Entries with tag recruitment .

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Blair McPherson
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17 Nov 2021 - 12:43

null How many is too many ?

When it comes to HR trends where the US leads we tend to take notice. So a recent article that drew attention to the increased use of multiple interviews peaked my interest. It appears  some companies are asking candidates to attend 5 or 6 even 7 interviews before they make a final decision! Appointing the wrong person can be an expensive mistake. A square peg in a round hole can be... See more
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Blair McPherson
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23 Jun 2021 - 13:14

null So you think you are good at recruitment 

You know the argument about whether drivers should have to retake their driving test at regular intervals well the same reasoning applies to recruitment interviews. The roads have got a lot busier since you passed your test and over time all of us pick up some bad driving habits. Well some managers never had any recruitment training they have just done it ever since they became a... See more
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Blair McPherson
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23 Jun 2021 - 13:04

null The unfairness at the heart of the recruitment process. 

There is an unfairness at the heart of the recruitment process which rewards those who are good at interviews above those who are good at the job. The surprise is not that the traditional interview results in some bad appointments it’s that it ever results in some good ones! HR have tried to shift the emphases away from the focus on the interview by introducing an Assessment Centre... See more
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Blair McPherson
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24 Oct 2020 - 15:43

null Trust , Unity and Progress

  They sound like a communist party slogan from the soviet era. Something like,  Trust in the party and the United workers will achieve great Progress. They are in fact the easy to remember headline words of the value statement of a small deprived midland local authority I once worked for. Helpfully the website explains what each word stands for. Trust – Shows respect, makes a... See more
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Blair McPherson
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09 Jul 2020 - 11:32

null Alien Encounter 

If aliens from a distant and previously unknown planet landed seeking asylum and only to be allowed to integrate into society, HR would have no problem adapting equality and diversity policies to include Little Green Men. After all colour, race and sexuality are already covered.  From HR to all staff In view of recent “new arrivals” there maybe a need for some minor tweaks to... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
09 Jun 2020 - 09:47

null Sometimes it takes a crisis

When this pandemic is over you will know a lot more about your staff/ managers . A crisis brings out the strength in some and the weaknesses in others. It will not necessarily have been the most experienced or knowledgable who remained calm and inspired confidence. It will not necessarily be those with the formal qualifications who showed themselves able to adapt quickly to the new... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
14 Apr 2020 - 21:29

null Talent v Character

 What’s surprises me is that managers so readily recruit on talent and then spend all their time addressing defects in the individuals character when it is so much easier to coach skills and impart knowledge.    www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
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Blair McPherson
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24 Feb 2020 - 14:28

null Gaming the System

Not all managers play by rules. The recruitment procedures are designed to ensure candidates are not discriminated against and managers can’t slot in their favourites. The process is designed to be fair and transparent. However the focus is often on the selection criteria and the interview. The candidates application form is measured against the person specification for the post to... See more
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Blair McPherson
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14 Jan 2020 - 18:36

null Hire and Fire with Impunity

In 2011 the Harvard Business Review published the findings of 10 years research into management effectiveness. The headlines read, USA managers are the best , and as is so often the case the reaction was to the headline rather than the detail of the research. To some commentators and management consultants this was further support for their view that management skills in the U.K. ... See more
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Blair McPherson
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06 Nov 2019 - 19:46

null The Computer doesn’t like the look of you 

It’s a video interview for a job you really want. But the interviewer is not like any you have experienced before.    The interviewer you are trying to impress is immune to your charms and it might be better to avoid “humours comments” and or irony. They are an expert in analysing facial expressions and body language. They will closely monitor your word choice but you can be absolutely... See more
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Blair McPherson
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21 Oct 2019 - 16:06

null Play the Wild Card

His fancy dress costume was a white sheet with trigs and leaves attached! No one can remember what he was meant to be but everyone remembers his costume. He had been an operational manager and before that a training officer, he was experienced, restless, frustrated, at risk of becoming cynical and applying unsuccessfully for middle management jobs in the latest round of restructuring.... See more
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Blair McPherson
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12 Aug 2019 - 11:34

null Is it ever acceptable to swear in an interview?

I was being interviewed for a directors post and I was asked about working with colleagues in Health. Having discussed points of conflict like delayed hospital discharges due to budget pressures on home care and residential care home placements I went on to talk about my work with the then Primary Care Trust. I recounted a discussion where the GP’s around the table were expressing... See more
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Blair McPherson
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19 Feb 2019 - 13:59

null Back in time to the 60s

Recent research by the Centre for Social Investigation at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, has revealed that recruitment discrimination is as bad as it was in the late 60s   Despite all the legislation passed in the mean time bias in work place recruitment is showing leaves of discrimination not seen since the 1960s. Herculean efforts by HR to design and monitor recruitment... See more
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Blair McPherson
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18 Dec 2018 - 15:41

null Ghosts 

  The candidate who doesn’t turn up for the interview. The person offered the post who asks to think about it over night and never gets back to you. The guy who doesn’t return after the first day. The employee who simply doesn’t turn in for work one day and is never seen or heard of again. These are the ghosts. First noticed during the explosion in the Chinese economy, a massive... See more
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Blair McPherson
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04 Nov 2018 - 17:03

null Ambition

Late forties, early fifties you’re at your peak. You’ve got the experience and you’ve still got the energy and drive. There is this nagging doubt that if you don’t make it by fifty five you probably never will. So now is the best time to go for that top job. You know from your former boss that a well known management consultancy engaged to recruit for top jobs has been making discreet... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
12 Apr 2018 - 20:13

null Big data and Water Carriers 

  In business it’s all about the numbers. Analysing the huge amount of data businesses are now able to collect is being used to provide fresh insights into performance. But an obsession with the numbers might lead managers to miss something that the more experience  manager might previously have picked up on through intuition.  In football and other team sports we have seen the... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
10 Apr 2018 - 21:01

null What makes a successful multidisciplinary team

  Talent and dedication are not enough. Team work and leadership are essential but recent management research suggests successful teams have something else. Drawing from the example of sport they suggest that winning teams have a Catalyst within.    Every successful team has a catalyst, some one who makes things happen, who brings out the best in those around them and exerts... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
05 Apr 2018 - 06:50

null Clever people find ways to cheat 

Perhaps I should rephrase that to cleaver people find ways round the system. I have always been sceptical about the usefulness of IQ in recruitment. Measuring an individual's ability to spot patterns and predict the next in the sequence identifies those who are better at it but doesn't offer a reliable indicator of future effectiveness as a manager. However this does not mean I wasn't curious... See more
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Blair McPherson
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22 Mar 2018 - 14:29

null Why high flyers are more likely to crash and burn

  Organisations look to appoint talented and experienced individuals and rarely look at their track record for evidence of resilience. Resilience is the ability to cope with  set backs, disappointments and failures. High flyers are used to always doing well which means they are ill prepared for when things go wrong. High performers gain quicker promotions and move from job to job... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
16 Dec 2017 - 08:33

null Simple things interview panels get wrong

        As an experienced recruiter and frequent chair of recruitment panels I am surprised there are not a lot more formal recruitment complaints from both internal and external candidates. From my experience panels are often inadequately prepared, don't allow sufficient time, think HR procedures are overly bureaucratic and so don't bother to make or... See more
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Showing 21 to 40 of 54 entries.