There are cycles that happen in recruitment, a pendulum that swings between many jobs/few candidates and few jobs/many candidates. Somewhere in the middle there is perfect equilibrium, but oddly the pendulum never stops there...

Currently, it is a sellers market, and to be clear the sellers are the job seekers. The best candidates are finding themselves with multiple options (which can be a good and bad thing) and hiring companies are finding that offers are being knocked back, or preferred candidates pulling out before offer (to accept an alternate). When you get your preferred candidate it is sweet, but when you don't, and are facing into restarting the cycle, it can be a royal pain the ass! Yup, It is a difficult time to be hiring in this hot Sydney tech market.

There are a few things you can do to help yourself, and a few things you can avoid so as not to hinder yourself. These are basic tips, but just like most things if you get the basics right, it goes a long way.

Imagine if you tried them all :)

Do

Have all you ducks in a row -

have your role approved have interview commitment from all interested parties have clear criteria for the hire have your company's EVP ready

Do

Work to a set process -

have your question set readyknow the success criteria know your target salary and your maximum salarygive feedback when you say you will

Don't

wait 2 weeks before assessing applicant resumeshave long breaks between interview roundschange the job criteria with every different candidatefail to gain commitment from other interviewers in your organisationforget to pitch your company

Recruitment is a fundamental enabler of success in your company, but it is also easy to make it a center of organisational frustration by not doing the basics well.

Some good planning and following the tips above should help a lot.

Many organizations these days have become so focused on cost containment that they often overlook the longer-term impact their actions have on the future talent mix in their business. This is most common in organizations where the hiring budget is largely controlled by a CFO or a Procurement Dept who see the hiring function as an admin category, little different from other indirect services.

It is hard to believe but some organizations actually see a vacancy as a cost saving rather that a hindrance to the company's production capability! (Salaries show up on the balance sheet as an expense, rather than an investment producing a revenue return).

It is not difficult to understand that without the means to produce, production (revenue) will be affected! It is critical that Hiring Managers in an organisations are able to demonstrate the business impact of not having the needed employees in the right positions, over short, medium and longer time-spans.

That is only the first step. For any organisation or team with ambition, not only must you fill the vacancy, but you must fill the vacancy with the best possible candidate - And this is where utilising Recruitment Partners comes in.

Specialist Recruiters are not administrative in any way; they are domain experts, relationship managers, EVP specialists and sourcing ninjas.

Domain Experts know their markets. They know your talent competitors at a nuts and bolts level. They can reach into the teams you compete against for the best staff, they can tell you what remuneration and benefits are being paid, and offered. They understand the specific needs of your expertise, and the changes your profession is going through, and in some cases, will go through.

Relationship Managers make time to understand your needs, and the particulars of your company. They assist you by bringing the appropriate talent advice at the right time. They help you internally and externally.

EVP Specialists extend your best brand to the candidate market. By bringing your proposition to large numbers of candidates, the EVP specialist raises awareness and desire for your roles, and increases direct applications too.

Sourcing Ninjas are recruiters with lots of experience in finding the best candidates; in seeking out the single candidate with the mix you need. They are not jaded or burnt out, but energised and excited by your needs. It takes years to be good and even more to be great. Being highly skilled at sourcing is a true separator among recruiters.

If there is one thing to take from this article, it is that recruitment consulting is not linear. There are so many facets to your Recruitment Partner that it is important to choose well. Don't leave it up to procurement or any other function.

You'd be forgiven for assuming that everyone takes a certain amount of care when applying for new opportunities, takes the time to write an accurate resume, answer the job criteria and put their best foot forward. Unfortunately there are those of us whom are less than detail oriented, or perhaps discouraged by multiple submissions who are tired of checking, re-writing, or just being obtusely difficult.

It's unusual for a ProgectManager to get an interview, a Business Analyst (resume) can be foiled by Desktop Support Analyst (LinkedIn), a Director 2004-Current may be ignored as it is unlikely the Director role started in the role immediately after graduation...

Remember that tailoring your CV does not mean lying, fabricating or playing loose with the facts. It means changing the emphasis within skills and responsibilities. To make a good first impression, a well-written resume should be clear, concise, and neatly organised. When the basics can improve your chances so much, it’s a shame not to get it right.

