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Have you ever taken a sip of your drink, only to find that it&rsquo;s not at all what you expected? If you thought it was water and find yourself sipping a diet coke, the feeling is unpleasant &ndash; no matter how much you might like diet coke usually. That&rsquo;s because you weren&rsquo;t expecting it. When it comes to managing expectations, there&rsquo;s no skill more important in terms of building strong, happy relationships. In business, this applies to all parties; your clients, customers, colleagues, even your own boss and those who report directly to you. To give an example: if you make a promise to deliver a piece of work in ten days and have it completed in seven, you&rsquo;re a hero. If you made the promise to be done within five but deliver in seven, there&rsquo;s going to be disappointment. The outcome is the same &ndash; the work was delivered in seven days &ndash; but in the case of the latter, because you didn&rsquo;t properly manage expectations the relationship has been negatively impacted. So, whether you&rsquo;re a manager, salesperson, business owner or otherwise, here are some things to think about when it comes to managing expectations &ndash; moreover, how doing so can really improve and strengthen the relationships you build across the board. Managing your employees&rsquo; expectations Unaddressed employee expectations can unfortunately lead to demotivation, and sometimes even resentment in the workplace. This means you need to clearly define what your responsibilities are as the leader, communicate these to your team and then be accountable for fulfilling these actions. In the employee-manager relationship, many things can fall under &lsquo;expectations&rsquo;. This could be the expectation of one-on-one coaching, regular reviews or feedback; the expectation that you&rsquo;ll step in to help close a deal; even down to making sure your team understands when you&rsquo;re available, i.e. if it&rsquo;s okay to get in touch outside of working hours or not. If your direct reports are expecting something from you &ndash; even something intangible like support or guidance &ndash; it&rsquo;s your job to address this by either providing it or, if it shouldn&rsquo;t be coming from you, pointing them in the right direction instead. Miscommunication of expectations can cause myriad problems and disappointments in the workplace &ndash; which will inevitably affect performance in the long run. Managing your customers&rsquo; expectations Whilst we don&rsquo;t necessarily want to champion the somewhat old fashioned &ldquo;under-promise, over-deliver&rdquo; stance, managing expectations is key to building a long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationship with your customers. Instead, try to take more of a &ldquo;be realistic and deliver your best&rdquo; attitude, remaining transparent, open and honest throughout the journey. Whether you work in recruitment like us or another industry entirely, it&rsquo;s universally understood that humans want to know where they stand &ndash; meaning even if it&rsquo;s not the answer we want, we&rsquo;d rather be told the truth. Managing your customers&rsquo; expectations means giving regular updates, making no excuses and being accountable at all costs. Building a relationship on anything less just simply doesn&rsquo;t cut it; building relationships on expertly managed expectations means that even when things don&rsquo;t go exactly to plan, challenges can be overcome (as opposed to the relationship ending on a sour note). Managing the expectations on yourself Regardless of where you sit in the hierarchy of the company &ndash; you could be just starting out or own the whole show &ndash; there are people to report into and progress to manage. Whether that&rsquo;s being held accountable for keeping the board or SMT updated, or simply checking in with your employees for a quarterly business rundown and review, it&rsquo;s important to keep those who need to be in the loop just so. Being a great manager of expectations is a sure-fire way to build your persona as a strong leader; someone who&rsquo;s dependable, reliable and accountable. No nasty surprises, misleading or misinformation. Managing expectations means your customers get better service, your employees learn from your exemplary practices, and your own boss &ndash; whoever they might be, directly or indirectly &ndash; is happy and content. It&rsquo;s no secret that the management of expectations is an area where the recruitment industry has fallen down historically. I couldn&rsquo;t be more proud that, across all three Certus brands, we endeavour to change that in every communication we undertake &ndash; and every relationship we build to prove it. To learn more about the difference you&rsquo;ll find in partnering with us, get in touch.

The Importance of Managing Expectations

​Recruitment, like many industries, is constantly having to adapt and change. We&rsquo;re affected by so many factors &ndash; technological, economic, political even &ndash; and keeping up is both challenging and, often, quite a lot of fun. Lately it&rsquo;s been nothing short of inspiring to see how the recruitment community has come together, in more ways than one. First off, we&rsquo;ve seen many recruiters unfortunately lose their jobs due to the pandemic &ndash; and a resulting massive uplift in open referrals to colleagues, clients, old friends even, to help them secure a new role. Next, there&rsquo;s the jobseekers: I for one have observed, on multiple occasions, recruiters sharing profiles of amazing candidates they&rsquo;ve worked with at some point, with no expectation of a fee of any kind; simply trying to help the many people who&rsquo;ve been made redundant here in the UK. But more than just banding together, the recruitment industry as a whole seems to be changing, almost certainly for the better &ndash; and I&rsquo;d love to hear what my fellow recruiters and recruitment are experiencing. Here&rsquo;s how things are looking from our end. We're doing even more retained work. Retained projects are somewhat of a holy grail for recruiters. Simply the commitment from a business who&rsquo;s saying, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re putting our trust in you to fill this role,&rdquo; is quite something when it comes to motivation. It means taking the utmost pride in our work, every step of the way. These days, we&rsquo;re finding clients are actually out to find the&nbsp;right&nbsp;partner to fill roles for them, resulting in us picking up retained work every week. Frankly, it feels&nbsp;great&nbsp;to finally be able to demonstrate why retained search is simply more effective. This shift is something we&rsquo;ve known to be inevitable for a while, as people begin to realise the value in guaranteed-outcome recruitment; you wouldn&rsquo;t work with an IT service provider who told you their service works some of the time, would you? Which leads us on to&hellip; Employers are finally learning the benefits of exclusivity. We might have been singing this song for years now, but there&rsquo;s a reason: working with one agency is simply more productive (provided we do our job properly, of course). From an employer&rsquo;s perspective, conducting a recruitment campaign with just one source of talent (minus your own direct/internal applicants) is undoubtedly going to save time, hassle and admin. Outsourcing a process to two, three, five suppliers ultimately means receiving as much work in return as a result, from arranging terms of business to corresponding with multiple parties at every stage through to, quite simply, having to work out which candidate came from where, and so on and so forth. Furthermore, again, motivation is a real thing and the opportunity to prove ourselves is a strong way to achieve it. Much like retained search, giving a partner like us exclusivity means you simply know that we&rsquo;re putting every foot forward to find you the absolute best candidates we can. And with that in mind&hellip; We're being held accountable at every stage. Recruitment has a bad name &ndash; there, I said it. This is because there are too many outs for &lsquo;bad&rsquo; recruiters; too many gaps for quality control to slip through, along with best practices which aren&rsquo;t regulated. Now, with the advent of more retained work and exclusive projects to work on, guess what? It&rsquo;s on us. Accountability makes us work&nbsp;harder, aim&nbsp;higher, be&nbsp;better&nbsp;&ndash; and we&rsquo;re not ashamed to say so. This is an industry-wide thing; we&rsquo;re seeing our peers up their level of service, and less and less &rsquo;recruiter bashing&rsquo; happening as a result. There&rsquo;s no longer a place to hide in recruitment: this time, the industry&rsquo;s doing things right. Covid has affected many things and, whilst we know the Certus name has already been built on exceptional service, we think that perhaps this pandemic was the push into that next level the industry as a whole needed. What say you?

