Читать книгу Making Perfect - Teri Ann Lindeberg - Страница 7

I felt this was a good question in order to find out more about what we were good at, and to induce people to be more forthcoming – if they were not already so when answering the first question. It also confirmed what we knew we were good at, while shedding more light on what our team liked about our company and what they felt our strengths were.

SUCCESS

“Seeing how the company has grown from zero”…”Success, want my team to be successful”…”Have really enjoyed the success that has been achieved”…”Revenues, frankly speaking, the first enjoyable thing was my first revenue, I never knew I could earn such sums due to hard work”…”The results of placing – very inspiring”…”Making placements”…”Big placements”…”Making my first placement”…

I am, and have always been, a salesperson myself and, as this a sales organization, this was music to my ears.

As mentioned in Chapter 1, recruitment can be a “feel-good” business if you do it well. Clients appreciate your finding them the employees they needed; candidates appreciate your finding them new employment; and, if you are with the right recruitment firm, you will appreciate being thanked, congratulated, and compensated appropriately for your successful efforts.

Achieving success has always been very important to me and I constantly strive to achieve it in everything we do at Staffwell. It comes a lot easier when you love what you do, and I do love our business – and it is apparent here that many of our team members also love our business.

Employees want:

• To see the company growing and developing;

• Personal, team and company success;

• To bring money to the company and to earn money; and

• To achieve success.

TEAM-BUILDING AND EVENTS

“Team-building in the woods has always been good”…”The team-building event when I joined was super and I got to know a lot of people”…”Team-buildings and parties”…”The number of social events –it really brings people together –helps people to get to know each other better”…”Team-buildings with Moscow and President’s club trips”…”Birthday party of Teri’s at her Taganskaya apartment, all team-building events”…”Very impressed by the team-building”…”Nice team – they go to parties and spend weekends together, and took a trip to the Moscow office last year”…”Best was team-building in September”…

I found it interesting that the team-building events that were mentioned here were the simple, local ones: a party at my apartment; a day in the woods together playing adventure games; our day creating theater skits; or just spending time at another office. No one specifically mentioned our big trips to the beach in Turkey, climbing Chamonix in France, whitewater rafting in Croatia, or sailing in Montenegro. Perhaps, simple and local is more convenient and provides more quality time in a lower stress, closer-to-home environment.

I am a big fan of team-building and we have always had good experiences, whether it was very low budget or on the higher end. The important thing was that we were together, having fun, became stronger and knew more of each other afterward.

It can be really beneficial to periodically spend quality time with your colleagues outside of the routine office environment. It allows you to see a different side of the people you work with and can give you a better understanding of who they are on and off the job, in casual settings.

Employees want:

• To spend informal, organized time together with colleagues outside of the office;

• Social opportunities to get to know their management, colleagues, and staff better;

• Team-building opportunities to get to know people in the company’s other offices better; and

• Informal occasions to celebrate and have fun.

THE TEAM

“Now a very professional, very specialized team of people”…”I enjoy the team”…”All people working for the company are well-measured, intelligent, all on the same level – highly interesting and intelligent”…”The people!”…”Good people, strong team”…”Enjoys working with a highly professional team”…”Team is #1”…”Support from the team and company, everyone is friendly and close”…”The team make coming to work great and very helpful”…”Warm team and great skilled specialists”…

I cannot over-stress that it is definitely all about the team you have.

Again, hiring good people, and retaining good people, is the biggest key to the success of any company. To perfect that for Staffwell has become my focus over the years. Highly skilled professionals, good attitude, friendly, talented, smart, ethical and hard-working, are some of the traits our team members possess and that we seek. We part ways as soon as possible with those who, we later find, truly do not have these characteristic or are unable to develop them with us.

Having a great team is also one of the best ways to motivate and retain your employees. People like to work with great people.

Employees want:

• To work with a highly professional and specialized team;

• To work with intelligent people; and

• To work with a team that is supportive, friendly and close.

THE WORK

“Clients who changed jobs gave new work to us”…”Very enjoyable work”…”Confident at closing vacancies”…”First time in over 20 years where I had to have personal results to prove successful not only team results – I am thriving”…”Closed my first high level staffing manager position – hard to close but very satisfying when I did”…”I have always loved dealing with people and knew that one day I would go into sales, and thanks to our internal recruiters it was recruitment”…”The recruitment process and communicating with clients and candidates is very inspiring”…”Challenging recruiting projects will stay in my mind forever”…

The work is the work. To be successful it helps to find people capable of doing the work well and who also enjoy it.

