Doing it yourself!!

We are seeing a handful of organisations (largely government) looking to get staff themselves via internet and print based avenues. For certain roles this will absolutely work for certain roles (Helpdesk is one job that comes to mind) in this marketplace - but they will be swamped with applications (expect in excess of 100). But what we are seeing is that organisations will spend maybe four / six weeks going through a process and then coming out asking for help. My point is, I would hate to think how much time, effort, productivity and money has been wasted in that period.

An example comes to mind that occurred earlier this year which if they had asked themselves the hard question "are we best to do this" they would of saved a huge amount of time, saved some people getting highly stressed, saved some money and they would have had a person on sooner than what they did:

- A SOE needed to recruit a new role - strong response - seven people interviewed - none of the seven deemed appropriate - another ad on Trade Me and SEEK - another reasonable response - four people interviewed - none of the four deemed appropriate. Then we get a phone call and I wouldn't say it was the easiest role to fill, but what was needed was some headhunting - ringing some people whom were comfortable in their role and tempting them with an opportunity. This organisations approach was 'well there must be a lot of people looking for a job, we will be right', and they were correct on the quantity point, but not right when it came to the quality!

By no means am I absolutely against organisations watching costs in these market conditions, but all I ask is that they think seriously whether they are in the best position / have the best resource and know the people they need before commencing a process.

Recruiting Blind

In some instances we get put into a situation where we have to work off a JD, without a conversation or a meeting with the line / hiring manager. I have seen it happen with our team at 920. There are many reasons why a lot of the times it certainly makes the task at hand even harder:

- It is great to hear it from 'the horses mouth' why this is such a great role
- We can talk to people about the type of person they will be reporting too - this may persuade or dissuade individuals (either way it helps)
- A JD doesn't necessary tell you the top three 'absolute must have's'
- A JD doesn't talk about the the key projects that lay ahead for the person and what benefits being involved will have for them

From a line / hiring managers point of view a 15 / 20 minute investment is certainly going to assist as if not you may receive profiles which for whatever reason doesn't match your needs. My advice - make the small investment and save yourself some time and pain in the future.

Flying Qantas

NEVER AGAIN

I had a rather average experience last Wednesday flying to Auckland on Wednesday and then returning to Wellington that night. Firstly I arrive at the Wgtn Airport and was told the 7am flight was cancelled (without even a sorry). They did get me on a 7.30am flight on Air NZ.

In between meetings I get a txt saying my 6pm flight back to Wgtn 'now maybe delayed until 7.30pm' which was a pain but not unbearable. I get out of my last meeting at 5.15pm and there is another txt saying my flight is now at 9pm. I won't repeat what I said. I get to the airport and checked in. No real sorry, the lady didn't seemed to care and I had to ask to see if there was anything like a meal voucher. After a glance back at me they gave me a $10 dollar meal voucher (thanks).

I decide to go and enquire at Air NZ to see what price they have for a seat on their 7.30pm. It was $260 so thought best I sit and wait. The evening gets better. We hop on the place at 8.45am and for some reason we wait an hour in the actual plane before we take off - no reason given, no announcement from the pilot. What a horrible customer service experience

Tom Peters and The Results Group

One of the two in the blog title certainly was worth going to see. Tom is a 66-year old guy with big energy, simple ideas and is an amazing story teller. The Results Group well - there are a few words I want to use but probably won't. I think they see themselves as "Business Coaches", but it wouldn't surprise me if many of these guys battled to get a job doing anything, got some 'business coaching' and then started coaching!

Back to Tom - he told a great Nelson Mandela story on how Nelson Mandela was able to get his way via his disposition and his smile, but while in a South African jail he couldn't click with the Head of the jail. So each time he went to meet with this guy to discuss the possibility of him leaving it was always a 'no'. So he did some research on this Africans chap and found out that he was a Rugby nut, so Nelson Mandela for the next 6-mths studied and learnt Rugby. He managed to find out which team this chap supported, who he played for when he played etc.

The next meeting between Nelson Mandela and the Head of the Jail was going as it normally did - poorly. He waited until 10-minutes into the conversation before mentioning what happened in the latest South African provincial game that this guy team played in. Nelson Mandela talked about the key moments in the game, made comment on the referee etc. Nelson Mandela had this guy. From that moment onwards the relationship changed and Nelson Mandela got treated like royalty while in this Jail and eventually got released.

A little long winded but it smacks of great planning and research - something that is sometimes missing in the Recruitment game. It isn't overly hard hop on Linkedin and find the candidate you are going to interview, the client you are about to meet etc

One last thing from Tom Peters - well it is actually from Wayne Gretzsky - "You will miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - I love this attitude and thinking

Check out more from Tom Peters on www.tompeters.com

2009 - Charlotte Niamh Masters

On January 4 2009 our second little Princess was born in Wellington Hospital. It is now coming up seven weeks and the last few weeks have certainly been harder than we thought. Having two under two certainly has it's challenges. Last night Grace stayed with the Turners and having one child to look after certainly was a breeze. Anyway enough of me ranting, many people have it a tougher than what we have it and it makes it all worthwhile when we get a cute little smile from Princess Charlotte

2009 - India comes to NZ

Now I know this is nothing new but I can see the likes of HCL, Infosys, Satyam and even though smaller Indian organisations doing more and more in the NZ marketplace in 2009.

From conversations I have had in the last two to four weeks it seems that organisations that historically would not entertain such agreements are entering into conversations to get additional information from such suppliers. Even the small software development shops whom develop off-the-shelf type app's are looking at such possibilities.

There have success stories and then there has been stories which make you cringe about outsourcing to India. From what I can ascertain on 'what works', it is key to get some key resource out to NZ to meet the appropriate people, understand the systems, mingle and do some initial work on the product / system and then go back to India where the actual 'do-ers' can do their stuff (for $25 an hour).

BUT I will finish saying that 'it is hard to beat walking over or yelling out to a colleague asking for advice or clarification'! It is amazing what gets lost during many conversations or translations!

Recruiting in Auckland & Wellington before Xmas

An observation that I have seen in the last 6-weeks is that there is noticeable difference between Hiring Managers in Auckland and Wellington.

Wellington - Managers want to make decisions before Xmas and I quote "I’ll hire the right person (if you can find them for me) this side of Xmas" - even Government departments are making decisions before Xmas

Auckland - "we won't have time to get things done so we will hold off making any decisions until late January".

Don't you love recruiting in Wellington!!!