Blog

The risk of writing this article is that I will show how old I am potentially becoming!

In looking through some old documents last week, I came upon the advert for my first corporate job application.  It was a classified advert, quite formal and asked for all applications to include a handwritten cover letter.  In my best cursive writing, I posted off my application, and after an interview, won the role.

Today we can see a job on the internet, attach an application and apply all in under a minute.

Somewhere along the way we all seem to have lost the personal touch.  Employers and recruiters aren’t as encouraging in taking phone enquiries about a job.  Due to the simplicity of the modern day application process, job seekers may not be as thorough when researching a role.  In making things easier, I think technology has sometimes made things harder as quantity of jobs and applicants increase but quality decreases.

Whichever side of the fence you are sitting (employer or employee) don’t forgot that jobs still revolve all around people.  Take the opportunity to research a role, ring up and ask questions about the position and give your time to those who are applying.  Personalise your application, address it to an individual if there is a contact and make an investment of time in starting to build a relationship.  So at the end of the day it might not be your dream job or employee, but if it is, do yourself a favour and get ahead of the crowd from the outset.

These days, writing a handwritten letter is unlikely to win you your dream job, but taking the same amount of time to tailor your resume to a potential job opportunity just might.

Regardless of the industry that you work in, most companies strive to increase profit and market share.  A recent article that I saw made me have a light bulb moment – what if you could increase your profits not by getting more clients or selling more, but by having a more engaged workforce?  Recent research by Aon Hewitt found companies that are really focussed on their employees can generate higher profits.

It got me thinking about some of the things that we do at Edge Recruitment to engage our employees that we feel has helped our organisation.

• Holding weekly training sessions.  Sometimes these are formal, sometimes they aren’t but staff are able to raise areas where they feel they need more training or assistance.  As a group we discuss the problem and how to approach it and often document the agreed solution so it can be referred to in the future.
• Engaging external trainers.  It is always refreshing for staff to hear from an outside trainer.  It may cement what they know or provide them with a whole new set of skills, either way they feel that they are being developed in their role.
• Putting in place a mentoring scheme.  This is a new one for us, but we are putting in place external mentors for our senior staff so that they can bounce ideas, set goals and learn from proven performers outside of our company.  We hope this will lead to them gaining increased confidence and motivation in their role.
• Celebrating our wins.  This goes without saying!  From admin staff to consultants or teams everyone should have the opportunity to feel great about their success.  Whether it is acknowledgement in a meeting, cake and nibbles or Friday night drinks, a small company investment builds great rewards long term.
• Providing a good work environment.  Having just moved offices we have seen really great benefits in terms of the motivation and morale of our team.  Although we loved our former (little!) office, our staff are now so proud of where they work and the corporate environment it pervades.
• Creating flexible working arrangements.  Several of our team are working mum’s and I am sure they are the most productive members of our team!  Remote computer access, flexible start/finish times and time off for family events have helped build great loyalty amongst our team.  At the end of the day it has provided small disruption compared to the benefits the company has received.
• Looking for ways to improve.  While we don‘t change for the sake of it, we regularly look at our systems, processes, marketing and services to consider if we can do things better or more efficiently.  Staff are involved in this process because it usually impacts on them most.  If needed we will bring in an expert consultant from outside the company to provide us with advice and direction.  Our team appreciate the fact that we are open to doing things differently.
• Recruiting to suit our team.  We are prepared to train new staff if we think they have the qualities to succeed in our environment.  This has meant that in some roles it has taken longer for results to shine through, but the upside has been a very low turnover of staff in an industry renowned for its high turnover.

We are a small company and which does may it easier to manage and create a positive culture.  But even big organisations are usually made up of smaller teams and the best companies put time and resources in ensuring that from management down, staff are valued and engaged.

So I wonder if conversely companies that don’t invest time and money into their workforce are not performing as well, or are missing out on potential profits?

How does your company rate?