Sabbaticals for Staff helps Productivity & Retention

For those of you who read this blog regularly and know me personally, I value the happiness of my staff as much as I am passionate about wowing customers.  The fantastic team at Expect Talent are what make this business, and I am very proud of our 100% retention within the  recruitment division. Our very first hire Margaret is about to celebrate her 4th anniversary with Expect Talent.  Shortly followed by Julia, who last year was promoted to the role of Operations Manager and is a key member of the management team.  

A number of weeks ago Julia came to me to let me know her plans for 2012 were to go travelling, this was nothing new as she usually takes a 3-4 week trip annually.  But when I heard that these plans were for a 4-6 month period I had a bit of a shock...

My goal is to ensure that I help every single member of the team achieve their personal and business goals. So I knew I needed to see how I could make this happen.  The answer was to give Julia a sabbatical.  She had been worried about how I might react to her plans, given that we are experiencing major growth in the business and she plays a major role in the delivery of our results.  

The way I look at it is this, if I had said "No", she would have been very unhappy and much less productive and may have decided to leave the business anyway to go travelling.  By saying "Yes", she is much happier already and I know she will work really hard between now and when she leaves to ensure that the business will run without her.  I can only imagine the level of productivity, commitment and happiness she will feel after taking an extended break.  So I have started to look at the other benefits that this sabbatical will bring to the business:

1.  Opportunities & Personal Development

The first is that we can now give an opportunity to Margaret, who during the time Julia is away will take on a covering role as Operations Manager.  Margaret will spend the next few months training and up-skilling to take on this position in Julia's absence.

2.  Streamlined Processes

Our systems, processes and reporting will be streamlined and improved before the sabbatical to ensure that the business can continue to run effectively, with Margaret overseeing operations.   

3.  Improved Staff Happiness 

The rest of the team here at Expect Talent now know that I am willing and able to give sabbaticals to employees, and I have now decided to add this as a benefit to long-serving employees of 4 years or more.  

4.   Less chance of Burn-out and Stress 

After 4 solid years of hard work and contribution, some stress and worries can creep in, especially in a position of responsibility and leadership.  The last thing I want is a team who are unhappy, stressed out and at burn-out.  A sabbatical would do anyone good! 

On the flipside what could be the challenges, especially for a Small Business?

1.  Disruption of Workflow

Of course having a key member of staff out of the business for an extended period is going to disrupt the normal workflow.  There are a few points to consider - I would recommend that you get at least 3 months notice of any proposed sabbatical.  Also make sure that you have the right structure, reporting, process and systems in place to make a sabbatical a reality.

2.  Risk of No Return

What if an employee decides not to return? Of course this is a risk, but if they are happy in their job, you have looked after their personal goals by offering the sabbatical in the first place and have kept their job open for them on return you will minimize this risk.  

3.  Loss of Revenue

Depending on the role the person is doing, the chances are that a whole piece of expertise, skills and knowledge will be missing for the duration of the sabbatical, this often is related to the revenue generated in the business.  Putting a solid plan in place for handover, training and up-skilling of the person that is going to cover the role for the period of the sabbatical will minimise this potential lost revenue.

Having spent a great deal of time thinking about this, researching and understanding what it means for me, the business and the team, I am very comfortable with the idea of sabbaticals becoming an integral part of my business.  Work/Life balance is critical for every staff member and plays an important part in every business.  You can see a list here of some very well-known companies who in 2011 are offering sabbaticals on YourSabbatical.com.  What is your view on sabbaticals and would you take the plunge in the interest of your staff?

How to Boost Your Online Reputation using LinkedIn

LinkedIn is THE online network of choice for business professionals.  If you are looking for a new position you need to be on LinkedIn.  If you are looking to raise the profile of your business, you need to be on LinkedIn.  If you want to be found on Google, you need to be on LinkedIn.  If you are not looking for a new position but like the idea of being headhunted, you need to be on LinkedIn.  If you want more sales, well you get the idea, and the list goes on. So once you have a LinkedIn profile, how can you really boost your credibility to massive effect? This weeks blog will give you some hot tips to help you:

- Network More Effectively

- Build a Solid Online Reputation

- Raise the Visibility of your Company 

- Help you Secure a new Job

- Find the People you Need 

- Make more Sales

Tip Number 1 - The Importance of a Complete Profile

When we network on a face to face basis, you have the opportunity to build rapport, establish common ground and make a good impression on the person you are meeting for the first time.  However, when you network online, other people will judge you on your online profile and how you come across before deciding to connect with you.  If you put your name into Google to check out your online reputation, the most likely number one link will be your LinkedIn profile.  

