much in common as Lance Armstrong & organic, preservative free orange juice… no sorry, that was a bit low… they have about as much in common as Tiger Woods & fidelity… that’s a bit unfair too… they have about as much in common as… ummm… night & day… there that won’t offend anyone.

For years these two camps have tip toed around each other. The agency recruitment industry has been too scared to say what they really think for fear of biting the very hand that feeds them… whilst members of the HR fraternity have developed a bad case of telephonobia (it’s real… look it up on Wikipedia). Too afraid to pick up their desk phone in case it’s another stinkin’ recruiter trying to sell them people they don’t need… for a role they don’t know… in a company they don’t understand…

I’m part of a weekly Twitter™ forum called #ozrec. (Thanks for the invite Hassanah). Last week’s topic was around the HR/Recruiter relationship. What became pretty clear to me is that Recruiters resent HR & HR resents Recruiters… all to the detriment of the candidate.

‘Ladies & Gentlemen… In the red corner… weighing in at 160 pounds and weighed down by KPI’s, bureaucratic red tape & 27 pages of dotted i’s and crossed t’s… we have The Master of the Matrix, The Prince of Process, The Earl of Engagement… The HR Kid… Lionel FitzTheSpec… And in the blue corner… also weighing in at 160 pounds (funny that), and weighed down by Manager’s expectations, financial targets & candidates with 5 opportunities on the go… we have The Sultan of Speed… The Overseer of Opportunity… The Duke of Drive… The Guru of Recruitment… Iva Candidate… Let’s have a fair fight… no low blows…Ding Ding!’

It’s not quite that bad… or is it?… but let’s face it neither side would overly grieve if the other disappeared from the face of the earth… forever.

And why? It’s simple really. Recruiters and HR are looking for the same outcomes… but with totally competing pressures.

During the #ozrec Twitter™ forum there was one tweet that defined the gulf between HR & Recruiters…

‘…I dont like fast track recruitment. I want people who want to work for my company not just a job. said person will wait for process.’

There was an almost audible ‘WTF?!’ from the agency recruitment universe. I’m lucky. I don’t have to deal with HR too often in my niche, so I’ll take one for the team here…

Bottom line is: Recruiters are dealing with candidates who are often entertaining multiple opportunities (well the good ones are anyway). Recruiters need to move quickly. Managing the candidate is often akin to controlling a 7 year old’s sugar addiction in Willy Wonka’s Factory.

HR (and remember I’m not talking about inhouse recruitment teams) – on the other hand – is driven by process. There’s often more stages than the Tour De France & and at the end of the day HR is happy (that’s right happy), to miss out on the best candidate if they don’t fit in with the process.

It’s laughable really.

In my opinion HR & recruitment are pre-determined by genetics to be unable to work effectively together… in my opinion HR should have nothing (or very little) to do with the recruitment process if their business is prepared to engage a third party recruiter. Recruiters should deal directly with the Line Manager. The person who knows who the best candidate for the role will be, and has the pain of needing the best candidate quickly.

Don’t get me wrong. HR has a huge role… A huge role in engagement, retention, defining values, training, performance management… the list goes on… but not recruitment. And particularly not when the process is set up to miss out on the best candidates… but then again that’s how they do things on Mars I hear…

Craig Watson

If I had a dollar for every time a candidate said…

You know it… you’ve been in recruitment long enough to have heard it all before right? In fact, absolutely nothing surprises you anymore… not even when the candidate tells you that their house burnt down… just as they were leaving to go to interview with your client… and they will have to cancel… only to see them check in on Facebook™ 37 minutes later at a beach 2 hours out of town. You shake your head with a frustrated mix of contempt and jealousy. After all, it’s stinking hot outside and you wish you were at the beach, instead of having to call your client who has flown in specifically to meet with your candidate… Ahhhhh a day in the life of a recruiter!

But… what about those excuses, justifications and outright lies that keep on repeating themselves? You know, the ones that you have heard ad nauseam… weekly… since you began your illustrious career in the most noble of professions… The ones where – no doubt – your candidate is smugly high fiving him or herself, nodding in the mirror and whispering ‘God I’m good… I’ve fooled them with that one!’

