With an influx of graduates now hitting the employment market, having some good quality work experience can make a big difference to a graduate ultimately finding employment.

But ask yourself, does your organisation offer a well-rounded intern experience?

Interns can offer great value to an organisation by bringing a fresh perspective and are accustomed to learning, researching, writing and producing work to a deadline. As an employer you can gain assistance and support for projects that you might not otherwise have had the resources to complete. But often employers feel that the time taken organising and overseeing an intern’s day to day schedule often outweighs the benefits they bring.

So how can you effectively manage your interns to benefit both parties?

1. Hire the best. Your recruitment process for interns should be no different to how you recruit employees. Look for interns that have the skillsets you need and are a good fit with your culture.
2. Project plan. If you have a specific project or series of tasks that you’d like your intern to work on, make sure you document the project and tasks associated with it. During your initial briefing with your intern, you can go through the plan together and refer back to it at the beginning of each day. That way the intern understands the bigger picture goals and will assist you in working towards it. By having a plan at the beginning of the internship, you’ll avoid scrambling each day to try and find something for your intern to work on.
3. Full time vs. Part Time. Are you wondering whether you have enough time to manage an intern full time? Often interns have part time employment and other commitments, so it could be that part time or casual hours suits you both better than full time.
4. Development Opportunities. Remember your intern is there to learn about your industry. Invite them to team meetings, company social events and conferences to give them a taste of what working in your organisation is like for a staff member.
5. One key contact. Assign one member of your staff to be responsible for the intern’s daily progress and development. Your intern needs a single point of contact as well as that all important social team environment. Encourage regular meetings, goals and guidance for your intern so you can track their progress and recognise the contribution they have made to the project/organisation.

Having an intern in your organisation doesn’t have to be a drain on your resources, and through a little bit of planning both the intern and your organisation re-coup the benefits.

As the silly season approaches, we’re often asked if this time of year is effective for recruitment advertising campaigns.

With 10 years in the recruitment industry and working with big name clients like Sullivan Nicolaides, KFC Queensland & Centacare, Sales Manager Tina Rooke understands the uncertainty the holiday season brings.

So is what is the job market like over the Christmas Period?

“This time of year brings a lot of movement in the job market based on a number of factors. Time off over Christmas gives candidates a chance to review the year that was and the New Year often prompts candidates to consider a new career,” Ms Rooke said.

What kind of people should I target?

“Whether you are looking to hire professionals or support staff, it’s essential your Christmas recruitment is tailored to the right people,” Ms Rooke said.

“Often these jobseekers are passive candidates, so an effective passive strategy including print advertising and sites like Linkedin is usually more successful.”

Is interviewing people during holidays more difficult?

“Your chosen candidate is often not working over December and the start of January, so it’s a great time to set up an interview,” Ms Rooke said.

“Not only do they have a lot of free time on their hands, as they don’t have to arrange around current employment schedules, they often spend a lot of time networking with friends and family.”

“It can be a great time to meet up with company referrals over drinks, or just connect with potential contacts on Linkedin,” she said.

What other benefits are there with advertising over Christmas?

“Advertising over the Christmas period is often underrated, with many candidates feeling the pre-New Year depression starting to set in as the thought of returning to their disliked job in January looms.”

“Your candidates won’t turn down the perfect role, just because it’s Christmas,” Ms Rooke said.

“Often a new job offer, or at least a potential interview, can brighten their day and be just the Christmas present they are looking for – especially with all the penny pinching that goes on at this time of year.”

“Returning to your company in the New Year with a quality talent pool of candidates after getting a jump on the rest of the recruiters is always a nice Christmas bonus too,” she said.

The Christmas and New Year holiday period is fast approaching and most Recruitment or Human Resources teams around Australia are currently looking forward to taking a break from writing vacancy advertisements, poring over resumes, conducting interviews and phoning referees.  It’s an understandable sentiment – these duties can be time consuming and often fruitless, leaving you right where you were when you began the process.  But you should ask yourself, is the Christmas and New Year holiday period your perfect opportunity to fill that vacancy you’ve struggled with over the past few months?