How Recruitment is Changing – For the Better

Any business leader will know that sometimes, although all lights were green at interview stage, an employee just doesn&rsquo;t perform as well as you&rsquo;d expected. Whilst your first instinct is, quite rightly, to get to the bottom of understanding&nbsp;why&nbsp;they&rsquo;re underperforming (is it a capability issue? Time management perhaps?), it&rsquo;s our job as managers to be equally accountable. Try turning the question inwards: instead of managing underperformance, should we instead be trying to drive for overperformance? Ask yourself these questions: Have I set proper expectations, and does this person know that they&rsquo;re underperforming?&nbsp;As a leader, it&rsquo;s your job to let employees know where the goal posts stand and give them something to aim for. In setting out the expectations clearly, succinctly and without question, you&rsquo;re driving that person towards that goal &ndash; so make sure you&rsquo;ve done your bit. An employee who doesn&rsquo;t know exactly what&rsquo;s expected of them can often become unsure in their actions, leading to underperformance. Worse yet, if they&rsquo;re unaware that they are in fact underperforming, they may be blindsided when you eventually bring it up. Is this individual motivated to complete their work as best they can?&nbsp;Whether your employee is intrinsically or extrinsically motivated, it&rsquo;s your job to understand their drivers and work them in a way which keeps them engaged. If, for instance, you know that someone is driven by the prospect of being promoted rather than financially, don&rsquo;t offer them a cash bonus for overperforming. If one individual is simply driven by the prospect of earning more money, don&rsquo;t ply them with offers for paid training and education as an incentive. Your job as manager is to achieve results by ensuring each member of staff is getting what they need &ndash; it takes time and care to truly understand, but the performance of your team could depend on it. Have I provided them with the tools and resources to be successful in this role?&nbsp;We&rsquo;re talking about the right tech systems and whatnot, sure, but also training, education and coaching, too. There are pieces of software on the market which automate certain processes and can save an unbelievable amount of time; also, there are tricks of the trade which only you know, and imparting these might be the key to that overperformance we&rsquo;re aiming for. Tools and resources &ndash; both tangible and intangible &ndash; fall on you, so take stock. Could they be doing more if there was less to do; essentially, is this workload manageable for one person alone? Sometimes underperformance can be a result of simply too large a workload. Ask yourself whether you&rsquo;ve set them up for success or failure, based on how much work they are personally responsible for. Could an external investment &ndash; be it into one of the time-saving tools we mentioned above, or even a member of support staff for example &ndash; drive this individual to absolutely smash their goals? Overall, let&rsquo;s stop talking about managing underperformance for a while &ndash; let&rsquo;s talk about driving overperformance instead. Consider it a matter of proactivity; taking the bull by the horns and taking accountability. Instead of asking yourself why this person is not performing, ask yourself the question: what could I as a leader be doing more of, better or differently to drive overperformance? Here at Certus, we go further than just finding you the perfect candidate and managing the recruitment process for you. Our service offering has been diversifying over a number of years now to include genuine consultation with regards to everything people-related &ndash; be it management help, onboarding, succession planning and more. We don&rsquo;t just make hires &ndash; we build teams. Teams which overperform. We&rsquo;d love to talk about how. Get in touch today by either dropping me a direct message, or give us a call on 0203 758 7890.

Managing Under-Performance or Driving Over-Performance?

​As managers, we have to be conscious of what we say and how we say it. Effective communication is arguably the most fundamental key to a high-performing team, one which achieves their goals and drives business forward. But there are two sides to communication: let&rsquo;s call them speaking and listening for now. Speaking covers everything you as a manager choose to say, how you say it, when it&rsquo;s delivered, and how you respond to others. Listening is how everything you say is interpreted by your team. How they perceive the communication you&rsquo;re offering. And, importantly, how they feel about it. Which is where the question of intent vs impact comes in. You know what you&rsquo;re trying to achieve &ndash; but were you able to deliver it in such a way that made your intentions clear? To ensure the same impact is felt across the team &ndash; as in, every person is now feeling the same way (engaged, motivated, etc) and driven toward that same goal? Take the following sentence: &ldquo;These results aren&rsquo;t good enough. What went wrong?&rdquo; It&rsquo;s bold, it&rsquo;s blunt; the intention is to problem solve and understand where the improvement needs to be made, sharpish. It&rsquo;s a sentence which, when said aloud, is hopefully going to prompt action of some sort. But what impact did this sentence have on the team? Some may take it in their stride and want to review things with you, taking time to analyse, understand, and create a plan to improve. On the other hand, another employee has immediately switched off, presuming that you as manager are taking no accountability; the blame is on the team. Your intention was to share ideas, work together to solve a problem &ndash; but the impact on some, maybe many individuals, could be demotivation and disengagement. Communication in management is a funny one, because we&rsquo;re often bound to doing everything at once. Manage each work style differently, pay attention to the individual; equally, find a way to communicate with the team at large which doesn&rsquo;t alienate any one person, a cover-all, if you like. No one said it would be easy. So, how could we word the sentence above for a more inclusive overall feel, one which delivers your intentions AND has the desired impact? How about, &ldquo;We know we can do better than this &ndash; where can we improve next time?&rdquo; Or, &ldquo;Here&rsquo;s what I think about how we can improve &ndash; what other ideas can we come up with?&rdquo; These both denote accountability, inclusivity and ownership &ndash; as both an individual and a team. The intention is clear, and the impact should in most cases be a positive one &ndash; one which gets everyone working towards what you&rsquo;re trying to achieve. You&rsquo;ve communicated now that this is our problem &ndash; and we&rsquo;ll solve it like the team we are. All of this is particularly important when we&rsquo;re managing new teams, or those with new hires amongst them. In high-trust relationships, where each party knows the other well, we learn to read between the lines of what&rsquo;s actually being said or meant by comments or questions to find the real meaning. But, for the newer relationships, this can&rsquo;t always be done. Directions, questions or otherwise may be misconstrued, and this alone is where the onboarding of new employees often falls down. So, as a manager of people, how can you turn your intentions into the impact you&rsquo;re after? &bull; Communicate clearly and openly, without pointing fingers or placing blame (or even hinting towards doing so). &bull; Cultivate a team-feel, rather than an &ldquo;us and them&rdquo;, manager vs employees atmosphere &ndash; get rid of those hierarchical barriers. &bull; Ask for feedback and encourage employees to speak up for clarification if they&rsquo;re unsure on something, and to voice their opinions candidly, without fear of repercussions for doing so. &bull; Make sure that you fully understand your own intentions before heading into any communication with the team &ndash; if you&rsquo;re unsure of what you&rsquo;re after, they undoubtedly will be too. Over time, as you build trust, communication across your team becomes easier. With that being said, you&rsquo;ll want to know that your team is receptive to your management and communication style before you even make the hire &ndash; which is where we come in. To talk workforce solutions and learn more about how we pre-qualify all this and more at interview stage, get in touch.

Intentions vs Impact – How Communication Can Make or Break Your Management Success

​We all know how important brand advocacy can be to the growth of a business, especially in the early stages. Brand advocates build your reputation through word of mouth marketing and ultimately win you new customers; word of mouth often being cited as the best kind of marketing, given that it&rsquo;s free! So instead, what is employee advocacy &ndash; and what benefit can it play in terms of growing not your revenues, but the team itself? Employee advocacy is effectively the same process, but pertaining to your current workforce telling those around them how great it is to do so &ndash; and elevating your desirability as an employer as a result. In today&rsquo;s world, employee advocacy is largely done online; your current team should be sharing what it&rsquo;s like to work for you, talking about how you&rsquo;re doing things differently, and ultimately promoting the company culture as a benefit to working for you via social media. Any candidate worth their salt will look into all of these things upon entering your recruitment process &ndash; and it might just make the difference when it comes to capturing the attention of the market&rsquo;s top talent. Activating your current employees as advocates could be the key tool to elevating your talent pipeline this year. Here are some of the benefits you can expect from having done so. Increased staff retention When a new hire has been enticed to come on board via employee advocacy, they already have a more sound understanding of what it&rsquo;s like to work for your business and have likely made a more informed decision than otherwise; having a visual of your company culture beforehand will leave them more excited to join. Seeing what their future team is up to before joining gives new hires a better idea of where they can make an impact from the off, helping them to set goals and envision their path toward achieving them. All of these aspects of employee advocacy throughout the hiring process combined mean that new hires are more purpose-driven, and more likely to build a longstanding career within your company. Increased organic applicants Do your employees love working for you? Then let them shout about it! When those your employees are connected with online begin seeing the enthusiasm your workforce hold in talking about their role, the company they work for and the company culture they embody, people are going to take notice. This will increase the number of people who add YOUR business to their &ldquo;target companies&rdquo; list, meaning that if and when their job search begins, your name will be on their lips. Organic applicants could mean direct approaches from individuals who want to work for you without a specific opportunity in mind, or even those who ask an agency like us to approach you on their behalf! Improved company culture Jobseekers want to join a company who have something about them; who promote great culture from within and take doing so seriously. Whilst you really have to live it to learn it, visible employee advocacy on social media can give a great insight to potential hires. And, as an added bonus for you &ndash; it means that in order to share it, your employees will have to be living it! Promoting a strong company culture externally means embodying it internally. So, make sure yours is well-defined and encourage your employees to let the world know what it&rsquo;s like to work here. Remember: company culture doesn&rsquo;t just mean posting pics of virtual lunch clubs or Zoom beers; it&rsquo;s about who your employees are, the ups and downs of their roles. The successes, the challenges, and how they overcame them. A final great thing about employee advocacy? Aside from being a great recruitment tool, it&rsquo;ll naturally help boost your business&rsquo; online presence, exposure and reach on social media. The business benefits that using employee advocacy to attract talent are numerous and vast in their advantage. When we work onsite with clients in a managed serviced capacity, this is all something which comes under what we do. We&rsquo;re here to find your next quality hires, but also to improve your overall recruitment strategy as an overarching service led by us. To learn more about how, get in touch today.

