Tag: virtual

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

Employees are a direct reflection of the company they work for. While there’s a lot of focus on attracting new staff, retaining existing staff can sometimes be pushed on the backburner for many companies. 

It should be a priority for all businesses to focus on keeping their employees happy, engaged and motivated no matter their roles. In-turn this will help reduce overall staff turnover and improve overall office morale, motivation and culture. While to some degree this duty is placed on the employee themselves to be self motivated, as recent research finds most employees put this responsibility back solely on the employer. 

While retaining employees may be a bit of a mystery for some companies, recent research has revealed some of the key things employees look for in a workplace, as well as their motivators to staying with one. Here’s 5 of the top takeaways and findings from recently conducted research. 

  • Compensation 

This one will likely not be a surprise to many employees or companies. Employees want to be appropriately compensated for the work they do. When they don’t have to worry about making enough money to support themselves, they feel like they can concentrate and focus more on their roles to produce quality work. 

Rombaut & Guerry found that positive compensation was the most positive factor when it came to employee happiness and ultimately retention. While often associated with a form of compensation, it was also found that training and flexibility were not found to be a large motivator in employee satisfaction or retention. 

  1. Recognition

Aside from being compensated appropriately for work being done, being recognised for achievements and contributions at both a team and company level came in a close second in the research. 

Recognition was also found to have a positive effect on the entire staff of a company, improving the overall morale of a company and creating a community that celebrates each other’s wins. A key takeaway from this is to always empower and recognise your staff to create a positive work environment. 

  • Branding

While branding is often only associated with attracting new employees, it was also found very relevant with existing employee retention. The social and market perception and value of a company, as well as their overall image was a leading factor in whether an employee stayed with a company or not (Khan & Haque). 

Employees want to feel proud of their company when talking about it, and creating a brand that reflects the true vision and values of a company is a fantastic way to do this. 

  • HR Presence

Significant results in the research showed that a positive and active relationship between a company’s HR department and its employees was a growing factor in employee retention (Malik, Baig & Manzoor). How HR and employees interacted with each other, as well as how available and present they were directly contributed to how happy staff were. 

  • Open Communication

Having a commitment between executives and employees to openly communicate changes, updates, wins and losses in a company was directly correlated between employee retention and overall turnover of staff (Schaap & Olckers). 

When staff feel like they’re a part of the company and that they’re contributing to the larger picture, they were happier overall. Additionally, this improved their work ethic and motivation to excel in their roles as they felt involved in the overall success of the company. 

At Discovered, we specialise in placing the right candidate with the right company. We take time to learn your values, culture and what makes your business tick to help make sure you have staff they want to stay with you for the long haul. 

If you’re looking to hire, 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