It’s good to talk!

There’s little more frustrating than not being able to talk with someone who you really need or want to talk with. The longer that you both go without having that all important conversation, the more the subject matter gains in importance, quite possibly to the extent that it has now grown into a mountain of a problem from what was a little molehill.

No matter who you are or what your job is, at some stage of everyday you will inevitably have to talk with a colleague, a customer or someone who might have an influence on your future. Which is where we come into this blog!

As a search firm we’re proactive and tap candidates on the metaphorical shoulder to discuss our client’s opportunity with them. From there the conversation either comes to a stop as they decide that what we’re offering isn’t for them or we move forward and start discussing CV’s.

Now this is what puzzles me. There are endless web sites and firms who will advise you on how to write and present your CV, usually for a fee, and yet we’re staggered by the number of CV’s which we receive that have no contact details on them. The telephone number might be on the original email (rarely post these days) but equally it’s as likely to not be on it. Our only way of contacting that candidate is through the original email and asking them to call us. Naturally we point this out to candidates and have been told on a number of occasions that they’ve been advised to leave these details off as they might be discriminated against because of their location, which you can tell from the address and dialling code!

Forgive me, but this is simply hokum and exceedingly poor advice. I, along with most clients and fellow recruitment consultants, do not have time to try and track down candidates contact details if they won’t supply them on the original CV. Candidates will miss out on opportunities and discover that when the ‘phone doesn’t ring; silence isn’t golden.

As I said: It’s good to talk.

Cross border co-operation

As I mentioned in my blog a month ago, the world is getting smaller moment by moment and at the heart of this change has been the continual advancement of technology, enabling you to Skype each other or run live video conferences, rather than conducting all of your communication by email.

However, all of these technologies have a limiting factor and that’s because nothing beats the one to one human contact that meeting in a room together offers.

As companies increasingly spread their global wings, the need to recruit accordingly inevitably rears its head and that’s where InterSearch has a trump card. With offices in 45 countries we can pull together a team wherever you or your needs are. This week we had a classic example of exactly this when I headed out to Paris to meet the HR Director of a client that was moving its Head Office. Putting aside the fact that I turned up an hour late (thanks for that Eyjafjallajökull) my colleagues from the European offices and I have been able to put together a co-ordinated search process that will target candidates in four countries in order to deliver a comprehensive shortlist and the best candidate for the job.

It became apparent that they wouldn’t have trusted the assignment to a firm that didn’t have consultants in situ in their target countries, nor one that couldn’t manage the co-ordination of those consultants to the advantage of the HR Director.

If you would like to discuss what InterSearch can do for you then contact one of our directors on 0203 1300 390 or www.intersearchuk.com

The only decision is indecision.

A week ago we were in the midst of the build up to the first general election that would genuinely be contested since the labour government came to power in 1997. The excitement of having the leadership debates was still fresh in our minds as we all trooped off to the polling stations to mark our X on the local and national ballot papers.

And now here we are a week later and we’re no further closer to knowing which party will be in power and who will be leading us onwards to a brighter economic future.

All of this made me wonder what on earth would happen if we all tried to run our businesses this way? Can you imagine your employees voting on whether the MD or the FD was offering the right pay rise and then when the votes are tied calling in the part time 16 year old trainee post room clerk to make the decision?

Whilst the three parties try and buy the favours of each other in order to either cling onto power or move into the power hot seat; the economy bounces around like an infant on a 1970’s space hopper. As with any business, whether it’s public sector, privately owned or a PLC, decisions and tough decisions at that, have to be made. For all our sakes, let’s hope that this mess is resolved.

And resolved quickly.