Which KPIs Should 3rd Party Recruiters Track

Which KPIs Should 3rd Party Recruiters Track Regardless of  who you are and what you do, there is always room for improvement. Its safe to assume that all  top-performing recruiters must continually  strive for best practice  and find ways to make their operations better, slicker, more efficient and strategic. However, honing  good habits only works when there is synonymous attention  on  breaking bad tendancies, too. With the new year just around the corner, its the perfect time to start reflecting and taking action. To  give you some pointers on where to start with your critical self-analysis, we  called in our expert panel. Heres what 13 recruitment leaders say recruiters simply MUST  stop doing next year: Billy Smith Recruitment Agencies need to start measuring conversations not dials. Recruitment going forwards is all about building relationships and spending time getting to know candidates is far more important than getting numbers up. Client retention is another important KPI with repeat business from existing clients being far easier to obtain than new business. Clients will only return if the service has been good and the people they saw are of good calibre leading onto my next point about CV’s sent. This is only relevant if you are sending high quality candidates each time. It’s far more important to send one or two good quality CV’s who you know fit the job description perfectly over sending five CV’s just because a recruiter is measured on that basis. Billy Smith  is Managing Director at FGS Recruitment Iain Hamilton Many agencies say they are not KPI driven they are. Using market intel to build a talent funnel and taking a total addressable market view to talent attraction, will allow agencies to measure how many they have in their funnel. This as a KPI would drive some recruitment businesses to seriously expand their talent pool. Then, measure how often the people in the funnel are engaged with and what stage they are in the funnel (awareness, educating, considering, decision). By nurturing people at awareness and educating stage, recruiters can focus on recruiting from the consideration and decision stage. Iain Hamilton is Founder of People Traction Adam Glassman Track and use your performance data. What does it say about you? Are you better at driving a volume of applicants? Are you fantastic at finding C-suite placements? What do your time to fill, offer to hire ratios and quality of hire metrics look like? Track all of these elements and use them as your differentiators. Adam Glassman is Recruitment Strategies Manager at Alorica Lysha Holmes Revenue and profit for experienced recruiters, not activity. If you are experienced you KNOW what you have to do to achieve the result. If it is a business with more junior staff, then activity should be measured and I would suggest this is on new clients achieved and interviews gained rather than calls. QUALITY every time. As you become more experienced, allow the consultant to contribute to their own KPI and very often there are variations in how desks run so it should not be one size fits all across a whole business. Lysha Holmes  is Founder of Qui Recruitment Gill Buchanan KPIs should focus on quality and outcomes, not just quantity. Successful fill rates to roles should be monitored, but effective recruitment isn’t just a numbers game. Measuring the overall candidate and client experience is key to being able to develop long term business relationships. Look for feedback on social media, make regular follow up calls and send out online questionnaires to measure the quality of service provided. In addition, monitor the recruitment process from start to finish by looking at the time to hire, efficiency of the job application process, and at the communication channels in place. Gill Buchanan  is Director at Pure Resourcing Solutions Chad MacRae You need some kind of candidate experience metric â€" forward-thinking internal recruiting teams who are doing this (HubSpot and Capital One, for example) use a Net Promoter Score, based on a candidate feedback survey. Agencies should be doing this too. Because it isn’t about “bums in seats,” it’s about finding people who will really thrive on the job. To get those people, you’ve got to treat your candidates like customers â€" with respect, courtesy, empathy. And yes, there are ways to measure and make sure you’re doing that. Chad MacRae is Founder of Recruiting Social David Morel Business flow â€" the amount of new business that comes in and whether this is repeat business or from “new clients”. Where have “new clients” come from?  Candidate flow â€" self explanatory.  Conversion rates â€" amount of business each consultant places from the number of jobs they have worked on.  Billings versus targets â€" individual and team. David Morel  is CEO Founder of Tiger Recruitment Lisa Jones Along with the usual CV Sends and interviews, I feel that we need to get some digital KPIs added to the list.  Every recruitment leader wants to drive more viable talent into their CRM, to create a legacy an asset which is worth something to their clients, hence a great recruiter KPI is the cleanliness of data on the CRM. Lisa Jones  is Director at Barclay Jones Bronwen Hann There are a lot of fancy new KPIs that larger agencies are measuring, but they don’t always translate into results. We’re focusing on some back-to-basic measurements: how many interviews to hire, number of sendouts, time from job order to sendouts, days from job order to close. In our opinion, you shouldn’t be looking at the size of a recruiter’s candidate database as a measurement of their effectiveness. It’s more important to look at their relationships. Agencies should also measure how long a client has had a job on the market to help determine how best to package that job for their candidates, and whether that job is worth working on in the first place. Bronwen Hann is  President   Senior Partner at Argentus Supply Chain Recruiting James Nathan Of all the KPIs available, I think it is important to focus on actual contacts made and the quality of those contacts. Only when you analyse the quality of those can you improve. We all understand that client development work is based on numbers, and that the more calls you make the more people you will speak to, but what you say and what you achieve from that contact is all important. Quality first. James Nathan  is  Founder of The James Nathan Experience Dualta Doherty The market is changing to be more and more product focused so I’d go for: CVs outs Interviews Fill Ratio Application per job posts Social/Email Analytics â€" i.e how many views your posts are getting, email send out engagement etc. Dualta Doherty  is Founder of Pro Recruitment Solutions Caroline Stokes  I’d like agency recruiter KPI’s to be about 2 things: 1)  timeliness of service and feedback to candidates and clients in a ‘meaningful’ way 2) demonstration of how a recruiter has evolved quarterly based on candidate and client feedback All of those impact upon service productivity, which includes: attraction, engagement, retention and placement of talent for their clients. Caroline Stokes  is Founder of FORWARD