How Employee Advocacy Can Benefit Your Business

​Management. It&rsquo;s a new height in your career and one which many, nay the majority of us aspire to. So, if you&rsquo;ve recently made it to that level &ndash; congratulations! Making the jump from a general team member or even team leadership role is a big step and great achievement. It&rsquo;s likely that you&rsquo;ve found yourself here by way of one of a few different scenarios: You&rsquo;ve been promoted and are now managing those you worked alongside previously You&rsquo;ve been promoted and given the responsibility of hiring your own team from scratch You&rsquo;ve been hired externally and brought in to build a new team You&rsquo;ve been hired externally and brought in to manage an existing team Each situation poses its own challenges, its own obstacles to overcome, but more than anything, its own opportunities. Here are 3 important things you as a new manager should consider doing as you ease into your new role: 1.Clarify expectations And from every angle. As a new manager with a team already in place, it&rsquo;s important to understand what each individual is expecting from you as a manager &ndash; and to make clear what you&rsquo;re looking for from them. Take some time to sit down with your team and answer some key questions such as what the overall goal is, what they feel is achievable and realistic, where they require your help and support the most. One of the most common causes of discord between a new manager inheriting an in-situ team comes down to a discrepancy in expectations so, over the first 30 days of your new role, take the time to set expectations and hold yourself, and your team, accountable to them. Equally, in terms of your own responsibilities, clarifying the expectations from those sitting above you is crucial. If there&rsquo;s no team in place yet and it&rsquo;s your responsibility to build one, ensure you&rsquo;re on the same page with regards to hiring &ndash; profile, timeline and budget. 2.Be both visible and available It goes without saying that in your new role as a manager, you should be hands-on from the off. Whether that means proving your tenacity to the powers-that-be above and creating an energetic persona as you go about hiring your soon-to-be team, or spending real quality time on the floor with the current one, being seen &lsquo;in the trenches&rsquo; so to speak will ensure your success in the initial stages. Being available and being visible as a manager go hand in hand; when employees become used to you being around, they&rsquo;ll know they&rsquo;re able to approach you for support, expertise and resources. Prove your accountability and presence in that first month, and you&rsquo;ll be off to a flying start. 3.Ask for feedback We&rsquo;re not just talking about, &ldquo;How am I doing?&rdquo; here. If the team is already in place, understanding how they&rsquo;re feeling is important &ndash; what&rsquo;s changed since you became their manager? What hasn&rsquo;t? What could be done differently, or improved upon? Whilst it doesn&rsquo;t hurt to have the odd catch up and understand how they feel about you as a manager directly, it&rsquo;s also pertinent to make your team feel involved. Consult with them on strategy, operations, goal setting. Are you all on the same page in terms of the vision? Asking for feedback and consulting regularly with your team will help you all connect and build strong relationships, employee-employee as well as employee-manager; it&rsquo;ll also help mitigate any problems before they arise or grow out of proportion. Asking for feedback lets your employees know you have their interests at the heart of everything you do &ndash; which will garner trust and respect, from both sides. Management can be challenging, but as business leaders I&rsquo;m sure we can all agree that there&rsquo;s little else so rewarding as seeing the team you work alongside thrive. Our teams are experts in building yours &ndash; and we have a tip or two about strong management and leadership skills, as a business improvement and growth strategy, too. If you&rsquo;re a manager whose team has capacity to grow, we&rsquo;d love to hear more about your vision. Get in touch with Certus Recruitment Group today.

3 things every new manager should do during their first 30 days on the job

​Training, mentoring, coaching and managing &ndash; so many verbs, so little time. As a business leader or manager, there are many ways we go about trying to improve the skills and performance of our teams, largely through proactive training and coaching &ndash; but what defines these two activities from one another, and in what ratio should we be doing them? First, understanding the difference. Training: by definition, it means &lsquo;the action of teaching a person (or animal) a particular skill or behaviour&rsquo;. The aim is to increase an individual&rsquo;s productivity, capability and performance through learning something new. Training is essentially the act of&nbsp;transferring knowledge&nbsp;&ndash; knowledge which you possess, and the individual being trained does not, yet. Coaching: whilst certainly considered a form of training, coaching is about&nbsp;enhancing an existing skill or skills, rather than teaching a new one. Coaching is to be carried out by someone who&rsquo;s experienced in the matter, helping another individual understand how to better conduct the skill in question; demonstrating, leading by example and mentoring to improve on what they know already. Is it important to do both? Training your staff not only grows the tool set they use to do their job, but keeps them challenged and engaged; that it can naturally lead to promotion and progression makes training one of the main keys to improving retention and reducing turnover. Coaching is just as important &ndash; as humans, particularly those working in the corporate world, we&rsquo;re always looking for self-improvement, higher performance; ways to do things &lsquo;better&rsquo;. Coaching your employees on an ongoing basis and showing them, from your own or someone else&rsquo;s experience, a better way to do things is going to allow them to remain creative, motivated and fulfilled in their role. To answer the question, yes, it&rsquo;s crucial to do both; take a well-rounded approach to learning, whether it&rsquo;s been specified as something the employee must learn to carry out their duties (e.g. learning a new piece of software), or it&rsquo;s simply something which would benefit all parties were it done better (for instance, sales coaching to increase conversion rates). So, which should I be doing with my staff? Once you have the above definitions in mind, it becomes easier to know whether you should be coaching your staff or training them.
<ul>
<li>
Training&nbsp;is something which can be done in a group setting; imparting knowledge to more than one person at the same time
</li>
<li>
Training&nbsp;usually takes a very structured approach; it will follow a set path which needs to be done in a certain order for it to be understood
</li>
<li>
Training&nbsp;is frequently held off-site, online or otherwise; it&rsquo;s not something which is usually done fully &lsquo;on the job&rsquo;
</li>
<li>
Coaching&nbsp;will usually be conducted in a one-on-one setting; it requires attention as to where the person&rsquo;s skill level sits currently (compared to training, where the idea is that everyone begins at zero)
</li>
<li>
More often than not,&nbsp;coaching&nbsp;will be unstructured; it involves ongoing communication and change to be effective
</li>
<li>
Coaching&nbsp;usually takes place &lsquo;on the job&rsquo; &ndash; it requires input from the activity being coached itself in order to achieve real results
</li>
</ul>
One thing is for sure, training without coaching rarely works. Picking up an employee or team and dropping them into a classroom for a day (or more!) then sending back to their day job with no follow-up or ongoing reflection is pretty close to a waste of time and money. But a piece of great and relevant training that is supported by ongoing and regular coaching is likely to lead to significant and clear returns. And, finally, how does knowing all of this positively impact my staff turnover rate? It&rsquo;s really important that business leaders understand the difference between coaching and training; knowing what your employees want and need with regards to their development within the company fundamentally comes down to learning. Should they be aiming to learn a new skill? Is this what will push their career forward and land them a promotion into the role they&rsquo;re hoping for? Or, will simply honing one of the skills they use already be the thing which helps them reach their goal? Of course, there&rsquo;s a huge cross over between the two &ndash; training and coaching can often be done at the same time. And understanding which of them is going to help your employees progress will go a long way to ensuring they&rsquo;re satisfied, engaged and motivated to stay with your organisation. The definition between training and coaching goes further than your management style and business leadership; it touches upon the ongoing development of each and every staff member, the structure of your company, and the longevity your employees see within it as a result. With 20 years of working in recruitment and headhunting, I&rsquo;ve seen the insides of many companies and it&rsquo;s those with a balance of both that have typically demonstrated consistent growth. I&rsquo;m proud of running a business which truly helps others to define, execute and improve their human capital strategy and the right mix of training and coaching must form a part of it. Certus are more than just a recruitment company; get in touch to hear more about partnering with a Certus Recruitment Group company and what we can do to help your business grow, today.

