Please read my article on putting a CV / Resume together and comment if you agree or disagree with my advice.

In regards to cover letters, I will put my list of Do’s and Don’t’s below and add some links to examples of what I think are going to give you a better chance.

Do’s

• Always attach a cover letter to your CV or Resume
• Make sure you address it to the relevant person in the business
• Use key words from the advertisement in your letter
• Address both the Skills and Experience Requirements identified in the Ad
• Put the most convenient and accessible ways to contact you ie Mobile and Email
• Space it out and make it easy to read
• Differentiate between sending it to a recruiter or the company itself
• Make it one page
• Make it unique to you and what you can offer
• Include call to action – Request an Interview, Tell them you will call to follow up in 2-3 days
• Be confident

Don’t’s

• Make spelling mistakes
• Address it to a different role or company or person by mistake
• Send a generic cover letter
• Make it more than one page
• Include unnecessary filler such as “Please find my resume enclosed”
• Explain why the role will be good for you
• Waste the first paragraph with filler, make an impact so they keep reading

So here are some example templates I have put together;

Cover Letter No 1

Cover Letter No 2

Please tell me if there are any mistakes and email me any improved versions.

Thanks

Tim

So is January just going back to normal, just a slow start as people return to work and put out the fires and will start thinking about HR and recruitment in Feb/March?

I don’t have the answer, but I haven’t seen anything that points towards a great year for the job market. It will be much slower than last year and good candidates will still get good jobs and average candidates will have to work harder and wait longer to secure their next role.

We have seen more companies trying to recruit themselves through SEEK and print advertising in the past 3 months. This may continue but you need resources to do this and the success is more hit and miss than you would think. Remember to do those reference check guys.

Any feedback is most welcome.

Tim

Don’t create a black hole. Communication is a 2 way street. Both candidates and recruiters have a responsibility to keep the channel open. If your recruiter has left a message try to get back to them as soon as possible. Time is of the essence and the market doesn’t always wait. If a recruiter is following up with 3 or 4 candidates and you don’t respond in a reasonable time frame you may just miss out! You can always take the initiative and keep in regular contact to keep informed.

Discretion please. We understand it is not always a convenient time or place. Let us know a suitable time to call to speak with you or say you can call back in 10 minutes or an hour; but make sure you can commit to that. Alternatively send an SMS; most of you should have your recruiter’s mobile.

Watch the clock. We know your time is valuable – and ours is too! Keep your discussions focused. Be specific about why you are calling and the desired outcome whether that’s to arrange a time to meet or to have a more detailed conversation.

Hello, anyone there?   Your recruiter should inform you of the next steps and when they will be able to come back to you. If this hasn’t happened then make the call or send an email. It doesn’t hurt to remind them about the commitment they made to you. Remember you are in charge of your career.

Expectations. Everyone has an opinion about their worth and what the market is paying. Be open about your expectations in relation to salary and benefits. You don’t want to say one thing when you really want another as this could jeopardise negotiations further down the track. A good recruiter will be informative and should set you on the right path.

A fresh start. Before you start your new role try to take some time off; ideally a week will help you re-charge your batteries and allow you to get that well-deserved massage. It’s a good investment and you will be fresh and ready to go.

Any comments?

Tim

Anyway when I got over the disappointment I found some interesting stuff on the Hitwise Analysts Blog that relates to us here in FMCG land and the job world as well. Robin Goad – Research Director, Hitwise UK, is responsible for the two articles that interested me the most. Has the credit crunch killed ethical consumerism? follows the Hitwise philosophy that

“search behaviour is a great way of tracking consumer behaviour”

The article looks at the search results for 4 term portfolios that Robin believes gives a good cross section of the ethical consumer. Interestingly only one of these; the “Efficiency” (e.g. ‘loft insulation’, ‘underfloor heating’) portfolio has shown any increase over the past 12 months. The other portfolios have all declined, Carbon/Environment (e.g. ‘co2 emissions’, ‘hybrid cars’), Fair Trade (e.g. ‘fair trade clothing’, ‘charity shops’) and Organic Terms (e.g. ‘organic vegetables’, ‘riverford organic’). Maybe charity does begin at home.

