Our existing managers and owners tell us they use us for two key reasons. 

1. We become a trusted mentor / “sounding board” for their ideas for growth and the impartial advisor to the creation of their strategy and subsequent implementation of tactics.
2. We offer industry specific training on the topic of:    Business management in the Recruitment Industry

Management training programme

This programme focuses on six key topics: Self Management, Team Management, Business Management, Business Development, Sales Management, Motivation and Goal Setting. It is designed to give the Manager the skills required to develop into a professional recruitment manager. It should be noted that the course will be delivered over six days and the exact content of each day will depend on the learning pace of the managers. There is also a requirement for some work to be completed in the managers own time. Typically the course is delivered in 2 x 3 days or 3 x 2 days sections.

Day one and two will consist of the following modules:

• Creating a personal business plan along with identifying personal and business objectives. Delegates will learn what elements should be included in a personal business plan, for example the financials, the marketplace, existing client information, existing client growth potential, and strategy for growth within new client areas.

• Each Manager will write a personal SWOT analysis. Delegates will evaluate their own key strengths and development needs against the core areas of the recruitment process.

• Each Manager will create their own personal development plan. (PDP)

  • Writing a team business plan. The manager will learn how to create a detailed team business plan that is designed in part to help them exceed senior management expectations as well as form the blueprint for the future success of their division. Areas covered in the team business plan are the executive summary, team dynamics (who’s who), market and competition, sales and marketing, implementation schedule (timescales and task prioritisation), opportunities and risk, financial planning and forecasting. Delegates will be expected to complete the team plan in their own time ready for review on day three of the programme.

• Each Manager will write a team/division SWOT analysis. Delegates will evaluate their teams’ key strengths and development needs against the core areas of the recruitment process.

Included in this section the manager will complete the following worksheets, ‘Defining Personal Success,’ ‘Self Appraisal’ and ‘Vision Statement.’

The outcome of this section is that each Manager will have a solid template with which to generate their personal business plan, much of the content will have been generated during the course – however delegates will be asked to complete the task in their own time, ready for evaluation on day three of the programme.

An additional outcome is that delegates will also have completed a Personal Development Plan that will form the basis of their ongoing learning programme. The added benefit of this training is they will be able to show their consultants how to create their own business plan, SWOT and PDP.

Day three and four will consist of the following modules:

• A review of the team business plan etc

  • Creating team vision and value statements. This is what team identity is about. Consultants must buy in to the manager’s vision of what it is they are trying to achieve. The outcome of this section is that the managers will have the tools to inspire enthusiasm, belief, commitment and excitement in divisional members, help employees believe that they are part of something bigger than themselves and their daily work, challenge consultants to outdo themselves, to stretch and reach new levels of success.

• Writing a “Why my division?” presentation. The manager will learn how to attract the best talent available to their division by creating a compelling presentation as to why an individual should join your company. We will work on utilising the FAB technique to identify ‘unique selling points’ and construct these presentations.

• A review of writing a job scorecard which moves beyond writing a job description. The job scorecard is designed to highlight the key measurables required for a specific hire. Many companies adopt a ‘one size fits all’ approach to hiring consultants which can miss the detail for a specific hire. These methods are taken from the well known hiring process Topgrading and are used by many of the world’s leading organisations such as Microsoft, Mckinsey and Co, and GE.

The additional benefit of learning the job scorecard is that the technique can used with clients when taking a job order. This will give the consultant clarity as to the exact requirements of the role and so achieve greater success.

• The interview process.The manager will learn the most effective techniques for interviewing and attracting top talent to their teams. We will create a comprehensive interview process that will be utilised and tested over the coming weeks and will be reviewed at a later time. They will learn STAR interviewing, competency based interviewing and structured interview techniques. There will be time spent in role play during this module. The additional benefit of this module is they can train their consultants to utilise these techniques when interviewing candidates.

  • The induction period. The first 30 days are the most important and so your manager will learn how to properly integrate new consultants into the team. They will also learn how to train and support the ‘newbie’ during the early days.

• Train the trainer. Delegates will learn the ten commandments of delivering a great training session. The training duty of a managers role is often overlooked or missed out completely, normally because the manager doesn’t know how to train. Delegates will learn how to construct a training session that will inspire, instruct, teach and enthuse their audience. The manager will also learn how to coach top billers to encourage improvements. They will create and deliver a training session during the course.