Well… ummmm… you’re not actually that good. You’re actually a twat who doesn’t have the decency to be honest with the person trying to source you the next step in your career. You’re actually an A-grade flog who has just been blacklisted by your recruiter for being wasting their time and making them look stupid in the eyes of their client. You are really just a selfish bastard that doesn’t value anyone’s time but your own and probably believes the world owes you a living… Yep… that little rant makes me feel a whole lot better…

I have noticed – as I’m sure you have – that there are a few of these reasons excuses that are very common. And for the benefit of those new to our industry I think it’s worthwhile to list a few of them here… so here goes…

1. The Family Funeral – ‘Ok…’ I hear you say, ‘hold on there a minute Craig. Don’t disrespect candidates for having to attend a family funeral. That’s just not fair.’ Well… I take your admonishment on board… I really do… but ask yourself this question. Why does this reason excuse always seem to present itself half an hour before the interview, or when they have already missed the interview and you are following up? Wouldn’t the candidate have known… 1… even 2 days beforehand? If you are telling the truth, let the recruiter know in advance… please. I had a candidate once who… over a 3 year period… attended his grand mother’s funeral 5 times… now there’s a woman with amazing powers of recovery.
2. The Cancelled Train – Totally unacceptable and I’ll tell you why. If you are serious about attending an interview you build travel problems into the equation. No recruiter… no possible employer… no-one should accept that as a reason for not attending an interview. It smacks of irresponsibility…
3. The Sick Child – Really? You inform us half an hour before an interview that you can’t come because your child is sick and you have no-one to care for them? It happens…child illness… I know… I have children… but it just doesn’t happen 30 minutes before your interview… or if it does, not as often as it is being used as a reason excuse.

Above are just some of the excuses candidates use when they have no intention of attending an interview. It makes me angry (as you’ve probably worked out), because there are genuine candidates out there, who have real reasons for not being able to attend an interview. Reasons that we should empathise with and support them through. Unfortunately, the selfish liars out there add to our mounting levels of cynicism and leave recruiters feeling wary.

By far the worst example is The No-Show… who avoids phone calls and emails when we look for answers… but don’t even get me started about them… no don’t… I’m warning you…

If you’ve got examples of repeat-offender excuses we’d love to hear them. Maybe we can get them published as part of every new recruiter’s induction program?

In the meantime, we are 2 weeks away from announcing some very, very exciting news! Well for us anyway… make sure you look out for it!

Craig Watson

#RecruitersSuck

C’mon… we’ve all been guilty of it at least one stuff up in our recruitment lives… haven’t we?

You know… Like when you inmail a bunch of people for a role you’re sourcing and you forget to change the name when you cut & paste… or… when you put up an ad without making use of the spell check (big rookie error). Or, how about this one?

You receive an email from one of your Temps as follows:

‘Hi Craig,

As you know my 6 month contract at ABC Industries finishes on Friday. I am away on agreed leave at the moment, but I want you to let them know that I want to resign this week.

Thanks for all your help

Miley’

I couldn’t get on to Miley despite repeated phone calls, emails and texts… so I left 3 messages for the Hiring Manager, before shooting off this email…

‘Hi Billy,

I just heard from Miley. I understand she has this week off. She reminded me that her contract concludes at the end of this week and she informed me that she wouldn’t be returning next week.

I trust Miley achieved all of the outcomes of the assignment. I know that when we spoke two weeks ago you were very impressed by her work.

I have left a number of messages for you and am keen to speak to understand your needs moving forward. If you require a replacement for Miley I have 3 candidates with appropriate skills and experience for you to consider.

I look forward to speaking with you.

Regards,

Craig’

Perfect right? I thought so too, until Monday morning. Miley called me in a distressed state…from ABC Industries… accusing me of coming in like a wrecking ball… then she had the temerity to say… and I quote… ‘You wre…e…ecked me!’

The fact of the matter was that the message was wre…e…ecked by a hyphen… or lack thereof.

Miley said resign in her email, but she meant re-sign… It took a couple of phone calls… more apologies than a… hmmm… than a…hmmm… I think I’ve got one…than a flatchulent forward in a rugby scrum…  But – in the end – we sorted it out.

Point is… well actually there’s two points:

1. We (by we I mean recruiters) directly affect peoples’ lives & businesses’ profitability. Agree? It’s a big deal… and not one to be taken lightly. And that means we need to operate with professionalism, care and empathy… and with an incredible eye for detail… at all times. That means cross all i’s and dot all t’s… whoops… I mean dot all i’s and cross all t’s!
2. We are so much more visible… so expect people to call you out. Open Twitter™ and type in #RecruitersSuck See what I mean? Same if you type Recruiters suck into Google™ People who have a bad experience with our industry make sure the world finds out about it… solution? Refer to point 1!

Often the hardest part of our role is dealing with legacy issues, or cleaning up the mess left from a dodgy recruiter… So don’t be one yourself… And help to improve our Industry. Thank You!