Coaching Vs Training and How To Improve Staff Retention

​Driven to Distraction &ndash; Why Your Staff May Be Underperforming Are you easily distracted? Since time began, leaders have been looking for ways to keep their teams focused, on-task and productive. In light of so many people now working from home, &lsquo;distraction&rsquo; is a word that&rsquo;s being used a lot: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m more distracted by external things whilst working from home&rdquo;; &ldquo;I find it easier to focus at home, without the distractions of my co-workers around me&rdquo;. So, what do you get distracted by? Could it be your phone? An email or social media notification? Your dog? All of the above? With our teams back in the office and, in truth, seeming more motivated than ever, it&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ve been thinking about a lot. It led me to pondering distraction in a different way; why is it that when your team is buzzing with motivation, they&rsquo;re less easily distracted? Why is it that when everyone is in that mindset of really trying to push it, those outside factors carry less weight? And so, I came to a realisation. The phone, dog, Facebook, all of that stuff &ndash; those aren&rsquo;t distractions. Those are simply the solution to distraction. The smartphone isn&rsquo;t the distraction; the distraction is the thing that has led the individual to seek out their phone, as a way to avoid whatever it is they&rsquo;re unwilling, unable or afraid to face. It comes from something way deeper, far more internal. Here are some&nbsp;real&nbsp;examples of distractions which may be afflicting your team and leading to less than stellar performance: 1.Unsurety about what they should actually be doing. If your staff aren&rsquo;t 100% sure of what how to do their job, this could lead to a reluctance to do&hellip; Well, anything. The uncertainty and lack of understanding of their role is what leads an employee to seek out something else to focus on. The obvious solution to this would be to offer clear and concise direction to your workforce; but, in the likelihood that you feel as though you&rsquo;ve already done so, the more important factor here is&nbsp;communication. Foster an environment in which your employees feel comfortable and confident enough to ask for help, and be sure to offer it regularly in any case. 2.A disconnect between the day-to-day job and long-term goals. When your employees lose sight of their goals &ndash; whether it be their own (career, earnings, personal aspirations) or the company&rsquo;s (revenue targets, long-term growth goals) &ndash; they&rsquo;re more likely to become distracted. When there&rsquo;s no longer a goal to reach for, a place to aim, it can become difficult for them to translate their day-to-day activity into that &ndash; or any &ndash; purpose. Hence leaving them open to seek out distractions instead. To help mitigate this, have regular catch up meetings with your staff &ndash; not performance reviews or anything quite so formal necessarily, but just a check in to ensure they&rsquo;re still feeling focused and motivated.&nbsp;Don&rsquo;t assume that everyone knows, no less is engaged&nbsp;and working towards the same thing &ndash; it&rsquo;s your job as the manager or business leader to reinforce and keep them connected with their own goals and those of the team. 3.Professionally put? Feeling unchallenged. Simply put? Boredom. Distraction can be derived from many places and, unfortunately, boredom is one of them. If an employee of yours isn&rsquo;t finding the enjoyment in what they&rsquo;re doing, naturally they&rsquo;re going to look elsewhere for stimulation. The same can be said for a lack of challenge; it all comes down to keep the brain engaged and working at something. Challenge and enjoyment in equal measure&nbsp;make for a focused workforce, and one whose minds are too busy to search for miscellaneous things to waste time on. The honest truth is, we all become distracted from time to time &ndash; and, whilst there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with taking a break from the activities which make up your job every now and then, there needs to be an understanding between what defines &lsquo;taking a break&rsquo; and what is actually just the brain looking for a way out; a way to avoid doing what we should be. As a business leader, have a think about the things mentioned above and how they might be affecting your workforce; distraction has a direct link with productivity, or a lack thereof, so implementing some of these practices these into your team&rsquo;s mindset may pay dividends. When do you feel at your most distractable? Awareness is the first key to overcoming; whether your team are now home workers or in the office, being driven to distraction can take its toll on performance. For more management tips, have a look at the other articles published by me on LinkedIn &ndash; I love a discussion, so get in touch by leaving a comment. And, of course, to talk anything recruitment related, get in touch with the Certus team today.

Driven to Distraction – Why Your Staff May Be Underperforming

Mindset. It sounds clich&eacute;, but it&rsquo;s undeniably important. If there&rsquo;s one thing which is prevalent among successful people, whatever their profession or chosen niche, it&rsquo;s having a growth mindset. The arch nemesis of a growth mindset is the fixed; a fixed view of the world, of yourself and those around you. There are some key differences between the two, but they largely revolve around learning. A person with a fixed mindset believes that the traits they&rsquo;re born with are essentially as good as it gets &ndash; we&rsquo;re born with a certain amount of talent or skill in any given subject, and whilst we can practice in order to hone that skill, we&rsquo;ll never &lsquo;get better&rsquo; at it than the maximum innate level. On the contrary, those with a growth mindset are of the opinion that any trait can be learned, and certainly improved on, with practice, education and plain old effort. These are the people you want to be hiring. Besides the obvious, those with a growth mindset are beneficial in business for many reasons; they&rsquo;re great problem solvers, for one. Growth mindset-ers will face down any challenges which come their way with fervour and enthusiasm. They&rsquo;ll learn from their mistakes to become a more well-rounded version of themselves. Generally speaking, they&rsquo;ll make a great addition to any ambitious, forward-thinking team. There are ways to identify the two different types of mindset, and certainly some things to look out for at interview. Have a read of the points below. Signs of a fixed mindset:
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&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a [insert skill here] person, but I make up for it elsewhere.&rdquo;&nbsp;We all have things we&rsquo;re better at than others, but statements like are a fundamental barrier to learning. If a line like this one comes up at interview, probe to try and understand more about it &ndash; is it something they&rsquo;ve tried to improve, or have they effectively written it off and avoided the subject completely? Furthermore, what does either of these scenarios say about their mindset?
</li>
<li>
Little to no mention, or avoiding talking about, past failures.&nbsp;Those with a fixed mindset tend to view failures as exactly that &ndash; something to steer clear of at all costs. Conversely, those with a growth mindset understand that failure is a) inevitable and b) one of, if not the most important tool for learning. We want candidates to promote their successes, for sure, but to also be mindful of what brought them there &ndash; and failure may well have played a part in that.
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Viewing the success of others as a threat &ndash; which may manifest as not coming across as a true &lsquo;team player&rsquo;. Where, on the other hand, individuals with a growth mindset will seek out mentorship and collaboration with successful figures, as a source of inspiration and learning. Ask questions around team situations and opportunities they&rsquo;ve had to work alongside colleagues or managers they respect, and try to grasp whether they fit within the fixed or growth mindset based on their feelings about them.
</li>
</ul>
An interesting point to remember about fixed vs growth mindsets is that it is possible, if not particularly common, for someone to have a mixture of both. When it comes to certain aspects of their life, a person could simply believe there&rsquo;s no hope &ndash; for instance athleticism or maths &ndash; whilst consistently pushing themselves to grow and learn in their career or another area. Just as no two skills are the same, nor are two mindsets. It&rsquo;s not our job to pigeonhole a candidate at interview stage, but to understand as much as we can and make as well-informed of a decision as possible. Also try to remember that interviews are far from a natural situation, one in which most people feel uncomfortable. If someone&rsquo;s portraying a decidedly fixed mindset-esque outlook, that&rsquo;s not to say it will be so on the job. With almost 20 years of experience in qualifying executive level candidates through thorough tactical interviewing, Certus Recruitment Group are truly able to grasp these important concepts at interview on behalf of our clients. We&rsquo;re also well equipped to help you do it yourself. Get in touch with our team to discuss the ramifications of hiring growth vs fixed mindset individuals, and the incredible dividends doing so can pay for your business.

How to Identify and Hire for Growth Mindset

There&rsquo;s a big difference between doing well, and just doing. There&rsquo;s an even bigger difference between being engaged and just &lsquo;being there&rsquo;. Is your team thriving, or just surviving? I&rsquo;m not talking in terms of sales figures or company financials; what I mean to ask is, are your team really all-in, giving it their best and moreover loving what they do each day? To thrive literally means &ldquo;to prosper; flourish&rdquo;. In the workplace, this means more than hitting target &ndash; although, that&rsquo;s undoubtedly a common result of a thriving time. Thriving at work means your team is aligned with the company goals, they&rsquo;re happy, nay excited, to be there, and they&rsquo;re motivated to work hard. This team is a productive, high-performing one; a team who merely shows up each day, merely &lsquo;survives&rsquo;, not so much. So how do you know if your team isn&rsquo;t thriving? And what steps can you as a business leader take to help them do so? Read my 3 tips to answer both of these questions below. 3 warning signs your employees are only surviving:
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Energy.&nbsp;Or a distinct lack thereof. As your employees go about their day-to-day, are they doing so with energy? Are they enthusiastic and positive in their actions, mannerisms, general mindset? Energy affects everything from performance to posture &ndash; yes, you can tell an awful lot about how an employee feels about their job by how slumped their shoulders are! &ndash; and it&rsquo;s important to recognise when energy, enthusiasm and, in turn, morale is down.
</li>
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Relationships.&nbsp;If an employee has become disengaged with their job, it can show in the working relationships they&rsquo;re cultivating in the office/across team. Are there tensions between them and another employee, or number of employees, which seems unusual or out of character? Is their attitude toward their colleagues worsening in general? Time for a sit down and a heart to heart.
</li>
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Performance.&nbsp;Simply put, a thriving, engaged employee is one who&rsquo;s going to graft to hit targets, goals and otherwise; a &lsquo;surviving&rsquo; employee may be putting in the bare minimum needed to keep their seat. If there&rsquo;s someone on the team whose performance is suffering, it&rsquo;s important not to look at this with an attitude of &lsquo;they can&rsquo;t do it&rsquo; &ndash; but instead to wonder if it&rsquo;s that they just currently don&rsquo;t want to. Ask the right questions, get to the bottom of it and try to bring them back into the fold; back to thriving.
</li>
</ul>
3 things to encourage to help your employees thrive:
<ul>
<li>
Creativity.&nbsp;In the workplace, don&rsquo;t hinder creativity &ndash; embrace and encourage it. Let each and every member of your workforce present ideas; ideas which are never belittled or dismissed without at least a discussion. A healthy workplace where employees thrive is one which is inclusive, open and ever-evolving.
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Identity.&nbsp;Make sure you reinforce the individual part everyone plays within the team and encourage them to truly own their job role. Ensuring that each of your employees understands their own identity within the business, instead of just feeling like another brick in the wall, helps them stay accountable and remain motived to perform in their job to the best of their ability.
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Learning.&nbsp;Whether they&rsquo;re passionate to do so or not, with learning comes a natural sense of achievement. Whether you allocate a few hours per week to training inside of work hours or reimburse employees (at least in part) for undertaking some form of professional education in their own time, encouraging them to continue their learning in any form will ensure they&rsquo;re more engaged with their job, their profession and their place within your team.
</li>
</ul>
Building thriving teams is what we do best. COVID may have thrown a spanner in the works but, we still pride ourselves here at Certus on our ability to get to know our clients inside out; it&rsquo;s how we go beyond just finding your next star hire, to help you retain and develop those you already have, too. To talk more about the recruitment and consulting services offered by Certus Recruitment Group, call our team in London today.

