You have interviewed the perfect match and you want to be sure that the offer you put in front of the candidate is tempting enough for them to bite the first time. How can you be sure that they’re as enthusiastic as you are? When you’ve worked so hard to recruit the ideal candidate you want to get them into the role without delay.

This guide gives you the lowdown on putting the right offer together handling the offer stage efficiently, effectively, ending with you employing the very best talent for your business.

Communication

According to research carried out by CareerArc, 60% of candidates think that better employer communication would improve their experience. Don’t leave your candidates guessing what might happen: explain the next steps at the interview stage, manage their expectations and ensure that if you say you will follow up by a certain date, you do – even if it’s just to say that there’s no decision yet.

When you’re ready to make an offer, a phone call will give you another chance to speak with the candidate and gauge their interest level. If they seem pleased and verbally accept an offer of employment, you can feel reassured that it’s the right time to make a written offer.

Speed

As with communication, the speed with which an offer is made affects the employee experience. And even if you decide not to make an offer, let the candidates who interviewed know. CareerArc also found that those who never heard about a job were three and a half times less likely to apply to that business again. A week allows time to consider your options, two weeks might see the candidate starting to lose interest.

It’s also a good idea to stipulate how long the offer of employment stands for. Seven days is usual, although you may wish to adjust this as per your company’s circumstances. If a candidate hasn’t accepted within a week, it could well signal that they weren’t quite as bought in as you’d hoped.

Use employer branding to your advantage

Treat your employees – and potential employees – as you would your clients. Demonstrate why it’s so good to work with you and what other employees have gained, both professionally and personally, from working for your business. Not only will a strong employer brand attract candidates to you, it’ll encourage them to accept your offer, and it will also help to retain them once they come on board. Check out our extensive guide for more on employer branding and why it’s so important.

Avoid the minefield of counter offers

You’ve found an outstanding candidate, made an offer and are eagerly awaiting them to return their signed contract. What you get in return is a counter offer. Maybe the candidate has had more money offered by their current employer or a competitor. Maybe they’re requesting a more extensive benefits package. Counter offers aren’t the end of the world and can be very revealing about what motivates the candidate you’re interested in.

But don’t get drawn into a bidding war. You may win the battle, although candidate indecision raises a red flag, and if they are playing off two parties for their own gain it begs the question as to whether they’re the kind of team player you want in your business. A trusted recruitment partner will be able to screen candidates for motive initially, which will help to avoid a counter-offer situation and make a first initial successful offer considering all motivations.

Non-starters

It’s frustrating, although keep it in perspective and remember that life happens. Give the benefit of the doubt to the candidate and – maddening though it may be – resist the urge to go in guns blazing if someone doesn’t show as there may be a simple explanation. And keep your employer brand in mind: if the candidate has a bad experience they’ll tell their network and that might make recruitment difficult in future.

The best offer

All stages of the recruitment process require careful thought and planning, and none more so than the offers stage. This crucial final hurdle to placing the right candidate decides the success of the whole operation.

If you’re in need of some support in navigating this – or any – stage of your recruitment process why not contact Clayton Recruitment, either online using our call scheduling service or contact form.

Alternatively, you can phone us on 01772 259 121 – we’d be happy to help you seal the deal with promising candidates.

And if you do find yourself in the position of having to deal with a counter offer, you may find our blog ‘How to handle a counter offer situation’ helpful.

You may also like to download our latest report on trends in recruitment: The 7 critical recruitment trends for businesses that will impact your talent pipeline in 2019.

Long-winded, time-consuming and hard work; if any of those words spring to mind when you hear the phrase ‘interview process’, you’ll be relieved to know that there is a better way.

An interview checklist streamlines the process – whether you’re hiring managerial or support staff, a clear process and list of requirements ensure you take on the best candidates for your business.