The other article relates to a subject close to all our hearts, Job Searches.  Google Docs benefits from growth in job searches looks at where the action is from the increase in interest in employment/unemployment due to the economic turmoil we are currently experiencing. He is analysing the UK data for traffic on the Business and Finance – Employment and Training websites. We see in the result a very large unseasonal increase in traffic against the usual downward trend from this time of the year leading into Christmas.

The other interesting factoid he picks up on is the traffic from the search term “CV”. An obvious term as we all rush to update our Resume and have the latest and greatest template to impress the recruiters. Just don’t put your picture in it is all I can say – seems to be becoming a scary trend.

Anyway back to the article, it seems Google Docs and Spreadsheets is picking up nearly 20% of the traffic from this search term.  With traffic increasing by over 150% over last year this has become a very popular destination.

This site is well worth keeping an eye on and other Analysts from other regions have good insights as well.

Tim.

The report on Sales make the following positive comments on FMCG;

“The FMCG sector is performing strongly and is a highly competitive market. We are seeing strongest demand for business development executives, national account managers and category managers as companies strive to differentiate their product offerings.”

From my perspective the employment market has definitely slowed but the number of candidates has also reduced, so still a tight market. The report also indicates that 65% of employers are planningto increase their sales head count over the next 12 months.

Despite the tightness of the market the survey predicts only moderate salary increases of 5-10% over the next 12 months.  I will put a survey up and get some feedback on what you believe salary increases should be for the next 12 months. The other major issue in my mind are Car Allowances and Employee Benefits. Companies are offering a wide range of different amounts to cover vehicle and running costs. From my experience these range from below $15,000 to above $25,000 per annum, with the mean usually being around $18,000. Employee benefits are also a grab bag of different incentives and options that seem to mostly come from international organisations rather than Australian based businesses.

Bonuses are also very hard to get a handle on as well. Some are company performance based and some are individual and most are a mixture of both. While these have been very popular in a strong period of economic growth, as confidence drops and uncertainty prevails most employees will focus more on the base salary of the next 1-2 years.

Historically Marketing can often be the first profession to get the chop when the economy turns as spending on A&P drops off. The Michael Page survey suggests that in the current environment demand will remain strong and the supply of quality candidates will continue to strugle to meet this demand. The report states;

“Employment prospects in the FMCG sector remain strong due to brand consolidation
and expansion of existing marketing teams to deliver growth in this highly competitive
market. Competition for quality marketing professionals with brand and consumer
insight experience is strong as companies strive to become more creative and
differentiate their products in the market. There continues to be high demand for both
product and marketing communication candidates within financial services. This
is largely due to the specific and technical nature of the areas being supported.”

Their survey indicates that 56% of employers plan to increase their permanent headcount and 43% plan to increase their usage of contractors. While the tightness of the market is set to remain in place the survey indicates only a minor increase in salaries of 3-5%.

Overall a pretty strong forecast for both Sales & Marketing. In my opinion things are tightening up in terms of openings. Employers are happy to wait for the right candidate and are doing more pre-employment checking to reduce their risk of making a mistake.

Interested to get your opinions.

Tim

Here are a few of my favourite spelling mistakes.

• “SWAT Analysis” – What does the A stand for?
• “web sight” – looks good!
• “proffessional” – very

Below is my Top 10 Mistakes or areas where people let themselves down in the job market.

1. Spelling, Grammar and Typos.

There are no excuses, you have access to spelling checkers, grammar checkers and can ask friends, family and work colleagues to read over you resume. I am sure I will make mistakes in this blog, but it is nowhere near as important as the first impression a mistake will make on a gate-keeper like me or a potential employer. If you can pick up the errors I make here – you can proof-read your own CV!