Thriving or Surviving? 3 Warning Signs & 3 Things to Encourage

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It&rsquo;s turned our world upside down, our economy inside out and, frankly, some of us around the bend; to say the effects of the Covid pandemic will be long and far-reaching is somewhat of an understatement. But, it&rsquo;s not all bad; I believe many of us will have learned something. I&rsquo;m not talking about a new language, skill or love for cooking &ndash; I mean about ourselves and, certainly as a business leader, what&rsquo;s important moving forwards. When planning the year ahead at the back end of 2019, none of us saw this coming. Businesses have had to adapt, diversify and, in some cases, simply survive. So the question I&rsquo;d like to ask is, how has this changed your people strategy? A &ldquo;people strategy&rdquo; by definition is a plan which pertains to building relationships with your employees, existing and new. It&rsquo;s important to have &ndash; and never more so than right now. Here are my key points which business leaders should consider implementing into theirs over the coming months: 1.Prioritising trust as a key driver of your culture Many businesses are currently facing two scenarios at present &ndash; one where our people have proved themselves able to work productively from home, and the other where they&rsquo;ve stuck by us throughout an uncertain period of furlough or temporary lay-off. In both of these scenarios, the overriding take away has had to be trust. Moving forwards, building a culture of trust, dependability and understanding between your leadership and the team is going to be absolutely key to thriving. Your business should be a community where everyone works toward the same goals, wherever they might be physically working from; placing your trust as a business leader or manager in your people to do the right thing and act in the right way is crucial to post-Covid company culture, regardless of industry, size or otherwise. 2.Maintaining transparency about the future of the business Your growth targets, aims and aspirations for the business this year now likely differ drastically to what you may have written down in January. As such, the employees who are now phasing back into work may feel some unsurety about their own futures here. Moving forwards, business leaders need to provide staff &ndash; new and returning &ndash; with real, transparent information as to where the future of the business lies and what that could mean for them. That means reassuring existing staff as to what they can or should expect, and keeping them updated on what goes on &lsquo;behind closed doors&rsquo; &ndash; to a required and professional minimum, but with transparency nonetheless. For new hires, this means being upfront and honest about the challenges which may have ensued in the wake of Covid, and allowing them more of an inside track. Not only is this simply fair, it&rsquo;ll really help to build the sense of community which many businesses are going to find beneficial as we navigate through the unprecedented and as yet unexplored repercussions to be felt in the UK in the coming months, if not years. 3.Seeing remote working as a part of your strategy, not simply a perk The truth is, even if a vaccine did materialise or somehow Covid simply wasn&rsquo;t around anymore, many individuals just aren&rsquo;t going to be comfortable with being in close-contact with people for a while. No one can deny that remote working is going to become a part of every business&rsquo; future; so, with a view to easing any worries that your existing or future workforce may be having about social distancing and the like, start implementing it as a standard. Even limited face to face interaction will certainly work wonders for your culture, team bonding and the like, but there&rsquo;s no reason that we shouldn&rsquo;t all be considering ways in which our businesses can work as effectively remotely from here on in. Have open dialogue with your staff about how they&rsquo;d like to work, how they feel they work best and what they feel most comfortable with. And, if that happens to be from home, so be it. Remote working is no longer a benefit to list in the &ldquo;why work for us&rdquo; section &ndash; it&rsquo;s a given. What would you add to this list? If you&rsquo;d like some no-obligation advice about the challenges &ndash; and benefits &ndash; of hiring in the current climate, I&rsquo;d love to talk. Don&rsquo;t hesitate to shoot me a message, or get in touch in the comments to arrange a chat.
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3 Key Points to Your Post-Covid People Strategy

Marketing: such a broad term, yet one which so many people want to work within. In fact, according to a 2019 survey conducted by Glassdoor, it&rsquo;s the third most desirable job sector here in the UK. As a recruiter, I often interview entry-level/graduate candidates who say they want to work &lsquo;in marketing&rsquo; but, when you delve a little deeper, they have little understanding of what exactly that means. Marketing is a huge system of myriad channels &ndash; many of which are impossible to understand until you&rsquo;re in the midst of them. Which is why, when you&rsquo;re building your marketing team, it&rsquo;s important to consider what you actually need: in such a creative, ever-changing profession, the meeting of minds often breeds better, faster results than training might. Which is why marketing mentorship is so very key. Marketing is, technically, something many people could do &ndash; with so many online courses, qualifications and ways to self-learn or self-educate, there are few real obstacles for somebody who wants to learn the movements, the basics. But what about the psychology, the science behind it all? Marketing encompasses tech skills, design, writing, working with numbers and so much more &ndash; all skills which we either possess or would be able to hone by ourselves. But the meeting of minds in a profession such as marketing is what breeds ideas, understanding and overall success. This is where a mentor comes in. A marketing mentor is much more than a teacher or trainer. They&rsquo;re also a: 1) Sounding board for ideas &ndash; good and bad &ndash; offering the opportunity to deconstruct, evaluate and rethink things to the betterment of your/your clients&rsquo; goals 2) Challenger &ndash; to help an individual understand why they think A is a better strategy than B, or to ask different questions and create different thought patterns 3) Motivator &ndash; in an industry where opinions differ and creativity can as quickly be stifled as encouraged, your mentor ensures that you&rsquo;re able to persevere and stay driven throughout the good times, and the bad A mentor helps draw out ideas which exist, but aren&rsquo;t going to come to the surface without some prodding and poking. A mentor speaks from experience &ndash; what has worked historically and what hasn&rsquo;t, or even why what works for one won&rsquo;t for another. A mentor is able to draw upon numbers and statistics, things they&rsquo;ve learned along the way, rather than basing decisions on common sense. Furthermore, they&rsquo;ll still ensure that your junior marketer learns by trial and error themselves, so that one day they can speak of the same experience. Working in marketing, there&rsquo;s near-unlimited online resources for learning the &lsquo;how&rsquo; &ndash; simply reading blogs or utilising classroom-based learning (whether online or IRL) can teach you a lot. But the role of a marketing mentor is to help a person understand what they&rsquo;re doing and, most crucially,&nbsp;why. Show me any successful athlete, business owner, author or otherwise, and you&rsquo;ll find a mentor to whom they attribute much of their success not far behind. In an industry as fast-paced, diverse and often ambiguous as marketing, real-life skills and experience are invaluable. You&rsquo;re planning to hire someone who can come into your team and look after the company&rsquo;s [social media, print, digital marketing] capabilities&hellip; But, should you be considering developing your current team and instead hiring a mentor with which to do so? It could be a best-of-both-worlds situation. Please share your experience with us, whether you work in marketing or another sector altogether &ndash; do you have a business mentor and, if so, is it something you&rsquo;d recommend to those just starting out or hoping to develop their career in any given sector? Whether you&rsquo;re looking to add to your marketing team, or looking for general advice on the strategy in development for the future of it, we&rsquo;re here to help. Get in touch with myself or one of my marketing-specialist recruiters covering the UK today.

