CONTENTS

• My Favourites (FreePint newsletter)
• Article One (Motivating Management: Where Do You Go - Part I by Gaynor Lowndes)
• Article Two (Hunter Solutions website review by Jonathan Spybey)
• Don't Miss This (FTI Course Special Offer- Free Audio Seminar – How to Overcome Fee Objections - Discussion Board)
• Statistics (Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites)
• Subscribe/Unsubscribe
• Feedback & Advertising Information

My Favourites

Over the next few months I'd like to review a few newsletters which I think readers might also benefit from receiving.  If you get a newsletter which you read each and every issue and find invaluable just drop me a note with a few details and I'll try and feature if here.  The first one I'd like to feature is....

FreePint Newsletter - http://www.freepint.com

FreePint has been around since 1997 and they produce a fortnightly email newsletter.  The newsletter is written by, and primarily for, information professionals and it's aim is to "tell you how and where to find the best resources on the Web to help your work". They have over 70,000 readers.  Each newsletter contains articles, tips on searching, reviews of websites, etc.  I've been a subscriber for as long as I can remember and invariably find something relevant in each issue.  Despite the content not being aimed at recruitment professionals I do think it's worth recruiters taking a look.  Subscription to the newsletter is free.  For more information visit http://www.freepint.com/ (they also have an archive of past issues).

We'll also be running our standard "My Favourites" in the newsletter, so why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

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You can also view further information on HotLizard products and services at http://www.hotlizard.net

Article One: Motivating Management: Where Do You Go - Part I by Gaynor Lowndes

Gaynor shares her experience.

Since commencing in my own business some 4 years ago now, there have been times when I have wondered how well I am actually doing. I know that my business is growing, but is it growing fast enough? I know that I am growing as an individual, but am I growing in the right direction? I decided some time ago to seek some outside help to really understand how I and my business were doing. I believe that seeking such help is a valuable exercise for any high performer or someone who wants to be. Spend the time and money investing in yourself and I promise you that you will come out of the process understanding yourself - your strengths and weaknesses and how they impact on what you do and how you achieve. Let’s face it; the recruitment industry is about achieving – achieving KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators), revenue targets and outcomes. How do you measure your success?

Most of us have trouble with things that we haven’t learnt how to do well yet, not things that we are unable to do. That’s why I chose to work with a life and business coach. One of the things I realised was that some of the best opportunities are the ones we create for ourselves. I understand that success is 80% hard work and 20% luck and that sustainability is really what it’s all about. I also learnt to manage around my weaknesses and focus on my strengths – not the other way around as I had been working up until that point. 

I undertook an initial 3 month program and addressed two personal issues and one business issue. My coach believes that if you address the personal stuff first, some of the business related stuff will take care of itself. And so it did. At the end of the first three months, I was noticeably calmer, less stressed and grateful for the wonderful people I had in my life. 

I believe as a direct result, the profit in my business increased dramatically by the end of that period. I became better at chasing outstanding debts and refused to discount my services. I realised that I needed to keep working with my coach on an on going basis and so signed up for regular meetings – in my case weekly, but I could have elected less frequent contact. I have just had a 3 month break from coaching but am about to go back to it again because I feel that I am ready for the next stage of my personal and professional growth. So how do you decide if coaching is right for you?

I looked at it this way – I have thought nothing in the past of hiring a personal trainer (fitness coach) to help me reach my fitness goals. I have also had many fabulous mentors during my recruitment career that I wanted to emulate. I also have a financial advisor (finance coach) who advises on investments and insurance. So without being conscious of the fact, I already had many coaches in my life who were experts in their fields. So for me, the decision to try life/business coaching was easy.

In her next article Gaynor will go into more details of using a coach and other ways to stay motivated.

Gaynor Lowndes is the Managing Director of The Recruitment Training Company which provides specialist training to the recruitment industry. Gaynor’s book “The Art of Recruitment” has sold over 500 copies within the UK and is available on her website www.trtc.com.au

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Article Two:  Hunter Solutions website review by Jonathan Spybey

Company Name – Hunter Solutions
Website Address – www.huntersolutions.co.uk

Site description
A specialist Technology sector recruitment agency.

Creative design
The homepage is entirely consists of Flash animation. It communicates that Hunter Solution is fun, technologically progressive and dynamic. Encouraged by this, the visitor enters the website only to discover that the rest of the website consists of static, plainly implemented pages. On a communication level, stock photography has been successfully chosen to convey specific meanings. This has been achieved at the expense of creating a unified photographic style throughout the website – ranging from the serious to the more cartoon-like.

Ease of use
The website is very easy to use and the navigation is consistent and clearly organised. The navigation does suffer from a bug when viewed using the Safari browser, whereby rollover images obscure the page titles. Whilst this is a bug in present builds of Safari, it is best to use techniques that take browser incompatibilities into account.

Relevant content
Large areas of text are always difficult to read on the Internet and this website is no different. It is wise to mix things up – using a variety of ways of presenting text. Such elements could include pull out quotes, bullet points and text boxes illustrating a particular point. Breaking into smaller, more readable chunks of information is the key to presenting longer passage of text online.

Candidate and client functionality
The website has a static front-end to it with pages dedicated to candidates & clients describing what Hunter Solutions can do for them. Surprisingly, the Candidates page’s content does not have a ‘view vacancies’ link.

Online marketing
The website has poor visibility on web. ‘Hunter Solutions’ does not appear within Yahoo or Google searches. A number of factors are likely to be causing this, not least that search engine results are compromised by an over reliance of Flash animation on the homepage.

Summary 
The website has a promising homepage, which, whilst requiring surgery to allow search engines to log it properly, creates a professional exciting impression. The rest of the website is let down by unimaginative layout of text and inconsistent choice of photographs.

Jonathan Spybey is Creative Director with Sien Web, a professional web design company offering high quality accessible websites and development services to clients across the UK and Internationally. Contact him directly at jonathan@sienweb.com or 020 8965 6138, alternatively see Sien Web’s services at www.sienweb.com   

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UK Recruiter Discussion Forum - Are you using it? 
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Statistics

Hitwise top 10 Recruitment Sites, week ending 15th October 2005
The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk, www.jobsite.co.uk, www.totaljobs.com, www.reed.co.uk, www.monster.co.uk, www.jobs.nhs.uk, jobs.guardian.co.uk, www.tesjobs.co.uk, www.eteach.com and www.jobserve.com. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

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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!  

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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) 2005, UK Recruiter Ltd