It is so important to ensure that you have a 100% complete profile, including a professional photograph.  Your profile should OOOOZE credibility.  It is much more than an online CV, although your work background will be listed.  The summary is what counts.  Really go for it and highlight all the reasons why someone should hire you, work with you, give you business or connect with you.  Remember your online reputation is at stake here, put lots of thought into what you say and how you say it in the summary.

Tip Number 2 - Recommendations

Again credibility points start to rack up if you have strong recommendations.  It is very easy to get a colleague or a friend to say how lovely you are but it is much more credible if a client has written a glowing testimonial about your account management skills, or your sales ability or your customer service.  Recommendations from Managers or Directors in companies you have worked in previously will also boost your credibility.  You can choose which recommendations you show/hide in your profile so you are in control of which ones appear to any profile visitors.  

A minimum 10 recommendations would give you a good basis for any LinkedIn profile.  If you do a few different roles both in and outside of work then you may have a selection from the various areas of your professional life.  This is a fantastic way to build your online reputation, and every time you receive a recommendation your network will see that in your home feed.  

Tip Number 3 - Your Connections 

You can check out your Network Statistics on LinkedIn, by going to the Contacts tab.  This will tell you how many people are in your network, but most importantly how many people in total this connects you to in total indirectly.  At the time of writing this blog, I am connected to 2370 people as 1st connections.  You can view my profile here.  This gives me access to a total network of 12.4 million LinkedIn Profiles.  So why might that be important?  

Every time I search LinkedIn for a specific keyword, I am searching 12.4 million connections.  The chances are that I am going to find who I am looking for with that kind of a network.  From a business development point of view, I can put in a search term and I know that thousands of profiles will come up of people in my target market.  From a candidate perspective, if I am looking for an Inside Sales Specialist with the keyword German, the chances are that I am going to be able to find the right person for my client.  

Simply put, the more connections you have, the more credible you look and the more people want to connect with you because you know a lot of people.  Groups can be a great way to boost your connections.  Keyword searches will help you to connect with people and LinkedIn has a great tool called "People you may Know" under "Add Connections".  This is a list of people who you have mutual connections, and gives you the chance to invite people who you probably know or know of. 

Tip Number 4 - Your Status Updates

Your status updates should be content driven, with frequent updates to keep you visible, whilst providing useful articles which benefit your network.  The updates should always be about adding value to your network, the more interesting your updates are the more frequently your profile will be seen and visited by others.  If you are the "go-to" person for all the latest news about High-tech or Green Energy or the Automotive industry you are raising your profile and online reputation as someone in the know about this topic.  You can easily find articles to share on the LinkedIn Today tab.  Sharing interesting news or topics is a one-click exercise and very easy to do.    

If you are constantly making your updates all about you, or your business you will be constantly seen as selling and that is not going to do your online reputation any favours.  Be useful, be interesting, be creative and be credible.  If you are regularly providing your target market with helpful tips and useful articles you will be raising the bar and making a difference to those people in your network and it will be notices.  I recommend that you update your status at least three times per day to gain the most exposure and to keep visible.  You can also link your LinkedIn account to Twitter so that you can spread your message further to a different audience.

Tip Number 5 - Your Skills & Keywords

This is so important if you want to be found.  LinkedIn is keyword searchable like any search engine, and it is really important that you include the keywords that others might type in to find you.  This applies whether you are a job-seeker, salesperson or a business owner.  Ensure that you use the Skills section to add specific skills that you have as a list, because people like me in the recruitment industry will use this to find you and offer you fantastic job opportunities.  From a business owner perspective, your potential clients may just be using LinkedIn to find your type of product or service.

A great way to generate ideas is to run a search for your type of business or industry keywords and see who comes up on page one.  These are the people who are competing with you for the same job or same type of business who are ahead of the game, with profiles who help them get found.  I recently sat down with a business owner who specialises in Occupational Health & Safety and First Aid courses. When we searched for this in LinkedIn, all of his competitors came up and he was on page three.  A quick change to the Skills and Keywords now sees him competing on Page 1 in LinkedIn searches and this will make a difference to his business.  