A Little Thank You Goes a Long Way - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

A Little Thank You Goes a Long Way - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’ve never hired a candidate who didn’t send a thank you note after our interview. As a hiring manager, it’s just one simple way to compare my top candidates. If I have an open position and two of the candidates are evenly matched skill-wise but only one sent a thank you note, the latter is likely to receive the offer. The general rules If you aren’t following up every interviewâ€"and by that I mean each individual person with whom you meet or speakâ€"with a thank you note, you are likely costing yourself the position. But, the simple act of saying “thank you” is not enough. To really put yourself ahead of your competitors, consider the following elements. Send your note within 24 hours. Send your thank you e-mail as soon as you arrive home from the interview (or within 24 hours) so you don’t forget what was said. Waiting longer than that tells the potential employer the position is not that important to you. You are also encouraged to send a personalized handwritten note via “snail mail” for that added touch. Reference your conversation. Ask each individual you meet with for a business card at the end of your interview, and make notes on the back about what you discussed to help you remember later. Show them you were really paying attention. Emphasize your strengths. Review the position description and your notes about the actual conversations you had, and express exactly why you are the best person for the opening. Reaffirm your interest in the position. Remind each interviewer that you are truly interested in the position and why. Or, if you are no longer interested after having been through the interview process, tell them so. Send your thank you note regardless because you never know when the interviewer will cross your path in the future. Keep it short. Two paragraphs are plenty. Quality over quantity. What do thank you notes have to do with your personal brand? Under the assumption that you’ve built your personal brand to advance your career, what’s the point of having done so if you aren’t going to land the job? Your brand should position you as more than just an expert at somethingâ€"it should also say you are a hardworking, humble jobseeker. I always tell candidates that three qualities can really help sell a hiring manager: passion, enthusiasm and a willingness to learn more. And a thank you note is an excellent opportunity to showcase all three. Don’t let the interview process morph your brand Of course, thank you notes come near the end of the hiring process, but you should be careful how you present yourself throughout. As a hiring manager, I review applications all the timeâ€"mostly for internship and entry-level positions. It’s interesting to me how candidates come across in their cover letters and résumés, which is often completely different from the online brand they’ve worked hard to build. Know yourself, the position, the organization, the industry and even your interviewers extremely wellâ€"and how all these pieces fit together. Be true to your brand and use it to advance your careerâ€"not hinder it. Author: Heather R. Huhman is a career expert and founder president of Come Recommended, an exclusive online community connecting the best internship and entry-level job candidates with the best employers. She is also the national entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com and blogs about career advice at HeatherHuhman.com.

