Advertising

Getting the finest candidates into our office and working for you is our number one priority. That’s why at Field we believe in using every tool at our disposal in recruiting for you. We attract candidates through advertising in local and national newspapers, our offices are well placed in Swindon with 3 large windows for advertising, we subscribe to several Job Search sites on the internet including Monster and find that due to our good reputation in Swindon we get many applicants through word of mouth recommendations. Also within this website we have extensive advertising space which we will use to attract the right candidates for you.



Pre Selection


At Field we provide an extensive Pre selection service offering phone interviews and one to one interviews prior to the CV reaching you. This means you will only get the best candidates for the position we are recruiting for you. We also have an extensive testing software system with more than 1000 assessments to make sure we have assessed our candidate’s skills and can empirically show you why they are the right candidate for you. When you receive a candidate from us each CV will have a headed section with the reasons as to why they are being put forward so you can rest assured you will not receive poorly researched CV’s.



Testing


To drive high performance in your organization, we can help identify, hire and retain the very best employees. Our Employee Assessments allow your company to understand and predict human performance and potential, ensuring you select the right person for the right job. This allows you to make better hiring and promotion decisions and ensuring your employees will be a perfect fit in your company.

We offer more than 1,000 validated Assessment solutions that help your company select and retain top performers based on several key areas that predict individual performance and potential—experience, skills, abilities, personality, motivation and judgment. We understand that good selection and development processes must measure and tap into these key areas ensuring the continued growth of your business.

www.proveit2.com/fieldrecruitment



Interviewing


At Field we have the ability to interview all the candidates for any recruitment drive we are helping you with. From one to one interviews with our experienced Consultants to group interviews with dexterity and Intelligence tests. We believe we provide the most comprehensive interviewing techniques from any agency and have completely separate meeting rooms to our front office meaning we can provide the candidate with an ideal setting for them to relax and have 100% of our attention.



Follow up Services


Once we have recruited the perfect candidate for you we can offer follow up services to improve any staff you have with online Training and assessments to make sure you a realising the full potential of your work force. Also if we have recently recruited someone for you we can also provide follow up interviews and meetings to make sure the candidate is enjoying their job and being as productive for you as possible.

Writing a job specification


A good job description, or job specification, is not hard. But it does require a little time and focus. A poorly written job spec may be too brief or full of irrelevant information, or tell you nothing about the 'real' vacancy that needs to be filled.

There are seven main areas a job specification needs to cover, to make it a useful recruitment tool:

· The organisation

· The team

· The role itself

· How the role will develop

· Personal qualities required

· The remuneration

· Process & timescales

The organisation

The size, history and key markets of the organisation are what candidates will expect to see. The corporate aims will also need to be detailed here. The strongest candidates will want to know what the organisation is aiming for so they can assess whether it is a goal that excites them, and one they can help towards.

The team

How many people are in the team? How is it structured? How does the function fit into the organisation as a whole? Who are the key people the successful candidate will need to relate to?

The role itself

What is the reason for the vacancy? What are the main duties? What is the purpose of the role? What skills will be needed to do it? What training could be provided to help do it? What background would help? What previous achievements would be considered useful and which vital? Also it is important to add what hours of work the candidate will be expected to do as sometimes employers negate this fact and can cause problems for the candidate in regards to child care and family time.

How the role will develop

How will the role look in a couple of year’s time? Where might it lead? What opportunities for progression are there? Again, strong candidates will be looking for a job spec which illustrates a consideration of the future, if they are being expected to invest their own in the organisation. It’s important to remember a job interview is both you and the candidate interviewing each other.

Personal qualities required

What kind of person does the role require? There is always a danger here that employers specify the qualities of someone they like or is like them, rather than someone who is necessarily best for the role. Most teams benefit from a breadth of personality profile, rather than recruiting people like themselves. Be sure to shape the personal attributes to the role and not just the team or organisational culture.

The remuneration

Full benefits package needs to be detailed. Sometimes the smallest of things can tip a candidate in favour of a particular job. A lot of people when applying for jobs will not just look at the overall wage of a position but also the child care benefits, Pension, Health care before deciding which role is best for them and their needs.