There are many other ways to raise your credibility and build a solid online reputation so there will be more to come in the next blog entry. For now, enjoy updating your LinkedIn profile and I hope that you have found these tips useful.

A Recruiters 5 Top Tips for LinkedIn's Mobile App.

Every recruiter knows that LinkedIn is a phenomenal place to source amazing talent, whether the candidate is actively looking for a new position or not.  So not surprisingly, most people in the recruitment industry are pretty good at LinkedIn.  Very few share their secrets with clients, and seeing as how we do everything the exact opposite to the rest of the industry, I thought I would break from the pack (as usual) and share some top tips to get the most from LinkedIn on the move. 

These tips apply to those people who have already downloaded the LinkedIn Mobile App onto a Smartphone.  If you have yet to do so, you are missing a trick!  Download it now... 

Ready?  So once you have LinkedIn in the palm of your hand, how can you use it to grow your business, increase your online reputation and/or find the best talent?

Tip 1 - LinkedIn Today - "News" button in the LinkedIn App

This is truly amazing! LinkedIn is now the gateway to incredible content, relevant to your industry.  This helps you to provide interesting articles to your target market.  You can choose to follow any industry, then read and share the hottest topics with your network on LinkedIn.  Click on "News", then follow topics ranging from Staffing & Recruiting, to Management Consulting, to Internet, to Social Media to Financial Services.  That will then feed relevant and great content which you can share with others, before anyone else. 

You can become the "go-to", in the know person in your network, your profile is seen more often and you look fantastic! Simply find an article you like and click to read more, then Share.  The even better feature with this is that you don't need to do anything other than make a remark about it before posting, a synopsis and image are automatically there for you.  You can read and post articles anytime and anywhere, I often do this when I am waiting to meet someone, or if I arrive early to a meeting. It takes less than 30 seconds to post an article but it looks like you spent ages finding it.  It makes you both visible and credible.  If you don't want to post them all at once you can choose to save for later.

Tip 2 - Reconnect - How to add 20+ people to your network per day

The reconnect button on the LinkedIn Mobile App is a goldmine of contacts.  LinkedIn places all of the connections who you have a strong mutual connection with into this list.  The even better aspect of the "Reconnect" button is that you don't have to spend ages identifying to LinkedIn how you know this person.  LinkedIn already knows that you might have a connection with them, so simply go to the "Reconnect" button on your mobile and start inviting people in the list.  You will not have to supply an email address for them, or say how you know them.  That means connecting with 20 people takes literally 20 seconds.  You will already know a lot of people in this list, as your network grows this list will become more extensive and give you a much wider network.

Tip 3 - Connect with every new person you meet - "Search" and Connect

When you are at a networking event or out meeting candidates, clients, referral partners and business contacts, you always have LinkedIn with you in your pocket, on your phone.  Follow up is critical when building relationships, so why not save time and invite your new connection to connect with you on LinkedIn there and then before you even finish the meeting or event!  You can simply go into your LinkedIn App, click "Search" at the top of the screen and find that person.  I usually ask their permission to connect and guage their level of knowledge and use of LinkedIn.  Where possible I share my knowledge and give something back by showing my new contact how to do this too.  If the person has a common name then search with their first name, last name and company to find them.  Again, inviting is easy with no complicated and time consuming "How do you know this person?".   

Tip 4 - Stay in touch with what's happening in your network

The "Updates" section in your LinkedIn App, allows you to see in one place the full feed of messages and status updates within your network.  You can comment, like or share any status update that resonates with you.  If a connection of yours on LinkedIn has placed a blog or article to their status update you will get to see it within the "Updates" section on the App, also known as your "Home Feed" on the main LinkedIn site.  Everytime you connect with someone or change your status you are appearing in this feed, so your visibility instantly increases.

Tip 5 - Inbox & Invitation Management on the move

You can easily see your new inbox messages and new invitations to connect from the Mobile Phone App.  Make life easy for yourself and use these features to save time and effort later.  If you see 3 new connection requests on your Smartphone then you can simply click and add them in seconds.  Same with inbox messaages, why wait until you get back to the office to respond through the emails. Impress people by keeping an eye on these two sections and reply through the Mobile App.

