Displaying items by tag: employment
Intern Diaries Part II: What is a Recruiter?
Our intern has been busy getting to grips with life in a recruitment office. After three weeks in the job, she gives us a rundown on what skills she thinks a recruiter should have.
After four weeks working at Calibre Search I think I’m safe to make a confession. It might sound a little ridiculous, it will probably cause a few eye rolls from my colleagues (as it did my parents) and it will make you question why on earth I’m working here but it’s time to be honest.
When I first applied for the job here, I didn’t really know what a recruitment company did.
I mean you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to know the very basic role of a recruiter, you recruit employees for companies. But how they did it, what a usual work day would look like or what skills made a recruiter, I had no idea. When I first told my parents about the company I was working for they looked at me puzzled…
“But Charlotte you don’t know the first thing about recruitment, how on earth did you get that job?”
After trying, and failing, to persuade my parents I am the fountain of all knowledge, including recruitment, and the company clearly saw my potential and talent, I had to admit that my role was to work on social media and I wouldn’t be doing any recruiting. HOWEVER, after four weeks in a recruitment office, sitting next to recruiters, posting blogs, tweets and insta-pics for recruiters I think I am starting to get to grips with what a recruitment company does, what a recruiter looks like and some insider tips to be a good recruiter. From my vast amount of well researched analysis (four weeks of listening in to conversations I shouldn’t be) I can now publish my final report:
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The Recruiter: A (Kind of) in Depth Report
There are several skills you need to have to be a good recruiter, many of which are not made clear on the job description these are as follows
Strong vocal chords
Recruiters spend over half their day on the phone so a good morning vocal routine is advised. Your phone voice will also need to be strong: different from the traditional office phone voice, the recruiter is friendlier, less formal and should include personalised phrases and stories that WILL be used on plenty of phone calls you make. Calibre examples include holiday advice, questions about the weather, good pubs for the weekend and the story of that time you got knocked off your bike on the way to work and needed stitches. I also recommended practicing the art of a good brew to keep vocal chords strong throughout the working day. There is office etiquette with any brew making and I would advise learning this at the earliest convenience.
There is no ‘i’ in team, but there is in ‘winning a competition’
Working as a team is essential to a happy and healthy office in recruitment. Communication and supporting other members of the team to help current clients and gain new ones is expected. However, introduce a light-hearted competition with a small prize, for example, a pack of biscuits, and there is a stark change. Survival of the fittest mentality kicks in and many recruiters will do anything they can to win. This includes trying to put off other teams, cheating or being a bad winner. I recommend practising your table tennis skills if you are looking to join Calibre Search and not making any bold statements about your running ability until you’ve done your research on the rest of the team. Otherwise you may find yourself signing up for a run and a time prediction you certainly won’t be able to manage.
Know your stuff
There is a general assumption that recruitment is simply a sales environment, despite their being some parallels, don’t underestimate how much knowledge recruiters have stored away. Recruiters aren’t selling people to companies or companies to people they do far more advising and informing. They are an industry encyclopaedia, they know what companies want, need and should have, they know the good, from the bad, from the ugly and they know their candidates! I would recommend researching the ins and outs of an industry you want to recruit for, you want to know everything that can help get the right fit for the job. to get the right placement you can’t just look at a company’s location and salary, you need to know the people employers, the career progression, where the company is going and what the office culture is like, to name a few. What recruiters don’t know about a company they are employing for isn’t worth knowing. So, I can’t emphasise enough, KNOW YOUR STUFF! I have worked in sales before, I have pretended to know my stuff about a product, I pretended to know my stuff pretty well, if I even tried to treat recruitment like I did in sales I would lose clients and candidates quicker than I would lose a 100 metre sprint against Bolt! (Despite the running abilities I may have incorrectly boasted about across the office)
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So I may not have been here long enough for anyone to take my analysis seriously but I am pretty sure I have pointed out the key skills and characteristics of a recruiter, or a Calibre Search recruiter at least… who knows this bunch could be in a world of their own!
If you think you think the Calibre team would be a good fit for you. Our Manchester team is recruiting now! To find out more about working with Calibre Search go to our work for us page. Otherwise email your CVs and covering letter to Pete Gillick.
