Can we actually relate Recruitment to Marketing?
Of course! You see, in marketing we are trying to sell our products to the market.
Here in recruitment, we are trying to sell our "products" which are our "jobs" to the "market" which are "candidates".
So the very same principle in marketing applies: always sell the "benefits" of the job, not the "job" itself!
In this case, you list down both the direct benefits and indirect benefits of working with you.
What are "Direct Benefits"? They are things such as remuneration package, commission, incentives, allowances and other employee welfare benefits such as holidays, leaves etc..
But the other benefits most employers miss out are the "Indirect Benefits".
These are things that are intangible but felt important by your employees, such as: supportive environment, culture, team work, fun, personal growth, significance, career advancement etc.
Most of the time, a lot of your employees weight these feeling based values (besides salary as contrary to what most people think) as equally important as if not more important than how much they can earn.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Interview Questions Template (Part 2)
As promised, here is the part 2 of the 10 questions interview system template. Enjoy :)
Q6.“Have you ever bought from any boutiques before? What kind of expectations you want from the person who serves you? Tell us first of what do you like, then what you don’t like.” (2 minutes)
Purpose: You want to set up the right attitude for working in your boutique. And also to test if this person is suitable to work in the service line.
Q7.Tell them what are your expectations for them to work here:
i.Definition of Boutique Assistant:
“Your role here is not sales promoter. Your role here is a fashion assistant—you will assist customers to dress up nicely with our fashions. That means you will need to learn about fashion, and do mix and match for the customers.”
Ask them:- (2 minutes)
a.“Do you love fashions?”
b.“Are you familiar with men fashion? Can you do mix and match?”
c.“Are you willing to learn and study fashion magazine?” (Note: This question is important to get their commitment to learn about mix and match)
ii.Willingness to fight for target:
“To know how good you are in dressing up our customers, we look at your sales.”
“Majority of your income will come from your sales commission, and basically there is no limit on your income if you are VERY GOOD at mix and match for your customers. This is because they liked your service so much they will come back to YOU.” “That’s why it is important for you to do mix and match for them”
Ask them:- (2 minutes)
a.“As I said, to know how good you are, we look at your sales. Which means you will have a Personal Sales Target and Group Sales Target every month. Are you OK with that?” (Note: If they ask you then you tell them briefly about the commission system. If no tell them only after they are employed)
Purpose: You want to LET THEM KNOW in advance they have to fight for sales target, and there is good reward for it. And the ONLY WAY to be able to achieve the target is to BE GOOD at mix and match for customers.
b.“You will be trained on how to serve customers. The way we do it here might be different from your experience, for example: we greet our customers with “Welcome!” when they walk in. Are you willing to follow our system here?”
Purpose: To let them know there will be training for them.
iii.100% responsibility on stock: (1 minute)
“As important as sales, the other aspect is on how well you take care of our stock. We will do stock count for our displayed items every day, and once a week we will do stock check on the store room and whole boutique.”
“By the way, If there are losses, we will have to compensate for them. So taking care of the stocks is very important.”
“We will show you the system we do it. Are you ok with it?”
Purpose: To let them know in advance they have to take care of the stocks and they have to compensate for losses.
iv.Explain the details of working in your boutique: (5 minutes)
a.Uniforms- what would they wear
b.Personal grooming and hygiene- hair style, finger nails
c.Light make up for ladies
d.Business hours- open from ___am to ___pm
e.Working hours for different shifts: Morning shift, noon shift and full day; and how shift is arranged per week; break time arrangement.
f.Over time
g.Commission system- basic understanding (1%, 2%, 2.5% and 3% on personal sales; 10% staff voucher for sales ≥ RM500 in a single receipt)
h.Daily routine work- briefly (what they have to do every day)
Q8.Demonstration of how they sell the fashion: (1 minute)
“Pretend I am a customer. Now, please show me how you are going to sell these two pieces to me (top and bottom). You have 1 minute.”
Q9.Ask them when is the soonest they can start work.
Q10.Shall you want to hire them, explain their basic salary (and allowance if applicable)(3 minutes)
i.“ Your basic salary is RM_________, and if you are confirmed after 3 months, your basic salary will be RM_________.”
ii.“Additionally, your allowance every month is RM________. To entitle for this allowance, you must not be late for work more than 2 times in a month.”
iii.“Your salary will be banked in by CIMB bank. Do you have a CIMB bank account?”
