Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
230 Plays10 months ago
RNA SUMMER SERIES
Welcome to 2024 with the RNA Summer Series. Ross & Adele go through the archives and selected some of the best questions of the week. From Episode 7 & 13.
Subscribe today so you don't miss out on any future episodes.
Recommended
Transcript
Holiday Catch-Up
00:00:07
Speaker
Welcome to Recruitment News Australia. Happy New Year, Ross. How are you? I'm very well, Adele. Happy New Year to you and how's the past couple of weeks been? It's been fabulous. I've had some family come in from overseas and interstate and I've had a lovely couple of weeks catching up with lots of family and friends and it's been quite relaxing in fact. So I am
00:00:32
Speaker
excited about 2024 as I think most people are starting a fresh year but tell us what was your break like so far?
Hawaii Conference Plans
00:00:41
Speaker
Well I'm very pleased to say that I'm only halfway through it actually so I've already gone up to Newcastle to spend time with my wife's family up there so that was very enjoyable
00:00:54
Speaker
And I've played a lot of golf, which is something I enjoy. I've been swimming a lot, which is something I enjoy. I've been out on my stand-up paddleboard, even though it hasn't been fabulous weather on the Mornington Peninsula. Certainly good enough for golf. And most exciting, and the reason why we have a summer series, is I'm off to Hawaii on Sunday for a couple of weeks.
00:01:17
Speaker
Oh, it's such a hard life, isn't it, Russ? I know. Is this work or play? Tell us. Well, I'm going to a conference. There's a three-day conference in Honolulu at the Prince Waikiki Hotel.
00:01:32
Speaker
My wife and my younger son and I are going to get there about 10 days in advance. So we're flying in, then we're off to the Big Island. We're going to the Volcanoes National Park. Never been to Hawaii, so I'm very excited about going to Volcanoes National Park. So we're going to the Big Island for a week, and then back to Honolulu on a Lulu, and then a week there, which includes the conference. So yeah, looking forward to all of that.
Summer Series Introduction
00:01:55
Speaker
Fantastic. Is it recruitment conference, trainers conference? What sort of?
00:01:59
Speaker
No, it's actually the philosophy of transactionalism. My own professional development has been powered by Influential You. It's a professional development body based in California, and I've been participating in their education for about nine years. And the great thing is, with all respect to everyone in the recruitment industry, there's no one else in the recruitment industry as part of the conference. It's not that they exclude
00:02:27
Speaker
anyone else it's just that it's just a range of people from all sorts of professions. Property developers, sculptors, management consultants, financial planners, Chinese medical practitioners, traditional doctors, general practitioners. So it's a full range of people in terms of occupations and I just love philosophy. I just find it fascinating and it's just a very stimulating way to
00:02:54
Speaker
helped me reflect on my own personal and professional goals, how I'm going and what might be appropriate goals to set for the year ahead. So I've been going to the annual conference every year. Typically it's in California, but it has been in Mexico before and this year in Hawaii. So I go every January apart from the COVID years and yeah, it's very stimulating and I look forward to it every year.
00:03:19
Speaker
Great. Look forward to hearing about it post conference there, maybe what you bring back and what you can share. Yes. Great. Absolutely. So we are recording this summer series as a result because Ross will be away and we wanted to make sure we were bringing you podcasts to listen to as you get back into 2024. So we're going to run a summer series through January, which will be a little bit different to our normal format. We won't have news, but we are going to bring you some
00:03:46
Speaker
new and exciting elements to the podcast. So this first podcast back for the year, Ross is going to be a couple of our favourite questions of the week, is that correct?
Daily Habits Recap
00:03:57
Speaker
Yes, we're digging into the archive, Adele. And if I'm not mistaken, you have chosen episode 13 to rerun one of the most critical daily activities for successful recruiters. So Adele, why have you chosen that as your question of the week for replay? I felt like this time of the year is a really great chance to recap that one because it talks about those critical
00:04:25
Speaker
things that you need to do every day to be successful as a recruiter. And I think starting the year off, getting those habits back in check and back in order and back into cycle is going to be really valuable for lots of our listeners. So I've picked that one out as a way to help you all get back at the desk, feed under the desk and get ready for 2024.
00:04:46
Speaker
What have you chosen, Russ?
Population Growth & Discrimination
00:04:48
Speaker
Well, I have chosen one which is sort of a reflection of the year in terms of the growth of the population in Australia, because we have had a massive growth.
