"A Great Place to Work” – work out what is ‘Great’!

The definition of a great workplace from an employee’s viewpoint is one you trust the people you work with, you have great pride in what you do and you enjoy the people you work with.

I have to say when I first came across the Great Place To Work Institute’s description of what makes a great place to work its simplicity and insightfulness resonated with me strongly and from the start of our journey in autumn 2011 these simple principles have been at the core of everything we've tried to achieve. I can’t begin to tell you how happy I was when it was announced that we were chosen as one of the Great Workplaces in Ireland 2013 by the Institute. It was the official stamp of approval on what has been a very rewarding journey for all staff at Hays in Ireland. Our employee survey comments suggest that Hays is a very enjoyable place to work, with high levels of camaraderie and pride and also a place where people are encouraged to perform to the peak of their abilities and progress in their careers.

One of the biggest learns for me has been the opportunity to see the impact of the many initiatives we've undertaken over the last number of years and to see which of these have made a really defining difference to how people feel about work. We've introduced lots of improvements and changes - big and small - and it seems that while staff are happy with tangible improvements to their workplace, what they really want is a place where they can give their best performance. If we can provide an environment that makes them successful at their jobs, then there is a greater sense of satisfaction long term.

So the real challenge is to have a culture that promotes and supports high performance opportunities for everyone and that also gives people space to develop and flourish individually. At the outset we tried to strike a balance between the commercial realities of a business - profits, KPIs and targets etc with a workplace that people enjoy, trust and have pride in. A place where they feel that can make real and valued contribution, putting them at the heart of the business. We found that the two were inextricably linked.

Everything seems easy in hindsight but there were quite a few lessons learned along the way. Believe me, we did all sort s of things, everyone had lots of ideas, lots of enthusiasm and wanting to be the best of the best within the first month. It’s very easy to get carried away.

I also attended quite a few Great Place to Work events and listened to successful companies give their views. I personally filled several notebooks full of great sounding ideas. While you can pick up some relevant ideas and insights you need to be careful that they don’t lead you away from what’s going to make real and lasting impact. It’s much more important to take time to get to the essence of what’s important for your business – what ‘Great’ means to you.

What we found really worked for us at Hays was focusing on the “3 C’s” Communication, Caring and CSR with a special focus on recognition and thanking And this was the results:

High Impact Initiatives

• Considerable increase in CSR participation
• Broader recognition programmes for all Hays staff
• Improvements in communications including more regular Town Halls and sharing views and suggestions though the ‘bottom up’ teams
• Flexible working hours 

Other Good Stuff

• Enhanced maternity benefit, educational grant, new voluntary benefit schemes
• Improvements to office facilities

What the journey has taught me is that it’s not about the badge of honour, but the journey to find out what ‘Great’ really means to your staff and then ensuring you consistently imbed those values.

My Top Tips on the journey to becoming a great place to work.

• Engage with all staff: make the message loud and clear that everyone has to do their bit to help a company become a great workplace
• Be realistic on what you can do, don’t try and be too ambitious and end up not delivering due to cost, time or complexity
• Keep it simple, don’t try to do everything, pick around three subjects to tackle
• Don’t get too distracted by what makes other companies great
• Get managers on board & have a consistent message
• Communication – use a variety of approaches – bottom up emails through to MD town halls
• Use & share survey feedback in a timely fashion
• Be prepared for the work and time that it takes – get commitment from your GPTW team(s).
• Celebrate and promote the value that your business brings to society
• Patience and persistence – it can take time for initiatives to embed but once they do, you see the impact
• Embed a culture of high performance

www.hays.ie/great-place-to-work

Michelle Waters

HR, Hays Recruitment

Dublin 

How to find a job on LinkedIn

LinkedIn claims to be the BEST tool to help you land your dream job.  It can certainly help, but it’s not the only tool to help you progress your career, you should also be using Job Boards and Recruitment Agencies. If you consider your LinkedIn profile as your CV you are on the way to finding the perfect job for you.  

Finding a job on LinkedIn takes time, the more active you are the easier it is to build up your connections, as well as establishing your credibility and reputation. Basically, don’t create your profile and expect job offers to flood in!

The key factors to finding a job include:

Is your profile up to date?

Broadcast your skills and talents so that they are easy for recruiters to find.  When searching for candidates, recruiters use keyword searches to identify those who are suited for the job they are responsible for.  If your skills, summary and profile have the right keywords you will be more visible to recruiters. 