Strengthen your Applications Identify Your Transferable Skills

Strengthen your Applications Identify Your Transferable Skills We gain transferable skills through a range of experiences â€" not necessarily in a sector or relevant work place. The key is to identify where you have demonstrated these skills in the past, in your own experiences and illustrate these in your applications.   What are transferable skills? Basically the skills that all employers are looking for in their graduates. They are sometimes called ‘soft’ skills by students, and ‘employability’ skills by employers and the HE sector â€" but whatever you call them, they are a basic requirement, together with a good degree result, and ideally work experience, to secure the job! What skills are employers looking for? All employers have a range of skills they would like to see evidenced on applications â€" you already know the main ones, such as team working, problem solving, leadership and communication. But there are others that can be specific to certain occupations and this is where some background work is required before you start your application. Competency Questions Employers will ask competency questions to check if you understand how transferable skills work: ‘Tell me about a time when you had to work in a team, what was your role?’ You can answer that. Structure your answer using the CARE or STAR formats and it will flow easily â€" but remember to use an example from any part of your experience â€" the recruiter is interested if you have the skill of working in a team, not whether you have previously worked in a team in their environment. If you understand and can verbalise how you have applied the skill â€" you are showing you understand how it can be transferred to another situation! Identify the skills you will need to demonstrate The  Prospects website is one place to identify the generic skills that appear regularly in job descriptions. If you are unsure of the role you will be applying for, aim for a broad list â€" maybe using a range of roles in the sector you are interested in. For example, if you are interested in working in marketing, Prospects offers a range of job role descriptions within that, such as Marketing Assistant, Market Researcher and Marketing Executive. The range of skills required is similar in all three: Communication and Interpersonal Skills/ Analytical skills/ Ability to use initiative/ Capacity to work under pressure/Creativity /Drive /Accuracy and attention to detail/ Flexibility/ Numeracy/ Team working skills/ Influencing and negotiating skills/ Business Awareness/ Organisational Skills/ IT literate and an interest in psychology and behaviour.  If you are at the stage of applying for a particular internship or graduate programme, then you can probably be more specific in your approach, Check the job description and person specification for clues of the skills required! Prepare your own competency questions Highlight each of the skills specified, preparing an appropriate question for each one: Give an example of when you had to work with accuracy and attention to detail. Tell me about a time when you had to influence others? Talk me through a situation where you had to demonstrate good organising skills. And so on until you have a question for each of the skills you will need to evidence. Prepare your answers Next, go through the questions and provide an example from your experience of how you have applied each of the skills. Maybe you had to check some accounts for a Student Society and you had to be accurate in your work, or perhaps you persuaded a customer in your part-time job to try a new product? You possibly organised a social event with some friends and took a leading role (that’s also evidence of team-work or team leadership!). Try to record different examples for different skills where possible. Although different skills can always be demonstrated in the same experience â€" recognising the skill is what’s important here. Identifying your transferable skills is something you can do throughout your time at University.  Draw on skills you’ve acquired through your academic studies, work experience and extra-curricular activities. Record them using your own preferred system Warwick has the  Tell Your Story e-portfolio. You will then have a skills reference document listing your unique experiences to work on when making your applications. Lots of examples are fine you can select the most appropriate ones and tailor these to the particular application you are working on.  Give it a go and chances are you will be surprised at just how many examples you have and how much experience you have already!

The Evolution of The MBA

The Evolution of The MBA Last night on our free career coaching call with Emily Bennington and Alexia Vernon, there were several questions about going back to get an MBA.  Today I received this infographic about the evolution of MBA programs, where in the world they are most popular and what companies have been started by those with an MBA. Pretty interesting!