A recent survey of employers found that 38% of would reject a resume based on finding the first spelling mistake, by two mistakes this was up to 64%. But you don’t need statistics to tell you that if you make a typo or a spelling error and send it through to an employer without noticing and correcting it, you’re in trouble. I think that you either aren’t smart enough to get help or too lazy to be bothered, reject pressed.

2. Cover Letter

Don’t get too hung up on the cover letter. I know some recruiters who don’t even read them. I do, for three reasons.

a) To see if you have the ability to put a formal business letter together. Might sound stupid in this day and age but you need a foundation to build on and this demonstrates some bedrock at least.

b) To see if you have analysed the job advertisement and thought about the role and the company, and put some time into customising a letter to cover your resume. So many times I get cover letters referring to other roles and addressed to different companies. This is a sign of a desperate candidate who is shooting applications for every role under the sun.

c) To see if I can learn why you are looking for a new role. It’s this motivation that gives a significant insight into the candidate’s ability to perform in their next role.The important thing about the cover letter is:

• No spelling mistakes!
• 1 page only
• Customise for each application
• It’s not all about what you want to do, how can the company benefit?

3. Career Objectives

I don’t know when this idea of putting a career objective at the top of your resume came into fashion but in my opinion it is pointless and most likely inaccurate. If you have got any brains you will try to suck up and make the objective fit the job, if you don’t it will read something like this.

“With 10 years of extensive management experience in the oil industry, I seek a senior management position which will allow me to utilize my experiences to mentor and train my team.”

I cannot see any positive from attaching a career objective to a resume, I can only see negatives:

• It pigeon-holes you – maybe I don’t want someone to mentor and train a team or someone from the oil industry
• You can look too ambitious or not ambitious enough
• They are too general and self-serving

If you really think you need to convey this information then put it in your cover letter and customise it to each role you are applying for.

4. Your Resume Looks Like a Job Description

Do not use statements like “Responsible for” or “Duties included”, these are phrases that belong in a Job Description not in a resume. You need to focus on the accomplishments and achievements in you current and previous roles and identify how you have gone the extra yard. How did your current or previous employers benefit from having you as an employee:

• Did you attract new customers. How many?
• Did you save the business money. How much?
• Did you implement a specific program. What and how long did it take?
• Did you make the business more efficient. How and by how much?

Employers will expect that you will be able to cover of the specified duties of the position so there is not need to regurgitate these. You need to show why you will add more value than any of the other candidates. This is your big chance to stimulate interest and make yourself stand out from the crowd by demonstrating your achievements.

5. What do you do again?

Ever get asked at a party what you do for a living and you can see the other person’s eyes glaze over about 0.1 of a second after you have started answering? That is me when I read about 50% of resumes, and I know what I am looking for! I know the jargon, I know the companies, I know the job titles.

“Explain it to me like I am a 4 year old ”

Don’t think that this contradicts the point above, but we need some detail about the company, your customers, both internal and external, and your products or services.

The COMPANY you worked for – tell me about it:

• Briefly describe the business.
• How big is it, approximate revenues, no of employees, etc?
• How old is it?
• Major competitors

If you don’t do this and I don’t know the company I will have to go online and spend time looking it up. Why waste my time when you already know all the answers.

What you worked on, tell me about it:

• What accounts did you manage, Coles, IBM, FOX?
• What product/brands did you manage, Duracell, Libra, VB?
• What brand of machinery did you use, Schindler, CASE, Canon?
• What suppliers did you use, AC Nielsen, Saatchi & Saatchi, SAP?

Give me the specifics so I can understand the complexity of your previous roles and if you are suitable for the job you have applied for. The detail allows me to also track your career progression and look at the decisions you have made in the past to change jobs.

Tell me who you REPORTED to and who your REPORTS were:

Every organisation uses different job titles. This not only confuses potential employers, often deliberately, but also means that you need to provide a context for your role in the organisation. Is your job title “Brand Manager” and you report to the Marketing Manager or are you “Marketing Manager” and report directly into the CEO? How many direct reports you managed and also, if relevant, did you have dotted line responsibility to anyone? If you give the context of your previous roles in just a few clear sentences you will be well ahead of the pack and not be one of those discarded resumes that the employer doesn’t understand.

