Category: Candidate/recruiter

You have finally landed the job of your dreams? Now it is time to start your first day in your new job. This step is not always an easy one considering the fact that you are getting into a new world. But how do we actually have a successful first day of work at a new workplace? We will tell you everything right here…

1- Meet those you will be directly or indirectly interacting with…

When a new co-worker comes in, it is common for him to meet new acquaintances and be introduced to people he will be working with as a way of getting him integrated. If you want to have a successful first day of work use that opportunity to meet with people around you. They could help you understand the history of the company, the current situation of the company so you quickly fit in and have a better first day. Such an approach will help you know and understand easier your work environment (the organization chart, the intranet, the business report, press articles…) use the coffee breaks to interact with people about different topics in a less formal way and enlarge your circle of professionals. A smile will definitely help breaking the ice and create new work relationships.

2-Immerse yourself in the activities of the other services of the company

After you have had met with your colleagues and or co-workers, you must take the time to know about the activities of the different services of your new workplace. You must get closer to the services which you will be in direct contact with so you know more about their activities, their missions, ther goals and their way of operating. However, you must expand your circle outside of the services you will be in direct contact with and get to know services that are distant to your new work. This will help make your first day go easier and will give you a broad idea of the company. This initiative is very important knowing that one day you might have to work with services that are distant to your main activity.

3- try to quickly integrate the values of the company

There is no business, no organization not company that does not have its own values. In the world of work it is commonly known as corporate culture. It refers to the identity of the company, an identity that for the sake of a good integration you are going to embrace fully or partly. Quickly integrating the values of the company helps you easily find your place in the company on one side and also build up your proud feeling of belonging. If you have that feeling of completely fitting in and integrating the values of the company, then it will transpire in your work which will be of better quality and wil meet with the expectations of your new employer.

4-Know the validation circuit of your actions

You can’t successfully complete your assigned projects if you are not able to know the validation circuit of your new workplace. Obviously you will need to find out who is part of the building of the project? How does he organise his decision making process? Who has the last word on the final decision? Who will be impacted? What services need to be informed?
If you don’t have the answer to those questions, there are little chances for your project to be accepted because the good planning of an activity depends on the people you will present it to and their promptness. Taking those elements into consideration will allow you to have a better integration in your new job and will help you get the trust of your colleagues or coworkers. Therefore, you will be able to take actions that would be more efficient.

5- Be curious, ask questions…

Asking questions does not mean that you have no skills. Quite to the contrary, you can’t know about anything especially knowing that you have just started this new job in a job company. To be quickly up and running you must not hesitate to ask for help and ask questions. Be someone who always ask questions. Don’t be satisfied with what you already know. Acquire as mush information as possible. Be curious… Your manager will see it as proof of your interest in evolving and integrating better.

You are peacefully surfing on the internet, when suddenly you come upon a job offer that perfectly match with you ambitions. Do not rush into it before taking the time to go through some investigations. It is even more necessary considering the fact that before the interview, after your cover letter has been sent, the people you will speak with must have already had an idea about who you are, your skills and what made you apply for that particular job. They should be under the impression that you know about the company and why not know about their line of business. For that to happen, you must do some investigation prior to sending your application.

When you apply for a job, you should know the line of business of the job you are applying for. That includes knowing about the recent or upcoming changes, about the company’s strategy and recent results, the corporate identity.you should be able to know if it’s a family business or a multinational. For example if you apply for a job in a telecommunications, you should be able to hold a conversation about the telecoms market, its development and current situation, the challenges that come with the sector and how is the company you have your eyes on handling its self in that specific market.

Knowing about those different informations is not something complicated, what we mean by that is that it is possible to do some investigation about the company on their website, it’s actually a gold mine of informations. You could probably find out information about the financial and economical situation of a company only by browsing their website. Indeed, if you visit a company’s recent job posting on their website, you might have an idea of their financial health and indirectly know if they will be able to hire you. In the “contact” section, you can have some information about the organization chart of the company,who to contact and in what department.

All the informations you have been able to collect form here and there will be very useful to you when you try to convince the person you will have in front you during the interview process, of your motivation. However, during the interview, you should avoid reciting the data you learned by heart like a robot just so you can show off. This method is counterproductive. During your interview, you should therefore use the collected information to have a reflection and a discussion with the person you will be speaking to in an intelligent manner, so they can find out more about you, your motivation and your interest in the company and in its line of business.

Before an interview, frequently visiting websites that draw a list of the actualities of the sector and of the content that companies publish, could only do you good. Either way, it will never be a lost for you to show your interest for the company and for the job that they are offering, in order to increase your chances of convincing the other person during an interview without acting as the smart guy.