Is your profile up to date with your current and past work information?  Write a keyword rich summary about you, your employment history, interests, education, industry and volunteer work. While it's important  to show your professional side, recruiters/employers want to see the person behind the profile as well. 

Update your contact details along with a custom URL: ex: http://ie.linkedin.com/in/rachelashe

Should you have a photo?  Having a photo is very important; people are 7 times more likely to connect with you when you have a headshot as part of your profile.  Take into consideration the reason for having a LinkedIn profile, it's to encourage employers to hire you so putting up a photo of a night out with your friends is NOT the way to go.  Be sure the photo represents you as a professional and isn’t too casual.

Join groups that are relevant to you and participate. Build your reputation and show your expertise by posting in groups, asking questions and giving your opinion.  

Aim for 100% profile completion – completed profiles rank higher in LinkedIn searches.

How to find a job? Have the job find you! 

You might be surprised to know some of the most effective techniques have nothing to do with actually searching for a job on LinkedIn.  You have to position yourself to be found by recruiters and use the resources available such as groups, your LinkedIn jobs homepage, alerts and premium job seeker accounts. Increase your visibility online and help build your professional brand.  If I search for “Rachel Ashe” my LinkedIn profile link appears on the first results page.  If a potential employer has your CV I guarantee they are looking at your LinkedIn profile. It is standard procedure now so double check all your dates and jobs to make sure they match the CV you are sending out. 

Join Groups – this will allow you to grow your network and activity and some groups have a tab where jobs are posted regularly.

Jobs Homepage – Log into your LinkedIn account and click on the jobs tab in the top navigation.  A list of recommended jobs is provided for you based on the information, keywords and skills on your profile.  Use the filtering options on the left hand side to find the jobs that are most suitable.  There is the advanced search tab on the top of the page to narrow down your job search results.

Job Alerts - once you have completed a job search – Save it!  Then create an email alert to tell you about jobs you might be interested in.  It’s easy, straightforward and keeps you up to date on new jobs.

Company Pages – target the companies you want to work with, find them on LinkedIn and follow.  When a company posts a job it’s published as an activity update on the company page and on the careers tab within the company page.  Check out Hays LinkedIn Company Page.

Job Seeker Premium – if you are really serious about finding a job on LinkedIn you should consider paying for an upgraded account.  There are three levels - Job Seeker Basic, Job Seeker and Job Seeker Plus.  The paid account gives you more information on who is looking at your profile and allows recruiters to contact you without being connected.

Once you have the profile set up start looking at how to Write Your Cover Letter, Update Your CV and Prepare For Interviews.  

Get started on www.hays.ie!

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My Internship Part 1

You hear it said that there is nothing worse than not having the time to do the things you want to do. They want more time; time with family, time with friends, time to be alone, time to get more things done. However, I can confirm that there is nothing worse than having so much time but not enough things to fill that time.

I was unemployed and looking for a job, time was the last thing I wanted. With every day that flew by; the hours and minutes began to gather pace and shoot out from my grasp, truth be told I didn't have much use for them as they went by. How many times can you tailor your CV or Cover Letter? Apply for another job? Or contact another recruitment agent? There comes a point when your avenues become exhausted and then all you are left with is minutes and hours to fill.

My job search began with jobs that I really wanted, jobs that were appealing to me. Everyday, Google would be hit with term after term, “Marketing Jobs”, “Advertising Agencies”, “Sports Marketing in Ireland” the list was endless as I scoured jobs.ie, irishjobs.ie and perfectjobsforyou.ie, the last one doesn’t exist but I presumed it did.

Three weeks later, almost every application drew no response. Those that did, trained me on how to scan an email for that most disheartening of terms, “unfortunately”. Interviews were few and far between and I was left disappointed by the ones that did materialise. Time after time I got the sinking feeling that the experience I had built up over the previous two years, working in marketing, was so specific to that particular industry that companies could not see it as transferring to their industry. For the love of the #jobfairy please give me a chance, just throw me in for two weeks and I will prove I can do a good job.

Apparently, that is not how it works. As the weeks turned into months my search for a job became more desperate. Hope was becoming my biggest enemy. I would apply for a job and then sit back and let hope take hold. I would imagine myself in new employment, meeting my new colleagues and settling into a job that would be both rewarding and challenging at the same time. My job search was beginning to shift; jobs that had previously not caught my attention were now receiving an application. I wanted a stepping stone to something better, no matter how disinterested I was in the job.