Because it’s not just how the candidate performs in the face-to-face interview that matters. HR Departments and recruiters need to prepare too. According to Leadership IQ, 46% of hires fail within the first eighteen months, with ‘poor interpersonal skills’ rather than technical ability being the main reason. It’s clear then that interviewers have a lot more than just qualifications to consider when interviewing potential employees.
From the very start of the process to the end, an interview checklist will prepare your company and recruiter, help you ask the right questions at interview and make the right decision. We’ve broken down the ‘interview process’ into three steps to success: preparation, the interview itself, and decision making.

Preliminaries/Preparation

Successfully hiring the right team member requires preparation. There are two prongs to this:

• Timings – Don’t try and rush the process as you will increase the risk of making a hasty decision. Ensure that the timings of the interviews work for all involved in the hiring process and leave enough time for note comparison and decision making.

• Communication – Make sure there is a good two-way flow of information with your recruiter, whether they are in-house or external. Establish how information about candidates will be passed to the business – and how often. Too infrequently and you may miss out on candidates, too regularly and it may be too piecemeal.

• Pareto Principle – The Pareto Principle is the idea that 80% of possible effects will come from 20% of the possible causes. Also known as the 80/20 rule, the Pareto Principle can be applied to interviewing, with the candidate speaking for 80% of the time and the interviewer for 20% of the time. This allows the candidate to answer questions fully, which helps give a better insight into suitability for the role.

The interview

An effective interview process will help those candidates that fit your criteria to shine and will reveal those that are not such a good match. However, it can only be effective if careful thought has been given beforehand to what’s required of the successful candidate. Think also about the interview format and additional requirements. For example, a business presentation is a popular requirement for candidates to prep for an interview. A word of warning – think about what these requirements are for and what they will reveal about potential staff, before getting bogged down in interview ‘extras’.

Decide what you’re assessing at the interview stage(s) ahead of time: hands-on skills and knowledge, fit, or potential for development if hiring someone in an apprenticeship or training capacity for instance.

Before the interview, look over the CV and note any areas you want to ask about. For example, gaps, achievements and why the candidate is moving. Notice how the candidate talks about their current employer; any unprofessional comments are likely to be a warning signal.

On the day, ask some initial questions to build rapport. This will paint a fuller impression of the individual than is provided by their CV. Enquire about their experience; the more demanding and senior the role, the more detailed the questions. Be clear amongst colleagues and recruiters what skills are ‘nice to have’ and what’s ‘need to have’ – check these off throughout the interview.

Competency-based interview questions give the candidate a chance to answer fully, helping to keep the interview in line with the Pareto Principle. Here are some example questions and responses:

“Tell me about your most difficult work experience? How did you approach it? What was the outcome?”

Listen out for positive action and problem solving – maybe the candidate enlisted help or used their experience to work around the issue. Even if the outcome was not successful, observe whether the candidate maintained a positive attitude or learnt anything.

“Give me an example of where you have had to handle a difficult situation? What was the background? What did you do? How did they react?”

A candidate that vents about the customer is a big red flag. When they are explaining the background look for clues that the candidate can see things from another’s perspective. Positive action and an ability to diffuse a situation are good signs.

“Give me an example of when you had to work to an important deadline? How did you ensure your deadline was met?”

This provides insight into how a candidate copes under pressure, as well as their organisation and time management skills. The reply ‘I was up until 4 a.m.’ might sound dedicated on the face of things but doesn’t suggest good organisational skills.

Finally, asking a candidate about their career aspirations and progression gives you an idea of how they see themselves in your business. An assured answer also demonstrates that the candidate has a clear vision for their own progression – and this clarity of vision could be beneficial to your company too.

The aftermath

Space for reflective thought is important, and it’s a good idea to take some time to compare notes with colleagues and your recruiter. Wait until you’ve seen all of the candidates before jumping to any conclusions – if interviewee number two impressed you and swung your vote, that’s great. But what if the last person on the list is even more suitable?

Finally, relaying the information to candidates – and being able to make a swift offer once the decision has been made – is the last piece of the puzzle. Decide what the process will be for feedback to unsuccessful candidates – and who will deliver it. And once you’ve reached the end of your checklist and are ready to say a resounding ‘yes’ to one lucky candidate, who is the best person to make the offer? Your recruiter will be able to help, although it may be more personable coming from the company.

