Who do you work for?

I work with Microsoft Dynamics CRM product and one of the leading recruitment agencies Nigel Frank survey the Microsoft Dynamics job seekers and then crunch the numbers to produce some very interesting results.

you can download a copy of the survey here

http://www.nigelfrank.com/en/surveyDownload

There are some interesting statistics in the report and one of them is tenure with their current employer.

The figures show almost 48 percent of workers have only been at their current employer for up to the last 2 years. This shows the view of having a job for life is far from the norm in today's market place with only 11 percent of workers staying somewhere for more than 10 years.

Getting Ready to Move

Another statistic from the report show in the UK 45 percent are planning to move in the next 12 months.

Globally, 35% of respondents planned to leave their current employer in the
next 12 months. However, the UK seems to be a much more mobile market,
with 45.1% of respondents planning to find a new employer in the next 12
months.

Why are people moving so much

The biggest motivators were lack of career and promotional prospects
(22.6% vs 19.9%, UK vs Global) followed by lack of training.

I would also add increased salary would also be prime reason to move jobs because people usually only move jobs for a pay increase.

A company might not be life it might just be for xmas

Why are these statistic important because it highlights the importance of making decisions at work which are important for you long term career, which might not be at that company. It's about taking a long term view.

You are being paid by the company, you are also working for a company of one, e.g. you are your own company. Gone are the days you work at one company for your whole career like your parents, you need to be prepared to be on the move and have adaptable skills.

You need to to remember you might be working for a different company in 1-3 years time so you need to create transferable skills, which are useful to lots of companies.

Make sure LinkedIn profile is up to date and when you finish a project you note down the important aspects while they are fresh in your mind.

If possible the experience you get at work needs to be desirable to other companies, specialized skills which are in demand.

11 percent of people surveyed worked for a company for more than 10 years, so whilst 1 in 10 work for one company for a long time, 5 out 10 people will be moving jobs in the next two years.

It is possible you could work for one company your whole career but statistically this would seem unlikely and you need to take this into account in your career decisions.

Recruitment consultants, Internet and LinkedIn

The internet, job boards, searching for companies has all made finding new jobs easier. It has made it easier for individuals to find companies and contact them directly and it also makes it easier for recruitment consultant to find suitable candidates.

LinkedIn and other similar types of sites I believe has had a dramatic effect on job movement and frequency of people moving jobs. Recruitment consultants not only message people actively looking for jobs but also head hunt people not looking for jobs.

Summary

The results are localized and based on the Microsoft Dynamics industry but I think they show an increasing trend in other jobs based in offices.

Most of my friends also work in IT and have all moved jobs over the last 10 years.

The most important consideration is you are working for yourself, take control of your career which may involve working for a number of different companies.

picture by Riccardo Cuppini

Watch out! Recruitment consultants like fishing

Recruitment consultants can be as slippery as an Eel covered in jelly sliding down a slippery pole into a giant bowl of custard

A key skill in being a recruitment consultant is building up your network of potential candidates.

The more candidates in your network the greater chance you have of finding a suitable for the customer requirements

I have two articles on recruitment consultants, the annoying practices of bad recruitment consultants and the good practices of good recruitment consultants. This article is focused on trick of some recruitment consultants and how you can avoid giving your contact details to them.

How do you add people to your network - Fishing

When I say fishing, I don't mean go fishing with wellies, fishing rod, wiggly maggots, hope to meet potential candidates by the river bank, who would love to join forces with you because you both have the love of fishing.

I'm talking about virtual fishing

One method to get people in your network is to message them and say you have a great job, a job almost too good to be true. Great pay, Great location, Big company, lots of holiday, big bonus, etc etc.

The reason the recruitment consultant is dangling this juicy bait over your virtual head is because at the moment they haven't got your contact details or the key contact detail - your phone number.

They are hoping you will read their tempting offer and quickly ring up. They will have a chat , then you will find there isn't an actual job but they can ring their customers and see if they are interesting in hiring you.

You were just hooked

Don't feel foolish, this trick has and will continue to work for a long time in the future.

Choose to be hooked

You may be happy to talk and build a relationship with the recruitment consultant who is messaging you, in which case get the ball rolling and get chatting. Personally I would like to start a relationship on a more honest and open foundation.

