But when 27% of companies can’t find graduates with the qualities and skills they’re looking for, a struggling economy doesn’t necessarily deserve all the blame. Students need to know how to sell themselves, and it’s our industry that may need to teach them how.

Humanities grads have the biggest challenge, easily over-represented at job centres or in menial jobs. And no wonder; they’ve never been taught how to sell the skills they’ve developed throughout their academic experience. It becomes too easy to brush them and their CVs aside. After all, the client is looking for an analyst – not an art critic.

Recruiters aren’t career councillors. But a quality recruiter identifies talent by  moving the focus from what the candidate ‘does’, to what the candidate is capable of doing.

Most of these grads have been taught how to learn, communicate, creatively analyse problems, and reach reasoned conclusions. While they may not know the context or language of, say, the business world, they can be intelligent and flexible enough to quickly pick things up. Perhaps they’ve also been active in their universities’ extra-curricular scenes honing their workplace skills.

No doubt, our country’s education system needs a shakeup, but that’s not happening anytime soon. Let’s be daring and work with what we have – it takes investment, but the rewards are waiting.

But one question: why do we feel compelled to choose only one trend? The companies that place top talent will utilize a strategy that takes advantage of all of the above – and more.  This was the message at July’s truBoston, a leg in the famous unconference organized by Bill Boorman, which attracted sorry people like me who think it’s actually exciting trying to make the recruitment process work better. The discussion was, well, awesome – no idea was wrong. We listened, we shared, and every one of us walked away with a richer knowledge base.

Let’s address each hot-topic, and see how they’re continuing to gain traction in the coming year. Or not.

(Carry on reading my thoughts at over at Recruiter.com!)

This past July, I met an old school friend for lunch at an unassuming Italian restaurant. As we followed the waiter to our table, we were continuing our discussion about New York summers.

Not a minute passed before our waiter delivered us a large ice-cube jammed jug of ice-cold water. As she thanked our smiling waiter, my friend’s tone suggested that even she – a regular – wasn’t expecting this welcome surprise.

And then it hit me. The waiter must have heard me mention that I find New York summers very humid. Full marks. But it wasn’t his hearing skills that impressed me…it was his listening skills.

It’s been said that we are so busy making sure that people hear what we have to say, that we have forgotten how to listen. When my waiter analysed and responded to a message that I was communicating, even unknowingly, he demonstrated the power of active listening in hospitality.

The hospitality industry is essentially built on customer sensitivity. The hospitality establishment that can best be sensitive to my specific needs is a step ahead of their competition. And as our waiter taught us, listening is the best way to ascertain my needs.

People working in hospitality are constantly hearing all day. They hear from customers. They hear from their team members. They hear problems that they have to fix. They hear opportunities that they have to take advantage of. And the clock is ticking.

But behind the noise are vital messages. Quality Listening gives staff the opportunity to effectively deal with situation at hand, and take action.

While effective listening can be taught, it’s a difficult process. As such, employers need to be able to identify the skill, or lack there-of, during the interview process. This means knowing what to look for (observing) and asking the right questions.

OBSERVE

Attentive

Be mindful if the candidate’s eyes are constantly drifting towards distractions, such as a window or decorations, or if they appear lost in their own thoughts. If a candidate can’t focus during a job interview, there’s little chance they’ll be able to pay full attention to a customer or team member.

Attentive candidates maintain eye contact, sit still, and make ‘interest noises’ – “uh-hu”, “yes”, “I see…”. Such candidates will naturally be able to develop a far greater repoire with people.

Outward focused

Does your candidate talk too much? This may be triggered by a natural inability to effectively listen to others. Often, people bypass a “frustration” of having to listen by dominating a conversation. Also, such ‘inward’ candidates have a high tendency to cut their interviewers off mid-sentence. It’s not enthusiasm; it’s poor listening.

Outward focused candidates ask relative questions. After all, they’re naturally interested in hear what you – and customers – have to say.

Capable of assimilating information

Quality candidates don’t only hear words, they listen to what’s being said.