Working through a process before, during and after will ensure the interview goes smoothly and provides the result you’re looking for. Our interview checklist is full of tips to help you add another effective team player to your business. Click here to contact us or call 01772 259 121 to request your free copy.

And if you enjoyed this blog, you may also like to read our blogs on ‘8 steps to successfully recruiting new staff’ and ‘How to shortlist candidates effectively and efficiently’. Don’t forget you can register a vacancy with us online or give us a call to see if we can assist.

As a business, one of the main challenges you’re likely to face is finding the employees that can help you grow. And to do that effectively you need to work with a recruitment consultancy. But with so many firms in the market, each offering to ‘revolutionise your people strategy’ or ‘find the talent that can make a difference’, what should you be actually be looking for when selecting a hiring partner?

• A sector expert. You don’t want to waste your time outlining the hiring issues in your specific sector or what skills your ideal employee would have, you want an organisation that already knows what a good employee looks like and where to find them. A good way to gauge the level of expertise of a recruiter is to check their blog or social media channels. If they’ve been regularly commenting on the hot issues within the sector, then it’s likely they know what they’re talking about. Alternatively you could just pick up the phone and ask a few questions to the firm’s employees which should also allow you to ascertain their knowledge levels. 
• A trusted advisor. There are far too many organisations that will simply nod their heads and say what they think you want to hear in order to secure payment. But the better firms will operate as a partner rather than just a supplier and won’t just say yes to everything. They’re also likely to take a real interest in finding out more about the culture of your firm and what makes it tick in order to find the best possible fit. 
• A deep and detailed hiring process. Before committing to an agency, find out what its hiring process is, what they test, how they test for it and generally how stringent they are when reviewing potential hires. The best organisations will do everything they can to assess not just an individual’s ability to carry out their role, but also crucially how likely they are to stay with the job, rather than leaving after a short period of time and forcing you to restart the entire process all over again. 
• A good reputation. This one may seem obvious but there is no excuse for not carrying out full and careful research on any organisation that you’re potentially going to work with. Have previous clients left glowing reports praising the agency? If not, why not? The best firms are likely to have at least some testimonials or sound bites reporting the positive feedback they’ve received from successful projects and if you can’t find any, you should begin to ask questions. 
• Accredited. It may not have immediately leapt to the forefront of your mind but choosing an agency that’s a member of a trade body can make a huge difference. For one thing you’ll have a point of contact that you can complain to should the relationship turn sour, or if the firm acts in an unethical or unprofessional way. It’s essentially a guarantee that the firm will do things in the right way. Similarly, find out whether the business believes in professional qualifications and developing the skill sets of its own staff. Qualified consultants will possess expert knowledge on the legal, ethical and professional issues in your specific sector and will therefore be in a much better position to work with you.

What factors do you think firms should identify in a recruitment partner? Let us know your thoughts below.

Read our tips to getting the best from your recruitment provider or call the office on 01772 259121 to speak to one of our experts. To Register a Vacancy online, click here.

Hiring new staff is no easy task. You need to consider any relevant qualifications, hands-on experience, area of specialism, salary, bonus; the list of things to think about is endless. Yet that doesn’t seem to stop companies from hiring; the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics indicate that employment rates are at 75.6% – the highest rate since 1971.

Despite economic pressures and doubt over the UK’s future relationship with Europe, businesses are still hiring employees in their droves. With all that recruitment activity going on it’s easy for the process to cause upheavals to the day-to-day running of your business. That’s why we’ve put together a guide to make your hiring process as efficient and effective as possible.

