Category: Discovered People

It’s fair to say that nobody enjoys being criticised. Regardless of who the critique comes from, being a boss, partner, friend or family member, nothing makes hearing the often harsh truth easier.

As an inevitable part of life, there will always come a point in time where you will need to have a meeting with your boss where they have to give you feedback on your performance, actions and behaviour. 

While this can be very daunting and hard to deal with even if you have a fantastic relationship, we like to try and turn a negative into a positive. Dissecting what can happen while receiving feedback, we’ve put together some of the best ways that you can take the constructive criticism from your boss and deal with it in a positive manner. Being able to then learn and grow from that experience and the feedback you’ve been given. 

 

  • Stay Calm

This one may be easier said than done given nobody enjoys being criticized. It’s very easy in the heat of the moment to either lose your temper, become overly emotional or say something that you should’ve thought about before saying. Stop your initial reaction and think about just how you should react appropriately in the situation before you regret it later (Lindsay 2020).

It’s not uncommon for your heart to beat rapidly or to become sweaty and flushed in this type of situation. When this happens it’s important for you to breathe deeply and at least appear calm. Taking this approach will hinder any aggressive tendencies from either party and also likely calm the person you’re speaking to as well (Psychology Today 2018).

 

  • Have Empathy

While perhaps not the first thing that you think of when considering how to deal with constructive criticism, try and think about the situation from the other person’s perspective.

Try and have empathy for them as this is likely very hard for them to deliver and bring up. In a somewhat awkward situation like this, the person delivering the feedback may be nervous and coming across differently to how they had hoped or planned (Psychology Today 2018).

If they’re coming across as rude or aggressive (especially if that’s not how they usually act), it’s completely fine to not respond to the critiques immediately. Rather saying that you need time to think about what they’ve said in-depth.

This is also an opportunity to perhaps deescalate the situation and continue the conversation after you both have had time to think and react more appropriately.

 

  • Listen

It can be very easy to hold onto one minor thing and begin to overthink it while in this situation. Doing this isn’t productive and can actually make you miss important other parts of the conversation, or misconstrue how or what information is being delivered to you.

Be sure that you’re actively listening to every detail the person is telling you. This will help ensure that you’re not focusing on one small negative section, or missing other parts which could actually be positive and constructive. If you need to take a notepad and write things down also, thats more than fine.

 

  • Take it as an opportunity

So we’re not saying that the situation is anything but awkward and awful, but it is an inevitable part of working in any role or company. It is however completely up to you how you deal with the situation during and after. We fully believe turning a negative into a positive is the healthiest approach to dealing with any situation when you’re recieving constructive criticism.

When you’re being delivered feedback, remember that you have the opportunity to learn how you can improve. Even if you don’t completely agree with every critique being given, at least you now have the information to know how others may perceive your abilities or behaviour. This is a chance to at least have an opportunity to address the critiques or improve on them (Zenhabits).

The best outcome when being given feedback by your boss is that you have the opportunity to become a better worker. Never forget the benefits of being given feedback or the possibilities of what you can learn from it (Lindsay 2020).

 

  • Follow Up and Give Feedback

Being given feedback isn’t a one time occurrence. This is especially the case if you were unsure or didn’t necessarily agree with the feedback you were initially given. After a feedback meeting with your boss, make another time on a seperate day to go back over the feedback you were given (Forbes 2012)

This gives you the opportunity to seek specific examples to perhaps help understand the key issues they have raised. You can also acknowledge the feedback and seek specific solutions they’d recommend.

Following up after is also an opportunity for you to give your boss feedback and peer critique on how they delivered that information. If the way they spoke wasn’t constructive, or was too harshly delivered this is a great opportunity to give them feedback on this.

Being able to give feedback constructively and positively isn’t often an easy or naturally occurring skill, so during this process you have the opportunity to mutually be able to help each other be better and improve your working relationship (Harvard Business Review 2019).

