Christopher Redmond’s Post

Candidates: Adrienne Tom provides some great tips on how recruiters use LinkedIn!

Email Wins! Last week I put a post up as I was curious to understand how people would like to receive feedback if they were rejected from the recruitment process for a role. It is so interesting to see that my initial thoughts were wrong. I was expecting people would prefer a call if rejected. After 180 votes, I received mixed responses but the scale was tipped in favour of an email. A number of comments mentioned providing an email with the option of a call, which I would absolutely do. This has made me reflect and readjust my thinking around what I believe people want without making assumptions. When I started recruiting I was on the phone cold calling, nowadays, BD is mainly done on emails and LI messages, self-service checkout counters have led to us having virtually no interaction with others in the supermarkets. As a society we have moved further and further away from interacting with others, is this a consequence of this as well?

Interviewers, have you thought about how you structure your interviews? I understand everyone will have their own way of interviewing candidates, however, I believe the structure should be similar to make sure you and the candidate are satisfied with the outcome. Here is the structure I use and share with my teams. 📍 Introduction This is usually the first 5 minutes of the interview. It is your job as an interviewer to make the candidate feel comfortable and at ease. Make sure you introduce yourself and ask the candidate to do the same. It helps to get the candidate talking and ease into the interview. 📍Interview Questions As an interviewer, you should be prepared and know what focus area you are responsible for, if you do not have focus areas, make sure you have prepared relevant questions that a previous interviewer has not asked, repetition can provide a negative candidate experience and then use probing questions to get the information you are looking for. My recommendation is to focus on situation-based questions. "Tell me about a time when....." or "Can you give me an example of a time you....." These questions will give you an idea of how the candidate reacted in real situations rather than hypothetical ones such as "What would you do in this situation?" 📍Candidate Questions/Selling It is so important to make sure you give the candidate an opportunity to ask questions. I have found the best candidates are very curious and always have great questions. Also keep in mind, the candidate is also interviewing you, so it is your responsibility to sell the company and the role as best as possible, this is not just the recruiter's role. 📍Closing In order to create the best candidate experience, try to always end on a positive note, even if the interview did not go so well. Inform them that the recruiter will be in touch with feedback and thank them for their time. They have not just taken an hour out of their day to do the interview, they have spent hours preparing for it as well.

I am very interested to hear from everyone here:

You just can't beat in-person events! It's always a whirlwind, chaotic and goes by in the blink of an eye, but we wouldn't change it for anything! Indigo was a blast, abstraction were very well represented with Masha Begovic and Marc Smids taking to the stage throughout the day and were fantastic! We also got to catch up with some familiar faces in the industry! Giuliane Ramos, Katia Krasenkowa, Masha Begovic, Marine Lara, Marc Smids, Ralph Egas Sacha Blom Saghar Hosseini #indigo2024 #abstractiongames #DGA

Indigo we are ready! I will be attending Indigo once again this year with abstraction. We will be sponsoring the event again and have 2 speakers this year! Masha Begovic and Marc Smids will both be sharing their knowledge tomorrow. Very excited to attend once again this year, we had such a great time last year and will be hosting some drinks at a welcome party this evening so if you are attending tomorrow why not drop in this evening to kick things off! #indigo2024

Candidates, how can you be confident you are preparing properly for your interviews? 📍 Research the company Research as much as you can beforehand (website, careers page, LinkedIn, Glassdoor etc.) and mention values, and company mission during the interview. 📍 Do your prep on the Interviewers Once you find out who you will be speaking with, go onto their LinkedIn, know their background, find some common ground if there is any. 📍 Have a list of questions ready to go Write out as many questions you can think of, ask the ones the recruiter has not answered, it shows us you have already thought about working in the role. 📍 Prepare, Prepare, Prepare Prep for the questions you know are going to come up, “tell me about yourself?”, if you have an interview on a specific topic, prepare examples that showcase your skills and highlight you in a positive light. 📍 Use the Recruiter Use your recruiter as much as possible, as you go through the process, ask them what will the next interview be about? Is there any additional information they can provide you about the interviewers? 📍 Ask for Feedback Regardless of whether you are going through to the next stagte of the process or not, ask for feedback, it is good to be aware of what went well and things to be aware of if you are put through to the next stage of the process 📍 Be Open and Honest about Salary Be open and honest about salary, there is no problem in negotiating a little at the final stage, but always mention a number you are comfortable with at the start of the process. This sets the expectation and will hopefully lead to no surprises if you receive an offer.

Some Friday Thinking! What can you use ChatGPT for? In my role I use it to: 📍Assist in creating job descriptions 📍Develop interview questions 📍Research your market in seconds 📍Email Templates 📍Analysing Data 📍Making emails more structured & concise 📍Making interview notes more structured  📍Constructing the foundations of LI messages 📍Market Analysis 📍Help structure LI posts What do I use it for in daily life? 👉 Helping create recipes with whatever I have in my fridge 👉 Designing a gym program  👉 Helping me break down the structure of a song (so I can learn the drums) 👉 Created cool birthday images for friends 👉 Creating a marathon plan 👉 Translating Dutch sometimes The list can go on…..what are you using it for these days?

Recruiters, here’s how you can double your response rates overnight! After a week of being away enjoying the ☀️ I am back with a Pro Tip: Follow Up Messages...... .........x2 .........x3 It may sound simple but you would be amazed at the amount of recruiters that do not go back and follow up with previous candidates. It's really a sin not to be doing this. Most ATS systems have this function built into it, they are called nurture campaigns but you can also ask ChatGPT to help you create the foundations of your messages. This is a very underutilised tool, Learn how to do this and start using it, this is a smart and efficient use of your time. Give it a shot and let me know in the comments below if you doubled your response rate.