What's in a business name?

Hi, Patricia here. 

I thought I would try something different and do an audio blog. 

I'd really like to know what you think, please leave a comment or send me an email at the address below. 

Here goes... Enjoy!
Resources mentioned in the audio: 

Somexcloud, Zürich 
http://www.somexcloud.com/ 

Spark and Strategy 
http://www.sparkandstrategy.com/ 
German Ramirez 

And Me! 
Patricia McGuire 
Purple Select Recruitment 
patricia.mcguire@purpleselect.com

What happened to the "human" in human resources?

A frustrated candidate asked me this yesterday. He had been interviewing with a few companies and he was surprised at how many of them did not come back to him and give him feedback, even when he had had a personal interview with them.

I know that the clients I work with are very good, I or they get back to people when they have been interviewed. Okay, we are not perfection so some unfortunately fall through the net, but not many. What my  candidate said got me thinking; what is going on and is this getting worse?

It could be that he was very unlucky, that most of the human resources departments did get back to him but the one or two that did not stood out. It's like the customer who has a bad experience, they will always tell people about it, but the customer who is happy rarely speaks out.

However, there are other reasons:

• Society is more litigious than ever before. As a recruiting department  if you are not careful you can end up on the front end of a court case.
• Relationships have become more distant. I have noticed that the email is ever increasingly becoming the mode of  communication, and it is so easy to engender misunderstandings using this method.
• It is really difficult to give people bad news, it's certainly not the best part of my job and sometimes people cannot face it. Honestly, HR are human!
• Perhaps they do not get back to people because they do not want to continue the relationship. I can understand this, sometimes people take bad news, badly. They might not react immediately, sometimes you will get irate emails and calls from people after the bad news call. I have even heard of rejected interviewees waiting for the interviewer outside their offices to continue the debate. It can be horrid.
• Many HR departments are facing cuts like everybody else and it could be that they are just too busy to get back to everyone.
• Maybe you as an interviewer did not behave appropriately at interview.
• Did you follow up on the interview so they feel comfortable giving you feedback? It is a two way thing you know.

My conclusion is that things are not getting worse, but the world is changing, more people are looking for work than before, HR departments have a harder job shifting through applications and it is not easy communicating bad news.

If you find that companies are not getting back to you, please just give the relevant person a call (always call first), if you can't get hold of them on a call then send an email. Be polite, be reasonable and tell them that you would really appreciate feedback and their advice would be appreciated.

What do you think, is the non communication getting worse?

Redundancy, one of the most stressful experiences you are likely to go through

Redundancy, the fear of redundancy and the affects of redundancy are some of the strongest triggers of stress that you are likely to encounter.

Whilst it is nearly always a shock, the receiving of that notice of redundancy is almost never a total surprise. You have probably been aware of your company's financial problems of some time and have actually been expecting the worst.

So often the initial feeling is relief, but then your brain kicks in, thinking about the possible affects of the redundancy and, then you begin to grieve for your job and your colleagues etc.

What should you do?

• Try and remember the positive, this is a great opportunity to innovate, rejuvenate your career
• Talk to someone, friends, family or there are any number of professional career counsellors that you can talk to
• Take stock of the situation you find yourself in, particularly the financial. The sooner you do this the better you will feel
• Eat and drink healthily and take regular exercise

To change or not to change?

It is very easy after you have been unemployed for a while to start exploring new areas for employment. If you have reached this stage then I would ask you to stop and have a think.

Do you really want to change your area of work? Seriously, think about it. If you are completely sure that you do and this is not a decision taken from desperation then please go ahead. If not then you should continue to apply for positions that play to your strengths and capitalise on the work you have been doing.

Changing direction even in the good times is difficult. You need to be resilient to rejection and show great determination and of course have total conviction that you are doing the right thing.

 

How do you do this?

As with everything, you need to take the time to do the research.

 

Think about:

• What you enjoy doing
• What you are trained to do
• What you can afford in terms of retraining

Read as much as you can about the careers you are interested in and talk to people who are already doing these jobs.

  

Preparation and determination will be the keys to your success.

 

 

 

Gird your loins for 2010

Although in Switzerland the economy has not suffered as much as many developed nations, the economy has still experienced a recession.

Things are picking up, the economy came out of recession in Q3 2009 and things are set for modest if sluggish growth during 2010.
However, job seekers should gird their loins; Seco forecast that the labour market will not see serious growth before 2011.

What to do to improve your chances?
• Network
• Work with a professional recruiter
• Educate yourself
• Innovate