Melbourne Australia 0438 748 846 rhonda@thehdrgroup.com.au

Author: rhondawithers

LinkedIn is your Personal Branding Tool

rhondawithersLeave a Comment on LinkedIn is your Personal Branding Tool

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LinkedIn really is an essential personal branding tool. It has never been more important to build and maintain a polished LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is a very powerful virtual professional network that really has become complete personal branding resource. It is professional social network and it really can be an invaluable tool in many ways, but only if you use it correctly.

LinkedIn has millions of members and it really is assumed that you will have a LinkedIn profile. You may not be taken seriously as a career-minded executive if you don’t have a LinkedIn profile. When someone googles your name, it will most likely show up in the first or second spot and this is important because most Google users click on the first page results.

LinkedIn is where all companies and recruiters are now searching for exceptional talent. Like never before, Linkedin really does give you the opportunity to connect with a company or a person within that company directly. LinkedIn really does gives you the opportunity to control what people learn about you and your strengths and you need to be highly visible.  You need to have a complete and polished profile that is just packed with the right keywords.

LinkedIn allows you to update your status regularly and it instantly lets everyone in your audience know what’s new in your world and where to find you. Recruiters are looking for YOU, so you had better stand out from the crowd.

LinkedIn provides one of the best opportunities to increase your visibility and credibility with members of your brand community. It lets you stay connected to large networks of contacts.

Let’s have a look at your profile:

  • How is your Profile Picture? Is it professional? Up-to-date? One of the biggest mistakes made with profile pictures is having a personal picture (with alcohol in hand, at a party or pets jumping all over you etc) rather than a professional picture that represents you as a polished candidate. A LinkedIn profile without a picture is also more likely to be overlooked
  • Is your headline up-to-date? Write this yourself. Write about you. Don’t speak in the 3rd person
  • Is your career summary and experience up-to-date and reflective of your achievements?
  • Can you increase your recommendations?
  • Are you a member of relevant groups and discussions?
  • Status updates: One of the biggest mistakes that LinkedIn users make is using it like it is Facebook. “If you’re going to post something, make sure it’s relevant to your occupation and, most importantly, is professional.” Chris Bryant, creative director and principal, Empire Studios

“LinkedIn should never be used to criticize an employer or potential employer, even if you were just fired or didn’t get the role you were interviewing for. Nobody wants a sore loser on their team, especially one who makes it public for all their followers to see.” – Emilie Mecklenborg, social media strategist, Alexander Mann Solutions

“Quality is definitely more important than quantity when it comes to LinkedIn. Adding everyone and anyone to your network as a connection isn’t going to give you an edge. Build your network with people you know, want to know and want to work with or for. Don’t accept everyone that requests you solely to increase the connections on your network.” – Samantha Lambert, director of human resources, Blue Fountain Media

If you would like a free analysis of your LinkedIn Profile, we are here to help.

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References:

  • William Arruda
  • Chris Bryant
  • James Innes
  • Emilie Mecklenborg
  • Samantha Lambert

Working Exclusively – What are the Benefits?

rhondawithersLeave a Comment on Working Exclusively – What are the Benefits?

Ever wondered what an exclusive arrangement is? Well, it means you grant a recruitment organisation exclusivity – much like if you were selling your home…..

Exclusive:

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Pic Credit: http://www.thebalance.com

Non-Exclusive:

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Pic Credit: http://www.thebalance.com

THE HDR GROUP will become an advocate for you in the Marketplace and we will work with the organisations best interests at heart to get you the best candidates for your organisations.

Why Work Exclusively with The HDR Group:

On the surface, a sending out a current job vacancy to multiple agencies may appear to be a better option. An exclusive arrangement gives you advantages you have not have thought about:

  • You have a genuine working relationship with our organisation that will provide a tailored targeted approach
  • We will work harder on your behalf
  • We will work with you to make sure you get the best talent in the marketplace for your organisation
  • Exclusive arrangement tends to attract better candidates than open listings that are listed with multiple agencies

In short, when you work with The HDR Group, you will have a professional team working on your behalf. With an open recruitment process, where multiple agencies are involved, recruiters will compete against each other instead of acting on your behalf. They may present any candidates (often unqualified) and try to convince you to accept it. Your genuine recruitment need will not be their priority…their priority will be trying to secure a fee for the other agencies. We like to call it the dog and bone scenario…

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The Real Benefits of Reference Checking

rhondawithersLeave a Comment on The Real Benefits of Reference Checking

There is a lot of debate and divided views in the sector on the real benefits and validity placed on referencing checking. In particular, the emphasis or weighting that should be given to the information provided by referees when making a selection decision.

Having worked in Aged Care for over 15 years and for the past 7 years being directly involved in a broad range of recruitment work, reference checking has always been a natural and essential part of correct processes. It is a protocol that we have always undertaken to ensure scrupulous candidate screening for our clients.

We were reminded recently of the importance of risk management in recruiting and the absolute importance of the reference checking process.

I was working with a candidate who was actively seeking a position we were working on for a client – the candidate presented with an impressive resume, a “proven” track record with long tenures and a social media profile that highlighted a well-credentialed and highly experienced Heath/Aged Care Manager.

Because of my understanding of the sector, I pay particular attention at interview to “breaking down” the true nature of candidate’s experience, in order to fully understand the scope and size of responsibilities and the challenges faced.

After 3 in-depth interviews with me and our longstanding client (as well as extensive social media review), the candidate was offered a position, pending favourable reference checks. I embarked upon what I thought was going to be the final stage of the process and I asked the candidate to provide the referee details of present and past employers.

The first referee was a colleague from the candidate’s current employer – they worked with the candidate during their tenure at the organisation – they outlined that the candidate held quite a different level of role from the one that had been described to us and our client. To be sure (and fair) I questioned the referee 3 times (in different ways) about the candidate’s current role and their responsibilities. The referee answers were consistently the same – the responsibility and the scope of the role that the candidate outlined at interview was not in fact reality. The referee had confirmed that the candidate had elevated the level and scope of responsibilities in their current role and that they had been in fact been untruthful.

A subsequent phone call with the candidate resulted in them being unprepared to provide any further referees to clarify the situation, followed by them quickly withdrew their application.

 The irony of the situation was that the role being recruited for was at a level reasonably consistent with the true position held by the candidate. The elevation of responsibilities was a “sales pitch” the candidate did not need to present – they were assessed as capable for the role in question – the inconsistency was discovered because of the focus of the reference checking, which results from our sector knowledge.

It was disappointing that the candidate had been dishonest but we provided absolute transparency to our client about the reference checking process and, as we expected, they chose not to proceed with the candidate as they had proved to be untruthful.

In this situation, our client dodged a “bad hire” – and I reinforced my commitment to providing integrity and absolute honesty.

If you would like to discuss the reference checking process or speak  further with me about the stringent processes we have in place for recruitment, please call on 0438 748 846 or email me at rhonda@thehdrgroup.com.au

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