Consider this: according to research conducted by the independent market research agency 72point, nearly 40% of the UK’s working population plan to spend time over the Christmas and New Year holidays to look for new positions and further their career.  While this might not seem relevant to the Australian market, trends in Australia generally follow or closely resemble their UK counterparts.  If the theory holds, that means nearly 5 million Australians will be looking for a new employer over the holidays.

If this sounds unlikely, consider the following sentiments you’ve probably held yourself at one time or another:

• “This year will be better than the last.” New Year’s resolutions are made by millions of people every year with the goal of bettering themselves, be it financially, physically, socially or psychologically.  A career change or taking a new position with a rival employer offering a better benefits package satisfies the desire better oneself in the New Year.
• “I’ve finally got enough time and the privacy I need to safely browse for a new job.” While retail or hospitality workers are unlikely to have a significant amount of time off over the Holiday period, in general, most businesses will be closed for a week or two over the Holidays.  It would be naïve to think that your employees will spend all of this extended time away from the office at barbecues with friends and family.
• “I wish I had more money to spend on presents for my family” Families are often strained financially over the holidays and what better way to increase your financial security than to look for a new job?  With bank accounts dangerously low, many people will start looking a new job that offers more financial security.

This is the reason why you should push aside your instincts to start wrapping up around the office and begin a recruitment campaign, especially if you’ve had a tough vacancy you’ve been struggling with.

If you’ve been looking forward to winding up your recruitment operations and starting fresh early in January, it’s highly likely your competitors are thinking the same thing. Take advantage of their absence in the market to recruit for that difficult role or to sure up your workforce with some new recruits.

If you’re concerned about undertaking a labour intensive recruitment campaign over the holidays, it’s a great time to take advantage of Employment Office’s unique recruitment service.  We’ll build your custom recruitment web page and integrated online application form. Our team of experienced and professional copywriters will write the content and deploy all of your advertising and you’ll be able to quickly and easily manage your candidates through our exclusive user friendly candidate management system, SCOUT.

Don’t spend the new year wondering about the one that got away, let Employment Office professionally manage your recruitment campaign over the holidays and start 2013 off the right way – with all of your vacancies filled!

Smartphone and mobile tablet technology has grown exponentially over the previous five years both in terms of technology and usage.  It’s highly likely that you’re currently reading this article on your phone or tablet but if you aren’t, you’ve probably used your phone or tablet recently to check your email or browse the web.

With the rapid uptake in mobile usage, how then can you best harness this technology for your recruitment process?  This article will offer a glimpse at some of the more eye opening statistics relating to mobile usage in the past and forecast for the future as well as statistical information regarding mobile usage for recruitment in Australia.  It will also offer solutions to mobile optimisation that are cost effective ensuring that you aren’t inadvertently cutting a large portion of your potential talent pool.

The changing digital landscape

How quickly is the digital environment changing?  According to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index, global mobile data traffic has more than doubled four years in row – the amount of mobile data traffic in 2011 was eight times the size of the entire internet in 2000.  Smartphone usage tripled in 2011 and the number of mobile tablets in the market nearly tripled as well with 34 million units using nearly a 500MB every month.  This year, Cisco has forecasted that over 100 million mobile users will surpass 1 gigabyte of traffic per month and the number of mobile connected devices will exceed the world’s population.

Of course you’re probably thinking, “these statistics are concerned with general mobile usage and recruitment must only occupy a small percentage of mobile usage”, but that isn’t the case.  According to data recently collected by Seek, job seeker behaviour is changing at an equally rapid pace.   Currently 30% of visits to the Seek website are via mobile device which is up 230% over the last 12 months and is projected to increase two percentage points per month over the next two years.  Mobile browsing behaviour mimics traditional desktop or laptop browsing and “browsing job vacancies” is one the top five activities for mobile device users.  Applicants aren’t just browsing job listings either, they are completing the entire application process (as long as the advertisements are mobile optimised).

How can Employment Office help your business adapt to mobile technology?

