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Let your best people know you appreciate them

Which members of your team do you spend most of your time with?

For many managers, the natural thing to do is to delegate tasks to the best people and let them get on with the job.  The perceived wisdom is that this frees up time to spend more time with the poorer performers who need the most help and support. This might seem to be the obvious approach, but it can also be the wrong thing to do.

Often the only time a manger realises there is something wrong is when one of their best people comes in with their resignation and says that they have accepted a senior role with another company. We get to hear many reasons from employees about why they want to resign from their current job. Most often they tell us that they liked working at their present company but never felt appreciated or involved. They will say that they were left to get on with their job, seldom told they were valued and never asked their opinions about decisions being made about their department.

Encourage people doing the right things

Some managers think their job is to be on the lookout for employees making mistakes. In reality, business performance improves when you catch people doing the right things and praise them for it.

It’s no secret that genuine praise makes people feel good. Pride, pleasure and increased feelings of self-esteem are all common reactions to being paid a compliment or receiving positive feedback. This is because being praised triggers the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps control the reward and pleasure centres of the brain. As well as making us feel good, dopamine can also contribute to innovative thinking and creative problem-solving at work.

These positive effects, however, are relatively short-lived, and for praise to have an enduring impact on employee engagement, it needs to be offered regularly.

Freedom and involvement

Top performers do want the freedom to get on with their job and definitely don’t want to be micro-managed; but that doesn’t mean they should be taken for granted or ignored.

Do delegate responsibility to your best people and give them the freedom to accomplish their tasks, but don’t ignore them.  Meet them one to one regularly to discuss progress, their ideas, their issues and their plans, and help them to overcome any difficulties that get in the way of them from achieving even more.  Share some of the bigger business or departmental challenges with them and ask their opinions.

Deal with under performers effectively

You do have to spend time with the junior members and weaker performers in your team.  They need coaching and support, but don’t let this get out of balance.  Devote time and support to a poor performer, agree on an improvement plan with them, and monitor their progress.  Discuss the plan and their performance with your line manager and / or HR manager, and if they fail to improve or consistently under perform, then they should go.  No manager can afford to have consistent under performers draining their time and pulling down the team’s performance.

Aim for a balanced approach.  Spend time with every member of the team, get to know their interests, frustrations, ambitions and job-related issues.  A good manager understands their team both as a group and as individuals.  Every employee has different motivations, likes, dislikes, hopes and fears, and as a manager, you should know what motivates every person in your office.  Why do they come to work?  Every individual wants to be listened to and appreciated.

Praise and encouragement are great for weaker staff when they make improvements, but they are also important for the top performers who can often say they feel taken for granted and unappreciated.  Make sure that your best people know how much you value them.

The team at First Base can help you to recruit and retain great people. If you would like to know more about why candidates and employers tell us that First Base is their first choice call 01453 755330 or email tricia.hay@first-base.co.uk

 

Why good candidates turn down your job offer

The UK’s unemployment rate edged lower to 3.9% in first quarter of 2019. The employment rate hit a record high – and it is creating issues for employers seeking to recruit good people.

We have experienced some great companies having their job offers turned down by exceptional candidates in recent months. Good candidates are getting multiple job offers and we notice more and more are being given a counter offer when they announce to their current employer that they are leaving.

So why are some companies struggling to recruit?

  1. The role is not well defined

There is an increased need to properly and accurately describe the actual role you are recruiting for to candidates. Outline the role as it really is today or you risk losing a new recruit in the first few months. Don’t just highlight the best parts of the job or how it might look in the future – and don’t hire for part time when what you really have is a full time job. A new recruit hired part time being pressured to work extra hours isn’t a great motivator.

  1. Offering the right rate for the job

It’s a job seekers market right now and failing to offer at least the market rate is unlikely to attract the best candidates.

  1. Providing personal development opportunities

Every good candidate wants to know what opportunities there are for development. Failing to provide a personal development and progression plan is a big switch off for many good people.

  1. Company values

There is a whole new generation of talent who want to be paid well for a job well done AND to know that their personal values are aligned with those of their employer. Social issues and community awareness are high on their agenda.

  1. Making time for recruitment

At First Base we can help and support organisations to save time and money, Never the less, there remains a requirement for the right amount of time and attention to be allocated internally to ensure interviews are effective and that candidates get the best impression.

  1. A long recruitment process

Being decisive is becoming really important. Some organisations simply take too long to make a recruitment decision and then lose the candidate to a more switched on company.

  1. Health and wellbeing

It’s would be difficult to miss how big this is right now. Organisations need to be serious about wellbeing at work, not just because it is expected but because it is the right thing to do. The more an organisation shows it really cares, the more attractive it is an employer.

  1. Knowing what’s great about you as an organisation to work for

Every job and every company has things that are great about them.  In order to stand out from other potential employer’s, an organisation needs to know who they are trying to attract and what will motivated them to want to work with them.

We work closely with our clients to make sure they are in the best position to recruit. Working with hundreds of top employer has given us a lot of experience about what attracts (or turns off) good people. If you would like to know more about we can help you to find the right people call 01453 755330 or email tricia.hay@first-base.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

Writing a personal profile for your CV

A candidate recently asked whether she should write an introductory paragraph or personal profile at the beginning of her CV. Great question we thought, so here’s our view.

