internal communications recruitment Tag

First impressions An interviewer makes their mind up within the first seven minutes of an interview. Most of us will be well versed in how to make a good first impression in a face-to-face interview (strong handshake, confident smile), but video interviews are a different ball game. In March 2020 there was a *67% increase in the use of video interviews, and that figure has been rising ever since (*source: Monster). Whilst not always a great experience for candidates, video interviews do work and are here to stay, at least for early-stage interviews. They are COVID-secure, cost-effective, overcome geographical boundaries, and are often easier to manage in busy calendars. Here’s a summary of what we have learnt over the last year from candidates and clients about what to do and what to avoid with video interviews. Be prepared, do your research The content and structure are likely to be the same as a face-to-face interview...

Looking for a new role is challenging at the best of times. But during a pandemic, how do you stand out from the crowd in such a competitive field? In our last blog we looked at perfecting your CV. In this article we are going to dive into networking during a pandemic – specifically how to get the most out of online networking. Why bother? The majority of job seekers will get their next job through a referral by someone in their network. Whether you’re currently actively looking for a new position or thinking ahead to your next big move, keeping in touch with your network is an essential part of your professional development. Networking during a pandemic At the time of writing, the UK is in lockdown. The opportunities to catch up over coffee or meet new people at industry events are either on hold or have gone online. With location no longer being...

2020 – a year unlike any other 2020 was always set to be a memorable year. The eyes of the world were preparing to focus on Tokyo for the Olympics, on Dubai for Expo 2020 and on London for a summer of sport including the Euro 2020 final. And then it all kicked off in Wuhan and 2020 became a year none of us will forget, for all the wrong reasons. The new normal There is no sugar coating it: 2020 has been tough for most people on both a professional and personal level. Lockdown forced everyone to work from home, with the juggle of childcare or home-schooling for many. Zoom – a tool Comms Leaders has been using for years, but previously unfamiliar to many – suddenly became THE way to communicate. COVID-19 has been polarising for the communications industry. While many professionals were furloughed or made redundant in sectors such as hospitality, leisure and...

By Andrew Holland A version of this blog post was written for the Institute of Internal Communications (IoIC) #IChoseIC series, where internal communications professionals share how their IC careers started and have evolved. Seize the opportunity I remember the day I discovered Internal Communications like it was yesterday. It was 7pm and I’d been at work for about 12 hours having started on the early shift. This was in a call centre for a well-known utility and I’d recently been promoted to call centre team leader. I read the job advert for an Internal Communications Assistant and it jumped out at me. It described everything I wanted to do. I successfully applied and started a 25-year career in Internal Communications, which has been rewarding at every turn! In that first IC role, I had two inspirational leaders who really helped me establish my IC credentials. The first was my manager, who was incredibly supportive, extremely...

Don't sweat the small stuff This week I’ve been interviewing candidates on Zoom. So far, so normal. I’ve worked from home for five years and although I’d rather be out and about meeting people face to face, location and schedules often necessitate video calls. However, like most people in the communications community, I’m now juggling the multiple responsibilities of home-working, home-schooling and feeding four people instead of one. Whereas before I would have been able to talk to you from a quiet home office, that space is in high demand, so instead I will be in my kitchen. Look closely and you’ll see a pile of washing up in the background, a dog scratching at the back door, and despite my best efforts to keep them away, one or more hungry boys/men tiptoeing around behind me. The point is I understand what it’s like. Job hunting is stressful at the best of times...

By Steve Marinker, Partner at Powerscourt Notes from a Spare Room This isn’t Crisis Management; this is Contagion Comms. The COVID-19 disaster has challenged the PR industry like nothing before. While dealing with our own upheavals - lockdown, fear of illness, the spectre of redundancy – PR consultants have been advising clients as they deal with events moving at a pace few are equipped to handle. Decisions that would normally take months are being made in minutes;  cast-iron certainties melt in an instant; the useful data point we clung to this morning is discredited bunkum by lunchtime. It’s been mentally exhausting, ethically challenging, and – I have to confess - rather exhilarating. When this is over, we’ll all have our war stories. Me? I’ve spent the last fortnight advising retail clients as they respond to fast-changing, often baffling Government advice. What’s essential, what is not?. How safe is safe? Is it better to protect livelihoods...

By Belinda Gannaway, Strategy Director at FathomXP The rise of EX - Employee Experience It's 30 years since the experience economy started to gain attention. But it’s taken a while for the thinking around experience and employees to collide. EX only really arrived on the scene as a way of thinking about people in the business about five years ago. But collided they have. Some 84% of HR and business leaders say EX is important or very important – but only 9% say they are ready to address this issue (Deloitte 2019 Human Capital Trends Report). What is the role of internal comms in EX? To answer that, I’m borrowing a framework from the world of service design. Imagine a theatre: The stage is where the action is happening. Internal comms has a lot of front of stage action – channels, content, campaigns, events etc. Backstage are the support processes that produce the front stage experience: the...

By Vikki Kirby, Chief Storyteller at Vibrato Consulting© The rise of storytelling Recently, a communications consultant told me how the big four consultancy company leading her organisation’s transformation chose to bring in their own storyteller to identify and manage core purpose messaging. She was frustrated that she then had to re-write what he came up with. She isn’t the only one left frustrated by that experience. The business world is buzzing about storytelling. In 2017, 570,000 marketers listed Storytelling as a skill on LinkedIn, compared to zero – zilch – in 2010. I now hear story talked about like smartphones, because ‘everyone has one’. Stories may help us shape identity, but the business of storytelling should be highly regarded. It is a deep craft, a tool to help us make sense of the world. Perhaps that’s why we believe we innately know how stories work? They have been with us since fire, and...

By Dr Domna Lazidou, culture and communication expert   An interesting approach to customer service During a recent work trip to Switzerland, I stayed at a small friendly hotel in a picturesque town by Lake Geneva. While there I had to borrow a plug adaptor from the concierge which I forgot to return, assuming, when I later discovered it in my luggage, that the hotel would simply charge me for the mistake. What I did not expect was that a very strict, official email would be sent to my client (who had booked the hotel for me), accusing me of stealing the plug and demanding that I returned it immediately or they would charge me. My client joked that I had better comply before the Interpol knocked on my door! I was mortified, but also amused: treating your customers as if they were criminals is certainly a novel approach to customer service. In reality, of...

By Mark McMahon, Senior Communications Manager at HSBC. A change of direction "Man is disturbed not by things, but the views he takes of them." Would that sentence change your life? It did for me. Ancient Stoic philosophy might not be top of everyone's reading list, but I came across this quote by Epictetus in a brilliant book called 'Happy' by Derren Brown and it had a profound effect on me. It's another way of saying, it's not the events all around us that cause us to feel a certain way, but how we choose to respond to them. Why am I telling you this? When I read it a few years ago it made me stop and think long and hard, especially about my career. It made me choose to feel differently about my role, my career path, and my potential. It made me consider the choices that were possible. It eventually made me switch...

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