When it comes to promotion, do you happen to feel left out despite all the efforts you make? It can definitely frustrate you or have an impact on your ego to some extent. And yet opportunities to rise through the ranks do present themselves. However, it is up to you to grab them should you know how to do it. In this article, we will tell you everything you need to know about how to maximize your chances of getting a promotion.

1. Be the first to come and the last to leave…

If there is one behavior that can really win the heart of your employer, it is being the first to come and the last to leave the workplace. For the company, that type of conduct is proof of commitment and investment. Managers give value to those efforts and appreciate them a lot. As an employee, you will gain more money when they pay you the additional hours. When there is an opportunity for promotion, your boss will remember you.

2. Develop your network relationships

When you are in a company, avoid closing in on yourself. Be opened in your work environment. It will help you develop your network of relationships and acquaintances. That network will show out your skills all over the company and get you a lot of support if a promotion was to happen.

3. Polish your acquaintances and your skills

Needless to say that the criterion that will determine the choice of the manager are in majority related to skills and abilities. In order to maximize your chances of getting a promotion in a company, you must never stop acquiring knowledge. It is obvious that your direct manager will notice all the efforts you would make in that department. Trainings, whether in targeted courses or leading to a diploma, are key elements to improve your career. There are online classes that have been quite popular these last years, that could help you deal with time related issues.

4. Understand the expectations of the manager

To increase your chances of getting a promotion in your place of work, it is crucial for you to try a little bit to know about the expectations of your manager or of your company. It will help you meet with their needs in a relevant way, consequently you will be noticed and that will set you aside from the others. To successfully do that, be curious and show interest in what is going on in the company, also, do not hesitate to initiate a meaningful conversation with your boss.

5. Be well informed of the duties and mission of the job position

Once you have spotted the job you wanted, now it is time to take the time to fully understand the requirements and the expectations of that specific job. You must also make sure you know about the obligations and the responsibilities of the position you are currently holding. Such an initiative will allow you to develop the required skills and hone them in order to reach your goal easily. If there had to be a promotion, it would be impossible for your boss to feel indifferent about that.

6.Enjoy working

If as a worker, you are unsatisfied or unhappy, you must certainly be someone who always complains about everything. You will not feel like developing innovating ideas or offering productive projects. Therefore, it is very important to enjoy working in the company and to handle all the work assigned to your position in order to successfully accomplish your career plans. You boss will be very happy to witness your entrepreneurship initiatives. To conclude, in order to succeed in getting a promotion and seriously move on on your career plan, you need to take certain steps and initiatives with satisfying and conclusive results that would be good enough to convince your employer.

Nowadays in Africa, many companies, issues with recruitment have become an undeniable reality.
That is, at least what the indicator Bpifrance has suggested. According to Bpifrance, 83% of SME and middle market companies are suffering from recruitment related issues. Even worse, 72% of them have experienced a constraint on their development because of that situation. Consequently, some jobs within the human resources profession are increasingly sought for. But which ones? Find some answers in the following…

Recruiting manager

Despite an ideal existing job market that makes it easier for candidates with good profiles to find a job, it still remains difficult for companies to find the good profiles that are necessary to the efficient running of their company. The reason behind this situation is the fact that the level of expectation companies have is very high and there are not that many available good candidates. It is therefore necessary to look over tons of resumés in order to find the perfect ones. This is why recruiting managers have a strategic role to play in facing the challenging that come with finding the talents. Moreover with the digitalization of certain professions, the employee’s skills will evolve, and the recruiting manager will have to take new criterion in consideration like soft skills, to select candidates.

Payroll administrator

Unlike others professions, payroll administrator has not been affected by the 2009 crise. This type of profile is getting more and more rare in the market in the sense that it does not appeal to candidates. Payroll administrators have set their sights on HR development professions even more. Even better, former accountants who used to be attracted by that career are getting rare now. Despite what people think of this job, payroll administrators must possess good people skills.

Social work lawyer

A social work lawyer is someone who is crucial to the company. He supports the HRD in all staff meeting bodies and social partners related matters. This specialist is in a way a guardian in labour laws in an individual or collective scale. He is the direct contact of union representatives. In addition to his legal expertise he can also act as the human resource. This is the reason why he is rated 3 at the highest salary jobs for people with five years experience. According to PageGroup 2020 study on salary compensation, at least. If he possesses a degree in social rights, he is more likely to have a gross salary ranging between 65 000 and 75 000 euros a year.