Marketing: Mentor or Manager?

We humans are an interesting bunch &ndash; despite there being no scientific evidence that ostriches do in fact bury their heads in the sand, the term &ldquo;being an ostrich&rdquo; has become synonymous with doing exactly that. Fun fact &ndash; ostriches do no such thing. But managers do. The running of a business isn&rsquo;t always a process without its challenges and bumps in the road; problems are going to arise which you need to face head-on, rather than pretending you&rsquo;re unaware or hoping they&rsquo;ll disappear of their own accord. I think the situation which is fast-blooming here in the UK with regards to Covid-19, and around the world for that matter, speaks enough to this cause. Myriad issues can arise in the workplace, both those which can be avoided in future and those which are entirely unprecedented, as we&rsquo;re all quickly learning; the key is, as a manager, not to bury your head in the sand and hope it&rsquo;ll all blow over. Here are some key tips on how to stay conscious in your leadership whilst trying to manage through a period of conflict. Know when to step in. There are tiers of leadership for a reason, sure &ndash; it&rsquo;s so that when an immediate manager feels unable, they too have someone to turn to. As a business leader it&rsquo;s crucial that you understand what&rsquo;s going on, when it&rsquo;s gone beyond your subordinate&rsquo;s power, and when it requires you to take the matter into your own hands. We could be talking about a clash of personalities for instance, creative differences between employees, or even staff who get on well but don&rsquo;t play benefit to one another in the workplace; rather than waiting to see if it can be handled by another, know when it&rsquo;s your turn to step in and bring about a solution. Leave discussions open. A problem arose, and you solved it &ndash; well done, pat on the back. But, that doesn&rsquo;t mean it&rsquo;ll forever be so; in the fast-changing world of business, it&rsquo;s important that your team understand that any subject is still open. One of the worst things you can do as a manager is to leave employees feeling as though they&rsquo;re unable to bring something up, for fear of &lsquo;dwelling&rsquo; or bringing negativity back into play. When it comes to new processes and systems where problems have been perceived, ongoing awareness and monitoring is needed; new insights, ideas and therefore obstacles are inevitable. As a manager, be willing to admit that your original solution may have been temporary &ndash; take the bull by the horns and focus on finding new solutions, for the now and for the long-term. The longer you bury your head in the sand, the worse things will become. Know when to get serious. As we&rsquo;re all learning &ndash; Mr Johnson the PM included, I&rsquo;d imagine &ndash; it&rsquo;s tough to know when a concern becomes an issue, and when an issue becomes a problem &ndash; one which requires action, and immediately. But the fact is, if you deign always to be an informed, open leader &ndash; one who&rsquo;s abreast of the inner goings-on of your business, current affairs and industry trends &ndash; it&rsquo;s less likely that you&rsquo;ll be taken unawares. When facing a problem head on, it&rsquo;s important to know when to get serious; stop putting things off, stop employing the &lsquo;wait and see&rsquo; method, and take action when it&rsquo;s most needed. Do you tend to bury your head in the sand as a manager? Whilst we can all agree that optimism is paramount and finding the bright side key, being able to admit to an issue and find solutions quickly is tantamount to success across all aspects of your business. False optimism in a time of struggle is more likely to hinder rather than help, especially if your employees feel as though you&rsquo;ve been ignoring it thus far. Transparency in business is a huge trend for 2020 and it&rsquo;s never been more important to face issues with an open, forward-thinking viewpoint. Whilst this always applies, with such divided opinion as to the UK government&rsquo;s response to the coronavirus pandemic, it&rsquo;s never been more relevant. As business leaders, it&rsquo;s our time to face the music and do as best as we can by the businesses we&rsquo;re responsible for, whether that be by implementing home working systems, offering support to our employees or simply trying our best to go on as normal in a safe manner. Whatever you&rsquo;re able to do, don&rsquo;t bury your head in the sand: this is happening, it will affect us all, and we can only tackle it as we must. Sending well wishes to our blog community and beyond under these challenging circumstances!

Ostrich Management: why it doesn’t work

KPIs, KPIs, KPIs. Is there any other aspect of business operations so widely spoken about, furthermore contested? It&rsquo;s a divisive subject in the business community &ndash; where some live by them, others dispute their place altogether; some employ but largely ignore them, either way. Whether you utilise them day-to-date or oppose them entirely, if you work in the corporate world, you&rsquo;ve come across KPIs at some point. The fact is, the reason they&rsquo;re so highly contested is that KPIs are seldom implemented effectively, or used properly. It&rsquo;s not about the &lsquo;numbers game&rsquo; &ndash; it&rsquo;s about business efficiency. Let&rsquo;s stop thinking about KPIs as targets, first off. There&rsquo;s a clear distinction between the two. The definition of a KPI is, as it says on the tin, a key performance indicator &ndash; a figure which is (or should be) derived from information your business is providing you. KPIs should be used to evaluate the activity a business needs to undertake in order to achieve its targets &ndash; not as a target in and of themselves. Get it? Let&rsquo;s put it into real terms. Your business currently has 10 sales execs. The team&rsquo;s target is to generate &pound;100,000 in revenue each month, so each individual&rsquo;s target is &pound;10,000. Currently, each person is achieving &pound;8,000 per month; upon drilling down into their activity, you find that they&rsquo;re each making 8 phone calls per month. What can you take from this? Your business is indicating that your team&rsquo;s activity needs to increase in order to reach target, and is telling you, hypothetically, how much it needs to increase by. Analyse these tricky figures and you&rsquo;ll find it makes sense that, were they each to make 10 phone calls per month, everyone would hit that &pound;10K, no problem. But here&rsquo;s the thing &ndash; there&rsquo;s no need to now storm onto the sales floor and inform the team that they had all better hit those 10 calls, or else. Not in that fashion, anyway. You&rsquo;re not setting this as a target: your business is doing it for you.
It&rsquo;s a KPI, not a target. See? KPIs should be in place to motivate, not condemn. Information is king, or so they say, and it&rsquo;s our job as leaders to use it to our advantage. Particularly in sales and marketing, numbers do play a big part in the performance sense &ndash; from calls made to appointments booked, website clicks to conversion rates, your team is constantly running through figures in their mind. Adding a panel of KPIs into that mix, specifically when posing them as targets/must-hits, definitely creates potential for the pot to boil over from time to time. However, if you were to go to your team and say, &ldquo;Hey, we&rsquo;ve collated some really interesting info here which we think is going to help you do your job better/more efficiently, want to take a look?&rdquo;, any employee worth his/her salt will be clambering to see your notes. Keep targets and KPIs separate; monitor them both as equals. Your KPIs should be based on fact and fact alone. Here at Certus we get to know our clients well, and I&rsquo;d be lying if I said we don&rsquo;t sometimes have to do a little &ndash; err &ndash; re-education, shall we say. Often, businesses blindly set their KPIs based on industry standards or what their competition appears to be doing which, fundamentally, doesn&rsquo;t make sense. Just because Oracle&rsquo;s techs have to sit four appointments per day, doesn&rsquo;t mean that your hyper-growth, disruptive SaaS start-up should be doing the same. In fact, we need to move away from this idea of &lsquo;setting&rsquo; KPIs altogether &ndash; I reiterate, your business sets them itself. Monitor activity, productivity, operations, all aspects of your business, over time to understand what your KPIs are and where they should sit in terms of activity. Don&rsquo;t pull numbers out of the air and &lsquo;set&rsquo; KPIs based on what you think you should be doing &ndash; base them on what you are doing, and the improvements that you want to make. Remember, more doesn&rsquo;t always equal more. Numbers and humans behave in very different ways. When a calculator does a complex mathematical equation, it doesn&rsquo;t need to take into account that, maybe, number 3 is recovering from a bout of the flu, or that number 4 is off on holiday for two weeks this month. So, when you take a look at your figures and see that 25 calls equals 1 appointment, don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s as simple as commanding your team to make 50, and expecting them to achieve 2 appointments as such. It just doesn&rsquo;t work that way. I&rsquo;m not saying that we as leaders shouldn&rsquo;t always strive for excellence and improvement &ndash; but, alas, we are humans managing humans. And that needs to be at the forefront of our approach, always. We shouldn&rsquo;t be setting KPIs, we should be running our businesses based on the information it provides us &ndash; looking at them as the dataset they are, rather than another number to hold over our teams&rsquo; heads. As ever, love to hear your opinions &ndash; what&rsquo;s your approach to KPIs, and are you making the most of them across your business?