Recruitment is fast-paced and challenging because companies typically need to hire quickly, and as the product (the candidate) is a human being, there are all types of people-related issues involved. Recruiters that are patient, understanding, convincing, able to multi-task, and handle a heavy workload, typically do well.

I am happy that our team loves the work and the job. I do too. It is challenging, fascinating, rewarding and fun.

Employees want:

• To enjoy the work that they do;

• To have confidence in what they do; and

• Challenging, inspiring work.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT

“Good career development and promotions, wants to help open new offices and start new services”…”Desire to improve”…”Learned a lot and I want to keep learning and developing”…”Professional growth, reporting and accounting; likes that she is developing here”…

It is encouraging that our team wants to develop the company and themselves. I live to improve and grow, and am happy our team does too.

Career development is important for companies and staff. It is a good motivator and an effective tool in employee retention. It is something that we must always examine in order to improve and expand.

Employees want:

• To keep learning and developing;

• To earn promotions;

• To help the company grow and expand; and

• To take on more responsibilities and challenges.

NETWORKING EVENTS

“I like attending networking events but feel evening events are better as there is more time to talk to people”…

This particular individual is comparing morning business club meetings (that have limited networking time before and after the meeting), to evening networking events that are devoted almost entirely to networking.

Business development is a critical part of our business and our team attends a lot of networking events. I support whichever networking events bring the most business opportunities per individual, and I am happy that the team likes and enjoys them.

In our business we can meet a potential new client or candidate anywhere, so it is helpful to be out meeting and interacting with business people in our communities.

Employees want:

• To attend useful networking events.

INTERVIEW PROCESS

“The interview process was very organized and professional, which is why I chose Staffwell over other companies”…

The interview process is such a crucial area for any company that wants to recruit good people into their organization. We put a lot of effort into our process and it has been well worth it.

I really want to highlight the point mentioned above, as it is really an over-riding, key one: candidates do compare and consider the interview processes companies have, and do use this as a part of their decision-making criteria when choosing between job offers. It may, in fact, be the only criterion a candidate has in which to make a decision, as they are unlikely to really know what they are entering into (the role, work life, the team, the company) until they are actually working in the job itself.

The interview process should be perfect. The people interviewing the candidate should know their roles in the interview process, be fully prepared on the candidate and for what role the candidate is being considered. The people interviewing should be highly professional, well respected within the company and friendly toward the applicants.

Employees want:

• An exceptional interview process to attract the best people into their company.

INDUCTION

“The induction was very helpful and stimulating and I was given the full picture”…”The lunches together during induction”…”Enjoyed starting at Staffwell, and in the fourth month I was sent to Moscow for training”…

Staffwell has a very thorough and well-structured induction program, which is the process of introducing a new employee to their role and the company they join. Everyone who goes through induction should end up with good knowledge of the company and the team, as well as a thorough understanding of their role and how to effectively perform in such.

It is important for us to ensure that new hires get up and running as soon as possible in order to quickly become successful for the company. I am really pleased and proud that we do this well.

Employees want:

• A professional and thorough induction to the company, their new role, and the team, when starting a new job at a new company;

• Social time during their induction to get to know the team in a friendly, informal way; and

• On-going training as part of the induction process.

LEADERSHIP/MANAGEMENT

“Good combination between motivation and encouragement”…”KPIs, but no major pressure – had time to find her personal style, good amount of flexibility given to Directors in choosing clients and working with Consultants”…”Diana is friendly and calms everyone down from stress”…”The leadership”…”Open door with Teri”…”The management is loyal to the team”…”I like how the management treats the staff”…”Management style”…

It is important to staff who they work for and how they are managed and led. From the top down, I feel we have a really good management and leadership team.

I would say that some of the key traits of our management team are talent (we have all been promoted ourselves throughout our careers, to date, due to our accomplishments); positive, forward-outlook at all times; friendliness; fairness; diligence; and we stick to the rules we set, for ourselves and for the team. This works for us and should work for most, if not all, companies.

In the past, we have had some senior team members who were, at times, tough, rough, manipulative, stern, lazy, or would always cause problems. Some of these people were fired while others just left. I feel that it takes having a good team in place to truly understand what a really good team is. I believe that we have a good team in place now and we will continue to develop it further.

Employees want:

• To be motivated and encouraged;

• To have targets and the independence to achieve them;

• Strong management who are also, when need be, sensitive, calming and understanding;

• An approachable, open-door management style; and

• Management who are loyal to the company and its employees.

