June Newsletter Welcome to the sixth monthly newsletter of the year. We hope that you will

enjoy the following mix of industry trends, tech bites and comedy that have caught

our attention recently.

Contents Click below to be taken to each section:

Hello? Hello? Can you hear

me…?

Tech Bite Has Technology Killed Recruitment?

News in Brief Monthly insight into the recruitment

Industry

What Life Skillz Did YOU Learn

at University, Yo?

Hello? Hello? Can you hear me…?

Even though the general job market is showing clear signs of improvement,

advertised positions are still attracting huge numbers of applicants. Most are

suitable but some people will apply for literally anything they see.

There is something to be said for the ‘scattergun approach’ in that if you throw

enough at the wall, eventually something will stick but the issue for employers is

how to separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff.

It’ll be obvious which ‘candidates’ you can dismiss immediately but how do you

narrow the pile of CVs down to a manageable number who you’d be happy to

interview face-to-face?

The answer is becoming a lost art and we know that most correspondence these

days is done via email or social media but we think phone interviews are the best

way to whittle down your applicants. Here’s how to do it –

Keep it short – No-one wants to spend hours on the phone. You don’t have the

time and nor do they and you can pre-select the questions that will elicit the

answers you’re looking for. If you don’t like what you hear, move on.

Preparation is the key – Know who you’re talking to before you pick the phone

up. Have their CV to hand and try and limit yourself to 10-15 minutes per call. You

will get enough out of the candidate in that time to determine whether you want

them to come in and interview properly.

Location, location, location…. – Whatever you do, don’t conduct your phone

interviews in Starbucks on your mobile or in the car on the way to a meeting. It’s

unprofessional and the last thing either of you wants is endless recalling and

having to go outside where the signal is stronger. Do it in your office where

can’t/won’t be disturbed and you can focus on the job at hand.

What do you really want to know? – The questions you ask are as important as

the responses you hope to get so closed questions requiring a ‘yes or no’ answer

are no good to anyone. The interview isn’t about you. Give the candidate an

opportunity to talk about what they can bring to the role and the business. You may

be surprised…

You’re a professional, act like it, always – Take notes, even if you don’t think

the candidate is suitable for this particular role, they may be for something else.

Again, if you’re not going to offer a face-to-face interview, end the chat positively

and friendly. You are representing your business and the last thing you want is a

social media meltdown with disgruntled interviewees telling the world what they

think of you.

Lastly, follow-up with them regardless of the outcome. If they’re not suitable, tell

them and if they are, interview them. It’s the least they deserve. It’s a hard enough

market out there without you making it harder!

How do you get a long list down to a short list? Let us know.

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Tech Bite

Has Technology Killed Recruitment?

This isn’t as odd as it may sound. This

week we read an article on the Forbes

website written by a well-respected

corporate HR executive in the States

who thinks that tech is, in fact, killing

recruitment and the argument is very

compelling.

During the heady days of the 80s and

90s when tech was slowly creeping

into the everyday operations of

businesses, a mantra from business

analysts and programmers suggested

that before you automate a process, it

has to be a sensible process on its

own.

One of the first processes to be automated in businesses was the job application

screening process. Essentially it was a process of screening from the 1940s and

‘we simply threw the sucker online’.

The aim was for the automation to separate the good from the bad, but it did

everything but…

If you have ever attempted an online job application, you will know what a soul-

destroying chore it is. It asks you hundreds of questions including right at the start,

where you worked and for how long and what your job title is. Anyone should be

able to extrapolate from those three pieces of information what you major duties,

tasks and responsibilities were, but it goes on to ask you anyway – as if the things

you did day-to-day are more important that what your accomplishments were.

Here’s a perfect (hypothetical) example of why automated online job screening can

never, ever replace human intuition:

Imagine the brightest, hardest-working and most switched-on person you’ve ever

worked with and then think about the laziest, good-for-nothing waste of space

you’ve ever worked with. For you, the contrast between them is as clear as day.

However, if they both had the same role in the same company and they both

applied for the same job putting down their tasks and duties in the application form,

no automated screening process in the world could tell them apart.

As an employer, what do you really want to know? That the same tasks and duties

you want them to do at your firm have already been done elsewhere? No. That

should be a given.

You want to know what they learned on the job and how that education will stand

them in good stead working for you. You want to know what legacy they left in their

wake and you want to know their key accomplishments.