Information is power, you know the trick, so can choose to be hooked but what if you don't want to be hooked or give you phone number to that recruitment consultant (and all those who work at that company)

Here are a few ideas to see if they have a real job

• Don't give them your number, just converse through emails\LinkedIn
• Look at the recruiters's LinkedIn profile and/or agency before starting a relationship
• Ask them for a job description. If they don't have a job description they will say things like they need to talk to you to explain it better.
• Ask them who the company is? They may not want to tell you this but it could be legitimate because there is nothing stopping you then talking directly to that company.
• Ask them details about the company e.g. size, gold partner, rough location
• Location is a good way to tease out whether they have a job. Tell them you want to work in a certain area. They should be able to tell you how far away it is (ish).
• If they have a real job but it's somewhere you don't want to work, be on your guard of them also saying, Oh I have job (in exact location you specified previously), they could have a job there but they could also be swapping the bait on their hook.

You are playing a game of poker with the recruitment consultant, your mission is to try to get them to show their hand, you will find out if they are bluffing or if they really have a good hand. You will then know what hand they have and whether you want to bet this round.

Good Practices of Good recruitment consultants

I wrote a post last week Annoying practices of bad recruitment consultants, I thought I would balance up the argument a bit and note down some of the good practices of Recruitment consultants.

no... I can't think of any, well that was a quick post.

Just kidding

It also intrigued me to see which would be the more popular post, the good or the annoying.

The number of good recruitment consultants I have been in contact with is not many, most are average but there are quite a few poor ones but this is probably true for most professions I'm guessing.

So what do I think are good practices of recruitment consultants (please add your own to the comments section)

I find it's usually in the questions they ask you, which is really to get you to ask the questions about what you want and your motivation.

Question - What do you want in a new job

Good recruitment consultants ask you want you want in a new job. Money is important but after you have been working somewhere for a while you won't notice how much more money you are getting (because it will be the new norm) and then it's all down to the job, the career, the company etc.

Question - what do you want in a new company

Different companies work better for different people so it will help if you have a personality which will fit in well at a new company.

Companies also come in different sizes and shapes, it's very different working for a small company compared to a big company. The candidate needs to think about the type of company he wants to work for, not only now but also in the next 5 years.

Question - How do you see your career

It's important the recruimtent consultant finds out about the candidates career ambitions because this will effect the positions and companies which are a good fit for the candidate.

Money

The better recruitment consultants take money as one part of a new job and it's not the most important. Obviously everyone would like more but the other parts of the job are more likely to effect the

Consideration of workplace

Potential candidates cannot always answer their phone at work, it can be difficult answering questions about pay, what you want in a new job when surrounded by your current work colleagues, boss and sometimes director. Good recruitment consultants will leave a message or send you an email.

It's always good practice to check if it's a convenient time to speak before you set off selling a new position

Contact and relationship

people like it when you remember details about them, so when you call you can refer to something like their favourite football team, location, family, hobby. It makes it feel like the recruitment consultant hasn't just called up because they have a new role.

Frequency of contact

Ask if it's OK to contact you in six months or if a really juicy role comes up and then do that. I personally don't mind fielding a call once every six months

Listen

A sign of a great recruitment consultant is they listen to your answers and note them down. So if someone says they are not interested in contract roles they don't ring them up offering a really great contract role.

Attitude

Good recruitment consultants are not pushy or aggressive on the phone

Do you really want to move

Well it's a good question, ask it early and you can save everyone some time

Question - have you discussed this with your boss, what do they say

This is a good question good recruitment consultants ask because basically it could save everyone a lot of wasted time. If a candidate is unhappy at work it may be easily resolved by discussing it with their boss to see if they can resolve the issue.

This seems counter productive but I think it builds a relationship and a move might happen in the future.

Question - have you discussed this with your family

Moving jobs can have a big impact on family life, it's a good idea for the candidate to have discussed this with the family, especially if he has a bossy partner :-)

Question - how far do you want to commute, commuting can be difficult

Good recruitment consultants will be honest about the commute, poor recruitment consultants will tell you 120 miles isn't that far. I personally think commuting is a very important issue because time is a valuable resource and you have to question yourself if you really want to spend more of it sitting in a car by yourself (or a packed train).

Give you information on the company AND the person you are talking to

Good recruitment consultants will give the candidate lots of information about the company, other people they have placed, size, culture etc. Really good recruitment consultants will also give you information about the people who will be conducting the interview, what they want to hear (based on previous feedback) and lots of extra information to increase the chances of success.

Advice on what technical skills and what type of personality they are after

The culture of a company and the types of personality which thrive are important aspects of a job. A good recruitment consultant will tell you what he knows about the culture and the type of person they are looking for to see if it suits you.