0113 234 6047
john.cassidy@calibresearch.co.uk
The art of CV writing is a tricky one, and many online CV guides are not relevant to industries like the HVAC & refrigeration industry. So our industry experts put their heads together to create an insider tips for you CV to make the best first impression
Tailor your CV to suit the job description
A lot of us are guilty of having a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to our CVs. While following these CV tips can give you a great head start when applying to refrigeration jobs, remember you do need to slightly alter your CV according to the job description. For example, if the job description says they want someone with a driving licence, or someone with ‘extensive experience maintaining a range of commercial refrigerators,’ then add these details to your CV if they are relevant to you. If the job description says that for the refrigeration technician they want, an engineering degree is desirable but not essential, and you went straight to the refrigeration industry without higher education, you could perhaps talk about the benefits of this. Think of the experience that you have, that a graduate might not. Have a look at our refrigeration job listings for some inspiration. These tips are the ultimate basis for creating a great CV – but try to remember to give your CV a little update for each and every job description. Employers want to know that you want to work for them. If they sense that you have tailored your CV to their job description, it will make you stand out as the ideal engineer they are looking for.
Be descriptive
Try and be as descriptive and technical as you can when writing about your duties at previous companies. Employers like to see that you are qualified for the job. Remember – your CV is your first and possibly only chance to make a good impression. You could be the best engineer in your world but how will anybody be able to tell if the only detail you give about your experience is ‘servicing splits and VRVs.’ Some good details to include on your CV are:
- Basic duties such as: fault finding and repairs; replacing compressors; changing PCB inverters; recharging systems with refrigerant; changing fan motors; replacing evaporators; changing pressure sensors and so on.
- The equipment you worked on - was it pack systems, cold rooms, ice machines, bottle coolers, display chillers, integrals etc?
- The sites you have worked in.
- The type of work: servicing, maintenance, installation, fault-finding, or commissioning.
- Any refrigeration engineer training or refrigeration engineer course you undertook:Any experience with different refrigerants like C02 or ammonia. Have you worked with refrigerants such as R410A, R407C, R407A, R404 or R134A?
Focus on what matters
While having a fancy CV with lots colourful borders and impressive fonts might look pretty, (and might give some of us a good excuse for procrastinating) it will distract employers from what makes you a good refrigeration technician. The most important thing you want your CV to say about you is how well you can fix an AC or refrigeration unit, or how much industry experience you have – not your Microsoft Office skills.
Leave out irrelevant information
While the employer is interested in finding out a little bit about your interests, quirks and hobbies – their main goal is to find out if you have the relevant skills you need for the job. Remember this when you write your CV. Justifiably, you might be really proud of your City & Guilds qualification in food hygiene but ultimately, it won’t help the employer do their job. The same goes for work experience. Leave out anything that is totally irrelevant to the refrigeration industry and focus instead on qualifications such as FGas.
Be careful not to oversimplify
Bearing the last point in mind, it’s still important to go into lots of detail about the relevant information on your profile. Make sure to list all relevant employment history. The amount of times we have seen engineers with twenty or more years experience only list their last five years is overwhelming. They say ‘I didn’t think it would be worth writing it all down,’ or ‘there is too much to list.’ This is one of the biggest CV mistakes you can make in the HVAC and refrigeration industry. By deciding not to list all your relevant industry experience, you will seem far less experienced than you are and directly decrease your chance of receiving an interview offer.
Don't be afraid to ask for CV help
Writing a CV can be daunting. Quite a lot of engineers we speak to haven’t updated their CV in years. A lot of jobs in the HVAC and refrigeration industry are acquired from knowing the right people – not submitting a CV to someone you’ve never met. We understand that writing a list of your skills and attributes for a stranger to assess you without ever meeting you is a terrifying concept. You want to make the best possible impression. Fear not! We are experts when it comes to how to write a good CV. Our recruitment consultants check every CV before sending it to employers and give you free and personal advice on how to improve it. Even if you just want to drop us a quick email we are happy to answer any questions.
Last but not least, remember the basics
Remember to include your name, contact details, experience and qualifications. It might seem obvious but we have even seen some engineers’ CVs without contact details.
If you follow all of these tips and don’t get the results you wanted, don’t be disheartened. You might not have received an offer for an interview, but the time you spent creating a great CV will pay off in the future. Why not check out our list of refrigeration jobs and vacancies and upload your new and improved CV. Good luck!
If you’d like any help with your job search or want to speak to our consultants here at Calibre Search, please don’t hesitate to call us on 0113 234 6047.