6. How long is too long?

I am sure we were all told at one stage that we should keep our resume to one page. Well if you follow my advice from point 5 you will struggle with this unless you only just graduated or have had just one job. There is no right or wrong answer here but my advice is keep to 3 pages or less – ideally 2 pages. You need to craft you resume, so remove all the extraneous information and make all your points clear and concise. If you need a hint, this is what to take out:

• The Career Objective
• Any “Job Description” phrases
• A paragraph or bullet points summarising your skills; make sure you emphasise these against the roles you have had
• Including Hobbies and Memberships; I either don’t care or worse, I might hold a grudge against one of the groups you are a member of! Don’t give me the opportunity
• Referees: Don’t put them in the resume and you don’t need to advise me that they are available on request, of course they are! I’ll ask for them when I want them.
• Any other extraneous information that will either make no difference to getting an interview or even worse, may give me some reason to dislike you.

Try and keep it to 2 pages if you can. This is plenty of space to give any person a very strong understanding of what you have achieved, your skills and experience.

7. Resume lacks Keywords.

We should all know by now the power of Google. This is primarily based on the web crawling of keywords and then the searching of these keywords by users who are directed to the most relevant pages.

Well guess what? That is what I do most of the day. I search our database using “Key Word Searching”. I plug in relevant phrases or words to roles I am trying to fill into our database search engine and see what pops up. I may want a Brand Manager that has a strong New Product Development focus in the Organic Food industry. So if your resume contains the words “Brand”, “NPD” or “New Product Development” and “Organic” you have got a chance of coming up in my search results.

You need to make sure that you:

• Use the correct jargon
• Reference the customers and suppliers
• Use brand and category names
• If you use phrases like “Enterprise resource planning” add the acronym in somewhere else in the resume “ERP”

If appropriate mirror the job ads that interest you. If they use phrases like “engineered solutions” and this can be demonstrated from your experience mirror the phrase in your resume.

Print off your resume and highlight the KEYWORDS with a pen. Count them up and if you get under 20 revise it and look for opportunities to add some more in. The more possibilities for hits the better. Include keywords in your cover letter as well, many companies scan these as well and include them on the database, we do.

8. Too much detail on older roles.

I do not need to know the intricate details of the time you spent working at the local supermarket through high school 20 years ago. You need to weight the detail to the most relevant and recent roles.

This will also help you keep your resume under 3 pages in length. Remember that if it is not relevant to the role you are applying for I am not going to spend much time on it. Focus on your most recent 2-3 roles and just briefly cover any older roles unless they are explicitly relevant to the one you are applying to.

Age discrimination may be an issues here as well if you detail every role in your long and illustrious career. The employer may think that you are too old for the role if they have a personal bias or that you may even be too expensive to employ because you are so experienced. This is a personal choice when putting your resume together but try a couple of different formats and see if you have more successes getting interviews with one style over another.

9. Fancy and Skewed Formatting.

Formatting is fundamental to making a resume easy to follow and comprehend.

Avoid any fancy formatting or added design templates that you think will help you stand out. It is the content that matters not any fluff surrounding it. I have seen fancy borders, graduated shading, emoticons & smilies, pictures and other graphics. (I am not joking!)

My advice is to use a standard font through the whole document and keep bolding and italics to a minimum. The more complicated the document is the more likely the electronic scanning systems will have difficulty processing them.

Also, be careful with tabs, margins and page sizes. By complicating your document you may well end up sending a resume that has bullet points that disappear, page breaks that leave blank pages, fonts that don’t show up and any number of ugly and difficult to read results.

Practise sending your formatted document to a couple of friends and get them to print it off and return it to you. Make any changes necessary to ensure the end result looks as you intended.

10. Contact Information

Make sure your contact information is up to date and correct. There are many times I have tried to contact a candidate and they have only provided a home phone number or a mobile number that has been disconnected. Of course I will make that extra effort to track down a strong candidate but if I am wavering this may be the tipping point.