Craig Watson

Can we fix it?… Yes we Can…

Last week you may remember we blogged about how Recruitment is broken and suggested – somewhat admonishingly – that we are all responsible to fix it by doing things different. We also had the gall to propose that we had the answers and would be doing things very differently this year…. Hmmmmm…

Since posting that blog last week we have had close to 100 emails, texts & phone calls… From clients and candidates asking for the magic formula. So here you go…

Take a step back for a second…. Luke and I made a decision in early 2012 (cue harp music and wiggly vision as we go back in time)… that recruitment was changing, the fight for talent was going to get more difficult and as such we needed to offer clients ‘something more’ and differentiate ourselves from the beige pack of Rec2Recs in the market, (what would be the collective noun for a pack of Rec2Rec’s? Be nice…).

We looked at what we offered our clients, the tools at our disposal and ultimately what value recruitment agencies were getting from their Rec2Rec’s… and we made the following observations…

 

• Rec2Rec in its current form was just not sustainable. We were trapped in a contingent – perm only – market… where our clients and candidates (by virtue of their recruitment experience), were both cynical… and felt they knew everything about everything… and way more than us.
• We looked at our competitors and felt that the overall product they were selling (including our own) lacked value – and we know our clients felt the same.
• The industry needed something else… something new… a solution that would actually work…

So we created a weekly blog… you may know it as The Written Reference… (you’re reading it now…), which has developed a nice little cult following… my wife… my two kids… my mother in law (only once a month though)… and over 2000 recruiters… That’s 2000 recruiters that our clients could have direct access to…

We are now in a position where we can introduce real change to our market…. ‘How?’  I hear you ask…

Over the next few weeks you are going to see some BIG changes to The Written Reference… Changes our clients have  hinted at, asked for and in some cases begged on bended knee for…

This will…

1. Give our clients direct access to our unique community of 2,000 engaged readers… (we made over 30% of our placements in 2013 from candidates contacting us directly via the blog)
2. Allow our clients to speak directly to these people. Yes, directly…. no middle man getting in the way!
3. Offer clients the opportunity to showcase their employee brand and advertise vacancies… we don’t like to use the term Job Board… but…
4. Create an amazing way for clients to manage their cash flow & spend, whilst increasing our value & service.

Anyway, this is beginning to sound a little like a sales pitch… better suited to the shopping channel… so we’ll cease and desist immediately before our unique community of 2,000 engaged readers shrinks back to… my wife… my two kids… my mother in law (only once a month though)…

Look out for the changes, and if you want to discuss directly… give us a buzz…

There you have it… 2 years ago we made a decision to revolutionise our niche within the recruitment industry. And now… we are putting it into practice…

So let me ask you a question… What are you doing differently?

And… remember… I’m not trying to impress you or anything… but I can wink with both eyes at the same time….

Craig Watson & Luke Collard

 

I’m ANGRY… and you should be too!

We’ve all seen the occasional Tweet or LinkedIn status update that has really pi$$ed us off… and sometimes opinionated dogma rears its ugly head in the form of a Blog so biased that you feel compelled to leave a comment venting your derision and indignation… ok… enough of the stupid big words… I’m about to get to the point.

Last week there was an article published by Newscorp™, that appeared on the landing page for news.com.au  – covering The Australian, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), The Herald Sun (Melbourne) and The Courier-Mail (Brisbane) – just to name a few. This article – written by Victoria Craw – was perhaps the single most narrow-minded, sectarian and warped piece of crap I have ever come across in relation to our great industry… maybe she had a deadline… and nothing of quality to go with… I don’t know?

You would imagine that a journalist would exercise balance, check sources, investigate claims, maybe get a counter-opinion… wouldn’t you? Instead our friend Victoria has published a piece that apparently ‘blows the whistle’ on the true goings on in our industry – based on the testimony of what can only be described as a weak and anonymous source…

Sorry… some of you may not have had the misfortune of reading this drivel as yet… so … here goes… Former recruitment agent spills details on what really goes on in the industry…

It makes me feel dirty even providing a link to the article…

Now… anyone who has read one of my blogs before would know that I am an unashamed advocate for the Recruitment Industry… but I have (on more than one occasion), let fly about some of our failures… the cowboys… the fact that we have a huge responsibility to both our candidates and clients… the over-reliance (in some quarters) of activity based KPI’s… BUT… I stop short of allowing ONE person to voice a one-sided and prejudiced viewpoint that unfairly clouds the broader community’s understanding of WHAT WE DO WELL!

Ok… let’s look at a couple of points from the article.

1. Former Agent – who worked at THREE different agencies, and didn’t want to be named… Ummmm… now there’s a credible source (my last statement was dripping with more sarcasm than a Big Mac™ drips with special sauce)… So, here we have a Former Agent… you have to ask yourself… why? Here we have a Former Agent who has worked at 3 different agencies… again… why? Finally, here we have a Former Agent who has worked at three different agencies and didn’t want to be named… now that’s just weak and… well… wrong.
2. On fees… “…It’s a lot of money for what is sometimes just resume flicking… you’re thinking ‘oh my god I just billed $15,000 from this candidate I’ve never met who happened to email me…’” Firstly, how often does this happen? And secondly, on the rare occurrences that it does happen, it makes up for the hours and hours of unpaid work the people in our industry undertake daily with no reparations at the conclusion. Over 85% of all work undertaken by recruiters goes unpaid! – FACT!
3. There are so many things I take umbrage to in this article… ‘Fleecing people out of their pay…’ BS!… ‘Fake jobs to drum up business…’ BS!… In fact, I struggle to find any truth at all in this article.