“Please open one if you don’t have and give us the account numbers within the first week you start work, or your first month salary will be paid by check.”
iv.“You also have to prepare two passport size photos when you come to work, together with your account numbers.”
v.“Your first week at work will be morning shift. Which means you have to come at ______am.” (Always arrange for them to start with morning shift for their first week)
So this conclude the very effective interview we use. Modify as you like.
Q6.“Have you ever bought from any boutiques before? What kind of expectations you want from the person who serves you? Tell us first of what do you like, then what you don’t like.” (2 minutes)
Purpose: You want to set up the right attitude for working in your boutique. And also to test if this person is suitable to work in the service line.
Q7.Tell them what are your expectations for them to work here:
i.Definition of Boutique Assistant:
“Your role here is not sales promoter. Your role here is a fashion assistant—you will assist customers to dress up nicely with our fashions. That means you will need to learn about fashion, and do mix and match for the customers.”
Ask them:- (2 minutes)
a.“Do you love fashions?”
b.“Are you familiar with men fashion? Can you do mix and match?”
c.“Are you willing to learn and study fashion magazine?” (Note: This question is important to get their commitment to learn about mix and match)
ii.Willingness to fight for target:
“To know how good you are in dressing up our customers, we look at your sales.”
“Majority of your income will come from your sales commission, and basically there is no limit on your income if you are VERY GOOD at mix and match for your customers. This is because they liked your service so much they will come back to YOU.” “That’s why it is important for you to do mix and match for them”
Ask them:- (2 minutes)
a.“As I said, to know how good you are, we look at your sales. Which means you will have a Personal Sales Target and Group Sales Target every month. Are you OK with that?” (Note: If they ask you then you tell them briefly about the commission system. If no tell them only after they are employed)
Purpose: You want to LET THEM KNOW in advance they have to fight for sales target, and there is good reward for it. And the ONLY WAY to be able to achieve the target is to BE GOOD at mix and match for customers.
b.“You will be trained on how to serve customers. The way we do it here might be different from your experience, for example: we greet our customers with “Welcome!” when they walk in. Are you willing to follow our system here?”
Purpose: To let them know there will be training for them.
iii.100% responsibility on stock: (1 minute)
“As important as sales, the other aspect is on how well you take care of our stock. We will do stock count for our displayed items every day, and once a week we will do stock check on the store room and whole boutique.”
“By the way, If there are losses, we will have to compensate for them. So taking care of the stocks is very important.”
“We will show you the system we do it. Are you ok with it?”
Purpose: To let them know in advance they have to take care of the stocks and they have to compensate for losses.
iv.Explain the details of working in your boutique: (5 minutes)
a.Uniforms- what would they wear
b.Personal grooming and hygiene- hair style, finger nails
c.Light make up for ladies
d.Business hours- open from ___am to ___pm
e.Working hours for different shifts: Morning shift, noon shift and full day; and how shift is arranged per week; break time arrangement.
f.Over time
g.Commission system- basic understanding (1%, 2%, 2.5% and 3% on personal sales; 10% staff voucher for sales ≥ RM500 in a single receipt)
h.Daily routine work- briefly (what they have to do every day)
Q8.Demonstration of how they sell the fashion: (1 minute)
“Pretend I am a customer. Now, please show me how you are going to sell these two pieces to me (top and bottom). You have 1 minute.”
Q9.Ask them when is the soonest they can start work.
Q10.Shall you want to hire them, explain their basic salary (and allowance if applicable)(3 minutes)
i.“ Your basic salary is RM_________, and if you are confirmed after 3 months, your basic salary will be RM_________.”
ii.“Additionally, your allowance every month is RM________. To entitle for this allowance, you must not be late for work more than 2 times in a month.”
iii.“Your salary will be banked in by CIMB bank. Do you have a CIMB bank account?”
“Please open one if you don’t have and give us the account numbers within the first week you start work, or your first month salary will be paid by check.”
iv.“You also have to prepare two passport size photos when you come to work, together with your account numbers.”
v.“Your first week at work will be morning shift. Which means you have to come at ______am.” (Always arrange for them to start with morning shift for their first week)
So this conclude the very effective interview we use. Modify as you like.
Interview Questons Template (Part 1)
Asking your candidates the right questions is very important.
The questions you ask them determine how much information you can uncover from them.
Here is a step by step "10 interview questions" template we use to hire quality boutique assistants. You can customize it appropriately for your own use.