This is so simple you forget to check it. You need to make sure of the following:

• Mobile number is correct and you have an answering service so a message can be left
• Home/Work number just in case
• Valid Email address, and preferably not something like SEXPOT@AOL.COM
• Residential address in case location may be an issue

I hope the above information helps you in your job search and please make any comments below and I look forward to getting your feedback.

Tim.

Companies that aren’t even in the FMCG industry want FMCG experience in their new hires. And because job seekers are constantly faced with this barrier they all want to work with FMCG to give themselves the best chance of securing those coveted roles.

What’s the fuss over FMCG and why does everyone want it?

First of all, what does FMCG really mean? It stands for fast moving consumer goods. We all agree on that but then the definition gets grey. Everyone has a slightly different interpretation, often depending on what industry they work in! Here’s how we’ll define it…when you walk down the aisle of your local supermarket and can pick the product off the shelf it’s classified as an FMCG.

But it’s still not that easy. Stationary manufactures could argue that they’re in grocery therefore they’re FMCG. Let’s compare the difference between a carton of milk and a pen. Milk is a high volume product that is restocked several times a day (hence the name fast moving); it has a short shelf life and is considered an essential…unless you’re lactose intolerant! Pens, on the other hand, are purchased occasionally, have a long-term expiry date and could be considered a luxury items. So milk is FMCG and a pen is a consumer good. For the purposes of this article, we’ll say that FMCG are any household essentials that are sold through the grocery channel.

There are good reasons why employers want people with household product manufacturing and marketing experience. Marketers within FMCG are total business managers for their categories. They manage the entire process from research and development, manufacturing, product launches and ongoing marketing management. They are marketing generalists with involvement in all aspects of their products. In many other industries marketing has become highly specialised. There are product managers responsible for a specific part of the products life, then there are marketing communications specialists who manage another area of the same product or insight managers who are accountable only for research and the list goes on. That’s why FMCG marketers are different and more like business managers. They manage all of these specialised areas themselves.

FMCG is a tough market that’s all about incremental advances rather than huge year on year growth. They have to focus on other things, not just the marketing, to sell product. The grocery distribution channel is extremely challenging because shelf space and position is at a premium. It’s essential to get forecasts right because out of stock situations mean disaster in this high volume business.

As a total business manager strong financial analysis is essential. FMCG marketers know how to crunch data and make that information relevant to the business. Sometimes relatively “simple” decisions, like changing a package design, could have dramatic financial repercussions. As the margin for error is slim it needs to be analysed; will the sales generated by the new packaging outweigh the costs? To make this decision it’s important to have an understanding of the total business and how a product or category contributes to the bottom line.

FMCG is a misnomer – the product might move fast once in grocery but everything else leading up to that product launch is slow. It takes years of research and development for products to be developed and this is just one of the reasons why large FMCG companies spend huge amounts of money on research and systems. The benefit of working in the FMCG industry is a process-driven approach. It’s also why cutting edge marketing strategies and disciplines come from this industry.

In commodities it’s hard to create an emotional bond. It’s easy to form a relationship with a new luxury car but how to do that with a tin of baked beans? And what’s the difference between one brand of baked beans and another? These products are low involvement, price sensitive and have to appeal to a mass market. Food marketers must work harder and smarter to capitalise on every advantage. That’s why every new packaging idea on a well-worn product is heralded as a marketing feat. I can’t imagine how excited the marketers where when someone came up with the idea to have a squeezable tomato sauce bottle. Even a new sticky label to close a pack of chocolate pieces is a selling feature these days. The development of new innovations in this market are so long in the research realms, poked and prodded by focus groups and are under constant scrutiny due to the enormous resources tied up in their success. A food marketer may be working for months, even years, on just a single packaging advancement so it takes a certain level of commitment and diligence.

