Employers take note!

There's far more to recruitment than a good CV.

You may be forgiven for thinking in these recessionary times that there are plenty of people out there that could fill the job you need to fill. There seems to be a widely held view that recruitment consultants have become superfluous and unnecessary now that, for a few hundred pounds, you can post a job on one of the many web-based job sites and simply filter through the reams of CV's, résumés and applications that find their way into your email in-box.

Once received, the process of filtering begins. This process alone will require hours of painstaking sifting, (and since whoever does the sifting will need to be fully conversant with every nuance of the position, and consequently, is likely to be highly paid) then by process of elimination arrive at a number of applicants to interview. Now this is the point – during this process of elimination you are in grave danger of missing the most suitable candidates. Why? Because you are basing your selection on a huge assumption. The assumption that a candidates' CV is in any way representative of their suitability for the job.

Of course we need parameters, a form of measurement, somewhere to start the process. A well written CV can provide some useful information. Most importantly it can register the applicant's level of education and professional qualifications. Often it may provide some interesting points about the candidate's interests and hobbies, and in most cases will offer an historical account of the candidate's career path thus far. But, the way each recruiter (be they a member of the human resources team, a line manager or the company MD) views this account is purely subjective. A 'good' CV in one persons eyes will be completely discarded by another.

Can you really afford such a hit and miss approach to form the basis of policy for sourcing your most valuable assets?

A good recruitment consultant understands this. He or she will have made it a priority to firstly completely familiarise themselves with the details of the position concerned, fully taking into account such details as; the culture of the company, the number and mix of the work force, the geographical location, the expectations of the employer, the retention and rewards policy etc. etc. They will also have an open mind concerning the attributes of the ideal candidate, making the number one priority finding the right person for the job.

Some candidates can write a very appealing Curriculum Vitaé (that is, appealing to some) and some are just not able to represent their clear suitability for a particular job by way of 2 -3 sheets of printed A4. So how do you decide? You let the recruitment consultant do their job. Ask yourself, would there be around 20,000 employment agencies in greater London alone if they weren't doing a reasonable job?

Over the years, I have built a level of trust with many clients, to the point that, if I recommend a candidate for a particular job, that candidate will be granted an interview regardless of what it says on their CV. This is how they arrive at a short list. They allow me to do what I'm paid for. Of course, the final decision is theirs and I will endeavour to ensure that they have a real choice. Not the choice between someone suitable and someone who isn't but between two or three who are entirely suitable. The rest is down to what I call 'chemistry', something that as yet, we haven't found a way to regulate.