HR assistant

This new trend that makes HR assistant profiles very popular is a golden pot for young human resources graduates because this profession is a real springboard for all young professionals willing to have a career in that department. He would be happy to be considered as one of the most wanted profiles in 2020. « The more the companies hire people the more they have to prepare work contracts, plan training registration… In order to reduce the work loads within the administration, companies do not hesitate to hire HR assistants that are multipurposes employees on study training programs » says the Page Personnel HR expert. It is true that the level of responsibility is not very high but the variety of tasks performed related to it, offers plenty of experiences for juniors who want to have more training.

In times of war of talents, recruiters really put themselves inside the HR profession. Resume sourcing, psychologue, as well as human ressources experts all occupy strategic professions that consist of finding the perfect talent for the company. Obviously, it is not an easy task to handle. The recruitement specialist will need to make the right moves to succesfully achieve his mission. But what actually are those right moves? In the following we will go over some examples of good practices.

Be curious

Being curious is certainly an important asset for a recruiter. He will not solely rely on what the candidate is nice enough to tell him without trying to find out more about his true intentions. That makes even more sense considering the fact that the goal of the recruiter is to find the perfect candidate in terms of technical skills and also soft skills. However, a good recruiter does not only focus on the profile of the candidates but also on the ongoing trends within the recuitement profession.
The internet also offers tones of information for the recruiter to effectively do his job. Information about the job position, the company, the competition, the job market, the new sourcing techniques and the last hiring trends. If he looks deep into those information, he will develop his everyday practices.

Succesfully handle pre-qualifications phone calls…

Pre-qualifications phone calls are an essential step in the recruitement process.
During that crucial step, the recruiter will work on getting the candidate to talk about his search criterion and that before even giving him information about the actual job. This process will allow the recruiter to know more about the real intentions of the candidate without giving him a floor to adjust his speech. This way, pre-qualifications phone calls allow to pre-screen the candidates and sort out the unskilled and unmotivated ones. It is an excellent way to bring the light on the true potentials of the candidates and the different experiences they had throughout their working careers. Once that first process is done, now is time for the recruiter to present the job offered in the most professional and transparent way, because giving the candidate all the information about the advantages and the disadvantages of the job will help create a trust-based relationship between him and the recruiter. Therefore, it will allow them to start their work collaboration in good terms.

Well organise the interviews

The job interview is probably the most important step of the hiring process because it allows to go from virtual to real and have a clear idea of the candidate. For that reason, it is crucial to well prepare it. In order to do that, the recruiter must go through every detail of the resume prior to the interview to have a quick view of the work history of the candidate with its consistency and inconsistency. A well prepared interview also helps being ojective while rating each and every candidate with all their strenghts and weakneses. It is only during that time that the recruiter can actually find the perfect candidates. Finally it is important to say that, when you offer a structured interview, it puts the candidate in ease because it will give him a good impression of the company and the fact that it takes things seriously.

Be attentive…

Listening skills are essential for a recruiter. He must be able to listen carefully to the candidate because there is just no point in only talking about how great the position is. He must be attentive to the candidate in order to know exactly what he is looking for and what his expectations are. Moreover, it is obvious that the more a recruiter will speak the less the candidate will express consequently the less the information the recruiter will collect to rate the relevance of the application.

When it comes to the resume, one of the questions that raises the most interest is whether to write a chronological resume or a functional one? It is actually something young job seekers usually struggle with and that represents a great source of stress when the time comes for them to write their resume for the first time. How do we come to decide which option is the best among those two? Find out more in the following.

Good things about a chronological resume…

First of all, it is difficult to decide on which one offers more advantages. A chronological resume, as its name suggests, is good for presenting the different work history of the candidate in a chronological order. It is important to know that when you write a chronological resume, you must present it, starting with the most recent job down to the earliest. You do that because the recruiter is more interested in your most recent experience. Also, If your chronological resume attracts a lot of recruiters it is because it has the ability of presenting the whole work history of a person with great clarity. This type of resume is very useful when you want to show to the recruiter that in terms of unjustified lapses in employment, short time in companies etc you have nothing to hide. Chronological resumes are the best choices when you want to put your career path forward.

The good things about a functional resume…

From the way things look, it appears as a chronological resume is more popular than a functional one, however functional resume do offer some advantages in many levels.  In many cases actually It would be better to use it. Contrary to the chronological resume, a functional resume is not focused on the work history of the candidate. It would be more than needed to bring some changes to the “professional experience” section, by not taking the dates in consideration but rather focus on the skills of the candidate. The writing process of that type of resume is not easy to do because you would need to have a clear vision of your career path, to the specific skills that have been put in use for the specific jobs, and your career plan. It would be recommended to use it in two possible situations. If the candidate has too much of a long and vast professional experience to put them all on a chronological resume. If the candidate has done multiple temporary jobs, it would also be wise to have a functional resume because going through each and every job could end up being exhausting. Also, using a functional resume could be suggested for people who don’t want to expose some of the work experiences that they find negative whether it is true or not: lapses in employment, too many changes of companies, having jobs that are less glorious than the ones before at one point of their career, etc. One should know however that a functional resume also has a drawback. Indeed, it could raise suspicions because the recruiter could end up wondering what the candidate really wanted to hide. For that reason, most recruiters like the chronological resume better.

