Welcome to issue 275 of the ukrecruiter newsletter. 

CONTENTS

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

My Favourites

http://www.callcentre.co.uk - The latest contact centre news domestically and internationally. It allows me to communicate with some authority about contact centre global trends at exhibitions or when negotiating news business deals.

http://www.itworld.com - I think it’s safe to say most IT professionals swear by this. I like to browse the news sections and White Paper category as this deepens my understanding of new technology. It can be hard to digest as a non technical person but it’s the only way to learn.

http://www.popbitch.com - Celebrity news - caustically reported - we all dip in once in a while and have a gas. 

Gina O'Connor works for Mobilus Ltd (www.mobilus.co.uk)

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

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Article One: CV Database Review – Monster by Louise Triance

Site Name: Monster.co.uk

URL: http://Monster.co.uk 

Site Statistics:
Sectors covered: All - this is a generalist site
Target candidate level: All - this is a generalist
Number of CV's held: 2.45 million in the UK 
Geographic split of candidates: Majority based in the UK (there are international English speaking candidates too) 
Site Launched: In the UK 1996 (in the US 1994)

Cost to recruiters: Various packages are available. Recruiters can get access from £300 (for one week, giving access to 100 CVs). Another example package is £950 for one month, giving access to 1,000 CV views.

How it works:
To search the database you enter your criteria into a CV search template. There are a lot of different criteria you can search on including search by keyword (through entire CV or current job title, current employer and/or job description), salary expectations, location, language skills and company category (this is job function/industry and you can choose up to 10 from a list). You can also limit results by date the CV was entered onto the database.

The results table gives some basic details on each candidate who matches the criteria. The information in this table includes the candidate’s job title, employer, desired salary and target job title. You can either view the candidates’ CVs one at a time or you can select a number of candidates by using the tick boxes next to each of them. After selecting a number of candidates you can view them all, add them to a shortlist folder or “add to favourites”. “Favourites” is a list of CVs you have a general interest in.

Some of the Candidates on the database have registered their details confidentially and to make contact you need to email them via Monster. The rest of the candidates provide full contact details (phone, address, email) on their CVs.

Jobseeker accounts are deactivated after 18 months. Monster also email jobseekers regularly to prompt them to keep their account details and CVs up to date. 

Strengths

  • You can search the candidate database by virtually any criteria you could possibly want, as the search form is so comprehensive. 

  • If you conduct a new search and it brings up a candidate you have previously viewed a “viewed” icon is displayed next to their name.

  • As the search results show so much detail it helps you determine which CVs to click on to view or save. If you craft a specific search you shouldn't have to view too many CVs that don’t actually match your specification.

  • Being able to add candidates to a shortlist means you can review and add to your search as you work through the assignment. This is a feature I think all CV databases should have. 

  • You can save a search and request that new CVs that match this search are emailed to you each day (or once a week). If you recruit for a lot of similar positions this would be a real time saver. 

Weaknesses

  • Whilst the depth of the search form is a strength I found it a bit long winded to complete. Feedback I had from other users also mentioned this as a weakness.

  • Because the CV database is so large, and because candidates don’t always spend as long as they should in adding their details I found quite a few of non-relevant candidates in my searches. 

  • The cost of using the database is quite high compared to other sites. 

Summary

Monster is probably one of the best known job seeker resources in the UK. As a result they have the largest CV database in the UK. If you are looking to buy access to a CV database they have to be a strong contender. However, they are a generalist site, covering all sectors and all salary levels. If you are niche recruiter (either by job function, sector or recruiting at higher salary levels) they may not have the depth of candidate coverage in the areas you need and the cost may become prohibitive. Although one of the areas in which the site is very successful is for IT recruitment.  Unlike many CV databases you can try out the site for a day to help determine the site’s usefulness. If you work for a large recruitment business, one that can afford access to a number of CV databases, this ought to be near the top of your list.  

Louise Triance is the Editor of the ukrecruiter newsletter. This article is the second in an ongoing series of CV database reviews.  We have reviewed CV-Library in issue 273.

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Article Two: Setting and Reviewing Weekly Objectives by Bill Boorman 

In my last article (issue 272) I talked about setting achievable monthly targets, no more than two a month, but I would now like to draw your attention to the real key to getting the most from your consultants - objectives. In my experience you manage objectives, not targets.

In an ideal world we would have our consultants gaining more business, being hungry and thriving on these targets met and exceeded...but hang on a minute - if they are striving towards making new leads all of the time then who's taking care of your current and past clients and candidates? Step back and let's look at how we can address this whilst still driving the business forward by getting your consultants to perform in all areas necessary to achieve growth.

'The targets happen if the objectives are accomplished'

Consultants need to be focused on no more than eight measurable objectives at any one time, these need to reflect two key needs: maintenance (past/present business) and growth (future business). Both are of equal importance to prevent your business simply treading water.