Summary

It's interesting looking at the list, most of the list is building up a good relationship/rapport with the candidate and making sure he is making the correct discussion. This seems counter intuitive but it's a long time tactic that will pay off in the long term. Personally it's the short time attitude and consequence actions of poor recruitment consultants which I find annoying.

Bad recruitment consultants view candidates as a commodity, they quickly see if they are a fit for a role and if not drop them quickly (this makes more difficult next time you call)

Good recruitment consultants see candidates as people.

Annoying practices of bad recruitment consultants

There are a lot of recruitment consultants on LinkedIn, a lot of good ones and a lot of bad ones. Recruitment consultants do perhaps have a slightly tarnished reputation, the reason for this is because most people have experienced a bad recruitment consultant(s) and it's the interaction with the bad ones that seem to stick in peoples minds.

I will repeat, there are a lot of great recruitment consultants, doing a great job.

I got thinking, what was it that annoyed me about those bad recruitment consultants and here are the points I came up with, if you have any others please add them in the comments.

Getting angry when you are not interested in a position

In a similar experience I have had with people calling me about changing electricity suppliers, I tell them I'm not interested and then the person is saying angrily, "What do you mean, you don't want to save money".

One recruitment consultant couldn't believe I wasn't interested in the job he was offering, he kept repeating the question. The conversation ended

"are you telling me, you don't want to do the same job for more money"

"yes, goodbye"

I remember thinking, I don't want to deal with you and I would prefer you not to get the commission

Recruitment consultants giving themselves the title of CRM Consultant

This is a recent phenomenon but recruitment consultants are not CRM consultants so why are they giving themselves this title. This one has me a bit puzzled, I assume it's a way to improve people accepting their connection requests!?!?!?

Send invites in LinkedIn without writing anything

Recruitment consultants send you an LinkedIn invite without bothering to type any message, nothing to say why they are contacting, why it would be good to connect with them.

They couldn't be bothered to type a message, when trying to connect with someone they have never met.

Posting fake jobs just to get useful contacts

Some recruitment agents have been known to post juicy, high paying roles to get candidates to reply and then send their CV off to the companies they have on their list.

Sending inappropriate\speculative jobs - Desperation

I'm convinced everyone must have been sent an inappropriate job from a recruitment consultant. I have been sent jobs for Senior Office 365 engineer. Office 365 isn't mentioned anywhere in my profile.

Other positions I have been sent are junior/first jobs. It makes me wonder how many emails/inMails these recruitment consultants send until they manage to hit the right target. Please save both you and the person you are mailing by at least bothering to check their profile before sending a message.

Coming through the company switchboard and pretending to be a family member

One recruitment consultant called the main company number and then said he was my brother to talk to me. I have to give him A for effort but what if I didn't have a brother or he had passed away.

No communication

Recruitment consultants can be eager to call you when they have a role but when you try to contact them about a role (which you haven't got but don't know yet) they can go suddenly very quiet and difficult to contact.

Use a conversation to collect information about the company

As much as I like helping people, sometimes the recruitment consultants need to realize they have called someone at work and maybe the person doesn't want to answer your 50 questions about the company and the names/positions of the employees.

All Seperately posting a quiz/funny picture/something about Friday

These useless pictures clog up LinkedIn and it's very tempting for people to hide your posts to stop seeing them in the future

Recruitment Horror Story - Recruiter gets his candidate fired from his Job!

I have recently heard first-hand how a recruitment consultant not only failed to get someone a job but also managed to get them fired from their current role! So the candidate had a final stage interview arranged and was very keen to get himself a bigger salary. The consultant had an idea. Surely if he sent the candidate’s CV to all of the competitor businesses in the local area, he would get the candidate some more interviews and this would allow him to “sell” the candidate to the highest bidder. The consultant already had a list of companies in the candidate’s industry and he put all of the email addresses in a list to mail merge an introductory “speculative” approach. The consultant did not check with the candidate and just sent out the email with his full CV attached. The CV landed in the inbox of the candidate’s own Managing Director! The M.D went crazy and called the candidate straight into a meeting to find out what had happened. The candidate was told if he wasn't happy in his job, he should hand his notice in or get fired. The candidate was obviously mad at the consultant and ended up suing the agency and winning the case. He was compensated handsomely prior to it going to court. It may surprise you to learn that the consultant is still working in recruitment for the same company!

Some more bad practices in this post

I will leave it up to the recruitment consultants to create a post on the good things good recruitment consultants do, in fact there probably is one, please post it in the comments

picture used Alan Isherwood