Giving a good impression to the recruiter during the more than important process of a job interview is one of the biggest challenge of a candidate. The first impression of the recruiter is crucial because it has a direct impact on the final decision.
Beyond some basic rules like coming on time, wearing decent clothes, avoiding a language that is too familiar, it is also very important to avoid certain slips of the tongue. In order to do that, the following sentences are to ban during a job interview.

“I could not stand my former manager”…

If you and you former boss were not friends, you can mention it, but when you talk about it, do not let any type of anger transpire. Don’t use aggressive words during an interview. It could cost you a lot, because, of course, what you say might not resonate well on the ears of the employer as he could identify himself as your former boss. Be vague and put your emotions on the side.

“No, I don’t have any question.”

At the end of the interview, it is quite common for the recruiter to ask to the candidate if he has any question or if he would like to have any more clarifications on something. Do not let that opportunity to have a discussion go, especially knowing that recruiters really appreciate it as they want to check if you have a real interest in the job position or the company. Use that moment to show your motivation and your desire to work with your future employer. In that very moment, saying that you don’t have any question could be seen as proof of a lack of interest or commitment.

“I don’t have any weakness”

One of the most common question to ask , and that is something very popular among recruiters is “what are your weaknesses”? Giving an objective answer to such a question seems hard to do, because nobody wants to show his worse sides. The goal of the recruiter is to see how you talk about yourself. He will therefore focus more on how you say things, your overall consistency, rather than what you really say. As a consequence, do not ever say “I don’t have any weakness”. Preferably, try to talk about a weakness that never had an impact on your job.

“I already booked my vacations”

It might occur that your vacation date or any other trip you wanted to take, coincided with the day you were supposed to start your new job. Try not to mention it during the job interview because it could make them think that you have demands before even having the opportunity to show your skills. It is better to wait until the hiring process is almost done before you talk about it.

“How soon will I get a promotion?”

You can’t ask that question either because it could give the impression that you have no patient and want to rush into things. You can however ask the recruiter about career development opportunities within the company in the short and long term. It will show that you want to go a long way with the company.

In addition to the classical job search tools, nowadays, social media have become an essential tool for job search. From LinkedIn, Viadeo , to Facebook and Twitter, it is important for candidates looking for jobs to know what to use and how to use it. Find the answer below…

What type of social network for what type of job?

The majority of job searchers are storming into the social media to have more visibility and know about all the existing job opportunities. In this internet era that we are living in, it is now possible to apply for jobs, create alerts and quickly respond to offers. This alternatives really pays off knowing that a lot of job offers are available on social media.

For a job candidate, it is important to have a well put together profile, meaning a well-referenced one. Social media also allow candidates to develop their network of contacts in order to increase the visibility of their job applications. Recruiters have became closer to candidates thanks to social media. Even though it might seem like all social media are the same in terms of having broad job offers, they do differ however on some levels.

When it comes to Linkedln for example, it mostly conveys executives or senior executives profiles on a national or international level. In Viadeo, there are more executives and non-executives profiles on a national level.  Finally, Facebook, Twitter have more like an aggressive approach to the job market. Therefore, on Facebook, lots of job groups have emerged this last year in which a lot of jobs have been published for fresh graduates with little or no qualifications. Executives and non-executives are also very important on Twitter. That is, at least what Ana Fernandez, author of “10 steps on using internet and social media to find a job”.

Should we use many social media or only focus on 2?

When you are looking for a job, the idea is to maximize your chances by applying on jobs on more general job website, specific ones and on social media. Having a variety of job search platforms is of course a very good solution to increase the chances of being contacted or being put in contact with the wanted recruiter. Recruiters can, in fact have a high level of commitment or motivation.

For example, it wouldn’t be a bad idea when you are applying to an employer’s offer to do it via the website where you found the job in the first place (jobboard or social media), send your job application on the website of the company where you will usually find the same job posting,  find the name of the HRD and send it to him directly. All those tips will only contribute to showing how motivated you are to get in a company.

