Making the most of Telephone Interviews

When used effectively, phone-interviews bring all the benefits of trimming down that pile of CV’s into the final few for shortlisting without the expense of bringing candidates in from all over and organising the resources to accommodate interviews and candidates. However, they also bring considerable risks of missing out on great candidates when run ineffectively, and with over 50% of our communications attributed to non-verbal body language, how can you make the most from the efficiencies without losing the interviews effectiveness?

Business Handshake

How to Consistently Hire Talented Salespeople

To achieve success, businesses need a competent sales team that will be able to overcome objections and create value for the potential customer. So what types of sales people are the best at doing this? Research is clear that there are a handful of traits that differentiate between a successful salesperson and one that is average at best. The Poppleton …

Sales Recruitment

Three Practical Steps to Sharpen Up Sales Staff Recruitment

It has been common knowledge for decades that the selection interview is a very poor predictor of whether a candidate is going to perform in any job. When it comes to sales jobs, the interview becomes even less effective, as most sales candidates are able to present themselves well at interview, be adept at brushing over the areas they would rather you didn’t explore and usually arrive with glowing references. Whilst some recruiting managers may see these factors as evidence of sales skills, most will grimace with pain in recalling occasions of hiring staff that were good at interviews but precious little else.

Abstract Reasoning

Valuing Abstract Reasoning Tests

I was prompted to write this after several recent experiences of clients and enquirers asking why they should take abstract reasoning scores seriously and even asking for the test to be removed from the ability test battery so they could concentrate on numerical, verbal and checking scores. The common theme in all these conversations was that the value of how …

software skills tests header

Where are successful businesses using Psychometric Testing reports in 2018?

This year, we have seen a dramatic increase in new clients, especially among businesses that last year might have described themselves as ‘start-ups’ & are now best described as rapidly growing successful outfits. As well as using testing & assessment when recruiting new senior staff, the savvy operators of these businesses have also extended the use of testing & assessment …

guide to hiring the perfect professional

Hiring the Perfect Professional. What should you be looking for?

In June 2016, Helen Brand, the CEO of ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) launched a report from an international study which identified seven attributes essential to success for accountants and finance professionals. Since then, we have presented a guide to accountants across New Zealand on how to assess whether accounting & finance candidates are likely to possess the attributes …

hiring like-minded people

The case against hiring like-minded people

Belinda Parkes, Freelance Journalist, April 2017 Do you trust your gut instinct when it comes to hiring? If you do, you could be giving the job to the person you like best, not necessarily the best person for the job. There is a difference. All of us carry unconscious biases that influence our perceptions and skew the weight we put …

Graduates

Unemployable Graduates. A global crisis and how we might fix it

“In the UK, more than half of graduates are working in non-graduate roles, while in the US graduate unemployment  currently stands at 5.5%. After years of study and expense, what a shocking waste of talent and money and dreams. Year after year however I listen to concerned clients of Hays who are worried that each fresh wave of graduates simply …

Making the Most of Personality Profile Reports

Perhaps one of the reasons some people complain about the perceived high cost of personality profiling is that they consistently fail to utilise the full value of the information they have gathered in the selection process. From the employers perspective, most of the time the profile report gains the full attention of the selection panel before and during the interview, …