But before we jump on the FMCG bandwagon there are some limitations. The downside of sophisticated processes, technical data and research is that FMCG marketers are not necessarily trained to make interpretations based on “gut feel”. If your industry or company doesn’t have a high degree of procedures, and is more instinctive, a person from FMCG might not be the right cultural fit. The FMCG industry is also used to dealing with long lead times. If your company turns on a dime and needs to change directions quickly to react to market place forces then someone with FMCG experience might not be as adaptable.

And finally because these people are in demand as employees they cost a lot of money. The salary range can be double that of marketing professional from other industries. Given this fact alone it’s important to determine whether they will make return on your investment or if another candidate, qualified but with non-FMCG experience, could also contribute to your business just as well without the overhead.

For those people trying to get a foot into FMCG there’s a couple of traditional ways. Start at the bottom, usually as a sales executive after graduating with a Bachelor of Business in Marketing, and work your way up. Or gain experience in another industry and salary sacrifice to get into FMCG. But before making this decision consider if FMCG is right for you. The long lead times, statistical analysis and processes demanded in this industry may not suit people who work better in a more dynamic environment. Ask yourself if this is the kind of marketing for you or if you just want to do it because everyone else seems to want it!

It’s clear why many companies and job seekers are keen to have FMCG experience. But some companies will never need the experience of an FMCG marketer and some people may never want to practice this kind of marketing. It’s important to see that while FMCG know-how is valuable it isn’t the be all and end all of marketing. Now you know what all the FMCG fuss is about.

It is no secret that candidates become frustrated when they do not receive frequent communication; let alone no communication! They send their resumes to recruiters and direct to organisations and don’t hear back. They fill out the forms they are asked to complete, receive that instant email that acknowledges their effort yet often don’t hear anything. It’s not just about the initial communication; it needs to be ongoing throughout the process. Let’s also not forget the benefit in communicating with candidates about other important points for example the format and content of their resume, providing information on what’s happening in the market and how they might best position themselves.

There is only one chance to make a good first impression. That’s the traditional advice given to job seekers. But recruiters and organisations should also pay attention to this excellent adage. Here’s why.

The job market has turned on its head. Gone are the days when recruiters or employers could pick and choose from seemingly unlimited job seekers desperate to get that job or work for “X” organisation. A buoyant market with high employment rates and a continuing skills shortage have seen candidates gain more control in the recruitment process. High-skilled candidates can be selective. It is common to have recruiters chasing potential candidates and for the candidates to be considering several roles. They have the luxury of choice as to who they want to deal with. The first impression the candidate has of the recruiter or organisation can play a major role in their decision to engage, or not to engage.

On personal interaction, timeliness, courtesy, good communication and respect say more about the company than the shiny brochure or user-friendly web site. The overall experience a candidate has throughout the recruitment process can make the difference as to who will represent them and who they will recommend to their friends and colleagues. The old saying that today’s candidates are tomorrow’s clients, or today’s candidates are future employees remains true. Creating a positive candidate experience is critical to long-term success for all parties.

Let’s talk about the process from the candidate perspective. In the past it was more one sided about the candidate being judged. The old attitude of being grateful to be given an opportunity or to work for a particular company is well and truly buried. But the potentials must be still put through their paces; which in some cases can be laborious and over-processed. The first interview, the second interview, the case study, the psychometric test, the meet the team and so it goes on. It is not uncommon for a process such as this to take 4 weeks or more. During this time of course the patient candidate sits and waits, hoping for success to call….or do they sit and wait? Not always. It’s now a two sided process. The last person standing is not always the most dedicated or committed. It’s a testing time also for the recruiter and the employer as the candidates are judging on how the process is being managed and how satisfied they are with knowing what’s going on. Let’s face it nobody likes to be a mushroom! It’s up to the recruiter in particular to keep the communication open and ongoing, in the hope that the time-lag won’t see the candidate opt out. For those candidates who do decide on the latter, they have their other offers to consider. Across the various stages the recruiter should be speaking with candidates every couple of days to manage the risks and ensure the candidate is satisfied and informed, by phone or email. If the communication is poor, the candidates won’t know what’s going on or where they stand and are likely to decide this is a waste of their time.