Process & timescales

When will the interviews be happening? Who will be involved? How many stages are there? This list is not exhaustive but adhering to the points detailed above should make for a solid and professional job specification



Writing a person specification


A Person Specification is a profile of the skills and aptitudes required of the post-holder and are derived from the job description. It lists the criteria that will be used in short listing and selecting candidates. It provides:

• A set of criteria against which all applicants can be measured objectively;

• A structured and systematic means for a comparative assessment of the applicants;

• A document to ensure that the basis of decision-making is transparent.

The Person Specification is a live document to be reviewed and amended as appropriate in line with the Job Description. The person specification should include: Skills / Abilities

e.g. competence in the use of IT tools including Word, Excel and PowerPoint e.g. ability to prepare budgets and annual financial statements
e.g. up-to-date knowledge of employment law
e.g. line management experience
Qualifications (do not insist on paper qualifications unless absolutely essential to the post. Experience and evidence of competence should be viewed as equally valid).

e.g. NEBOSH Diploma in Occupational Health & Safety or equivalent
e.g. MREC membership or equivalent Personal Attributes and Circumstances (only include criteria that the performance of the post depends upon)
e.g. able to work flexible and unsocial hours including weekends as and when required. Some Bank Holiday shifts will be required. The requirements set out in the person specification should be specific and measurable during the selection process
e.g. English to GCSE standard or equivalent.

To ensure equality of opportunity all criteria on the person specification should be derived from the requirements set by the job description.

The criteria included in the person specification must be capable of being objectively justified as the minimum requirements to carry out the post effectively. Criteria should not be included if they unfairly discriminate on the grounds of race, religion or belief, gender, age, sexual orientation, or disability. Give careful consideration to reasonable adjustments that can be made.

The person specification should be divided into essential and desirable criteria. This should be used in the short-listing process to distinguish between candidates.

Essential criteria are those that are critical for the satisfactory performance of the job. It is expected that applicants will meet all the necessary criteria to be considered eligible for appointment.

Desirable criteria are those that improve a person’s capacity to do the job. These are usually not listed as essential because it is expected that they can be acquired once in employment. For example, while specific knowledge of the Company and its environment could be of benefit, it can also be learnt.



Analyse a CV

A CV gives you the first look at an applicant's skills and abilities. 

There are many things on a CV that can tell you a lot about the candidate. The CV length, style, presentation and substance all come together to form a picture of the candidate.

The Presentation of the CV:

Important things to look for in a CV are the presentation and content. The presentation can be seen in the overall layout of the CV. First of all, a CV should look like the candidate has put a lot of time and effort into building it. The document should be on a high quality paper and neatly printed.

Look Professional:

The CV should look professional and uncluttered. Is there adequate spacing used in the CV? Are the sections neatly divided? How has formatting such as bullets, bold and italic font and indentation been used? You should be able to easily navigate the CV to pick out the important information without having to read through the whole paper.

The Content of the CV:

The content of the CV  is the most significant part of it. Look for any typing mistakes. A typing mistake could immediately suggest carelessness on the part of the candidate on this very important document. A lot of CV’s will contain an objectives section on top of the CV. This section can easily let you see what the applicant's goals are. There may also be a 'summary' section to give you an overview of the rest of the CV. You can use these sections to see if your objectives match the applicants.

Still reading....

Still Reading…If you are still reading the CV, that is a good sign. The writer has kept your interest by highlighting his best skills. The top part of the CV should contain the most vital information, decreasing in importance as you read down.

Education:

The CV may contain an 'educational experience' section. Does the applicant meet or exceed your minimum requirement? Additionally, look for any honours or awards listed here.

Job Experience in the CV.

Job experience is the most important part of the CV for many employers. The most vital experience to look for would be job similar to the one you are offering. Look for the job duties completed in that previous jobs and see if they match your own. Also look for any major accomplishments at that job to see what the applicant can do for you. Details here are good, such as amount of cash handled or percentage of productivity increased.

Look for Action verbs!

Take a look at the action verbs. Supervised, organised, managed, for example can sound great if you are looking to fill a managerial position. It can tell you the skills of the applicant through what he or she has done in the past. It can display skills such as decision making, initiative, time and money management, etc.

Special skills:

A Candidate may also add special skills at the bottom of the CV. For example some people list multiple languages if they are fluent in them. If you need the additional skills, that can be a point in favor of that particular candidate.