Hiring new staff is one of the most important times for a business. The people that work for your organisation are a direct representation of your company’s values, culture and morals. Thats why when it comes time to pick a Recruitment Agency, it’s important to find people that not only are able to do the job that you’re hiring for, but also align with your business and wider team. 

So whether you’re a start-up looking to grow your team, or an enterprise business needing help to scale, finding a recruitment agency that can fit in with your unique business seamlessly and help match the right people to the roles you have is vital. 

As experts in recruitment with decades of agency experience, we’ve put together some of the key things that we think you should think about when it’s time to pick a recruitment agency to work with. 

 

Ensure their expertise aligns with the roles you’re looking for

Firstly, you want to make sure that the agency you’ve approached specialises in the area of recruitment you’re searching for. You can do this by looking up their previous experience and service areas to check that you’re both matched. 

Additionally, make sure they’re across what’s happening in that specific industry. Especially with anything technology based, it’s super important to make sure that the agency and individual recruiters understand the trends, market shifts and what’s happening in the market. 

At Discovered People we offer full recruitment, screening, processing, payroll, and onboarding services. Our professional consultants have robust networks in Cybersecurity, Data and Analytics, DevOps and Cloud, IT Leadership, Software Development, Software Sales and UI & UX sectors. 

 

Find a Cultural Fit

While finding people with the skills to do the job is obviously important when hiring new staff, it’s equally as important to find people that can match your company’s culture. If culture is important to your business, you should ensure the recruitment agency you work with has a complete understanding of your business inside and out. Actively seeking to find people who will match your existing team vibe. 

It’s been proven that cohesive teams collaborate better, are happier and deliver more. At Discovered People we go extra lengths to understand your team, embedding ourselves in your culture. The focus is on people, finding individuals who fit your team and organisation.

You should make sure the agency you select takes the time to learn your values, culture and what makes your business tick. This ultimately means less staff turnover, happier teams and a better company culture. 

 

Assess the quality of Candidates they can provide

As you’ll know by now, people are your company’s most valuable asset. Any agency you work with should assess candidates to ensure their values and skills fit your unique business needs. In addition to technical expertise, they need to look for success characteristics like curiosity, good communication and a willingness to tackle challenging problems.

You should be assured that your recruitment agency always goes the extra mile to get you the best outcome – whether that’s finding people to fit your team or championing your cause. 

At Discovered we follow a talent centric approach to recruitment. That means we care about individuals more than we care about revenue and put people first.

 

View their client and candidate feedback

Perhaps the most intuitive of all things to look for when picking a new recruitment agency is their reviews, feedback and responses from previous clients and candidates that they’ve worked with. 

Be sure to do this from both perspectives of the recruitment journey as it’s important that both your internal team and any potential new staff applying through your agency have a positive experience. 

At Discovered People, people always come first. That means we go the extra mile to achieve the best outcome – for you, your business and the individuals you hire. More than a partnership, we build lasting friendships and we have a laugh along the way. You can see all our reviews here. 

 

Ensure they give new hires a good impression of your business

Even if a candidate isn’t successful with the job application for a role you’re hiring for, there’s every chance that they may be suitable for another role at some point. It’s important to make sure that everyone that takes the time to apply is responded to and treated with respect through the recruitment process. 

This also ensures that should anyone ever reapply for a role or be approached by your organisation at a later point, that they haven’t had a negative experience with your business through the recruitment agency you select. 

We’re very proud that our response rate is over 70%, more than 3 times higher than the average recruiter. When dealing with candidates our promises are that we will always take full accountability, commit to zero ghosting and create a BS free zone.

This means anybody applying will be treated with respect and you can be assured that nobody leaves with a negative impression of your business. 

 

 

Think we align with your values? Talk to our team here!

 

Written by Ebony McCabe for Discovered People

While it became increasingly popular not out of choice, but rather necessity, virtual recruitment has rapidly become normal practice for many recruitment agencies and internal HR departments.

