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Welcome to issue 359 of the ukrecruiter newsletter. If you work in the traditional or on-line recruitment industry and are considering your next move, why not take a look at our recruitment specific job board. Recruitment, corporate HR recruitment and recruitment support services jobs at www.ukrecruiterjobs.co.uk | 
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CONTENTS
Visit http://www.ukrecruiterjobs.co.uk for the latest recruitment industry jobs. |
My Favourites 3 social/business media sites this week www.linkedin.com - LinkedIn is an online network of more than 20 million professionals from around the world. Create a network for business development, sourcing and candidate research. Join the UK Recruiter group to connect to more recruitment professionals: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/2189/4596053253C3. www.twitter.com - Social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send short updates (140 characters) to the website and create a "community" of followers. www.facebook.com
- Primarily used for personal networking but can also be used for
creating or joining business groups, alumni and an element of
sourcing. Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm |
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Opinion Piece: Use of Social Networking Sites in Recruitment by Matt Jessop A lot has been written about the use of Social Networks as part of a Recruitment Vetting process. I would like to wholly support the position taken by Steve O'Neil in his recent article (which can be read here). I would even take the additional step and state that, in my opinion, background checking and vetting is such an important topic, that is littered with potential problems if not done or done badly, that it should always be outsourced to experts. However I would like to share a different perspective on the use of Social Networks in the recruitment process. I believe that, as valuable as the debate about their role in the vetting process is, it has overshadowed the incredible value that they can bring as a sourcing tool and in promoting a business as an employer and/or agency of choice. LinkedIn has in excess of 20 Million profiles, even considering that only a percentage of these people reside within the UK, this is still a resource that is considerably larger than most CV databases. Is this a source of information that we can ignore in our search for the best talent? Clearly the answer to that question will depend on the type of person that we are trying to hire. Common sense tells us that certain population groups are more likely to have their details available online, but please don't underestimate how quickly this is changing. It is also a misconception that social networks only contain passive candidates. Whilst it is certainly true that passive candidates require different handling to active ones, just because a person hasn't seen/responded to the ad you placed on Monster, TotalJobs etc, it doesn't mean they are not actively looking for new challenges. The right approach at the right time can be very fruitful, and some simple questions later on in the process can easily establish their motivations and hence your tactics for managing them. Social Networks broadly fall into two camps; sites such as LinkedIn, Xing etc are business orientated and people maintain their business profiles and networks. However this does not necessarily mean that these sites are more valuable than more socially orientated sites such as MySpace or Facebook, both have their place in the sourcing process. The nature of the role will influence which sites may prove more fruitful to you search. As part of the sourcing process, if it is being done properly, a recruiter is going to review the profiles that they find and this introduces the possibility of seeing something adverse about that individual. At this stage we are not background checking or vetting but sourcing. However human nature is such that it is very difficult to not let such information influence our decision making. This is where our skill as recruiters come into play. Sourcing decisions should be made based upon a pre-determined set of criteria such as geography, qualifications, skills, industry experience, salary expectations etc, not on gut feel that can potentially be influenced by our personal set of values. Always remember that the purpose of interviews, skill and psychometric testing, background checking etc is to ensure we find the best fit. The sourcing process is about finding people that have the right profile. If the person, whose profile you are reviewing, had sent you their CV, which makes no mention of their weekend activities of which you don't approve, would you have considered them based on the requirements of the role? OK great, you have done a search and identified one or more individuals that you would like to consider for a role. However, don't forget that Data Protection legislation is there to protect both recruiters and candidates. Don't start importing details you've found into your Applicant Tracking System or Recruitment Management System until you have the potential candidate's permission to do so. Ensure that you have designed a process that includes simple logical steps to ensure you are using these excellent resources in a compliant manner. One final area to consider is the benefits of creating a company page on sites such as Facebook and MySpace to promote your organisation and the benefits it offers to both active and passive jobseekers alike. This is a whole topic area in it's own right and best debated by those more versed in PR and creating a brand than I. In summary, I believe Social Networks are a fantastic tool that are potentially invaluable in the sourcing process. Before diving straight in and running some searches however, make sure you take the time to set out a common sense process towards using them that will protect both you and your potential candidates in relation to data protection and discrimination issues and enable you to realise best benefit from these wonderful resources.