Should You Quit Being an Entrepreneur and Go Back to Corporate CareerMetis.com

Should You Quit Being an Entrepreneur and Go Back to Corporate One of the hardest parts about being an entrepreneur is knowing when to call it quits. Fledgling entrepreneurs spend years trying to figure out if they are on the right track while digging deeper into debt and living life with full-blown anxiety.To those who have never tried business ownership, entrepreneurs can look like they love the torture of it all, but it’s just that it takes a special kind of person to ride the wave of the unknown.evalBut when does the wave-riding become too much? When does it start to become more than you can justify investing in?Entrepreneurs can justify staying in business much longer than they should, but it’s not always easy to justify walking away from it. Here’s how to tell if you should give up your entrepreneur lifestyle and go back to working for someone else.1) You’ve Run Out of MoneyevalWhether you have maxed out your credit or your investor up and left town, if you’ve run out of money, it’s time to scale back on your plans to scale you r business. You can’t hobble your way to success and money means that you don’t have to hobble.If you have employees, your first instinct might be to cut back on their salaries, but a 360-degree view of feedbackwould tell you that’s a terrible idea. You need some of your employees to shut down.Instead, look at ways you can cut expenses other than human-related expenses so that you can run a skeleton crew to finish things out properly. Running out of money means that you have no runway to get your business off the ground. If you are getting close to running out of money, now is the time to consider your return-to-work options.A lot of entrepreneurs just go from one business to another, but if you are bad with money, even the best business idea won’t do well in the market. Money makes the world go around and makes your business sustainable.2) You Can’t Self-manageIf you struggle to motivate yourself to take action, have no follow-through, and need a million strategies and to ols to help you stay the course, it might be time to consider that what you really need is a boss.evalSo many entrepreneurs find out the hard way that while they want to have lots of autonomy and be in charge of their own time, they suck at trying to get things done when they don’t have someone standing over them telling them what to do.It’s not a bad thing. Not everyone can be a business owner. It will feel worse than it really is. There need to be high-quality employees to work at these businesses. If you can’t self-manage to get things done, it’s time to consider a return to corporate.Whether you have been trying to get your business off the ground for 4 minutes or 4 years, if you keep putting things off, nothing is going to get done. Consider where your strengths are â€" if you insist on being in business for yourself, hire someoneto help keep you on track; otherwise, head back to the hill and get yourself a job.3) You Can’t Take the HeatIf there’s one thing that eve ry entrepreneur knows, it’s that the punches just keep on coming. If you are someone who can’t handle the stress and responsibility of having to put out fires in one area while knowing how to light a spark in another, entrepreneurship isn’t right for you.evalBusiness owners need to wear many hats, and sometimes those hats are on fire â€" perhaps literally. It’s time to go back to corporate if you find yourself wishing someone else could just fix your problems.You might have thought that you were cut out for managing employeesand managing entire workloads at your old job, but that doesn’t mean you are going to be a successful entrepreneur. People who succeed in this business are able to see the big picture while appreciating the details required to move things forward.It doesn’t mean that you are a bad person. It’s amazing that you decided to give entrepreneurship a try. Sometimes it takes trying something to find out that it’s not for you. There’s no shame in being wrong about an assumption. It becomes more and more difficult the longer you delay making the decision to go back to your roots.4) You’re Tired of Being in ChargeFor some entrepreneurs, the responsibilities associated with being in charge of every aspect of a business is just too much. The dream of having more time and freedom that is often promised along with entrepreneurship turns out to be false for so many first-time entrepreneurs.You’ll end up working more hours, doing more difficult things, and have very little time left to do the work you were hoping to do because running a business takes up so much of your time.Many people don’t realize how much time they will lose by starting a business. A lot of times, entrepreneurs will keep pushing harder and harder, hoping to have more time later on, but for so many people, that just doesn’t end up happening. If you are exhausted and feeling like you thought you’d be doing something different or better by now, it might be tim e to pack it in.If you are second-guessing your decisions, the best way to test your theories about whether or not you are meant to be an entrepreneur is to hire people to do all the things that don’t get you paid. Spend time doing the thing you are known for and outsource the rest.5) You Can’t Find Your FootingevalYour business might be making money and you might be building a great customer base, but if you aren’t happy with what you are doing and are feeling the pressure to find something that makes you happy, it might be time to reconsider your career path. Not every entrepreneur is happy â€" a common misconception. The grass is not always greener on the other side, no matter how badly we want them to be.evalAs an entrepreneur, you might live in a constant state of panic, fear, worry, and dread. That’s not a fun place to be. You might not like the product you are selling. You might not enjoy serving your customers. Whatever the reason, if you don’t think it’s an exte rnal issue, you might consider going to get a job instead of looking for a different way of being an entrepreneur.6) The Truth HurtsIt’s so hard for entrepreneurs to admit that they are in over their heads. Don’t let your thoughts stop you from going down the right path for you. Nobody gets to decide what is best for you except you.If you feel that getting a job would be a better fit for you, then you need to act on that thought. There’s no doubt that deciding to leave behind your business and venture out to find a job is going to be a scary prospect and there’s no doubt that it’s going to hurt when you have to say goodbye to a thing you built in the world, but it might be for the best.How can you know if that is true? After a flop or failure in your business, it might be hard to trust yourself. It’s important that you continue to look for signs that you are on the right path and recognize that you might have to make a few wrong turns before you get where you are going.A nd remember that you can change your mind again at any time if you find that you’re not cut out for corporate life after all.eval7) One Foot In and One Foot OutRather than throw in the towel altogether, consider what splitting your time between a part-time job and a part-time business might do for you. If you aren’t cut out for the hustle of building a full-time business, but still want to let loose on your creative side, you might try your hand at both.A steady, secure paycheque might take the edge off of the entrepreneurial lifestyle you have and want, but being a business owner lets you do things your way in a capacity that is more realistic.There’s no right or wrong way to do any of this. It’s important that you realize you get to decide how and when to make the change. Some industries are more difficult than others. If you are struggling to make things work, you can also find a way to make your business and job work for you.