Christmas was now looming ever larger on the horizon, the thought of doing the twelve pubs, Christmas jumper night or any random night out during the festive period was eating away at me. At no time in the year is everyone in as good a collective mood as at Christmas. How would I survive the countless conversations with friends home from abroad, all about how I still had not managed to convince an employer that I was a right fit for their company?

Then, like the star over the manger I saw a light on the horizon. Hays Recruitment were offering an internship opportunity. To be honest I did not see the word ‘internship’ all I saw was ‘opportunity’. 6 months being trained on all aspects of marketing by the best in the business. The advertisement was full of life, opportunity and sparked something in me. Before I knew it I was sitting opposite the Marketing Manager trying to convince him that I would be a great apprentice and hoping against hope that my previous experience would not prevent me from being considered.

That is where we will leave it for this week, please do come back for part 2. I guarantee a twist in the tale worthy of a Dan Brown novel. Ok not quite, but there is a twist!

IT professionals - Why you should consider a move into contracting

The last 12 months has seen a significant shift in the IT skills market in Ireland. The IDA has been very successful in bringing new investment into Ireland and this, combined with more confidence in the investment banking sector and blue chip organisation’s has led to a skills shortage in certain areas.

As organisations continue to move to a more flexible workforce model, they require contractors to fulfil the skills demand for certain projects. This combined with unfilled permanent positions means that there is an abundance of opportunities for IT contractors.

Skills in demand include:

• ·    Specialist networking and security skills
• ·     Developers with - Java, .net and Oracle
• ·     Automated testers
• ·     BA’s with financial services backgrounds
• ·    Technical Project Managers

What is the appeal of contracting?

• Market: There are now more contract opportunities available than any other time in the last 4 years.

• Attractive daily rates: Daily rates can sometimes be as high as double the permanent salary for the same position. As demand continues to outstrip supply rates will remain at a premium.

• Effective taxation: Whether you set yourself up as a limited company or you use and umbrella organisation such as CXC you can take home a much higher proportion of what you are paid.  Contractors should retain 80% of their invoiced hours.

• Variety: You can get exposure to multiple organisations and sectors as well as different technologies on a regular basis.

• Flexibility: You can chose when you work, typical contract duration is 6 months. However contracts often roll on, it is not unheard of for contractors to have worked several years with one organisation on multiple projects.

• Control of your own wealth management : Just because your not a permanent employee, it doesn't mean that you can't have a pension or income protection managed in a very tax effective way. 

So what's stopping you from considering a move into contracting?

James Milligan, Senior Business Director

Recruiting experts in Information Technology

HAYS Recruiting experts worldwide

E: james.milligan@hays.com

D: +353 (0)1 6787649

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Feedback during the recruitment process

As an IT recruitment expert for over 4 years, it surprises me how little feedback the majority of candidates get from companies they have applied to. When you bear in mind that it is a candidates market in IT and will be so for the  foreseeable future, I’ve drawn up a few pointers on the benefits of providing feedback.

Create Brand Ambassadors

Candidates who interview with you can be ambassadors for the company just as well as your employees – they have spent the time learning about the organisation and meeting your hiring managers, so give them a positive experience. Even if they are unsuccessful, they will talk about a fair recruitment process and the constructive feedback that they received. This happens in all markets but particularly in Ireland where we have smaller cities and word of mouth can be very powerful. The last thing you want is an unsuccessful applicant putting off a potential ideal candidate.

Facilitate Future Hiring

Think about the candidates you interview – where do you source them? Employee referrals, careers fairs or through recruitment partners? If a candidate goes through a rigorous interview process and receives poor communication throughout or vague reasoning for the final decision, news of their negative experience will quickly spread through the recruitment channel you have just used. They could feedback to existing employees who referred them; speak to college peers who will also be graduates from courses and universities that you are trying to target; or even your recruitment partners who are trying to source the very best candidates for your job. A positive experience by the candidate could help maintain a pipeline for the future.

Acknowledge the Harsh Economy

Many candidates who are in full time employment are cautious about exploring the market in turbulent times. It takes a lot of effort for a person in a job to look for a job and there is potentially an acute nervousness that their current employers might hear they are looking on the market. Constructive and specific feedback to an unsuccessful candidate reassures them that they were under genuine consideration and engaged in a confidential and professional process.