Tips for hiring the right candidate

Whether you’re taking on one person or a whole new team, follow these steps for a smooth and successful hiring process:

1. Act fast: When a candidate responds you must act quickly. The longer you wait to get back to someone who shows an interest in working for your company, the greater the risk of them being snapped up by the competition.
2. Project your brand: Treat your potential employees like you would your clients – show them what’s so great about working for you and demonstrate that your business is an attractive place to work. For a greater insight into employer branding our blog has everything you need to know.
3. Avoid mistakes when hiring: It is absolutely crucial to get the hiring process right, not just from a business perspective, but from a legal perspective. Ensure that the person handling your recruitment is experienced and has a sharp eye for detail so that you won’t be exposed to accusations of discrimination or lack of due diligence. This will avoid costly legal proceedings and a lot of embarrassment. Which takes us to our next point…
4. Dodge recruiting blunders: Ensure that your recruitment agency is experienced and won’t make costly errors. Having an external recruitment provider cause an issue is unlikely to be any less embarrassing or uncomfortable than if the mistake was made in-house.
5. Be clear on how you will go about recruiting: Will the process be in-house or outsourced? Will there be a single point of contact within the business, or will recruitment be handled by a group of people? Having a clear process in place ensures all parties know where they stand and will enable those responsible for hiring to respond quickly to candidates, giving you the best chance at hiring the right person.
6. Be transparent: If you’re going to attract the very best talent – and retain that talent – you need to be upfront and clear about everything: expectations, culture, the type of work available, salaries and bonuses. Any unexpected surprises could just put potential candidates off your business or see them jump ship shortly after joining you.
7. Have a plan for the interview stage: A clear process for assessing candidates is crucial to screening the most suitable talent. Again, it’s worth considering whether this is something that will be handled in-house or externally. If handled externally, ensure that your recruitment consultant has clear guidelines as to what you are looking for – they may be able to conduct a brief initial interview with candidates and narrow the focus of your search, so you can consider only the best.
8. Ensure the recruiter understands the job spec: Nobody knows your staff or the vacant position you need to fill like you do. That’s why it’s so important to give a clear, detailed and accurate job description to whoever is doing your recruitment – especially if you’re handing the task over to an external recruiter. Make sure they understand the job spec entirely, as being able to accurately represent your business to prospective employees stands you in good stead for finding the person with the skills and experience needed. It may be a good idea to enlist the help of a reliable recruitment specialist who has the experience of recruiting for your industry and is familiar with the intricacies of the sector.

Hiring the right person is tough for any organisation, and especially so in the competitive climate that many professions are party to. We hope these eight steps will make recruitment efficient and straightforward, so you can successfully appoint the right person to the post. Not only will a clear recruitment strategy and a trusted recruitment partner make the hiring process better, it’ll give your company the boost it needs to thrive in the long term.

You might also like to read our blog on How to handle a counter offer situation, and if you’re looking to recruit now, get in touch with us by calling 01772 259121 or Register a Vacancy directly online.

Commercial talent; often it feels as though there isn’t any! And it’s not just a feeling either; in January, the British Chamber of Commerce published findings that skills shortages in both service and manufacturing industries were reaching ‘critical levels’. The headlines make for sobering reading, although it’s not all doom and gloom. Businesses can take specific steps to give themselves a much better chance of attracting, and retaining, the very best talent: a strong employer brand and a reliable recruitment partner could make the difference your company needs.

Building a brand: need to know

If asked to name a famous brand, there’s probably half a dozen or more that you could name off the top of your head. We’ve all heard of consumer brands like Coca-Cola, but what about employer brands?

An employer brand should be to your potential employees what your market branding is to the people that buy your products and services. It should be appealing and should essentially portray your business as a desirable place to work – as it is, no doubt. An employer brand might showcase the following aspects of your company:

• Success stories – what kind of achievements have your staff made since working in your company?
• Culture – is it work hard, play hard, or do you encourage staff to pursue a healthy work/life balance?
• Quality of work – is the work varied, challenging and interesting?
• Training and development – what opportunities are there to enhance skills, and how might a candidate grow their career with you?
• Benefits – apart from salary and financial reward, what are the benefits of working for your business over and above another?

Reassurance

Post-recession and post-Brexit, those on the lookout for a new job want to know that the company they decide to work for is a solid investment of their professional time and skills. Businesses need to reassure potential candidates that their prospects are good and that the company offers a good fit in terms of values.