Imagine the increase in your profile and online reputation if suddenly you are connecting with 20+ people per day, plus you start providing your network with the information they need and use in their business or role by posting 3 relevant articles per day.  Always remember the Linkedn Golden rule, never sell, build your reputation first and gain credibility first so that people know, like and trust you.  Everytime I show someone the power of all of the features in the LinkedIn App they really start to get involved and become more visibile and credible to their audience and most importantly their target market.  Are you really maximising the power you hold in the palm of your hand? 

Leveraging Your International Networks in Recruitment

I have just returned from an international BNI conference, where 300 business owners from around the globe came together over 3 days to share ideas, be motivated by great speakers connecting with colleagues across the world, which inspired todays topic.  

In the recruitment industry, our networks are becoming more and more important, both online and offline.  Over 60% of my time as Managing Director is now spent on networking, client meetings and building relationships with referral partners who recommend us to companies and candidates.  The great part about the international aspect of my role is that now, many of these conversations are happening on an international level, as we explore new markets, new opportunities and international relationships.  Global webinars, Skype, International Power Teams and regular Speaking and Training opportunities outside of Ireland is opening up a whole new world of connections and networks for our own recruitment business. It is easier than ever to do business on a global scale.  

Clients often wonder how we can source candidates from across Europe when they have been trying to do it themselves for weeks and yet we still manage to tap into untapped talent pools, reaching further into European candidates markets due to the way in which we leverage our international networks. For example, this morning we cemented a relationship with a French recruitment company with the same ethics and approach to the recruitment industry as ourselves.  This relationship was established at the BNI Directors conference and will be an ongoing and long term arrangement which will help us to tap into new French speaking talent across all industries.  We have this type of partnership in place across many European countries and can delight our clients by filling roles that no-one else can.  That is really leveraging international networks.

This week I will be delivering an in-house training to our team of recruiters here in Expect Talent on how to leverage our online international networks, focused on LinkedIn and Facebook as well as Twitter and Ecademy.  As I am sure those of you reading will agree are all great resources for sourcing candidates.  If you combine the networks of all of your colleagues and employees as well as friends and family, how many thousands of people do you know as a company?  I am a huge fan of LinkedIn as many of you reading this will know, and right now I have access to over 10 million people through my connections, just by building up my international networks.  Add to that the connections of my staff and referral partners and the opportunities are endless.

The top tips below will help you to leverage your international networks in recruitment,or any other industry for that matter! This week my tips are solely focused on Linked In (more to come on all other social media in future blogs).

TOP TIPS FOR LINKED IN 

• Join your max. allocation of 50 Groups in LinkedIn, for your industry
• Connect with people through Groups, no email address needed 
• Use advanced search features: Search for your target market/candidates
• Learn about "Boolean Strings" for keyword searching (ask me!)
• Become active in discussions - carve a niche as an expert in your field
• Sign up to free webinars to educate yourself about LinkedIn
• Go to as many international conferences as you can and connect
• Update your status daily - become visible to your connections
• Credibility and Reputation online are critical 
• Make sure your profile is 100% complete including photo
• Ask for recommendations and try to have at least 10 on your profile 
• Ensure that you are not selling but providing compelling content

For ideas: You can view my LinkedIn profile here  

How to spend less time and achieve more on Social Media?

I highly recommend that you use the LinkedIn App which is available on all smartphones.  You can connect, invite, read news, post updates and see what is happening in your network whilst on the move.  I check in when I have a spare few minutes on the move. All of the other social media tools have Apps too.  Much quicker to use and free to download.

I also recommend tools such as Hootsuite to bring all social media updates into one place, this can include Facebook Personal, Facebook Fan Page, RSS Feeds, LinkedIn, Blogs, Twitter and you only have to post one update and you can send it out to all or some of your social networks without having to constantly log in and out of all the different websites.  

Leveraging your international networks in recruitment is absolutely paramount, online and social media is the future of recruitment and regardless of whether you are an in-house recruiter, hiring manager, CEO, HR manager or Recruitment Consultant in an agency, now is the time to invest in your future success and learn how to make your international networks work for you.