Recruitment Matters International July Newsletter
Hello again from the Recruitment Matters International team!
By the time you read next month's newsletter, the 'pingdemic' will be over - not before time! And with quarantine regulations now being eased for visitors from the EU and US, it does feel as if life is slowly returning to something resembling normal. Add to that, a record start for Team GB at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and there are increasing reasons for feeling optimistic. This does seem to be reflected in the recruitment industry, too, with hiring intentions very positive.
From our perspective, training intentions are also encouraging with bookings on the increase for both open courses and in-house training. For news of our full range of recruitment services including upcoming training courses, check out “What’s new?” later in this newsletter.
Also in this month's newsletter:-
Ideal Marketing Company MD Jess Shailes shares some advice about identifying and grouping segments of your target market.
In Warren's article, he answers a couple of your recruitment questions relating to client development and candidates not sending in their CVs.
RMI's Associate Trainer, Sarah 'H' Gordon flies the flag for temp recruiters and suggests that they should be given more credit for what they do.
In recent weeks, after some spectacular sporting achievements, they have sadly been followed by some despicable racist abuse on social media. JMW's Simon Bloch and Charlie Bradbury look at the issues relating to dismissal of employees as a consequence of their social media posts.
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.
How to identify and group your ideal customers so that you can understand them better
Contributor: Ideal Marketing Company MD Jess Shailes shares some advice about identifying and grouping your target market segments.
The first step in any successful marketing strategy is understanding your true value to customers, then developing that valuable insight into customer personas so you can pinpoint the people you need to target.
Once you understand the importance of persona development, it’s time to build an action plan to put them in place so you can grow your business by creating a marketing strategy that delivers tangible results.
Grouping your customers
The first step involves identifying groups of customers so that a profile can be built. It can feel hard to know where to get started with this, but just know that there are no wrong answers, and you will adjust these groupings as you go along.
The kind of factors used to differentiate groups depends on whether your business serves other businesses or consumers.
For B2B, business groupings will often be split according to:
- Size of company (based on turnover or employees)
- Industry
- The position of a person in a company
- Their attitude
For B2C businesses, demographics of individuals will be more important such as:
- Age
- Gender
- Family situation
- Hobbies
- Pets
You can create 2 groups or 15; it completely depends on your business.
Thinking beyond your target audience
It’s worth bearing in mind that you don’t need to stick to your ideal customers. For some businesses, it can also be helpful to understand referral partners, as these relationships can result in the best quality leads.
It’s also worth taking the time to understand people you don’t want to do business with, so you can gracefully deal with them and release them back into the world to work with someone who’s a better fit, armed with a clearer understanding of who you serve best. And you never know, they could be a good fit in the future, or be able to send someone your way who is a good match to work with you.
Naming your target market
Give each group a descriptive name so you understand who they are. The names don’t need to be pretty (although they can be if you want!); they just need to be functional and include the elements that matter.
For example:
- Ladies 40-50, Legal, Partner
- Young Dads – 18-25 Football Fan
- SME 10-50 Employees Manufacturing
After grouping customers, focus first on the one that seems most appealing. Then consider:
- Are there events or situations that prompt each customer group to look for you?
- What do they want to achieve by using your product or service?
- What matters most to them?
- What could hold them back from working with you?
By thinking about these points, you will begin to build a clear picture of who your target market is and what makes them tick. From there you’ll have the information you need to build a detailed profile for each group so you can use this information to create a marketing strategy that produces real results.
For a free consultation about your marketing needs, from branding to PR to digital marketing, visit idealmarketingcompany.co.uk or call 01858 44 55 43.
Q&A with Warren
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 of recurring themes..
Q. I seem to do OK when phoning candidates but when phoning clients I get nervous and don't get as many vacancies as I would like. Any ideas?