A strong employer brand shouldn’t just work to attract new talent, it should help to retain existing talent. In fact, one of the most effective ways to devise a strategy for creating an employer brand is to communicate with your existing staff. Find out what motivates them, what they would like to see more or less of, and how their experience could be improved upon and you’ll have a good idea of what potential employees are looking for.

Getting the right support for your employer brand

Having an employer brand is valuable and should pay dividends in the long term. A great employer brand, however, takes time to create, establish and maintain. And all the while the war for talent rages on. The very best talent work hard and it’s hard work to attract them to your company too!

A recruitment partner that works in the background while you concentrate on your own brand-building activity can be incredibly beneficial. An established recruitment agency will already have their own brand and a good reputation, which reflects well on your business and provides reassurance to the candidate. What’s more, a recruitment agency, especially one with a broad spectrum of commercial experience, will have their ear to the ground and be able to keep you informed of candidate feedback and motivations to be aware of when establishing and maintaining an employer brand.

Not just a helping hand

Clayton Recruitment’s regional analysis of recruitment trends in the North West found that vacancies are on the increase across all industries from commercial finance to logistics: it doesn’t appear that the skills shortage will be coming to an end any time soon. The benefit of working with a recruitment partner is that while you’re busy building up your employer brand, the agent can access their existing pool of talent to find you the best candidate.

An agency that understands and has plenty of experience in commercial recruitment is key too. They can use their extensive and wide-ranging sector knowledge to filter out the very best talent that matches up with your needs. And while the skills shortage isn’t likely to disappear overnight, it can take a weight off your shoulders knowing that a professional is handling your company’s recruitment.

If you’re thinking of creating an employer brand or think that your existing brand needs re-developing, then why not get in touch with Clayton Recruitment? We’d be happy to chat about employer branding or help with finding the best talent for your business.

If you’d like to find out more about building an Employer Brand, please download our guide here.

If you’d like to find out more about the benefits of using a specialised recruitment company, have a look at our blog on how to get the best out of your recruitment company.

You place an ad with a recruitment agency, excited to see who will apply and what the crop of candidates will bring. Your business has a great reputation, an attractive benefits package and you offer a generous salary, so why aren’t quality candidates queuing up for an interview?

It’s a familiar story. Plenty of undergraduates show an interest in degrees such as engineering, design, and media, to name but a few. And while the number of students applying for higher education courses are down by 5% according to UCAS, the figure still stands at over half a million. While the numbers appear healthy at first glance, the reality is that businesses in an array of industries are struggling to keep pace with changing demands, and to find the candidates to meet those demands.

What does a talent shortage mean for business?

A lack of talent can sometimes feel like something of a vicious circle for businesses. Training a new staff member or apprentice from scratch incurs costs: the cost of recruiting them in the first place, not to mention the time and money put into expanding their knowledge, skills and experience.

Then there’s the fear that the individual will leave, taking all of that know-how with them, and resulting in further costs as the recruitment and training cycle begins again. And yet if companies don’t have the people to do the job, they’re unable to meet client demands and their bottom line suffers. It’s a catch-22 situation which puts businesses under pressure to retain existing talent and attract new talent from a shrinking pool.

Businesses must take action to remain competitive

When it comes to attracting and retaining talent, investment and training are vital. Whatever sector you work in, technology offers new ways of doing things that simply didn’t exist five years ago: from health and social care to aerospace engineering, technology is playing an increasingly important role in the workplace. If companies don’t move forward by investing in new technologies, they risk alienating candidates that are keen to be at the forefront of developing new processes and innovation.

Alongside investment in best practice for the future, training is another key factor in offering a competitive edge to candidates. If there are no opportunities to grow and develop it’s unlikely that the top-quality candidates will be keen to invest their time in your business. Demonstrating that there are clear progression paths and supporting staff to find better ways of doing things shows that you’re forward thinking, client-centered and interested in being – and employing – the best.
A skills shortage puts businesses in a difficult situation, as industry-specific skills only come from working in industry. Of course, businesses will always want to attract those who already possess those skills, and it can be frustrating having to develop staff when you need them to have the skills now. As time moves on and client demands change so too must the skills offered by business: flexibility is key. It’s important for businesses not to fall into the trap of thinking that recruiting new staff will always solve their current problems; the responsibility also lies with the business itself to train and bring on the next wave of leaders and experts.