While Covid-19 was the driving force behind shifting to a completely virtual recruitment process for many organisations, for those that had perhaps not used or been experienced to it, the overwhelming response to its effectiveness has been extremely positive.

As the pandemic slowly becomes under control and the world starts to heal, the ability to now do face-to-face interviews again is slowly becoming more acceptable and available to both agencies and in-house recruiters. However, now that the knowledge, skills and technology is readily available to conduct virtual recruitment, the real question is will we ever go back?

How do Recruiters feel about Virtual Recruitment?

In recent research conducted by LinkedIn, over 1,500 hiring professionals were surveyed about their perceptions of virtual recruitment and the impact that it’s hard on them over the pandemic. 

The key finding from the survey was that a massive 81% of talent professionals agreed that virtual recruiting will continue post Covid (LinkedIn). Additionally, 70% of those talent professionals believe that virtual recruiting will become the new norm for all recruiters.  

Breaking down the data collected further, recruiters commented on how this could potentially differ depending on the experience levels required of individual candidates. The research revealed that when hiring for entry level or junior positions, it could be entirely possible that the whole hiring process is conducted virtually. With a candidate ultimately not setting foot in the office until they are onboarded. 

For executive or more experienced positions however, recruiters expect that it will be a more individualised process. Likely involving a mixture of both virtual and face-to-face interviews, or an entirely face-to-face and one on one interview process. 

Where do Candidates want to Work?

These new changes in recruiting are also representative of the shift in the overall workforce. With many employees now preferring to work virtually, it’s no doubt that they would prefer to conduct the hiring process online also. 

As often the first person a candidate will come into contact with when applying for a new role, recruiters are often the first and best people to get an indication of the wants and needs from the wider workforce.

In research conducted by HR Director, it was found that 73% of all employees surveyed wanted to work from home for two thirds of their working week and would rather only spend around a third (36%) of their time working from the office.

On the other end of the scale, the same research showed that only a fifth of total respondents were interested in working remotely 100% of the time. With only 7% wanting to work from the office full time. Demonstrating a drastic change from how work was conducted pre-pandemic.

 

At Discovered, we opened our business during the midst of the pandemic. Which means that from day one we’ve been completely across how important it is to conduct efficient virtual recruitment. We specialise in video interviewing, bringing new technology into recruitment which helps us match candidates with companies better than ever. 

If you’re looking to hire new staff, we conduct professional video interviewing to fully screen and match somebody who will completely align with your company’s values. Get in touch with our team here for more information on how.

 

Written by Ebony McCabe for Discovered People

 

 

This week we’re excited to have Matt Smith join us as a Senior Consultant. Fresh from the UK, he joins us with 3+ years in recruitment, bringing a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm to our growing team.

We sat down with him to go over his background and reasons for joining the Discovered team!

 

  • Matt, where were you before Discovered? 

I was living in London working for The Frank Recruitment Group as a technical recruiter in their AWS focussed brand – Jefferson Frank.

  • Why did you want to join the Discovered team?

After interviewing with a number of different recruitment agencies, I was especially keen to join Discovered based on the growth opportunities. The culture that they foster is exactly what I was looking for in the next step in my career.

  • What are you most excited about so far?

After learning about the recruitment industry in a foreign country, I am now keen to utilise these skills and knowledge in my home town!

  • What’s your favourite part of being a recruiter?

My favourite part of being a recruiter is the opportunity that it brings to help people find the next step in their career and help open otherwise closed doors. It’s also great being able to work anywhere in the world with an internet connection and a phone!

 

To get in touch with Matt or the Discovered Team, reach us here.

 

Resumes come in every shape and form, which is why it can be very difficult to know exactly what to put on yours. In the first blog of our series ‘Ask the Recruiters’, we speak to experienced Recruiter and the Co-Founder of Discovered People, Ryan Halson. 