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Article Two: Linking Strategy to your Budget by John Toppin The budget is supposed to be the tool by which an organisation transforms its strategy into action. Unfortunately many organisations in the recruitment business do not link their strategy to their budget. This paper will show you how to link these related management processes and strengthen your business. The Role of Budgeting in Performance Management If your budget is simply an exercise in projecting revenues and costs based on last year then it will almost certainly not help you to ensure that your business is competing effectively and growing healthily. The budget doesn’t work in isolation. If a budget is designed without reference to the strategies it is supposed to support and the resources available, the organisation will not move towards its desired goals. Budgeting is part of the performance management process of the business and budgeting’s central role is to support execution of a plan through the allocation of resources to the activities that drive value. For example organisations can concentrate on three questions: “How can we beat last year’s performance?” and “What is our competition doing, and how can we beat them?” and “How does our performance compare in our sector?”. The answers to these key questions should appear in your strategic or operational plan, against which budgets can be set and monitored for effectiveness. But if that plan is vague or incomplete, the resulting budget will not help the organisation implement its strategy. Best Practice in Strategic and Operational Planning Performance management is all about managing the activities that generate results. Those activities should directly support the organisation’s strategic objectives. Therefore, a plan acts as a road map, showing the organisation how it should move from its current level of performance to the level of performance desired. The budget accounts for the activities, dependencies, assumptions, time scales, and resources necessary to support an overall strategic objective. The budget is simply the financial translation of the activities you plan and the results you expect. Best practices of high-performing organisations include: · Their plans answer key directional questions. Some are, “Where are we going?” “How are we going to get there?” and “What happens if things do not turn out as planned?” · Their plans typically address the following questions: How the organisation will maintain current operations. How it will improve the efficiency of current operations. Which new ventures or initiatives the organisation will implement. · Their plans include all aspects of the business. In addition to detailing how goals will be achieved, good plans also describe how the organisation can continue to be effective and generate growth into the future. This means that many of the measures within a plan will not be financial. · Their plans link strategies to activities. Activities in a high-performing organisation are linked by cause-and-effect because the achievement of an objective is the result of doing the right things well. Activities as well as their impact on achieving strategic goals are monitored. By understanding these relationships, organisations begin to understand—and can build on—the true drivers of success. · Their plans are measurable. Objectives and strategies have measures of success, while activities have measures of implementation. In this way, the completeness of an activity can be correlated with the success of an objective. · Their plans include accountability. In high-performing organisations, specific people are made responsible for individual activities. They are empowered, rewarded, and have control of the resources to ensure the delivery of the activity. · Their plans include the recording and monitoring of assumptions. If the organisation discovers that their business assumptions are incorrect, they reconsider the associated plan targets and adapt accordingly. · Their plans include reference to industry bench marks, such as those provided by Recruitment Industry Benchmarking (www.ribindex.com). If the organisation’s ambitions include a position within the top echelons of performance within its sector it needs to understand which areas it needs to develop. The Process for Linking Strategy to the Budget Given the preceding best practices, the creation of a good plan requires far more than just collecting a set of financial estimates. To achieve a best-practice plan that is linked to a budget, use the following six steps: · Step 1: Define key objectives - Setting of short- and long-term objectives for each portion of the strategic plan. Most organisations establish between five and seven of objectives. · Step 2: Identify strategies, tactics and impact - Describe the strategies that, when executed properly, will enable the organisation to achieve its objectives. · Step 3: Document assumptions - Document the key assumptions and measures about business environment factors that could affect the organisation’s ability to successfully achieve its strategic objectives. · Step 4: Assess and mitigate Risks - Ask the following questions: Is the plan realistic? Is the plan affordable? What risks do you run in implementing the plan and how can you negate those risks? How far will you let variances go before taking action? What alternative plans are there for overcoming the biggest risks? · Step 5: Check the plan for completeness and finalise it - Agree the amended tactics and the costs/revenues assigned to each activity. Once completed, the plan can now serve as the starting point for a more detailed budget breakdown. The high-level costs and revenues from the plan become budget targets.
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Online Recruitment Update (This section is sponsored by http://www.1Job.co.uk; "the leading UK job search engine") UKRecruiterJobs:
Traditional, On-line and Corporate HR Recruitment Job Board Hitwise top 10 Recruitment
Sites, week ending 31st May 2008 Louise's UK Recruiter blog Discussion Board Summary This section is sponsored by http://www.1Job.co.uk; "the leading UK job search engine" |
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Don't Miss This Recruitment Society - PhotoPLOD 2008, 13th/14th June Press Release: Technojobs announce Motor Racing Sponsorship Recruitment International's The Case Study Conference,
17th June Press Release, Test Campaigns Find the Missing Link Press Release: Huxley named as one of Britain’s ‘Great Places to Work’ for the Fifth Consecutive Year |
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Regards
Louise Triance
UK Recruiter http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk
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