A. There's an old cliché that says "If you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail."
Knowing enough about your prospective client both in terms of the company and the person will help you find common ground. People often get nervous when they don't know what to say. Therefore scripts are a metaphorical combined safety net and comfort blanket. Practise your opening scripts and what to say when met by an objection e.g. "We have a PSL."
Consider buddying up with someone who gets better results than you and, if struggling on perhaps 2 or 3 consecutive cold calls, sandwich a warm call in between before another cold call. Confidence comes from success; success comes with practice; practice is all about hard work. There is no easy cure for lack of experience, only time and effort.
Q. Why do a lot of my candidates say they will send a CV and then not do as they promised?
A. Candidates who trust your judgement and understand the importance of urgency will send their CV.
Spend more time building trust and selling the role before asking. Also work on their timescale by asking the candidate when you can expect their CV to arrive. That will get more commitment from them rather than you requesting it by Monday morning.
We are all more likely to take action if we understand the benefit to us of doing so or the consequences of not. So think about framing your request in a way that will enhance the candidate’s situation in some way.
Warren Kemp is CEO and trainer with Recruitment Matters International. For more tips, advice and information on RMI, visit https://recruitmentmatters.com/ telephone 0800 0749 289/ +44 (0)1529 410375 or email info@recruitmentmatters.com.
Why temp recruiters deserve more credit
Contributor: Sarah ‘H’ Gordon, Associate Trainer, RMI
I’ve been working in the recruitment industry for over 20 years, and I have noticed that there appears to be a kind of ‘snobbery’ (if that’s the right word?) in the sector. I know not everyone thinks this way, but from working with hundreds of recruiters over the years…
- Executive search consultants think they’re more important than contingency recruiters.
- Perm consultants think they are more important than temp recruiters.
- Even contract consultants (workers on daily rates, usually LCCs) think they are more important than temp recruiters (workers on hourly rates, usually PAYE).
They’re wrong.
Any recruiter should be measured by their financial contribution, their customer relationships, their commercial acumen, and - let’s face it - their hard graft.
Let’s pick up on those…
Financial Contribution
According to ONS figures, there were 1.52m temporary workers out working in March 2021. 89% of recruitment industry turnover is temp and contract recruitment – representing £37.8bn. Indeed, 19% of companies said they wouldn’t be able to operate without temporary workers.
A temp desk provides consistent income, generating revenue every week. Yes, a large part of that revenue is actually the ‘cost of sale’ of payrolling the temp, but there is still a consistent flow of GP.
(The average margin for temp and contract recruitment across all sectors is 17.5%). Perm and search placements tend to come more erratically – some sparse months and some boom months. To avoid this rollercoaster, a very common business model for recruitment agencies is to let their temp desk ‘pay the bills’ and treat permanent placements as ‘the icing on the cake’.
And when times are tough and recessions hit, which is the first area of recruitment to recover every single time?
Temps.
Customer Relationships
With search and perm recruitment, consultants have to build relationships with their candidates, but once the placement is made their candidate journey often comes to an end (we don’t want to be accused of trying to poach them back from our clients!).
With temp (and contract) recruitment, consultants have to invest time in nurturing candidate relationships long term, in order to sustain a loyal candidate pool who could potentially work with them for years.
With search and perm recruitment, clients often (but not always) understand that finding the right person is likely to take weeks rather than hours. With temp recruitment, it’s not uncommon for clients to be stressed and under immense time pressure, expecting vacancies to be filled within a matter of hours (if not minutes). Maintaining positive relationships in such a pressurised environment takes work.
Commercial Acumen
By their nature, temporary roles are usually time critical. If you don’t have the perfect person right now, the requirement won’t wait. This means two things:
- Temp recruiters have to get very good at anticipating future requirements and ‘stocking up’ on the right skill sets to make sure they do have the right person at the right time; and
- They have to get creative in identifying alternative solutions that could work in the meantime – “I haven’t got x, but I have got y, which could work short term”.