00:04:59
Speaker
in Australia's population, over 400,000 people are additional to our population, which means a lot of them are immigrants and a lot of them have come to Australia for work. And unfortunately, Adele, as recent research has shown us, there is sadly still a lot of discrimination that people without Australian experience experience in
00:05:27
Speaker
the recruitment process. So I have decided, going right back to episode five, sorry episode seven it is, why do my clients invalidate non-Australian work experience and what can I do? Really important question of the week. I remember that one clearly and thanks for choosing that Ross. Enjoy our recap listeners, enjoy the summer series and we'll be back talking to you really soon.
00:05:58
Speaker
with my Hawaii suntan. Oh, shut up.
International Experience Debate
00:06:12
Speaker
Adele, our question of the week this week. Why do my clients invalidate non-Australian work experience and what can I do about it?
00:06:25
Speaker
This one's one that's a bit personal to me, Ross, having come from a migrant family myself who had a real and valid work experience overseas and had to come to Australia and pretty much start again. I absolutely understand the pain of this kind of question, both for the candidate and for the recruiter in this process. So I totally understand what people are meaning with this one.
00:06:54
Speaker
It's really frustrating that there is a perception that overseas experience isn't comparable to Australian experience. It isn't relevant. We know that that's the case, but there is that perception in the marketplace, in the workplace, in your clients' cultural environments that it isn't the same. And it's really wrong. I mean, often in most cases, it's a steeper learning curve for migrants to come to Australia. They have to come and learn
00:07:24
Speaker
new ways of doing things, new cultural environments, new jargon, new slang, you know, all of the things that they need to learn to fit in. And they're also, you know, dealing with, in most cases, you know, working in an environment where English isn't their first language, they're then now speaking completely in English. And, you know, that's a bit of another bugbear of mine is, you know, communication requirements around accents and
00:07:51
Speaker
Look, our industries are worse, to be perfectly frank. We are not great at being flexible around what we mean or understanding what we mean by communication. I will get that as a criteria with my clients saying they need to be able to communicate. Well, I want somebody who's a great communicator. And what they're actually meeting is I don't want somebody with an accent. And it really frustrates me again because somebody's accent is not indicative of the way they communicate. They are two very separate things.
00:08:20
Speaker
I'll hop off my soapbox for a minute, but this one's a bit personal. Well, let me just pick up what you've said about accents, because I think it makes a difference, or you will find as a recruiter, it will make a difference whether that is a, let's say, let's say the way it is to do it, whether it's a white person's accent or a brown person's accent, because I don't know about you, but I've got some Glaswegian friends,
00:08:48
Speaker
And even though they've been in this country for a number of years, they can still be pretty difficult to understand and not any easier to understand than people who may be from the subcontinent and also have an accent. So I, you know, I think there is a racist element or there can be a racist element there.
00:09:17
Speaker
And moving on to the work experience specifically, well, in my experience as a recruiter, the type of hiring managers that requested Australian experience only were the people who'd never worked outside of Australia. So how would they know what it was like in workplaces outside of Australia? And
00:09:43
Speaker
Again, you put up a candidate who's only ever worked in Auckland or Cape Town or London, and you'll find that non-Australian work experience isn't a real hurdle. But if it's other countries, then perhaps it is. And this infuriates me. Yeah, so it could be, you know, it's an
00:10:11
Speaker
Ignorance element, really, because they're not understanding. As you said, in most cases, they may not have even worked overseas themselves. So it's a it's ignorance around understanding what the experience is about. And I guess it is about them getting the client to really unpack the person's experience and understand how it is relevant, understand where it is more like than unlike in terms of the candidate's experience to the job. So really doing
00:10:40
Speaker
your job as a consultant in matching up the kind of experience the person's had, regardless of which country it is from, where they've had the experience, but really matching it up to the job criteria. Exactly. And I recruited in accounting, and this was relatively easy because accounting globally is pretty much the same everywhere. Yes, of course, there are some legal differences.
00:11:07
Speaker
but the actual profession of accounting operates the same all around the world. So I focused on proving that my candidates had the accounting skills to do the job on offer. Well, of course, acknowledging that this candidate may be working in an Australian environment for the first time, but that's something that won't take that long to pick up.
00:11:33
Speaker
but they can actually do the job. And this is what recruiters have got to focus on. What are the requirements to do the actual job? Have the client focus on those things, the most important things, because where the candidate has gained that particular experience is far less relevant than the fact that they can actually do the job.
00:11:58
Speaker
Yeah. And I think that's a really great point perhaps for us to finish on that as a recruitment industry, we have to be part of the solution on this and not part of the problem. So we absolutely can't perpetuate these issues. We absolutely can't accept client requirements that say, I want them only to have local experience. We really need to push back on the client, help stop this happening and get the client to really understand
00:12:24
Speaker
the quality of the experience and not the location of where it occurred. And also, Adele, let's be really frank, we've got employer groups in this country crying out for the government to let more workers from outside Australia come in. So what's the point once those workers come in that the actual employers themselves are still saying, oh, no, you know, you don't have Australian experience. I can't consider you like that's ludicrous.