5 ways to motivate millennials and Generation Xers

5 ways to motivate millennials and Generation Xers 5 ways to motivate millennials and Generation Xers We’re inundated with data on millennials â€" how they behave, what motivates them, and what they like. Employers are eager to learn about every aspect of their personalities. And rightfully so. Generation Y (also known as millennials) is now the largest demographic in the workforce, so of course this is top of mind for employers who are looking to recruit and retain them. However, employers would be well served to understand the differences and the similarities between motivating millennials and Gen Xers. In many cases Gen Xers, who are one generation older than millennials, have the knowledge base that employers need in order to properly train Generation Y. One surprising discovery, uncovered in a recent study of office workers â€" The Staples Advantage Workplace Indexâ€" is that millennials are just as motivated by salary as their older cohorts, actually more so. Almost one-third of millennials (29 percent) report that higher salary is the biggest contributor to their loyalty, while 22 percent of Gen X report the same. According to John Burke, senior vice president and chief culture officer at Staples, it’s important for employers to understand what attracts both generations and keeps them happy. While more than a third of Gen Xers consider title and work responsibilities along with work-life balance as leading contributors to their loyalty, millennials prefer more unconventional benefits in the workplace. Here are five surprising benefits millennials want â€" and how they compare to Gen X: 1. More flexibility. More than half of millennials report they work from home after the standard workday is done. Given this, it is no surprise that 49 percent say that more flexibility would improve their happiness. About 33 percent of Gen X feels the same. 2. Office perks. A gym on site, a well-stocked breakroom, and free lunches are valuable to millennials. About 21 percent define a good work culture as one that offers incentives and perks, and nearly half (46 percent) say more office perks would improve their happiness. Office perks aren’t as significant to Gen Xers â€" 30 percent say more perks would improve their happiness. 3. Eco-friendliness. Going green isn’t just good for the environment, it can also help you recruit millennial talent. When making an employment decision, half of all millennials say an eco-friendly company is important, compared to 37 percent of Gen X. 4. Encouraged break time and an improved breakroom. More than a third of millennials (34 percent) say they feel too guilty to take a break, compared to 21 percent of Gen Xers. However, more than half of millennials (62 percent) say having a break time to refresh would increase their productivity. A well-stocked break room also leads to happier and more productive employees, less stress, and a more social environment. According to Burke, employers need to do more than just offer healthy snacks and beverages. It’s important to think about the overall appeal of the breakroom, so employees can truly take a break and go back to work refreshed. 5. Relationships with managers and trust in leadership. Millennials who are not expecting to change jobs note that trust in leadership and in their direct boss contributes to their loyalty. This is one area where both generations share the same belief â€" 20 percent of millennials and 19 percent of Gen Xers report that their direct boss motivates them to do their best work, and more than a third of each generation note that strong leadership defines a good work culture. Have you noticed these generational preferences in your workplace? If not, you probably will soon â€" so be prepared to respond accordingly.

Writing Resume Bullet Points

Writing Resume Bullet PointsWriting resume bullet points is one of the most important steps you can take towards landing that dream job. Many people focus on just making sure they put together an impressive resume. They do not have the necessary attention to detail to make sure that their resume is getting all the proper attention it deserves.One way to ensure that your resume gets all the attention it deserves is to make sure that you write bullet points on your resume. In fact, this is one of the first things you should do when you start crafting your resume. If you do not have a professional writing resume ghostwriter on your team, you will need to get one. However, if you don't have this luxury, you can still get the job done by following these tips.First, make sure that you write out all of your experiences, skills, and education in all your strengths and weaknesses. This is what makes up your resume and you must make sure that it does not get lost in the shuffle. You must be ab le to find the best and most important things to include on your resume.Second, you must include your skills, experience, and education in your bullet points. You want to make sure that the reader gets the impression that you are an ideal candidate for the job. This will increase your chances of being offered the job.Third, you want to use titles for the bullet points to give them more weight. Some people use their skills as well as their titles. This is a way to make sure that the reader sees that you are an expert in your field, but you can still also apply this in your bullet points as well.Fourth, you want to be sure that you write your bullet points clearly. You want to know exactly what the reader needs to know about you. Use bold and italicized words to make sure that the reader knows exactly what you mean.Fifth, you want to be sure that you use the specific words in your bullet points. Never use slang or abbreviations in your resume. You want the reader to remember that you are offering them a professional resume and they will understand your job requirements.Last, make sure that you have an outline in order to create the resume bullet points. You want to know where you are going and what direction you want to take. You also want to know the areas you want to address in your resume, and how to begin.