Listening requires processing what has been said, and thought to ensure a clear understanding of what is meant. Listening is knowing what the other person means when they say something.

Candidates that pause before they deliver a thoughtful response demonstrate that they have listened to your question and have digested the relevant information. Another positive sign is when candidates confirm that they’ve understood you by summarising or rephrasing your statements.

Reading “between the lines” is a superb demonstration of active listening. During an interview, a listening candidate may become aware of an interviewer’s key concerns by paying attention to lines of questioning or usage of particular words. When a candidate takes the initiative to address any underlying issues, an interview can be assured that they’re a truly effective listener.

ASKING

Interview questions that address listening skills include:

• Tell me about a time when you were serving a customer and had to read between the lines to find out what was important to that customer.
• Tell me about a time when listening skills really paid off for you when you were serving a customer
• Are you capable of getting to the bottom of a situation, when someone is incapable of communicating what they really mean? If so, how do you achieve this?
• Relate an occasion when you withheld your own opinion, and tried to obtain the opinion of others.

When my waiter heard my comment, but listened to my message, I knew that that restaurant’s owners valued the skill of listening, and by natural extension, customer experience. I wasn’t let down, and I’ll most certainly be back.

How do you value and determine candidates’ listening skills?

Ryan Garman is Business Development Manager at Innovate CV. When he’s not eating out at restaurants and coffee shops, he’s improving the way they hire. http://www.innovatecv.com/corporate

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Capabilities? Unproven. Depth of knowledge? Unlikely. Commitment? Forget it. We’re onto the next candidate in two seconds flat.

But Divikar Vadlamani has kicked off the debate byquestioning these assumptions. Maybe, just maybe, the ideal candidate is hiding behind that questionable CV.

Unless the candidate states otherwise, we often assume that poor performance was behind their short stints. Let’s play devil’s advocate.

• Perhaps they’ve filled short or medium-term contract positions, as is becoming more and more common in various sectors.
• Perhaps their seemingly premature exits were beyond their control. Their employers could have relocated, downsized, went out of business, or was sold.
• Perhaps the candidate took advantage of the good years by enjoying short high-paid ‘bursts’ They now understand the game’s up, matured, and are ready to settle down.
• Perhaps they’ve reasonably struggled to find the right environment or degree of challenge. High performers can be difficult to harness, but once they’ve found their home, they’re off and running.

And then again, perhaps they’re simply not a quality candidate. But let’s find out. A phone call and some probing questions will shed some light. Maybe you’ll end up with a useful contract candidate up your sleeve, and maybe – just maybe – you’d have uncovered a hidden gem for your permanent placement.

By carefully preparing and delivering such a candidate’s case, recruiters have proved that they truly understand their candidates. And that’s good news for everyone.

Are you a job hopper – how and why? Would you ever consider hiring a job hopper? Go on, have your say.

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Thank you to all of our users, clients, and friends for making 2011 a truly brilliant year. Here’s to an even bigger and better 2012!

But…you’re just not happy.

Now, the positive news is that you’ve got a new career in mind. However, there’s also a problem. A big problem.

Money.

This is the struggle that most (if not all) would-be career changers experience. Let’s tackle it head-on.

Having experienced a career change myself during a time when my wife and I had just bought our first house and we’d had our first child, I understand the concerns and dilemmas that people go through when considering such a dramatic change.

The questions you ask yourself, and the order in which you ask them, can make all the difference. These three questions will help you with your decisions:

1. “What would this new career path give me that I’m currently not getting?”

2. “What impact would this change make on other areas of my life?”

It’s important to not simply think about your answer in terms of the actual work that you’ll potentially be doing, but to also think about what such a change would give you outside of work. What about the impact on your relationships? Your health?

Write your answers down. If you have a partner, discuss your answers with him or her.

If your answers further encourage you to make the change, only then will you be motivated to confront the third question:

3. “How can I make this change happen?”

Start off with some research. What will the actual financial cost be?

-          If it’s a case of retraining, how much is the training course?

-          What could your starting salary be? Get your calculator out and do the maths.