Ryan reveals some of the biggest faux pas and mistakes commonly found on resumes. While some may seem obvious, we think a few of these may surprise you. From spelling mistakes to oversharing, make sure that your resume doesn’t include any of these common issues Ryan lists below. 

Avoid Photos

‘You really do not need to have photos on your resume’ Ryan says. Explaining how it can unfortunately invite unwanted prejudice. ‘I’d really say to avoid photos at all costs, but if you really want to display it you can attach a link to your linkedin profile where people can see your profile picture there’.

Don’t Overshare 

‘Information like date of birth, how many children you have, drivers licence or passport number don’t belong on a resume’. Explaining how many of the candidates he’s seen over time tend to overshare important information that’s not really relevant at that stage of a job application. 

‘You only really need a phone and email contact on your resume. With additional things, such as LinkedIn, github or stack overflow for examples of work or your portfolio that add value to your profile.’

Although it feels like yesterday, chances are High School was a long time ago

According to Ryan, it turns out that adding things like your high school grades or the fact you were part of the choir don’t really matter or add anything on a resume (other than you have a great singing voice). 

‘For highly technical roles. I don’t think it’s relevant to have your high school results on a resume if you have one or more formal degrees.

Hobbies Help

A surprising addition to your resume, is to include your hobbies and interests. ‘Definitely have interests there. One of the main things I look at is a candidate’s hobbies to see what kind of person they are and if they’ll be a good match with the manager of the role they’re applying for.’

A main difference at Discovered People is we want to make sure we connect people and teams that are a cultural match also. ‘If both the candidate and manager have shared interests we know they’re more likely to get along and work together better’.

Spell Check Everything

This one is likely not a surprise, but clearly not said enough as it still happens pretty regularly. ‘It goes without saying that you need to spell check your resume. I personally use Grammarly as a way to have a second pair of eyes and proof of the work I do, I think it’s really helpful for resumes if you want to double check and be sure’. 

Short and Sweet Descriptions

‘The description of each technology you use doesn’t have to be super long’. Adds Ryan. ‘Keep these as short and relevant as possible, while making sure they only contain descriptions of skills you have recent experience in.’

‘If you worked with a technology over 10 years ago, don’t add it on your resume. If you worked with an old language 15-20 years ago, chances are your knowledge of it isn’t as strong as it once was. Worst case scenario you’re quizzed on it, have oversold yourself and the employer may then doubt your knowledge of all the other skills on your resume. 

Size Doesn’t Always Matter

While many people say to keep a resume to two pages, Ryan doesn’t necessarily agree with that. ‘Actual length of the resume isn’t a real issue, it’s more the information on that resume. If you’re trying to fit 10 years of really relevant experience into two pages, just make it longer. Even if it’s 4-5 pages of really relevant information I don’t see a problem with that’. 

The point he does raise is anything past 10 years old. ‘For anything before 2011, I’d really consider if it’s still relevant. If you still want to include it, just make sure it’s done as a shorter responsibilities section, just focusing on the client, job title and dates you were there’. 

Tailor It to the Role You’re Applying For

‘You should tailor your resume to the job you’re applying for’. Explains Ryan. ‘If you’re in a creative industry like design or marketing, show off your skills and make your resume stand out with things like infographics or creative design. However if you’re a backend developer or programmer, we don’t mind if it’s not the most creatively designed resume.’. 

At the end of the day, it’s all about how relevant the information you’ve put onto your resume is and how it shows you off as a candidate. 

 

Hopefully you don’t have to make too many edits to your resume after that, but we hope you’ve found some good advice on how to improve your resume. 

Looking for your next role? Get in touch with the Discovered team here to see our available roles. 

 

Written by Ebony McCabe for Discovered People

 

2020 has been a year of big changes for most people. If you’ve been lucky enough to keep the same job you had at the beginning of the year, there’s no doubt that many aspects of the role have likely changed since the pandemic started. If you’re one of the many that lost their jobs throughout the course of the year, there’s a possibility that you had to take on contract work or a role that perhaps wasn’t exactly what you’d been doing before.