Of course they can say all this on the application form but it will be passive and

without context. Speak to them and you will (or should) hear passion in their voices

and a genuine desire to work for you and make a difference to your business.

Any Managing Director will tell you that the hardest person to find is one with the

requisite skillsets as well as a perfect corporate fit and the worst thing you can do

is make the job application process as mind-numbing and as off-putting as you

can. Nothing says ‘we love you and we want to hire you’ like a 40-page online

application form designed to suck the life out of even the most charitable of

candidates.

Tech is good, we all know that and you should use it wherever you can, but it will

never replace intuition and old-fashioned instinct and nor should it. Don’t hide

behind tech. If you’re a manager, manage.

News in Brief

Monthly insight into the recruitment industry

Here’s a selection of some of the recruitment stories making the rounds in the

news last week. Have you read anything interesting, funny or newsworthy? Email

us atenquiries@assetresourcing.com or follow us on

Twitter @AssetResourcing and tell us. If it’s befitting our esteemed newsletter, we

might include it next month!

DO NOT Sing at work…

We liked this one! An employee at a manufacturing firm in America has been

disciplined for singing at work. On his regular trips to the gluing area, he would

sing‘This Is How We Glue It’ to the tune of Montell Jordan’s R&B hit ‘This Is How

We Do It!’ Complaints from other employees led the boss to issue a disciplinary

notice which was hilariously filed under ‘Other: Disruptive!’ The image of the

notice was shared all over the web with one viewer commenting ‘my buddy got

fired from an inventory job for counting everything like The Count from Sesame

Street!’

Star-becks?

Firstly, an apology for the awful gag, but this is a work-related story that served up

mixed opinions here at AR Towers. Brooklyn Beckham has got himself a weekend

job at a coffee shop in west London. He’s 15 and is earning £2.68/h. He can only

work seven hours on a Saturday due to his age (and for the pedants among us he

must be given an hour break after four). Is it a publicity stunt to further fuel the

unstoppable Beckham PR machine or, given their vast wealth and worldwide fame

(mostly David) are they just a mum and dad trying to instil the values of hard work

on their kids? We think option two, but what do you think? Why is Brooklyn

Beckham working at a coffee shop in west London for two and a half quid an hour?

Domino’s Want a ‘Pizza’ The World Cup Action!

We're full of the gags this month (it was that, or ‘slice’ of the World Cup action).

Anyway, the World Cup is here and what is a World Cup without pizza? Nothing,

according to Domino’s who are hiring 1,300 extra staff to cope. They reckon they

will deliver a quite astonishing 56m slices of pizza around the UK in June and July

– that’s nearly 6m pizzas and they think they’ll travel well over 12,000 miles! Who

do you think will win the World Cup and what’s your snack of choice? Are you a

pizza, beer, crisps and nuts type, a chocolate and sweets type or are you among

the silent majority who likes cheese and crackers with homemade chutney?

Tweet us @AssetResourcing!

What Life Skillz Did YOU Learn at University, Yo?

If you’re a third or fourth year university student, you’re about to graduate. That fact

won’t come as much of a shock to you, but what may come as a surprise is just

how much you’ve learned! We’re not referring to your chosen specialised subject,

rather the life lessons that will hopefully stand you in good stead as you cruise

through life.

A recent survey by Lucozade Energy suggests that the ‘average’ student makes

four true friends at uni and 45% agree that their years away are the best times of

their lives (presumably until loan repayments, mortgages, 9-5 work and kids come

along)…

The survey offers a list of life lessons you will (or should) have learned at

university. How many boxes can you tick?

1. How to pull an all-nighter

2. How to function on three hours’ sleep

3. How to do a weekly shop for under £20

4. Not all clothes need to be ironed

5. How to make the perfect beans on toast

6. How to party properly on a budget

7. Innovative ways to stay warm without putting the heating on

8. How to build flat-pack furniture

9. 17 ways to cook a potato

10. How to cut your own hair

11. If it moves and shouldn’t use duct tape, if it doesn’t move and should, use a

hammer

12. You can re-heat basically everything in a microwave

13. You really don’t need to vacuum under carpets

14. Canned food doesn’t go in the fridge

15. You think the Man vs. Food challenges are a light snack

How did you get on? Have you got anything to add to this list?

Don’t forget, have a scroll through our latest vacancies in IT & New Media, Admin

& HR,Accountancy & Finance and Sales & Marketing and then contact us if

something tickles your fancy.