KPIs: Use them properly, or else

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It&rsquo;s the beginning of a new year and, for the vast majority of us, it&rsquo;s a time when we&rsquo;re feeling more open and receptive to change; we evaluate our past successes, what worked and what didn&rsquo;t, and spend time making plans for the coming year. Changes can apply to any and all aspects of your business; perhaps you&rsquo;re looking to improve your hiring strategy, make adaptations to your policies, change up company structures internally or even implement new systems and technology into the day-to-day. Here at Certus we live by the ethos that if you always do what you&rsquo;ve always done, you&rsquo;ll always get what you always got &ndash; change is inevitable, and truly a good thing for the most part. This year we&rsquo;re embracing it. It&rsquo;s not always easy and the road to business improvement isn&rsquo;t always a smooth one, but it&rsquo;s necessary; so, here are our top behaviours of business leaders who are embracing change for their organisation in 2020: Seeking out what isn&rsquo;t working, as well as what is. Embracing change can also mean facing some home truths and becoming more self-aware. This year, business leaders should be truly seeking out the things that could be improved from external sources, rather than just going off of what you know &ndash; or think you know. In today&rsquo;s corporate world of 5-star reviews and testimonials, harnessing customer feedback is key to bringing about positive change. Instead of just asking for another testimonial to display on your company website, survey customers and question what you could be doing better as a business &ndash; whether it be your product or service offering specifically, improving communication, and so on and so forth. Knowing what&rsquo;s going well and what you need to continue doing is important &ndash; but where there&rsquo;s room for change, there&rsquo;s room for improvement. Understanding the why &ndash; and then the when. It&rsquo;s important that when implementing something new you&rsquo;re able to articulate the reasoning behind it to your workforce. As a business leader you should be able to explain the benefits of what&rsquo;s taking place, always demonstrating strong belief in why: nothing turns people off more than change for the sake of change. And, on the other hand, know when to sit back and let things progress naturally &ndash; it&rsquo;s all about knowing your business, knowing your employees and knowing how to handle things. Change can be timely or not, but as captain of this ship it&rsquo;s your job to ensure that there&rsquo;s always a solid &lsquo;why&rsquo; behind it. Promoting your business&rsquo; goals and vision consistently, despite the change happening. Arguably the most important behaviour to exhibit whilst leading your business through change is ensuring that the company ethos is still as relevant and visible as ever. Exuding your company values and providing reassurance to employees is key; it&rsquo;s incredibly important that they too embrace change as you&rsquo;re doing. Change can, rightly or wrongly, cause frustration or confusion, and feelings of unease amongst staff; so it&rsquo;s important that the things they know and love about their employer stand strong and true. It&rsquo;s your job to lead the business through any period of change large and small, all the while keeping the brand and culture consistent throughout &ndash; assuming that isn&rsquo;t what&rsquo;s changing! ---- As humans, we instinctively shy away from change; as business leaders, we have to overcome this very part of our being to drive our company forward. Even embracing change when it comes to simple tasks, like agreeing on the profile you&rsquo;re looking to hire currently and thinking &lsquo;outside the box&rsquo; to generate new talent, can be tricky to do &ndash; but, as we&rsquo;ve said before, change is all but inevitable and can truly bring about huge benefits. What do you plan to do this year to drive your business forward? What other behaviours do you see as integral to embracing change across your business?
</article>

Three Behaviours of Leaders Who Are Embracing Change In 2020

Established in January 2001, the Certus Recruitment Group has become a leading specialist recruitment consultancy with a global presence and a client list that is envied by our competitors. Revenues have grown consistently and are continually invested back into the business to enhance growth and reward those that contribute to our success.

Established in January 2001, we are a specialist recruiter working with businesses of all sizes from global ‘Superbrands’ through to innovative start-ups and everything in between. Working globally we help our clients plan, source, attract, and retain world-class talent for their business. Our people are each specialists within one of our three practice areas; sales, marketing, and technical, operating at all levels of experience up to Director &amp; Executive level.

At Certus Recruitment Group our people are our greatest asset. We believe a coherent and motivated team of passionate people will always achieve more than a collection of individuals.The ongoing success and growth of our business are determined by our behaviours as commercially focused recruitment professionals who demonstrate expertise and commitment to the provision of service excellence to clients and candidates alike. We have defined these behaviours as:​

At Certus Recruitment Group our people are our greatest asset. We believe a coherent and motivated team of passionate people will always achieve more than a collection of individuals. The ongoing success and growth of our business are determined by our behaviors as commercially focused recruitment professionals who demonstrate expertise and commitment to the provision of service excellence to clients and candidates alike. We have defined these behaviors as:​

"Certus has been simply fantastic. The support along my journey to securing my dream job has been faultless. They provided clarity throughout the process and offered guidance that has undoubtedly helped me prepare for a successful interview!"

We're always keen to introduce great talent to our extensive network

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We're always keen to introduce great talent to our extensive network

We're always looking to introduce great talent to our extensive network

At Certus Recruitment Group we recognise that our employees are our greatest asset, which is why we have developed a rewards and benefits package that recognises the value of your contribution to the business. From protection for your family through to discounts on gifts and events, our benefits are designed to ensure everyone benefits, regardless of their individual circumstances.

At Certus Recruitment Group we recognize that our employees are our greatest asset, which is why we have developed a rewards and benefits package that recognises the value of your contribution to the business. From protection for your family through to discounts on gifts and events, our benefits are designed to ensure everyone benefits, regardless of their individual circumstances.

Established in January 2001, the Certus Recruitment Group has become a leading specialist recruitment consultancy with a global presence and a client list that is envied by our competitors. Revenues have grown consistently and are continually invested back into the business to enhance growth and reward those that contribute to our success.We have a clear vision of where the company is going and how it will get there. This vision is shared with everyone at Certus and we work hard to create a vibrant working environment that provides real opportunity to develop, progress and prosper within the Company.To achieve our objectives we need great people and are always looking for applications from both experienced recruiters or from experienced sales, marketing or technical professionals who have a strong knowledge of their sector and are looking to forge a new career within a professional recruitment environment.

We attribute our success to our core values

Global Specialist Recruiter to the Technology Sector

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<h2>Our team</h2>Our Senior Leadership Team has a combined experience of 60+ years of recruiting into the technology sector, with experience gained in sales, marketing and technical experience across the globe. They continue to be heavily involved in the business, operating at the coal face and remaining close to clients and candidates alike. Please feel free to reach out to any of our leaders to discuss any aspect of how Certus Recruitment can help you achieve your objectives. We look forward to working with you.

<h2>Our team</h2>Our Senior Leadership Team has a combined experience of 60+ years of recruiting into the technology sector, with experience gained in sales, marketing, and technical experience across the globe. They continue to be heavily involved in the business, operating at the coal face and remaining close to clients and candidates alike. Please feel free to reach out to any of our leaders to discuss any aspect of how Certus Recruitment can help you achieve your objectives. We look forward to working with you.

Global Specialist Recruiter to the Technology Sector.

If you have any further questions or would like to find out more about how we can help your business grow, we'd love to hear from you. Just pick your preferred way of contacting us and we look forward to speaking with you soon.<ul><li>Pick up the phone and give us a call on +61 (03) 4050 7777</li><li>Click&nbsp;<a href="https://certusrecruitment.com/au/submit-job/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(234, 13, 140);">here</a>&nbsp;and you can send us details of your business and your current vacancies</li><li>Send us an email to: hello@certusrecruitment.com</li></ul>

There is no shortage of fantastic recruiters to choose from. There are those that specialize by sector or by function, there are large multi-site high street agencies, global players, and single-site niche businesses. So how do you determine which one will be best to support your business?​We believe the most important element is to choose a partner you trust. If you don't immediately feel they understand your unique situation and they don't go out of their way to really understand your purpose, speak to another. Your reasons for choosing may sometimes be difficult to articulate, however, after speaking you will quickly know which company is best to represent your brand.​And finally, whilst price is an important element in choosing a supplier, make sure you're calculating all the costs - not just the fee %. The company that delivers you a great shortlist the first time round, who organizes your stakeholders and minimizes wasted time will save you thousands over the course of the project.Ultimately, the best way to measure us is to speak to us. However, in the meantime here are a number of frequently asked questions that may just help you decide to include us on your shortlist!

