Comments for Synergy & Strategy

Comment on Is the candidate as good as they say they are? by Gaynor Gravestock

Gaynor Gravestock — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:09:57 +0000

Some great points here Derek that support as well as add further insight to the recruitment process. I guess if anyone is concerned about going through the recruitment process themselves then they can always call on a professional

Comment on Is the candidate as good as they say they are? by Derek Field

Derek Field — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:05:04 +0000

Interesting blog Gaynor,
I entirely agree the whole recuitment process should be as comprehensive as possible, I find comments and testimonials on LinkedIn to be quite valuable as they cannot be “fudged” ie the person leaving the comment would not normally do so if they didn’t really think the candidate in question was worthy of their efforts, dates are also listed with the testimonial. Beyond this I always dig a little deeper into the background of the person leaving the testimonial to check the relevance of their career to date and whether they have “job hopped” and simply writing decent testimonials in the hope of getting one back – this is easy to check, you will find a lot of mutual “backslapping” goes on.
With regards to formal references, if the candidate in question has a solid career history in a relevant sector and has not “job hopped” one of the more valuable references is going to come from his/her current employer paricularly if he/she has been there for a few years.
Herein lies the problem, no candidate worth his/her salt is going to permit a hiring company to take up references from their current employer until a formal offer has been made and accepted, trying to dig out information on a candidate from current colleagues is frought with danger and could put the candidate’s current job at risk.
Having carried out a full and professional search using all the tools available a well constructed interview with deep searching/probing competency based questions is the best and time proven way of sorting the wheat from the chaff and discover how well the candidate has conducted their own research into the hiring company, it’s products, services, market and customer base.
Requiring the candidate to prepare and give a presentation on a carefully selected topic is also invaluable and provides an excellent way of comparing the relevant skills of each shortlisted candidate.
Finally, quality psychometric assessments can be useful in certain circumstances, the ones I use will outline cultural fit as well as identifying any necessary ongoing career development training.
Derek Field

Comment on What will the new year bring? by home gym price

home gym price — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:45:26 +0000

Glad to read this blog! Keep it going!

Comment on Free StartAssist seminar for new businesses by Tweets that mention Free StartAssist seminar for new businesses | Synergy & Strategy -- Topsy.com

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:49:06 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Derek Field, Sarah Carter, Shropshire VCS, Hazelwood Marketing, Gaynor Gravestock and others. Gaynor Gravestock said: Do you know any businesses less than a year old – this is a free must attend event http://bit.ly/iaw3Vx [...]

Comment on Create the future you want … rather than the one you end up with by Tweets that mention Create the future you want … rather than the one you end up with | Synergy & Strategy -- Topsy.com

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:24:51 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by keep up with jones. keep up with jones said: RT @gaynorgraves: Top tips on how to create the future you want rather than the one you end up with http://bit.ly/eAEGYZ [...]