The flip side of this is that if a candidate has a fantastic recruitment experience they will share their experience with their friends and colleagues. Treating everyone with respect and communicating in a timely manner can result in a positive experience, even though only one person is successfully placed in the role.

So what needs to happen? Candidate communication must be a top priority. The rules are simple; treat candidates as you would want to be treated yourself. Provide all candidates with immediate and accurate information about their status, give them as much feedback about their qualifications and skills as you can in the context of the position they are interested in and importantly, keep them informed and up-to-date on their status. So why is it so hard?

With the growth in online application tools the volume of resumes received by recruiters can be quite overwhelming. It’s so easy to apply for roles today that even candidates sometimes can’t recall which roles they’ve applied for. Trying to get back to all candidates in a reasonable timeframe and at different stages of the process is a challenge. Then there’s the delay with clients’ availability or making decisions in order to provide feedback. Despite best endeavours and intent, in some instances not all candidates will be responded to in a timely manner. Its not rocket science but it is time driven, just like everything else today.

Information is delivered to our desks faster than ever before with demand and tasks increasing and pressure to respond quickly. More work to do in a day than time allows causes slippage. However at the end of the day it’s about priorities, service and delivery. To manage effectively the processes and tools must be in place to deliver that service as efficiently as possible. As with most businesses it’s what distinguishes companies in the market – the quality of the service or product they provide to their clients.

At Market Partners we provide a caring and personal approach to recruitment. We strive to eliminate hassles, and foster an atmosphere of fun, courtesy and mutual respect. We do everything we can to make the recruitment experience as stress-free as possible. Keeping our candidates in the loop is critical. We’ve all been in that situation and know what it’s like. We like to keep the communication open about all factors relating to the process including talking to our candidates about their expectations, are they in or out of the market; keeping them realistic in relation to demand and supply. We are often asked by candidates for advice on the best way to brand themselves, to talk about that next step in their career or for tips on their resumes. It’s always about quality, not quantity. You have 30 or 60 minutes with someone; you want them to leave with more than they arrived with; add some value and for them to feel informed.

Here are some tips to keeping candidates in the loop:

Don’t create a black hole! Respond to candidates when they have applied. If there’s a delay for legitimate reasons explain that to the candidate, don’t keep them guessing. Ensure their application is acknowledged. If they do not progress to the shortlist stage ensure they are advised ASAP. Make sure you use email in the most effective way possible. If someone calls directly, call them back. Don’t wait until the role is filled before letting these people know.

Discretion please! If you are contacting someone about an opportunity, don’t leave a message that could expose them. Use their mobile phone or their private email.

Watch the clock! If you are doing a phone interview or first-level screening with someone who still has a job, don’t take too much time. Set expectations up front and always check that they are OK to talk. It’s the little things. People appreciate respecting their current duties and privacy.

Hello, anyone there! Give feedback ASAP, ideally within 48 hours. If you expect to take longer than two days, let them know that. Don’t think about it, do it. We all know what thought thought!

Expectations! People have very different opinions about how an employment offer should be handled. Be open about salary range and encourage candidates to be open about expectations. Quickly get to an offer, long negotiations are a turn off. Be clear, time is precious.

A fresh start! Typically, people need to give between 2 and 4 weeks notice before starting their new role. Work for the candidate and try to negotiate a week off in between roles. It’s a good investment and they will be grateful.

Remember that life is a 2 way street; what you give you will benefit from in the end. Talk to your candidates and keep them in the loop. Keep their experience top of mind and develop relationships for the longer term, for everyone’s benefit.

Out of the box – candidate quotes

“Thanks for calling me back!”

“Thanks a lot for your valuable time and the professional tips you have given to me for my career development, and my positioning in the market etc. It does help me gain a better understanding of my value and positioning in the job market.”

“Just a quick note to say thanks for your assistance in my job search in the past few weeks. Your appreciation of Category Management I learnt is hard to come by!!!”

“I so enjoyed our vital exchange of ideas and your input assured me that ‘others do agree with me’ on where things are at and where they are heading.”