If you have any further questions or would like to find out more about how we can help your business grow, we'd love to hear from you. Just pick your preferred way of contacting us and we look forward to speaking with you soon.<ul><li>Pick up the phone and give us a call on +44 (0) 204 538 8222</li><li>Click&nbsp;<a href="https://certusrecruitment.com/submit-job/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(234, 13, 140);">her﻿e</a><a href="https://certusrecruitment.com/submit-job/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a>and you can send us details of your business and your current vacancies</li><li>Send us an email to: info@certusrecruitment.com</li></ul>

If you have any further questions or would like to find out more about how we can help your business grow, we'd love to hear from you. Just pick your preferred way of contacting us and we look forward to speaking with you soon.<ul><li>Pick up the phone and give us a call on +1 737 201 9992</li><li>Click&nbsp;<a href="https://certusrecruitment.com/us/submit-job/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(234, 13, 140);">her﻿e</a><a href="https://certusrecruitment.com/us/submit-job/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a>and you can send us details of your business and your current vacancies</li><li>Send us an email to: america@certusrecruitment.com</li></ul>

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"Technology led businesses across the globe depend on us to drive growth through the delivery of innovative Talent Solutions"

We have a clear vision to be the Global Specialist Recruiter to the Technology Sector. To achieve our Vision we need amazing people who share our vision and subscribe to our values: Passion, Energy, Commitment, Integrity and Fun. If the Tech Sector excites you as much as it does us, get in touch or explore our current openings.

Great companies are built on great talent

We’re always keen to introduce great talent to our extensive network

We’re always looking to introduce great talent to our extensive network

Call Certus Now

Our specialist consultants can’t wait to hear about your business!

Looking out for fresh talent for innovate organizations

At Certus Recruitment Ltd ("we", "us" or "our" for short) we and our group companies are committed to protecting your personal information. Your personal information (also called ‘personal data’) is the information which identifies you as an individual that we get from you and others in various ways. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 (the "Act") and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (“GDPR”) specific obligations are placed on us in the way we handle this type of information. The aim of this privacy policy is to let you know what personal information we collect from you when you apply for a job with us or our group companies, when you use our website and when you contact us, how we store and use it, and how you can access and manage this information.​Your personal information may be stored online and therefore we take steps to ensure that our systems are well protected.​The registered office of the above company is at 1 Vincent Square, London, SW1P 2PN. Our company number is 12619774. We and our group companies, together with the products and services we sell and provide, are regulated by the Recruitment &amp; Employment Confederation (REC - https://www.rec.uk.com/)​Please note that this privacy policy only covers https://www.certusrecruitment.com/. Other websites belonging to us or accessible via links are not covered by this policy. If you access any of these sites, please check the privacy policy applicable to these sites (if any) before you submit any of your personal information to them.​So, what personal information do we collect about you?​We process the following types of personal data about you:• Contact details• Identification information• Information about past and current employment• Education and qualifications• Information about your lifestyle​We collect the personal information requested on our application forms and contact forms together with any comments or remarks that you may provide in free text fields (such as personal statements) or CVs (where applicable). We may also keep a record of references received from third parties (including those you give us, credit reference and fraud prevention agencies) and of any other correspondence or communication between you and us, whether written, e-mailed, or as a result of visits, interviews or recorded telephone calls.​We also monitor site traffic, and like most websites, we use a Unique Visitor Cookie (which is supplied and managed by a carefully selected statistics provider) to identify your PC by a random number (e.g. #12489). More details about cookies and how you can disable them can be found below.​We will (unless it's impractical) tell you if we obtain and store information from any other source and also how we intend to use it in accordance with this privacy policy.​Making sure your personal data is secure​Whilst we take steps to protect user privacy, no data transmission over the internet can be entirely secure. We therefore do not guarantee the security of personal information that you send to us, or your use of the site. Any personal information you do send is at your own risk but once we receive it we use strict procedures to safeguard it.​How do we use your personal information?​In connection with a contract between you and us or an employer… We (and any At Certus Recruitment Ltd group company may use and process your personal information where it is necessary for us to do so to in connection with or anticipation of a contract between you and us (or At Certus Recruitment Ltd group company) or an employer.• to process your job application and otherwise manage the recruitment process• help potential employers assess and process your job application;• help potential employers check and confirm the references that you provide as part of your job application;• check with any necessary regulatory, industry and/or security authorities relevant to the position that you have applied for; Our Legitimate Business Interest… We (and any At Certus Recruitment Ltd group company may use and process your personal information where it is necessary for us to pursue our legitimate interests as a business for the following purposes:• help us identify you so we know who we are talking to;• help prevent and detect fraud or loss;• to contact you with information about opportunities that you might be interested in from time to time via phone or post;• assess risk, carry out market research, statistical analysis, test systems, improve the way that we run our recruitment process and your application (including quality assurance) and analyse your application and recruitment history;• train staff and monitor our services. This may mean that we record our conversations or our correspondence with you to make sure we are providing you with a good service and to make sure we keep to our legal and regulatory obligations. Where you have provided consent… We and any At Certus Recruitment Ltd group company may use your personal information where you have consented for us to do so• to contact you by email or other electronic means about opportunities that you might be interested in from time to time;• to provide you with job alerts. This consent can be withdrawn by logging-in to your account on the website and updating your details. Unless otherwise stated, we will hold data processed through contractual and legitimate interests indefinitely. Data processed via active consent will continue to receive marketing relative to the initial opt-in until we have received a request to unsubscribe/opt-out.​Who do we disclose your personal information to?​We may make your personal information available to agencies and employers who subscribe with us or use our Website, working within the above ways in which we use your data. These clients may then use that information to contact you about specific roles via email, phone or post. Other clients or agencies should not send direct marketing messages by email or SMS to you unless you have consented (opted in) to this.​We may disclose your personal information to any member of our group, which means our subsidiary companies, our ultimate holding company and its subsidiary companies.​We may disclose your personal information to third parties:​• In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.• If at Certus Recruitment Ltd or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.• If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms and conditions to and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of At Certus Recruitment Ltd, our customers, or others.​How can you find out what personal information we hold about you?​You are entitled to see the personal information that we hold about you at any time. (If you write to, email or phone us and ask to see this information, it is known as a ‘subject access request’ or ‘SAR’ for short) You can do so by:​• e-mailing us at dpo@certusrecruitment.com inserting the words ‘Data Request’ in the heading or• writing to us at Data Request, Certus Recruitment Ltd, 1 Vincent Square, London, SW1P 2PN​Even if you don’t want a copy of your personal information, you can still contact us to check that the personal information that we hold is accurate or to let us know of any changes to your personal information. We always try to ensure that the information we hold is accurate, up to date and relevant and, as you are applying for a job with us, it is important that we have the right information in order to be able contact you. We'll be more than happy to make changes or to correct any inaccuracies.​You have the following rights when it comes to your data:• to object to any legitimate business interests processing;• to withdraw consent (only in respect of any processing which depends on consent);• to ask for your data to be updated or corrected (where it is inaccurate);• if we have carried out any automated decision making as part of recruitment practices, contest any such decision and ask for a human intervention;• ask for the client to stop processing for any reason or exercise their right to be forgotten;• ask for a copy of their information that they have provided to you electronically (such as their CV) in a portable format;• complain to the ICO.​External links from our site​From time to time we may include hypertext links to sites which are created by individuals and companies outside of our group companies. We do this when there is a particular relevance to the topic you're reading about. Whilst we endeavour to check that the content of these sites is suitable, we unfortunately cannot take any responsibility for the practices of the companies who publish the sites that we link to, nor the integrity of the content contained within them.​What if we update our privacy policy?​We do keep our privacy policies under regular review so please do check each time you use the site. You'll be able to read about any updates on this page - as soon as they happen.​If you have any questions or if you feel that we are not complying with the terms of this privacy policy please do contact us by e-mailing us at the following address dpo@certusrecruitment.com inserting the words ‘Privacy Policy Grievance’ in the heading.​This policy was last updated on Thursday 4th June 2020.

Supporting businesses going through transformation, managing a transition or completing animplementation, our contract services team understand the challenges associated with resourcingyour project. In addition to our knowledge of the technical functions, our understanding of projectmanagement methodologies and the project life cycle means we’re best place to identify the bestcontractors for your project.Recognising the importance of continuity, we ensure our contractors are managed and supportedthroughout the duration of your project, utilising the latest technologies to ensure a seamlesscontractor experience.

Put simply, we help technology businesses scale.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

We're always looking to introduce great talent to our extensive network

We provide a bespoke, specialist recruitment service that adds real value to your organisation. We believe a truly great recruitment service is not about filling a vacancy, it’s about helping you scale your business. On every occasion it’s our job to identify the right candidate who, due to experience and cultural alignment, goes on to significantly contribute to the attainment of your organisations goals.

We provide a bespoke, specialist recruitment service that adds real value to your organization. We believe a truly great recruitment service is not about filling a vacancy, it’s about helping you scale your business. On every occasion, it’s our job to identify the right candidate who, due to experience and cultural alignment, goes on to significantly contribute to the attainment of your organizations' goals.

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Our specialist consultants can't wait to hear about your business!

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