tips Archives - Excel Recruitment

Top 10 Recruitment Tips

Posted on March 21, 2024 | by Excel Recruitment

One of my clients is getting ready to open a brand-new convenience store. It’s such an exciting time, but he contacted me concerned that he was going to be unable to staff the store ahead of his impending opening date. I am looking after his key roles, but he asked me for some advice to help him through his upcoming staff recruitment drive.

It prompted me to put together a list for this months article of my top ten tips when recruiting staff for a retail job. Obviously, this list varies slightly with each role, but below are some nice guidelines which some may find useful.

Advertising – when you are writing a job advertisement , whether it’s for a shop front window or an online job board you should quantify the role clearly. Make sure to state the tasks, hours, location, salary and contact details and how to apply. It may seem simple but with over 1500 retail jobs on just one of the job boards as of today, it’s worth ensuring yours has the information potential candidates look for! You should seek to include details which will matter most to prospective employees such as pay and shift pattern, rather than use this space to over elaborate on what the role entails and what you are looking for.

Sell the job – ensure your advert is going to attract candidates to apply – rather than dissuade them from doing so. Oftentimes, retailers compose a job advert which is similar to a wish list of their perfect candidate. Listing endless skills and experience they must have in order to apply. This can lead to few or no relevant applications. Write the advert with the potential candidate in mind – think “WE OFFER” rather than “YOU MUST HAVE!”

Advertise in your locality – Local noticeboards, public spaces, libraries, and community colleges are all great sources of local talent and have the added bonus of hitting the exact demographic you are looking for. With “shorter commute times” one of the top reasons for making a move cited by jobseekers, it is well worth advertising locally to appeal to local hidden talent!

Look at your online job boards paid and unpaid options – these can be worthwhile to attract a decent volume of candidates, but remember they are only as good as the job advertisement you write. Make the role something YOU would like to apply to! When writing a job advert to go online ensure you are using phrases which a job seeker is likely to type into a search bar. “Sales Assistant” will always attract more applicants than “Sales Executive” and “Deli Assistant” will appear in far more searches than “Fresh Food Counter Hand.” If your store is part of a retail brand it is also worth reaching out to see if they can post the advert on their website directly for a wider reach.

Social media – This can be a really useful tool – use your company’s Facebook account and share your job (with a picture) with dedicated groups – such as job fairy boards – but remember to keep an eye on your comment section as well as inbox for responses.

Referrals – Past employees, current employees and customers can be great advocates for your business and you as an employer! Get networking!

Use an agency – (ahem, shameless plug here) Recruitment agencies are professional recruiters – At Excel we have a database of over 85,000 retail candidates and a team of specialist recruiters who understand the industry. This can be a particularly useful option when you are looking for management or specialist candidates as it can be challenging to find the right expertise on your own.

Move with urgency – in this current market you need to respond quickly to candidates who meet your criteria. It goes without saying – still go through your screening and vetting process – but it’s recommended doing them slightly quicker than before!

Job offers – when you are offering the job to your preferred candidate – offer the full package – list every available benefit and include them in your job offer letter. From free parking to free coffees, pensions and holidays – get it all down so that you can relay it to your chosen candidate and get them excited to join your business!

Retain your talent – following a survey of our database we have listed the top reasons candidates choose to remain with their current employer – the more of these you can offer to your team – the less likely they are to leave your business!

→ Career opportunities

→ A voice in the workplace

→ Progression

→ Flexibility

→ Fair pay

→ Fun perks

→ Work life balance

→ Additional Annual leave days

→ Inclusive Culture

Happy recruiting and good luck! For more information call us on 01 814 8747 or email nikki@excelrecruitment.com

You can view all of our live jobs here

Tips for Senior Level Job Interviews

Posted on June 19, 2017 | by Aisling Rafferty

Job interviews can be nerve wracking at all levels, but interviews for senior management jobs can be particularly challenging, often requiring a deeper level of insight and preparation. Here at Excel Recruitment, our consultants interview candidates for senior positions right up to CEO every day and understand fully exactly what our clients are looking for. Below are some of our consultants’ top tips to succeed.

Don’t rest on your experience

When it comes to interviewing for senior positions, it won’t be enough to just take the interviewer through your experience and skills. You should leave the interviewer with no doubt about what you can add to the company you’re applying for. Outline your plan for yourself and the business when you get the job and the positive contribution you would make, whether that taking steps to fix a current problem, troubleshoot against a future one or simply improve on what the business is already doing well. Which leads us nicely to our next tip……

Do your research really, really well

‘Research the company’ is one of the most obvious, and important, interview tips around and for good reason. But the higher up the food chain you go, the more prep is required. Knowing the basics won’t land you a senior management job, you will have to delve further into the business’ goals, culture, strengths and weaknesses. Then when you’re in the interview, use this knowledge to your advantage by explaining how you and your skills will fit into and improve the business. You should also be aware of recent news stories, successful campaigns, annual reports and what their competitors are doing.