From the top:

Use a word document, not a PDF. There are loads of reasons for this, but basically a PDF makes it awkward for a recruiter or hiring manager to mark up your CV highlighting particular skills, to remove contact details (if appropriate), and just creates annoyance.

You should maintain one font throughout (something clean and clear like Arial or Calibri), and not over format with tables and tabs.

Grammar, grammar, grammar. Run spell checks, proof read more than once, and have a friend or colleague review it. Nothing says inattention to detail or slapdash like bad grammar and bad spelling.

Name and contact details should be at the top of your first page. No, it is not strategic to hide your contact details at the end, hidden until the readers appetite has been whetted, it is annoying. Don't do it.

Email address: niall@lovebrother is not appropriate, get a gmail. Potential employers will google your novelty email address, and you are not in control of what they will find.

Career Summary / Career Goals: Make it relevant; don't include a paragraph about your start-up aspirations at the top of your application to a blue chip enterprise.

Dates: You must include dates of employment and study, and not vague dates either. Do not write 2009 - 2012. Write 07/2009 - 02/2012.

Correctness: If your Job title was Business Analyst, then write Business Analyst. It must also match your LinkedIn profile for titles, content and dates. Do not suddenly become the Head of Highly Important Projects Analyst.

Ref checks and/or a cursory web check can and will show up the truth.

On the subject of LinkedIn, please remember that it is not Facebook. Keep beers with your footy team on the lawn at 3am to the social social network. While I'm on that topic lock up your fun social media accounts like a top security prison.

Do you really want me to know how you responded that time to your annoying brother after you hadn't slept for 4 days straight?

Experience details: For each role you have had, talk to your achievements and your responsibilities. Don't over fill your resume with mundanities about answering phones and reporting calls, unless of course your job is to answer phones and report calls. \

Point to the achievements based on your role, the extra value you created in the roles, or how you defined the roles. You should be pointing to how you benefited your department and your company.

Specific accomplishments: Make your wins relevant, provide fact based context for your achievements. If you were the 2nd best salesman and won an award, give the detail that makes that understandable.

There is no need for an 8 page document. Being succinct is a skill too.

I'll take that advice and end now.

More than any other question these six words have the power to make or break your job interview.

Why do you want this job?

It seems simple enough: "I'm a financial services recruiter, you are a financial services recruiter - it's a match made in heaven, lets go share the commission checks". Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) not!

If an interviewer asks nothing else about you but this question, here is some of what they could learn about you in the answer:

Did you prepare? Have you researched the job opportunity, the interviewer, the company benefits, the company environment, the career path, the typical goals of employees?Are you self aware? Can you articulate why the role, company and opportunity suit you specifically in terms of career stage, learning opportunities, responsibilities?What have you achieved before? Are you capable of drawing parallels between the successes you have had and those necessary to the role available? Can you show how past successes for another employer will help you create future successes for this employer?

If you can imagine there are 5 candidates being interviewed whom all have the technical skills for the role and broadly similar backgrounds (not unlikely) it is the most robust, relevant and true answer that wins the day. Even in a skills short market Employers worth their salt will look to discern on the basis of fit, culture and work style, all of which are evident in the answer to those six words.

There is more, much more I am sure, that can be articulated, but isn't that enough? Like a good boy scout, candidates should always be prepared.

And nor should it be !

What a boring world it would be if everyone was as presented on paper, if every resume produced an identikit 3D hologram, or if every job was only what was in the job description....

Interviews (and to a lesser extent resume's and phone screens) provide opportunity for full glorious wizard of oz technicolor.

A good interviewer can find motivations, potential, dreams and passions over and above the competencies and job capabilities and oftentimes it is in this uncovering that jobs are won or lost.

It often worries me that as society tries to nanny us into being automatons, there is pressure to make hiring decisions on technical job criteria only. This is an error repeated at the highest levels of administration, public and private.

It is in personality, and diversity, cultural and otherwise that the greatest gifts come to light.

Genius, delight, deep customer empathy, to name a few, don't happen on a page, they don't often happen in a vacuum either. Rather they are fed by a warm cultural stew of individuals joined together on a journey that cannot be captured in a checkbox.

Let the light in by bringing your personality to work everyday, by being yourself in interview, on both sides of the desk.