How to Choose an Employer

Posted on July 30, 2008 by admin

Are you in the job market? Or are you maybe tired with your current role and want to see what else is out there? Read on …

Well it certainly is an employee’s market at the moment. Despite some of the talk of gloom and doom in the finance news, the reality is there are too few candidates for too many jobs in many industry sectors.

Just look at the vast number of new jobs advertised on Seek and MyCareer every day.

So if you have a good mix of skills, experience and knowledge there are great employment opportunities in the Australian market.

Here are a few ideas to help you in the job hunt.

1. How do you choose which job or company you want to work for?

It is not always just about the position you are applying for — there are always other consideration to think about. You need to prioritise what are the things important to you in a new role or company.

Here is a list of things that candidates may want to consider when assessing one company against another.

Sometimes the importance of these things will change depending on your age, personal situation and where you are in your working life.

  • Size of company
  • Management team
  • Culture of organisation
  • Training & development opportunities
  • Career progression
  • Salary & Bonuses
  • Location of job — how far do you want to commute!
  • Flexibility in work arrangements
  • Family Friendly policies.

2. If you have good skills, relevant education or experience you should be in demand — this also includes having clear and understandable English for many roles, and often some Australian experience.

For those candidates who have arrived here from overseas, you may need to start at a lower level role than you are used to, to gain insight into the local market and industry — it is about getting your foot in the door and working your way up from there.

3. Be proactive in finding out about possible future employers — the internet is a great resource tool, as well as newspapers, business magazine, industry journals etc.

4. Don’t be afraid to ask relevant questions at a job interview.

If a manager or company are serious about finding the right candidate they will be open with their information as much as possible.

Good Luck with finding that next job you will love!

Posted in Researching employers | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Why Do Exit Interviews?

Posted on March 28, 2008 by admin

picture-13.pngAn Exit Interview can be a very powerful tool for a company, whether you have a formal Human Resource department or whether you are a smaller business.

It is an opportunity to get feedback on what an employee thinks of the company, and what their experiences have been like across systems, operations, as part of the team — comments on the good, the bad and sometimes the ugly!

Exit interviews are generally conducted when employees leave a company or organisation.

Some people look at them with trepidation and others see it as an opportunity to say all the things they never commented about while on the job.

Continue reading →

Posted in Managing people, What we offer employers | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Big Issues Facing Business — No.2

Posted on March 28, 2008 by admin

picture-7.png

Retention of Staff

Finding and getting the staff you want is challenge Number 1.

Challenge Number 2 is keeping them.

In the 2006/2007 Vedior Asia Pacific Employment Trends Survey found at the issue of retention of staff receives a large amount of coverage.

They cite that 38% of respondents to the survey saw retention of staff as their biggest “human capital challenge”.

When you have to replace a staff member who resigns, there are a number of costs involved that businesses don’t always acknowledge.

People tend to only consider the recruitment costs.

Continue reading →

Posted in Staff retention | Leave a comment

The Big Issues Facing Business — No.1

Posted on February 5, 2008 by Lois Jamieson

picture 20

Recruitment of Staff

As many of you may already be well aware it is currently a tight employment market across the nation.

There are more employment opportunities than candidates, so it’s a Candidate’s Market.

Candidates can be the one’s in control.

They can be selective about roles, look for more flexibility in work arrangements, and place upward pressure on salary demands in many short skilled areas.

There is a shortage of skilled and experienced candidates in most industry sectors in Australia and one of the biggest challenges facing many businesses is finding and retaining good staff.

So in your “hunt” for that great candidate, you have to be more pro active and focused on having successful Recruitment Strategies.

There is an excellent 2006/2007 Vedior Asia Pacific Employment Trends Survey that highlights many of the issues organisation of all sizes are facing in the areas of staffing, and also covers diverse strategies to assist in more successful recruitment.

Three main areas are discussed that can have positive impact on your recruitment success in the market.

Continue reading →

Posted in EMPLOYERS | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Why Use A Recruitment Agency

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Lois Jamieson

picture-18

In medium to larger organisations it is common practice to outsource finding of staff to recruitment agencies. Also, many organisations may run their own internal human resource departments and handle the whole process within the company or in collaboration with an external organisation.

Many small to medium business may not generally consider using an agency to assist with recruitment. Here are some reasons that show using a professional recruiter may be a sensible option in many circumstances.

1. Time

The reality of running a business means that managers/owners are time poor. They try to wear all the hats and generally there are some things they are better at than other things. Sometimes it may be a time restraint to handle a recruitment situation in a professional manner. What would you do if you were inundated with 50 phone calls and 100 written applications? You may be better off concentrating on areas where you can generate more income from the business and bring in an external expert to provide assistance to find staff. The fee may seem over the top from many small business owner’s minds — but when you look at what it really costs to train and develop staff, and you think about the ones that you may have chosen wrongly in the past where you have wasted time, energy and dollars — your time with an agency may be well spent. You don’t necessarily have to use them for all roles, but use their expertise on the difficult one to start with.