No matter what the next step in your career is, or what your goals for 2021 are, it’s always good to have an up-to-date resume handy that properly represents your achievements as a professional.

So whether your 2021 goals are to find a new job, finally get that promotion or change career paths completely, we’ve put together our top 3 tips to make sure that your resume is ready for whatever 2021 holds. 

 

Personalise it to your future goals

A lot of people spent the forced downtime in 2020 completely reassessing what they wanted from a company, team, manager and ultimately where they wanted their career to go in the future. This could be within an existing industry or field, or a completely new one altogether. 

When writing a resume it’s always important to make sure it’s tailored to the job that you’re applying for. If you’ve had a change in role or industry, or intend on changing it in 2021, start personalising your resume to make sure that it fits the exact type of roles that you’ll be applying for. 

Add any new technologies you’ve worked with

I’m sure by now that everyone has seen the jokes about how the best leader of technological innovation in 2020 was COVID-19. There is no doubt that despite how awful the pandemic was/is, that one of the best positives to come from it was the forced shift to remote work, smart technology and companies having to learn how to effectively communicate and run online.

If you’ve become a webinar expert, video conference pro, learnt how to use a new program, technology or popular software throughout the pandemic, be sure to add it in the relevant skills section of your resume or LinkedIn profile. You may think that it’s just a piece of software or tech, but your ability to use a particular program or technology may be what separates you apart from the competition when going for other jobs or promotions. 

Include any new certifications or qualifications 

A lot of educational and learning organisations have been quite generous throughout the pandemic, offering free courses and certifications to up-skill your resume throughout lockdown. From Google to LinkedIn, Apple and TAFE there are a significant amount of companies offering free, or very cheap resources to become certified in a new area. 

Many of these free or reduced price courses are still available for you to take advantage of now. So, if you haven’t quite made the jump yet and picked up a new skill in 2020,  have no fear as there’s still a month until 2021 starts. Have a look at the list we prepared here and see how you can easily up-skill to improve your resume and impresses recruiters. 

 

 

Looking for your next role now? Get in touch with the Discovered People team here for a confidential chat. 

 

Written by Ebony McCabe for Discovered People

 

Feedback can often have negative connotations associated with it. While getting unplanned feedback can sometimes be stressful, actively seeking constructive feedback the right way can help improve your overall career development. Also often stopping those unplanned awkward feedback sessions before they happen! 

In a survey conducted by PwC, they revealed that 60% of polled employees said they would like feedback from their bosses on a daily or weekly basis. While that number jumped up to 72% for those under the age of 30. So it’s very clear that feedback is overwhelmingly what employees want. 

While in a perfect world we’d all get proactive feedback given to us on a daily or weekly basis by our bosses, it’s not always a reality for many teams or companies. So if you’re looking to help improve your own development and seek out the best ways to grow and learn, here’s our 6 top tips on how to ask for feedback at work. 

 

  • Timing

Timing is everything when asking for feedback. Make a decision on a definitive time and date that’s not too busy in your organisation and put a meeting in the calendar of the person you’re asking feedback from. 

If you’ve got a big project or tight deadline coming up, perhaps wait to book it after completion so neither of you are distracted. When possible, be sure to book it either as a video call or in person so there’s no chances of answers being misconstrued. Emails or texts can often come across not as intended and it’s better to avoid any chance of misunderstandings. 

  • Find the right person

While this could be your direct boss, it can often be valuable to speak to other teams you’ve worked with on projects, peers, higher-up managers or others within your organisation whose careers you admire. Everybody has different perspectives and career goals and the more feedback, the better chance you have to get honest and impactful critiques. 

  • Be Specific

You should instinctively have some clue on where and how you can improve career wise. It’s no use going into a feedback session with no goals or specific direction, so be sure to go in with a plan, or at least some generic questions to guide the conversation. 