00:12:53
Speaker
So, you know, it supports Australia's economy if all employers think about skills, not where the person gained the experience, because we've got all of these people coming into Australia believing these workers, believing that they're going to get work because Australia is crying out for workers. How do you think they're going to feel when they hear from employers like, oh, well, you don't have Australian experience? It's completely contrary. It's completely ridiculous. And it's completely counterproductive.
00:13:23
Speaker
to employers hiring the best people for the job and I wish they would stop it straight away. No argument for me.
Recruiter Best Practices
00:13:31
Speaker
On to a question of the week this week Ross and we've got one from a recruiter around making sure they're making the most of their day. What are the most critical daily activities for successful recruiters? What do recruiters need to do on a daily basis?
00:13:48
Speaker
Lead generation to me is absolutely critical. Daily lead generation. So what leads is the recruiter seeing in the review of the resumes that they undertake, the LinkedIn profiles they review, news stories that they see. Are they general leads? So in other words, maybe a company or a hiring manager, or is it a specific lead? In other words, an actual job. So if it's an actual job,
00:14:15
Speaker
they'd want to be chasing that up same day. If it's more general lead, then I would be suggesting you'd want to chase it up same week. So to me, lead generation activities, the very best recruiters are undertaking lead generation activities every single working day. Hmm. I,
00:14:36
Speaker
would also add that in order to make sure I guess you've got time to get through those sorts of activities, which are absolutely critical, I agree. Planning and organizing for me is the top of the list in relation to organizing your time, creating to-do lists, planning out what needs to be done so that you've got time for lead generation every day. You're not going to miss any of those jobs or calls that you need to make and to keep that sort of consistent activity happening. So for me,
00:15:06
Speaker
Planning and organizing is one of the most critical things a recruiter does. What else? Yeah, great. Yeah, certainly at the beginning of the day. The next thing I'd say, it's kind of obvious, but let's say it anyway, reviewing each of your current jobs.
00:15:22
Speaker
and being clear what you need to do today, if anything, on each of those assignments. And being clear what it is specifically, if you are going to do something, what it is specifically
00:15:37
Speaker
and the amount of time that you're going to allocate to it. Because it's very easy to get consumed with, say, the most recent job that's come in or the job with the biggest fee or the job that has the client that's screaming the loudest that they need candidates, but being disciplined about the amount of time that you devote to each of the critical activities that are assigned to each of the jobs each day.
00:16:02
Speaker
What about for you? What's number two? Yeah, in that same vein, I suppose once you are reviewing jobs and looking at those critical tasks under each one is really to kind of do the hardest ones first. You know, you planned your day, you're looking through those assignments and, you know, the old saying of eat the frog first is something that I think is important. You know, if it's got a
00:16:24
Speaker
be critical towards your success. You've got to get those jobs done and get them done quickly and early in the day while you've still got high energy. You know, do the hardest things first and get them done early is my second bit of advice. Yeah, I completely agree with that. And the third thing, it might be a little surprising for some people, but take breaks.
00:16:47
Speaker
like the most effective recruiters refuel effectively throughout the day. So having 20 minutes for a cup of coffee, taking a decent lunch break, getting off your phone, getting away from your computer, going outside, having a walk around, absorbing fresh air, just ensuring that you maximize the effectiveness of the time that you spend at your desk. It's too easy to lose energy,
00:17:16
Speaker
particularly mid-afternoon, and then you might be spending two or three hours at your desk, but really how effective is that time? So taking effective breaks is to me a very important part of each day as a recruiter. Yeah, something that when you're new you probably lose a little of as well. I think you lose that balance. That's a really timely reminder, I think. A final one for me is just a bit of an old school one, I suppose, coming from temp recruitment days, which was kind of
00:17:45
Speaker
Never leave a job unfilled at the end of the day. Never leave something undone. We didn't leave the office till we made sure everything was done for that day. All of the urgent tasks were out of the way, and you didn't carry something over to tomorrow that could be done today. Because as we know, the day can go very pear-shaped very quickly. So get done what you need to off that to-do list. I said start your day with planning and organizing.
00:18:12
Speaker
close it off perhaps in the same way of making sure you've closed off all the urgent jobs, prioritised a bit of what's happening the next day, and then you can leave the office without having to think about it again or wake up in the middle of the night and say, have I done that or have I forgotten something? That's a wrap. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts from, Google, Apple, Spotify, or on our website.