Setting objectives needs to be done transparently. Look at your consultant’s figures for activity, efficiency and financial performance, now decide where you would like them to be and identify what needs to be done to achieve this. Be realistic, negotiate with the consultant and discuss HOW they are going to achieve these objectives for you and always offer the support required for them to succeed. Give them time to discuss strategies with you before setting it all down on paper with them. Remember, if you don’t agree a plan with them they’re hardly likely to stick to it. Finally you must clearly link the objectives to the target to show WHY you are asking for them to be followed

What’s the plan?

OK, every individual will need a different plan but as a basic guide start at the beginning by outlining the Consultants current performance figures based upon the previous month. An example mix would be Total Revenue, Scores, Send Outs, Vacancies, Candidates Seen and Calls Made – all of these areas produce hard figures to go on. Now state what the target for them to exceed is, e.g. Increase your total scores from x to y by this date. Now outline the way to do it. Remember since we work in a dynamic industry we need to re-visit these objectives weekly: although the target remains constant the way in which we achieve it changes, based upon the Consultants activity levels. If the Consultant over-performs in one area one week then they may need to focus on a different area the week after in order to achieve the desired end of month minimum figures.

Use timetables to spell out what they should be doing and when, even down to how many hours per day they should be devoting to key areas. Use hard figures to say how many calls/sales/send outs are needed every day/week/month to achieve the desired minimum figures. Be explicit, tell them how to react to negative responses, make suggestions for how they can turn a ‘sitting on the fence’ reply to a positive one – draw on your own experience where necessary to illustrate your point. Outline procedures where necessary, for instance how to use grey matches as possibles where no other candidates are available. If you don’t say what you want then your Consultant isn’t going to know what your priorities for them are.

Finally let them know how you will be reviewing their progress at your daily and weekly meetings with them. I will be covering this in my next article, which will also discuss the importance of reviews for staff motivation. 

Summary
Objectives are used to both maintain and grow business.
They must be specific, measurable, realistic, timescaled, and agreed.
They must be evaluated and reviewed at regular intervals to have meaning.
Consultants should be left in no doubt as to what is expected of them by the company.
Objectives are the roadmap to over-achieving set targets.

Bill Boorman specializes in management development performance management and helping recruitment companies to achieve business growth. He has 22 years recruitment experience, 12 years as Training Director for a large UK recruitment Company He will be holding a performance matters workshop on the 19th September. Visit www.performancemanager.co.uk for further information. 


If you want to see a sample pro-forma of a detailed objectives plan email billboorman@btinternet.com for his Key Note documenting the full hows, whys and wherefores of his methods.

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Don't Miss This

Press Release; Gareth Osborne to leave the REC
"The Recruitment and Employment Confederation announced this week the pending departure of its Managing Director, Gareth Osborne. After three successful years at the helm, Gareth leaves the REC a financially secure organisation having grown membership by 51% and turnover by 49% during his tenure. The REC will be managed in the interim by Marcia Roberts, the Deputy Chief Executive, as the Board conducts a recruitment process to find Gareth’s successor."

Win a 30GB video iPod with The Recruitment Academy
All you have to do is go online, answer a few simple questions (less than 3 minutes) and get entered into a prize draw. The Recruitment Academy have a training concept that they believe will revolutionise the learning and development of recruiters worldwide and are conducting some research prior to launch.  To complete the survey click here.  The draw for the video iPod will take place on Wednesday 16th August and the winner will be notified immediately by email 

CV-Library Competition Winner
Dan Rhodes of Channel Search International won last week's competition to win one month's access to the CV-Library CV database 

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Discussion Board Summary

Don't forget to visit The Discussion Board. Current topics on the site include:

There have been lots of postings in the last 7 days.  All postings are included in the weekly digest. Sign up for the 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

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

UK Recruiter Blog
I thought it was about time I jumped into the world of blogging... you can view my first postings at http://ukrecruiter.typepad.com.  I'm in the process of updating our page of blog sites at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/blogs.htm.  If you want yours listed just drop me a note. 

Hitwise top 10 Recruitment Sites, week ending 5th August 2006
The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk, www.totaljobs.com, www.reed.co.uk, www.monster.co.uk, www.jobsite.co.uk, www.jobs.nhs.uk, www.jobs.ac.uk, jobs.guardian.co.uk, www.jobsgopublic.com and www.1job.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

Low Cost Job Board Access
The established job board www.redgoldfish.co.uk are offering new users an unlimited posting and CV search account for £ 295 + VAT for the year. This offer is to introduce recruiters to their facilities. For further details or to take advantage of this offer email richc@redgoldfish.co.uk quoting ukrec

Sponsored by http://www.broadbean.co.uk; "the UK's favourite job posting system".

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Regards
Louise Triance
UK Recruiter http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk

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