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What is a Job?

What is a Job Vacancy – From an Employers Perspective?

In an earlier session we talked about “fish and bait”, “lions and watering holes”.

Whilst most courses look at the Job Search and Application process from a “candidates” perspective, we are going to look at it from the Employers.

So if you want to get a Job you need to catch an Employer.

So what does the process look like to them?

But first:

What is a Job

A Job

Most simply a Job exists when someone, an individual or organisation, wants something done!

So – if it is that simple what is all the fuss about?

 

In a few minutes we will look at it from an Employers perspective.

 

If I were hiring ... a personal perspective

Let us take a few minutes to consider hiring someone from a personal perspective.

Think of something (somewhat important and / or expensive) that you might want done for you.

How do YOU go about getting it done?

Discuss …

 

 

 The Job Vacancy and Employment Life Cycle

Before you see a Job Vacancy – several things will have happened first.

The employer will (or should) have considered at least the first 6 steps below:

 

What needs done?

Employing people is:

  • expensive,
  • time consuming,
  • fraught with issues and if not done properly can
  • go wrong and in the short or long term
  • can lead to very expensive mistakes and even legal claims.

So – When an employer needs something done – they usually give some thought to exactly “What needs done“.

This usually arises in some process of work planning – a task or set of tasks are defined that are needed usually for a prolonged period of time.

This then tends to be summarised in a “Job Description”

The job description will usually contain all the information needed to describe the job:

  • The role,
  • its relationship to others – bosses and subordinates,
  • the key tasks,
  • accountabilities,
  • performance expectations, and
  • what the person in the job will get such as pay and benefit from in doing it. 
  • Terms & conditions that form the basis of an Employment Contract – a legal and mutually binding agreement

 

How much needs done?

Having defined the What needs done, the employer will usually try and work out How much needs done.

They will usually look at the forward work plan and assess just how much work is needed.

If the task is infrequent, short term or low volume, then the employer may decide for example to get someone in the organisation to do it aside or instead of other tasks.

 

How do we get it done?

If the job is important enough, frequent enough and needed sufficiently they will look at the best way to get it done.

In the current economic climate many employers are trying to keep costs down, so often they will look at resourcing that does not involve hiring! So:

What are their no-cost / low-cost options?

  • Volunteers
  • Trainees
  • Intern-ships
  • Work experience

What are their non-permanent options?

  • Agency workers
  • Contractors

What are their short term options?

  • Short term contracts
  • Zero hours contracts
  • Fixed term fixed hours contracts
  • Annualised hours contracts

These days, if one were cynical, one might see the employers last resort as a:

  • Permanent
  • Full time
  • Pensionable contract

 

What kind of person do we need?

When asked to hire someone a manager often QUAKES!

They will need to consider the match of the job and the potential candidates in terms of:

  • Qualifications
  • Unique aspects of the job / candidate
  • Attitude
  • Knowledge
  • Experience
  • Skills

This is often written up in the form of a Person Specification that will detail:

  • Essential Criteria – without which you will not get an interview
  • Desirable Criteria – things they would really like but might not get from any /all applicants – what will get you on the short-list
  • Other Considerations – aspects of the job that my be an issue for some potential applicants – that might put some people off taking the job

 

Where do we look & How do we attract them?

Think first about the Lions – they sit under a tree near a watering hole and wait for the potential lunch to arrive e.g. the Gazelles, Wilder beast etc.

So where is the “watering hole” for the best QUAKES candidates?

  • Where do they hang out?
  • What do they read / watch / listen to, including on-line?
  • Are they members of certain clubs, professions etc?
  • What Associations are they part of?

That usually determines where the employer will seek to Recruit and place their advertisement.

Sometimes they will find candidates through existing networks and in some instances will secretively use “head hunters” to go and find specific people or types of people.

 

 

To Attract them they will offer:

  • Pay
  • Conditions
  • Benefits

relevant to the skills and scarcity of their ideal candidates!

Remember the fish and the bait?

 

Let’s get them!

Ok so now they have some potential candidates- what next:

  • Screen applicants against the QUAKES criteria
  • Arrange interviews
  • Interview (and test)

All going well they may even Select a candidate!

Then there will usually be:

  • Conditional Offer
  • References / disclosures (due-diligence)
  • Formal Offer

when the person joins the organisation they will:

  • Induct
  • Train them
  • Evaluate them

Lets keep them?

Retain the good ones by:

  • Recognising
  • Rewarding and
  • Re-training / ongoing training

Time to let them go!

and eventually time to let them go:

  • Resign

If they resign we may need to recruit or perhaps not …

If the organisation or its environment changes the employer may need to:

  • Restructure
  • Redeploy
  • Redundancy

and more rarely these days

  • Retire employees

 

 

How do you get that job!

It is straight forward

  1. Identify your DREAM job and relevant acceptable alternatives
  2. Understand yourself and what you want and don’t want and
  3. Get yourself “skilled up”
  4. Research the kinds of jobs that meet your interests and needs
  5. Research the kinds of organisations that have those jobs
  6. Develop an honest and comprehensive c.v. to match
  7. Contact potential Employers & look in places where they advertise
  8. Try and understand the recruitment game from the employers perspective
  9. Be realistic and don’t be disappointed if “throwing mud at the wall” applications don’t work!
  10. Be prepared, be persistent , be enthusiastic
  11. If you get the Interview – PREPARE thoroughly, make yourself irresistible
  12. Be ready to take it and to move forward