Continue reading →

Posted in EMPLOYERS, Why use an agency | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What Can We Do For Employers?

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Lois Jamieson

picture-4

We are here to help companies build great teams. Whether your business has 5 staff or 200 staff we can assist you in various ways to source and develop the right mix of people to help your business prosper and grow.

Often managers or owners of businesses are so busy working IN the business they never find time to work ON the business.

There comes a stage in all businesses when it becomes a viable financial decision to call on professionals to help and advise you in your business. You do it with accountants, lawyers and maybe marketing specialists. Now you should be doing it with a Human Resource professional.

That’s where we come in. We can take the stress and workload off you when it comes to finding the right people to join your team. What we are known for, is finding the right mix of practical skills, experience and personality fit of candidates to match our clients requirements.

Our understanding of what makes businesses tick and move forward comes from over 25 years diverse commercial experience.

Our services include the following:

  • Recruitment advice
  • Salary Information
  • Writing Job descriptions
  • End to end management of recruitment
  • Development of Induction plans
  • Human Resource Management consultancy

Our current clients vary from local businesses with four staff through to the Australian head offices of some international IT companies.

We can adapt our services to your business needs and can certainly add value to your organisation. Please call now on 03 9397 0871 to arrange for an initial free one-hour consultancy.

Posted in EMPLOYERS, What we offer employers | Leave a comment

What Can We Do For Candidates?

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Lois Jamieson

picture-21

Many candidates have had some pretty poor experiences with recruitment companies – no answers to applications, bland responses and feeling like the consultant just doesn’t care about you.

Our aim at Lois Jamieson Recruitment is to improve the quality of service and professionalism provided to candidates. It can be a tough and stressful time when you are looking for a new role and our intention is to focus on giving honest and relevant information to assist candidates in their search for that new position.

Some of the things we can do to help you are:

  • Resume layout advice
  • Hints on how to prepare for interviews
  • Ideas about presentation and communication
  • Matching you with the best fit in terms of company, culture and professional challenges.
  • Helping you develop a plan for finding that next position.
  • Instil integrity and honesty into our operations.

Unfortunately, we can’t find a position for everyone who applies. Our hope is that your dealings with us may lead to success for you in either a new role, or a more confident candidate, an easier and better selling resume or just your more positive dealings with a recruitment company.

The test of our success is that many of our candidates have become our clients over time. This could be you in the future. If you would like us to review your resume, please send it with a covering email to our contact email address below.

Click here to email Lois

Posted in CANDIDATES, What we offer candidates | Leave a comment

Resume information for candidates

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Lois Jamieson

picture-7

Useful hints for your resume layout

Firstly, there is no one way to present a resume.

But the most important thing is that it is clear, concise and easily readable and relevant to the role you have applied for.

Many people have different resumes for different roles, and adjust the information and presentation to suit the role.

Other people have a generalist resume, and cover the specific detail for a role in a covering letter. Either way is suitable, as long as you have provided the relevant information for the position.

On many occasions resumes never get past first base as the way they are presented have very little in common with the requirements for the role, or the candidate has not presented the information that allows the HR department or recruitment consultant to make the connection.

Continue reading →

Posted in CANDIDATES, Resume hints | Leave a comment

Researching Potential Employers

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Lois Jamieson

picture-10

When you are in the market for a new position, it is a real bonus if you can find a role and employer that is going to provide the type of challenges and opportunities that match your expectations. People specifically target roles with companies for a variety of reasons — whether it is the specific job responsibilities, or they may love something about the product, or have heard great things about the company training, they like their family friendly policies or whatever it is that is appropriate to them at their current stage of your life.

We all work for different reasons and have different things we look for in employment. At some stages it is the career path and opportunities, at other stages it is the flexibility of hours or the training that is provided. For some people it is the social interaction, the culture of their work environment or even the closeness to home. No one factor determines why we like our jobs and our employers.

Continue reading →

Posted in CANDIDATES, Researching employers | Leave a comment

Are you ready to employ, but don’t know how?

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Lois Jamieson

picture-22

Your business has been growing but you are having trouble keeping up with the workload. It sounds like it is time to start to think about how you can continue that growth, but in a controlled and positive environment.

Businesses that grow often do so because they increase their resources so they can produce more products or services. For many businesses, that may mean an investment in equipment, automation or improved systems. In many companies, growth will only happen when they employ that first staff member or continue to grow their team.

The finding of the right people to join your organisation is one of the most crucial decisions you can make in business — whether you’re a one man band, a company with 20 staff or a larger organisation. Going about it in a haphazard and unplanned way can be a recipe for disaster.

Continue reading →

Posted in EMPLOYERS, Ready to employ? | Leave a comment