The most important factor for businesses

With ways of working changing faster than they have in decades and technological advances continuing apace, flexibility is the defining characteristic businesses in all industries need to display. Investing in better ways of doing things and training staff is all well and good, but it’s only relevant until circumstances and client demands change next week, next month, or next year. Companies need to have one eye on the future, one eye on the lay of the land, and adjust and readjust as times move on to be in with a fighting chance of attracting – and keeping – the very best candidates.

Contact us today to see how we can assist you with your recruitment needs, by calling us on 01772 259121 or Register a Vacancy directly.

It’s a common scenario – a sudden departure of key talent in your organisation leaves you panicked and desperately requiring new skills to bridge the gaps left as a result…and fast.

And while you can recruit on an ad-hoc basis and temporarily stem problematic issues from snowballing, there is another way. Recent developments in recruitment mean organisations no longer have to rely on inefficient fire-fighting methods to deal with recruitment challenges as and when they occur.

Analytics to prepare for change

Many of the biggest businesses are already using big data to their advantage by understanding customer needs and desires at a really granular level.

Yet recruitment is lagging behind, and to some extent, this is symptomatic of the dispersed nature of the candidate base – the more we can know about candidate behaviour, the better we will become at matching candidates with roles. Accurate predictive candidate behaviour is, of course, the nirvana but we’re still a little way off that!

So while HR has traditionally been focused on people skills rather than number crunching, only now are organisations realising the potential of using analytics to prepare for any changes, as well as improving their bottom line.

How does it work within recruitment?

The growth of recruitment analytics stems from the age-old issue of supply and demand. When your talent leaves or your business is growing, you will inevitably require new skills – utilising a data-driven approach can help to tackle these hiring issues before they become serious and affect the productivity of your organisation.

Beyond this, HR analytics can be used for very specific needs and requirements – for example, they can be adopted to ascertain when your senior executives are eligible to retire, to recognise current employees’ behaviour, or to reveal certain job roles that are targeted by competitors so that you can better focus your retention efforts.

Identifying skills and talent

One of the most common challenges that most organisations encounter is how to deal with the departure of talent, and how to bridge any resulting skills gaps quickly and effectively.

In these cases, analytics can be used to identify what expertise you have at hand, which can then be cross-referenced with those skills required and the talent you are likely to lose in the short to medium-term future. Details can be based on a wide range of factors including an individual’s propensity to change roles so far in their career, qualitative factors like whether they’ve appeared more disengaged with their work, and even things like whether they’ve recently updated LinkedIn, which could be a sign that they’re considering a new role.

These factors combined – along with a whole host of other information – allow companies to map their entire business, and identify those roles that may need filling in the future. By doing this, organisations are able to effectively implement cross-training, redeployment or hire, and ultimately plan better for potential future shortages.

So, are analytics the solution?

Data and number crunching is by no means a be-all and end-all solution, but when aligned with the ability to understand people skills and challenges, it can make a significant difference to HR departments. What’s more, as the ideas and programmes used to deliver this information mature, analytics will only become ever more effective within businesses.

To talk further about how data can be used to prevent panicked hiring and ensure your organisation is prepared for the worst, talk to us at Clayton Recruitment – we’d be more than happy to help.

Check out some of our other blogs to find career and development advice for both businesses and professionals. Or take a look at some of our current jobs

Regular readers will know we often use this blog as a platform to provide cutting edge insight and offer tips to professionals on how to get ahead in their careers. However, after a period of rapid growth and expansion we’re now looking to bolster our ranks and take on skilled recruiters – of all experience levels – to work out of our North West base. But could you make it as a recruiter?

