school's blog

Katherine Rutherford

After nearly 2 years at Direct Recruitment, it’s time for me to say goodbye to my lovely clients, colleagues and candidates as I move on to pastures new into a marketing role.

I went into recruitment because I love the people side of my job (as both an agency and client side digital marketer) and I wanted something different. I have genuinely enjoyed my time meeting a diverse range of people, getting to the bottom of what they really want and I have found it really fulfilling. Forget the stories of recruiters who ring the bell when they make a placement, here we seriously do our job because we enjoy it and are highly motivated by what we do and the people we meet.  This is something I have known for years having worked with Direct Recruitment as both a candidate and a client.

When you get candidates early-on in their career it can sometimes be the most fulfilling – starting them off in the right direction. I recently placed a candidate who didn’t have a traditional agency background, but was very keen to get on the ladder in a large agency. What was different about him was that he had a certain X factor – the intelligence, gravitas and hardworking attitude which I knew were qualities that everyone wants. It took a while but I did indeed find him his perfect role. He dropped me a line to thank me for setting his career on the right path and how much of an impact it has had on his life! Wow, that’s something I will remember and why I got involved in recruitment in the first place.

I’m sure those of you reading this already know Direct Recruitment well and how we work, but for anyone new reading this, please do get in touch and I can assure you whether client or candidate you’ll be in safe hands.  Since I am moving on those safe hands will be Caroline (caroline@direct-recruitment.co.uk) for digital project management and Julia (Julia@direct-recruitment.co.uk) for digital account handlers – they have some lovely roles at the moment so do get in touch.

The very best of luck

Katherine

Caroline Palmer

With the constant barrage of media reports telling us how unemployment figures are rising and that the double dip is looming, anyone would think that it’s a client’s market at the moment – that they have their pick of the candidates on offer. However, the truth is, it’s a candidate led market, and a skills short one at that.

On numerous occasions of late we’ve had great candidates on our books, but clients have missed the boat with them because they’ve been unable to clear space in their diaries to meet them quickly enough. More nimble clients are acting quickly and securing the most gifted candidates.

Clients, while we appreciate you’re incredibly busy please can we ask that you make time to see candidates quickly. We want to secure the best talent for you, but we need to work together to move quickly and ensure we get them into your team, not your competitors.

Julia Langridge

Happy New Year

Our festive mood continues………. So popular was our recommend a friend offer in December that we have decided to extend it for the month of January so you can still earn a gift if you recommend someone to us. If we successfully place your friend, we will express our thanks in whichever of the following ways you choose:

• £250 cash
• £250 Selfridges gift card
• £250 D&D London restaurant vouchers
• £250 Apple gift card

We need the details of your recommendation this month but you’ll get your gift as soon as we place them. Just ask your friend to mention your name when they call us on 020 7287 1171 or email us at cv@direct-recruitment.co.uk.

And don’t forget we have exciting roles in planning, account handling, data, creative, digital, project management and on the clientside, so would love to hear from anyone working in these areas.

Happy New Year from all of us at Direct Recruitment.

Sarah Owens

If these are the words you dread when you’re going for that perfect job, then here are five tips to help you perform brilliantly:

1 Keep the objective in mind: these are designed to give you the opportunity to demonstrate how you approach a problem and to see how you think. And usually there’s no right or wrong answer!

2 Remember you don’t need to know everything about the subject and spend hours conducting research.  In most cases you will be fine if you make assumptions, as long as you make it clear what you’ve assumed*.

3 Make sure your presentation is clear, concise and has no mistakes.  Run through it in front of a friend if you can and ensure that it doesn’t over run.

4 Try to give your audience a something new or exciting: a different way of looking at a problem or a totally original solution.

5 Go prepared.  Know your presentation well enough that if you’re let down by IT, you can still talk sensibly; take along a couple of hard copies of your work that you can always leave behind if appropriate.

This is a great way for you to showcase your skills so treat this stage positively and enjoy it!

*One candidate actually invented findings from a focus group and continued to refer to the group’s views even when questioned, to considerable positive effect!

 Susan Howstan

It’s clear that the skills shortage in the direct and digital marketing industry is not getting any better, with live jobs on our books far exceeding the amount of suitable candidates. While this has always been a bit of a problem, it does seem to have escalated to near epic proportions this year.

One of the reasons for this, I think, is simply heightened levels of caution in job seekers and hiring managers, a sense of "better the devil you know" and a real desire not to make a mistake. I do understand this. However, I can’t help but think that quite a lot of jobs that have become tagged with the "hard to fill" label, might have been done and dusted by now if hiring managers would consider training candidates who, from a cultural/fit perspective, could be perfect and who might have some of the requisite skills but not maybe not all of them.

Personally, speaking from a data recruitment perspective (I’m thinking of data operations management and analysis in particular), specific requirements such as SQL, Alterian, SAS, Omniture Discover, Radian 6, are tools that job seekers I meet would love to acquire but, in their current roles, aren’t being given the opportunity to do so – hence one of their reasons for leaving. I believe that investing in people up front is a clear indicator of how much a potential employer believes in the people they hire and is bound to make existing and new employees feel valued, result in greater loyalty and in their staying with you far longer. This has got to be a better option than waiting forever for the "perfect" candidate, surely.