RSI LONDON Group | Russian Specialist Recruitment Consultancy
“Sorry, we put this position on hold”… – this is what many of our clients say since the London lockdown. Like other business and industries, recruitment is facing a lot of challenges right now. However, today I would like to talk about something positive and maybe share a little bit of hope for those who are actively looking for a job during the pandemic.
At about three months ago our client – a huge legal firm, was looking for a part-time legal secretary which is a quite common role that we receive on a regular basis, thus we managed to find an excellent candidate quickly and left a positive impression, well…I hope so since they came back with a new position just before the lockdown announcement.
We started the search and that’s it – we found a perfect candidate who is very interested and holds all the required skills. First stage interview via Zoom went great and also helped us to learn more about the role. When it came to the second interview, I received a call from our client 10 minutes before the initial start saying that unfortunately it is cancelled because of uncertainty related to the COVID-19 outbreak. Luckily, our candidate showed patience, sympathy and enormous understanding! After various changes and different interview negotiations, there was a final video meeting which successfully led to a job offer!
Since this vacancy required an immediate start, the next challenge for all parties was to sort out all the documentation and paperwork taking into account that there is a strict rule of self-isolation.
So, what happened next? Because it is a legal firm with specific compliance, a passport copy via email was not an option. Therefore, our candidate sent all the originals to the main office of the company, while they were preparing a contract. Here, I would like to emphasise that each conversation with either the client or candidate started with phrases such as ‘let me know if you need any additional support’ or ‘we will do our best to make sure everyone is safe’. Everyone was incredibly supportive and understanding!
Eventually, the candidate received all the necessary equipment such as a laptop and important documents via post without any face to face contact. The whole recruitment process took around two weeks but most importantly a great candidate got an excellent job he dreamed about.
As a recruiter, I did not feel right to give our usual advice during the pandemic or rush either of the bodies. What I rediscovered through this experience was that a simple human, kind and sensible approach would sort anything despite the circumstances!
And yes, it is possible to find a job even now, keep your mind positive and let us know if we can be of any help.
Kind regards,
Kate
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Recruitment agency RSI London Group contact details:
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admin@redsquareinternational.co.uk
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We provide Recruitment services during the pandemic and help you hire remotely!
Changing jobs might be quite exciting and interesting, but often it involves dealing with some doubts. How do you make a decision on where to go next? In this article, we will give you a few ideas on how one could approach a job hunt by looking into job search strategies.
Typically people tend to choose an entry level job based on only a handful of criteria: salary, location, and the company’s name. Often, people skip the full description of what the job entails, and end up, due to this lack of understanding, not knowing what the routine of the job is going to look like on a daily basis. That, in the future, may lead to a quick disengagement from work and dissatisfaction with the new job. Generally, people also tend to send the same CV to as many as possible job adverts, which does not necessarily increase the chance to get a suitable job.
According to Blau (1993 & 1194), the typical process of a job hunt is the following:
– Gathering information and exploring what’s out there.
– Identifying which jobs and organisations that might be of interest.
– Engaging in an active job search – applying, sending CVs and attending job interviews.
But what if you add one more important step prior to gathering information – set your own career goals and formulate your own strategy to get there (Saks and Ashforth, 2000). To do so, you might want to speak to a career coach or consultant, or complete career tests to start with.
Setting a goal, different from just ‘to get any job as soon as possible’ may bring you to a better role that will be more satisfying and lead to something bigger in the future, such as a career progression or promotion.
Awareness of your personality traits, strengths, skillset, preferences, and interests may provide an effective framework for exploring options within the thousands of jobs listed online.
Sometimes, investing more time into preparation for a particular job is more effective that sending many CVs everywhere.
Tailoring your resume according to the job specification is a good idea. Of course, if you have the experience, qualifications or transferable skills that apply to a particular job, highlight this. Please avoid telling lies because in the future when it gets discovered, the situation may backfire you in a very unfortunate way.
Set up a particular time slot you want to invest in a job search and do it on a regular basis.
Analyse the job advertised in a way that it gives you a lot of information to make your decision on: check out Glassdoor, ask questions if you’re working with a recruiter, carefully read every line of the responsibilities and duties of the job, research the company’s website to learn more about its culture, values and future direction.
Ask yourself questions to dig deeper. What is there for you and what will you bring to the company? What value you will add to the business? How will the experience of working in this job and company contribute to your career goal(s)? What about your lifestyle and quality of life – is it far from home or nearby? Is it a small or large organisation? Is overtime expected or is it 9-5?
When you have all of the information that you need and you feel confident about taking the next step, read our article on how to optimise your chances to get a job.
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