Hard-working, but satisfying

It would be remiss to suggest that working as a recruiter is all sunshine and lollipops and the role can include a lot of hard work in order to be successful. However, it’s worth the occasional stressful day because you also get the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve potentially changed someone’s life. Securing a job can often be a pivotal moment for an individual, and their wider network, and contributing to such a major step is a highly gratifying feeling.

Communication

This is a key attribute and there are few, if any, top-level recruiters who don’t possess the ability to convey their point clearly and concisely. You’ll often be dealing with incredibly busy professionals who don’t necessarily want to take time out of their day to speak to a recruiter, which means it’s critically important to get your point across quickly yet accurately. It’s not just oral communication either, you’ll also have to possess the ability to engage effectively with people via email and through employment platforms like LinkedIn.

Belief in your ability

You’ll be placing professionals who are often true subject matter experts and they’re hardly likely to take career advice and guidance from someone they suspect may not know as much as they say. You have to be able to portray confidence to both clients and candidates if you want to be taken seriously, and that only comes from possessing true belief in your ability. As mentioned, changing roles can be one of the most significant moments in an individual’s life and they won’t want to be led on that journey by someone who doesn’t come across as credible and professional. Believe in yourself and those attributes will begin to shine through.

Self-motivation and resilience

As with any other job, recruiters will have good days and bad days. However, unlike some other sectors, it’s near-on impossible to ‘hide’ in the hiring industry and your employer will expect you to be able to take the rough with the smooth while still performing to the best of your ability.

The benefits

Now for the good stuff. After all, that hard work isn’t for nothing and one of the major perks of working as a recruiter are the benefits on offer. While the job descriptions promising you “45K BASIC SALARY OTE AFTER TWO WEEKS 400K” are, frankly, nonsense it’s certainly true that you can earn a significant amount working in the hiring field. Recruiters secure commission on the placements they make so hard-working and adept professionals are able to take home added benefits. Depending on the firm you work for, you’re also likely to get alternative perks. Here at Clayton Recruitment, for example, we offer an annual car incentive, raffles for super prizes, corporate days out and a team and company profit share system. We’re also firm believers in the power of CPD and offer training and development opportunities – along with potential study leave – to all of our consultants. Obviously, not all organisations will offer these types of extra-curricular perks however it can be a good way of identifying which firms will make the best employers.

Could you make it as a recruiter?

So after reading that, could you make it as a recruiter? If the answer is yes then get in touch with our team to find out about the roles we have on offer in our North West headquarters.

Take a look at some of our other blogs to find out what life is really like as a recruiter. Or browse our current roles to find out what’s available outside of the recruitment industry.

Tattoos are a subject of much debate at the moment and it appears that views towards them have shifted considerably in recent times. Just a decade ago it’s likely that few professional employers would have welcomed them in a work environment, but now they’re seen as commonplace in many companies and views towards them have become much more positive. But are tattoos, as some research suggests, a ‘barrier to employment’?

A study commissioned by ACAS from academics at King’s College London found that body art is still seen as unacceptable at many workplaces. This struck us as odd. After all, tattoos are considerably more prevalent than they ever have been with the latest figures suggesting that 1 in 3 young adults in the UK has one and that we’re not going to reach a tipping point until 2025, when the UK’s supplies of ink may or may not run out.

It’s hard to pinpoint when the craze really took off. Back in the 80s and even early 90s tattoos were seen as a sure fire method to make your mum cry and to steer you away from any stereotypically ‘professional’ roles. Some have suggested that Patient Zero was David Beckham, or Amy Winehouse, but really the trend is buried deeper in the cultural complexities of this country than that.

Tattoos – an issue for jobseekers?

One of the main issues for jobseekers – and employers – is now how to deal with tattoos and their role in the workplace. Organisations, after all, that are completely against hiring anyone with a visible tattoo are essentially ruling out up to a third of young professionals which, in times when skills shortages are rife, doesn’t seem like an intelligent approach.