ATMOSPHERE

“I like the atmosphere, everyone is very approachable; Teri, Diana and the Accounting team”…”Flexible hours”…” Competitive environment and I like winning”…”I like being the elder statesman of the office”…”Fun times”…”Family atmosphere”…”I feel I am trusted”…”Unique atmosphere inside the company”…”People atmosphere”…

So many things together create a great atmosphere: positive and fair management and leadership; a talented team of top professionals; a good balance of hard work and fun on the job; very strong operations; and a company that seeks perfection in what they do, and always tries to improve.

A great team and a great company make a great atmosphere.

Employees want:

• Approachable management and team members;

• To work a flexible schedule if needed;

• To work in a competitive work environment;

• To feel trusted; and

• To have fun and feel close to their team members.

TEAMWORK

“Good sharing of info between people, open-mindedness between people”…”Great communications”…

Success in our business depends on teamwork. Fortunately, most of the people within our company communicate effectively and work well together, which is essential to providing great service to clients.

Employees want:

• Everyone to get along;

• Team members to share information; and

• Good inter-office communication.

OPERATIONS

“I like SDS (Staffwell Digital System; our CRM system)”…”Logical and clear procedures and systems”…”We always pay salaries and bonuses”…”Love that Staffwell has written processes (SDS), the process is very specific and detailed”…

Having good operations, processes and procedures in place, greatly improves productivity, which in turn, benefits everyone.

We created our own CRM system, which tracks every detail of every client order and candidate with whom we work. We also have a detailed operations manual, and formal processes and procedures for each project step in the recruitment process for every client. Maintaining these strong operations helps ensure we do things correctly, systematically and consistently.

Always paying salaries and bonuses to our team when they are due is important for us. It demonstrates that we are reliable, honest and that we honor our commitments. Our team has always appreciated this in us and it does set us apart from many other companies. We have never once thought to do things in any other way than how we are now doing them.

Employees really appreciate strong operations within a company.

Employees want:

• Good CRM systems;

• Logical and clear procedures and systems; and

• To be paid as promised/outlined.

STYLE/METHODS/VALUES

“Feel the company treats clients and candidates well”…” Focus on quality service, reputation – other companies only about making money and targets – we work to please our customers first”…”Likes how Teri organized the company and its purpose, direction and structure”…

My own values are derived from a lifetime of experiences and from years of working for various employers. I have taken the good business practices and adopted them as my own, and anything bad that I witnessed or learned of, I tried to leave behind me.

It is all about customer service for me. We strive to constantly perfect everything we do within our company. Our clients, candidates and employees are crucial to our success, and so we focus our efforts on our operations: our inductions, trainings, rules, methodology, procedures, systems, databases, offices, marketing, public relations, human resources, and our management and leadership.

Customers really do feel the difference in working with us, as evidenced by continual client feedback we receive. Clients get a high-quality service when working with highly-trained recruitment Directors who understand their needs, who are helpful and who provide them with accurate and fast results. At the same time, candidates who come to us are pleasantly surprised to meet highly-trained recruitment Consultants who are respectful toward them and offer them assistance and encouragement.

I have never contemplated any other way to do it, and I sincerely feel it does set us apart in our industry.

Employees want:

• Customer– and quality service-focused employers;

• Employers who care about the reputation of the company and

• To work for companies with high standards and strong ethics.

PUBLIC RELATIONS (PR)

“PR activities are great right now – articles, conferences and events”…

Employees want to see their company, represented by its management and experts, in the media and speaking at conferences and events. It makes them feel that they, and their company, are important and instills them with pride. I can speak from experience that you really do not know how important and effective PR is to your company, and its business development activities, until you have it.

Employees want:

• Their company to be actively engaged in PR activities.

ABILITIES

“I did a very good hand over at my former company; I am good at this”…

I noted that this person inferred that they were caring and thorough, two qualities that I place value on. It is important to our business, and its success, that we have good hand-overs and hand-over procedures in place.

Employees want:

• To use their talent and experience to help the company in ways outside of their given role.

THE COMPANY/OFFICE

“I would like to be more involved in Staffwell; I love being involved in company discussions”…”Great office location”…”Corporate culture and business topic of recruitment is very interesting – listening to the team talk about the business is very interesting”…

I loved hearing that people wanted to be involved in the company as much as possible.

Employees want:

• To be more involved with the company and decisions made by the company;

• To work at a great office location;

• To work for an industry that interests them; and

• To work with people who really take an interest in what they do.

TESTIMONIALS

“Getting nice letters from clients and presents from them; all is good”…

Nothing feels quite as good as being appreciated for the good work you do. We always try to go the extra mile for our clients and it does come back to us at times in a positive way, such as in testimonials.

Employees want:

• To work for a company that makes its clients so happy that they hear about it directly from the clients themselves.