The strategies and objectives behind each questions are well explained and carefully laid out for you. Enjoy :)
Q1.Please tell us a little bit about yourself. Please do not stop until a full minute. (1 minute)
Purpose of this question: i. To see if this person is able to communicate and connect with people, especially customers. ii. To see how confident and how well they present themselves, you MUST ASK them to go on if they stop before 1 full minute.
Q2.Why do you come to interview for this job, out of so many other jobs? (1 minute)
Purpose: You want to see if they have interest working in your place or just passing by.
Q3.i. “Please tell us why you leave your previous jobs.” (2minutes) (Looking at their forms and ask them one by one of their previous jobs)
ii. If they have no job experience, ask them if they have any experience working as part-time. (Leave it if they do not have any job experience at all)
Purpose: To find out if they have any hidden agendas why they left their previous jobs, and if they enjoyed their work.
Q4.“Please tell us about your experience working in Fashion Retail environment. What did you learn from there? You have 2 minutes.” (2 minutes) (If they have no experience working in fashion retail, ask them what they learnt from their other jobs)
Purpose: The idea here is to let them do the talking instead of you, so you can listen and find out:-
i. How much this person had learnt from his (her) previous job? (Note: Years of working ≠ amount of learning. You want someone who is a good learner so they can still grow.
ii. How capable is this person in handling his (her) jobs? (Note: If they can’t tell you much, simply means they were not putting in much effort into their works. Make sense?)
Q5.“Please tell us what you think are the main duties of working as a Boutique Assistant.” (1 minute)
(Don’t tell your answers, let them answer you first)
Purpose of this question: You want to know a few things about this person:-
i. Is this a person with good working attitude?
ii. Does this person understand his (her) job?
iii. Is this person willing to fight for sales?
* And most importantly, you want to open up their minds so later you can set up their expectations of what they are supposed to do if they are employed.
Ok, here is part 1 of the 10 questions interview system template. Look out for the sequel in the next post.
The questions you ask them determine how much information you can uncover from them.
Here is a step by step "10 interview questions" template we use to hire quality boutique assistants. You can customize it appropriately for your own use.
The strategies and objectives behind each questions are well explained and carefully laid out for you. Enjoy :)
Q1.Please tell us a little bit about yourself. Please do not stop until a full minute. (1 minute)
Purpose of this question: i. To see if this person is able to communicate and connect with people, especially customers. ii. To see how confident and how well they present themselves, you MUST ASK them to go on if they stop before 1 full minute.
Q2.Why do you come to interview for this job, out of so many other jobs? (1 minute)
Purpose: You want to see if they have interest working in your place or just passing by.
Q3.i. “Please tell us why you leave your previous jobs.” (2minutes) (Looking at their forms and ask them one by one of their previous jobs)
ii. If they have no job experience, ask them if they have any experience working as part-time. (Leave it if they do not have any job experience at all)
Purpose: To find out if they have any hidden agendas why they left their previous jobs, and if they enjoyed their work.
Q4.“Please tell us about your experience working in Fashion Retail environment. What did you learn from there? You have 2 minutes.” (2 minutes) (If they have no experience working in fashion retail, ask them what they learnt from their other jobs)
Purpose: The idea here is to let them do the talking instead of you, so you can listen and find out:-
i. How much this person had learnt from his (her) previous job? (Note: Years of working ≠ amount of learning. You want someone who is a good learner so they can still grow.
ii. How capable is this person in handling his (her) jobs? (Note: If they can’t tell you much, simply means they were not putting in much effort into their works. Make sense?)
Q5.“Please tell us what you think are the main duties of working as a Boutique Assistant.” (1 minute)
(Don’t tell your answers, let them answer you first)
Purpose of this question: You want to know a few things about this person:-
i. Is this a person with good working attitude?
ii. Does this person understand his (her) job?
iii. Is this person willing to fight for sales?
* And most importantly, you want to open up their minds so later you can set up their expectations of what they are supposed to do if they are employed.
Ok, here is part 1 of the 10 questions interview system template. Look out for the sequel in the next post.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
How to interview candidates so you know they are the right fit for the jobs
One of the common mistakes when comes to hiring is the interviewer does not spend enough time on the interviewing process.
So how much time should you spend on every interview session?
Well, it depends how important is that position you are trying to hire. As a rule of thumb, the more important a particular position is (such as managerial position), the more time you should spend on understanding the person.