As Director of HR Diversity Consultancy, The Clear Company, Kate Headley says – “Tattoos are perhaps seen by some as an indication of someone’s background, often associated with criminal behaviour, anti-establishment thinking and a lack of respect for authority. Yet these are all assumptions based on conceptions created by a broader society influenced by stereotypes, like the tendency for people with tattoos being depicted as the ‘bad guys’ in fiction. The issue for people with tattoos is getting employers to see beyond this stereotypical bias.”

A personal choice?

Tattoos are a personal choice, however it’s not illegal to discriminate against someone with one which means it often comes down to bias and the aforementioned stereotypes to drive decision making. You could argue that they’re a choice made by the individual who then has to live with their decision, but the same could be said about religion and we all know it’s illegal to discriminate on the basis of faith.

Feel free to disagree (we’d love to hear your views) but we believe that tattoos, unless they’re particularly offensive or poorly positioned, don’t affect an individual’s credibility or their ability to do their job, so why should they be seen as a negative? Of course, there is another school of thought that suggests that work is a time for professionalism and that all tattoos are linked to personal lives and should be kept under wraps during working hours. But as we all know, life in and out of work is becoming ever more converged so where does that leave us when it comes to things like flexible working, or having the ability to work from home?

Ultimately, it’s down to the employer. The best ones are unlikely to doubt you because you’ve got a tattoo and those that do should perhaps consider the size of the workforce that they’re essentially ruling out from ever working for them by doing so.

If you are looking for further advice then why not check out our advice pages

We usually use this blog as a platform to offer advice, tips and updates on our specialist sectors including care home nursing, logistics and finance. However, Clayton as a business is also always on the lookout for the next generation of talent to work with us, which is why we’ve outlined our top tips on how to be a successful recruiter.

Fill yourself with confidence

You’ll need to be able to hold your own with people who are experts at what they do, and don’t appreciate their time being wasted. Nobody wants to be consulted on a potentially life changing job move by someone who they suspect might not know their specialist field as well as they say they do. You need to be confident enough to take on new areas of expertise, but also be able to portray that confidence to clients and candidates. In addition, you’ll have to be comfortable picking up the phone and engaging with people who don’t know what your credentials are and likely to be at least mildly sceptical about what you’re doing. Working at Clayton takes a confident self starter who is willing to become a subject matter expert.

Be a great communicator

Along similar lines, you’ll need to be an effective and concise communicator and get your point across quickly. You’ll probably be speaking to people who are busy in their current roles and don’t want to waste hours of their lives chatting to a recruiter. You’ll also need to be able to master your email communications and online marketing on platforms like LinkedIn. After all, you’re not going to have much success if your job advert iz ritten lyk dis, lol.

Be resilient, target driven and motivated

It’s not just applicants who face rejection, recruiters do too and you need to be able to take the bumps in the road and still be able to perform to the best of your ability. You’ll have good days and bad – that’s a given – but the secret is being able to prevent the bad days from affecting your output. At the vast majority of firms, you’ll have certain KPIs to work to. That’s an approach that’s not suited to everyone and while not all organisations have the same model, people who are motivated by the idea of working to specific goals will do well here. More autonomous, freewheeling types who are set on recruitment may have to delve a little deeper to find those few businesses with a softer, more consultative approach.

Be a multi-tasker

As a job applicant it’s unlikely you’ll have used just one recruiter to help your job search and organisations are the same and will look to multiple sources for their own talent. This means that if you can move quickly and efficiently, then you’ll be able to beat your competitors. However, you’ll also have a lot to do at once and will likely be dealing with a lot of vacancies and therefore multiple companies and even more candidates. Consequently, you must be able to juggle multiple projects and tasks simultaneously. You’ll have to keep in mind the details, experience and motivators of a large number of people and this requires a lot of organisational competency. If you can master the idea of ‘less haste, more speed’ (i.e doing things quickly, but well) then you should be ok.

Obviously, there a lot more skills required to be a successful recruiter and the job requires you to have the ability to think on your feet and to back your own ability and knowledge. If you’re looking for a career in a challenging and fast-moving, but also highly rewarding, industry and want to join a successful, supportive and rapidly growing organisation, then get in touch with one of our expert consultants for a chat.