Getting up close and personal!
It’s not just what you know, it’s also who you know says Philip de Belder.
Most employers only tend to get involved in the recruitment process when they are looking for new personnel. Likewise, most people only begin studying the jobs market when they are looking for a new position. So I think it is quite fair to say that there is no way they can claim to be experts in this complex and often complicated field. On the other hand, as a long-established recruitment company working within the castings, forgings and metals industries every single day, I think it is also fair to say that we know the business inside out.
Whether you’re looking to source new personnel or whether you’re wanting to find that ‘dream job’ a specialist recruitment company can really make the difference between success and failure.
One of the pieces of advice I always offer to companies or candidates is to get to know the other people involved personally. Don’t make decisions on hearsay or for that matter on information you glean from the Internet.
Let me give you an example. We were recently commissioned to find an experienced industry specialist by a company that is located at the other side of the world. We found an excellent candidate and arranged a meeting when the client company came to Europe to conduct interviews.
In the meantime, however … our candidate decided to do some research of his own on the Internet, and from what he saw he decided he didn’t want to proceed with his application.
That was a big mistake! Whilst he got facts, he didn’t get any feeling. He couldn’t assess the personality of the company and its people. We, however, thanks to our own personal experience, were able to reassure him of their quality and reputation both as a company and as employers. Not only that, we were also able to inform him that they were sending two senior executives over to meet him – one a national of the country where the company is based, and the other being someone who had previously done exactly the journey they were asking our candidate to consider.
After listening to our advice our candidate changed his mind and has agreed to the meeting, to which incidentally his wife is also invited to attend, because everyone realises she should be part of any decision making. Not only will the meeting be able to discuss the job, the company and the career prospects; but they can also talk about the country, its lifestyle and all the other considerations of going to live on the other side of the world.
You can’t beat face-to-face
We would always advise employers and candidates to meet face-to-face before they make any decisions. They say body language tells you as much as the spoken word. And in our opinion that’s certainly true.
My best piece of advice? Whether you’re looking for a person or looking for a position, talk to de Belder associates and get a close and personal viewpoint on the best way forward.
