Recruitment Matters International August Newsletter

Interesting to see that new laws have been introduced in Scotland to make it a specific offence to assault, abuse or threaten shop workers. Not surprisingly, there is now pressure to roll this out across the UK as soon as possible. Hopefully, it won't take long. Shop workers - and health workers - have had a particularly difficult time over the past 18 months or so. Any move to help them feel safer has to be welcomed.

In this month's newsletter:-

Ideal Marketing Company MD Jess Shailes shares some advice on how to understand your clients' motivations and how to prioritise them to aid in the formulation of your business development and marketing plans.

In Warren's article, he answers a couple more of your recruitment questions, this month on achieving KPI phone time targets and improving job ad performance.

I've penned a short article on how to take a firm line with clients and stakeholders in order to ensure delivery of scarce candidates for hard to fill roles.

JMW's Simon Bloch and Kelly Hurst look at recent revisions and improvements to the government's "Name and Shame" scheme for employers who flout their National Minimum Wage obligations.

Lastly for news of our full range of recruitment services, including upcoming training courses, check out "What's new?" 

If you have any requests on what you would like to see covered in future newsletters, please let us know. Also, please send your own potential editorial contributions to ken@recruitmentmatters.com. 


Understanding your audience to gain the edge over your competition
 
                                              
Contributor: Ideal Marketing Company MD Jess Shailes shares some advice on how to understand your clients' motivations and how to prioritise them.

Building on customer personas
 
Our article last month left off at the stage of using avatars or customer personas to understand your target audience’s demographics and professional attributes. Once you have completed this important stage, the next step is to engage with these audiences by joining the conversation in their head. To do that, you need to know what matters most to them.
 
So, consider, write down and answer the following questions: 

• Has something happened to make them reach out to you? What has spurred them to action NOW?
• What do they want to achieve as a result of working with you? Whether it’s a service or a product, what is the desired outcome?
• What concerns do they have about using your product? Often it is price based, around loyalty to an existing product/service or maybe timelines or risk. Are there ways to reduce these concerns and reassure them?
• Who is your competition, and in each case, why would these customers choose to use the competition rather than use you?
• What could you do to make them trust you? Case studies, reviews on Google, testimonials, awards, qualifications, free trials and guarantees are all ways to help build trust and reduce risk.
• What do you want them to do? This may not be as simple as achieving a sale. It may be repeat purchases, recommendations, upsells/cross-sells. How can you encourage this behaviour and be direct about what to do next?

• Which group spends the most?
• Who is likely to buy more of your services?
• Which group is easiest to access or has the best conversion rate based on experience? 

Contributor: Warren Kemp, CEO and Trainer, Recruitment Matters International. Warren is also a qualified Mental Health First Aid Instructor
 
We often receive calls from recruiters asking for advice. Here are a couple more recurring themes.

Q. My boss is on my back to hit my phone time KPI. How can I achieve the target he wants?  
 
A. A healthy dollop of enthusiasm mixed with a high degree of determination will go a long way to achieving any goal in life.
 
Additionally, remove as many distractions as possible from a block of time so you can concentrate when you are hitting those phones. For example, minimise your email screen and put your mobile on airplane mode.
 

Play hard ball

 

• 47% incorrect deductions from wages;
• 30% failure to pay workers for all the time worked, such as when they worked overtime;
• 19% incorrect payment of the apprenticeship rate.

• Not all NMW underpayments are intentional. In April 2021, the NMW was increased, and every single UK worker is entitled to it. Employers will therefore need to ensure that they have effective payroll systems in place to ensure that this change is deployed immediately across their workforce, to avoid falling foul of the NMW rules.
• It should punish criminal behaviour: it currently includes on the list those honest and reputable employers who take their responsibilities seriously and strive to remedy any issues promptly.
  • John Lewis advised that in 2017, it had encountered a difficulty with new pay rules, but that it had set aside millions to deal with this and was actively working with HMRC to repay affected workers. John Lewis had previously made this public, and the issue has long since been resolved, and so its inclusion on the name and shame list has sparked outrage.
  • Pret advised that its inclusion was due to an underpayment of wages resulting from a mistaken interpretation of salary sacrifice for childcare vouchers, which have been quickly rectified.
• Previous criticism: the scheme was paused in 2018 where previous criticism called for a review of its methodology. However, the government has not given any indication that there will be a further review, and maintains that it is the responsibility of every employer to comply with the law.

What's new?