Day five and six will consist of the following modules:

• Key Performance Indicators

• Managing meetings is probably one of the most overlooked areas of recruitment management and in this section the delegates will learn how to prepare for, identify the benefits of, and conduct appropriate meetings with their subordinates. They will learn the benefits of conducting professional and focussed meetings.

We will cover the morning meeting and objective setting, the work in progress meeting (WIP), the weekly review meeting, the ‘closing room meeting’, the Friday wrap-up meeting and the appraisal meeting.

• Appraisals During day five they will learn techniques to monitor and assess how their consultants are performing, set out clear objectives with quantifiable performance targets. This will help ensure their consultants understand what they expect of them. Involving staff in agreeing objectives can ensure they are more motivated to meet them and can help identify better ways to carry out tasks. We will review current practices and look for improvements that will be utilised and tested at the next appraisal time.

• Managing conflict and discipline. (Managing poor performance) Dealing with difficult people requires a special knowledge and skill set that every effective leader must develop. Delegates learn 'win-win' conflict resolution techniques that focus on counselling and problem solving while maintaining effective work relationships, and applying those techniques to their individual workplace situations. Important aspects of supervisory corrective action are examined. The delegates will also learn to properly use progressive discipline to address severe performance problems. Dealing with poor performance is something that doesn’t come naturally to most. They will learn how to clearly explain where their consultants are failing, how to give critique and not just criticism, learn how to look for solutions, and agree a plan of action with timescales and follow up, learn conflict resolution techniques, develop a counselling technique, document to improve performance, know when to use corrective action, use progressive discipline, give corrective feedback.

• Situational Leadership. According to situational leadership theory (Kenneth Blanchard) there is no single "best" style of leadership. Effective leadership is task and individual specific and that the most successful leaders are those that adapt their leadership style to the maturity of the individual or group they are attempting to lead/influence. That effective leadership varies, not only with the person or group that is being influenced, but it will also depend on the task, job or function that needs to be accomplished. Delegates will learn how to use the situational leadership strategy so as to develop high performing teams. 

• Motivation, goal setting and incentives. No one person can motivate another. What motivates one may not motivate another. It is, however, possible to inspire people to motivate themselves. Delegates will be taught the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and how both affect people. They will be taught the most successful goal setting formula ever created and will be asked to review the results of this formula at future training sessions.

• Financial targeting, forecasting and budget control. Delegates will be shown a number of methods to facilitate accurate targeting and forecasting as this is an essential part the manager’s duties. Looking at consultant performance from a financial perspective is a valuable management tool. The most commonly used measurements are sales per consultant, contribution per consultant and profit per consultant. These measures shouldn't be thought of as an alternative to the broader appraisals outlined above, but can flag up issues that might later be explored in more detail in those meetings. The delegates will learn five golden rules of budgeting.

• Time and task management. Manager’s will learn how to manage the balancing act of managing their time with managing their tasks. They will learn the importance of Prime Planning Time and teach their staff how to plan effectively and not just write a ‘to do’ list. Additionally they will how to prioritise tasks that will help their teams become more productive. They will learn how to conduct ‘a sales surgery’ with their consultants and the benefits of desk level training and coaching. This makes the difference between an average manager and a great manager.

• Delegation. The delegates will look at two key factors that managers need to assess to achieve effective delegation: 1. The ability of the consultant in the relation to the particular task and 2. The willingness/confidence of the consultant in relation to a particular task. Based on this assessment the manager will learn to identify and use the appropriate leadership style. The delegates will learn what and how different leadership styles should be adopted according to the behaviour and ability of the consultant that will create the best results possible.

Included in this section the manager will complete the ‘rating team leadership’, ‘team performance assessment’, assessing your ability’ documents (attached) as well a discussion and review of the quarterly and annual appraisal documents. They will also be required to write their goals using the ‘formula for goal setting’.

• Business Development. Companies often do not establish procedures for business development, instead relying on their existing contacts. Sometimes people in such companies may assume that because they know people in high places that this will solve any business-development problems and that somehow new financial transactionswill come to them. Such thinking can have significant ramifications if one cannot exploit those relationships for any reason. Such a situation may result in no new sales in the pipeline. In this session we will explore existing and new business development ideas designed to challenge current BD processes. We will look at various selling strategies and techniques. Delegates will learn new and innovative ways of business development that will increase their division’s performance. If any of these techniques are to be included into your BD process then additional training should be delivered at a later time.

For further information of any of the above topics, please contact us.