This is a question that has a lot of businesses and organisations scratching their heads and it’s usually posed when a vacancy comes up and there’s someone earmarked to do it. Hopefully it’s the right person with the right skillset and attitude for the role but leaving that aside for the moment, the business then […]
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Tell me about your weaknesses. The worst interview question ever
“Tell me about your weaknesses.” Just about the worst interview question ever! I’m a firm believer in fostering and developing links between our schools and our businesses. I’ve seen the results first hand when a business takes a leap of faith and brings apprentices into the fold, supporting them in the first job and helping […]
Tales from a Recruiter – Some dos and don’ts for candidates and recruiters alike!
If you’re going to claim on your CV that you’ve had (and I quote) a “meteoric rise” in your career…. at least live up to the claim! Unless the meteor moved very very slowly… Don’t use a QR code on your CV. Just don’t. No seriously, step away from the QR code. Putting your photo […]
Think your recruitment policies don’t affect your brand? Think again!
If you’ve ever doubted that your recruitment policies can have an effect on your employer brand, embarrassing headlines for the Body Shop should get you thinking again. A teenager went to the Cambridge branch to apply for a part-time role but the Manager told her the role was for someone who spoke Chinese and as […]
Disclosure and Barring Service announce an online update service
The Government have today announced that the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) which replaced the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) is to launch an online update service from 17th June 2013. So many acronyms in one sentence but just what is the DBS and what does it do? The aim […]
Checking proof of the right to work in the UK
What is it and why is it needed? Before you take somebody on to work for your organisation, you need to check that they are legally able to work in the UK. You are breaking the law if you employ a person who does not have the right to work in the UK and you […]
How to interview for skills AND culture fit
My last blog post on recruiting for culture fit made the possibly rather controversial point that in my opinion, interviewers should be encouraged and trained to take their instinctive reactions into account when making decisions. All too often interviewers are taught to ignore how they feel about a candidate and focusing purely on their skills […]
Recruiting for skills or culture fit?
When I help people to recruit, I start with a job analysis. I gather all the relevant people together and ask them lots of questions to find out more about the kind of post they want to fill. That’s the first part and it’s normally quite easy to get people to make decisions on what […]
If you could be an animal, what animal would you be?
Honesty isn’t always the best policy When recruiting, we all expect the candidate to come prepared to answer questions. They should know about the company and about the role. They should be able to talk about themselves, highlight their strengths and tell us how perfect they are for the job. They should know that when […]
Q. What’s the right way to deliver interview feedback? A. It depends
In the last post on this subject, I looked at what I consider to be the wrong way to inform someone that they haven’t got the job, i.e. by not saying anything at all and hoping they get the message. One of the comments on the last post referred to this “method” of giving feedback […]
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