Seeing things written down in black and white will really help your decision process. You may even find that you won’t actually be worse off. But find out.

If changing career does mean taking a salary drop, or returning to college, review your finances.

-          Do you have any savings that could contribute towards the career change?

-          What could you do without, or cut back on? Do you really need the Sky subscription or the exclusive gym membership?

-          How could you reduce your monthly shopping bill?

In the current climate, many people have already made such changes to their finances, but only because they had to. But this should at least tell you that it is possible.

What about the current recession? It’s easy to think that it’s sensible to ride the storm, be grateful for what you’ve got and stay put. But at what cost?  Go back over your answers to the first two questions.

Perhaps your answers to the above questions may surprise you, but the important thing is that you give it a go and answer them, rather than simply dismissing career change without thought.

I’m told that our biggest regrets in old age are the things we didn’t do, rather than the things we did.

Mark Anderson is Career Coach at KickStart Career Coaching. He works with 25-40 year old adults to help them find work that not only pays the bills but gives them fulfilment! www.kickstartcareers.co.uk

Right?

Wrong. That’s because it’s not enough to just be yourself. Rather, you have to be your BEST self.

Only once I started sitting on the other side of the interview table, I began to appreciate how important great interview technique is. And just being yourself doesn’t cut it anymore.

A hiring manager or recruiter can immediately tell who’s being their best self; who’s put in enough preperation, and who hasn’t. Which candidates conduct themselves well, and which candidate’s don’t. And more often than not, the candidate who’s made the best presentation is awarded the job.

Too many quality candidates are slipping through because their interviewing techniques are lagging behind the competition.

That’s why we’ve developed, with Rexi Media, “Nailing the Job Interview” – a uniquely presented course that focuses on triumphing through any job interview.

The course looks at how to firstly get to the interview stage and resume advice. It then concentrates on how to prepare for interviews, where/what to research, and how to handle both phone and face-to-face interviews. Finally, candidates learn about effective interview follow up.

If you’re interested in learning how to be your best self, head over to Innovate Courses and select “Nailing the Job Interview.” It could be the best £11.45/$19 investment you make.

And throughout December, you’ll get a free course with any purchase. Happy holidays from the team at Innovate CV!

Or so the rest of us thought.

InterExec released some studies that demonstrate that like everyone else, executive candidates can struggle with basic concepts throughout the recruitment process.

Let’s start with CVs. According to the survey of 100 of the UK’s executive headhunters, 63% say that executives commonly fall into the most basic trap: listing their responsibilities without mentioning achievements.  Just over half of those surveyed say too much irrelevant information is their main pitfall, while more than a third complain about seeing non-sensical jargon and abbreviations. Shockingly, 25% of recruiters critiqued executives for not pay enough attention to their CV. That means formatting errors, and yes…spelling mistakes.  Ouch.

Photo Credit: Thirteen of Clubs

Those candidates that actually end up winning face-to-face interviews aren’t fairing much better. Most stumble due to their arrogance, followed closely by poor communication skills. Inadequate preparation, lack of focus and poor personal presentation also featured in the results.

Remember, this is corporate leadership we’re talking about.

The recruiter’s challenge is three-step: Identifying if this executive truly has what it takes to fill the position. If so, pinpointing where the candidate needs help in the recruitment process, and then coaching them along the way. After all, just as star executive candidate doesn’t necessarily equate to a competent executive, a poor executive candidate doesn’t necessarily equate to an incompetent executive.

Recruiters, save the day. Save the economy.

That’s not much of a suprise, however. After all, Fiona has over 30 years of experience helping job seekers and recruitment agencies. Since 1997, she’s head Lander Associates – an international training and performance development specialists for the recruitment sector.

(So if you’re a recruiter, you most certainly want to click here.)

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be focusing some blog posts on Fiona’s specific points. But in the meantime, on with the show!

Tip 1. Treat your Job search as a job in itself

Tip 2. Identify your strengths and weaknesses

Tip 3. Look for transferable Skills

Tip 4. Prepare your CV (and, well, we can certainly help with that)

Tip 5. Sign up with reputable recruitment agencies

Tip 6. Network, network, network!

