Anthony Haynes writes: Frankly. when it comes to recruiting staff, many organisations use the same process over and over (seemingly regardless of how successful or otherwise it proves). But supposing you don't do that? Supposing, instead, you engage in reflective practice and action learning - how would that go. In this episode, our Managing Director - Fiona Wilson - Sherah Beckley, and I discuss FJ Wilson Talent Services's approach to recruiting the company's own staff. We reflect on: imperfections that we identified in our processes the changes we introduced the effects that the changes ..read more

Anthony Haynes writes: Any literate person knows how to write an email. But writing effective emails is another matter. The frequency of complaints about people not reading emails, or not understanding them, or not responding properly suggests that there's scope for development! In this episode, Sherah Beckley and I discuss ways to write emails more effectively. In particular, we identify six key, practical, decisions to inform the writing of emails. Further listening If you enjoyed this episode, you might like: Presenting yourself: 'self-branding' How to give a presentation Credits Tha ..read more

Anthony Haynes writes: The purpose of this episode is simply review what we consider to be an outstanding business resource, namely the Build a Better Agency podcast, presented by Drew McLellan and published by Agency Management Institute. FJ Wilson's Managing Director, Fiona Wilson, and I have followed the podcast for some years now and have consistently found it stimulating. Better still, as we'll explain in some detail in subsequent episodes, we've found the resource of practical use, providing ideas that we've used to improve our margin. Link Build a better agency (AMI) Further listen ..read more

Anthony Haynes writes: Job descriptions, and the advertisements based on them, frequently specify the kind of experience that candidates must have - "candidates must have 3 years' experience of..." or "candidates must have worked for such-and-such kind of organisations". Such specifications can be helpful and save much wasted time. But that isn't always the case: it's not uncommon for the specifications to be unnecessarily prospective. In this interview, Sherah Beckley and I identify key considerations for determining what kinds of experience are necessary - and what kinds are not. The aim ..read more

Anthony Haynes writes: This episode is entirely practical in nature. Sherah Beckley and I discuss ways to help ensure that you perform effectively at a job interview. As has become our custom, we provide a bronze, silver, and gold tip - but here we also (for the first time ever!) a platinum piece of advice. Further listening We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode. If so, you might be interested in our other episodes aimed at job-seekers and candidates.  They include: Virtual interview tips Presenting yourself: self-management Networking: the how and the why Finally, what we ..read more

Anthony Haynes writes: What makes for effective talent acquisition? The ideal way to find out is to ask stakeholders to reflect on their experience. I'm delighted to say that's what we were able to do here, courtesy of our richly experienced two guests, Louise Gulliver and Martin Greig - both from the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS). In our case study, we reflect the recruitment process on when Louise was the hiring manager and Martin the (successful) candidate. We focus especially on: good practice at various stages of the process in particular, what makes for effecti ..read more

Anthony Haynes writes; This is the third and final episode in our mini-series devoted to time management and productivity. The opening episode outlined a tactical ('bottom-up') approach. The second outlines a strategic ('top-down') approach. Here we outline a synthetic approach: we bring our two approaches together, explore the relationship between them, and outline how to use them in combination for maximum effect. References Edwin C. Bliss, Getting things done: doing it now (Bantam Books). Oliver Burkeman, Four thousand weeks: time management for mortals (Penguin, 2022). Further listen ..read more

Anthony Haynes writes: This episode is the second in a mini-series of episodes on time management, designed to help you and your colleagues to help improve personal productivity and effectiveness. The first episode dealt with the tactical approach to time management. This episode outlines a strategic (aka 'top-down') approach. The relationship between this approach and standard time management techniques is like that of a negative to a photographic image. Standard techniques focus on how to get more stuff done, more quickly; the approach here, in contrast, focuses on how to become more effe ..read more

Anthony Haynes writes: This episode is the first in a mini-series of episodes on time management, designed to help you and your colleagues to help improve personal productivity and effectiveness. This episode outlines a tactical (aka 'bottom-up') approach: the approach is granular in form, focusing on specific aspects of working life - especially typical tasks and common obstacles. This is one of our episodes that deals with working life and management in general, rather than recruitment-specific topics. Reference Edwin C. Bliss, Getting things done: doing it now (Bantam Books). Further l ..read more

In this episode, Sherah Beckley and Anthony Haynes discuss stakeholder management, drawing in part of insights gleaned from FJ Wilson Talent Services' work with organisations for professionals. Sherah and Anthony first consider definitions of, and rationales for, stakeholder management and then identify a series of pitfalls that stakeholder managers need to avoid. Reference Stakeholders by Andrew Friedman and Sarah Miles is published by Oxford University Press ..read more