Jobseekers who are currently unemployed and active on the market are focusing all their energy on their job search, which can be a frustrating and time-consuming process for most. At worst, a lack of feedback can be psychologically damaging for that candidate. Appreciation for the time they have taken to prepare for and attend the interview can be conveyed through useful interview feedback that is no cost to you as an employer but can be invaluable to the individual as they progress with their search.

Tips for Hiring Managers

At Hays we believe the right job can change a candidate’s life. But equally the right candidate can change a company. Considering you are already putting so much time and energy into the recruitment process here are a few tips that can take you from getting good candidates, to getting great candidates and prevent the likelihood of the scenarios we presented above.

1 – Spend time drafting and perfecting your job description, listen to feedback from your HR team and your recruitment partners, they know how to market the role in order to attract candidates at the right level and skill set. Most candidates will want to review a written document before progressing their application (see paranoia reference above) so allow your job description to clearly communicate your requirements.

2 – Agree timeframes at the outset of the process. Discuss deadlines for short-listing CVs, first and subsequent interviews. The more structured your process – the more candidates are willing to be flexible and to engage as they can see that there is a definite timeframe and commitment to hire. Recruitment is taking you away from your core job – make sure you are doing it as efficiently and effectively as possible.

3 – Be specific with feedback at each stage – it allows candidates to take on board the reasons why they have been unsuccessful, provides useful feedback to your recruiters and also helps you to focus on the core requirements for the role. Ask yourself – can they do the job? If not, why not - are they lacking in specific competencies for the role?

4 - Narrow your focus at each stage of the process. Work with your recruiters to ensure that only the best candidates are being progressed – your recruitment process should be a funnel – not a trawler net!

Based in Limerick, Clara is a Business Manager with Hays IT, specialising in recruitment for development roles. Her clients are based across the Munster and Connaught regions and range from small indigenous technology firms to MNCs in the gaming, pharmaceutical, telecommunications and manufacturing industries.

Jobs she recruits for include Software Design Engineers, Developers (Java, C, .Net), and Multimedia and Web Developers from graduate level through to leadership roles.

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E: clara.gough@hays.com

P: 061 435 750

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“It’s about jobs, dummy!”

I attended the Irish Banking Federation National Conference last week (12/10/11). Interesting session, a lot of humility around, matched by a determination to start rebuilding, beginning with the trust between the customers and their bank!

It was styled ‘Building the New Banking Architecture’ a theme that was open to several interpretations. However the two strands that emerged were rebuilding the relationships between the banks and the regulators / governments and between the banks and their customers. A bit of work to do there! In fairness though, the tone was earnest.

One thing I found particularly interesting was the address (via recorded video) by Olli Rehn EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs. Whilst acknowledging the tough times Ireland and indeed the whole of Europe faces he listed 3 things which gave him cause for hope that Ireland will emerge from the current morass relatively quickly (relative to what being a valid question).

1) The similarity in Ireland’s banking crisis to those experienced by Sweden and Finland in the early 90’s from which they emerged following a round of fiscal rectitude and bank recapitalisation.

2) Empirical evidence over recent months that Ireland has started to manage its costs and implement reform whilst remaining stable politically and socially.

3) Ireland’s ability to drive growth through an export-led economy.

I was struck by this last point, particularly as I had recently been chatting with John Whelan, CEO of the Irish Exporters Association for a forthcoming article in our Hays Vision magazine. The IEA have put together an excellent pre-budget submission which should be required reading for anybody interested in job creation and economic growth in Ireland. John and the IEA are calling for a jobs-friendly budget focussed on facilitating access to finance and tax-breaks for indigenous Irish companies and start-ups (among a range of other measures).

Attending an IEA event the following morning (13/10/11) – I’m paid just to attend events and eat the food! – the message was ‘finance is available and so is credit insurance’. So we have a very strong link between credit and jobs and, to my mind, job creation clearly emerging as the central plank in our recovery.

Significant savings from wastage and postponing or cancelling some large scale infrastructure projects is preferable to tax hikes which will further disincentivise workers. Funds must also be found to encourage entrepreneurship and job creation, especially those aimed at tourism and exports.

And the title of this blog? I reckon for the next year at least, every presentation given by any organisation in this country should have a sub-heading “It’s about jobs, dummy!”
Richie is a Business Director with Hays Recruitment.

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E: richie.smith@hays.com

P: 01 8972481
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