Depending on the type of feedback you’re hoping to receive, be more creative than just saying ‘Can I please have some feedback?’ and structure the conversation to allow for answers to the questions you have. A good example question to ask is ‘What is one thing I could improve on …’ and so on. 

  • Don’t Take It Personally

While naturally feedback isn’t always positive, don’t ever look at it as a personal attack. Feedback is a gift and opportunity to grow as a person. If somebody is taking the time to provide you with feedback, they will generally care about you and want to genuinely help with your career path. Think of it like having something stuck in your teeth, you’re always glad somebody points it out and gives you the chance to fix it, even if it’s a little embarrassing or awkward for the first few minutes after. 

  • Create Actions

If you go out of your way to seek feedback and then do nothing with it, it’s unlikely the person will want to share feedback with you again in the future. Listen and learn to the feedback you’re receiving and make your own actionable goals working towards them. 

If you’re not sure how to action something, maybe clarify with the person how they’d address the area themselves and ask for further recommendations on what they think would be the best approach. 

  • Consistency

People change constantly and asking for feedback just once will hardly help you the rest of your career. Make sure you set aside time for your own professional development regularly and make time to chat with anybody who can help you grow through the sharing of feedback. 

 

Looking for your next role? Get in touch with the Discovered People team here for a confidential chat. 

 

Written by Ebony McCabe for Discovered People

 

We recently conducted a survey consisting of those currently working in startups to get their takes on the current state of recruitment in 2020.

With COVID-19, market and industry challenges it’s been a rough year for both startups and recruiters. See the key takeaways and insights we found below.

Be sure to follow our blog for more information like this and other helpful tips for both candidates and employers.

 

  • All data shown is the property and findings of Discovered People and is not permitted for reuse by third parties. 

Those in the startup world know all about the elephant in the room when it comes to talking about mental health and wellbeing. It is not something that is openly spoken about – and it should be.

To encourage speaking openly about mental health, especially within startups, our partner Tank Stream Labs put a special panel together which included veterans in startup land and near specialists to discuss their own personal experiences as well as:

  • #startuplife mentality: why this is detrimental to your success
  • Cultivating an excellence team culture, without fatigue and burn out
  • The power of vulnerability
  • How to overcome obstacles when things get tough

The panel included Shelley Laslett, CEO & Co-Founder, Vitae, Bradley Delamere, CEO, Tank Stream Labs and our own Ryan Halson, Co-Founder & Director, Discovered People.

Watch the full series discussion below

This week we’re excited to have Matt Cook join us as our new Practice Lead. With 5 years recruitment experience across both Australia and Europe, he’s bringing a wealth of knowledge to our growing team.

We sat down with him to go over his background and reasons for joining the Discovered team!

 

  • Matt, where were you before Discovered? 

TheDriveGroup

  • Why did you want to join the Discovered team?

I was very interested in joining a business at such an early stage, where my input and ideas will be listened to, and everyone has a say in how we can all make Discovered People as good as it can possibly be.

  • What are you most excited about so far?

The business is very heavily focused on high quality work, to match the high quality service we aim to provide. This goes hand in hand with the sort of approach I love to take.

Of course, as a recruitment business, our main aim is to find great talent for our clients, but if I look at the clients I’m most grateful to work with, the relationship is a true business partnership, a real two way street, where we both add value to each other’s businesses on so many more levels than just the recruitment front.

At Discovered, our aim is to have this level of partnership with all of our clients.

  • What’s your favourite part of being a recruiter?

For the most part, it’s mainly about working with companies that are building and providing really exciting products and services.

Particularly in technology, and even more so in the tech start up space, almost every company I get to work with is developing something the world hasn’t really seen before, on the cutting edge of technology.

When you’re speaking to these businesses, as well as the people that run and work for them on a daily basis, its very hard to have a dull day in my world!

 

To get in touch with Matt or the Discovered Team, reach us here.