The ultimate coalition
Welcome to our second newsletter of 2010 and the first since the recent General Election. We now have our first Coalition Government for 70 years and many are wondering what this means in terms of their careers and job prospects. In his update on market conditions Stuart Spindler looks at some of the potential outcomes (positive and negative) of this change for executive job hunters.
As usual our newsletter contains a mix of articles that we think will be of interest both to companies recruiting and to job hunting candidates. From the candidate perspective we offer some advice on what NOT to put on your executive CV. We also advise how executives can best sell themselves in the increasingly multi-channel online environment. From the recruiters' perspective we offer some of our accumulated wisdom on how best to use references and also offer tips and techniques for making the most out of shortlist interviews.
Enjoy the read and please feel free to let us know what you think.
Job market update
Stuart's views on the current state of the executive job market and factors that are influencing it. How long do you expect it will take to find your next job? Will our new Coalition Government have a significant effect on the market moving forward? For these and other answers read on.
Click here to read the full article
CV howlers to avoid
We scrutinise around 100 CVs a week at Spindler. This means that we have seen both the best and worst that is on offer. Here we flag up ten of the most common faults that job hunters should really try and avoid if they want to land their dream job.
Recommending references
Are the constraints placed on companies by legislation and fear of litigation so strict that references are yesterday’s concept? Taking up references used to be a key part of recruiting at all levels, but you may wonder what the practice is now. The answer is that although things have changed in some ways, reference checking is still a valid part of a rigorous recruitment process, as Stuart will explain.
Chewing the fat at Futuresource
Futuresource 2010 at Excel (15th-17th June) is the UK's largest sustainability event and as usual Spindler will be there. For clients in the waste, environment and sustainability sector there is lots to talk about. Find out what we think the main talking points will be at this year's event.
Shortlist solutions
The shortlist interview is an absolutely key component of any selection process and, if done properly, can significantly increase the chances of a successful appointment. Yet it is our experience that many shortlist interviews simply rehash old ground that has already be covered in the first interview. Here we advise clients on how best to fine tune their shortlist interviews.
Recruiting in the online era
Mid-level executive recruitment used to be fairly straightforward - revolving around advertisments in either the Daily Telegraph or Sunday Times. However, the online revolution and the proliferation of jobs portals and business networking sites has created a more complex environment. We take a look how recruiters can best manage their web activities and also offer candidates some advice to enhance their online job hunting.
Creating a new government – is there a bigger team building challenge?
The reporting of the appointments made by David Cameron and Nick Clegg to the new government covered acres of print and thousands of words – but was there any mention of team building tools? If so, no-one in the Spindler teamed has picked it up.
Many of you will be familiar with psychometric instruments such as Belbin’s Team Roles and the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory. Some will have used them in assembling management boards, project teams and the like. Given the huge challenges implied by the first coalition for seventy years, it might be reasonable to expect that time, care and some techniques would be taken in getting the optimum choices.
Or, is that unrealistic given the political horse-trading that inevitably characterises such situations?
Volcanic ash – changing behaviour
When the volcanic ash plume was at its peak and airports across Europe shut down, it was noticeable that everyone knew someone who was stuck somewhere. What impact did this have on business behaviour?
Well for us, we had to make some last minute changes to travel plans, such as taking the train to Glasgow instead of flying. We also cut out some travel altogether and used teleconferencing instead, for progress reports to current clients.
What we didn’t do was scrap face-to-face interviews with new candidates. Whilst video conferencing is now quite well accepted within companies, when dealing with known individuals, there still seems to be a great reluctance to do away with the face- to-face meeting with people that one has never met.
At Spindler, it is essential we get a fully-rounded impression of candidates and there still seems to be no substitute for literally ‘looking them in the eye’.