What to avoid when looking for a job in social media

Whether you like it or not, in a way, social media portrays a certain image of you that could encourage or discourage a recruiter. That is the reason why, you should absolutely make sure to portray a good professional image. To do that, you should avoid displaying on your profile some signs of your personal life that could be a mismatch to the job you are looking for. It could be for example about ethics or self-management skills.

You should also avoid taking a stand on politics or religion matter for example. Try your best to create an active profile to share information on your line of work in order to display your interest or expertise in your occupation or sector of activity.

We mentioned in a previous article, the method to a good preparation before a yearly performance review. Now, it is more about focusing on the keys to a successful interview, on the process itself.

Have a good attitude and be opened to discussion

The majority of candidates who fail their yearly performance review are those who make the mistake of not having an opened and consensual attitude and not being attentive. Let us remind you one more time, that the goal of this interview is not to put you on a trial but more like reviewing your performances in order to help you improve.  It is therefore crucial to be opened to criticism and negative comments if you want to have a successful yearly performance review, basically being able to question yourself. The extreme attitude would be to be too relaxed or aggressive during you yearly interview because that would certainly not work on your favor. That type of behavior will not serve you right. If, for example, your boss questions your management skills, why not take this criticism in a positive way and ask for a training in “team management”, in order to fix that issue? Being able to always come up with proposals is a plus in a company.

Respond to criticism in a constructive manner and think solutions…

It is possible that the things that did no work out are not your fault, or don’t have anything to do with your abilities. There is a chance that some projects you were in charge of did not work out because of a lack of means. You have two options on how to talk about it, during your yearly interview, to the person you will have in front of you. Option number one, you put the blame on your manager and say it failed because of a lack of sufficient means. Option number two, you take full responsibility and offer alternative suggestions. Option number two is for obvious reasons, harder to do but it pays off the most, because it will be more appreciated by the person you will be talking to as he will see you as someone capable of offering solutions for any obstacle that would come his way. You will win some extra points on your yearly review. You  will be showing out your future managing skills, what could be determining the day you get a promotion.

Get yourself involved in your yearly review

Once the interview is done, an assessment evaluation will be put in place. It is up to your employer to create a ”post interview” follow up, in order to guide you and help you turn the decided measures into reality. There could be one or other interviews in between your yearly review, depending on the company. Even though it is upon your employer to follow up on that, it is a process that you as an employee should get yourself involved in. Take those interviews  as opportunities to show out your contributions to the company, your successes, and how difficult it is to resolve some issues. The interest you will put on your yearly review, will show your supervisor that you are capable of quickly processing critics and putting something that was discussed together into effect.

When co-workers look each other sideways within the company, tension is rising up, and clans are forming all over the place, in the work space, it is up to the manager to take things into his own hands quickly, or else it will impact the atmosphere and the quality of work. And if we don’t put an end to it, it might also affect the productivity of the company. But how can a manager get out of a situation of conflict and re-establish a serein work environment among his teammates?

Try to connect a disconnected communication

Most of the time when there is conflict between co-workers, it is due to a lack of communication between them or just a bad communication. For that reason, as a manager, you must first connect and bring back communication on both parts. Doing that requires a certain way of proceeding. It consists of calling them separately in the office, listening to what they have to say in order to make them understand that this situation full of hostility and clans has to stop and it is up to them with some of your help to re-establish a valuable conversation as mature professionals.

Next, get them together

After the first step that consisted of you getting the individuals in question separately, now get them together to clearly make them understand that you won’t allow them to not speak or argue. Make it clear that you demand for each one to take a step toward the other, as soon as possible, by first taking the time to think about ways to work better together. Do not hesitate to listen to their suggestions in order to bring them together and create a “protocol” agreement among them. If that is not enough, you immediately get a mediator who is qualified for that type of situation.

Avoid a group effect that make people go against each others

As a manager, there is a risk that people might come complain to you. In cases like this, you must not allow to become the “wailing wall”. To do so, you must tell to the people coming to you that you are not here for bad-mouthing, complains and negative comments. You must of course, listen to them but without taking anyone’s side. Make the plaintiff know that you want him to offer you some suggestions on possible solutions and not just focus on the issue. Explain them how to talk to the people they are criticizing, and how to do that in a constructive manner, says the team coaching expert, Paul Devaux. Don’t let people always come to you i order to complain as if you had a magic stick that would make people get along with each others, he added.

Value good behavior to encourage the others…

When you notice some good interactions between co-workers, share the progresses with the group during meetings. You must therefore take the time to value good behaviors. Don’t be exactly forthcoming with positive feedbacks. Well that’s at least what Paul Devaux says who thinks that acting that way might make people tend  to move as a unit.