Each of these means that temp recruiters really have to get to know their clients’ businesses pretty much as well as the clients do. That’s challenging enough for one client, let alone a whole portfolio of them. Temp recruiters need to be able to think quickly, absorb huge amounts of information, and become great problem solvers.
Hard Graft
We’ve already said that temp recruiters have to fill vacancies fast. For some temp recruiters, we are talking filling tens of vacancies a day. A perm recruiter might be filling five vacancies a month by comparison.
I regularly hear stories of teams of temp recruiters staying till 10pm to fill urgent client requirements. Not so much on the perm side.
Don’t forget that for temp recruiters there are also much more onerous legal and compliance requirements. KIDs, contracts for services, and Written Statements of Particulars have to be done for every worker. Executive Search consultants barely even see a CV, and perm recruiters can rest easy as the client does all the onboarding paperwork for their new hires.
Conclusion
Temp recruiters are a special breed. Not everyone can cut it in temp recruitment, and they often deserve more recognition than they currently get. They are the lifeblood of so many businesses.
I’ve done both temp and perm (and dual desk, now that’s a whole other article!). They are both tough, but it can feel even tougher if you don’t feel appreciated.
If you’d like to show your temp recruiters a little love, and support them in understanding how they can work smarter rather than harder to achieve their full potential, we’ve got a course for that! (See Become An Exceptional Temp/Contract Recruiter).
Note: People are talking about the ‘Great Exodus’ that’s coming post-pandemic, when people feel safe enough to leave the employers who they feel haven’t looked after them during the pandemic. What better way to show you care, and want to retain your staff, than investing in their development?!
Sarah "H" Gordon, Associate Trainer for RMI, is a freelance mentor and trainer to the recruitment industry, sharing the knowledge and experience she has gained during 20 years' experience in the sector from consultant to player/manager to director. www.linkedin.com/in/sarahhgordon
Dismissing employees for posts on social media
Contributors: Simon Bloch, Partner and Charlie Bradbury, Trainee Solicitor, JMW Solicitors LLP
In recent weeks, we have witnessed some spectacular sporting achievements: England’s men’s football team reaching their first international championships final in 55 years and Lewis Hamilton winning the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
However, these sporting moments have been sadly overshadowed by racist abuse on social media targeted against black sportsmen including Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Bukayo Saka and Lewis Hamilton.
One of the highly publicised cases involved an employee of the property agent, Savills, who is being investigated for a tweet containing racist content. It is understood that the Savills’ employee has been suspended pending an investigation.
The activity of an employee on social media can be damaging to the reputation of a business and it is therefore important that businesses consider whether employees can be disciplined for posts on their personal social media accounts.
Principles for Unfair Dismissal
Where a business fails to comply with the key legal principles when dismissing an employee, the employee may seek to bring a claim for unfair dismissal. The employee will require at least 2 years’ continuous service to bring a claim for ordinary unfair dismissal.
In order to avoid the risk of a successful claim, a business will need to show that it has a fair reason for dismissal i.e. the employee’s conduct or some other substantial reason (SOSR), and that the business acted reasonably in all the circumstances in treating that reason as a sufficient reason for dismissal.
The business should ensure that it follows a thorough procedure, including a reasonable investigation, and avoid jumping to conclusions as to the employee’s culpability. This may lead to an inference that the dismissal was predetermined, and therefore potentially unfair.
Businesses should have regard to the Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures (Acas Code) in cases of misconduct or poor performance. The Acas Code sets out recommendation for best practice that businesses should adopt before dismissing an employee. The Acas Code is not legally binding but it will be taken into account by a Tribunal when considering if a business has acted reasonably.
Disciplinary action for social media posts
Whether it is reasonable for an employee to be disciplined for posts on a personal social media account will depend on the nature of their post, whether this would have an impact on the reputation of the business and whether it affects the employee’s ability to do their job.
There is also a fine balancing act between the employer’s right to protect its business interests and the employee’s right to freedom of expression.
The Employment Tribunal will take into consideration the nature and content of the comments made along with the extent of the damage to the business’ reputation to identify whether the dismissal was unfair.