Look… I know that our industry is an emotional one. Hell… we are dealing with the livelihoods of individuals all of the time. We are working with clients to help them grow in a profitable and most times critical way on a daily basis. It is our expertise that helps define the labour market. We advise to government on policy direction in occupational, health & safety, pay rates, migration & visas etc. God Damn it we are a profession that adds immense value to the wider community! And I for one will be stuffed if I will allow a few bad eggs (and we do have them), a weak, pathetic whistle blower who doesn’t have the decency to comment on their back story (or even provide their name), and a journalist who produces a widely read article that is so ill-informed, so biased and so prejudiced to affect our amazing industry – my industry!

I invite you to comment below with your own view… or better still contact the journalist directly @victoria_craw (on Twitter) or victoria.craw@news.com.au And if you do choose to stand up for your Industry – or support the views expressed in the article, please add those comments below… I’d love to keep this discussion going!

Craig Watson

What Mr Men Character are You?

So anyway, this may – or may not – have happened to someone I know last week…

To protect her identity let’s call her Genny… (see Jen, no-one will know who I’m talking about… I changed the ‘J’ to a ‘G’… and I used Genny – the name you hate – not Gen, or Gennifer..)

So, Jen… whoops I mean Gen… whoops I mean Genny… nipped down to 7-Eleven™ to pick up a couple of Hot Chocolates. (She says the hot chocolates at 7-Eleven™ are the best going around… I suspect it’s more about the $2 price tag…). Anyway, Genny bought the hot chocolates and stepped out of the store, and onto the street… where a fast moving, well dressed, suited and booted woman inadvertently took Genny out in a sickening side swipe… causing one of the hot chocolates to tumble slow motion through the air (are you imagining it?), and land upside down on the footpath.

The offending woman stopped… profusely apologised and offered to pay for a replacement. Genny politely declined… or so she tells us… but the woman insisted and forced a $5 note into Genny’s outstretched… whoops… I mean un-expectant hand.

‘But it only cost $2… let me at least get you your change…’ Genny’s words… not mine.

‘No, no… I’m in a massive hurry…’ And with that, the woman disappeared in a puff of smoke… never to be heard of again… Or… strode off… $5 lighter and muttering under her breath about people always stepping out of 7-Eleven™ stores carrying 2 hot chocolates and not looking where they are going… you decide.

As Genny turned around to re-enter 7-Eleven™ she was stopped by what appeared to be a harmless and homeless lady…

‘Listen Darlin’ I’ll take the money… I’m a Hustler…’ (not Hustler like in the magazine Hustler, I think she meant Hustler as in the cheating, lying & thieving sense… Not that I’ve ever read the magazine Hustler, nor do I know anything about its contents…).

‘Not Likely…’ Genny replied and proceeded back into 7-Eleven™ to purchase an replacement hot chocolate…

The poor, homeless, tear-filled Hustler was now joined by her boyfriend… Picture him… no shoes… no shirt… one tooth… and ready for some biff… who said. ‘What’d she say?’ And they moved menacingly toward our heroine…

To cut a long story short… well shortish… Genny bought the hot chocolate… held the $3 change tantalisingly aloft for the dishevelled couple to see… calmly placed it in the charity money box on the counter… and hot-footed it out of there and back to the office.

When Genny re-told the story to all of us in the office, I sadly shook my head and offered…

‘If you were a Mr Men character, you would be Little Miss Trouble…’

Then… it… hit… me… We are always looking for ways to measure our culture internally in the workplace. Do you have a positive ‘culture’? How do you know if your ‘culture’ is bad? Is the only evidence of a growing culture in this office inside that yoghurt pot in the fridge – 3 months past its use-by date? Etc. etc. etc.

So, what if we simplified it by labelling everyone in your workplace as a Mr Men character? No… work with me here… Imagine you have… say… seven people in your office. Give them all a Mr Men identity based on their personality… Mr Fussy… Little Miss Naughty… Mr Tickle etc. If there are more positive characters than negative… then you have a supportive and happy work culture. If not, you have a problem… Simple, effective, understandable and efficient…

I love it when a blog comes together…

For the record, let me know what Mr Men character you think best represents you… and if you know me… give me a label… I’m a big boy… figuratively, not physically… I can take it…

Craig Watson