The number of job advertisements has fallen for a sixth straight month as employers steeled themselves against the worsening economic downturn.
After falling 1.4 percent in September, job ads in the print media and on the internet fell 5.9% in October, according to an ANZ survey. The October 2008 figure is 9.8 percent less than the volume of job advertisements in October 2007.
Thankfully for online jobs boards such as ours, most of the pain was experienced in the print advertising sector. Print Job ads are down 12.2% in October (12.8% in the ACT). Compared to October last year, the newspapers displayed 34.7 percent less ads in October 2008.
Job losses across Australia are inevitable, according to the Treasurer Wayne Swan. Experts suggest that national growth could slow to 1.25 percent next year which could translate into the axeing of 200,000 jobs across the country.
Economists have already warned that the Australian economy will likely be in recession by Christmas, despite the government’s $10.4 billion rescue package which will kick in from early December.
Employers beware! There are job seekers out there who will try to pull a swifty over you – make sure that you put your sleuth hat on when considering candidates for your vacancy. Here are some tips:
1. Look at places where people are most likely to cheat—the dates. The most common CV lie is extending the amount of time a candidate has spent with a previous employer . Be sure to check these dates when reference checking.
2. Make sure the dates and qualifications tally. Keep an eye for someone who looks as though they qualified too recently to have gained the experience they mention.
3. Be sure to check the job titles when you reference check. Many people inflate their titles to reflect responsibilities written on their CV.
4. Check academic qualifications with the institute mentioned. There has been many incidences of people placing qualifications on their resume which they do not have (or did not finish).
5. If the applicant is on any kind of visa, make sure you sight the visa and their passport.
These tips are provided by Emma Stonham from HR Assistance. If you are looking for a concise monthly, one page newsletter covering a wide range of HR topics from termination and performance management to legislation and interviewing skills, email emma@hrassistance.com.au with ‘Subscribe CJ’ in the header.
US recruitment specialist Lou Adler has written an article on the ERE.net website outlining ten great ways to make a bad hiring decision – if you’re about to hire an employee, then it’s best that you DO NOT do the following:
1. DO NOT make emotional decisions and justify them with facts. If a candidate looks the goods from the outset (ie their CV is perfect, they are articulate when they speak), then interviewers typically drop their guard and ask easier questions, searching for reasons to justify their initial positive impression. Conversely, candidates that don’t appear to measure up from the start are asked tougher questions, in order to justify the interviewer’s initial thoughts. Making a hiring decision on preconceived and fabricated conceptions of the candidate is dangerous and will result in a bad hire.
2. DO NOT fail to seek out objective information. Superficial responses to your questions at interview should be followed up with more probing questions to determine whether the candidate is in fact suitable for the job. Rather than trust your gut feeling, it’s better to base your hiring decision of objective information provided by the candidate. Don’t be clouded by your preconceived ideas and don’t accept ‘motherhood’ statements in candidate’s interview responses.
3. DO NOT write boring and uninviting job ads. This is commonsense, but it’s amazing to see the number of poorly-written, error-ridden ads that are produced by organisations seeking talent. The best candidates respond to the best ads. Two line ads will not attract the cream. Indeed, putting your organisation’s name to a terribly written ad with spelling mistakes is saying a great deal about your organisation (poor attention to detail, lack of pride).
4. DO NOT use skills based job descriptions to find, screen and assess candidates. The best candidates are those who have a track record of success. They may not have the exact skillset that you are looking for, but they probably possess comparable skills and are typically very quick learners who can turn their hand to anything. If you eliminate people from your recruitment process purely on the basis of their existing skillset, then it’s likely that you won’t hire the best candidate.
5. DO NOT make your jobs hard to find. If your jobs cannot be found easily using common search methods – Google, etc. – then you’re not going to get the best field of applicants for your position. Make sure you use the best channels to attract a quality field.
To see the full article, visit the following URL:
http://www.ere.net/2008/09/12/10-great-ways-to-make-bad-hiring-decisions/
I must admit to being a tad nervous ahead of my debut radio spot today on the Mike Welsh Drive Show on Radio 2CC. Hopefully the spot becomes a regular fixture of the show each week at around 4.00pm. We’ll be discussing job trends, human resources news and talking about the ‘jobs of the week’ on CapitalJobs.com.au. Be sure to tune in…
CapitalJobs.com.au has been featured on the Destination Talent blog written by Phillip Tusing. You can read the article here…
Recruiters have long argued over the most effective questions to pose to candidates during employment interviews.
According to US recruitment expert, Lou Adler, there is one question (followed by some fact finding) that will enable you to discern the top performers from the rest of the field.
The question is quite simple: Describe a recent accomplishment.
Adler recommends that you then use some of these follow-up questions to qualify the candidate’s involvement in the accomplishment:
He suggests these follow-up questions will help you understand the person’s actual role and the significance of the accomplishment:
Adler says that the accomplishment question should be posed in the context of the job vacancy and the expectations of the employee in that position. For example, you might ask: ’One of the major objectives for this position is to accomplish (describe the specific task). Could you please tell me about your most significant comparable accomplishment?’
You can read Adler’s article in full on the ERE.net website: Use the One-Question Interview to Make More Placements with Fewer Candidates
A Pinnacle Hospitality and Travel survey has revealed that chefs, food and beverage attendants are the most difficult to find people in the hospitality industry at the moment.
The survey questioned over 500 venues across Australia, with 33% of respondents citing chef positions as the most difficult to fill. There is a general shortage of quality chefs in the market, with many applicants for these jobs having insufficient experience or unrealistic salary expectations.
Also a problem is the dearth of good quality apprentice chefs, food and beverage attendants, reception staff, housekeepers and kitchen hands. Again, unrealistic candidate salary conditions were cited as hurdle, as were wrong expectations about the hours of work.
On a positive note, turnover in the hospitality industry has dipped from 53% last year to 44% and this may be attributed to tightening economic conditions. The proportion of new staff in the industry is 48 per cent, down from 63 per cent, and total staff numbers have grown by seven per cent.
Reflecting the industry’s high level of casual employment, employees’ main reasons for leaving the sector include overseas travel (25%), study (22%) and money (20%).
It is clearly becoming more difficult to entice, and retain candidates – many of whom I suspect are aspirational Gen Ys - with the relatively low pay rates and the long hours expected of employees in the hospitality industry. The necessity to prop up the industry with foreign workers is likely to strengthen in coming years.