Cases involving social media are highly fact sensitive and persuasive evidence could include whether the account was private or public, whether the business’ policies were breached, whether the posts were accessed by customers and colleagues, and whether the personal account made any reference to their employment with the business.
Tribunal Decisions
Miss K Preece v J D Wetherspoons Plc
An Employment Tribunal found that the dismissal of Miss Preece, a Weatherpoons pub manager, for inappropriate comments made on her Facebook account was fair.
Miss Preece published posts regarding several customers who had subjected her to abuse whilst she was at work.
The Tribunal found that even though Miss Preece believed that her account was private, her posts were still in the public domain. Miss Preece’s right to freedom of expression was not absolute and could be fettered if the comments could cause damage to the employer’s reputation.
Game Retail Ltd v Mr C Laws
Mr Laws was dismissed after posting comments about the alleged promiscuity of a female colleague on his Twitter account. Mr Law’s account was a personal account but he was followed by a number of Game stores for which he had responsibility as part of his job.
The Employment Tribunal initially decided that the dismissal was unfair as Mr Laws had used his personal mobile, he had posted outside working hours for private purposes and Game’s disciplinary policy did not reference that such use of social media could be gross misconduct.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) upheld Game’s appeal and confirmed that the dismissal was within the range of reasonable responses. It determined that the tweets could not be regarded as private since the account was public and he must have been aware that his followers included a number of Game stores.
Practical considerations for businesses
- Policies and Procedures – Business should have clear policies that reference the businesses stance on discriminatory conduct such as in their disciplinary policy and equal opportunities policy.
The disciplinary policy can clearly state that the business regards posting inappropriate content on social media outside of work as a gross misconduct offence, where it has an impact to the business’ reputation. This will ensure that a business can refer to the breach of the policy when commencing the disciplinary action.
- Equal Opportunities Training – Businesses should scrutinise the quality of their equal opportunities training to ensure that employees fully understand the content, and it is not merely a tick box exercise. It is advisable that employees are provided with regular refresher training.
The training should make clear the businesses stance on racism and other forms of discrimination, including the potential consequences if an employee’s commits acts of discrimination in breach of the businesses policies.
Businesses should consider providing specific training for employees who have been disciplined for offences involving discriminatory conduct to ensure that such offences are not repeated.
This article is for general guidance only and should not be used for any other purpose. It does not constitute, and should not be relied upon as legal advice.
This article was prepared by Simon Bloch, who is a Partner at JMW Solicitors LLP and Charlie Bradbury, Trainee Solicitor. To contact Simon, please email simon.bloch@jmw.co.uk or call 0161 838 2628 to discuss any matter in this article or any recruitment issue at further length.
What's new?
Following our first induction open course in over a year, with the continued increase in new recruiters coming into the industry, we're looking forward to more of Stewart Stone's Two Day Introduction To Recruitment on September 1st and 8th.
Other interactive online open courses coming up in the next few weeks include The Billing Manager, Time Management, and Emotional Intelligence At Work. Warren's next MHFA accredited Become A Mental Health First Aider two day online course will be on August 19th and 20th.
Remember that we can also Zoom in-house to you or visit for face-to-face training in a Covid-secure environment. It just needs a bit of forward planning, so do contact us as soon as possible to discuss your potential requirements.
We continue to welcome subscribers to our FREE pre-recorded online training programme ku.dos to help provide further support for you in your recruitment career.
If you think that mentoring or consultation via telephone, Skype or video conferencing could work for you, please contact us to have a chat about your options.
Looking to hire? If you have any recruitment requirements, check out our RPO and RPR services.
For more information on all our courses and our other services and products, visit www.recruitmentmatters.com, email info@recruitmentmatters.com or call Ken on 0800 0749289 or, if you’re overseas, 0044 1529 410375.
Contact us
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Tel: 0800 0749289 / +44 (0)1529 410375
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