The content of the CV should present skills and knowledge that the employee can put to use at his new job. Unnecessary information and rambling sentences can be a negative on a CV. The CV should be relevant to the job at hand and should contain short concise sentences

What about the overall impression of the CV?

The overall impression you get is very important. Does the CV stand out from the rest? Does the CV present a complete picture and impart information on the person's skills, abilities, and strengths? You should be able to locate the main keywords and skills at first glance. The layout should be well organized. You should not have to search the CV and try to figure out yourself what the applicant's objectives and career goals are.



Short list a candidate

Drawing up a shortlist and inviting candidates to interview

When you have the replies to your advertisement:

· compare applications against a job description and person specification outlining the skills and experience you need

· eliminate applicants who do not have the basic requirements for the job

· draw up a short list - a list of candidates to interview - based on the applicants who most closely match your needs

· consider notifying candidates who you will not be inviting for interview

How do I make a shortlist?

· Include only the number of applicants you will have time to interview - usually no more than three to four people a day. Allow time for preparation and discussion before and after the interview.

· Draw up a table listing each candidate against the essential requirements of the job. Those that meet all the essential personal criteria could form your shortlist.

· If there are too many possible candidates, then you could weigh them up against the desirable qualities you are also looking for.

· Don't discriminate against applicants on the grounds of sex, race, age or disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief Ensure you are consistent in the way you use personal data to draw up the shortlist.

· Get more than one person to compile the shortlist to avoid possible bias.

Inviting candidates to interview

Invite the most suitable candidates for interview by letter, telephone or email - for the last two, confirm arrangements in writing.

You should say:

· when, where and how long the interview will be

· how to get there - provide a map if necessary - and whether you will pay travel expenses

· what documents the candidate should bring

· who the candidate should ask for on arrival

· the names and job titles of the people conducting the interview

· if there will be a test to take, or a presentation and if so, its type and duration

You should also ask candidates to tell you if they have any special needs that you will need to cater for.



Essential Advertising Advice


The goal of advertising is to cost-effectively reach a large audience and attract customers. If done correctly, advertising can enhance the success of your business. Here are 10 advertising tips to pay attention to:

Go after your target audience. An advertising campaign should be geared to your niche market. It is a common mistake to create generic ads that do not speak the language or grab the attention of your potential customers.

Highlight your competitive advantage. One of the keys to all advertising is to accentuate the pros of your company, those factors that give you your competitive edge. Too many ads are clever but fail to sell the benefits of the product or service.

Establish an image. You can recognize the McDonald's arches while whizzing by on the highway. Likewise, there are plenty of products that you recognize by their packaging or logo. Image counts when it comes to advertising and promoting your business. Too many advertisers do not work to build a consistent image.

You have to spend money to make money. There are ways to save money, but typically advertising is not the place to cut corners. It will affect sales, and that affects the bottom line. Successful advertising may cost some money, but that is because it works.

Advertise in the right places. Your favourite magazine, radio station, or even television program might not be a favourite of your audience. Know what they read, watch, and listen to, and advertise in media that reaches your target market.

Don't allow your budget to run your advertising campaign. If you budget £1,000 per month for advertising, you've made it very easy from a bookkeeping perspective. However, if like most businesses you have seasonal highs and lows, you are spending too much money advertising during down times and not enough when you want to attract customers. Too many businesses do not budget according to their seasonal advertising needs.

Diversify. It is all too common for business owners to choose the best place to advertise based on price and potential rate of returns and then stop. As is the case with investing, you do not want to put all of your eggs in one basket. Spread your advertising pounds around.

Don't try to be everything to everyone. No product or service will appeal to everyone. Many business owners, including corporate executives, try to come up with ways to reach every market. Typically, this does not work. It can spell disaster for small businesses, who cannot afford to spread themselves too thin. Therefore, find your market and be everything you can be to that audience.

Test your ads in advance. If you have the time or money to invest in focus groups, you should test your ads on other people. Do they understand and accept the message that you are trying to convey? There are other less-expensive ways to test your ads as well: questionnaires, for example.

Monitor your ads. It is very easy to ask new customers or clients where they heard about you. As simple as this is, many businesses do not bother to do so. It is advantageous to know which ads generate business. These tips are by no means the be all and end all of advertising advice but they will point you in the right direction when thinking of running an advertising campaign.