Katherine Rutherford

Katherine Rutherford

The jobs market is buoyant! Despite overall economic growth not looking brilliant our market’s still doing well. The economy is on the road to recovery and companies have a new challenge - skills shortage. The knock-on effect of staff cutbacks and the lack of investment in new talent when the recession hit means the industry is suffering from a real shortage, especially in digital. It is obviously great news if you are a candidate and have the digital skills already – areas like account handling and project management are especially short. So if things aren’t quite right where you are and you want a new challenge dust down your CV and get it over to me!

Katherine Rutherford

Oh dear, poor you – things for you at work aren’t quite what they used to be, you feel undervalued, sometimes under-utilised and, in general, have lost your way. You read the papers with the latest unemployment figures, talk to your mates down the pub and the idea of getting a new job seems impossible. What do you do, carry on feeling this way or take the Direct Recruitment three step process to getting your mojo back?! …

1. Do a bit of DIY life coaching – identify your key motivations

Not as scary as it sounds. What do you like most about your current role? What don’t you like? If you were offered more money would you stay? Is it is as simple as that? Think about your career to date – what has made you happiest?  Is it the people, the work, the funky office, the local pub – all of this? …

2. Polish up your credentials, sort your CV and be realistic

Get your CV up-to-date and polished. Ask someone else to take a look at it; do they understand your responsibilities and key achievements without having to ask too many questions?

3. Send your CV to us

If you’re looking for a role in direct, digital integrated marketing send your CV to us. We’ll let you know if we have something suitable or not. We meet all our candidates where possible (or via Skype) ensuring we know and understand what drives you.

I can guarantee that after you’ve done a bit of life laundry and had a chat with one of our Consultants, you’ll be on the road to having a new and increased confidence in yourself and to regaining your mojo!

Don’t get caught up in all the media doom and gloom. We have bags of new direct and digital jobs on our books right now: in fact our brief to suitable candidate ratio is about 10:1. So, what are you waiting for? We’re waiting to hear from you. Happy new financial year!

Katherine Rutherford

I have some fabulous junior digital candidates at the moment who are just bursting with potential however; clients aren’t always forthcoming in giving them a chance. With a simple rule - if they don’t tick all the boxes they don’t get the face time. Graduates and those with a couple of years experience are naturally more digitally savvy than those who graduated a few years before. They are also aware that the job market is tough and often take on unpaid work experience to prove their desire to get into the industry - there is lots of potential to unlock.

Once upon a time when I was a hiring manager, the most important thing I looked for in a junior candidate was ambition and a hunger to learn. Therefore, it was music to my ears when I visited a client this week, one of the biggest creative agencies in town, who echoed this approach. They found that those graduates they put through a rigorous two day x-factor style elimination process resulted in some very clever folk in their office, but not necessarily those who would stick around and go that extra mile.

Therefore, to all you hiring managers out there I encourage you to be open minded to get the brightest and motivated junior talent in your organisation. You can then shape and mould them as you see fit. Get in touch if I can help.

Katherine Brashaw

I am by no means a natural mathematician, I was actually distinctly average at school, but if you work in digital you need the back-up to prove your achievements. The whole beauty of digital is the ability to be accountable, hence one of the reasons that online adspend has increased by 2,200% over the past decade. I actually get terribly excited when the stats drop off the tongue of a candidate and sometimes in the right role they get the better jobs as they can clearly articulate their successes. I also appreciate that as digital has evolved, so have the disciplines and roles; it’s not always that clear-cut which is why I have outlined my two types of number people to illustrate my point.

- Evaders, no matter how many times or ways you ask evaders they will not give up the numbers because a) they just don’t know or b) they are far, far away from the implementation and just love all the creative engagement content side of the cybersphere.

- Overloaders, just can’t get enough numbers which can be a) fascinating, I am wowed by your intelligence and photographic memory – I am likely to start dribbling by this point b) to be frank, I think you are being a little too creative and not in a good way.

So please don’t be shy, the competition is fierce, so make sure you stand out!

On another note, we are rather proud of ourselves and have entered the 2010 MARA Awards (Marketing and Advertising Awards), so please vote for us, it’s just two clicks away J http://bit.ly/9tGi6M

Sarah Owens

Hello everyone and welcome to Direct Recruitment's new blog page, The Direct Girls.  I'm Sarah Owens and over the next few months Susan, Julia, Lisa, Sophie, Sian and I hope to be able to provide you with lots of useful tips and commentary on the direct and digital marketing industry, our favourite web sites, the top jobs, the best way to find and keep good people, how to manage your career and your salary expectations and some essential tips as to how to survive as a job seeker in a recession.  We're also looking for feedback, comment and questions from you.    So if you agree or disagree with anything you read of if you have a related personal experience you'd like to share, we'd love to hear from you here.

In the meantime, I thought I’d kick off by talking about putting the ground work into preparing for those all important interviews.

I’m sure it’ll come as no surprise to anyone reading this that things are tough out there on the job market right now, with fewer positions available and more candidates applying for them than there has been in a really long time. You might be surprised to know, however, that, even in these difficult times, our clients have reported that a number of you job seekers still seem to be taking a rather laissez faire attitude to your job search, especially when it comes to interview preparation.

Come on now, there really is no excuse whatsoever for not doing your research is there? There’s never been such a wealth of easily accessible information about agencies, clients, personalities, campaigns, news, awards, and on, and on…. Anyone who pitches up without a clue, let alone a view of what the company or the agency is all about, deserves to be sent straight to the back of the queue. Our clients assure us that those of you who have done your homework and have given due consideration to the role, their company ethos and where your skills and experience might fit in are the ones who will be front of mind when they are drawing up their shortlist and who are likely to receive that exciting good news call from their recruitment consultant.

For more information about The Direct Girls, Direct Recruitment and for a selection of the account handling, planning, data and insight analysis, campaign management, creative, new business opportunities we have on our books right now, visit our website:

www.direct-recruitment.co.uk

Bye for now.