It is always good to involve other interviewers besides you at the interview. Why?
Because we tend to have bias and personal preferences in hiring. A second opinion will give you a clearer view of the candidates' compatibility and potential flaws, which is usually not obvious until they come on board.
We encourage our clients to run second interview for more important vacancies. Not only this will give you a second evaluation on the candidates, it actually makes the interviewees appreciate the jobs even more compare to one time interview.
For more tips on hiring, check out the other posts on my blog.
So how much time should you spend on every interview session?
Well, it depends how important is that position you are trying to hire. As a rule of thumb, the more important a particular position is (such as managerial position), the more time you should spend on understanding the person.
It is always good to involve other interviewers besides you at the interview. Why?
Because we tend to have bias and personal preferences in hiring. A second opinion will give you a clearer view of the candidates' compatibility and potential flaws, which is usually not obvious until they come on board.
We encourage our clients to run second interview for more important vacancies. Not only this will give you a second evaluation on the candidates, it actually makes the interviewees appreciate the jobs even more compare to one time interview.
For more tips on hiring, check out the other posts on my blog.
Recruitment ad template
Here is one of the easiest but very effective templates for recruitment ad:
Your Sub Head Line: Attention! [Insert Here Type of People, eg: Ambitious Sales Person]
Your Headline: Do You Want To [Insert Here Major Benefit, eg: Make 30K Per Month Selling Award Winning Household Products]?
Your Content:
Paragraph 1- background of your companies, such as industry, years of establishment, location, awards or track record etc.
Paragraph 2- details about the vacancy you are offering, such as job functions, main duties, location of work etc.
Paragraph 3- criteria of the candidate you want, such as experience, skill sets, academic qualifications, attitude, mindset etc.
Paragraph 4- the benefits of this job, such as salary package, rewards, employee benefits, and other indirect benefits like working environment etc.
Paragraph 5- what type of people you don't them to apply, such as not able to fulfill sales target, unable to travel, work under pressure etc.
Call to action:
How to apply, write in or call for phone interview? Give them the specific dates and time to do so.
Footer: Your company logo or company name, with the mailing address and email address, and contact person name.
Your Sub Head Line: Attention! [Insert Here Type of People, eg: Ambitious Sales Person]
Your Headline: Do You Want To [Insert Here Major Benefit, eg: Make 30K Per Month Selling Award Winning Household Products]?
Your Content:
Paragraph 1- background of your companies, such as industry, years of establishment, location, awards or track record etc.
Paragraph 2- details about the vacancy you are offering, such as job functions, main duties, location of work etc.
Paragraph 3- criteria of the candidate you want, such as experience, skill sets, academic qualifications, attitude, mindset etc.
Paragraph 4- the benefits of this job, such as salary package, rewards, employee benefits, and other indirect benefits like working environment etc.
Paragraph 5- what type of people you don't them to apply, such as not able to fulfill sales target, unable to travel, work under pressure etc.
Call to action:
How to apply, write in or call for phone interview? Give them the specific dates and time to do so.
Footer: Your company logo or company name, with the mailing address and email address, and contact person name.
Example 2 of a good recruitment ad
This another example which uses long copywriting technic.
It clearly shows what type of candidate the employer wants for the job, and it clearly sells the both direct and indirect benefits of working with this company. Good ad!
Example 1 of a good recruitment ad
Here is one of the most effective advertisement we did for our client.
It helps you to attract ONLY the "Sales Superstars" to apply for your job. By just having a Super Sales Person like this on your team can easily bring 20%, 50% or more to your sales revenue.
Why can't we recruit the "right" people on our team?
First off, if you don't get the right people you want to come for your interview, first thing you want to check is your recruitment advertisement.
Here are some common mistakes when you write your ad:
1. Does your ad stand out among other recruitment ads?
2. Does it have a strong headline?
3. Have you clearly stated the criteria of the right candidate for this job?
4. Does your ad sell the benefits of this job or benefits of working with you?
5. Do you include what kind of person NEED NOT apply for this job?
For examples of a good recruitment ad, see here..
Here are some common mistakes when you write your ad:
1. Does your ad stand out among other recruitment ads?
2. Does it have a strong headline?
3. Have you clearly stated the criteria of the right candidate for this job?
4. Does your ad sell the benefits of this job or benefits of working with you?
5. Do you include what kind of person NEED NOT apply for this job?
For examples of a good recruitment ad, see here..
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