Personality

Chances are, if you’ve been invited to interview for a significant senior position the hiring manager has already deemed your experience suitable for the role. Often the purpose of the interview is not to discuss what you did, but how you did it. The personality fit is a crucial part of the success/failure of any new hire and one companies’ will but the time and effort into getting right. Get your personality across and build a rapport with your interviewer, getting across to them how well you get on with people and how this helps you manage people.

Know what you want

Before you even get to the interview stage, have it clear it your own head why you want the job. A job interviewer will want to know that you’re passionate about the company and their work and that you really want the job. Be prepared to discuss your ambitions and goals, along with your reasons for wanting a move. Think about why this company in particular would be a good fit for you, and you for them, and get these reasons across to your potential employer. Be clear on these before you go, and when you get there, be sure to ask questions as well as answer them.

Remember it’s an interview

Even if you’re a fantastic candidate with tonnes of experience, loads of awards and a stellar reputation in your field, this is still a job interview and you still need to sell yourself as the best candidate to the job. Rather than regurgitating broad, bland platitudes about your achievements, be prepared with a couple of real-life examples of your successes in previous roles e.g. “In my previous role, we had a problem with X, so I decided to do X and as a result X was improved and the issue was resolved.”

And finally, no matter how casual the interview setting or how senior a candidate you are remember the basics- dress well, be on time, and be nice to everyone you meet there. Follow all our above steps, and you’ll be one step closer to your dream job.

Advice for Employers: How to Conduct an Interview

Posted on April 6, 2017 | by Aisling Rafferty

A new hire is one of the most significant business decisions you can make and a face to face interview is hands down the best way to decide on the right candidate but are you making the most of it? We take you through the best questions to ask a potential employee to gain the most knowledge possible about the person behind the CV.

We at Excel do the leg work in terms of finding exceptional candidates that have the right experience, qualifications and skills match your specifications and we ensure the candidates we present to you are the best of the best but ultimately, the final decision is yours.

By the time you’ve decided to interview someone we, and you, will have screened their CV thoroughly and decided that their experience and qualifications are suitable for the role, but is their personality and style? You know best the type of person that would be the most successful fit in your business.

The best interview questions tell you about the person rather than the CV and gain an insight into the candidate’s personality, strengths, weaknesses, skills and abilities. The most successful questions benefit the candidate and give them opportunity to speak to details that might not fit on a standard CV.

Tell me about yourself.

This question is probably the most obvious on the list, but with good reason. This question is a great way to start your interview and put your candidate at ease, as they will obviously know a lot about themselves. It gives you an opportunity to see their communication skills, confidence and personality from the get go.

From everything you’ve learned about this role, me and the company, tell me how you feel you could contribute to the business?

This question sorts out those that are serious about the role from those just chancing their arm. Those who have really prepared and want to work with you will be delighted to have a chance to show it. Those who don’t really want the job or those who are simply too lazy to Google you will either try and bluff and fail or falter completely.

Describe a time when something went wrong at work and how you dealt with it.

This question is ideal for learning about how your potential hire will handle the pressures of life and conflict in your office. The candidates answer will demonstrate their interpersonal and problem solving skills and help you determine whether they would fit well into the culture of your business.

Why should we hire you?

As we said earlier by the time you meet a candidate for interview, we at Excel have already established that on paper, they are right for the job but this question can help you hugely when deciding if they’re right for your business. Realistically you’re interviewing a number of candidates, all with similar qualifications. This question asks the candidates to define what sets them apart from the rest. An interviewee who does a great job explaining how her unique experience, education, industry credentials, and personal interests will power your business will do the same thing for your company once hired.

How would your boss/ coworkers describe you?

This question essentially ask what are your greatest strengths/weaknesses in a way that can cause interviewees to be more reflective in their answer. A good candidate will know there is no point in spoofing and will use real-life examples or quotes from their boss/ performance reviews that reflect the attributes they’ve already mentioned in the interview.

What kind of manager and colleagues have you had the most and least success with, and why?

This is a great question to ascertain the personality type of the candidate sitting in front of you. By asking this you’ll be able to figure out how they work best, and whether this fits in with how your team works best, or whether they seem to have a lot of conflicts with people or personality types.