Do you want this candidate?

Recruitment is a bit of a marathon sometimes, particularly with hard to fill roles. You or your HR team will have prepared a job spec which will either be a sentence or an essay. You'll have called your friends, posted on the various sites and then you will contact your recruitment partners - thats us.

Once the ball is rolling its about CV's, screening interviews, interviews, meeting about potential candidates, maybe more interviews, maybe a pub test - then a decision.

Phew - you're relieved at this point, its in the bag, pressure is off and you can book that holiday you've been promising yourself now that you have some help.

Stop - its not over yet, the offer has to be made and accepted. This is where some people go terribly wrong. The offer is a really key part of the process, the candidate is still half way between your office and their current employer. Make it easy for them to say yes, make it a warm and personal letter, describe all the benefits both technical and non technical. Tell them that you want them to be part of the team, that you value their experience and that you know their career will flourish while they work for you.

Dont send them a standard letter, unless you are a standard company and this is a standard employee - but no company is really like that are they?!

The recruitment process isnt over until you are shaking their hand on day 1 and welcoming them to the team.

Social Media........Gotta keep up

Just read my last post - its a year old! How do people remember to do all this stuff! Am going to try to keep a regular blog from now own - promise!

Moving on up.......

So after 2.5 years in business we are ready to take on our own office. Have had absolutely no experience of this it was a bit of a minefield. I could find suitable agents, when I found them I couldnt really understand the system. So I brought in the experts, Monmouthdean, another small business with exactly the right attitude and after several weeks found me a lovely office in the West End.
So then its furniture - another minefield, ranging from Ikea to luxury brands. Finally found a lovely firm - independently owned and very flexible and patient in dealing with a firsttimer. I suspect I have been very demanding and all have been very helpful.
Finally found a painter (that turned up), our IT team should be knighted for services to Hasson Associates - we love them.
So the only large fly in the ointment is BT - who started off being helpful (sales person) to just downright rude. So we are in limbo - operation move to Noho is Friday 13th (hope thats not an omen). Will keep you posted.

Looking for a job!

Looking for a job seems to be a hot topic at the moment. Eavesdropping on conversations on the train, in the cafe on the bus - everyone seems to be talking about it.
People seem to think it is straightforward - its not! Briefly you need to have a concise CV - not 8-10 pages. You need to make contact with the right recruiters and that doesnt mean all of them.
You need to prepare and practise interview questions, you need to research your marketplace and your options.
You need to make a plan and stick with it - there should be deadlines and a focus.
I am planning to write a daily blog on how you should and shouldnt go about job hunting - if there is anything you particularly want to hear about please let me know.

A little about me - I am a specialist recruiter who has been recruiting for 15yrs, based in London but with international recruitment experience. Our website is www.hassonassociates.com.

More of this later.