There are problems with mobile candidate applications if you aren’t properly equipped to manage the process.  One of the most common problems associated with mobile applications is that your advertisements aren’t mobile optimised and therefore are difficult to read or even inaccessible to candidates browsing via mobile devices.  Another major problem that can arise is that the traditional method of application requires a resume and covering letter which aren’t available on a mobile device.

One way in which you could address these problems is through Employment Office’s mobile optimised application process.  With a dedicated team of recruitment advertising specialists, Employment Office is at the forefront of mobile recruitment process in Australia.  The EO team will write and deploy your advertising ensuring that it has been optimised for mobile viewing.  Additionally, EO will create a mobile optimised online application form for your business that incorporates a series of screening questions created in consultation with you.  By requiring candidates to answer the questions that you need to know, you can bypass the resume and cover letter completely or move it to a later stage in your recruitment process.

Of course, Employment Office can also assist you with customised Recruitment Apps developed for Android and IOS as well as QR Code placement for print advertising which can eliminate the human error of writing down URLs or phone numbers.  If you’re interested in a mobile app solution and would like to see an example, you can search Apple’s App Store for “City of Newcastle Careers” and download the free app Employment Office created to connect on-the-go job seekers with Newcastle City Council’s careers portal.

Mobile optimisation for recruitment doesn’t have to be a time consuming or expensive process.  Employment Office can build your branded online application form and deploy your advertising, all optimised for mobile browsing, for just $995 plus discounted advertising!

Bullying attracts its fair share of public interest and controversy. A staggering three quarters of employees have been the victim of workplace bullying at some point in their careers, ranging from intimidation and verbal abuse to discrimination. With the advent of social media, such behaviour is increasingly being played out in a very public arena. Recently, a fierce twitter bullying campaign by what is described on twitter as “trolls” provoked the hospitalisation of the victim, Charlotte Dawson. In another case, a Tasmanian woman’s online torment turned to real-life confrontation when a group of people involved in Facebook abuse towards her turned up at her workplace. As such, social media is increasingly becoming a medium for workplace bullying, potentially damaging both individual and corporate reputations. But what does this mean for employers?

A recent poll conducted by nation-wide recruitment marketing firm Employment Office has found despite the growing incidence of workplace harassment, including incidents derived from social media, employers don’t seem to be getting any better at handling it, with over half the employees surveyed stating their workplace does not manage bullying incidents effectively.

However, Tudor Marsden-Huggins, Managing Director of Employment Office, says “In these days of social media and personal broadcasting, if a company develops a reputation for having a dysfunctional corporate culture, it can stay with them for years. This makes the recruitment of quality candidates will be much more difficult, time-consuming and expensive.”

In the age of social media. employers need to appreciate that just because the conduct occurs in cyberspace it does not mean that it cannot be monitored or that action for inappropriate behaviour cannot be taken. The consequences are dire for the employer because of the well-established principle that employers can be vicariously liable for the conduct of their employees, as long as that conduct was engaged in at work or in connection with their duties. If the conduct occurs in cyberspace it does not mean that it will be separate to the employment relationship, particularly where the intention might be to harass a fellow employee.

Marsden-Huggins notes that, “If employers do not have policies for appropriate behaviour that extend to the use of social media then it will be difficult to argue that your company has taken all reasonable precautions to prevent the offending behaviour. Workplaces that allow, support or encourage the use of social media should ensure strict guidelines and policies are in place and communicated clearly and regularly to all employees.”

In order to prevent bullying from affecting your workplace, Marsden-Huggins suggests, “It’s important that an employee has a clear way to bring complaints forward to be treated in a fair and unbiased manner. By the same token, it’s crucial to treat the alleged bully with respect and use collaborative approaches instead of adversarial approaches to resolve differences. It’s also a good idea to be proactive and perhaps arrange a workshop to educate employees on workplace bullying and harassment,” he said.

Implementing a policy reform that includes social media usage would reap a huge dividend by saving lost productivity costs and improving the quality of our work environment. Workplace experts say that if bullies are not dealt with appropriately, low productivity, absenteeism and even physical illness can eventually seep through into the company’s brand name, goodwill and bottom line.