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Interviewing: Are you comfortable when people are uncomfortable?
Recently I observed an interview conducted by a relatively new recruiter (let’s call him Dan). He did an adequate job asking the (moderately experienced) candidate (let’s call her Sarah) about her previous work experience. However when it came to Dan probing a gap of three months between Sarah’s jobs, things didn’t go so well. Dan…
Read MoreThe Number 1 Trust Builder: Being Present
Dr Adam Fraser was the closing keynote speaker at the RCSA PEARL Consultant Forum last week and, as usual, he delivered an entirely appropriate conclusion to a fabulous event. Many within our industry will have seen Adam on stage and know what a dynamic and effective presenter he is. I have seen…
Read MoreWhat are you on about, Ross?
I am not sure whether to laugh or cry; be angry, sad, disappointed or bewildered. The RCSA PEARL Consultant Forum (March 20 and 21) is currently running in Melbourne and has a paid attendance of 47 people! Yes, you read that right, 47 people. Claudia, Christina and the fabulous team in the RCSA Events division…
Read MoreWhat exactly are ‘excellent communication skills’?
It has to be one of the most clichéd lines in job descriptions and hence, recruitment advertising – the request for ‘excellent communication skills’. It is omnipresent in today’s recruitment lexicon. Alternatively, you can substitute another one of your favourite synonyms, such as ‘excellent’, ‘good’, ‘outstanding’, ‘exceptional’, ‘superior’, or ‘high level’. Unfortunately, these phrases/words are…
Read MoreAre you developing your talent or just training your staff?
Yet again, I return to the excellent research recently undertaken by Psylutions and Curve Group, published as a white paper Best Practice in practice talent management, which I have written about twice recently; What’s in an effective leadership program? (and why it matters) and Do you have a talent strategy? On page 9 of the white paper there is a list of recommendations…
Read MoreAustralian swimming review: How an unchecked ‘star’ culture destroys a team
Last week, Australia was faced with the rather unpalatable news that the Australian swimming team, or more specifically certain male members of the team, had been behaving with less-than Olympic standards during the team’s underwhelming performance at the 2012 London Olympics. This revelation came hot on the heels of The Bluestone Review: A review of…
Read MoreDo you have a talent strategy?
It’s an interesting question to ask of any organisation but especially a recruitment agency. To be honest, it’s a question I’ve only given a lot of thought to recently because of the work I have been doing with two of my clients in helping them define their respective talent strategies and the research recently undertaken by Psylutions…
Read MoreWhat’s in an effective leadership program? (and why it matters)
Last week HR Daily wrote up a summary of the research recently undertaken by Psylutions and Curve Group, which has been published as a white paper Best Practice in practice talent management. There was a range of issues to do with talent that were covered in the paper but of particular current interest of me was the commentary around the…
Read MoreWorkers more loyal than ever (and other surprises about job tenure and mobility)
Three of the most written-about themes in the Australian labour market over the past few years have been the skills shortage (ie we can’t find enough of the right staff), the booming mining and resources sector (ie sucking workers out of other sectors) and the impact of Gen Y in the workforce (ie what…
Read MoreAustralia’s best recruiter? An uneven playing field
The recent retirement from test cricket of Ricky Ponting set off another round of those periodic debates about where Ponting ranks in Australia’s list of ‘best ever’ batsmen. Ponting’s test batting average (51.85) certainly qualifies him to be among the elite but is he the ‘next best after Bradman’ as some have speculated? …
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