Whilst a cover letter tailored to the specific job you are applying for will do a lot of the talking for you, a short well written personal profile really helps your chances of standing out. A personal profile is a short paragraph that sits at the top of your CV. Its aim is to effectively and concisely sum up who you are and your skills and strengths relevant to the job role and career aims.  It is similar to a cover letter; the main difference is you will be selling yourself (the main purpose of your CV) in four or five sentences rather than a full page. A good personal profile added to your CV will grab the recruiter’s attention.

And grabbing the recruiter’s attention is vital. Many roles are in competitive fields and can attract dozens if not hundreds of CV’s – and that means you need to provide a short sharp reason for them to read on beyond the first few lines. You risk a recruiter flicking past your CV unless they spot reasons to put you forward pretty quickly. Help your recruiter to help you!

Your profile provides an ideal way to grab the recruiter’s attention and continue reading your CV because you are telling them in the first few sentences why they should consider hiring you. A personal profile can be useful if you are uploading your CV to a job board such as CV-Library. It provides you with an opportunity to outline your career objectives and can help put your CV into context. It also helps recruiters to match you with the right job for you and gives them some direction as to what sort of working culture would be the right fit for you.

A profile is best included when you are fairly sure what type of job you want or where your skills suit specific sectors. If you aren’t sure then consider leaving it out. A profile that is too broad risks giving the impression you haven’t done your research or that any type of employment will do. Not the best impression to give

Structuring a personal profile

The most important thing to remember is that your statements should around four or five sentences – between 50 and 200 words. Some people like to write in the first person (I am, my skills include…) or the third person (Sales professional seeking, skills include…). It really doesn’t matter as long as you are consistent with your grammatical style.

We suggest dividing your personal profile paragraph into three sections.

If you’re writing a more general personal profile, be sure you include key achievements that make you stand out. For example, if you’re looking for a position within graphic design and you’ve got extensive Photoshop experience working on a major campaign, not only can you claim you have these skills in your personal statement, but you can back them up as well.

Leave out the buzz words

You may well be a highly motivated team player with excellent communications skills and extensive administration experience but these buzz words don’t really provide any evidence (and a recruiters will have read the same words a thousand times).

Try to highlight real, relevant skills and back them up with evidence to make your personal profile strong.

Do

Don’t

Employers and candidates tell us that First Base is their first choice for help with their recruitment requirements and their personal career progression. If you would like to know more about how the First Base team could help you, contact us on 01453 755330 or email tricia.hay@first-base.co.uk

To upload your CV follow this link!

If you want that job – be on time!

Question: When is punctuality important at a job interview?

Answer: Always!

If you want to get off to a good start and earn some positive points at an interview, being punctual is absolutely vital.

“Punctuality is a fundamental business courtesy that demonstrates you can be trusted to deliver as promised” – David Tovey

First Impressions

It should go without saying, but it is never acceptable to be late to an interview. This is such a common standard that some employers will refuse to interview a candidate if they are late. Sadly some candidates still fail to realise that there is a basic requirement to be on time.

Look at it from the potential employers point of view. If the person who apparently is really keen to work for you walks in for an interview 10 minutes late, would you trust them to be on time and be organized throughout their employment with you? The recruitment process also takes up a lot of time for both employment agencies and employers – being late suggests that you are indifferent about the effort they are taking to help you find the job you want.

Have no doubt that potential employers have heard all the excuses:

Sorry I’m late..

“The traffic was terrible”

“The trains were running late”

“I had problems finding your offices”

Use these excuses (or the many similar ones) and all that the interviewer will be thinking is that you are not organised enough to plan your journey. They know what the traffic is like around Gloucestershire, on the roads and motorways. They know how the trains run, they also know about Google Maps and Sat Nav. Remember that they travel the same routes themselves.

“People don’t arrive late, they set out late” – David Tovey

But don’t arrive early

Arriving late is clearly not going to help you get the job you want – but being too early isn’t going to help your cause either. There are people who turn up 30 – 40 minutes early for a job interview and waltz in thinking it’s ok.

Just like when you turn up late, the recruitment manager is thinking.

Late or early – if they are thinking that about you before you have even introduced yourself – what do you think that does to your chances of getting the job offer?

Turning up too early for an interview can also make it awkward for your potential employer. The organisation might only have one meeting room, so if you turn up too early you’ll have to be seated in reception – sometimes next to another person also waiting to go into the interview for the same role as you. That can be uncomfortable for everyone.

A job interview provides the opportunity for you to shine, it’s your chance to make the right impression and the impression you make starts the moment you arrive. Those extra 30-40 minutes will count towards what the potential employer thinks of you.

What should you do?

Plan to arrive around 5 minutes early, not earlier and not later.

If you turn up too early:

When it comes to choosing between two good candidates, it can be the smallest of things that make all the difference. Don’t miss out on your finding your ideal job just because you didn’t turn up on time, it’s totally under your control. Check out our blog “Why didn’t I get the job”.

Employers and candidates tell us that First Base is their first choice for help with their recruitment requirements and their personal career progression. If you would like to know more about how the First Base team could help you, contact us on 01453 755330.