Tip 7. Interview Preparation is key

Tip 8. Consider every opportunity

Tip 9. Be yourself!

Tip 10. Don’t Give Up

INNOVATE CV TV

Ever wanted to ask Presidents, CEOs, Managing Directors, Managing Shareholders, Editors, Partners, Broadcasters, Members of Parliament, Sales Directors, Consultants, Banker or creative professionals all about job searching and career advancement?

Innovate CV have teamed up with industry leaders from a range of sectors to present over 40 career insight videos from high performers. Companies that are represented include Lovells (Law), Rothschild Asset Management (Finance), Bayswater (Media), ITS Pharma (Pharmaceuticals), MacIntyre Hudson (Accountancy), Smart UK (Consultancy), New York University Hospital (Medicine), Cisco Systems (IT) and many, many more.

Click here to visit Innovate CV TV.

Innovate CV TV has proven quite a nice tool for job seekers. And by the look of our Youtube stats, not just graduates. As you cans see, it’s actually 25-34 year olds watching Innovate CV TV, with the 45-54 year old bracket behind.

We’d absolutely love to further expand the Innovate CV TV line-up, so please let us know if there are any careers that you’d like to hear about!

The biggest leap story we heard was from a nationwide recruiter who said one of her most satisfying placements was rebranding a vicar as a sales executive. He successfully made the transition and was able to use his transferable skills in a completely different environment – perhaps an extreme example of flexibility and adaption to change. We’d love to hear your stories of similar…so jot down your comments in the box below.

But to return to the question that increasingly arises for recruiters of what to do with people who are a ‘round’ candidate for a ‘square’ position. Naturally this places recruiters in a dilemma. Recruiters want to make the placement and win the fee, so they have a natural incentive to place the best fit conventional candidate. But often there are stronger candidates, with a more unconventional background who represent a potential boon to the client if they can be “sold” in the right way. And there are recruiters who identify with the human aspect of the story – faced with a candidate who wants a chance to shine in a different setting – recruiters want to facilitate the candidate achieving that goal.

So if you’re presented with a great candidate who doesn’t fit the standard mould, what’s the best way to proceed?

1. Communication with the candidate

We always recommend open lines of communication with the candidate. By having the discussion with them of the discrepancies between their own profile and standard candidates for the jobs they want to go for, you can perhaps stumble upon ways to close the gap.

2. Recommendations for the candidate

Candidates may be unaware of skills training opportunities that would bridge their knowledge gap. The candidate may indulge in extra curricular activities, such as volunteering with a charity, that they can use to demonstrate skills or experience that is missing from their career history and thus provide stronger evidence of suitability for a role. They may decide to address their unorthodox route head on with an explanatory line in their Personal Statement on their CV or in their covering letter.

3. Communication with the client

Often clients haven’t taken the time to prioritise their real needs in a role and have generated a standard person specification. The recruiter is well positioned to provide an opportunity for the client to assess whether they would prefer to hire on attitude or on skill. Presenting a client who is motivated, driven and teachable might be a better fit for customer service role than a candidate who has the experience but lacks the motivation to achieve.

4. Think creatively

You, as the matchmaker between vacancies and individuals really hold the key here. By thinking creatively, consultants can prompt innovative hiring. The better the consultant knows the company and the culture, the more opportunity they have to think big and think how candidates skills could contribute to company growth and success. This can really embed your relationship with the client, they’ll be impressed at your understanding of their business needs.

Why is this situation arising with increasing frequency? Well, the economic picture is probably one of the major contributors. With people having been laid off or facing redundancy they are open to a broader range of jobs than previously. Sometimes people are ready for a change of direction. The portfolio career is a phrase that has crept in to the recruiters dictionary. We know that a job for life is an increasing rarity, but now people move sectors and industries more and more frequently so these situations are becoming more common place. Good candidates present opportunities for consultants – learn how to cash in.

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